Mazda Rotary Club

I am pleased to say that the Series 3 RX-7 I have owned since 1996 finally returned to the road after 5 years today.  During this time I have been distracted by other projects but have slowly completed the following work on the car:

a) Full brake overhaul including calliper rebuild (by Big Red) and new flexible hoses and master cylinder.
b) Replacement of all fuel hoses with latest spec ethanol compliant hoses.
c) Fitment of a replacement Nikki that has mechanical secondaries and choke removed and accel pump modifications
d) Replacement of ignition system components, coils, leads etc. (I thought worth doing after 34 years!)

When i fitted the new carb the car did not fire up.  I eventually traced it to 2 plugs that were not firing at all.  Once I had fitted some replacement (older) plugs it started first time.  I have now replaced with a newer set.

Car ran well when I took it out today, although there was a slight stickiness when the secondaries were about to open which meant that more pressure was needed on the throttle pedal.  Probably just something in the linkage so I will look tomorrow.

I have adjusted the mixture to get the best idle I can although it still seems a bit rich.  Off to Tim's on Tuesday to get him to check everything over and adjust as required.

We will hopefully come along to the Gaydon meet in a couple of weeks time, the first meet the car has been to since Santa Pod in 2014.

I would like to thank Clive for all of the advice and encouragement he has provided in getting to this point.

Damn that car is beautyful

Lähetetty minun G8141 laitteesta Tapatalkilla

As some of you may know I have been agonizing over whether to have MAZ resprayed or not.  Sometime in the late 80's early 90s before I bought the car in 1996 it appears to have had a respray on the drivers side door, wing and bonnet.  This repair was not well done and the paint had started shrinking away from the rubbers and the lacquer had crazed on the bonnet.

I have now finally bitten the bullet and the car is in for a full respray at a local car restoration place just north of Chippenham. Over the last few weeks they have dismantled the car and performed body work repairs as follows:

• New metal to replace rotted area at the bottom of drivers side A pillar.
• Repair of rusted areas by rear upper radius arm mounts
• Repair of pin hole rust under protective moulding on drivers door
• corrected all small body work imperfections picked up over last 38.5 years

One interesting choice was the exact colour to respray with.  I was presented with 5 possible sprayouts 2 ICI, 2 Mipa and one mix done from a scan of existing paint.  The 2 ICI mixes were both very silvery and were discarded straight away.  The scan paint didn't look right.  The 2 Mipa ones were closest and apparently the colour elements were the same they were just sprayed with different thinners.  I chose the one that looked to be very marginally darker, and certainly looked closer to what I think the origional factory colour was.  Time will tell once the car is in the sunlight!

All prep has been finished and the various parts of the car spent this week in the spray booth.  I will visit on Monday to check it out in person.

Once the paint has hardened they will start re-assembly.  Once this is done all of the suspension will be taken off for a refresh.  New poly bushes and Racing Beat springs.  Shocks were done a couple of years ago so are still OK.

Any rust on underside will be dealt with and then finished with body colour tinted underseal as per factory finish.  This includes the textured finish to sills and rear lower body panel.

Hopefully the car will all be completed by the spring ready for me to bring home once weather improves.  New windscreen from Pilkington is not due until sometime in January.

The following are as few images from over 950 that I have been sent.

In the paint booth

These are the 2 Mipa sprayouts I had to choose from.  Not much difference in the picture, but slightly different in sunlight.

It was a stunning FB before, but now its going to be even more amazing  :great: 

Went over to view the paint today.  Re-assembly already started in some areas.  Paint looks very good and has been finished to a 1980's spec as requested, thus not as hyper polished as a modern car would be. Colour looks very good under daylight bulbs.  Previous images in spray booth are not so well lit so paint looks darker than it is.

Apparently the car has been attracting much attention by visitors to the restoration company.  Not bad when you consider that they have various models of Aston Martin, Porsche and other interesting cars in the building.

Obviously not everyday you see a RX-7.

Ah, reassembly! The very best part of car restoration.  :great:
That colour suits the FB so well!

This will look brillliant


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Topside nearly complete.  Just waiting new windscreen delivery from Pilkington.  Rear side windows bonded back in yesterday.

Inside repairs all painted, probably to a higher standard than original.  Shame it will be covered up.

Black rubber elements of bumpers have been painted with a rubber paint (as used on lorry trailers apparently) Look really good.  Just waiting for side rubbing strips to be similarly painted and fitted.

Next tasks are to start on underside and refurb of wheels.

Wow, it just gets better and better!

Has anything been done to restore the rear rubber lip at all?

No, all i have done is fed it with Autoglym trim restorer for about 3 weeks. This was the only recommendation I had after asking a few people at NEC.  I still think it will fade again once weather warms up and it dries out.  I think it will just be a case of continually treating it. 

Stunning!  :sign0098:  You make me miss my FB!  :'(

Wowie, very smart.

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On the final stretch now.  Underside of the car is now complete.  Full set of Energy Suspension bushes fitted.  Racing Beat springs fitted (I eventually put them on the car Clive!).  We decided not to bother with doing underside between the chassis rails as all looked good.  Just outside of chassis rails.

Final job is to complete the wheels.  They have been stripped, now painted and polished and are currently back at the re-finishers (Pro Alloys Melksham) to have the centre diamond cut and then lacquered.  Hopefully they turn out like the spare which I had done as a test a couple of years ago.

If anyone wants a passenger door seal I have 2 available.  I bought a set a few years ago from Rock Auto and when we came to fit them on the car they were both for the same side.  I have now bought a matching pair which are fitted.

I will get the car back once the weather improves.  It will be interesting to see what the colour looks like in natural light.  It looks quite silvery under strong artificial light and this was the darkest of the recipes we could find.

First show is booked for 20th April at Alice Park in Bath (my local event) and then hopefully using for the GRRC Exmoor drive out on 27th April.

Dave

Wheels

I don't think the phrase as good as new will do this justice. Lets go for better than new  ;)   

That's what I call proper jewellery!  :sign0098:

Wow, looking better than when it came out of the factory  :great:

Last piece of the puzzle completed.  Wheels came back today.  Some interesting light affects in the diamond cutting.

I really want to see those close up! They look awesome!

Very very nice.
Dave, did they lacquer them so they will stay how they look now ?

Clive,

Yes they are lacquered.  Process was:

1. Strip wheels
2. Paint all wheel pockets
3. Polish outer edge of rim upto point diamond cutting starts
4. diamond cut centres
5. Laquer wheel.

The diamond cutting is probably a bit finer than that used by Mazda 40 years ago but does look good.  Hopefully last another 40 years.

Dave

Car now completed. I will be picking up tomorrow. This is from the Grandstand Coachworks open morning last week. Car complete with lazy passenger sun vizor (see wanted post). Lots of attention and always good to speak to people about rotary engines. Even though only about 50 people attended I still talked to 1 person who owned an FB back in the 80's and just said "you don't see these anymore".

Tracking to be checked on the way home and then car readied for a small show we have in our local park on Sunday.

Wow and that's all I can say :) 

Just gorgeous  :love4: