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Completely new to restoring cars and decided to buy a 1979 rx7 from a junkyard to be my first...... I don't regret it.... sometimes. Fresh from the junkyard A quick wash later
welcome. very nice find. body looks to be in great condition. i see it was manufactured in 79. the first wave of rx7s for the 1st yr 79 model were actually manufactured in 78, i had one. hood prop is on what is for us the passenger side. manufacture date on the one i had was 8/78. so what's the plan? done anything with it so far?
Should be an ID tag on the drivers door jam which lists the mfg month and year. 79 production ended in June 79 and 80 production began. Looks to me like the car might actually be an 80. There are some interior bits from 80 and the engine looks to be an 80 as well. Is your distributor electronic or points? Looks like its electronic to me.
Welcome to the forum!! What an incredible car to rescue and restore!! Do you know any of the car's history? The car looks much better after the wash. I'd love to see a restoration thread on the car in the 1st Gen section!
I agree with Banzai about it being a 1980. I can see the ignitor box under thr hood and the 85 mph speedometer. Both are indicators of a 1980 model year RX-7.
welcome. very nice find. body looks to be in great condition. i see it was manufactured in 79. the first wave of rx7s for the 1st yr 79 model were actually manufactured in 78, i had one. hood prop is on what is for us the passenger side. manufacture date on the one i had was 8/78. so what's the plan? done anything with it so far?
No not much, so far I’ve scrubbed cleaned the interior and made a list of everything that is “questionable” or “needs to be replaced” I plan to keep it mostly stock aside from better suspension. The manufacturer date is 9/79
Welcome to the forum!! What an incredible car to rescue and restore!! Do you know any of the car's history? The car looks much better after the wash. I'd love to see a restoration thread on the car in the 1st Gen section!
I agree with Banzai about it being a 1980. I can see the ignitor box under thr hood and the 85 mph speedometer. Both are indicators of a 1980 model year RX-7.
I found a ton of receipts on the car, however a lot of it was destroyed due to sun damage and age, they all date back to when the car was first bought, and parts from shops. The previous owner was a father who really cared about the car (according to receipts, and a keychain that says “DAD’S CAR”) but it was abandoned for around 20ish years since the last receipt was dated 1999. Eventually it found its was in a junkyard. I do plan to restore the car back in working order, keeping it stock, I’m just doing my research if it’s worth buying Mazda oe parts, or going with alternative brands.
The good thing about the car is that it likely has no rust being from California. Here in Ohio we don't get much sun damage but the car's rust and are difficult to restore.
It does sound like the car was once very much loved. The RX-7 decal on the front header panel is very rare and is original to the car. Most I've seen are black in color.
As for original Mazda parts, many are no longer available. It is worth it to buy Mazda parts in most cases. Filters amd such it it not. You can always post a want to buy ad here on the forum in the marketplace section reference parts you may need. Im really excited to see your restoration take off!! I love my 80 RX-7 and really enjoy working on it!!
Yes, September of 79 means it's actually a 1980 model. Most manufactures introduced the next model year cars in the fall. Mazda started 80 production in June. 79 and 80 models are 95% the same. Both years are known as SA's in reference to the SA22C prefix in the VIN. 80's do have a few single model year only parts on them. The electronic ignition setup, chrome trim caps on the upper door pull and 2 small rubber bumper pads on the lower, rear bumper.
OEM parts are nice, but as Dave said, a lot of things are NLA from Mazda. Things like brake pads, starters and such are available aftermarket, but if you need body or interior or a lot of other things, you are left searching for parts off other cars. This site is a good resource to network and find needed parts.
06-25-22, 03:53 PM
Noob here from California
