'71 616 Resto
 

So it begins...

Just picked up a 71 616 this past weekend.

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From first glance, Rust has taken over the trunk pan, trunk lid, drivers floorboard, as well as smaller patches on the body overall.
Car is a date of 6/71.
Damage to the front fender thankfully left the hood untouched.
Overall the car is documented well (glovebox finds), purchased in oregon in 72, given to their son in 82. Appears to have been damaged roughly around 86 and put into storage.
Ended up getting picked up from the original owner in oregon this summer and taken to wisconsin, from which i took it home to missouri to bring some life back into her.

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Good luck with your project sweet ride time for rotary!!!!!!!!!

Yeah a 13b will be sitting in there when all is said and done.
Been on tear down all week when I can, I am pleasantly surprised by the lack of rust, while there are problem areas, a lot less than I expected.

Nice find...I hope it stays yellow.

Interesting car! 6/71 means it should be a '72 model and it has the antenna in the front fender and door panels of a 72/73 but its got a '71 hood, bumper and body color wiper covers! Maybe a factory mutt? Cool none the less.

Wow good to know, considering I need a fender. Makes finding parts even more fun lol

End of week 1.
Still got a bit to go on tear down.
Planning on pulling the piston & trans next weekend

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The Bad:

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Last couple of weeks I've been doing pretty mundane tasks, been working on removing undercoating and general cleaning up of parts that were removed.

Had the fun task of running a new power line for my air compressor from the basement, thru the small attic and to my garage.

Started working out the smashed up passenger fender this past weekend, going better than I expected.

Jumping around a bit between tasks to stay motivated.

Front windshield trim clips? Had only two intact and those were quite rusty, the others fell to dust, any sources on replacements?

Dont know if they are common or unique to the early mazdas.

I used these on my rx-2

FRONT & REAR WINDSHIELD MOLDING CLIP FORD E3SB6342413

Looks perfect, thanks

Cool oldtimer...good luck with the restoration

Been going back and forth but been think if keeping it original YG yellow and adding the Mazda black stripe along the side at the bottom of the door

Looking good , focus on the worst area first then everything will be smooth sailing , that's what I'm doing now ! Good luck keep the pictures coming :-)

Well it's been some time since an update. Life happens i guess. House reno, job change, and some health issues later...
I do still have the car and I am getting back into the build. Not much to update on since my original post.

Finally have the time and the funds to take the car further.
Pulled the exhaust, drive shaft, trans, and engine this past weekend. Going to start working on the body this friday.
I'll be posting pics to keep me motivated, so first work done in years...
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...a5c21ec344.jpg

Glad you still have it. Look forward to the updates

Been doing a lot of reading to educate myself, plan is s5 13b swap. So I'll be looking at 12a turbo front cover, rx3 crossmember, rx4 reversed sump, and some trans tunnel love.

But still much to do before that. Hoping to hit it hard today, weather permitting.

I'll probably remove the spare wheel well when I replace the trunk floor, should make exhaust more ideal later on.

For the front cover you can use a stock 12A front cover and drill it for the turbo oil line. Also I have a rx4 oil pan if you need it.

Hey mate, nice project.

if your doing the bodywork/paint yourself, have a look at the autobody101 forum, great guys willing to give great advice, also for panel beating old school ways, wray schlene has a great DVD available with his shrinking disc, its totally worth its weight in gold, those fenders in your 1st post are an easy fix after watching this DVD!!

keep the pics comming,

krem