Nice to be a member.
12-01-2009, 03:12 AM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 17
Yeah I just had a page worth of information and then blue screen (love Dell laptops). 
I'll just be editing and adding on this time around and saving periodically later on today as I pretty disgusted to have lost all of that. Need to do some Woo-sah action for now.
But to start off, "Hi. I'm Mike and I own a 1993 Mazda RX-7 R1." (sounds a bit like an AA meeting intro)
I'll just be editing and adding on this time around and saving periodically later on today as I pretty disgusted to have lost all of that. Need to do some Woo-sah action for now.
But to start off, "Hi. I'm Mike and I own a 1993 Mazda RX-7 R1." (sounds a bit like an AA meeting intro)
12-01-2009, 09:32 PM
#4
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 1
Yeah I just had a page worth of information and then blue screen (love Dell laptops).
I'll just be editing and adding on this time around and saving periodically later on today as I pretty disgusted to have lost all of that. Need to do some Woo-sah action for now.
But to start off, "Hi. I'm Mike and I own a 1993 Mazda RX-7 R1." (sounds a bit like an AA meeting intro)
I'll just be editing and adding on this time around and saving periodically later on today as I pretty disgusted to have lost all of that. Need to do some Woo-sah action for now.
But to start off, "Hi. I'm Mike and I own a 1993 Mazda RX-7 R1." (sounds a bit like an AA meeting intro)
Just signed on myself. looking to get info on a V mount setup
12-02-2009, 09:21 PM
#5
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 17
Ok. Let's try this again. I would first off like to say thank you for having me. I've been a long time fan of the RX7 ever since I happened to see a silver one roll past me while I was waiting for a light to turn green. It was possibly the most beautiful car I'd ever seen.
After a boring first car ('97 Tiburon - though I'll admit I loved it; perhaps first car nostalgia?) that I guess that every 16 year old should have it came time for my second car. At this point I went looking for something fun. Something turbo. The MR2 caught my eye and I was off to test drive one. Then the owner gave me a ride since I was too scared to drive the car and it did things that seemed impossible. I guess that's what a lot of experience will do for you. I was off to apply for my loan but the guy sold it before the loan cleared. Ok so I talked to another guy with a black MR2, but his car was pending sale. So after looking around I came across a beautiful RX-7 at LA Motorcars. This was my car! The unfortunate events of 9/11 happened and all the flights got cancelled and went haywire. I got approved for my loan for the RX-7 and was going to pick it up later on that day, but as luck would have it I received an instant message from the owner of the black MR2 with a killer price for an Auto-X prepped car for less than half the price of the RX-7. It was too good of a deal to turn down (and the owner of LA Motorcars wasn't the friendliest of people) so my path split from the Mazda and honestly I see why people love the MR2. After the MR2 I went through a Honda phase starting with a CR-X, and then going to a EG hatch, DC Integra, back to and EG hatch. I like Hondas. They seem to have quite a bit of personality that lacked in their Toyota counterparts. I finally sold my last Civic about 5 years ago to move to Hawaii to go to college. Working in Hawaii I was able to save up quite a bit of money and w/o question I knew what was coming...my first Mazda.
I didn't know or trust anyone in Hawaii with RX-7s, but I had met Steve from the Supra/MR2/RX-7 meets in Dallas and knew he was someone that I could trust so I scoured the internet for a car in the Metroplex. My only requirement were that it wasn't red or MBP. I happened across a black R1 on Ebay for a fair price.
12-02-2009, 09:22 PM
#6
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 17
It seemed that everything added up to a good deal. 1993 Mazda RX-7 R1 with about 6,000 miles on a rebuild and it was local so I could ask my dad to go and pick it up. I asked my dad to pick it up and he was sketchy on the car saying something was up with the paint on the rear passenger 1/4 panel, but didn't want me to be mad that he didn't buy it. He told me it almost looked like it was WD40ed. I wasn't too concerned with minor oxidation as I guess it was to be expected. I also noted the seller sold a lot of RX-7 parts so I assumed he might be a specialist. I had my dad drive it straight to Gotham and told them to go to town on the car replacing whatever they saw fit (except for the suspension, turbo, and intercooler since I was going to go single). I got the bill for like $5K to replace what seemed like minor things. Well that was discouraging, but cannot be helped as it's an old car. Then I had my dad take it back to his house and go ahead and replace a leaky tire. I was excited to hopefully soon have my car in Hawaii, but that first visit really bit into my "going single" fund. In a series of event I found myself returning to Dallas. The cars paint literally went to **** ever since it was purchased.
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Well this wasn't expected! Pieces of bumper that look like Bondo flaking off and the quarter panel began to, not really crack, but become textured like crocodile skin. The textured area on the passenger side bubbled (as can be seen in the last picture) and flaked off. I noticed the front bumper had a dip in it and the read bumper didn't quite line up properly on the passenger side. Ugh. I didn't pay top dollar for this car, but I didn't pay bottom dollar for it either, but this looked like a bottom dollar car. Looking back now I realize that I bought the car froma guy who parts out RX-7s. I think the car was a collection of leftover pieces that wouldn't pull the same amount. Absolutely everything inside is broken, the window was out of alignment, the guage hood broken, the center panel, the radio surround, the door panels, the weather stripping on both sides, the door locks, the rear plastics, and on, and on, and on. Just to put a cherry on top though within two months of me being back in Dallas we had hail warnings. Ok, I hopped in the car and ran to the car wash and parked inside. No hail. Oh good. Then like a week later I hear the sicken thuds that are far to heavy to be rain. I don't even go out to look at the car. The hail stopped after a few minutes. Ironically the hail sirens went off like 10 minutes later. Ugh, rub it in.
12-02-2009, 09:23 PM
#7
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 17
The hood was the worst of it, but I do have a dimples all over the car now. I had purchased a carbon fiber hood months in advance after seeing how people deemed a vented hood as essential. The seller told me that he would drop it off at my house since I was in Hawaii. Almost a year goes by and nada. A perfect hood that had been recleared I didn't really care for it, but it was local so the high price of $650 seemed ok. So I send him a PM and he tells me to come pick it up. My dad let's me borrow the truck and when I get out I see perhaps the most pristine example of what an RX-7 should be. It had one small door ding on it on the rear passenger quarter panel. Truly a beautiful car and he didn't start it but rather we pushed the car and I had to help him uninstall the hood. He was a nice guy, but I was still a little irritated that I didn't have the hood waiting for me at my house like was agreed. Seeing the condition of the RX-7 was even more sickening to me.
I loaded it up in the truck and tied it down and was back on my trek to home. Anxiously I installed it and have to admit it was stunning (aside from a gap on the front bumper where it raises...and then I washed the car. It cracked the clear coat where it meets the mesh. Upon closer inspection the mesh is clear coated to the hood! Through the month following it continues and cracks up the side vents just peeling off like pencil shavings. Really is this happening?
While in Hawaii I did quite a bit of parts hording so I had lot of goodies waiting for me upon my arrival. A GT35R turbo kit from Defined Autoworks, an M2 carbon fiber intake, Volk GT-Ns, FlyRX7 pod (which I regret now that they seem to have fallen so much in price), Defi guages (wish I had bought the amber ones, but the green will suffice), KG Parts fuel rails, 850/1600 injectors, Aeromotive fuel pump, GReddy front mount intercooler, and an A'PEXi Power FC. I kept trying to figure out what else I needed, but could never really get a good compiled list and so it sat.
Oh well at this point I've accepted the fact that I've bought a big pile of ****. C'est la vie. At this point I regret not having bought a Supra and the funds shrink rapidly as I'm in Dallas with no transportation. Also my friend was putting down 493hp on his stock internal RSX so it was motivation to want to go a bit faster. So I decided to sell the turbo kit when I saw an interested buyer. Well the guy also bought my fuel system. When he went to install the turbo kit it was blown and told me about it. We talked and I assured him that I'd make it right and so I bought him a new CHRA. He then also told me that the injectors were all 1600ccs but not to worry about it. At this point I'm pretty disgusted with buying from forum members. Oh well on to bigger and better things.
A friend who thinks he's some kind of expert claimed my crocodile skin paint was because of bondo. This drove me a bit wild and with nothing left to lose really I grabbed some sand paper and went to town on the car. Made it down to the metal...not a sign of bondo. Some expert friend huh? I hit it with some primer though and left that to be finished at another date and time.
12-02-2009, 09:23 PM
#8
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 17
At this point I pick up a set of Eibach's/Tokico Illuminas from Fritz. Strangely the car bounces unevenly so matter how much I mess with the shock settings and the rear passenger side sits at 26.5" and the front driver's side at 24.5" and 25.5" at the other two corners. In all honesty though I did install the rear passenger side at what I would think would be backwards (logo in) since that's how they came to me so I figured that's how Fritz was running them and a lack of a spring compressor w/o running to the store to rent one. I also butchered the sway bar end link things trying to get then into the hole that holds the shock in, but am not sure how one can tell if they're still good or not (I learned you disconnect the sway bar first to get the play - my mistake though) I got it aligned and it was a bit better but some clanking was still present. I supposed it had something to do with the shaft that kept spinning not letting me tighten one of the shocks all of the way. To be readdressed at a later time with new shocks and springs. I did give me a chance to take it out to replace the tint (one was black and the other purple and creased, nothing in the hatch haha) and so I tossed on the Volks. I also pulled the spoiler to see the wingless look (I'm liking it), but will have to wait for a repaint since the spoiler has worn down the paint so much, but at least it was starting to look like a car.
12-02-2009, 09:25 PM
#9
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 17
Remotivated, I bought an RX-6 turbo kit since I decided that response would be valuable to me. Also the guy I bought it from had logged 10.88 passes on it. I was told by him that it had been stolen and that he no longer had the money because he had used it because he was in the middle of a move. So typically my luck. True to his word he did pay me back in small increments which of course went to bills rather than into the car. I finally got all of my money back, but didn't have enough to go through on the single turbo build....wasn't even sure I'd be able to get a set of twins on at that point.
Money got tight so I ran back to Hawaii to work and save up money. While out there I picked up a GR63 turbo kit, a PFS intercooler, a GReddy Profec B boost controller, and other various goodies for the RX7.
The best mod that I've been able to do this time around is...*dun, Dun, DUN!*
With the bravery of a daily driver (it has a few quirks, but I've managed to fix a couple things already and the rest is mostly cosmetic) that I scooped up for a cool $1500 at my back I decided that working on my car is not so intimidating. On top of that honestly I thought I'd get scared and just replace it with another set of twins when I found out I was in over my head. After fumbling through vacuum lines galore I quickly realized that I would probably never be able to trace these things back so knew it was time to go single.
Money got tight so I ran back to Hawaii to work and save up money. While out there I picked up a GR63 turbo kit, a PFS intercooler, a GReddy Profec B boost controller, and other various goodies for the RX7.
The best mod that I've been able to do this time around is...*dun, Dun, DUN!*
With the bravery of a daily driver (it has a few quirks, but I've managed to fix a couple things already and the rest is mostly cosmetic) that I scooped up for a cool $1500 at my back I decided that working on my car is not so intimidating. On top of that honestly I thought I'd get scared and just replace it with another set of twins when I found out I was in over my head. After fumbling through vacuum lines galore I quickly realized that I would probably never be able to trace these things back so knew it was time to go single.
