84 GSL-SE Restoration and Build
02-17-15, 03:22 PM
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84 GSL-SE Restoration and Build
Rotary engines are in my blood, and the reason they are in my blood is my dad. He ran the Chrysler Plymouth Mazda dealership body shop here in Wichita when the very first SA's came of off the transport truck in 1978. Once he saw it he knew he had to have one. He is a certified rotary nut, and has owned at least seven Rx7's to date. For the last fifteen years or so we have been on the lookout for a GSL-SE that would be a proper candidate for a restoration. He even bought a parts car about ten years ago in anticipation of finding his dream car. About a year and a half ago I was surfing craigslist and came across a 1984 GSL-SE that had an engine fire and was obviously not running for a mighty tempting sum of money. A day later and with a lighter wallet, he brought home a diamond in the rough back to our shop.
It was in bad shape at first glance; it had had a bad paint job, and the interior was pretty faded and chopped up for a "mad bass yo" stereo system from the 1990's. Above all that it had a fire in the distributor area of the engine.
Luckily he had a parts car with a complete wiring harness that he could use to repair the old burn out wiring. It all came back to a badly installed aftermarket security system. Once all the wiring was repaired all it took was a little oil injected into the rotors to lube everything up and some new spark plugs and the little bugger fired right up. Aside from an un-godly amount of smoke (at first), it sounded and ran good. Once it warmed up, everything was smooth sailing and he drove it around for a couple of days just for the heck of it before he tore into the restoration.
Everything must go! We both stripped the car down in preparation of some PDR work before the body work would begin. (I don't have a good picture of this, so this one will do.) He picked the best of the four doors he had between the parts car and the new car, and got the best parts from each to use on the good car. That parts car paid for itself time and time again.
Both front fenders were pretty rough on the car between the bits of rust on the back and dents. He called up Mazda and they still had a few in stock and he got a couple for the amazing price of $127 each.
We were able to locate a factory IMSA rear spoiler from a salvage in Hew Hampshire that was in nice shape apart from one small hairline crack. The rear spoiler coupled with a new in box IMSA front air dam (that he had been holding back since he worked at the Mazda dealership) would compliment each other nicely.
The car was now ready for primer and the then the long arduous process of sanding and blocking, and after that more sanding and blocking. The car was originally a black car but it was a metallic black that always looked like it was dirty. He painted a deep black that had a slight blue hue to it. It is a subtle but really good black. I really love this color, its the same color we painted the top of my SVX.
Even though it he did a very good job painting it, he wet sanded the whole car twice all the way through 3000 grit paper, just for the heck of it.
It was in bad shape at first glance; it had had a bad paint job, and the interior was pretty faded and chopped up for a "mad bass yo" stereo system from the 1990's. Above all that it had a fire in the distributor area of the engine.
Luckily he had a parts car with a complete wiring harness that he could use to repair the old burn out wiring. It all came back to a badly installed aftermarket security system. Once all the wiring was repaired all it took was a little oil injected into the rotors to lube everything up and some new spark plugs and the little bugger fired right up. Aside from an un-godly amount of smoke (at first), it sounded and ran good. Once it warmed up, everything was smooth sailing and he drove it around for a couple of days just for the heck of it before he tore into the restoration.
Everything must go! We both stripped the car down in preparation of some PDR work before the body work would begin. (I don't have a good picture of this, so this one will do.) He picked the best of the four doors he had between the parts car and the new car, and got the best parts from each to use on the good car. That parts car paid for itself time and time again.
Both front fenders were pretty rough on the car between the bits of rust on the back and dents. He called up Mazda and they still had a few in stock and he got a couple for the amazing price of $127 each.
We were able to locate a factory IMSA rear spoiler from a salvage in Hew Hampshire that was in nice shape apart from one small hairline crack. The rear spoiler coupled with a new in box IMSA front air dam (that he had been holding back since he worked at the Mazda dealership) would compliment each other nicely.
The car was now ready for primer and the then the long arduous process of sanding and blocking, and after that more sanding and blocking. The car was originally a black car but it was a metallic black that always looked like it was dirty. He painted a deep black that had a slight blue hue to it. It is a subtle but really good black. I really love this color, its the same color we painted the top of my SVX.
Even though it he did a very good job painting it, he wet sanded the whole car twice all the way through 3000 grit paper, just for the heck of it.
02-17-15, 03:27 PM
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I don't have many good pictures of the interior restoration, but it was intense. The whole thing was prepped and painted and it looks better than new. I installed a new Kenwood radio and kicker speakers in the factory locations and fixed the wiring wherever I found something that had been modified to put the old stereo in. The radio surrounds were painted the same color as the exterior, along with the shifter surrounds. A Mazdatrix short shifter was installed at the same time.
Next he had to get the IMSA front air dam installed that he had hoarded back since the mid eighties. He had to fix a few design flaws to get it to fit perfectly, but it turned out nice. He fitted a couple of Hella 450 Comet amber fog lights with some special brackets.
And this is how it is currently siting. Lots of work has been done to get it to this point and there is still more work to come. The hood is going to be a very cool feature of this car. We found a wrecked Fc TII hood and cut the scoop out of it and the reinforcements from the bottom and grafting it onto the stock FB hood.
More to come soon.
Next he had to get the IMSA front air dam installed that he had hoarded back since the mid eighties. He had to fix a few design flaws to get it to fit perfectly, but it turned out nice. He fitted a couple of Hella 450 Comet amber fog lights with some special brackets.
And this is how it is currently siting. Lots of work has been done to get it to this point and there is still more work to come. The hood is going to be a very cool feature of this car. We found a wrecked Fc TII hood and cut the scoop out of it and the reinforcements from the bottom and grafting it onto the stock FB hood.
More to come soon.
02-19-15, 09:06 AM
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You do great work
Just bought an 84 GSL SE. Not in bad shape and running. I wish I could take it to you for help. I gave up on RX7s back in 2009 (had 5) and found they are in my blood too. If you don't mind me asking, what is a professional Russian? I am studying Russian history. I took a course or two years ago and reading it on my own now. I love it.
02-28-15, 05:36 PM
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Just bought an 84 GSL SE. Not in bad shape and running. I wish I could take it to you for help. I gave up on RX7s back in 2009 (had 5) and found they are in my blood too. If you don't mind me asking, what is a professional Russian? I am studying Russian history. I took a course or two years ago and reading it on my own now. I love it.
It's funny how many comments I get on that. Part of my family came from Russia in the late 1800's and I do a pretty good Russian accent. A couple of my friends call me the professional Russian because of that.
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