i try to work quicky and thoroughly to bring 7's back to life. my major hangup with this ol' girl is the lack of a good SE shortblock. i have a complete SE engine in my garage that has excellent compression in the rear rotor but the apex seals are carbon'd up in the down position on the front rotor. i've had the sucker soaking in mmo, sea foam, pb blaster, and wd40 for months trying to free it up. no luck so far. i turn it over daily just hoping. worst case is a rebuild..which will cost me gaskets, coolant seals, oil control seals, and possibly apex seals...which is more than my meager budget allows for. so i think my best route to take is to buy a used shortblock. i'm going to try to get a lot more done before work today and i will have plenty of pictures to share of the progress.

Are you serious? I could have sworn the were the same? Since my car is an 85, I guess I have "Custom Silver"?
If you can, please post pics showing the difference. Thanks.

If it's the front rotor, you can just "partially disassemble" the engine and repair it.
You would only need to remove the front cover and front plate. Fix the problem and reinstall.
You wouldn't even need to remove the e-shaft.

for now, while i'm watching the kids and cant easialy get to the shed without them in hot pursuit, here are the color listings from the 84 and 85 brochures:

1984:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00664.jpg

1985:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00663.jpg

here are the few picsi took of my progress yesterday. in the body work, i'm further but forgot to take pics.

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00653.jpg

the interior after a short vacuum:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00656.jpg

got the hatch cleaned out and replaced the mat, installed a spare tire and replaced the rear bumper access panels:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00657.jpg

ok, as promised, here are the gas doors in the two shades of "gray" the one on the left side is tornado silver (color code K8) and the one on the right is custom silver metallic (color code V9):

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00665.jpg

tornado silver:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00668.jpg

custom silver:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00669.jpg

here is the progress today. i got the headlights put together, the under body heat shield installed, battery tray installed, the main relay set and variable resistor installed, got my better wiper arms installed, installed a new hood release cable, installed an occillator, replaced the hood seal, and pulled up the swamp infested center carpet section and started drying it out. luckily though the floor where the water was sitting is not rusty.

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00676.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00678.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00680.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00681.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00686.jpg

where the water puddled on the floorboard:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00687.jpg

nice to see completely untouched insulation:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00693.jpg

TX inspection sticker from 1989:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00694.jpg

At this rate you'll be driving it down the street before I finish this post! Your shades of grey color comments struck a chord. Actually, I believe that the Tornado Silver is just a slight variation of Beat Black (E-6). And I mean slight. I have a car in each color and you can almost switch fenders and not tell. You have to realize that colors will vary slightly from batch to batch. Even from the factory new cars do not necessarily all match up 100%. I can imagine Mazda changing the E-6 formula by a few grams of this or that and renaming it Tornado Silver for 1980. Same sort of thing might apply between K-8 and V-9. Add in the variations with every time a color is mixed up and you can get all sorts of overlap.

Thank you soooo much for doing this! I always wondered why my car looked a "little different" than other tornado silver cars, and now I know why - because it probably isn't!. I'am more tempted to keep the stock color now too. I seem to recall there might be be a way I can confirm the color via the VIN?

color code is on the firewall tag...

glad i could help you out! i do prefer the custom silver to the tornado silver, but thats just me. like Mike said, the color code is stamped into the vin plate on the firewall. its bleow the vin number. yours should be V9.

its been a few days since my last update. i got the dash and carpet completely pulled. i found rust on the firewall and the fresh air duct that i have been repairing. once i finish that, i have to weld in new sunroof tab mounts as teh old ones are completely rotted through. my plan is to cut the metal off of the black parts car. here are pics of the interior removal process:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00713.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00715.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00718.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00720.jpg

worst spot of rust i've found and am currently repairing:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00722.jpg

body plug that fell out. i cleaned both mounting surfaces to bare metal and epoxyed the plug in. then once the epoxy was dry, i used por 15 to completely seal of the area:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00723.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00724.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00728.jpg

i'll get more pictures today of my rust repair and overall work progress.

Looking good.

Never seen a dash that rusty Dave, it has that look like it burnt then rusted lol.

I agree, that is a lot of rust.

i agree with the both of you. i have a maroon interior thats going in the car. i had to drill the heads off of some of the screws in the dash in order to remove some parts. the dash is pretty trashed. like any good pack rat i'll save it and see if it can be brought back. its currently sitting under the black 85 thats on jackstands.

Ya say it's a Texas car, I wonder if it was coastal. That would explain the rust, I haven't seen many FBs around here that rusted like that. Heck, mine sat for over 4 years and is rust free. Humidity coulda caused your dash to look like that. :dunno:

the car sat for years here in ohio and the interior was open to the elements from a leaking sunroof. the spare tire well and hatch area were filled with water up to the bins..the carpet was growing plants...the undercarriage is perfectly solid. light surface rust here and there/ wheel wells have zero rust and control arm mounts look like brand new

today i pulled the complete front interior from the black donor car and continued my rust repair on the SE. i got the front and middle carpet sections installed on the SE today.

padding laid out for middle carpet section:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00729.jpg

middle carpet installed:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00730.jpg

front padding installed:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00732.jpg

front carpet installed:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00734.jpg

Install looking smooth Dave. :icon_tup:

thanks Mike! next step will be to install the heater core, evaporator, and blower motor. after that i'm going to replace the pedals due to their rust and then install the dash and seats. following that i will install the rest or the rear maroon interior and fix the rust on the roof.

I confirmed today that is is indeed V9. Now that I saw a nice shiny version
(on your gas door) - I think I might end up keeping the stock color, If I cant verify what color this Rare color is for the STi.

Thanks again - your rebuild is moving along nicely!

Im dying to do this exact same thing! I have two cars with pretty significant rust (one being my daily) and I REALLY wanna find a rust free gsl to put my engine and interior into. btw you must throw some crazy parties cuz it seems like the cops are always at your house lol. Awesome build and good luck with the resto.

well Joe, the cops are always here and another guy form my department lives around the corner and a deputy sheriff lives caddy corner from me..so its a pretty safe neighborhood ;) i did chase down a young kid last weekend that was breaking into cars in my neighborhood. i just so happened to be off and was in my driveway when he walked right up and started trying to get in my cars..i chased him down and pulled him over a fence, placed him in a restraing arm bar and the guys showed up and off to jail he went, lol. 801 there happens to be my work car and a fine machine it is, lol.

and don't hesitate to start any restoration. they are always a blast and you learn SOOO much when restoring a car!

That should be Steel Grey Metalic (SGM). Introduced in 2006 for the 'pig nose' STi but since that's a photoshoped pic there's no telling what kind grey it actually is.

SGM:
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/714/img0006br.jpg

Coming along nicely Dave. :icon_tup:

Lookin good Dave!
DF - I've seen that pic you posted before, it always makes me take a double take lol, it also makes me with they'd make a 2 door impreza again....

here's where i'm currently at. i started the day and finished replacing the pedal assembly, installed the heating and a/c/ system, replaced the vents on the firewall, installed pioneer speakers into the front speaker locations, installed the speaker covers, replaced the ignition switch, and got the dash installed.

when i started today:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00739.jpg

repaired inlet duct:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00740.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00745.jpg

where i ended before work:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00747.jpg

looking good.

A good days work Dave! Really coming along impressively.

thanks Mike!! i got a few more things dont but didn't take any pics. i will have plenty of pics to share this evening im sure ;) i'm actually considering putting a set of waffle wheels on the car.. may look kinda silly..thoughts?

Silly.

We won't know until ya do it. ;)

I had waffles with winter tires on my 83 S for a few months about 6 years ago and I swore never to put them back on lol.
Apologies to the SA guys but the waffles are definatly not my thing ;)

they look ok on an FB actually, better than the + wheels

well after much thought , i think the plan will be to retain the stock sunrise red color. i will add a mazda three piece imsa spoiler and install the set of LE wheels i have in my garage. i saw this car for sale here on the forum and i really like the look of it with the imsa and the weds wheels. i thought though that the LE wheels would look nice and i would paint the imsa spoiler sunrise red to match. this is the car that inspired me to stay with sunrise red (that and changing the color will require more down time due to me not having an air compressor):

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...andbike015.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...andbike018.jpg

yeah that does look good. Makes me wish I'd stayed with the original sunrise red on my 83 S.... You wouldn't want to paint the imsa spoiler black like he did?

no, the spolier would be painted to match the car. i don't much care for opposing colors.

its been a few days since i updated. i'll get some more pictures tomorrow and post them,

can't wait to see them.

sorry it took so long to get the pics up. i havent had much time to work on the car but here's where i'm at:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00769.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00767.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00765.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00764.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00756.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00762.jpg


next rust repair that i'm going to fix:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00766.jpg

the corroded and ruined odometer:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00753.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00754.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00755.jpg

take the little C clip off the end of the odometer shaft turn numbers to 777,777 and take the car somewhere for an oil change, or something and watch the service guys eyes bug out.

i did it with an FC i put together once, it was fun. i almost did it to peepers too, but i just set it at zero

i wouldnt mind taking apart another known good one and just putting it back at the exact mileage of the car. right nowe i have the speed/odometer from the GSL in there and it shows 193K.

i wanted to give an update. i started working on the SE again yesterday. i pulled the nasty ol rusty bin frames out, replaced them with a good frame set, and installed more maroon trim near the bins. here are the pics:

old rusty frame:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00795.jpg

frame out:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00796.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00798.jpg

new frame installed: bins back in with maroon trim installed:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00801.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00803.jpg

Awesome project. Will you be using a 12A or 13B?

well to start i plan on using a completely stock 13B from an SE. down the road i want to rebuild and install the original S4 TII engine that originally came in my 88 10AE. it lost compression long before i bought the car and i yanked it and replaced the engine (link to my 10 AE restoration: https://www.rx7club.com/build-threads-294/my-10th-anniversary-project-not-56k-friendly-720132/). i've had the engine sitting on a shelf for years and i can't think of a beter place to put the engine.

i would also like to find a complete SE suspension and reinstall that. using the non SE suspension was my only option as i had to get the car home. i havea set of 83 LE wheels i may use in the mean time and i want to install the 3 piece imsa rear spolier that i have as well.

made a little progress today.. i started the rust repair in the hatch channel, installed the left front brakes, and am reinstalling the red hood..which has to come back off due to a bent lip on the header panel.

hatch channel with rust:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00808.jpg

with rust sanded down and por 15'd (will get a second coat in the afternoon):

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00814.jpg

left front brakes complete with S4 4 lug caliper )will do the same on the right front as i have a pair of fresh reman S4 4 lug calipers):

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00812.jpg

H1 hood off, awaiting the sunrise red hood..which is on there currently, but cannot be mounted properly with the bent header panel:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00813.jpg

here's the weekend update. i installed the sunrise red hood that came on the car and i buffed it out. the paint really isn't all that great but i was just hoping for some protection from the elements should it have to go outside at all.

new hood on and buffed:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00856.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00861.jpg

finished up the right front brakes (wil replace the hoses closer to when the car will be on the road):

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00857.jpg


final coat of por 15 in the hatch channel

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00859.jpg

pic of the interior as it sits:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00867.jpg

Do you need to Sand/shape the POR-15?

no. its just like paint that you would paint over metal except that its oil, gas, chip, weather, etc resistant. claims to instantly stop rust. before i apply it (to stop the rust and fill in pin holes) i sand the area down with a wire wheel and clean up as much rust as possible. the por 15 likes a pourus surface so that it bites in well. it is paintable and does require a special por 15 primer in order for normal paints to adhere to it.. so before i paint the car i am going to apply a final thin layer and primer over that so the ppg paint will stick to teh por 15.

just a small update for the day, i reinstalled the hatch seal over the newly dried POR-15 and installed the rear hach trim. here are a couple pics from today:

hatch seal installed:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00875.jpg

hatch trim installed:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00876.jpg

random rear pic:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC00880.jpg