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So I have been holding off on posting a "build" thread on my car for a while now. But I purchased my car from another member "Sh00bs," shy of two years ago now. I had known about RXs prior and always played with the idea of getting one. I found this one and immediately bought it not really knowing what I was getting myself into. I'm no more mechanically inclined than the next guy so I knew a lot of this would be winging it and hoping for the best. When I bought the car the PO had done a lot of good work. Disc rear end, 84 gsl front suspension, dizzy upgrade, RE weber 36 dcd carbs, RB headers straight muffler. Only thing I didn't like about it is that it was stripped interior. But I absolutely love it, and I have been doing what I can to make the car better.
I started with throwing out the old springs and shocks, brakes, bearings, throwing on some RB springs paired with KYBs, some new brakes, rebuilding a caliper or two, and some general TLC in that area. A lot of my effort was sanding away at rust and coating it in POR15.
I did notice that the car was having a lot of issues despite how much I enjoyed it. So I decided to take it down to Mike Vargas at Angel. I asked for his expertise in rebuilding it and big *** street port. He delivered! Once back I resumed trying to clean it up.
I also stumbled upon a dirt cheap 12a in my area and grabbed it to learn on and use for spares. Like sensors or ignitors blah blah blah. Turned out to be a lot of fun.
I started to replace soft and squishy things. Beat up door/window seals. My headlights falling due to bushing wear and arms popping off (I found the solution for that here and just used rubber grommets). And all the old worn bushings from the 4 link, watts, and some of the front stuff. I went full black poly from "Energy." I think this has made one of the biggest differences in the car and how it feels. *10000X BETTER*
After I decided to pop a coolant line and vomit coolant everywhere, so I focused on replacing all the hoses that transport liquids because that's important, ordered some nice shiny stuff from lrb and made my doors look nice, cut out a whole mess of wires that I still don't know the purpose of, cut out more wires and re-wired some stuff to make it look "better."
I also came across a really nice set of SSR reverse mesh wheels 15x8 that I put on the rear and since I couldn't find a pair to match I bought the Rota knock offs in 15x7 to match. Found a cheap set of corbeaus that look really good in the car! Also found a really nice front air damn made by xenon to cover up the saggy neck that plagues first gens.
Everything was going pretty well so I decided to take one of the u joints in my driveshaft and nuke the **** out of it. Mazdatrix to the rescue with serviceable shaft!
I laid some carpet down and found the rear speaker covers as well as the fabric cover that goes under the hatch to cover the tail assembly.
Before I got too bummed out about the wheels I came across a complete set of SSR meshies only as 14x7s. I'm still working on cleaning these up and painting them to go on the car. Though I can't decide which color is best, currently leaning gold.Other than that, while this probably looks pretty scattered figured it's a good late start that I can now add to!
Doesn't look like your afraid of work, that's for sure! I remember this car from when "Sh00bs" owned it. You've made some nice improvements. I don't think I've ever saw that rear bodywork piece before. Almost like an air dam for the back. do you know what brand or kit it's from?
so ive made a complete more "improvements" over the past couple weeks and figured I would throw it up here to show it off. the 14" ssr meshies have been coated and polished but yet to be mounted on the car as I fear there will be enough gap to fist. Waiting until I can solve gap problem to throw on. out with the old radiator and in with a new fresh koyo. pulled the air well out and cleaned it up a bit. also around this time my carbs developed a issue. so since I had them out they took a bath, new gaskets, some new jets and what not. now they are feeling better and so am I. ive also noticed I seem to have an issue with what is the accelerator pump, at idle if I apply sudden WOT the car will stumble and die. I assume this means my poor little acc jet cant keep up and is leaning everything out. so I ordered a couple different sizes to see If I can fix that problem up. if im wrong someone please correct me for I am a novice with this unga bunga carb stuff.
Recently moved to Canada and the Rx7 will soon follow. Its down in the states all covered up and cozy, couldn't bring it up right away due to ongoing travel restrictions. couple of plans for it once i get it up here though. The coolest being a completely new suspension setup that i got from another member here on the forums. Aside from that just going to be a lot more tidying up in general ensuring the old car can go on for even longer.
Thankfully they do not rattle at all, and i did wrap mine. there is a company called spinnywhoosh that teamed up with lrb and they make custom vinyl wraps for every door card lrb offers. ill post a picture of them with the wrap on when i find one.
Got around to installing the respeed kit I bought from a fellow member a short while back. Cleaned everything up and gave it the rattle can special. Also finally pulled the beehive out and mounted a second gen oil cooler with some nice vibrant stuff. really happy with it since the beehive was a real eyesore.
thank you, it runs and handles great so far. I'm itching to get it out onto the track, I'm just waiting for the provincial policies to loosen up. it should feel completely different, and better, than the last time I had it on a track. I have to admit, I'm running out of things to do with it aside from cosmetic work.
That's a good thing. Once you're out of things to do, you can enjoy the car and just maintain it. And this is what leads me to buy more 7's to restore.... I finish one and immediately want to start another. Its been like that for the last 22 years lol.
A while ago I decided to do something different with my car. I removed the 12a and carbs from it and I decided to go EFI. I got a decent S5 6 port block and collected a UIM, LIM, TB, and turbo w/manifold from a S4 T2. I went with FC ignition coils, S5 T2 4x550cc injectors, and found what I think are rising rpm fuel rails (I'm not sure there are no marks but they're nice and work). I got a knock off greddy TB tube and I'm using 2.25" intercooler piping with an intercooler from a EvoX (this was used because I really didn't want to move my battery). GM coolant, iat, map sensors, AEM FPR and pump. All of this is powered by a micro squirt, I got the 8' harness from DIY auto and just used what I needed for my car. There was a bit of a learning curve with getting the car to run correctly, but it is now starting, idling, cruising, and even getting into boost well. this has been a really fun learning experience for myself and there is still a lot of room to grow. I'm compiling pictures of and will be sure to post them at some point.
05-01-19, 05:20 PM
