Back story: My son is now 13, he as been getting interested in cars, and is a GranTurismo addict. So I decided to teach him the real thing. Last year I picked up a few project FD's from irresponsible twenty-something American military members that were neglected to nearly the point of no return with the mission of putting them back on the road. Rotaries are getting very few and far between here in JDM land in comparison to what it once was, and I am happy to say we put 3 back on the road last year finding them responsible adult owners. I would have made money shredding them for parts but was happy to take a small loss and do it this way. Over here in Japan buying RX-7's is cheap, but the overall cost of ownership is much higher, so this results in a high percentage of young FD owners that have no idea what they are getting into, and needless part outs. Try to mentor when ever possible, but when it gets out of hand I buy them and try piece them together. Wanted to start sharing the build experiences.

This car:

The Bad:
The previous owner let it sit for a 8 months. The alternator had went bad and took most of the dash with it. The AC controls, stereo, clock panel, and gauge cluster were dead. Black smoke from running rich. Squishy squeaky tall stock suspension. Needed new brakes. Factory 16x7J wheels and bad tires.

The good:
C Series motor. Good compression. Legit 32.XXX documented kilometers (19k miles) on the odo. Cold AC.

Work done:
*New Alternator
*All new belts
*New fluids
*New Air Filter
*New Spark Plugs
*New Performance Ceramic Brake Pads
*Replaced the AC controls
*Replaced the clock panel
*Replaced the CD player
*Replaced the speakers (has factory amps so that was ridiculous : /)
*Replaced burnt up capacitors and diodes in the gauge cluster to keep the mileage legit, this took several months of trial and error
*Installed Auto-exe adjustable suspension (Sold serialized new in 2007)
*Set of 4 9J 18" Enkei wheels with 245 tires

Bottom Line:
Everything working, and running great now. Was a real leap of financial faith to start fixing this one... the over/under on parting it out was significant, out of pure luck everything else on the car was great, I should break even when I find it a home. Was great to actually fix one instead of killing it for its unicorn horn. In the late 90's personally sent over 100 of these to their grave poaching their goodies, even more indirectly. There were only approximately 3550 of these ever made. Curious to know how many there still are on the road, would bet it is under 1000 at this point. When we changed the spark plugs and air filter, it ran like a brand new car immediately. This thing pulls way harder than any of the other Cosmos I have had. The dash was a real challenge but my son, and I both learned quite a bit. The Auto-exe suspension totally transformed the car, without it the car is a squishy mess, with it would say it handles on par with a stock FD. The wheels turned out to be a great fit for the car and the color IMO, was worried they might be too big. Overall was a great experience.

 

Very nice looking Cosmo

 

Beautiful

 

My favorite rotary for sure, there's a guy selling one near me that I would grab if I had the cash. How much are you looking to get for yours out of curiosity? Pretty easy to import Japanese cars into the west coast of Canada now.

 

Nice Car!!! i really like the yellow rx3 nose on the wall of the shop!!! im old school you know

 

My eye also caught the rx3 nose on the wall... of course im looking for parts for mine is why

 

Really nice story. The community, in Japan especially, needs more people with this mindset. Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks everyone.

An assault riffle is the only thing that would get that particular RX-3 nose off my buddys wall.

 

zoiks!

also, beautiful car. i had no idea there were so few built. love the way you tell the story and put the decision, "unicorn horn". very apt.

 

im glad to see a 20B in the awesomeness where it belongs, instead of another one that's being wrecked just for the engine

 

One of my dream cars. Congrats on the find (wow 19k miles!), and nice job saving one from rotting away.

It all a matter of taste, but I'd probably lose the wheels for something a little smaller/old school and less blingy....Like maybe those series8 FD wheels I spy.
Whatever happens, NICE CAR!

 

They look better in person than in the photo, the color really works with the car. The bling factor is not nearly what I thought it would be. The stock wheels had bad tires and a little oxidation, just was not worth the budget to get them restored. Had these wheels and tires sitting around already. That will be on the new owner to decide if he wants to go back OEM.

Stock series 8 FD wheels do not look better than the Cosmo OEM wheels.

Here is a photo I took at the Mazda museum in Hiroshima showing the stock configuration. I was pretty amused with the fact that it was the same year, color and option packages as mine.

 

Agree to disagree

 

On looks alone. Very much so.

You have no choice but to use them or larger because of your brakes. Functionally 17x8.5J ultra lightweight -vs- 16x7J they definitely have the nod.