Absolutely gorgeous car!!! Man that would make a beatiful DD, hmm.

 

Been DD'ing it for a year now and it's pretty solid. Aside from a few old car squeaks and rattles in the interior, and a worn out ignition switch, it hasn't given me any issues at all.

It's a typical rotary though in the sense that's a not a big fan of running A/C in the hotter months lol.
It sure as hell doesn't behave like a 25 year old car though.

 

You have really good taste, congrats on being able to do all these things, I'm jealous

 

So I've recently applied for job that'll take me to the Tokyo area, and I feel like I've got a decent shot at landing it.

If I do get accepted, my current state of mind is that might sell the Cosmo in favor of a pre-95 FD, go all out of the cooling/suspension mods and go tracking, hope it doesn't blow up, and bring it back to America if that's where my career would take me next.

So we'll see, I'd hate to part ways with this JC, it's really been a treat, but there's nooooooo way I could live in mainland and not have something to enjoy on the track and in the twisties. This car handles great for it's size, but it ain't no FD or S2000 for sure.

 

well, good luck with the job.

the car is indeed a looker but at least you got to enjoy it for a time in the event you have to give it up. just curious, what is the aftermarket support over there like for them?

 

Dwindling from nearly non existent. It's not too hard to find things like coilovers or a radiator atleast since a few companies still offer them new. But things like chassis bracing have been discontinued, and harder to find.

Luckily I've been able to ****** up the rare stuff when it pops up. The PanSpeed titanium exhaust, Aragosta coilovers (can still be bought new, but are $3K+), and Amemiya ECU were extremely lucky must-haves that I jumped on.

Engine wise, it isn't terribly hard since the 20B and rotaries in general are well supported. It's just the chassis stuff that requires some digging around.

Hopefully that changes as some of them start hitting the States. The Brits and Aussies have more new parts to offer than Japan.

 

very nice Cosmo. I just bought one. Yours is an inspiration don't sell it.

 

Thanks!

I definitely don't want to sell it. My other consideration is that a good friend of mine is selling a NA Roadster RS-Limited, which is like the RZ version of our FD's.

I oughta be able to keep the Cosmo and rock the NA quite easily. But damn I miss having a FD.

 

I wish that California didn't suck so very bad. Grey market == no go.

 

Well the Tokyo job fell through with little explanation as to why, gotta love the military...

So the plan now is to start working on an electronic water pump set up. Also looking at going with an aftermarket radiator also with an electric fan combo and for the moment I'll be going with a Koyo copper unit since the yen rate is damn good.

Thinking about changing wheels again too, but that'll be quite some time from now.

 

More picturesssssssss. Because who doesn't love new pictures right?













I've realized I've been a bit lax in tracking everything I do to this car, so I'm going to type out of the current modification listing for memories sake, and for something to look back on if I keep chucking money at it.



ENGINE/DRIVETRAIN
FC3S 5 speed gearbox conversion (FC clutch master cylinder, FD brake pedal?)
AutoExe intake
PanSpeed titanium exhaust, turbo outlet back, 40 lbs total, 1 of 6 produced
RE Amemiya ECU Type B
Bigger intercooler

SUSPENSION/BRAKES/WHEELS
Aragosta coilover/Swift Springs
All rear pillowball bushings replaced in Nov 2014
Polyurethane bushings installed in rear arms Dec 2014
Japanese axis of evil front brake set up: R32 GT-R calipers, JZA80 StopTech slotted rotors (on a Mazda!)/Rear brakes: slotted Dixcel rotors
Gram Lights 57 Maximum Pro: 18x9 +24 with a 3mm spacer to clear the brakes up front, 18x10 +35 in the rear
255/35/18 and 275/35/18 RE-11's


EXTERIOR
Mazdaspeed Type 2 front lip
Factory option neon lit side skirts, rear skirts, and wing


INTERIOR
Acrylic shift **** for the ladies
WORKING CCS unit
Upgraded speakers (I forget which brand)
Defi BF blue gauges, Turbo/Water Temp/Oil Temp

 

Bit of an update ol' chaps.

The car is still doing great, started pre-mixing and the engine seems to enjoy it quite a bit. Feels a bit smoother through the torque band and seems to get s midge better MPG.

Speaking of MPG, I burnt through 3/4's of a full tank this weekend on 7 hour long spirited drive. The Cosmo did great keeping up with an Evo VI and a nice handling Integra, it doesn't drive as big as it looks. Though I did notice something that was severely lacking....seat bolstering! The car could've gone faster, but I couldn't.

I was getting quite tired propping myself up in the corners and I noticed at times I was using the steering wheel to keep me upright. Not cool! So I'm in the market for aftermarket seats once again, we'll see what pops up on the auctions once I get my funds together.

Speaking on the handling front, I FINALLY managed to snag some ultra rare AutoExe under chassis braces. These things are unicorn horns for Cosmo's. I currently have them shipped to a fellow Cosmo owner in Australia in attempts to get them copied for all the other Cosmo guys.

Here's a couple pictures them installed (not my car!)





And the actual braces.







Meanwhile, I found out through Herlbenny that Defi now makes the Smart Adaptor products which allowed the sensors and control box to send a Bluetooth signal any device through Defi's free app. So the plan was to get rid of my in dash gauges and also add an oil pressure sensor to the mix. But low and behold, the older style sensors won't connect to the newer Advance control box. Damn. So new sensors are on order, but for now:



Lastly, my made to order front strut bar and radiator cooling panel finally came in from Carbing/Okuyama after a 2-3 month wait. Always been a fan of their stuff.








That's about it for now. Still more things on the horizon, there's many things on the to do list!

 

Beautiful, beautiful car! Everything about it is just perfection, the color, your tasteful mods, and that interior looks mint! For the sake of everything holy, never sell this car.

 

Thanks! The more stuff I slap on this car, the more I find myself enjoying it. It'd take a fairly special FD for me to make the jump back. There's a '95 RZ model and Spirit R I both want quite badly, but for the time being the next location of assignment is determining what I'll do next.

I think I want a pair of Recaro Sportster CS to be my next seats, however Recaro's only offers them in black brand new. There's a black and beige option, but that's a long gone feature, and finding them used is damn near impossible.

So I have no idea what seats to slap in there, I've been hawking YAJ and UpGarage daily, but still haven't found anything that's a must have.

 

Alrighty then, update time.

Finally made a decision on seats after searching YAJ and UpGarage daily. I saw this seat pop up and it really grew on me. I'm not a Bride man at all, I prefer Recaro all day, but damn this seat nice as hell in person. It's a Bride Japan Cuga. I'll be buying the passenger side soon, same style, except the Vorga model which comes with much less aggressive leg bolsters.










Also I finally got the bluetooth Defi set up in! Liking it a lot so far, the app is great. Waiting on a few iPhone mounts to come in from Amazon so I can decide where I'm going to mount the phone for easy monitoring.

 

Alright, latest update.

Had a lingering issue with my driver's side headlight flickering off and on and random moments. A little troubleshooting found that one the HID ballasts was more than likely going bad. After doing some Google research, I found that these Morimoto XB55 ballasts looked pretty tempting and the reviews confirmed that.

So I placed an order and when they came in I got right to installing. Initial reaction were wow these are nice, especially in comparison to the cheap, generic looking ballasts the car came with. Check out the difference!









Once everything was all buttoned up, I lit up the headlights and noticed that the bulbs were much quicker at warming up. I've had them in for about 2 months now and so far they've been 100% hassle free and reliable!



Now for the biggest update, I got some RX-8 R3 Recaro's! I love these things, and they're the closest design to the Recaro Sportster's which are the seats are really wanted, but cheaper.



Although I didn't take any pictures, it was a challenge getting them mounted up. The Recaro's come with RX-8 rails "studded" to the seat frame instead of being bolted together. I had to drill out 20 studs between the 2 seats to separate the seat base from the seat sliders. Thanks Mazda!

Luckily once I had them separated, I found that the remaining holes would mount right onto a pair of aftermarket rails I had. Took a day of work, but I got them in!







Unnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnfortunately, they sit higher than I would like. Main reason is because the bottom of the seat has a metal "bucket" under the seat bottom that dips down. So I had to use long tube spacers between the seat frame and rails, which effectively jacked them up higher than I liked. Plus the sliders were right under the butt dip.

So just tonight I got to looking at my stock seats rails, which I had originally dismissed using because of the electric motors and harnesses. But after a closer look, the sliders accomodate the stock seats butt dip, which should work perfect for the Recaro's. So this weekend I'll be trying to removed the stock rails without murdering them, just in case I need to use them again! Soon though I will start converting to a black interior.

 

Love the car, look great! Congrats on the gt seats, hard to find for sure. I like the bride seat too!!

20B for the win!!

 

Update time!

Long story short, I manged to get the stock Cosmo power sliding rails to fit the bottom of the Recaro's. The result is that they sit MUCH lower than before, and the power sliding function still works great! They're a hell of an upgrade over stock!



A couple of weeks ago, I got some time off work to visit Hiroshima with my wife, who coincidentally was up going there for work, haha. Luckily for me, Mazda HQ is based out of Hiroshima, so I just HAD to make sure I visited their museum!

When I landed in Hiroshima, I went to pick up the rental car I had reserved, a Toyota Crown X. After a good bit of waiting, and some confusion, it turned out the person I had to talked to booked my rental at the wrong airport. Fail! The Toyota guys were very nice, but all they had to offer at the time is a Toyota Wish....which is this thing:



Um yea, NO THANKS! Luckily in the lot I noticed a pretty little white Mazda Axela (Mazda 3 in the States) calling my name. So a quick little shuffle to next counter and I had myself a Mazda, in the city of Mazda. I'll take it!

What I didn't notice until I got into the car was that it was a hybrid, I didn't even know Mazda had any current hybrid's. So you can imagine my confusion when I tried starting the car and heard absolutely nothing. I must've "started" the car 3 or 4 times before I realized it was on, but only running on battery power. Once I got used to it's hybrid system, I actually enjoyed the car immensely. Mazda has done an amazing job on the interior, even though it was the middle of the range model. More than that, it was actually fun to drive. Yup, I had fun in a run of the mill hybrid! It was an eye opener for sure.



So with my new found excellent MPG, I proceeded to drive all over Hiroshima. I hit up a few UpGarages:




Spotted a new 488:



And a few AutoBacs, to include this SUPER Autobacs!



Inside, it had a little surprise for me I wasn't expecting. A whole section of R-Magic products, sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet.







The next day was time for the Mazda museum and plant tour. Here's Mazda Headquarters!

 

The lobby had a lot of eye candy.





Once the tour started, I made a bee line to everything rotary powered.







This SA was pristine, check out the old school upholstery.





Pretty cool to see these 2 together.





All the rotaries! Ofcourse I had to check out the series stamp on the 20B, lol.

 

I kept wondering around and turned a corner and saw a legend. Seeing thing in person both gave me goosebumps and took my breath away.



There was SO MUCH to look at on this car. I was the first one to walk up to it, and the last one to leave it. It's amazing in person.









I have loads more pictures, but that's the gist of it. I also got to see the production line, even though we weren't allowed to take pictures in there. I have new found respect for Mazda. Seeing the cars being made, the passion the employees had, even the cute girls working the lobby desk made my day! I was wearing a rotary shirt that day, and 2 different girls both said something along the lines of, "Oh you have a rotary shirt! Cool!".

Good job on knowing who you work for girls.




So anyways, after enjoying Hiroshima immensely, I made my way back to Okinawa, and back to work, boooooooooooooo.

During my trip though, I did manage to find a bangin' deal on a brand new Nardi, and after ordering a hub, I installed it just tonight and it feels sooooooo much better than the stock wheel, and compliment the seats big time!






So yea, lengthy post, and lots of jabbering. I'll leave this as the parting piece for this update.

 

Man I'm just all kinds of jealous lol

 

sucks the US never got the cosmo...

 

Was pretty skeptical when I seen the seat swap attempt in here, as every other Cosmo I have sat in with it done was terrible!

After sitting in them though I must say that he got it right, ergonomics were great, it maybe sits a little off center but the overall improvement is breath taking. Great work.

I apologize in advance for copying you.

 

Thanks! They definitely transformed the car in terms of feeling what the car is doing the corners, versus being tossed around in the stock seats trying to brace my self up on the door card and center console.

 

I'm thinking about picking one up soon. Yours looks awesome. I love the body lines on these cars too, and they look so much better with wheels like yours.

I was at Kadena from 2000-03. What is your AFSC? I'm Aerospace Ground Equipment, 2A6X2.