I recently picked up a 1980 RX7, which is my first rotary engine car. It is a 5-speed, A/C, with 103,000 miles. It looks to be un-modified and has been well maintained, based on the service records that were in the glove box. The car has been owned from new by one family and has been sitting un-used in a dry garage since 1999. The owner was a widow who lived across the street from me for 20 years and I had never seen the car until she asked if I would help her clean out her garage. She told me she stopped driving it after hitting the garage door track with the left front fender, causing the large dent.




I have already read a lot of the threads on here regarding the things to do prior to try to start it and I am currently checking things off of that list. I just recently removed the fuel tank and am working on that.

Since I am a long time Mopar enthusiast and have never touched one of these, I know I will have plenty of questions and am looking forward to tapping into the collective knowledge and experience of this community.

Thanks,
Jim

 

Welcome Jim, looks like a great car you acquired. Good luck, looking forward to some updates. Maybe make a build thread to track your progress?

 

Welcome to forum

 

Welcome to the forum!! What an incredible car to find! The car can be brought back to a roadworthy condition fairly easily. Would love to see a restoration thread in the 1st Gen section detailing everything you do to the car! If you have any questions we will be happy to answer them as well!

 

Wow, looks like a very nice, un molested car. A GS model in Tornado Silver. I have an 80 the same color as well. Some more pics of the interior and engine bay would be nice. The fender should be fairly easy to fix.

 

Thanks, it is a very unmolested car. I have taken a lot of pictures since I want this to be a "survivor" instead of a restoration. I have attached some pictures but let me know if you have any specific areas you would like to see and I be happy to post them.

 

Looks good. Some interior shots would be nice too. A little elbow grease under the hood could help the engine bay to better match the exterior, changing the overall presentation of the car. Never know you may have something like this lurking underneath.

 

That engine bay is beautifully restored! Is that yours?

I have to get mine running and mechanically sound before I start detailing.

 

Yes, thats my 80. Word of caution, this is what happens when you clean one spot and it stands out against everything else around it.

 

I did the same thing in my 80 as well. Cleaned one spot and ended up cleaning the rest because inwas having a good time:



Once that was done I moved on to the car parked next to it and thought that I could just tidy up a little and ended up with a mostly clean engine bay as well:



So definitely beware as you can wind up spending an afternoon cleaning an engine bay. You'll get some music going and get in a rhythm and before you know it you won't want to stop. It can be addicting.

 

I am impressed with the photos of what some cleaning can do.

Any tips or tricks that you would like to share regarding the clean-up? Cleaning products and techniques that you used would be appreciated.

 

What to use depends on what you're cleaning and what condition it's in. There is no shortage of products out there and new things are introduced all the time. I use the term "elbow grease" because it's usually not as easy as spray it on and wipe it off until after you get it into shape, Getting it there is normally a process, with steps that can include disassembly, polishing and painting. Couple shots of my detail cart and some products. Its like having a well stocked tool box, only for cleaning/detailing.