Project Silver Dollar - 9/78 GS budget resto/body swap project
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Hey everyone! So I used to be pretty active around here until around 2014-2015-ish when I blew out my knee, couldn't drive my once-daily LS for a while. Unfortunately, as time went on, life happened and it kinda fell into serious cosmetic disrepair as of lately. I blame that partially on being an east coast car for most of its life, as just about every body panel is starting to show signs of rust. The worst is the sunroof area, which is beyond the point of rescue, in my opinion.
She certainly has seen better days: Attachment 747222 While cosmetically it is pretty bad, my interior is pretty much all there, the 13b in it has about 30k miles on it since it was rebuilt around 2012-ish, trans shifts well, clutch still grabs hard, and I installed a full set of KYB shocks with RB springs right before I blew out my knee. They have maybe 100 miles on them. So, with a rusted-out body, lapsed registration since it was most likely never going to see the road again, and a sudden desire to get back into an Rx7, what is one to do? Well, that's where this came in... Attachment 747223 Attachment 747224 Here we have a 9/78 production '79 GS, non-sunroof model shell. The body is straight, all there, but most importantly, NO RUST. My dad came across it on Craigslist a couple weeks ago, he was just browsing around knowing I've been looking for a clean, straight, SA shell in CA for a long time to no real avail. I looked at this one, saw the VIN tag in the door sill, saw how early a 79 this was, and knew I had finally found the right candidate for what will basically amount to a body swap. Pro's -
The cons? Well, there are certainly a few that I have noticed so far.
Anyways, enough back story, onto the build thread. Didn't waste any time getting it off the trailer and something done to it. Stripped down what was left of the interior. Sending the door panels off to get re-covered, along with the seats out of my '80 shortly. Will also be looking into a new carpet kit and door weatherstripping. Attachment 747225 Attachment 747226 You can see I wasn't kidding when I said it had NO dash. What you see there is pretty much what I started with in that area. Pulled out the wasted carpet, the 2nd gen seats (which are for sale if anyone wants them) and a most of the sound deadening. Attachment 747227 Took me a while to get the seats out since whoever put them in either crossthreaded or over-tightened ever single bolt. Much too many ugga-duggas for a car seat... Got a long to-do list, but next I want to get the taillights on, install the rear hatch mechanism and lock from my car along with the door locks so I can start locking parts in it when I'm not going to be working on it. Need to check the fuel tank to see if it's in any sort of serviceable shape, wire up the fuel pump. I'll type up a list in another post later today so I can keep track of my progress with anyone that cares enough to read my ramblings here...lol. It's going to be a bit of a road but I really am looking forward to driving a 7 again! |
To-Do list (will get more detailed as time goes on, not necessarily in order of importance) -
All I can think of for now. Pardon the "all-over-the-place-ness" was just typing stuff down as I thought of it...lol |
is that a 60's t-bird?
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Originally Posted by midnight mechanic
(Post 12364406)
is that a 60's t-bird?
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Vince Vega (John travolta) drove one in "pulp fiction". I fantasize that I am Vince Vega driving slow and cautious in a cool classic car because I am shooting up mexican tar heroin. In reality, I don't even drink but I still drive a cool classic car.
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That's going to be a fun project!! What color was your LS originally, I can't remember? If we were closer I would offer to buy your LS once you were finished taking off what you didn't use or want.
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Originally Posted by mazdaverx713b
(Post 12364872)
That's going to be a fun project!! What color was your LS originally, I can't remember? If we were closer I would offer to buy your LS once you were finished taking off what you didn't use or want.
It'll hurt quite a bit to send it to the scrapper but at the very least I will be stripping just about everything usable off of it for spares before I do. |
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...bbc34f1d48.jpg
Well, knocked a couple small things off the list. Got the hatch latch mechanism/lock installed, put the taillights on. Felt weird to be taking parts off my 80 but such is life...starting to look like a real car. Need to try to find a set of seals for the taillights otherwise I'm gonna have to figure out another solution. Will also need to extend the wiring for the remote hatch release, the plugin on the unit is on the passenger side but the wiring only reaches to the left side - I'm guessing this is a symptom of 80 VS 9/78... Also dropped my seats and door panels off for recovering. Got something pretty neat planned for those, will post up as soon as they're done. Need to get the carpet kit ordered. Next up is I want to get the door locks installed, steam clean the engine bay and start transferring the dash and dash-related items from my 80. Gonna try to get as mych wrench time in this weekend as I can since I can't do much during the week. Have to take advantage of daylight since I'm not in a work shop and I currently live an hour from my dad's where the cars are stored. Gonna be a bit of a slow-going project but I'm determined to have it running and driving by end of the year... |
Got a decent chunk of stuff knocked out today. Stripped a lot of crap out of the old green car (wiring was beyond atrocious) and got my steering column, switches, and ignition moved over. Also got door locks installed and working. Next is to get the dash framework and the remainder of dash related items over. Need to find a clean black dash cap or get the one that glues over top of my old one. Also need to order the carpet kit, seats and door panels are out for recover right now. Interior is coming along quickly, once I'm near completion there I'll be looking at yanking the motor, transmission, and driveshaft out of the green car to go in. Then it's tackle all little ancillaries to hopefully get this thing on the road by the end of the year.
Pics to follow later. |
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Well, never delivered on the pics last time, but made some really good progress since the last post:
Attachment 747131 Attachment 747132 Attachment 747133 Decided to go ahead and install my dash from the 80 since I'm just going to do the plastic topper for now. Got just about everything wired up. Glovebox door is wrong unfortunately. Appears to be for an FB, not an SA as it is made of a soft-ish material and doesn't have the trim piece along the top, but it will work for now. Gauge cluster is in, time will tell if the speedo cable in the 79 is any good...still have a few odds and ends to tie up under the dash, painting the center panels for the dash/shifter black, wire up the switches and radio, need to swap over my manual pedal assembly, and need to get the AC unit in from the 80 into the 79. Carpet kit and dash topper are on order, door panels and seats should be back from the upholsterer by Friday. Once I get to about 90% done on the inside I'll be looking at starting the motor/transmission transplant. Making good progress. Would be super cool if I could somehow get this running, driving, and registered for SevenStock this year, but probably won't happen. Like to think of myself as a bit of a Jeremy Clarkson - "Ambitious, but rubbish..." Little bonus - my dad's 79 Limited he just picked up as well. He went the easy way and picked up a runner/driver...lol. I've already called dibs on the louvres.... Attachment 747134 |
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Didn't do too much work this weekend. High Desert weather in California has been triple digits - not conducive to doing what amounts to a full body swap...
Picked up my seats and door panels from upholstery. Will be keeping black interior but wanted to set it apart a little bit. Bit of an homage to the early 7's with the plaid interiors: Attachment 747002 Attachment 747003 The plaid, from what I have been told, is the same fabric that VW uses in the new GTI's, can't really confirm or deny, but I love how it came out. The idea for the blue actually came from the sun-faded black carpet that looked kind of blue when I got the car - thought it and black would go well together. Got the cars next to each other for the transplant. Just a few things to button up in the interior before I get to the point of the engine swap (pedal assembly, AC box, carpet, install seats, door panels, and dash cap). Next weekend I'll probably start disconnecting everything from the engine/transmission in the green car to get them ready to stab into the silver car. At that point, it's just hooking everything up...even got them next to each other now to prep for the transplant... Attachment 747004 My pie in the sky goal is to have the silver car running reliably, driveable and registered for Seven Stock this year...if I buckle down and really focus on this project I think it's doable. Worst case I'd like to be driving it by 2020... |
That blue plaid is sweet. Nice work.
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