Just wanted to say hey, and fill fellow rotor-nuts in on some of what I've been up to... Compliments & thanks to everyone who has been involved with keeping nopistons going, and improving. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/bigok.gif





The past few years have kept me mostly preoccupied with work, education, and pursuits other than the 88 NA FC, which was my first, and still is my only 4-wheeled licensed vehicle(Not always ideal). Check out my rebuild thread if it's still here... once the car was drivable the proverbial crap hit the fan(work conditions,educational goals, and family life), and I was left with a car with over 3 grand sunk into parts under the hood(and countless hours of labor), but still with the pealing paint & dings and stock wheels which look like puke...



I will say that, for a 2 door coupe, it has doubled fairly well as a work truck when needed(I've fit a floor buffer and bunch of it's scrubbing pads, buckets of cleaner & sealant, a large shop-vac, a mop bucket with wringer and mops, paint rollers and poles, a case of drinking water, rubber boots, pump sprayer, and a passenger, all at the same time!)



Money has always been tight since then, but I still needed an alternate form of transportation if I was ever going to try finishing the car(I had a Yamaha XJ600 while working on the FC before, but had to get rid of it once the FC was up and running), and definitely still needed a creative outlet, so I snagged a 1978 Suzuki GS 1000 for $270(parts-roller condition) to experiment on. It took a year and some months to gather and afford the parts needed(most of them pre-used),and then a lot of infrequent work,(mostly last winter and this spring-summer... burned a lot of midnight oil). I produced a pretty nice "Frankenstein" machine(I call it V, for Vindication), which I rode up north for some temporary work this past fall... 2 months and 2000 miles of FREEDOM! https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.png



http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/4743/imag0059oj.jpg





http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/8131/dscf5375g.jpg



http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5186/dscf5364q.jpg





Anyway, I've been doing my best to make ends meet since returning to GA, but it's been a losing battle the past few months... I've been trying to liquidate what extra/spare car and bike parts I still have floating around the garage, and expect I'll have to part with my beloved 7 in the near future as well... Some kind of beater truck would better suit my present and future(2-3 year) needs anyway...



Gotta roll with the punches... some dreams are never to be, while dark clouds often have silver linings(and all that sentimental garbage to make you feel better when you're stuck up to your eyeballs in steaming you-know-what) lol https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/BURNOUT.gif https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/BURNOUT.gif





Cheers all!

Sorry to hear that, oh well you can always start another down the road when things improve.

We'll see! Cars & bikes and other projects/stuff are just one small part of life, or at least that's how I look at them now. I think my FC served a very good purpose... it kept me occupied and out of trouble through my later teen years, and was an excellent educational resource to build life-long useful skills(even if it was sometimes learning from mistakes). And because I valued the money, labor, and time involved to get on the road, I was naturally a responsible young driver(still just plain lucky a few times)... (knock on wood) no tickets, no accidents,& no insurance drama after almost 10 years of driving!

Best of luck to ya! Mazda made quite a few FC's, so it shouldn't be too hard to find another one when you've got the time and money to throw at it.

Nice old Suzuki, by the way.

LOL see less and less on the road and more and more in someone's driveway.