When I bought my FD from the previous owner, he showed me a current carfax that justified the clean California title. I did notice some slight damage to the core support and I noticed the BN sports rear bumper being "molded" to the quarter panels.

It wasn't a big deal (or so I thought) since I knew I was going to be restoring the car and making it how I wanted it.

As I dug deeper and deeper in to the car, I started to notice more significant damage...



There was so much bondo on that quarter panel, they had to pile up bondo on the door to make it line up. (the door is straight)

I'm thinking, "Ok not that big of a deal. I'll just replace the quarter panel and move on". However, the amount of labor involved is too expensive for me. And I have yet to find a clean quarter panel to replace it.

I put that on the back burner to keep working on an electrical problem I'm trying to hunt down. Wound up taking a break from that and took the car to get it aligned.

The front end won't align.

The caster is so far off between the left and right sides up front, it's an obvious difference as to where the wheels sit in the fender. The shop tried to get it right and it just would not work. To get the wheels even remotely close to where they sit even in the fenders would have meant going all the way positive with caster on one side and all the way negative with caster on the other side.

When I had the core support replaced, I paid the shop to put the car on a frame machine and they said it was straight. So why would I have such a problem aligning the car?

Of course, the car has been crashed. But, how bad? So I checked carfax AGAIN to see the same thing I saw when I bought the car. Then I was advised by a friend to look at autocheck.

boom. "Salvaged/Damaged" in Maryland back in 2003. With no history up until it was titled in California in 2009. But, the weird **** is that it titled clean in California. How in the hell is that possible? This state is so strict on **** like that and how did this car slip through the cracks?

This car has been nothing but a nightmare for me and I don't know what to do other than trying to find a cheap, clean titled roller.

Does anyone know how the title transferred as clean to CA?

 

I would check the front suspension. A local friend had a bent ball joint on his lower control arm that made it difficult to get any negative camber from one side. For a stock alignment there was enough adjustment to adjust it within spec.

If the body/frame is straight then I wouldn't give up on it. A "clean" roller can have issues as well.

You can get a 1/4 panel from Mazda still I think.

 

Everything has been checked up front and nothing is bent or damaged. (At least from what I could see)

As for the quarter panel, they're on backorder from Mazda and no one knows when they'll be stocked again.

 

Yea I got the last new DS rear 1/4 in the states.

 

I just got off the phone with Ray at Malloy a little while ago and he said he can still get quarters. But, they're in Japan and will take a while.

$504 + $120 shipping + $900 in labor is already half way in to paying for a new shell.

 

if it were me i would call the car a track shell and find another roller in better shape. that car just sounds/looks beat to hell.

 

Yeah. That's what I'm thinking.

I already have friends offering to buy this one to make it a missile car lol.

 

Hey just in case you want a quarter I just came across this... https://www.rx7club.com/race-parts-o...ut-fd-1052476/

 

Agreed on the new shell. You'll always question the car after this.

 

It seems you are in the same boat as me with a "Clean Title" car from the state you bought it in but the car has actually been totaled in another state. You said the frame shop assured you it was straight so I would check the suspension arms. If those aren't bent then pull up the carpet. Nasty things can hide under the carpet, ask me how I know.

Personally, I would go with a different shell as I am doing with mine (although mine isn't straight). If you do plan to keep this one and need a passenger quarter panel, PM me, I know a guy local to me that has one.

 

Sometimes they run it through another state to "clean the title" then bring that clean title to CA...
I would find a clean roller if it was me

 

Yeah. That's what it looks like. There's 6 years of zero activity on the car after it was totalled. I imagine whoever rebuilt it, filed a lien sale on the car after he repaired it here in CA.

Shady as hell if you ask me.

 

That sucks dude

 

Shouldn't all the people who've titled or registered the car be on record somewhere? Assuming this sort of thing is a crime, is there some way to go after them for the cost of repairs or replacement?

 

I've seen cars with clean CarFax reports that had obvious accident damage....and the AutoCheck report did indeed list the accident. I always run both for any car I'm considering, I look the car itself over very carefully, and I always ask the seller if it has ever had ANY paint or body work done.

Different states have different rules as to what is considered Rebuilt/Salvage/etc and different rules for converting from one type of title to another. Run the title through the correct states in the correct order and you can get yourself a clean title. It is a process known as Title Washing and is perfectly legal.

 

i think you mean shouldn't the DMV be held accountable? they are the ones who miss the salvage titles and convert them to non-salvage. i have seen this happen when transferring titles from one state to another simply due to oversights.

of course it's easy to blame the seller but it is quite possible even they did not know as the previous owner may not have disclosed it to them, and good luck figuring out where it all went wrong.

quite honestly it's partly your own responsibility to check for damages to a car before purchasing it. even a totally clean looking car can have hidden issues underneath the skin, this is even more difficult if the car isn't drivable. if you are unsure, hire a professional car inspector to check it out for you.

on one FD the car was in fact cut in half and mated to another FD's *** half, the title was somehow clean. it went from a $12k asking price to $9k, to once they found out to a pile of parts and an unusable shell.

 

the FD is older than carfax

 

There is nothing wrong with filler if its not too thick. Thats not the best angle to tell, but it doesn't look too bad (I have no idea whats under that flare). The messed up alignment is another story...

 

Same thing happened to me, car had a clean title and when I took it to be completely repainted the whole roof was welded everywhere.

 

and don't pout your faith into a car report.

if say an owner ran off the road and didn't have full coverage insurance or file a claim, obviously nothing will show up on a car report..

there is also likely other situations where an insurance company may deny a claim as well, say racing the car on a closed course.

 

So? Carfax and AutoCfheck both appear to have gone back and collected records from as far back as they can get. My FD appears to have a full set of records on AutoCheck.

 

I found a roller. At least the nightmare is kinda over...

 

Oh I want that front bumper!!! Lol.

I kind of went through the same thing...clean title transferred it to FL and now its a "rebuild" title. Had the entire car checked out, frame is straight, it has the original BB paint, pulled the bumpers off and didn't find anything. The body shop that I found through my insurance said there was nothing wrong with it. They said maybe it was wrecked (possibly an engine fire) early in its life and then repainted with original OEM BB paint. There is one larger dent at the bottom of the driver's side quarter panel but no where big enough to "salvage" the title. Would have loved to get a clean roller but I didn't spend very much for the car. It will never be a show car but it still puts a smile on my face just by looking at it when I leave for work in the morning.

Do you have a build thread?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using RX7Club

 

Yeah I have a thread. https://www.rx7club.com/build-thread...ction-1026952/

 

You found that shell fast. I wish it was that easy to find a suitable candidate in the northeast. Ill be following your build now also.