Hi all,
My name\'s Rob, I\'m 26 and living in West Essex/East London area.
I\'ve just picked up (and bear with me here) an RX7 FC3S Turbo II Cabriolet - is that the official monikor? The thing is rusted. I mean, I come from S13\'s so I\'m well versed in the art of rust repair but this thing is on a different level, there\'s 900 year old Swiss cheese with better structural integrity. I do feel, however, that it should be saved from the scrapper so I\'ve spoken with my mechanic (the omnipotent Dal from Kent of SXOC fame) and we\'ve hatched a plan for repair over the next couple of months. She will ride again.
I\'m planning a tidy up underneath, brief tidy of the body, lower it, wheel it, few little performance mods (a couple of which are already done - exhaust, air filter, fuel cut defencer etc) and then just enjoy it for the summer. Luckily enough, the roof is in excellent condition with no rips, tears or leaks. Also receipts with the car from Rotekniks (sp?) for an engine rebuild around 15000 miles ago, it\'ll get a service but going by the price for the rebuild, another one is not realistically in the budget at the moment. Seems to run and drive fine though, high idle when it starts but assuming that\'s normal for a rotary.
Quick snap below, didn\'t get time to take any decent photos when it was recovered it was freezing and I\'m lazy.
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/1656407_811486275533343_357008036_n.jpg)
I\'ll get some pictures up of the rust soon so you can all laugh! Looking forward to getting stuck in on here, reading all about them and learning as much as I can and I\'ll hopefully be seeing you soon!
Cheers,
Rob.
Hi Rob and welcome to MRC,
Do you work for TMF ? I ask because I work out of Springhead which is just along the road
Welcome Rob... Nice car.
Good to see Somone save a rusty FC from the foragers.
You must be quite local to me too if your in Essex/East London
Would be good to see her along to the dartford meet.
Clive, no, that\'s where Dal works for his 9-5 work. Great place if you need any battery or alternator work.
Arnie, doubtless you will once she\'s back on the road. I\'ve set a realistic deadline of early May to have her MOT\'d so probably around that time I\'ll put in an appearance. :)
If it makes you feel better Rob mine is having the same treatment at the moment. Although im doing mine over 6 months or so. I started before christmas and still have half of the welding to do! Then its back to the track hopefully :)
Ade
So where a outs in the area she going to be living once done?
Ade, I just can\'t wait to get her back. I\'m quite sentimental about cars, I feel like me and this one are going to have a good relationship, giving her all the love I can right from the start.
Out of ideas for a name for her though, my red 200 was Cherry, my current daily GS is Lexy but Rexy for the RX sounds like a dudes name :/ more thought required.
Arnie, she\'ll be living in Barkingside; easy access for meets in Dartford!
Nice one... Nice and local.
From your name did you used to have an RX8?
Nope, never had one of those, I\'m sure there was a reason for the 192 when I started using it 10 or so years ago but I\'ll be damned if I can remember what it was!
so whats the story behind the car , where did you get her from etc.. ??
And you do realize that just one pic doesnt cut it around here , we need all sides , engine bay etc... :D :D :D
I suspected it wouldn\'t! I\'ll get some more when I\'m down the unit on Saturday, promise.
Erm, well after 4 long years in the last project, an S13, I crashed it after having a tyre blow out on a dual carriageway. I repaired the car at great expense and gave it a PS13 face but it was never the same and it had so many flash parts on it I couldn\'t ignore the value in breaking it. I then bought a GS300 to run around in which is nice and comfortable and everything but it\'s a bit much for me, with everything being electronic it\'s just extremely boring to drive and that boredom gave me the itch for something new.
I noticed the shining example you see in the picture (singular) above on Driftworks (I lurk there as it is a useful repository of interesting parts but the most hateful place), for the princely sum of £900 and immediately fell in love (it does have some redeeming features which I\'ll come back to later). I\'ve enquired about a few cabs before but was worried about the rotary lump for a daily car, now I\'m in a position where I own my own home, have a large driveway and a reliable car to use on a daily basis I thought why the hell not.
I asked for many more detailed pictures of the car and subsequently discovered it was made of Ryvita underneath and the price halved - the deal was done and I travelled down to deepest kent with a recovery truck to pick her up. The guy I bought it off was a nice bloke but in a \'too many projects\' scenario, he was under the impression the car could be for breaking only but it seemed a shame to me as it came with a reasonable folder of receipts including an engine rebuild at extortionate cost, a new clutch, custom exhaust, blitz air filter and dump valve, a new convertible hood and other bits on it like low pro twin headlights, fuel cut defencer, decent wheel and boss etc. Once the rust is repaired, I can\'t see any reason why it wouldn\'t make a good base for a very interesting summer car.
I dropped it off and as I took that photo I realised I was looking at a \'bit of me\', I love it already.
I\'m loving this story. You\'ll have a lot of fun in it I have no doubt. As for a daily, I used mine as one for the first 3 years I owned her. She never missed a beat.I personally think they like to be used. I always made sure I redlined her every day once she was warmed up to help keep her clean inside. I changed jobs and ended up with a work van. so she now sits in the garage waiting for sunny days to play. Or waiting for an MOT like now!
Ade
Certainly looking forward to getting her on the road :)
Rotekniks are among the priciest and best for rebuilds, as long as the fueling etc is good, the engine should be fine for many years to come. You\'ll run out of petrol money before you wear out the engine!
I had two S13s before I got my FD RX-7. Good decision!
Oh, well that\'s good to hear, thanks!