If you missed my introduction thread Howdy from Central Texas with an FC S4

2 weeks ago I traded the most yellow 200k mile Chevy Cobalt you have ever seen, for my RX7, my family doctor/friend/endurance racing buddy had an older client that got to the point where he stopped driving his RX7 and let it sit under a tree after 30 years of garaged ownership.
He and my doctor struck a deal and he picked up the car, my doctor may know a little about Miata's but RX7's a pure alien to him, so one day while I was in his office he gave me the low down and asked if I might want to purchase the car, I ask a price, and thought about all the other projects I had on my plate and declined, but told him I'd see if I could find a buyer for him.
After about 4-5 months went back to his office, and once again he'd ask me if I wanted the car, this time he explained he couldn't get it started and took it to a guy we both know to have it looked at, this guy is also not a Rotary guy, but since he at some point worked for Mazda, and is pretty arrogant, he insisted he knew what he was doing and installed a fuel pump.
At the same time my beloved *cough* Cobalt was coming down with a case of the clogged catalytic converter, and a more definitive cylinder misfire, mind you this was my daily beater car/gas miser, noting I really had and heart and soul into, it was my neighbor's sons first car in college till he graduated, then he let it sit under a tree for a year before I decided to inquire about it, and purchased it for $1000 and proceeded to pile the miles on it (100k worth)
So since I wasn't inclined to reall throw and monies at the Cobalt and it had been explained to me that this 7 was in mint one owner condition I sent my doctor a text and said I personally would be interested in the car, he shot me back with a price that was a deal for me, and informed him I'd sell my Cobalt and purchase the 7.
He then asked if I just wanted to trade key for key since, his step son of 12yrs wanted to learn to do rally racing, since he works for a friend of ours that runs a rally course, and of course, who am I to say no to that???
So the wife and I took a drive to the rally track hung out for a while made a few laps in a Miata, and then traded keys.
On the way home, the first thing was the brake pedal was hard as a rock, there was a scraping noise from under the car on compression bumps, the heat shield from the converters came loose and was hanging down, and the so called Ice Cold A/C was merely a tease for the Texas heat, I had asked about the A/C because an old fat man in Texas has got to have his A/C.
And as the 30+ mile drive back home got further along the clutch pedal started sticking to the floor, and I wold have to pick it up with my foot.

By the way this is just how my days usually go

So as I mentioned before, it's been two weeks that I have been driving this car daily, and even took it to a few other places, I've been getting about 18mpg and along the way I have been finding out more things that need to be fix or replaced, this isn't really a bad thing like you might think, but for a car that was supposedly a one owner garage queen?
In defense to my doctor friend, he's a car guy, but he's not a guy that knows that much about cars, he knows enough to get himself in trouble, and the allure of new shinny things gives him "Red Mist" this is just that case, so I'm not going to fault him on this, not to mention, I cut the deal over the phone without even seeing the car, so now who's at fault?
So over these two weeks I have been compiling a list in my head (now on paper as of coffee yesterday morning) plus I have tried in a few spare moment here and there to fix a few things, fist off the A/C.
I noticed a leak at the EVAP and replaced the O-Ring, then after I charged it again, the low side conversion fitting was leaking, OK, fixed that, then i became apparent again that it seemed like the volume of air coming out of the vents was pretty lack luster even though the blower motor was going like gang busters, and when you'd first turn it on, you could hear leaves moving around.
Yesterday I removed the blower box and vacuumed what I could of a ton of leaves out from in front of the EVAP core, but I degress, even though I got a lot more air volume, it's still not enough, and the core had more crap on it the Dyson wasn't getting off, so at some point that will have to come out and get pressure washed.
While in route one evening to a cat gala for a shelter we sponsor, the rubber bumpers for the clutch pedal finally gave up the ghost and crumbled to the floor mat, making a heinous clacking noise every time to step on the clutch or release it.
Another night out for dinner the right hand retractable head lamp stopped working, have voltage, but even tapping on the motor, it has decided to un-employ it's self.
All the rear speakers, sub included, the foam surrounds dry rotted and had to be replaced, the from component set are ok.

I noticed when driving the car back from picking it up it rode ridiculously stiff, unlike my previous GSL-SE, come to find out with help from here that is has the Hard / Sport suspension, and that causes the Alpine head unit to skip while listening to a CD, that's fine, I have a another head unit that allows for me to hook my phone into it so that will happen somewhere down the road.

OK so as not to sit here and list ever single issue, I will just post a picture list and let you decipher my chicken scratch and see what needs to be done.

Do I feel like I got the short end of the stick? No, come on, it's 32 years old, the original owner didn't abuse it, he just did what was necessary, and kept driving it, but I'm sure the failed brake booster was the last straw, and that's when it got parked, in looking for another one, it seems this item is not only a little hard to find, but just stupid expensive, another deterrent as to why I think he parked it.

Along with that, this thing is way under powered, and looking a little more closely I fount that the front 6 port actuator can not be moved by hand, so with out getting in there and disconnecting it, I'm suspecting the sleeve is frozen in the block, the other actuator can be moved by hand.
Since as good preventive repairs are concerned, when I replace the fuel pulse dampner I'll also take the LIM off and look at the sleeve too, I see Atkins sells new and improved ones.

It has a tip-in / off throttle drop out, which leads me to believe the TPS has a dead spot in it right from tip-in, I'l put my Fluke 98 on it and do a sweep test and see if that's the case.

The high lights for me with this car are the fact it's very not flashy, it's very conservative, just the lower front air dam, rear side spats, and smallish rear spoiler let you know it's not a base model, but the best is the fact that it has manual windows, manual locks, no sun roof, no rear wiper, cloth interior, it does have the sport / hard suspension, big brakes, power steering, and A/C, it's an all business no frills model, or in the Mudstain world we would have called this a stripper or sleeper model, it would be nice to know if it has and LSD or not, more than likely not I'm sure.

Alright, I think I may have rambled on enough, and I have a ton or yard projects I need to go work on, so now with this long post I'll throw in some pictures, some you've seen, some you haven't.
I welcome all comments and questions that you have, and if there is something specific you want pictures of let me know and I'll be happy to get them for you.

Psssst! Yes I know the wheels are on the wrong side, but some moron put the tires on the wheels wrong *UGH*

 

Clean! Sub'd

 

 

 

This infamous Yellow Submarine that was the bargaining chip for the RX7.....................

 

Wow! Amazing car! Great find!

 

Thank you, other than a few things it's just a bunch of little crap that needs to be attended to.

That dent in the fender, my body shop guy seems to think his PDR guy can remove most of it if not all of it, believe it or not in photos it looks worse than it is for some reason, usually with photos it's the other way around, either way it's worth it for him to give it a go at it.

 

Warm the fender dent up with a heat gun or hair driver and push it from the back gently. Once you remove the fender liner it should be pretty accessible.

 

Thanks for the tip, but honestly, I'm just going to let the PDR guy handle it, I'm pretty good, but I also know when to draw the line and let someone else do the work.