Mazda Rotary Club
Cars by Model Type => 1st generation RX-7's => Topic started by: Casey on June 04, 2019, 05:50:57 PM
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An opportunity arose to purchase A42 KLN, a 1984 series 3 with one lady owner from new and 67k on clock. I went to meet Tanya (the owner) today to view and test drive the car. We agreed a price and I will pick it up from her later in the week :D
The car is in VG, but, inevitably, time has taken it's toll and there are a few minor bits of paintwork that need attention. Mechanicals seem fine and corrosion seems comparatively good. The worst bit, cosmetically, are the wheels, which have been painted and corrosion is bubbling under the paint.
More photos and details later, when the car is with me at home :mrgreen:
By agreement with my better half, KIMI 2 will need to be sold in due course, so I can concentrate on getting KIMI 1 finished :)
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Looks great Malcolm,
bring it to Beaulieu ????
Happy days
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Damn, 3 FBs, Im jealous

Lähetetty minun G8141 laitteesta Tapatalkilla
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Tbh from that pic it looks worthy of concours.
Looks like a good buy.......
Tart up or full resto?
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Wow looks fantastic.
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Great find. Looks fantastic. Red always shows up well.
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That looks amazing.
I will have to drop by to see it when you've it home.
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Not jealous at all Malcolm seeing as I cannot afford to run even an one RX8. Looks a great buy.
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KIMI 3 now at my home. First major outing will be to take her to Beaulieu on 28th July.
I haven't had a chance to drive her much, especially with the lousy weather! However, I did a 40 mile run and she was a delight, but I do have a strange "rubbing" sound to sort out from the rear, on left turns mainly. I was aware of it before I purchased, so reflected in the price I offered.
In the meantime, some pics:
Interior is immaculate, apart from some wear and tear on the driver's doorcard vinyl.
Factory fresh toolkit and towing eye - were the gloves in there too from the factory?? ;)
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Looks fantastic, time warp condition.
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Lovely looking car Malcolm... Would look good at Forge later this year
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Well I go away for a few days (or months) and you get another. :sign0098:
Looks great well done Malcolm.
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Lovely to hear you are still lurking on here Chris :icon_thumleft:
Yep, I couldn't resist this one, a series 3 in seemingly VGC!
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Malcolm I have to say that is one lovely looking car. I am so jealous.
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Jim! Long time no hear, hope you are well. I've been on holiday so only just seen your post.
She's in great condition overall, but some TLC needed in places. First issue to sort is the wheels, which have been painted and they are corroding under the paint....
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Went to a local wheel refurb company yesterday to take a look at the wheels. They've been painted grey at some point, but corrosion is breaking through quite badly. We concluded diamond cutting probably wouldn't be the best option, so decided to book the wheels in to be powder coated next week with a silver finish as close to OEM as possible.
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Find some original pictures Malcolm as I have the feeling these were diamond cut on the faces from the factory.
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My series 3 wheels looked liked yours Casey, corrosion under paint.
However the Spare was diamond cut .
From my research Clive is correct and originally diamond cut.
My local refurb place is £90 a wheel on top for Diamond cuttting....thats whether a full face or lip.
I had it done on Eunos bbs wheel lip. Cost £441 for 4 wheels but original and wheels do set a car off. I love em and glad i forked out the extra money. .
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190704/89d41885002fd943cef75529c7f6c0c8.jpg)
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My first choice would have been to diamond cut as this was the OEM finish. I did some research and showed some pics to the wheel refurb technician, plus the manager. They advised that diamond cutting my wheels their current state was unlikely to result in a long lasting finish. I was also advised that the recessed/hidden rim design meant there were areas that the cutting tool would be unable to reach. I reluctantly opted for a powder coat in a colour to match OEM. If it doesn't work out, I'll look to buy some new wheels later, but at least they'll be an improvement on their current state.
I was encouraged looking at some of their work and how busy they were. They had some very high end vehicles in the workshop, many customised BMW AMGs and a 4 day old BMW monster 4x4 where the owner scraped a wheel the day he collected the vehicle! I was told BMW had booked the car in to get the wheel sorted for an unnamed VIP client. Football player I reckon ;)
Loving those BBS wheels Jon :icon_thumleft:
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Just noticed the tyres on your wheel Jon :)
I've just ordered a set of Uniroyal RainExpert in 195/60 R14 from Camskill to put on my wheels after the refurb. The current tyres have a bit of tread left, but the tyre markings show that are vintage 2008. As the old tyres are having to come off, it would be silly for 11 years old tyres to go back on!
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Cleaned her up recently. Gratuitous pics ;)
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Beautiful example Malcolm
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Its looks new!!

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Looks absolutely stunning



Lähetetty minun G8141 laitteesta Tapatalkilla
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Wonderful gratuitous pics :great:
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I think those pictures do flatter a bit.
Overall though, the paintwork is excellent for a 36 year old car, but with areas that are inevitably showing the effects of wear and tear.
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I think those pictures do flatter a bit.
Overall though, the paintwork is excellent for a 36 year old car, but with areas that are inevitably showing the effects of wear and tear.
Seen it in the flesh Malcolm. It’s still stunning
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Very nice looking clean car Malcolm
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Something a little different. The FM radio has never worked in KIMI 3, so I decided to have ago at fixing it.
Getting the radio out of the dash was a bit of a pain, but I got there in the end. I then set up a power supply, aerial and speakers on my workbench to test the unit. Sure enough, no FM radio.
Unit on the bench:
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First task, locate the service manual for the Mazda OEM Clarion E950 unit, which cost me $4.95, but gave me access to all the circuit diagrams and PCB layouts I needed :icon_thumleft: Next step, dismantle it to look for the fault:
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Firstly it looked like the FM tuner module was the source of the issue - the silver, metal screened unit with the label. I tapped it and FM started to work :icon_thumleft:
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That was short lived though, as FM stopped working a few minute later, but at least the signs pointed to a faulty connection somewhere, but where?
The circuit diagrams helped, as they showed there should be a 8 volt supply to the FM Module when FM was selected. But there was no 8 volts on the input to the module. I traced back the primary source of the power feed to an integrated circuit, outputting 12 volts on pin 5. Yep, that was fine. Next, that fed a an NPN transistor being used to drop the voltage to 8 volts,. As soon as I put my multimeter probe on the one of the pins to that transistor, FM started to work again :13:
Here is a photo of the 3 pins to the NPN transistor. You can see the left pin has a black void, showing a compromised solder joint.
The other solder joints don't look too brilliant either!
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So, out with the miniature soldering iron and a bit of re -flowing with fresh solder - much better!
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FM now solid as a rock :great:
Whilst re-assembling - a painful job, I think a masochist designed the casing - I decided to dismantle the front panel and use some cotton buds and cleaning solution to remove 35 years worth of grime:
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4 cotton buds later and the panel, buttons and controls were looking a lot better.
I also realised this unit had the rather cool green LED sound level indicators when playing tapes :great:
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I just have to wrestle it back into the dash now ;)
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Awesome Casey and a hugely satisfying fix.
The local tv audio repair shop has disapeared from the high street...along with that skill set!.
Hifi gone now wifi!
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Great job, fried my noodle tho.
I’d start breaking out in a rash if I had to contemplate fixing that lol
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Nice job
and only way to do that. Everyone is changing stupid new sound systems for old cars...
Me however, thru Verts cd player to bin.
Engine, screamer, blow off and exhaust note is enough sounds for me... 
Lähetetty minun G8141 laitteesta Tapatalkilla
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Well done, you have more patiance than I ;)
On a different note have you managed to find a UK parts list for your model ?. I am trying to help somone with a front wing and he tells me that he thinks the US version was different.
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I've only got access to a US parts list Clive. Yes , there are differences, so have to be careful using it. Never seen a UK\Euro parts list.
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Malcolm
Is this the car you said you would be looking at when I spoke to you at JDM last year ?
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Yes Wayne, I bought it the week after JDM. Ian Mothersole now has KIMI 2. KIMI 1 is still my long term resto project.
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It’s certainly is in very good condition
Love it
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I certainly can't complain for a 36 year old car Wayne :great:
Shame is, plans to take it to events look like it's not going to happen for many months :(
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I certainly can't complain for a 36 year old car Wayne :great:
Shame is, plans to take it to events look like it's not going to happen for many months :(
Yep
Keep applying the wax , can’t see any social gatherings going on for a very long time .
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