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This will probably be another overly wordy, story driven thread (much like my FD “build” thread), rather than your typical build thread. [FD build thread for ref: [url]https://www.rx7club.com/build-threads-292/90s-renaissance-restoration-1154197/ ] I won’t retread my entire rotary history here again, I’ll just try and keep this thread more Cosmo-centric. Also, since this car isn’t much of a “project,” I wouldn’t consider this much of a “Build” thread, but more of an Ownership Log of the car. With that said, here’s the story (for those who don’t care about the background, the actual info on the car starts in post #2):
The Background
As with most of the people here, I would say the RX line of cars has been the main focal point of my rotary addiction, but there has always been one other model of Mazda rotaries that has intrigued me, The Cosmo. Particularly, for me, the JC chassis. The main draw to the chassis was obviously the 20B…to be honest, the rest of the car is pretty MeH (big, luxury, heavy, auto gearbox…doesn’t really scream enthusiast car). Using the car in Gran Turismo and Gran Turismo 2 didn’t really change my viewpoint on them. They were cool cause we never got them in the states, but that was about the extent of my affection for the car. That changed slightly in the winter of 2002.
A group of friends decided to take a ride out to a new import performance shop that had just opened up (ironically within walking distance of my college dorm room). There I got to see my first 20B in person, and it just so happened to still be sitting in the JC front-cut the owner had bought just to get the engine. [Side note, not only did the owner of this ship show me my first 20B, later he would own the first JC Cosmo I would see in person…. oh, and it was also through him I got to see, hear, ride in my first 4 rotor car as well. Needless to say, it’s been good knowing him] This was at the time that 3 rotor swaps were still about as rare as 4 rotor swaps are today, so this was a pretty big deal. It was very interesting seeing the futuristic dash and what was left of the original car, but it was still just a half-cut, so it didn’t really do much to increase interest much more. Anyhow, the cars weren’t available here and were illegal to import, so there was no real reason to get attached to the chassis. That was until..
The Hunt
Sometime around 2015, I realized the 90s cars were becoming legal. I had started to see a couple people had already started to import 1989 GR-Rs when it hit me….the JC was now eligible. Now, full disclosure, at the time, I had no true intentions of being able to buy one of these things. I barely scraped enough money together to purchase my terrible FD a few short years prior to this point. But as car guys do, I started to research the chassis a bit more. Very quickly in my research I came across a build thread from a guy in the air force stationed in Okinawa:
Unfortunately, the links to most of the pictures have been broken, but suffice to say, I was in love with this car. Based on all the research I had done, this was my ideal Cosmo. The owner had a propensity for rare parts, just like me, and most importantly, it was MANUAL swapped! The car had everything to take it from a boring luxury yacht to a true enthusiast car. I was so enamored with this particular car, that I actually stopped looking at the cars as a viable candidate to import for myself…..I would have always just been comparing it to THIS car, and I never would have been truly happy with any old Cosmo. So, the “dream” kinda died off. A year or so later, the old owner of that little speed shop ended up getting a JC, so I was now able to see one in person. I must say, pictures do not do these cars justice. They are much better looking cars in person. Ironically, his Cosmo had quite a lot in common with the JC in Oki, but there were a couple key features the Oki car had that this car did not….this only confirmed my suspicion that no other Cosmo was going to do “it” for me. Since I assumed the owner of the Oki car (which had now moved back to the states and brought the car with him) was never going to sell the car, I figured I’d just never own one. Until…..
Last edited by REnaissance_Sle7in; 05-02-23 at 07:29 AM.
Seemingly out of the blue, the owner of the car posted it up for sale on here. Unfortunately, even though my financial situation had gotten much better and much more stable, I still felt the price would have been a bit too much of a stretch. But to my surprise, no one bought it (even though I thought it was very fairly priced). So the price kept being lowered, and lowered, and lowered….and still no one bit. I couldn’t believe it. The price got to a point where I was comfortable, so I had to jump on it. It was still a bit of a stretch for me financially, but it wouldn’t be a burden, and I felt if things went bad, I could just sell the car without taking a loss. So we agreed, and the car was on it’s way to me.
The owner of the car was nice enough to raise the car up for the transport, and also stuffed as many of the spares he had. Great guy, and the type of person you want to buy a car from. I still talk with him periodically, and he is still around in the Cosmo Owners Group, where he was a great contributor to the group.
Anyhow, here’s how the car sat as I bought it for anyone who does not want to go back through the old thread, quoted from the FS post:
On to the good stuff. It's a 1990, first year made, 100% US legal and landed on American soil August of last year.
The chassis currently has 94,280KM's (58,582 miles) on it, unknown mileage on the block (see paragraph below), It's originally a tan interior, E-CCS car which has been converted to black interior to match the JDM RX-8 Type-S Recaro seats. The CCS components have all been removed as the CCS touchscreen unit had quit working and I preferred to have a modern touchscreen installed instead that would work 100% of the time. I still have ALL of the tan interior parts as well as all the CCS components should someone feel the need to revert back.
I bought the vehicle already converted to 5 speed, using a FC3S transmission. The swap looks to have been very well executed as it has never given me major issues in my 3 years of ownership from spirited drives, to the occasional HPDE and autocross event.
The engine is also from a later model Cosmo, serial number C694. No worrying about the weaker A-series 20B's, this motor is very healthy and stout.
Air conditioning DOES work, and works great still using the original R12 coolant.
I've used all AMSoil fluids in the car since I've owned it, and have also been premixing AMSoil 2 stroke along with the factory OMP. Since I've been in America I've been mixing 100 octane and 91 octane to try and mimic the fuel it used to run in Japan.
Overall, the car has been absolutely great for me, and hosts a plethora of near impossible to find parts. Below is mod list that I can remember to the best of my knowledge, though I may miss a few things here and there.
ENGINE/DRIVETRAIN
FC3S 5 speed gearbox conversion
Exedy Single Clutch
AutoExe intake
PanSpeed titanium exhaust, turbo outlet back, 40 lbs total, 1 of 6 produced
RE Amemiya ECU Type B
Evo 7 intercooler
Carbing radiator cooling plate
13B Cosmo rear diff w/ Mazdaspeed 2-way LSD
Koyo Copper radiator
Samco silicon upper/lower radiator hoses
Aftermarket spark plug wires
SuperNow finned transmission oil pan
CHASSIS/SUSPENSION/BRAKES/WHEELS
Aragosta coilover/Swift Springs
All rear pillowball bushings replaced in Nov 2014
Polyurethane bushings installed in rear arms Dec 2014
R32 GT-R calipers, JZA80 StopTech slotted rotors/Rear brakes: slotted Dixcel rotors
Carbing front strut bar
AutoExe front and rear under chassis braces
Polished R33 GT-R wheels w/ Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 tires (less than 100 miles on them)
Morimoto XB55 HID ballasts
EXTERIOR
Garage Rock On Produce front air dam
Factory option neon lit side skirts, rear skirts, and wing
INTERIOR
350mm Nardi Steering Wheel
JDM RX-8 Type S Recaro seats (mounted to factory power sliding rails)
GReddy Profec Boost Controller
Defi ZD All-in-one digital gauge
JBR weight shift ****
Off the top of my head that's all I can remember from scanning through pictures.
Now since it is a 25+ year old car, it does have some issues:
-Hood shocks need to be regassed or replaced, both have failed to hold the hood up.
-Paint looks 95% great, but clear is peeling on the front bumper and is fading on the trunk. Trunk also has rust near the middle mounting post of the spoiler. I have a replacement wingless trunk to go with the car.
-ABS and e-brake light occasionally flash on when applying brakes. I've attributed this to the front brake swap, it has zero effect on driveability.
-Driver's side window switched is cracked (extremely common issue), and the driver's side door arm pad has cracked.
Now that you see the mod list, what is it about this car that makes it so much better than other JCs? I don’t really know, and there isn’t one single thing. For me, the combination of (first and foremost) the exterior combo of the factory kit + the Garage R’ock On half bumper is the best styling combo for these cars. Add the rare parts (Aragosta, Carbing, AutoEXE, Mazdaspeed, and most impressively the Panspeed exhaust. Some of this stuff would be virtually impossible to find ever again (Cosmo stuff isn’t really easy to come by in general). Add to that, it is an ECCS car, but I’m not a very big fan of Tan interior, so the transition to black is a huge plus for me. The RX-8 seats are the chef’s kiss to the interior, and it seems like Will was the only one who was able to really get these seats to work with the electronic controls. It should also probably be said that I was really connected to this car, because it was the first Cosmo that I had gotten really invested in the build thread of. Like I said earlier though, I’ve seen and been in other JCs, and for whatever reason, I just don’t connect with them the way I have with this particular car.
Anyhow, back to delivery day. The car showed up on at probably 2:15PM on a Saturday, and I had to be at work by 3:00PM. So I had just enough time to get the car off the hauler, get my plate on it, and head to work. I must say, I’m glad it was the weekend, because it definitely took some getting used to driving on the wrong side of the car. I found myself veering into the left lane a bit at first while driving on the highway. Especially on the left had sweeping turns. But, man, what an experience. And of course, as I walked in, the operator I was relieving for the night was the first person to make a comment to me, saying, “we make water, not deliver mail”. I give him credit…..it was much better than the “yOu’rE On THe wrOnG sIDe” comment that you tend to get at nausea. I had to take a picture as I went to leave. Seeing it all light up side skirt was certainly a cool sight. As you can see, it was still in monster truck mode, but I’d change that as soon as I could.
The first free day I had from work, I took the car up to a friend’s house who had a bit more of a comfortable driveway to deal with the ride height. The PO had told me how many turns he brought the suspension up to get it onto the hauler, so I figured I’d just reverse the process…….well, that doesn’t exactly work for PA roads. Hell, I couldn’t even make it out of my friend’s very flat driveway. So I had to compromise. The car was raised up a couple more turns….but man did it look good at the ride height the PO had.
My other buddy decided to show up unannounced and one-up me on a new car purchase. Ironically, he is now an FD owner as well.
From here, it was basically just learn and enjoy the car. I must say, as bad of an experience I had with purchasing my FD sight unseen, the purchase of this car was exactly the opposite. It was the ideal car, and I purchased from the ideal seller for a deal like this.
The first car event I was able to take the car to was a Father’s Day car meet. It was pretty cool to have the car out with my dad, because I feel that he is a big reason I have gone down this rabbit hole of rotary ownership. I still call and yell at him when I inevitably spend way too much money on a part or service for one of these cars. I wanted to be a Nissan Z guy, but he told me to get this other little red sports car back when I was 16.
I also was able to meet up with the “other” Pittsburgh JC Cosmo (the old rotary shop owner I mentioned earlier).
Last edited by REnaissance_Sle7in; 05-02-23 at 07:34 AM.
The next big event for the car was a trip to The Dragon. I had missed DGRR for that year, but luckily I had some local friends who were planning a trip down, so I was finally able to experience the area. It was awesome.
Though, this did come at the expense of the first hic-up for the car. On the way down, the Greddy Profec decided to lose its mind. Luckily, Addicted Performance was sill in operation back then, and they were able to quickly source me a new one, and also help coach me on tuning it a bit better. If you look closely, you can almost make out David Hayes awesome FD in the background of this pic
From there it was mainly just enjoying the car, and take it out to some Cars and Coffee events, and other gatherings around Pittsburgh.
Even took the car past my old dorm room where lived when I still had my first FC.
Just before putting the car away in the summer of ’19, I came across the second issue that had developed with the car. A bushing on the driver’s side window regulator started to disintegrate. A fairly common problem with these cars. I ended up taking a Delrin replacement for a Miata, and used a wheel grinder at work to widdle it down to fit the Cosmo regulator. It’s not perfect, and there is still a slight bit of play in the window, but I was able to jump on a group buy for some 3d printed replacements from a member of the owners group. So one day, I’ll end up taking it apart and replacing it for the better fitting part.
After getting that straightened away over the winter, it was time to do a break fluid flush, coolant flush, and oil change to finally be able to attend my first DGRR.
I had always wanted to attend this event, almost since it’s inception, so finally being there was a great feeling. It was everything I had hoped it would be. Great to sit in on the discussions and great to put faces to usernames I had seen for almost 20 years.
The Great USA Cosmo Owners Meet-Up 2019
Cool little side note here: The couple that brought this red JC actually knew the PO of my car and were friends with him while they were all in Okinawa. Pretty cool to connect with them and hear memories they had of the car while it was still in Japan. Stuff like this is just more conformation that this was the 'right' JC for me.
Those who were there may remember this year as the year of the bad gas. There were several instances of fuel pumps going bad, and injectors getting clogged. My car did stumble and shutter one morning while going from the Microtel to Nantahala Village. It was enough to spook me into taking it very easy the rest of the trip. Then after the damn Dam photo, the car wouldn’t start at all….luckily it turned out to be just a loose battery connection, and I was able to tighten that up and have an incident free rest of the trip.
Last edited by REnaissance_Sle7in; 05-02-23 at 07:41 AM.
From there, it was more of just enjoying the car again for the next two years. Covid obviously canceling DGRR 2020, however, I did get some good news. My FD finally came back from IRP. It was the first time I was able to see the two next to each other. Its amazing how the Cosmo is relatively small by today’s car standards…..yet it looks HUGE next to the FD haha.
The next big event for the car was back to DGRR in 2021.
The Great Cosmo Meet-Up 2021. The Merc was a Toro rental one of the Cosmo owners had rented while his JC was being built. It should be one of the badest JCs ever done once completed.
Unfortunately, this is where the car developed it next issue. Much like the FD, the JC clusters are notorious for dying. It was here that my tach began to be ‘lazy’.
Luckily, I had just met the Cosmo guru who is our go-to guy for these repairs (that dude in the Merc I just mentioned), how convenient.
Family additions kept me away from DGRR 2022, but I was still able to take the car to some Cars and Coffee events, and the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix.
Over the past winter, I was able to finally get the dash out to send off for repair. This is where the story is currently. It has been fun to split time between the FD and the JC. Both are so different, yet so cool in their own ways. I hope to keep both of these cars forever.
Last edited by REnaissance_Sle7in; 05-02-23 at 07:43 AM.
I hope you took care of the TWS Unit too, they seem to have the same issue with failing capacitors after 30 years.
Whenever I hear about someone with a Cosmo, I always suggest investing in this. But I am a little biased since I wrote it...
And if you still had the Car Communication System components, it has the self-diagnosis procedure too. Truth be told, how it works is more akin to an E38 than a FC or FD.
Plus, LCD retrofit repairs are on the horizon too. Anthony has done amazing things to make it happen, I just wish that stubborn streak of perfectionism would relax slightly in order to use a readily-available LCD touchscreen instead of the specialized one he was using during development. There's a lot of merit to having parts show up in a couple days instead of "maybe in a few months". If I had a copy of the CCS firmware, I might be able to write an English version too.
As the proverb goes, a good painter knows when to stop painting.
Yeah, I'll grab one of the manuals off of you one of these days. I've been meaning to get one since you translated it.
I didn't take the TWS out....yet. That's actually one of the things that is holding me up on sending out my cluster. I haven't had a chance to get back to the car and take that out as well.
As for the CCS, unfortunately that was removed (failed) shortly after Will got the car. If I remember correctly, I believe he actually sent it off to Ant for him to use as a guanine pig for his research into replacing it, but I could be wrong.
Today's as good of a day as any, Carpe Diem and all that. I'm taking a much-deserved day off after finishing up all of the text on the FD Wiring Book. For me, Carpe Defessus
05-01-23, 03:12 PM
