I live in Cary, NC and I'm the original owner of an '83 Mazda Rx7. The car is in good shape considering it's 22 years old. I'd like to do some restoration. It needs some work on the clutch and or master/slave cylinders. I'm not big on working on cars -- anyone have any suggestions who does good, fair work?

I'd like to restore the car with a paint job, interrior work, a new sound system, new wheels and AC repairs.

I'm not interested in doing work myself, and I am concerned about sinking a lot of money in a car that will continue to need expensive repairs. The car has 117,000 miles on it.

All advice welcome!

 

Send a message to 1RX7DRIVER on here. His name is eric and he did my stereo installation in my 87 Rx7. Did an awesome job. There are lots of places that do clutches so I would shop around. I would also ask Eric about the interior stuff. Lots of that stuff isnt that hard to do. He can do lots of stuff for a reasonable price and hes in Holly Springs (near you i think).

The wheels and tires I may be able to help you with if you let me know what size youre wanting.
The paint is an issue that can go either way. I got mine painted for $230 at Peach Auto Painting in Durham. I didnt need expensive paint because mine stays in the garage anyway. You can get it painted over the old paint for about that much, but if you want to strip the old paint off and repaint it ......youre talking big bucks.
The ac repairs i dont know about, but you can shop that too.

I did things myself on my car and it took me 3 years to get it exactly where I wanted it. I did most of the things myself and did alot of shopping on ebay. I ended up spending about 2000 total. As long as you dont have any engine issues, youll be ok. If I can be any additional help, let me know. Im in Raleigh now.

 

I'm currently getting my car painted in Lexington, NC by Donnie Long at "DLZ Kreations". It will be done in 2 weeks, but so far he's been very helpful, and I'm very happy with the work he's done so far. He's a small one man shop, so you will get treated very well, and he does all the work. PM me if you want his number, or if you want to see the car when it's done.

 

Thanks for the replies, guys. I'll shop around. Any other comments, like a good reference for the clutch work would be much appreciated.

 

I am with the Raleigh Rotary Drive-In. We have a few FB owners in our group and they might be a good resource for you to check out concerning what you're wanting to do to your car.

For painting I would highly recommend Jeff Brown of Custom Paint and Body Works between Garner and Clayton. He did the body work and paint on my 89 RX7 after I hit a deer for about half the money the local body shops were asking and allowed me to avoid a salvage title on the car. Jeff has also painted and done body work on another member's car and Ray has been thoroughly happy with the work. Jeff is a perfectionist and takes pride in his work. If you want to see an example of Jeff's work, stop by the Drive-In on Saturday, 8/27 and my car will be there. Ray might have his on the road again after loosing his differential at a drag strip.

For the mechanical work you might visit Sports & Compacts out near the NC State Fair Grounds, on Hwy 54 from Cary to Rawly. They work primarily on miatas but also race an FB and would probably he able to help you out with your mechanical restoration. The owner is Carl and one of our members, Jesse, works there part-time. Carl's son also drives an FB, they will also take ownership of their work and do a good job.

Bert