Is it a barn find if I didn't find it? Old RX7 content inside...

I guess I can start a thread about this car since I've been griping about it for a couple days. This will be more of a general maintenance/light restoration build than anything else.

Some people might recognize me from my other RX7. It's got a build thread here: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/a-tale-of-two-rx7s-and-scope-creep-my-6-year-build/135495/page1/. Back in 2014 or so I decided I wanted to get into a more "classic" car. Something I could try to maintain and keep running rather than modify. Sticking with what I knew I started to look for an original '79-80 RX7 (SA). Despite their shortcomings I prefer the look of the earlier cars to the later FBs. For two years I casually searched Craigslist and the various RX7/rotary message boards. I wanted something as original as possible and wasn't in a hurry. In Spring 2016, on one of the more obscure rotary car forums, a F/S post appeared with the following pictures:

It was almost too good to believe. Here was an all-original, 2-owner, spark yellow '79 with 26xxx miles. Aside from the tar-covered engine bay and lack of interior pictures it looked immaculate. The lack of a passenger's side mirror and the hood prop on the right side told me it was an early build - sometime in the Spring-to-Summer 1978. It also had the port/dealer installed aftermarket A/C system. The asking price was too high for my liking so I initially wrote this one off as a little too good for me.

Fast forward a couple weeks and it doesn't look like the car is getting much attention . Seeing this thread nearly every day wore me down so on impulse I messaged the seller to see if it was still available. I figured I'd get some more details on the car, maybe make a low-ish offer and get turned down. After a couple hours I got a response . It was still available and the poster was the daughter of the owner, a gentleman in his 80s who bought the car back in '82 from his brother, the original owner. While not quite of of those "I know what I have" guys the owner was aware of the rarity of the car, it's originality and low miles hence the high asking price. He had tried to sell the car a few times prior but his daughter thought the asking price was too high as these cars hadn't quite hit collector status. The reason for the low miles is because the car was basically only driven every 5 years or so after the original owner put 15k miles or so in the first 3 years. The only time it was regularly driven was the late 80s/early 90s when the daughter used it as a highschool/college commuter car. It did have a complete service history though. At this point I was really interested in the car. The main problem is I'm in Virginia and the car was in Nebraska. My first post here was actually asking if there were any NE GRMers nearby to check out the car: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/any-western-nebraska-grmers-here/119167/page1/. Ultimate I had the car looked over by a local Mazda dealership. Everything checked out and with the daughter on "my side" I made an offer somewhere around 75% of the asking price. After several emails and phone calls with both individuals we came to an agreement. I sent a certified bank check through secure mail and soon after the car was on a truck heading from Grand Island, NE to Richmond, VA.

After waiting a week or so the car arrived. Major props to the driver who successfully navigated small neighborhood roads lined with cars in his 18-wheeler. Dirty from the trip, the first thing I did was give it a bath.

In general, it was represented well in the for sale post. There are a few dings and scratched but nothing major. The biggest paint offsense is some discoloration on the hood/FL fender. It almost looks like brake fluid was splattered on the car and someone waited too long to clean it up. Inside, the car was IMMACULATE! Turns out this car spent most of its life in a garage under a cover. Even the seats had some weird sheepskin-esque covers.

There was only issue with the car that prevented it from being completely driveable. For those unfamiliar with these the tachometer and voltmeter share the same gage. With the car on but the engine not running it displays voltage. Once the engine is started it switches to being a tachometer. In my case it was trying to be both simultaneously when the engine was running. This indicates a problem in the charging system, which can be a variety of things. Hoping for the easily solution I removed the alternator and had it tested. It failed the diode test. Odd how the dealer in NE didn't catch that. Fast forward a week and with a new alternator from RockAuto everything is functioning normally.

With the full service history I can see what all has been done. The water pump and brake master cylinder were replaced in the late 80s. Fuel lines in the late 90s. Radiator hoses in the late '00s. Multiple spark plug changes, oil changes and carburetor "tunes ups." It seems every time this car was taken out of hibernation there was work done. Not bad. I did flush the brake and clutch systems before my first real drive, though. Brake fluid is not supposed to look like this:

And that was pretty much it for the Summer of 2016. I drove it once or twice every couple of weeks when the weather was nice. Oddly enough the A/C system worked so it could be driven on hot days too. What I did find strange was that the A/C was "hard-wired" with the fan. It was either A/C or nothing with the temperature set in the cold range, which is kind of annoying because you can really feel the drag in a 100 hp car.

On of the things that bothered me about the car was the smell. It's uncatalyzed but being a '79 it's supposed to have a functioning emissions system. Before '81 Mazda employed a weird thermal reactor thing integrated with a heat exchanger that's located where the cat is on more modern vehicles. My first attempts at fixing the fumi-ness were simple enough. A simple tune up. New spark plugs and wires. I even got to play with points!

That was a new experience. I also set the idle fuel mixture and idle speed based on some recommendations online. The car certainly ran better but still stunk. After more investigating I discovered one of the few areas of rust on the car - the exhaust. The main pipe between the thermal reactor and heat exchangers had rusted through in a couple locations and the fresh air inlet tube had completed rusted off. Somehow, I managed to find a near-perfect condition replacement. Just look at this weird thing:

This, combined with new exhaust gaskets and hangers, definitely improved the fumes but my wife still thinks the car stinks. I mean, I wouldn't want to sit in a closed garage with it, but it's not as bad as the un-catalyzed, pre-mixed exhaust from my FC.

Really, this is almost all the work I've done on the car to date. The only thing aside from regular oil changes, coolant flushes, etc. is a replaced stuck RR wheel cylinder in Dec. '18. Since I got my FC running in Fall '17 I started to drive this a little less. Lately that's changing with the FC being "finished." This Summer I've set out to replace all the rubber bits on the car. It has all new clutch hydraulics and I'm currently fighting the brake hydraulics (see here: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/frustrated-with-rx7-brakes/177146/page1/). Once I get those sorted I'm moving onto the coolant system. Then the suspension most likely. After that, I'll probably rebuild the carb. Going forward I'm going to better try to document things here.

Really like the car. I also like the early ones better than the new ones. 

I believe there is a member here that has the twin to that car in the north east. I can remember his screen name but he has the cool diesel Delica van that he bought in Canada. 

In reply to Slippery (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks. Overall it's been a decently reliable old car that's fun to take to shows and drive backgrounds on nice days. Aside from my current issue the longest it was ever non-running was about one month in Fall 2016 when I fixed the exhaust. That was mostly due to waiting for parts.

Quick update from the past month or so. In Summer 2019 I noticed the A/C stopped working. The compressor kicked on but the temperature of the air coming from the vents didn't change. This didn't bother me too much because I never really liked driving the car with the A/C on anyway. With only 100 hp at the crank new just about any extra load turns this car into a dog. I've been driving around with the A/C compressor switched disconnected so I can still use the blower. A couple of weeks ago I decided to rip the entire system out rather than get it fixed (likely would involve a conversion from R22). The engine bay looks much nicer without the giant compressor and lines going everywhere.

I plan on keeping everything should I ever change my mind. As a result all of the interior A/C components remain. To protect the system I found some plugs for the lines in the firewall.

If anyone's curious these ARE NOT -10AN and -6 AN fittings. They're 7/8-14 and 5/8-18 SAE 45 degree flare fittings and I was able to get some caps from McMaster. In the first picture above you can see the brake master cylinder is removed. This Summer I've started going through the car and making note of all the rubber lines, hoses and bushings. Everything will eventually be replaced. So far I've done the clutch master and slave cylinders and clutch line. I've started on the brake system, which has led to my current, and first headache with this car. First, all the rubber lines were replaced. Next was the brake MC. According to my records the original MC was replaced in '88. Looking at the brake booster there appeared to have been a leak at some point.

Oddly, the current MC didn't appear to be leaking so this must be 32 year-old residue. Since I was in there I decided to clean up the booster to prevent further damage. Degreased, sanded smooth and painted with VHT satin black chassis epoxy. Much better:

Combine with a new MC and it's a small improvement in an otherwise filthy engine bay.

Unfortunately, this is when the problems begin. I won't go into all the details here (see: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/frustrated-with-rx7-brakes/177146/page1/) but basically I have no brakes despite completing all the usual steps: bench bleeding the MC, bleeding each corner in the proper order, etc. I've now tried 3 different MCs, two new and the old one again, with no success. The only other items touched were the soft lines (replaced), brake booster (cleaned and painted) and proportioning valve (cleaned). I've got another booster-MC-prop valve assembly on the way to test if I've somehow damaged the other components.

In the meantime I've also assembled all the parts necessary to replace: all coolant hoses, all swaybar bushings, front tension rod bushings and the inner and outer tie rods. Shock absorbers/struts, front lower control arms and rear suspension links will be on order eventually.

Just popping in to say I've fixed the brakes. It turns out it WAS the booster. See my final post in the thread I linked above. The reaction disk fell out of place and apparently that's a thing that's necessary to regulate the amount of assistance the booster provides. I disassembled a scrap booster before diving into my good one. It's the small rubber piece on the right:

It sits below the pushrod (center) inside the booster and without it you get MAXIMUM assistance all the time so the brakes become an on/off switch: nothing, nothing, nothing, LOCK UP! Feels good to be able to drive the car again and with the new MC, lines, fluid and properly adjusted drums the brakes feel better than ever. Another positive is this is really the first time I've had Kid#1 help me in the garage. He was pedal pumper. At 8, he's just now (finally) starting to ask me about cars and how they work. Gotta find those silver linings...

I'm probably going to enjoy the car for a bit. I wasn't supposed to spend 3 weeks troubleshooting brakes. The coolant hoses really should be next but that's a little more effort than I want to expend right now and they've held just fine for 4 years. I'll probably tackle something simple like swaybar bushings or something...

Beautiful car and excellent work with what you've done so far. I've loved both of my RX-7s (GSL-SE and FD) and have enjoyed my time behind the wheel of an SA. I totally agree that the early cars are where its at with the first gens.

Somehow missed this.  What a great little car - super clean, especially the interior

I missed this one too but said hey to you once at a cars and coffee a while back. Spotted it as a 79 due to single mirror as you were rolling out.

In reply to jfryjfry (FS) :

The clean interior is one of the reasons I jumped on this car. So many pieces are NLA. The only "problems" with the interior is the rear privacy cover. The elastic bands that haven't broke have long since lost they're elasticity. I have the pieces to replace them but doing it correctly will involve taking the cover apart. One of these days I'll take it to an upholstery place and have it done (correctly).

In reply to johndej :

Hopefully I responded. I bring either this or my orange FC. This one usually when my son wants to tag along though I think he's in it more for the Chick-fil-a breakfast than anything else. I do miss C&C though. Between COVID and other priorities I think I only made it to two in 2020.

I've started having bad thoughts about throwing this on BaT and seeing where it ends up but I'm conflicted. I'm not done with this car. There are plenty of things to do and I do still enjoy driving it. Between this and my FC it's easily the more accessible of the two for my kids. On the other hand old Japanese cars seem to be really hot right now and inflation has a lot of people with more cash than common sense. I would think an early production, completely stock RX7 with ~28k miles would do very well. I honestly don't need the money but there's this nagging thought in the back of my head telling me I should take advantage of the situation.

Great idea if you don't like the car; if you really like the car, you will never find another one in the condition this one is in for what you could sell it for.

In short, they aren't making any more '79 RX7s and very few (read *none*) of the ones that have survived have less than 40K miles.

In reply to CJ (FS) :

Yep, that's what I keep circling back to. I've yet to find another early production example with low miles. It's not perfect but I prefer it that way. There are small things here and there I can work on and I don't feel guilty driving it. I enjoy the car but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't sell it for the right price if someone offered. As a child of the late 80s/early 90s it's a little older than the cars that hit that nostalgic sweet spot for me.

Part of this is I've been lusting over JC (90-96) Cosmos lately. They're newer, rarer (never sold in the US) and are great grand tourers. Plus they seat four so it'd be easier to include the kids.

As beautiful as this car is, I would totally sell it now in order to get a Cosmo.

So it's been almost exactly 2 years since I updated this. What have I done since then? A month ago the answer was "nothing." With the FC doing regular track duty its constant maintenance and upgrades took almost all my attention. This would sit, undriven for as much as two months at a time. Realizing this, I decided I'd take this car to the Deals Gap Rotary Rally (DGRR) in 2023. That meant catching up on a lot of deferred maintenance. However, in true fashion the FC took my attention after VIR in March and I found myself with ~1.5 weeks to prepare the SA for DGRR.

The first order of business was replacing all the necessary fluids: engine oil, coolant and brake fluid. I changed the transmission and differential oil when I got the car in 2016 but I've put maybe 2500 miles on it so I assumed those were still good. I also replaced all the rubber coolant hoses. Other than the radiator hoses, which I have record of being replaced before, everything else looked like the 45 year-old originals. Work was slow going since everything removed was thoroughly cleaned and I tried to remove as much of the tar-like anti-rust coating as time allowed. Hose swap in progress:

The spark plugs still looked good and timing checked out so I didn't mess with those. There were no leaks so I moved onto the next area - the suspension. As far as I know everything on this car is original. So all the rubber suspension bushings are now 45 years old. Several years ago I ordered a bunch of new bushings, OEM and aftermarket as some were NLA even back then. I just never got around to installing them. Since I was about to flog the car around NC mountain roads now was the time. I started with the rear, which proved to be drama-free. New sway bar and end link bushings as well as new KYB shocks. I would have loved to replace all the rear suspension arms and Watts link as well but it became clear I waited too long to order parts. Oh well. The front was another story:

I ended up replacing both sets of inner and outer tie rods, sway bar and end link bushings, tension rod bushings, both struts and one outer wheel bearing and race. Overall not overly challenging but the driver's side had more rust than anywhere else on the car requiring me to cut off the factory sway bar end link. Also, because anythign reused got thoroughly cleaned progress was slow. I also ran into an issue with the KYN strut inserts. Neither of the included gland nuts fit my strut housings.

The center nut was 1 mm too small but otherwise perfect. The nut on the far right was completely wrong. I couldn't reuse the stock nut (left) because it didn't fit around the KYB strut to engage the threads on the housing. I sent an email to KYB at 11:30 PM on 4/20 explaining my dilemma. I called them at 7:30 AM the next morning and got the answering maching. Not expecting a call back anytime soon I made arrangements with a machinist friend to modify the stock nuts (open up the ID, maching it deeper, etc.). Around 9 AM I got a call back from KYB. The first thing he asked was if I had also sent an email with the same problem. Since I had included some rough dimensions of all the nuts he immediately new I had received the wrong parts. It's weird that both struts came that way. Regardless, he said he could send a hardware kit with the correct nut. That's great but I explained to him I was ~5 days out from taking the car on a road trip. He referred me to someone in Customer Service and we arranged overnight shipping from IN to VA. Since this was a Friday I wasn't confident, but sure enough, there was a package at my door Saturday afternoon. Before too long both strut assemblies were back together.

You'll notice I painted the strut bodies. One of the few modifications I've done to the car but they were both heavily scaled with rust and after hitting them with a wire wheel were both down to bare metal. Everything else, like the springs, just got cleaned with degreaser despite having a little surface rust. After that I repacked the wheel bearings and got everything bolted back on the car. I would have also liked to replace both control arms. The dust boot on the passenger's side is torn and they're both pretty crusty but everything seemed pretty tight. They'll have to wait like the rear suspension.

On Monday I wrapped up the entire endeavor with a quick string alignment. Very quick and easy when your only adjustment is front toe.

After a quick wash on Tuesday everything was ready and I trailered the car down to Bryson City, NC. I want to stress I *could* have driven the car. It's comfortable enough. I decided against it mainly because the forecast called for rain (and rain it did).

DGRR was a blast as usual. This car doesn't attract as much attention as the FC but several people were very interested in seeing a completely stock '79 RX7. Driving the Cherohalla Skyway and Tail of the Dragon was a mixed bag. On one hand the car did everything I asked it to and has never felt better. On the other hand the weather wasn't always cooperative alternating between being beautiful mid-60s and sunny and low-50s and raining at various points. The nearly 10 year-old 185/70R13 all season tires weren't great in the latter. If it were drier I would have pushed the car harder. The only thing really holding it back in my opinion is the steering. Yes, recirculating ball steering isn't known for it's feel but it's the slow ratio that hurts it the most. Regardless, I had an awesome time. Met up with friends I hadn't seen in a year. Made some new friends. Drove some great roads. Ate good food and drank good bear. I actually think the car runs better now than it did before after being beaten for 200+ miles. For one thing, the clutch no longer chatters while slipping so I must have finally burned off some rust/glaze. I need to consolodate pictures from the weekend and I'll dump them in my next post.

Glad to see this thread come back to the top! I'd really like to make it to DGRR next year. My car needs many of the same repairs that you did, so maybe that's the motivation I need.

Glad to see you didn't sell, I do when I get bored or see a shiny object and kick myself after. Car looks amazing for its age!

Pretty sure I recognize that Orange FC from VIR.

In reply to Powar :

It's a good time. This year the weather was a bit iffy but I still had fun. I usually only drive the Dragon once or twice. It's more of a social event for me in that I get to see a bunch of folks I haven't seen since the previous year.

In reply to chandler :

I joked about bringing the title along with me in case someone made an offer I couldn't refuse. It definitely got lots of comments regarding its condition. I'm going to be holding onto it for at least a little while longer. Long enough that I can address all the maintenance items. I got the rest of the suspension items the week after DGRR. New front control arms and rear suspensions links will go in when I'm not focused on the FC. Those will complete the suspension overhaul and the next step will be to refresh the paint. It needs a good cut/polish but I'm unsure how to go about that with its old, single stage enamel paint.

In reply to hybridmomentspass :

Probably me! I'm not aware of another orange FC and I usually do an HPDE at VIR at least once a year.

FYI