Mazda Rotary RX4 1974 Project

[Benbeaulieu]

Hi everyone, I start this thread here to show the progression of my new project about the restoration of the Mazda RX4 1974 of my dad.

Car History
My dad bought this car from his brother in 1994 because his brother was suffering of lung cancer. One year after, my uncle died and since that time, the car still parked behind the garage and never started. Now my dad\'s becoming old and I want to start this project of rebuilding the RX4 and let him ride this vehicle as is brother was doing before.

Project Overview
As I said, the car didn\'t start, move or even had a person seat in it sinc 1995. We want to rebuild the most OEM possible.

This summer, we provide to disassemble all the parts, sort the parts we need to replace or to restore. We will then work on the body of the vehicle in the autumn and shop the parts that we need to evaluate the cash we will need ton invest. At the end of winter 2013, we should get all the parts we need and we want to paint the overall body. The rest of the spring and summer will be to reassemble the vehicle and we expect to be able to ride it at the end of next summer.

Follow up in this thread
I will put pictures here about how the project goes and I will certainly ask some question about parts that we need or technical question. I do have the shop manual and I have a good knowledge of vehicle/engine but it still my first project and the first time I play with Rotary engine :Thumbs-up .

You are invited to comment this project if you want, I want it to be a shared experience for all Rotary old school fan!

Pictures
I will post pictures of the vehicle start condition tonight!

[clive]

First of all welcome to Mazdarotaryclub and we wish you well with your family project.

To give you an idea of the cars rarity, as far as we know there are just two UK models on the road at the moment, there are a few around of the 400 that came to our shores, which included the 4 door and the estate but very few have enough parts left on them to make a complete car any more.

Having taken one of these apart biggest piece of advise is don\'t break anything on disassembly as NO new parts are available any where and I have many many country\'s in my quest to make my own RX-4 better and better.

Here is a link to my own RX-4 thread that I hope my help

http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44357

[RobMatthews]

Excellent to see another rx4 in the uk, and as clive has said-hopefully you dont need many parts! there are still the few odd new old stock parts around but its finding them!and engine rebuild parts is not such a problem.

Looking forward to the pics

[Ada7]

Welcome to the club :wave
Looking forward to seeing and hearing about your project. The rx4 is a great looking car and very rare indeed.
There\'s plenty of guys on here or other forums (such as Exile) that will help you out with your old skool misson
DOnt forget the pictures. We love the pictures More the merrier

Adam

[Benbeaulieu]

As I read your posts, I think I have to specify that I am in Quebec, Canada. Hope you guys are welcoming a new car fan and that you will follow my project here!

[RobMatthews]

Ah assumptions are the mother of all mess ups, put a pic or two up and we\'ll see if we can let you in :-)

[Benbeaulieu]

Here are the first pictures of the vehicle. As you can see, everything is there, the body needs some work on it and this is a long time project (we expected about 2 years to complete it)

[SSScoupe]

Dosen\'t look too bad from the pics, i think mine was worse... i am a year in to mine and still enjoying it ( even though its yet to run!) Good luck with your project...

[RobMatthews]

nice dash looks like mine-cracked!
I love the cream interior you guys got!Uk appears to have just got black :-(

[Grant Monkhouse]

interior is in much better condition than mine, looks better in your cream colour too.  Be prepared for a good amount of welding unless it has been drystored for 20years, when and robs cars would have been better off being chopped into race cars, but we have done the right thing and not chopped much out apart from all the rot.

[Benbeaulieu]

Hi guys!
This weekend I\'m working on the disassembly of the interior of the car! After removing the rear bench a the carpets, I had a inquiry... Some insulation looks like ASBESTOS!! Can someone confirm me that it is asbestos?!?!?!? If yes I will use the protection equipment to remove it!

There is 2 new pictures of the interior. As you can see, mice used the foam during the time the car was stocked ... But this is not a big deal.. So let the project continue!

[Benbeaulieu]

The car is almost naked! tomorrow we remove the engine and everything will be appart. I\'m looking to convert it to an electric car! What do you guys think?

I will keep the interior as stock as I can and the exterior too!

[shaunwil]

Interesting Project but not sure its the right donor car, such a rare find.

Interesting read :

http://zeva.com.au/Projects/RX7/
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=rx7+electric+conversion+site:www.diyelectriccar.com&biw=1920&bih=952

Shaun