Hello all.. My name is Bill and I reside in Ft Worth Texas. I just purchased an 81 RX-7 at an estate sale. It has 46,000 miles and has been sitting in a garage for about 15 years. All the family could tell me about the car is that it was in running condition when it was parked by their father. I'll be starting the clean up process this weekend.. I'll keep you posted!!

 

Bill, welcome aboard to RX-7 Club and congratulations on a rare find! What part o FTW are you in? I'm right around the corner in South Arlington, about ten minutes from Kennedale and the southern portion of FTW. There's also some members that live in FTW but I'm not sure of what part they live in. Lucky for you, the Metroplex does have a strong rotary presence. There's a shop right on Vickery Blvd, south FTW again, that works on just the stock RX-7's in that generation, which we call 1stgen's....your particular year would also be known as an "FB" which comes off the VIN plate. I've got a couple of FB's myself, tho they are an '83 and an '84. I've owned a '79, a couple of '80s, an '82, several '83s and then the yellow '84. 1983 is still my favorite year of the 1stgen RX-7.

Hit the New Member tech section and then input "car" and "start" into the search engine and read up a bit before you try to crank it. At 15 years of sitting with Texas Summers, internal rubber seal degradation is going to be your biggest worry with the engine.

Mario III

 

Mario,

Thanks for the reply.. I'm located in west Ft Worth in Western Hills (Off I-30 and Las Vegas Trail) I have a mechanic out in Mineral Wells that will be helping on the restoration. We're gonna move the car out there this weekend. I've already been doing some reading incase the engine is "locked"... I agree about our hot summers and a possible seal issue.. At least the car has been in a garage the whole time.

Bill

 

Awesome find. Cant wait to see the pictures!

 

Welcome! Once you get it up and running, bring it out to one of the monthly meets!

 

I finally got to take a look tonight. What I was told about having sat for 15 years is inaccurate. The family thought the last inspection was in 95.. It was actually 2005.. So 5 1/2 years is better than 15.. Pic is attached.

 

5 years? You may get lucky on the seals. Looks like a great find, congratulations!

 

I checked for carbon lock, drained the tank, checked the fluids and then hit the key.. It fired right up and setteled into a smooth idle.


It's up and running.. Where and when are the meets?

Thanks, Bill

 

welcome and what a nice find.

 

Great find. and welcome