Pele2048

MOD NOTE: Test post. I will delete later on.

I remember back when I got my first RX-7.
I was 17 and in my Senior year of High School...

Let me give you a little bit of history:

Now, I had always been into cars since I was a little kid. My dad taught me a lot because he used to do his own repair work. We'd do maintenance and also major work like engine and transmission rebuilds. I knew how an engine worked... Well, a 4 stroke piston engine anyhow...

In talking with other car people, I had always heard of these strange Mazda engines with no pistons.

Flash forward to Christmas 1999. I was gonna graduate High School in June of 2000.
My mom had found me the perfect present... It was gonna combine my 18th birthday, Christmas, and Graduation in one... This little gray 1985 Mazda RX-7 GSL.


First things first, I popped the hood.
"Mazda Rotary Engine" was written on the top of the air cleaner.

WTF? Holy crap!
This is one of those weird engines!

I immediately hit up yahoo (Google wasn't invented yet. LOL) and found the club.
I also started researching more about this weird engine.


Turns out the automotive tech teacher at my high school was an ex Mazda tech...
He showed me common problems with my car and how to deal with them... He also showed me an old engine he had for display and demonstration purposes. I was finally able to see how one worked inside.

Later on, I wrecked that car when I was 19 in the summer of 2001.



I went on to purchase a couple more FBs over the years.

One is a long term project involving removing the steering system and swapping in an FC rack and pinion. I'm still not sure how I'll power this one, either a well ported N/A rotary, a Turbo rotary, or an LS1.

The other is a near term project is to turn one into a Spec RX-7 track car.



My current daily driver is an FC... It is a 1986 GXL. I hauled it out of a friend of a friend's grandfather's front yard.

The grandfather had bought it brand new in the Fall of 1985, so it's one of the EARLY 1986 models.

It was rust free and the grandfather took good care of it. Later on, the grandfather let his son (Father of the friend of a friend) and grandsons drive it...
One of the grandsons wrecked it (Minor front end damage.) and it sat in the yard for a few years because they were planning on fixing it up.

Over time, the tags and registration expired and they had to get rid of it.

I took it for $250, changed the fluids, and charged the battery. She fired right up. Some fresh tires and she was good for the road.

The paint's faded and it needs a little body work but all in all, it's a reliable daily driver. I plan on doing up the body work sometime within the next two years.

I bought this one because my Honda was down... I think that's the first time anyone will ever say that; the RX-7 is more reliable than a Honda.



So tell me your story. It doesn't have to be this long, but tell me a few things:

How did you get introduced to the RX-7?
Where did you get your RX-7 from?
Have you had any problems with the RX-7?
What are you plans for the RX-7?

What do you know about cars and RX-7s in general?
Who taught you what you know about cars?