Hi everyone,

I'm sort of new to the forum, and I'm sort of new to rotaries, but I thought I'd post some stuff about this project I'm working on.

It's a 1973 RX-3 that was built into a rallycar in about 1989/1990. It was built up in the northwest and ran in rallies there for about 10 years, and then was sold and moved to SoCal, where it ran for another couple of years. Then it was parked, and didn't move until I got it a few months ago.

After talking to the latest owner, I asked around, and a bunch of people I know from the Pacific Northwest rally community jumped in and said they knew the car. Here's what I've been able to glean:

It was a rolling rust-free runner when the conversion was done. The cage is a bolt-in SafetyDevices cage that is FIA-certified. The engine is an early 13B that was apparently built by Rick Engman, with a street port that supposedly turns around 250Hp. The engine may have run Pikes Peak in 1985 or so - no confirmation. It's got a dual-barrel Weber on it. The transmission is out of a Turbo RX-7. The rear end is a Dana 30 out of a Volvo, with a custom four-link (five, if you count the panhard). All four disc brakes and the steering rack are also out of a Volvo.

Here're pictures of the car, sitting where it was for 10 years:




It's a 73, but the nose is off a later car:


It was probably changed because of damage:


The rear is, um...rough. It's basically just a piece of sheetmetal with the the lights screwed in (crookedly):


You can't see much here, but the front towers have been seriously reinforced, and that's a dual-draft Weber on it:


Looking inside:


Instrument cluster:


Center console:



Anyway, I loaded it up and took it home:

 

So, I got it home, and the first thing was to take out the seats so I could get access to everything inside and have a closer look.

After rolling it off the trailer and winching it in the garage, I found I'd been sitting on this:


Out those went, along with the ancient harnesses and rollbar padding.


The first thing I found was that the passenger's side of the rear center hump had been vigorously bashed. I'm not even sure what it's supposed to look like, but it's clearly not like this:


Next I noticed that the driver's side floorpan was a little bucked:


Looking outside, I can see that it must've landed on something and crushed the sill in:


Oddly, the top of the sill is straight, which is what makes me think it landed on something rather than hit something:


Here's a shot of one of the custom upper trailing arms, with its plastic boot. I'm going to box that in. You can also see the foot of the bolt-in SafetyDevices cage. The plate the foot is bolted to is securely welded to the frame, which is very good.


Here's the front foot. You can't really see it, but again it's bolted to a very well done plate:


The half-lateral is bolted to the main hoop in the patented SafetyDevices manner:


...as is the windshield bar to the half-lat. It's also got an extra tube gusset.

 

So the next thing was to get it up on jackstands and take a look at the underside.

Here's the right front hub:


Its brake caliper:


And the inside:


I have pictures of the left side too, but it's identical (and in identical shape). Here's the strut though, and you can sorta see that the tower's been stitchwelded:


Moving to the rear, here's the left lower trailing arm and shock mount:


And the left upper trailing arm mount:


The axle is definitely a Dana 30 with a Volvo 1030 diff:


It leaks and apparently ran out of oil and blew, which is why the car was parked for so long. It's got plenty of oil coating the outside though:


You can also see the bent panhard rod in that picture.

That's it for now. I've been working on removing more stuff from the interior, and can post pictures of that if it's interesting. As soon as I can get someone over to help me, I'll pull the rear axle, engine, and transmission and have a look-see at their condition.

 

zoiks!

wonder how well that rear suspension went.. better than the factory leaf springs, i bet.

you going to rally it or get it back on the road?

 

Rally it.

It's going to go back together more or less the same way it was when I got it. I might do a T5 conversion, mostly because I can get good close ratio gearsets for the T5 for about a fifth the price of Mazda ones (and I have two T5's laying around), but I'll have to see.

 

Wow cool , I think I remember seeing this car compete back in Washington rallies years ago. I have photos in my rally album I think of this car but with a different paint scheme , but I distinctly remember the Volvo 5 lug wheels and brake conversion. That is a 1973 front end by the way....keep us updated .

 

Well, here's a pic of it running at Doo Wop 3 in 1998:


(Photo by Jim Culp)

It won 2WD at that event, beating out a certain VW GTI by 20 seconds. Peculiarly, I happen to own that GTI and have been rallying it for several years. I didn't find out the coincidence until just recently.

Here's me running that GTI through "The Cut" at Prescott Rally in 2012:

(Photo by Motorsport Memories)

 

That's a pretty cool RX3 with some interesting modifications. It would be good to see it restored to it's former glory.

 

awesome!! I want to build one myself so i can race the Norra 1000!! lol

 

Front calipers look like Volvo 240 "girling" 4-pot type. I just fitted the same to my RX-3 with 626 "GC" 250mm discs...

 

Awesome!

 

So, the current status is that I took out these nifty white plastic panels covering up the side panels:


and found that the insides had been completely filled with spray-in foam:


I suspect that was in there as a cheap way to seal the fuel tank area and make it a completely separate compartment from the passenger area (required), but I decided to pull it all out for three reasons: 1) I didn't know what kind it was and don't know what its flammable properties are, 2) I wanted to see what kind of condition the frame and the inner side of the body panels are in, and 3) there was a rat's nest in one section. As for the first, I did take a chunk outside and light it on fire; it belched a bunch of black smoke, burned for awhile, and then eventually went out. Still no idea what it is but I don't want that in MY car.

Anyway, here's some of the process:


It's all picked out now, and there's surface rust in there but everything looks pretty good. I'm thinking I'll reach in with a scotchbrite pad and scrape off the surface rust and then follow up with POR15 with a sponge, but it'd be nice to find a sprayable anti-rust process.

I didn't get a chance to work on it this weekend, but I did decide to cut out the cage and redo it with a more modern one. To that extent, I'll pull the engine, trans, driveshaft, the dash, and all the wiring, but leave the rear axle in and front suspension on. Then I'll put the car back down on the ground so the chassis is in a happy settled state (jackstands can cause a twist), cut out the current cage and start working on a new FIA-compliant one.

 

Was this RX-3 ever for sale on ebay 6, 7 , 8 years or so back?

 

I kinda remember see it for sale..

 

Don't think so, but I'm friends with the previous owner so I can ask.

More cleaning done. Gas tank is out (and looks fine). I dropped the rear axle to see if I could get the exhaust out, but since the exhaust is welded into one piece it's topologically impossible to do without removing both the engine and the axle. That's gonna change.

Exhaust is a Racing Beat flange with everything else custom.

Nose is off. I also removed the radsupport/headlight piece. "What?", you say. "That's not supposed to be removeable!" Well, it was completely separated on the driver's side and was only held on by three spot welds on the passenger's side, so it's removeable now. And is, in fact, removed. When I put it back on, I figure I'll make mating flanges so there're capture nuts on the nosepiece and it can bolt on from inside the wheelwell.

The radiator is, uh...well it's got gobs of solder on it. I'll get a new one specifically designed for racing. I'm sort of wondering if a pair of electric fans would work, rather than the belt-driven one off the engine.

The oil cooler is fine.

 

More pics:

Gas tank out, and you can see the cutout for the upper trailing link:


Better view, this is with the shocks off, so at more than full droop:


And from the rear:


Nose off:


And the rad support off:


Radiator:


Driver's side nose horn is mashed:


Passenger's side is pristine:


Intake manifold was ported and then rewelded, probably by Rick:


Gutting the dash:


All the aux wiring is out, just the stock stuff is left. And a lot of dirt.


There're two rear strut towers. The little one mimics the Volvo location. The tall one is, obviously, the original:


More pics as I work on it.

 

Haven't really done a whole lot in the past couple of days. The dash is nearly completely removed, but I need to drop the column and remove the pedal box to to get to the rest. The clutch master, two brake masters, and a balance bar are under there and I need to drain those from the engine side before I can do any more in here:


There was a comfy nest inside the fan box:



and its former occupant:


But I gave all that stuff (and the rear vents) a bath and now they're clean and drying:

 

That is what mine looked like when I got it but mine is being resto mod with a 20b. That's a cool car with a nice history have fun

 

Very cool. Are you going to have it race again?

I haven't been posting here because I've been doing the boring work of the stripdown. Here're some updates:

Windshield came out in one piece, which is nice even though I've got a new one for it:


Engine is out:


Most of the inside has been removed.


And the transmission's out, leaving a nasty oil and dirt coated engine bay:


I'm probably going to put a T5 in because I can get a good close ratio gearset from G-Force, and they have an adaptor plate too. I need to source a Turbo-II bellhousing though, which I have been unable to do. Here's a shot of a Mustang T5 lined up with the RX-7 box:


The center hump's already been hacked so I'll clean that up and make a new plate:


Anyway, pretty much everything is out of the engine bay. Can't really do more there until I fab up a dolly so I can yank the column and front suspension and crossmembers and roll it out and pressure wash it. Then after that, back into the garage and I'll start working on overhauling the rear axle.

 

Subscribed!

 

I have a complete parts car I am parting out if u need parts...

 

PM Sent!

 

Parts sold are the following headlight bezel, complete center console, door mirror, lower fin chrome trim, wheel well trim, and front turn signal lights. Parts not for sale antenna, plastic door molding, wheels and chrome rings, center caps. Everything else is pretty much up for grabs.. I will ship. I accept PayPal or cash and local pickup.

 

no more rally for mine it will be going back stock appearing, too many orders to phils and others in australia over the past 2 years i have collected almost everything needed just need to figure out a/c interior mounting all i have is dealer installed baxes and i dont like them i am trying to find a factory one in the center console if not no a/c. keep the story going would like to see the progress

 

nice