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When I was 13 (1982) I got a Monogram model of an IMSA Rx7. SA with fat tires, fat fenders, fat wings. I thought - This is the car for me. Small, fast, cool looking. When I grow up, I’m gonna get one of these. When I was 18 I got to drive an ’84 GSL. K8 paint. A buddy I worked with got one. At the time, I was driving a dumpy little V8 Monza (I actually loved that car. V8 sounds. two-wheel peal clutch posi). It was fun. My buddy was telling me how nice this car drove. I tried it out and thought it drove so well. Balanced, nimble, sleek, unpretentious. I remember being so surprised by how great it was. Life went on. Lot’s of adventures. Years passed. I married a girl. Best thing I ever did till kids. Pretty lucky. Time went by and I was finally in a place to afford to waste money on building cars.
I started on an ’87 Omni GLH. Built my first engine; a turbo engine that was easy to make power in. It was super fun. I moved on to building a few cars I had around me, SRT4, Chevy Vega GT, BMW 325ti (Actually a 318ti with a Z3 drivetrain swap), BMW 325i Champ Car. 15 yrs ago I found a weathered GSL-SE with the interior disassembled and half the engine sitting inside it. Bought it for $500. It sat at my buddy’s place on a trailer since then. I had a couple kids. They take so much focus… BUT in the back of my mind sat this Rx7 I’d bought, just sitting up on a trailer like a dirty little secret. If you all are similar to me, you have a weird sorta empathy for cars. Here was a car I’d just left abandoned. I had to figure a way to wedge this project into my schedule to build on it.
This summer I took my 15 yr. old son, Kai, to a car show at our MN State Fair Grounds. As we were walking around I saw a line of Rx7’s so we walked over that way. My son says, ‘These are my favorite cars’. I look over at him. I realized I’d never talked about my secret. I say, ‘Ya know, I actually own one of these’ - He looks at me with shock - *WHAT??* … Well it needs work. Paint, interior, engine, it’s been sitting for 20 yrs. so pretty much every system has to be rebuilt - Brakes, fuel lines, fuel tank, bushings, let alone a complete engine build. I told him if you’re serious and willing to put in the time with me, we can build it together and it’s yours to drive around. Obviously he has no idea what we’re getting into, youthful exuberance. LOL. YES LET’S DO IT!!
So we bring it home to my shop. The mice have really lived in this thing! We ended up pulling the rest of the interior out and started stripping the paint. What gets uncovered is an nearly perfect, rust-free GSL-SE. Guys, I’m like why did I wait this long! This car is incredible! Ok ok to temper that there are a few interior parts missing. We had to toss the mouse pee laden carpet. The interior is going to be tough. We took the engine apart and discovered where the firewall insulation from under the dash went.
This is what it looked like in BOTH housings. No wonder it didn’t turn over! We found another half dozen nests all around the car. Here’s one behind the rear bumper shock in the frame rail. Mouse house in the frame rail
Now we’re stripping the paint. Here’s a couple pix:
Well what we’ve uncovered really shocked me. This car is so CLEAN! I’m in MN. Cars like this rust away but this one is almost perfect. I thought for sure we’d open the engine and find chattered housings and pitted irons. I’ve built a few engines, this is my first Rotary, and so far I’m blown away at how interesting this engine is. So we’ve got some plans. A street port. Header. Swap in Miata gears for a closer ratio. Rack and pinion swap. More to come on all of these things. I’m hoping to contribute to the group’s collective knowledge in exchange for benefiting from it. Glad to be here.
I really enjoyed reading your thread and look forward to seeing updates on the car. It would be awesome to see a build thread on the car in the 1st Gen Builds section. Is your GSL-SE and 84 or an 85? Its super awesome that you and your son are working on the car together!
My kids refer to the rx-7 as their favorite car too. Melts my heart... Have a great time doing this when your son decides to participate. He'll never forget it!
