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Hello everyone!
I recently picked up an 88 FC that belongs to my friend. Ten years ago, the car was parked out at his dad's property, and in years since he and I have always talked longingly of good times we had, and our plans to someday put it back on the road.
Well, he lives 13 hours away now so it seems those dreams would never come true.
Earlier this year, I was doing a job down the road from his dad's, and drove past the car every morning for a week. At the end of that week, I called him and told him I'm taking the car.
A month or so later, the dream has begun. In the process of stripping it down and rebuilding it (not quite from the ground up), that love and joy of rotary life has me swept back up.
So, as I said, it's good to finally join the club.
very nice fc, welcome. what's the story on the car? what was the reason it got parked? any specific plans for it?
So here's the story.
Few years before purchasing this car, friend had an 88 GXL that he put $14K into a custom engine/tranny/exhaust built by rx7specialties. Right after break-in, he crashed it street racing. Never did get to really open it up. So we pulled the motor.
Picked up this 7, and the day after we picked it up the apex seals went. Seller was nice enough to refund us half the money, but we were now stuck in Vancouver. Fortunately Staffs Auto (who specialize in rotaries) we're just down the road and squeezed us in for a rebuild, understanding our situation (being stranded 12 hrs from home).
Well, about a year into owning this one, the water pump went. My friend and I figured, "well, perfect time to swap in the custom motor."
Unfortunately for us, being in our early twenties meant cocaine was eating all our money lol. We ended up snorting the rent money.
That was the alarm bell that caused my friend to move away to get his life together. So he parked the car at his dad's, and I carried on for another 8-9 years before recovering myself.
As far as plans, I mean it's a 7, the sky is the limit lol. For now, I'm working on the stock n.a. engine and restoring it to road worthiness by myself to learn the ins and outs of this car. If the stock engine fires, sweet then I can get a feel for what gremlins grew after 10 years in the bush.
If not, then rebuild the aftermarket engine and drop it in.
So far, the car has been full of good surprises. Its really dry where we live, and the car was fresh painted and undercoated before we bought it so there's negligible rust. Little bit of body work to do (fender got crunched, paints scratched, rust on drivers door). But mechanically everything so far has held up well.
Doing the standard preemptive work of replacing all vac and cooling lines, belts, redoing brakes, clutch slave was stuck so it's being replaced, flush and change all fluids, ounce or two of Marvel Mystery oil every couple days with a hand crank to loosen apex seals.
My only concern right now is that the water seals inside the engine are toast, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
Welcome! Quite a wild story behind that car! It looks like it will be an awesome project! I'll look for a build thread in the 2nd gen section when you get started on it!!
08-25-19, 08:01 PM
