Hey all.

So, I found a deal on a 1980 RX-7. She's rough but I managed to get it for $600CAD. Engine was locked but I've managed to free it up and actually get it running (poorly) and driving (fun!). Hoping for some guidance as I try to bring it back to some former glory!

Someone painted (badly) over the Solar Gold Metallic paint...which is unfortunate.

 

Welcome to the club, and congratulations on getting this car running again!

Do you have any pictures of it all cleaned up? How's the interior?

 

i pray the heavens grant you the strength needed to see this through. you are doing a great service to FELIX and the rotary community.

 

I'll grab some pics tonight....but it is ROUGH. Seats are shot (and not bolted to anything), radio is gone, carpet is toast...it will need a lot of love. And so, I'm trying to figure out if mechanically it's good enough to put that effort into.

The fellow I bought it from actually had it partially torn apart because he was trying to swap the rotary for a Ford V8...crazy.

 

Radio is easy to replace with aftermarket
Carpet kits are available through ACC.
Seats can either be reupholstered (racing beat sells a kit), or find a set from someone else on marketplace for cheap.
Overall, if it's not incredibly rusty, runs and drives, you're doing pretty well for a $600CAD, 45 year old car!

 

Welcome to forum

 

I wasn't kidding when I said it was ROUGH



I haven't spent any time inside yet (clearly). Just trying to get it to run properly first.

 

Welcome

 

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new RX-7!! Looks to be a GS trim level, which is a plus. Its rough but not as bad as some. At least you were able to get it running. It would be amazing to see the car restored and painted back to its original color. I have a 1980 Leather Sport in Solar Gold and the color is just beautiful in the sun!





Your car being a GS would not have had the Solar Gold painted wheels and leather interior. It wouldn't look much different. This is what you car would have looked like originally:

 

Thanks for the inspirational pics, that looks great! It's in desperate need of tires...what tires are on yours in that last picture? I'm having trouble finding anything for these 13" wheels.

Edit: Just re-read your post and realized that is not your car but an example of what mine would have looked like. Still interested to see what tires everyone is using on these 13" wheels.

 

13" tires have become nearly unobtainable in the past few years. Your options are typically something from the asian market (phillipines, vietnam, thailand) of some unknown brand, or R compound race tires. At one point you could get Toyo tires in 13's, but i haven't seen those around in a long time.
The other still available option are BFG, if you can stomach the huge white lettering.

 

The RWL on the BFG's are actually appropriate for cars of the 70's / 80's. Guess you had to live through the era to appreciate them. If you don't care for the look, you can always turn the letters to the inside, just like they used to do with white walls.

 

The pictures of the Leather Sport are of my car. The last picture is of a standard 1980 GS in Solar Gold. That's what your car would have looked like before the copper colored paint job.

The tires on my car are Kuhmo Solus tires in 185/70/13. They were put on a few years back and have less than 2000 miles on them.