Rotorite from Western NY
02-10-2009, 10:16 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2009
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So I just picked up my first RX-7 a few months ago from the money from my previous project car that i sold to a friend (a '95 Civic Hatchback). I felt It necessary to sell it due to my fondness towards the RX-7, specifically the older 2nd gen turbo models. However, being from Western New York, finding a turbo FC in running condition is like trying to find a Waffle House up here as well. However, fate gave me a swift kick in the shins and pointed me towards this:
It's a '87 SE with a decent body and very good interior.
It originally had the N/A 13b cradled under the hood, but the previous owner had ambitions to do a TII swap. However, he was sold a lemon motor and ended up in the hole. After 2 years of sitting in his garage, he signed the title over to me for $400.
Moving right along, since it had been sitting in a garage for 2 years, I gave it a good scrub inside and out, then grabbed a pen and started seeing what I needed to get it running. The brakes do need to be replaced since it's been sitting for years. Just trying to push the thing in and out of my garage is pretty difficult with rusted rotors. Aside from the obvious lack of a powerplant, there were several tiny issues:
Typical New York rust.
Some missing trim.
And the fact that it's become a pirate. Yarr.
My ambitions are not so simple: I ended up purchasing an S5 TII swap with almost everything needed (harness, ecu, driveshaft, AFM, boost sensor, TII fuel pump, etc) but since it's j-spec, the harness and ECU are junk and would never work in my S4. I read up about S5 motors in S4 shells and noticed it was best to run a ECM and run a custom harness. I'm dissapointed that I'd have dropped almost $2500 on this car with nothing to show for it, but not so much that I'd just drop it here. The engine is sitting on a pallet in my garage, intimidating me everytime I go to grab something from my toolbox.
In closing, I'm happy to be here and look forward to getting my Rex up and running, preferably BEFORE the summer starts. Also, any help would be appreciated from those in the WNY area.
It's a '87 SE with a decent body and very good interior.
It originally had the N/A 13b cradled under the hood, but the previous owner had ambitions to do a TII swap. However, he was sold a lemon motor and ended up in the hole. After 2 years of sitting in his garage, he signed the title over to me for $400.
Moving right along, since it had been sitting in a garage for 2 years, I gave it a good scrub inside and out, then grabbed a pen and started seeing what I needed to get it running. The brakes do need to be replaced since it's been sitting for years. Just trying to push the thing in and out of my garage is pretty difficult with rusted rotors. Aside from the obvious lack of a powerplant, there were several tiny issues:
Typical New York rust.
Some missing trim.
And the fact that it's become a pirate. Yarr.
My ambitions are not so simple: I ended up purchasing an S5 TII swap with almost everything needed (harness, ecu, driveshaft, AFM, boost sensor, TII fuel pump, etc) but since it's j-spec, the harness and ECU are junk and would never work in my S4. I read up about S5 motors in S4 shells and noticed it was best to run a ECM and run a custom harness. I'm dissapointed that I'd have dropped almost $2500 on this car with nothing to show for it, but not so much that I'd just drop it here. The engine is sitting on a pallet in my garage, intimidating me everytime I go to grab something from my toolbox.
In closing, I'm happy to be here and look forward to getting my Rex up and running, preferably BEFORE the summer starts. Also, any help would be appreciated from those in the WNY area.
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