Hey!

Just graduated with a BS in mechanical engineering from USF. My parents surprised me with a car.

I've known of the car since I was 13, riding my bike around the neighborhood. It was just a street over from my house. One day, it was gone, I figured it was sold. Flash forward to early 2011, and another neighbor informs me of a "low milage, clean RX-7 in a garage right by here" (seeing as I've got 1 parked out in the street, & another in the garage, he figured I'd be interested in hearing. I asked "you mean, this one?" and pointed to the '83 in the garage. He replied with "No, I believe it was a black convertible."

I was in shock... Wow, that car must not have been sold after all! I walked down to the house where it was at, and rang the door bell. Out came an older lady. I inquired about the car, which ofcourse she still had. Turned out it was an 89, black, 5speed that hadn't ran since 2005. I tried numerous times to purchase the car from her throughout the year, but it seemed hopeless.

Anyway, I did the walking ceremony for graduating on the 10th of Dec, 2011. Afterward, I came home and my parents gave me a USPS envelope. Once opened, it contained a "USF Alumni" license plate frame, and a printed out license plate my folks hastily made saying "GR8 JOB LANDON" with some cheezy USF logos on it, lol. I flipped it over, & there lied a picture of that same plate frame/plate combo on the back of the vert.... I flipped.




"NO WAY!!!" lol

 

Congrats man that's awesome

 

So, the next morning we went to take it home. Since it'd sat so long, the tires were totally flat. The rears were so far gone they wouldn't hold air, hence the spares.



Notice they're not rolling away lol







Window propped up w/ a piece of wood. Both regulators were bad. Amazingly, 5 days after I was given the car, the local scrap yard parked an '88 Vert. Both regulators were there & both worked! Got both for $74 . Working great now

Here's the day I got it to start. After soaking the chambers in seafoam, & gently rotating the engine over w/ a 19mm socket on the crank bolt, I got the engine free'd enough to spin smoothly. Compression pulses sounded great! Before starting, I had to drain the tank of the old "fuel", though it was more like a dusty crystal solution at this point lol. Cleaned it out by repeatedly pouring in denatured alchohol, scrubbing, draining.

Fuel pump was faulty too, so a new one was installed. I believe this is the reason the car wasn't driving any more. It was parked when the owner took custady of her grand daughter, & needed a bigger vehicle to drive her around. A few years later she went to start it, and no dice.

The spark plugs were also replaced, and the oil changed before the start attempt. Coolant was full & green, so I felt OK using it for a short while of running.

Here's that vid!

http://youtu.be/Mtnc2gkrSl8

Anyone here who's met me knows how much I love these cars 100% original, and nice. That being said, the car's getting cleaned up as well as I can.




Re-foamed every piece of HVAC duct that had foam. No dust invading my eyes when I turn on the blower!


Carpet & Dash after much out of car cleaning


Xmas day I tore the intakes off- Needed access to redo all the coolant hoses. Did all new hoses & thermostat, had the rad sent out & blown out by a radiator shop.


Injectors after being cleaned/ re-grommet'd/tested.

 

To skip a whole bunch of progress, here's right after it was clay bar'd, buffed, & waxed. That paint came right back to life!

 

looks awesome man, once i get my car on the road we should set up a meet.

 

wow bro, right on! i got an 89 vert myself.
looking good so far in your efforts to clean it up!
looking forward to the final product, whats your plans with it? or just a super low milage clean stock fc?

Lloyd

 

Beautiful car! Based on how you're treating it you definitely deserved the car.

 

enjoy! i've had every FC model and year, but so far the vert is my favorite

 

I enjoy what you're doing.
I was amazed to see how well the paint on it held up after sitting for all those years.

 

Thanks all!! Ya, I'm loving this thing. Goal is to just make a real nice cruiser in which everything works as it did new. Have most of it going well, here's a comprehensive list of what else needs fixing:

-antenna mast is sheared. New one on order

-FC01 CPU is bad, so I've lost key hole illumination (door & ign), security, door/key in/lights on chime, "belts" warning light

-stock radio is sent out to a factory radio service shop. New cassette drive belts going in, checking that all lights work, CD laser cleaned, new LCD screen, & best of all, addition of an 1/8" audio jack

-left driverside headrest speaker doesn't work

-clock doesn't dim when lights turned on

-driver side quarter trim panel is broken

-passenger mirror has a chip taken out

-AC doesn't work. It's still R12, & will stay that way. pretty much at the end of the list, as i've got 3 other RX-7 coupes, there's not really a point in ever driving a vert top up lol

-copious amounts of parking lot door dings. I think a ding doctor could smooth it out quite nicely, I'd definitely love to have it done!

-driver seat has a hole in it about the .75" in diameter, & is growing

-some small spots here & there that need touch up paint.

-small tear in the convertible top. Anyone know what to do about these? Have it patched from the inside/etc?

Other than that, those are the only remaining plans for the car! It's all about driving it now haha.

Just went to the DMV earlyer this week & registered it. That same day I got a set of Michelin Harmony's, and took it for the first top-down cruise along the gulf beaches. I'm in LOVE!

I'll update with some more pictures here shortly!

 

It need some work, but your shell loooks very clean! Congrats!

 

Thank you for keeping it 100% original. I hope to find another 100% original some day.

 

Very cool man looks like its comin back to life real nice keep up the good work! And get a tire for the chrome rim! I cant really talk tho ive had a spare on my car for awhile now haha

 

dude that is sweet!!

 

Here's some pictures I just snapped today

Thanks for all the compliments guys!




There's the license plate frame that goes with the car lol






You can see the tiny hole in the driver's side seat. I don't want to replace it, but it does need fixing... any suggestions?


Had to buy an original battery box lid from mazdatrix to complete the factory look. Sprayed on some armor all for some shine, after I degreased the bay while all of the manifolds were removed. It's cheezy how shiny it is, lol

Drives like a dream! The stock exhaust is so silent when cruising, and gives just enough rotary whine under throttle that it's totally satisfying.

Have the antenna mast on order, and the factory radio is coming in sometime soon as well. Not sure if I mentioned this, but I sent it to factoryradioservice.com- they've put in a new LCD screen (my scratch protective layer had rubbed off), fixed the pre-amp, cleaned the CD lense, replaced the cassette belts, made sure all the lights work, and best of all, added an 1/8" audio input jack!!

Cheers guys!

 

What did you use to recarpet the car? Original carpet, but just cleaned? Or a kit of some sort?

 

Any chance of a rebuild sometime soon?

 

Took the carpet out, put it on the cement on the side of the house. I took a garden hose & just dampened it a bit. Then, with a hard-bristle brush & A LOT of the powdered Oxy Clean cleaner, I scrubbed & scrubbed & scrubbed lol.

Then I put it up on the fence, pulled out the pressure washer (this is key, as the water velocity is much higher & really drives out much more dirt than just the garden hose) and blasted until the water ran clean.

As for a rebuild- Starts up perfect every time, doesn't burn coolant or puke it out, it's a GREAT engine! Hoping to get at least another 60k out of it

 

Good find man.
Sits for several years, still has good paint, and the engine still runs.
Really good find.

 

******* WOW man, absolutely gorgeous. a prime example of how clean these cars once were. im impressed!!
now, time to get my vert this clean hahaha, paint first though

Lloyd

 

car looks great! for the tear, try an upolstery shop, they can replace just that section/panel, and its usually not too expensive (although leather is pricey)

thanks for the link! my radio is DOA too, and i took it apart to see if i could fix it, and um its complicated in there!

i also agree, stock, or very near stock seems to be best. i should take some pics, but i played with the exhaust, and ended up with just the HKS sport catback. you notice noise more in the vert, with the straight pipe it was too loud.

i also lowered mine on GAB shocks, with coilovers and its too low, so i'm just going back to stock there too....

i AM keeping my mazdaspeed steering wheel, but really that's about it

 

Looks good buddy. Need to hangout again soon!!!

 

Totally haha. I was really worried it was parked due to an overheat or something, but luckily that wasn't the case. First thing I did when I saw it was check the coolant- it was nice & green, and completely full.

No prob man! I pulled the AE unit open on my spare OEM radio, and resoldered it to try & correct it, but no luck (Only getting sound out of the headrest speakers on it lol).

Will give a ring to an upholstry shop here soon- cheers!

Thanks guys for the compliments!!!

 

awesome find! i just purchased my first RX7 - an 89 vert, and I'm inspired! Unfortunately, I've got quite a bit more work to do on mine...

 

Nice project! I just came into my 89 black convertible this last week. Picked it up from a guy that had too many cars.. ended up just giving it to me for free if i came with a trailer. I wanted one in high school but never bought one. its funny how destiny brings us things that we least expected.