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my 10th Anniversary project (not 56K friendly)

as many of you here know, i've been restoring my 10AE and have started a few threads regarding the 10AE and some diagnostic questions regarding the car. i feel its time for an update on my progress. here's the story: i bought the car in november of 2006 after lengthy discussions with the previous owner and some price haggling. the previous owner literally destroyed the car. he was ripping up the interior and painting parts of it and on top it, he smoked the engine. i bought the car to restore, as the 10AE was the RX-7 that i've always wanted. this particular car i saw at a dealership back in 2000. i test drove the car and two days later decided to buy it. when i returned back to the dealer and the car had been sold. lucky enough for me, i wrote down the vin. fast foward to 2006. my neighbor tells me about this 7 his friend has and he wants me to look at it. when i did go to look at it, the car turned out to be a 10AE. i immediatly wanted the car. even through its staggering condition, i saw my next baby. my new project. something my wife would frown upon. i had to have it. i went home that night and looked at the pics i snapped and was looking at the pic of the vin i took and something jumped out at me. i dont know why but i dug out that old estimate from the dealer from the 10AE i test drove and compared the two vins. it was a match!!!! six years later i have the car i fell in love with! here are the pics of my progress.

here is what the car looked like when i purchased it:

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC05344.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC05343.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC05340.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC05349.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC05364.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC05379.jpg

i spent hours digging the expanding foam out of the bins. i bought special gel paint stripper from chameleon that is plastic friendly and stripped the white paint from the center console lid, the glove box door, and several switches and knobs. i replaced the clock surround, the inside door handle surrounds, the corner vents in the dash, the radio surround, the pedal pads, the ash tray, found an original momo shift knob/boot, found the correct bins, rebuilt the logicon, replaced countless bulbs in the instrument cluster and the surrounding switches. i rewired the audio system, installed a used but good alpine radio, and four speakers. the engine tested 85psi on the front rotor and 0psi on the rear rotor. so, i pulled it http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC05678.jpg and replaced it with a good jspec engine that i got out of PA.

the car is currently in need of a new turbo but the engine runs strong. here are some updated pics i took of the car tonight after i was finished sanding and undercoating the underbody. i'm only about half done with that. needless to say, this is the 7 that i've always wanted and i thought i would share this with you guys, as it has been a challenge and a learning experience.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC06552.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC06553.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC06554.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC06555.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC06556.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC06558.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC06562.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC06563.jpg

Nice job. Was that a velvet armrest cover dude put on there??

wow very nice job de-ricing the rx :). dude u get 1 million points for the glass sunroof.

yeah, that was purple velvet.... barf

from what i understand, the bronze moonroofs were kind of rare. i'm not really sure but i havent really seen many around.

Great job rescuing this 7 and making it what it should be!

thanks!! its taken a lot of time and money but the car is well worth it!!

congrats on getting the car youve always wanted... Someday ill have mine =]

what are you wanting?

wow you are doing good.
i noticed you have the original steering wheel you can barely see the 10 year anniversary on it.
i have a 10ae myself and love it.
good job keep us posted !

definatly will. i started a 10AE registry. you should add your car!

Great job. I love seeing these cars restored instead of being parted out as I see in the classifieds.

^ I concur. I'm also in the process of restoring my FC as well. I commend your efforts.

thank you!! i hate parting out 7's. to me, if the car can be saved, i'll save it.
these are two of my current projects:

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC06516.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...f/DSC06518.jpg
the TII came to me not running from KY. the inteior was trashed and the shifter bushings were wasted. i installed all of the facory emissions components on the engine. thet were perviously removed and or blocked off. i re-did all of the maf meter wiring and a lot of the underhood wiring due to an engine fire cused by a pd leak. i replaced all of the vaccume lines, the clutch salve cylinder and hose, th eoil and filte, the plugs, the alternator, the belts, and the shifter bushings. i put the interior back together, replaced the left pw window motor and regulator. the car currently runs pretty well. it needs brakes all around, a turbo, an exhaust, a driveshaft, and some paint and the car will be an excellent road car! the second car, an 85 GS, has a neat story behind it. it was owned by a woman who bought it originally in Texas. she got married and moved to Ohio where the car remained garaged and babied by her. one evening she came home from work, parked the car in the garage and told her husband that she didnt feel well. she ordered a pizza and laid down to sleep, never to waak up again. after 5 years of looking at the car in the garage in the same spot his wife parked the car and grieving and not wating to come off of the car, the husband sold the car to the family i bought it off of. the son wrecked the car and i got it for a good price. the family told me the story of the woman who owned the car originally and how much it meant to her. i just can't let the car that meant so much to that woman and a grieving husband rot away or be parted out. i used the engine and fuel tank in my 85 S. it lives on but will be fixed. i'm going to get a doner shell tomorrow for the front end.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazdaverx713b (Post 7724745)

from what i understand, the bronze moonroofs were kind of rare. i'm not really sure but i havent really seen many around.

Dave,

I'm sure you know that the glass moonroofs were not a stock accessory. They are all aftermarket accessories, just like the SA/FB glass roofs, also made by Pacific. I had one awhile back I bought an entire car to get the glass roof, but wound up selling it as I chose not to install it on my 10th (I'm really anal about keeping the limited production cars bone stock).

Nice car, kudos on bringing her back. Shame on the previous owner (let me guess- a kid?).

Neal.

thanks for the info Neil! the guy i bought the car off of was aactually in his late 20's. 29 i believe. he was a honda ricer fan.

You do some great work, mate.

Glad to see someone is willing to save the ol' RX7's which nobody seemed to love :(

I'm so happy people like you exist. Saving an Rx-7 from the fate of a ricey future is like 3 points above adopting an orphan on the good deed scale.

:icon_tup: PROPS 2 you guys for your hard work !!! i know what its like.

thanks for the compliments!! the car is a work in progress. i'm going to be in the market for an S4 turbocharger soon, so if you guys know of anyone send them my way.

saving a car from a fate like this should be tax deductable. LOL

ok, it seems the pics are down. i can put them back up if anyone is still wanting to see them

Is there supposed to be more pics? Could you put them back up?

thank god you saved that interior. your 7, and i both thank you.

Very nice job, looking better. Enjoy the car.

i will take more pics of the 10AE and the TII today and post them up here in this thread!

that black t2 looks familiar ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazdaverx713b (Post 8476548)

did you also own that black TII??

yeah man. im the one that sold it to that kid in KY (it was running fine when i sold it). i am the one who you got the driveshaft from in columbus.

oh, ok cool! the TII runs great. needs a turbo something fierce. boost gauge does not work(powers up but does not move under boost), needs a driver's side a-pillar plastic, door panels(holes from cheapo speakers), and an antenna. other than that, i just did brakes all around, with new calipers and pads up front, and i rebuilt the rear calipers and installed new pads. driveshaft you sold me works great. i'm pleased with the car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazdaverx713b (Post 8477528)

sounds good! im glad you fixed it up

once i get this under hood sound deadening i'll be in business there

Very impressive work. I'm truly envious of what you have done with that 10th. It's definitely better to keep it bone stock. I want one...

Damn that 10AE was rough, so sad seeing such a rare car in that kind of shape. :icon_no2: Great job bringing it back though. :icon_tup: :icon_tup: There's a 10AE for $3k in my city, I wish I could pick it up :twitch:

Good to see someone took on the project to restore a 10th ae to original form. :icon_tup:

Any pics of the new like looking underbody? I might be doing this within the next couple months. What did you use? I'm thinking rock guard.

thank you guys for the continued compliments. it really means a lot to me. i put a lot of hard work and time and money into the car. no pics of the underbody yet. the car is garaged for the winter. i took the underbody down to bare metal in any spot that was rusted. fixed any holes and if there was just pitting, i coated it with a rust preventative treatment, and hit the area with zinc rich primer and then 3M green can undercoating. here is an example of the undercoating's texture as used on another RX-7 restoration of mine (thread to the restoration is here: https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-general-discussion-207/my-85-s-restoration-pics-751475/)

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/DSC06985.jpg

any time. if you need any advice on using an undercoating or a particular undercoating feel free to ask.

as the weather warms up here, i plan on taking the car out of storage and putting some miles on it. i'll post some more recent pic sof it then. i'm hoping for good weather next weekend so that i can take the car out and enjoy it.

very nice work :icon_tup:

one from last year and more to come within the next few weeks. i've been buying some new oem parts for the car. just waiting to go snag it out of my storage garage.

http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/r...erx713b/AE.jpg

excellent work! I'd love to get AE rims for my vert - but I think I would have to do at the very least a TII swap first so it would be "worthy" ;-) Keep us posted and keep posting pics!

wow, I love the stock looking T2, the rims are actually still shiny!!

I think we found the next Kevin Landers!!

some people were asking to see more pics of the car so i took a few pics. unfortunatly the car is confined to the garage and due to the rain we're having today, i won't pull the car out of the garage so no good exterior pics unfortunatly. i'm just picky and don't drive the 10AE in the rain. at any rate, here are a few pics. dont't mind the dirty interior. apparently i didnt vacuum the interior before i put the car away last november:

http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/r...b/DSC08506.jpg

http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/r...b/DSC08517.jpg

http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/r...b/DSC08511.jpg

http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/r...b/DSC08527.jpg

Just great dude. I think you should get the seats recovered with OEM leather if possible.

i've been trying to track down some oem leather covers. i would LOVE to get the seats redone in their original covers. i'm just going to have to look in my 88 parts manual for the corresponding part numbers.

Either way it still looks great, I admire your dedication and beliefs. I would never in a million years part out a TII or 10th AE I would save them if possible.