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I have always been a fan of rotaries and I didnt get the chance to pick one up until last year ish. Took in a non running SCCA spec FB and a 84 shell with a title to combine into a street legal car of my dreams.
Here is the SCCA one when I picked her up
And here is the shell before and when I decided to have it painted in Mazda Racing Orange with some lambo pearl
The engine is now in the shell, but with life putting this on pause, it's been on a huge delay and hardly picking up any motivation. All she needs is a cleaned up (or upgraded) carb and a clean fuel tank and she is good to go for the most part.
It's nice to meet you all!
The car is here. The time is now. How often do you get a chance like this?
HELLO EVERYONE!
I picked up this close to mint condition, bone stock, all original, 1985 Rx7 GS for my birthday. I have been trying to find the perfect rotary for me, and this was it. I am currently the third owner and everything on it is drop dead gorgeous to me. This is my first rotary AND manual car. It doesn't sound like the best recipe, but that's what having a main daily car is for right? I drove her twice on my own and it broke down on both times on me.
The first time it broke down, it would not start on me despite driving just fine before I shut it off. It would barely start but would not idle. I had to call my fiancé for backup. We thought it was the carb getting clogged so my fiancé and his friend checked for spark first before dabbling into the carb/fuel. Spark was fixed, carb was cleaned a bit, and still would not idle.
A half day's worth of diagnosing and tinkering later, he comes back in with a straight face. I already knew it was something stupid. The hose that goes to the manifold popped off. Now she idles and drives better than when we first picked her up.
The second time it broke down, I think I messed it up. I'm on day 3 of learning basic stick shift and I was excited to bring her to work and show it to my other gearhead coworkers. Some magical smoke came out of the shift boot as I shifted in high speed. I just thought I grinded it - whatever, the smoke is gone and hope everything is okay. She shifted find and backed up to park just fine. A few hours later, she would start but would not get in gear at all "Why am I in first gear, giving so much gas, and not moving an inch?"
I am no shift stick expert, but I already know that THAT is not a good sign. So this whole time my fiancé has already felt like the clutch is slipping / throwout bearing went bad. Of course I was devastated, but she broke down in the best area possible. So I had my coworker drop me off and I told my fiancé the whole story and it got me thinking...
"I think this is happening because I am rushing the car...I am too excited. Too new for this world to be doing it NOW NOW NOW."
So I decided to just pump the brakes and slow down. I think I am learning that owning a rotary car not only takes some passion, but also patience. So I plan to haver her towed home, let her sit for a little bit, order other a new clutch kit and other necessary parts like brake m/s cylinders, hoses, etc. While I am waiting for help (specially for switching out the clutch), I will start her up every now and then, and do other minor things like repainting the louvres, swapping out the radio, replacing the hatch struts, detailing the exterior, and more.
Anyways, this is the life I chose and I couldn't be more excited with this journey. I am also very lucky to be with a man who I would consider a rotary god (lol) and we have friends that are rotary expert and builders that I can lean on for support when needed.
Cheers everyone, I am glad to also be a part of the forums now!!
