Work on the '79 that I bought a couple years ago has begun this winter and I thought I'd post some of the progress as it goes along.

The current plan is this winter is the body and paint, next will likely be the interior and suspension, and then after that will be the engine and performance. Not sure how long that will take , but here we go !!

heres a few pics of the car as I got it . Rust in the fenders and doors, repainted badly to basic black from stock E6 Beat Black, a neglected engine that smokes on startup , idles at 1500 , but runs fine otherwise , oh, and some beat up interior parts

 

Will be cool to see the progress on this. Always nice to see one of the rare ones get restored back to stock!

 

The previous owner must have driven it in the snow and salt a few winters because body work is needed in a few bad areas requireing some serious metal replacement .

I wanted to get some actual replacement parts but couldn't find any local , so am going this route . It will never be a show car, but this will save it from the grave for awhile.

 

I plan on using two sets of rims and tires just to mix up the look of the car once in awhile during the summer . Sumitomo HTR 205/60/13's are going on the stock LE waffle alloys.

I also now have a set of new Konig Rewinds to put on. I bought raised black letter BFG Traction TA's 195/55/15's to go on them and white-lettered them for the original look of the car when it was sold with the white letter bridgestones . ( I have the original white letter spare in mint condition in the truck and it looks great ) Thanks to djmtsu for the white letter paint tip

and Thanks to ONLY ON THURSDAY , I also have a set of the "rotor" cap plastic decals for the Konig caps !!

 

good luck and keep us posted, bro!

 

She's a beauty. Good luck on it. I like the rust repairs.

 

clean s1, can't wait to see her finished, keeping her black i'm guessing?
What marker did you use to create the white lettering? seems like a goood idea

 

the paint is going back to the stock LE colour which is E6 Beat Black . In the sunlight its more of a deep charcoal with silver metallic in it .

the paint pen I bought at a Harley Davidson shop . Its a great pen for the job. Nice hard flat tip that pushes in to let out the paint . It took three coats to get solid white but was very easy to follow the outline of the letters. Took about 1/2 hour to do one coat on all four tires . Almost screwed up the rotation marker when i started the front tires and nearly painted the inside letters. Also read the instructions on the pen, there is a clean and prep recommendation. ( I didn't so I may need to redo them sooner than normal) I figure they may need touch up once a year . Something easy to do on a saturday in february when its -20 outside

 

I've been busy like a squirrel searching and storing body parts all winter . Some from Fred the local RX7 addict, some from ebay , forum members and OEM.

Some of the stuff is shown below. I bought a Kamei fiberglass front air dam off Fred who bought it off the local Mazda dealer 15 years ago as a SA accessory. I got a "Fazz" rear spoiler that is similar to the IMSA , but does not wrap as far around the rear quarter windows . I think both these look great . The fit on the Kamei where it curves on the under side of the SA is perfect and the fit on the FAZZ from the rear matches the SA tail just right IMO. They are getting painted separately with the car and although I am pretty sure they will be mounted, I will probably mount them so they can be removed if I want them off. FAZZ put under side bolt locations for this.

I also found some OEM mud flaps ( one pair ) that I may put on the rear fenders . Also shined up some used badges that were missing on one side of the car...........and got some new custom Manitoba plates for both the 79 and my 89

 

I have one of those air dams, they look really good, that spoiler looks pretty good too. Do you have any more pics of the rust repair after finishing them up?

 

heres a couple of epoxy over metal. work is in progress getting ready for primer .

 

thats a great rare looking car! keep us posted with the updates on the resto. good luck!

 

arr ok thanks for that mate, i reckon the white lettering is ta sex, those mudflaps and air dam are a nice find, good luck with her mate, can't wait to see how this baby turns out

 

looking really nice my friend! keep up the good work. doesnt seem like much rust there so you are lucky. i'm restoring an 85 S that is just a rust monster. its fun to restore none the less.

 

while searching on ebay for some of the critical things , I also got a little distracted and bought a few much less important items .

the key fobs are pretty cool , leather with the appropriate 1st gen logo on them.($8), the "rotor" air fresheners were a gift from Bro-in-law, they are apparantly apple scent , but I may put them in front of the exhaust for a few minutes to get that fine Thermal Reactor scent in the car without the dangerous carbon monoxide .

The OEM clear lens for the rear view mirror came from Phils Rotary in australia (10$) and looks better than the opaque one I had IMO.,

And my new OEM washer bottle from Mazda looks so clean I don't think I want to put fluid in it. (17$), the new washer pump came from ebay (13$)

Also got a couple new interior door plastic cups from Rx7 Addict and a original mazda key blank

 

Hey, that spoiler and airdam are starting to look kinda familer!

 

Wow this thread is the first time I've seen that front spoiler. Do any of you guys know who makes it. Also would you mind putting some more pictures up from the front end. It looks great.

I feel so motivated to go work on my SA. Thanks. Both of the cars in this thread are just wow.

 

Last one I have of the front its about 2 years old Ive been to lazy to update any pictures.
Before anyone says the gray undercoating is completly gone all sprayed with rustolem pro

 

heres a link to a good front view of the kamei air dam. Also if you search Kamei you will see several threads that some have pictures . I have never had it on my car , but will when it gets painted to match the body

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...=kamei+air+dam

 

tuna , that engine looks like Swarzneggers Predator !!!!

 

This is an amazing car you have! I'm very impressed. I have a 79 LE just like you and its in need of restoration. I've been second guessing the restoration thinking that I might sell it and let someone with more tools/resources and more restoration knowledge fix it, but lately I've been getting more inspiration and stuff and this is just what I needed. I needed to see a wonderful resto to show me what I've got... my diamond in the rust. Here is what I've got to work with: My 1979 LE project overview and here is the folder of large pictures

Thanks man! You have an awesome car!!!!

 

i wasn't paying close enough attention to see its an LE as well . I want your steering wheel !! That leather looks new . Mine is crumbly. Seats look great shape as well. Mine need help, several cig burns from previous owners.

whats that plate on your dash? The original owners name plate ?

 

wow , the LE's are coming out of the closet

nice story fossil. I paid $900 for mine in January 05 and it needed 500$ to get it roadworthy . It runs OK, but needs help everywhere . Its going to be slow enjoyable mission to bring it back to health.

hope you do the same with yours

 

That's a very nice LE you have tunafish. Did you have the steering wheel and shift **** recovered or are they wearing the original leather? I need to get mine recovered by a cobbler sometime.

 

That rust = ouch