I end up talking about my RX-7s in GD a lot, and I finally had someone ask me about it in another thread. I figure it's about time I posted a thread here.

I bought my first 1986 RX-7 in 2007 at age 16 for $1000. It was rusty and the engine had ~200k miles on it.

It needed a little work when I got it home (we had it towed to the house). I got it started after a little while, but the engine was running on one rotor (of two). After lots of time spent diagnosing and some guessing, I finally narrowed the trouble down to broken wires to the rear rotor's fuel injectors. I soldered on new injector plugs and she ran great. My dad and I also experimented with some amateur bodywork while it was in the garage, to at least cover up some of the rust holes . She was ugly, but she knew how to have a good time.









Eventually all the rust started really bumming me out. I wanted a clean car, but those are few and far between in Michigan (and surrounding states). Some time in 2009, I found a perfect car for sale on a forum. It was exactly what I wanted; red, series 4 ('86-'88), base model (manual steering, no sunroof, manual windows, no power locks, no rear wiper), and NO RUST. It had a blown engine, which I was okay with. It was only $500, but it was in Texas . After briefly looking into car shipping, my dad and I decided we would drive there in our Jeep Cherokee, pick up a U-Haul trailer in Texas and pull the car home. It was a fun father-son adventure, and we made it there and back in 3 days.










The original plan was to pull the blown engine, buy a low-mileage used or recently rebuilt engine, install it, and have fun. However, it soon blew up into basically a full restoration .

It all started with some tar stuck to one of the inner fenders in the engine bay. I scraped it off and damaged the paint in the process. I decided I needed to strip and repaint the engine bay. That led to applying undercoating to the bottom of the car, which of course meant dropping the front and rear subframes and all suspension components. While I'm in there, I might as well replace all the bushings and wheel bearings! Along with about a million other little things. Oh yeah, I should pull out the interior and apply sound deadening material!

Pulling the blown engine (summer 2009):


I'm the one operating the crane, with my sweet high school hair and neckbeard. My friend Andrew in the background helping me out (he is now a U.S. Marine )



As things got more serious:





I bought a previously rebuilt used engine from a guy in SC.
It arrived in an awesome crate:



I painstakingly removed all of the old flaking paint and repainted it black. The second picture is actually the first application of black paint. I wasn't happy with the way it came out (you can see it's still kind of ugly in the picture), so I stripped ti down again and did a better job. I don't have a recent picture of it yet.



While all this was going on, my rusty beater car gave up the ghost last summer . I went outside to start it one day, it made a strange metallic clanking noise when I engaged the starter and then it wouldn't start. I did a compression test and had 0 psi on one rotor . It's actually still sitting in my driveway, I'm using it as both a parts car and a guide to reassembly for my other car. I'd love to learn to weld some day and patch up the rust and build it up into a more track oriented car. We'll see what happens.

As of now, the clean car is up on jackstands in the garage. The engine bay still isn't painted (I'm waiting until all other work is done so I can clean the garage thoroughly before painting). The interior is mostly out, but the sound deadening install is nearly done. The suspension is all still out awaiting coating in POR-15.

I have a big box of parts that includes (but not limited to):
- Used rebuilt engine, from the next year up with higher compression ratio and better intake manifold
- polyurethane suspension bushings, engine mounts, and transmission mounts
- new brake hoses
- barely used brake master cylinder (I replaced the MC on my old car a few hundred miles before it blew up, I'll now be using it on the new car)
- rear wheel bearings
- all new gaskets for engine, intake, and exhaust, new front and rear main seals.
- new shifter bushings and centering spring
- new transmission output shaft seal, differential input shaft seal
- pretty much anything that prevents a fluid from leaking is being replaced
- brake caliper rebuild kits
- new thermostat
- Oil pan brace (helps to reduce engine flex and increases clamping force on the oil pan flange)
- Racing Beat oil pan baffle plate (prevents oil from sloshing away from the pickup during turns)
- Resurfaced flywheel
- Exedy "stage 1" clutch
- a bunch of various little stuff

I also plan on relocating the battery to one of the storage bins behind the seats. A new aluminum radiator is also on the list, along with new wheel studs.  

More pics of neckbeard please!


Also, looks like a fun project.

It was too awesome to be photographed up close. It took me, like, 6 months to grow and looked like pubes.

Good work so far. I have a third gen rx7 myself.

Great thread.....keep going!

Cool pics OP. I'm not into RX7's, but I certainly know how it is to go through a car like that and can appreciate the work.

Plus it always makes me smile when crated orders arrive.

Thanks for the compliments!

I also found a picture of the tail light restoration. The Texas sun took a toll on the plastic, but a lot of sanding with increasing grit sandpaper followed by some rattle can clear coat made them look pretty nice. This is before I cleaned the excess polishing compound out of all the gaps:


The start of sound deadening install, after freezing the factory stuff with dry ice and breaking it off with hammers:


Front suspension disassembly:


The giant 54mm nut that you have to take off to remove the flywheel. It's a pain in the ass:

I'm not a car guy but always thought these types of projects were cool. Thanks for the pics, keep updating.

Will do!

Nice!!!

post more pics.

I'm swapping transmissions in my 280z right now.....then I'll have enough to leave you in my dust you slack jawed rotary fag,.

XO


 

What sound deadening product are you using and how do you like it?

It's actually a roof patching product called Quick Roof . I've read good reviews regarding its sound deadening qualities online. It's a fraction of the price of Dynamat but seems to be of similar construction, basically just a layer of tar goo with aluminum foil backing.

I can't personally comment on its performance yet, but it's very easy to work with. I've been laying it flat over an area, heating up the back with a hair dryer, then using the spherical end of a screwdriver handle to work it into the various contours and odd shapes of the floor.

Does it smell like roofing tar or anything like that? I used HVAC insulation (this stuff) on the floor of a previous build and while it worked fine, it caused a rubber smell that took a long time to air out, so I won't be doing that again.

quite interesting

Get it boy, I love a good project!!  Keep us updated

Keep the parts car for installing a 350 into....


If you dont have to worry about smog in your state do a simple carb set up and see if a straight axle conversion is possible.

Have a sleeper.

nice op. im a rotard myself (rx8 with lots of mods). ive been keeping an eye out for a clean early 90s white fc t2.

I haven't noticed any particular smell while working on it. Next time I'm out in the garage, I'll sit inside the car for a few minutes and see if I notice anything.

Both are done on a fairly regular basis, in fact there's a whole forum called 'norotors.com' that's dedicated to piston engine swaps (mostly LS-series V8s) into RX-7s of all generations. I do really like rotaries, but the benefits of a swap (torque, reliability, fuel economy, and part availability) are hard to ignore. One of my fantasies is to fix the rust on my old car, and swap in an LS1/2/3/6 with an 8.8" Cobra independent rear suspension.


Thanks!

And thanks for the compliments everyone. Progress had been slow, but maybe having an interested audience will help me get more done

A friend had a pretty nice white S5 TII a couple years ago. Unfortunately, a fuel cut eliminator installed by the previous owner blew up the unknown condition JDM engine that they put in it. He ended up selling it before he could fix it.


if you do end up buying a white FC, be prepared to have it repainted, Mazda used a bad primer on their white cars (so I've heard) that causes the paint to come off in huge chunks as the vehicles age.


Oh yeah, pics of the 8?

I don't have much to update, but I can't just let the thread sit idle for too long.

I disassembled the stock charging harness to get an idea of how the factory battery and alternator cables are run, so I can figure out what needs to be connected to where when I relocate the battery. Wiring isn't my strongest suit, so I'll be copying the relocation job that a knowledgeable member of RX7club did for his own car. The following is his diagram:


I plan on using welding cable from McMaster-Carr, likely 2ga from the battery to the starter, and 4ga from the starter to the fuse box. The charging wire from the alternator also runs to the fuse box, I'll likely replace that too. What the diagram doesn't show is the 150 amp breaker that'll be placed close to the battery.  

Over the winter, I plan on focusing more on the garage itself. It's kind of a clusterfuck of tools and random stuff right now. I want to get all the tools more organized, the air compressor tuned up (and possibly ready for paint use ), and just generally cleaner and more organized.

So that is where ford learned to fuck up white paint jobs¡!!!!!!!!!

Bastards.

My, sigh, white, 95 Mustang Cobra is beginning to flake its paint in a few spots.   Fortunately it is not obvious and is only on sharp radiused areas.

But I have seen approximately a 10-15 year spread of fucked up white fords.   This is in the arid valley of california on everything from the local Patrol cars to 95-02 general white Fords.

My poor car is going to need a total repaint when I redo my engine and engine bay.