OK so here is the story, I have built and sold a turbo 12a but in the process I had in my back yard an old 83 rx-7 donor car that now I am ready to start building on.

So being from a small town I went alley hunting for a new donor car for my old donor car for misc parts and such. I found a yard with a 79 SA, 83 GSL and an 85 GSL-SE.

What I didn't see in the bushes was an RX-4 in decent shape no big rust and no big dents just needs paint. when I really looked at it I noticed it had GSL-SE wheels on it. After talking to the owner today he has offered me all four cars for free. He said they all ran when they were parked except for the Rx-4, he has never had the time to see if it runs. It has the big 13B in it.

The owner said he was going to try and swap in the SE front suspension and rear diff but currently only has things just sitting half assed mocked up.

Is this a swap that people have done before? Can you swap in SE suspension without too much hassle?
he has all the original stuff but I would like the 4wheel discs, posi and rim options.

Also I want to get the motor started can I bolt a nikki off a 82 rx-7 onto the old school 13b manifold? I would check but I do not have these in my yard yet(he just gave them to me today)

 

The SE front suspension will bolt in, but you will need some sort of caster/camber adjusting plates to get the alignment right. The SE rear diff is another story. I have one and I want to swap it into my Rx-4 as well, but I haven't taken the time to figure out if it is actually doable. If the stock carb is on the engine I would say just rebuild it. A nikki from a first gen should work in theory, but it won't be jetted right. Rebuild kits for the stock Rx-4 Hitatchi carbs are still available.

 

Can you buy the caster campber plates to make it work in the front end?

Yeah I just went out and looked again quickly and he doesnt have the SE rear end in but he does have the SE rims bolted up.... maybe he just swapped shafts???

As for the carb I just wanted to use a nikki I just rebuilt just to start the motor and see if it runs, then I would rebuild the stock carb.. if the motor doesnt run I would like to send it off for major porting and go with a bigger carb. So seeing if it runs will tell me which way this project will go.

So the nikki does bolt up to the stock manifold?

 

OK went back and looked at the car and it is pretty sweet. Definatly needs some work but it is all there and in decent shape. The rear axle and tires are stock I thought I saw SE rims on the back but no just on the front.

I took a short list of things I noticed I will need right away.. I imagine parts are very hard to find for these cars.. If anyone can give me an idea of the availibility of these parts it would set me in the right track.

-Rear bumper (saw one on the for sale section)
-Rear tail light surround thing
-Left outside tail light (signal?)
-Right front headlight
-Shifter boot
-Mirrors left and right
-Stuff for the windows cuz they do not roll down or sit in the track properly.. I will see if they can be fixed but they may need to be replaced.
-Maybe a new front driverside fender.. rusty behind the front wheel not bad but it has gone through.. do I have to fix or can I get a replacement?

Honestly not a bad list for a car this old
It has no papers so I dont know what year it is.. I will have to look for a build date.

I have to go out of town for couple days but I will post pics as soon as I get some

 

Camber plates can be bought from Re-Speed. They also have coil over kits that will work for the SE struts as well. As far as I know, the stock nikki carb should bolt up. I'm not 100% sure on that but I can check. I have a stock Rx-4 manifold and I have access to some stock nikkis'. Parts can be hard to find, but if you keep an eye out and get creative you'll be fine. If you get pics of the car posted up we can give you an idea of what year it is. They did a redesign of the car in 1976. Alot of the car is the same from 74-78 but some stuff is different.

 

Yeah I looked at alot of pics and I think it is pre 76 I guesstimate a 74. I will post pics prob thusday or friday..

I am so stoaked to start this project, I cant wait to get it to my house.

Where are the common rust problem areas on these cars?... the whole thing feels damn solid and I couldnt see any rust other than the drivers front fender

 

My car had rust in the fenders right along the seam where they bonded the back brace piece on. Also had rust in the frame rail right above the front wheels. Some little animals got inside and made nests which held moisture and rotted them out. There was also rust in the front rockers right behind the front fenders and the back side of the rocker on the right rear was rotten. Basically, just check the usual spots where rust would occur on a car. Enjoy the project, should be lots of fun.

 

Pics as promised.. everything is there and the interior is mint as hell

 

 

Nice score on the 74 RX4, bro. Looks like everything is there. Most of the interior looks cherry. The previous owner might have already done the GSLSE swap in the front unless he re-drilled the rims. The rear GSLSE might be a bit wider than the stock RX4 from what I remember. I used a 79-81 Celica Supra rear on my RX4 which is about 1" overall the original RX4.

 

no it wont but there is a way to install a nikki on a stock 13-B manifold

 

Nice score if you have questions PM me. If you commence to turning it into a nice street rod let me know I would be happy to buy some of your OEM parts as I have 2 early Rx4 coupes I am restoring.

DAVE

 

That car does look pretty good. I'm surprised at how good it is being a canadian car and it's been outside for so long. That fender is probably repairable, it'll just take a bit of sheet metal work. Hopefully the floors are all still solid, that would be my only concern.

 

Migz- The previous owner just has the gsl-se suspension just moked into place, The stock front suspension is in the trunk.

Wacky- Care to elaborate??

Rotary dude- I am returning this car back to stock, except for the engine, it will either get a big port job or it will get a gsl-se engine with a port job. But there are a few parts I need if your getting rid of anything.

Buggy- I checked the floorboards just by hitting it and it feels solid, we dont get much rain up here and it is very dry so there isn't alot of rust on this car, just the front fender really.


Where do you guys get parts for these cars? I have a pretty good list of stuff now that I need.

 

That's the unfortunate thing about where I live. We get lots of rain and LOTS of snow. Hence why my R100 is a rot box. Ebay is a good place to start to look for parts. Also, alot of the common stuff is still availabe from parts stores. They may not stock it, but they can get it. I've got some stuff laying around too. PM me your list and I'll see what I can help you with.

 

your the man buggy

 

a hitachi (stock RX-4 carb) is much larger than a 12-A nikki so you will need to re-drill the studs on top of RX-4 manifold.

also, the 76-78 RX-4 and Cosmo 13-B intake has a reverse flow intake runners so its much better to use

 

Just let me know what you need, If you are going to go with an SE engine I will buy all of the stuff you aren't using as I am returning both of the early cars we have to BONE stock with all emissions stuff. I can help with little stuff as well. (FWIW the cars I am redoing are within the first 100 built that is why we are staying stock) If he doesn't have all the SE suspension stuffs you need let me know I have a some stuff that can help you also

 

Just a litte clarification. If you go with a Hitachi carb, it was stock on the RX-4. Therefore you won't have to re-drill the studs.

I thought only model year 1976 had the reverse manifold. Was it 76 only?

 

I will try to look at the part numbers when I get home but I think that all 3 years of the Cosmo in the US use the same intake, it would be just like the REPU staying with a 74 type engine through 4 years. As for being a reverse runner intake I am not sure if the 13bs are in that category I know the 12as are.

 

I have no idea what reverse runner intake is... can anyone explaine?

I am not going to dick around with this block as it seems to make no compression in the front rotor.. I will ship it off to Rx-7 Specialties in Calgary and see what can be done, I have a set of 94 twin turbos with a manifold so I will see if I can get that up and mounted.

Rotary dude, how can i tell what number my car is? It was built in nov of 73 so I would like to know. Also I am returning the car to semi stock. the drive terrain and suspension will be changed and the motor will be built.

I have some stock parts you may be interested in
-Stock carb and intake
-Thermal reactor
-Stock muffler with the chrome rectangle tip
-some other stock exhaust stuff but it is kinda cut up
-Stock steering wheel
-Both front struts in excellent shape
-Possibly anything off the top of the engine that will not be needed with my engine build
-stock radiator and oil cooler
-stock air pump

Thats all i can think of right now

 

So the tera down is comming along nicely.. the car is in fantastic shape all around. Everything on the friverside, (frame, firewall) has been damaged by leaking brake and clutch master cylinders but not too bad

 

Got almost all the tar deadner off the floor and sopped up the mosture that was underneath it.. good thing the floor didnt rust at all. The clutch master cylinder leaks and has covered the firewall and front frame rail in brake fluid for years so thats where most of the rust repair will be taking place

 

VIN # LA23S-105964

How can I tell what production number this car is?

 

production started according to my Mazda book at LA23S-100021 (if memory serves me correct it may have been 25 i will have to look it up when I get back to the house in a couple of weeks) regardless yours is under the 6k mark should be about a 11/73 or 12/73 car is that right?