Are ya'all meeting this Saturday?

 

I live in Mount Airy NC and would be interested in coming. I wold at least like to show my car off to sell it. It is truly an amazing machine. I think the only mods I haven't done are the headlights and marker lights. It will be on ebay within the week. Until then though, I loved to show it off.

 

Yes we are, at the Strickland Road Char Grill, 6:30 PM. There is also a post on this forum and on the RX8 website for Saturday's Drive-In. Come on down!

 

What have you got? We'd love to see your car and hate to hear that you're gonna sell it. We have a couple of guys that are looking for another FC and a guy from Virginia that just buys the cars just so he can name them. I think driving directions to the Rotary Drive-Ins are on page 11 or 12 of the Saturdays in Raleigh thread. Of you get a chance Saturday bring her in

 

Hey, Ryan, did you ever get over the Millenia Mazda and have any serious discussions with them on the FD?

 

Anyone with a garage and tools want to help me install a clutch. I've never done it but always wanted to. I hate paying the shop to do it. Any takers?

 

Raven, got your PM and replied with driving directions for eastern NC. Hope you and some buddies can make it up on Saturday.

 

Ahhh....No Dice.....Talked to Sport Durst...the owner of Millennium Mazda last friday. The last "owner" of the car dropped the car off for repairs and never came back to pick it up... There is a lien on the car and MM is just charging the bank that holds the lien for storage (MM defination of "storage" must be to let it sit in high grass for 3+ years and let weeds grow all up in the engine )...Sport has contacted the bank numerous times...but he said they havn't done anything about it yet. SO until then...there it must sit... UNLESS I can get a hold of the bank that holds the lien on the car This was my first week back at work so I havn't had much time to do that. I went to the dmv last week and got a title history on the car and there are two diff. banks in the history...wachovia and some other bank....I can't remember.

The funny thing was Sport said they had done alot of work to the car........the damn thing is missing the UIM, rat nest, IC pipes...and the ECU is sitting in the driver seat ......Dont know why you would let a car you've "done alot of work to" sit there like that....

 

^ How is the body on that FD? And the interior?

 

The body is in great shape...the paint is faded though. From what I can tell looking through the glass the interior is clean.....seats look great... It looks like someone tried to break into it...The drivers side door handle is broken off....

 

bennet, what kinda 7 is it? how much where you thinking about asking for it? I am in the midst of looking for a "new" car. I am about 2 minutes from buying an Integra.

Ryan, I am glad you posted I was just about to ask if you'd moved away on us, or something.

Raven, I have done a clutch before. If you can get one of these guys to offer up their garage, I'd be more than happy to come over and help out. I have a few of the SSTs and a couple of home-made SSTs.

 

Naw josh....Just been busy as hell...first week back at work is crazy....and being on 3rd shift dosn't help either. I'm glad the weekend is almost here.

 

Sounds like a good project car if anybody can get their hands on it. I bet it can be had for pretty cheap.

 

I wonder who Bert's talking about I might need to meet this guy, I like to name my cars too. I wonder if he helps people fix their A/C. I'm not sure about this weeks meet but Ill let you know. If I come I will bring the cargo cover, You can even keep it for a while if you want.

 

Aight I just got all my car cleaning stuff together. I'm gonna clean my car tomorrow, so it will be nice and pretty when I come up there Sat. So far its just me coming from Wilm everyone else bailed. Anyone else in or near wilm wanna drive up together?

 

EX-CUSE me?
(as I look over at my diplomas)

Not only are we taking potshots at me (I'll deal with catching up on the rest of replies to the thread tomorrow), but now at my alma mater, UNC Chapel Hill?

Ahem...
UNC-CH class of 2000
B.S. in Biology
B.S. in Computer Science

Employed by UNC 2003-present because it's a 2 minute walk to class as I am working on a M.S. degree at UNC.

So now we know why I rub everyone here the wrong way! You cringe at the Carolina blue that bleeds all over you.

I hesitate to imagine the flack I would catch if I told you I was a Duke grad!

I don't ever recall having badmouthed NC State. A lot of my good friends from high school went there. If I had known I was going to enter into the computer field earlier on in my career I probably would have gone to NC State. Alas, I am trying to EXIT the computer field, so not being a pigeonholed computer engineer is working in my favor....

I'll just let it slide, being that I am outnumbered by NC State grads.

--Ashraf

 

Well, at least UNC grads have a sense of humor and can take a joke

 

From your fairly thorough analysis, you are getting yourself into a bucket of worms. Potentially could be an easy fix, but who knows. I went through one of those "deals" with a friend buying a T-II in Charlotte (as in, they couldn't get it running, we got it running, drove it halfway back to the Triad and it overheated).

If I were buying based on your description, I would hesitate to even give him $1000 even with car in good condition. Look elsewhere, you are wasting your time pining away for it, there are better deals, you need to look for longer and maybe a few states away owned by an enthusiast. If you need transportation, as you mention later on, you may not have a choice and may need to buy a non-RX-7.

I've been in those shoes before. The bottom line is that it is his car. He's selling. You are buying. Can't strike a deal? Tough. Move on or make an offer in a few weeks when they are getting desperate and can't make house payments/etc.

--Ashraf

 

There are other motorcycle plugs that can be used, search on the forum.
Never gapped a FD plug. Nothing to gap. Old-style FB plug, maybe...

Plugs are a consumeable. No need to spend big $$$ on them when they need to be replaced on a regular basis since they get fouled up with street driving. Main reason for expensive plugs is if you are running 400+hp car tuned to the ragged edge and it's cheaper to put race plugs in than blow a motor.

 

I try to and I poked back a little...

 

I would be more worried about breaking the plug or stripping the threads in the rotor housing than something getting into the rotor housing. Breaking the ceramic insulator is not a problem compared to the stripped rotor housing threads (keep reading).

Incorrect. You want anti-sieze. It will let you remove the plugs the next time you need to change them (prevents the heat from affecting them and you having to really wrench hard to get them off and possibly damage the threads).

Hand-tighten -- don't over torque then (you do have a torque wrench so you can at least "feel" how tight the first one you do is?)

It sounds like no one changes their plugs from all of this discussion???
You guys might think about change your plugs more often. Some of the FD guys with mods, IIRC, were changing plugs at 5000-6000 to maintain performance (I would mention that one might look at their tuning/ignition systems if plugs were being eaten up that often). At least try changing plugs out "early" once and see if it makes a difference on your car.

It makes the car run better.

 

Takes big $$$ to keep FD parts in inventory for "local" use. Remember the overhead they would have to charge for the store...

Closest thing to an import store is Auto Sport Gallery in Raleigh. Has some stuff on display but Tom orders most of his stuff like the rest.

Same reason you don't find Supra parts or (insert other low production # model). Ford / Chevy V8 -- sure, because they are dime a dozen. It's basic economics that unfortunately works against those in the minority because there is no reason for a business to stock parts for a rare model car.

At least that model worked in my advantage as Hard Dog is in Bethania, NC and makes rollbars for those whacky MX-5's. You should have seen his face when I showed up in the MX-5, with a passenger, and told him I was picking my bar up. He looked at me funny and he was amazed that we put it in the car without permanently installing it and both of us rode off in it.

I've gotten used to scrounging for parts locally (or making them myself) and ordering "big lots" of parts from Mazda Motorsports and try to do maintenance AHEAD of time so I'm not caught off-guard and without a car. That's a much better approach, IMHO, but I see the novelty in having stuff local, but it would be very difficult to do.

 

Works okay on FD, may notice change in idle quality. Again, recommended for modded cars, not necessary for stock-ish cars.

 

Yeah Taylor its deff. a good project car....My plan was to get it in my garage last weekend and start to tear her down....then send her over to my buddies shop for a new paint job (not a fan of MB)....I'll be going to basic probably this spring so by the time I get back I would just have to gather all the parts up for the manual conversion. The car only has around 60k on it....but it will deff. need a rebuild....like I said earlier...weeds are starting to grow from under the engine bay and I'll have to get another UIM, rats nest..ect....

 

Hey Johny, I'll introduce you guys if both show up at the same drive-in. This Virginian drives a white, Turbo FC and you have the black FC. He may be your evil twin, or alter ego, or your anti-self. Maybe y'all shouldnt meet, it could be like matter and anti-matter, or pasta and antipasto; if these substances ever come together the force released would destroy the universe!

I'm gonna try to get up to Norfolk on Sunday for the Blue Angels and the Air Show at Oceana NAS. I might see the anti-self there, if I do I'll say hi for you.