Hi everyone. I'm a first-gen RX-7 buff coming back to the fold. I owned a pair of '85s (a GSL and an S) in college about 15 years ago, and after selling them took a circuitous car interest route through Supras, Z-cars, Audis and BMWs before finally getting my hands on a GSL-SE about 3 weeks ago. It feels good to "come home."

The car is rough though. These are my "before" pictures, without any cleaning.

Overview:






As you can see, it's in okay shape overall. It certainly drives well after the idler arm and clutch hydraulics replacement last week.

The air dam is obviously a little chewed up and the grille has the typical sag:



The rear valence is a little tweaked, but nothing major:



The muffler looks factory. It's certainly beefy enough. The car is loud, though---one of the gaskets is blown out or one of the muffler hangers let go; there's a definitely resonance at certain rpms and loads. Feels like something is up against a heat shield. Will have a look-see tonight.

Rockers are pretty straight:




A little tweakage toward the front on one side, but overall I'm very pleased with their state.

Here's where the bodywork is needed:




The story was that one of the previous owners nosed a little too far into their garage one day and creased the headlight cover, nose panel and both fenders.

The sunroof is pretty rough too:



Apparently the car's had a respray, but the paint appears to be of decent quality (good enough for me at least) in most places.

The clearcoat is letting go in quite a few spots, however:

 

Here's the state of the rubstrips:



Can those be brought back or are they too far gone?

Here's the interior. Filthy of course:



The steering wheel was basically ovoid:



Driver's bolster ripped:



Why don't people clean all their crap out a car they're trying to sell? Mystifying:



Window switches broke down into the console piece:



The windows aren't rolling up or down fast enough? Don't solve the actual problem...Just push the switch harder! Snap!

This doohicky was in the passenger footwell:



No idea. There were also what looked like computer speakers and an amp in the cubbies. Of course the wiring to the factory speakers was all hacked up. Looks like I'm 0-3 for working first-gen stereo systems... Grr.

Engine:



Filthy. Must clean.

Here's the rusty battery tray:



The driver's headlight motor is inop too.

The battery explosion affected the underside of the hood too:



Sigh. And the VIN plate for good measure:



3A = Royal Maroon Metallic.

* * * * * *

Fortunately the sale included access to a '84 GSL parts car, which I've raided for a whole bunch of stuff. The interior looks 100% better after a thorough clean and application of Aerospace 303, the tint has all been removed (that was a bear) and the steering wheels and other misc bits of trim have been replaced.

It's really coming into focus. I'll see if I can get more pics this weekend.

Cheers,
Matt

 

looks really good! I'm surprised you decided to remove the tint. I think it looked really nice with that tint.

 

Thanks! Yeah, that's what the previous owner said when he noticed "Remove tint" as one of the items on the (long) repair list I gave him as part of the negotiation process.

Mild, smoky tint done right is okay. This had the crappy purple stuff and was cut and bubbled in a few places. That I can't stand.

Besides, the car has the (apparently rare?) bronze-tinted glass, and it looks pretty sharp with the color combination, IMO.

 

Nice find! I don't think it quite qualifies as "rough" though, not nearly enough rust!

that looks like a nice specimen to begin with, very nice. If I were going to get another one and it wasn't going to be a 79, it would have to be a GSL-SE. Yours looks like it just needs some sprucing up, elbow grease, TLC and maybe a respray and it will look like a million bucks.

 

Hey, thanks! I appreciate it. There are definitely a lot of little things to tackle, which is good in a way b/c it keeps me busy in the garage. Besides, there's no better way to get to know a car than to take it apart and reassemble it, and isn't getting to know and enjoying these cars the whole point?

I started replacing the power antenna last night but had to break off before I got done. Jim Rothe's page was a big help, but the tube of the universal antenna the seller included in the sale is an inch or two shorter than the OEM piece. Will have to figure that out tonight.

I really do need to take more pics this weekend. The interior in particular looks much better, IMO.

 

this looks to be a mount for a portable cd player (like a sony discman). i had one of those back in the day and mounted in the car with an output to play in the car's tape drive. rockin!

 

I figured it was something to do with that. Unfortunately, I also discovered the cigarette lighter wiring had been spliced into, and what looked like a pair of ugly computer speakers in the bins, along with a cheap amp of some sort... The rear speakers still work, miraculously, but the fronts are inop. Needless to say, that pedestal thing, the "computer speakers" and the cheap amp were trashed with a quickness.

I also scored one of these so I could get rid of the joystick and control balance and fade off the headunit as God intended, haha:



I hate getting cars with hacked-up wiring. My two previous FBs had it too... Sigh.

 

That car is a good start. It looks a lot like mine when I started.

 

Your engine was a lot cleaner than mine is for sure. It's going to take a lot of elbow grease to tidy up...the actual grease.

Last night I finally got the last of the tint off the triangle windows, and reinstalled the (beautifully tint-free) hatch glass. That was a bear to do alone; I highly recommend a two-person approach, although...in retrospect I guess I could've installed the screws from inside the car with the glass resting on the seal instead of standing in the trunk holding the glass vertically with one hand whilst trying to thread one of the screws with the other hand...

Anyway, now it's nothing but a lovely hint of bronze all around. Pics forthcoming.

Gonna finish up the power antenna install next. Still sourcing body panels, trying to barter the extra set of door panels and seats I have...

 

A lot of simple green is the way to go.

 

Mine looked worse than yours when I bought a year ago. Now it's in this years Calendar, so don't despair hehe. Mine had the same damaged interior hood paint from an exploded battery. Seem's a common problem. How many miles on yours? Mine has 147k on the original engine.

 

Looks like a nice project I wanna get another car to make all stock kinda like this

 

Bone stock. Even the battery connections are original. I also noticed it has the original floor mats too. If you think that is rough, you should see mine.

 

185K on the body, and (allegedly) the engine was replaced at 125K. The glovebox was crammed with receipts and I transcribed the majority of the legible ones into my spreadsheet on the car.

* * * * * *

Now for some recent updates with pics. Replaced the antenna with a Radio Shack knockoff:



Works well enough but I want to seat the bezel a little better.

No tint pictures:





So clean, so clear. I had to get a tint company to steam off the hatch glass b/c I was worried about damaging the defroster grid, and they did a great job. It help that the first-gen glass is "floating" without a sheetmetal hatch surround, and thus easy to remove from the car.

Shampooed the seats and carpet:





It doesn't look like I did much, but it's much improved, believe me. There was apparently a huge coffee spill behind the armrest. I used Aerospace 303 Fabric Cleaner; worked great, although I would recommend a softer bristle brush on the seats.

The interior is coming into focus:





Still need a few bits like the column surround pieces and a temp ****.

 

Here's my Father's Day present:



All the body panels I need to take care of the crinkled bits.

The sunroof has a touch of surface rust but it's definitely better than what's on there now.



Fortunately the "fender vents" are stick on:



I might keep 'em; who knows. The Buick look is underrated.

Unfortunately I should've checked the door better:



Just....gone. Unusable.

Fortunately I have another spare door in slightly better shape:



Some rust repair required but at least it's salvageable.

Onward...

 

Bodyshop owner two doors down quoted me $800 to do all the blocking, filling and painting provided I strip the car and body panels down and get them ready for paint, which has always been the plan. He'll even let me pay in installments. Very pleased with the quote.

 

$800 is a good deal. What kind of paint? And will he color sand, cut and polish it?

 

Not sure. The focus of the discussion was more on what I would be doing as far as pulling body panels and trim and prepping the car to minimize his time and effort. He did ask if I would be showing the car; I said no, but I did want a durable, high-quality paint, not necessarily a concours finish. He mentioned something about single-stage acrylic enamel, if I remember right.

 

Really digging these for when the time comes for wheels:

 

^ Enkei92s, by the way. Forgot to mention that.

As a part of my continuing efforts to shampoo and clean every last bit of the interior, Monday evening I pulled up the rear carpet and found a good bit of rust on the storage bin frame:





Fortunately the whole piece comes off, which will make it much easier for me to sand and apply some POR-15 to the affected areas

My SEM paint came in last night! I'm going to try 15303 Graphite for the dark plastic and 15083 Silver for the HVAC/stereo bezel, **** and vents. I don't think the silver will be quite "warm" enough, but I guess we'll see. Will post pics.

 

More progress:

- Painted the hatch surround plastic
- POR-15'd the rust on the bin frame
- Shampooed the hatch carpet

After cleaning, I hit the rust on the bin frame with a good coat of POR-15:



I would have removed the frame but ended up stripping several of the mounting screws, so I just did it in place.

As for the hatch plastic, here are the "before" pics:





Typical UV-bleached plastic.

The switch plate was my doing; I boiled it in water hoping to restore the flexibility of the plastic, which it may have done, but it whitened the plastic as well:



So I used this stuff, SEM 15303 Graphite:



The bottom line: It's not a perfect match (next time I think I would use 15243 Satin Black), but it's much cleaner, more consistent, and it's a nice product.

Here's the switch plate:





And the hatch area:







I'm satisfied for now. Will do further plastic, and probably respray the existing plastic, in 15243 in the future.

 

Wow! That looks really great, good job!

 

Good job and I agree with satin black as I've used it on my RX-3s. If you use semi-gloss, the spray pattern or overlap is noticeable particulary during a bright sunny day. I'm very picky sometimes

 

Thanks man

Thanks. Definitely want to do the rest of the plastic pieces I need to in Satin Black. Do you have any recommendations about colors for the HVAC/stereo bezel? I have a can of Silver I'm going to try but if you've used something else I'm all ears.