1983 RX7 on $100 a week

What kind of jack stands do you have that thing on? They look interesting.

In reply to dinger:

http://www.jackpointjackstands.com
They're not necessary on the RX7, but they're really nice on cars with limited hard points underneath.

Built a center "console" to hold switches. I'm 70% certain I'm going to have to redo it because it will be right at my fingertips when I'm seated. I also put in a piece of aluminum to hold my fuses and relays. I want them out of the engine compartment for longevity but as accessible as possible. All that is required to make the car run is power to the ignition, power to the fuel pump, and a button to bump the starter. I've also made the brake lights work. I'll be adding running lights and the wiring for future headlights, power for gauges, wipers, and a defrost blower. That will be the whole electrical system. I expect that i'll have to redo bits and pieces as I use it and decide what I want different/better. Almost everything is that picture is either temporary wiring or runs that need to be trimmed. As with most things I do, I'm making it up as I go along and once it all works, I'll tidy it up and loom it.

Just make sure you can reach them while buckled in. It sucks to get the harness tightened down and realize you can't reach the switch.

After I built it and was all proud of myself, I sat in about the proper location and it was a tossup whether I'll be able to reach buckled up or not. It's fine, if I have to redo it I'll do it better. The first iteration of most things isn't my best work.

mazdeuce wrote: The first iteration of most things isn't my best work.

Hopefully deucekid#1 never reads this thread...

Not working on the Grosh because I'm working on the RX7. Not working on the RX7 because the kids are home on break. Instead of burying myself inside the car I'm out hauling and burning brush with them. Instead of them being inside watching TV, they're taking a break to eat lunch on the tailgate. Racecar stuff can wait.

I miss this car dearly. lol

mazdeuce wrote: In reply to dinger: http://www.jackpointjackstands.com They're not necessary on the RX7, but they're really nice on cars with limited hard points underneath.

I never knew such a thing existed. And now I have to have them.

Thanks for sharing

Good dad

I was going to update this thread today when I drove the car out of the garage under it's one power. But.....deucekid #3 has lice. Dammit. So instead of working on the car today I get to do a billion loads of laundry and comb through the beautiful waist length red hair of my kid. Why didn't the short haired boys get them?
The car runs. All of the gauges except temperature work. Wiring just needs to be tidied up, seat re-mounted, and fluids changed and it's ready to do stupid things again. Updates to follow.

Wiring is done except for one wire to the cluster for the fuel gauge. It's there and works but I need one more butt connector. There are already things I want to redo, but I had to do it once to see that. All of the stock gauges work, brake lights work, and it starts and runs. I have to get one more bolt for the seat, put the belts in, and put the batter hold down back on and it will be ready to autocross and rallycross again.
The wiring harness pulls up and out with just a couple of connectors, and the seat comes out with four bolts, so if the weather cooperates, maybe I can actually get the interior painted soon.

Is this going to be at Nationals this year?

Maybe. Are nationals going to be in Nebraska again?

Nobody knows.

Hopefully not, I'd like to go back to Tulsa.

If it's somewhere else I'll almost certainly go, car to be decided. If it's in the same place, I'm much less excited.
We're working on finding roads for RallySprint and things are looking good. If timing works out, then this will be a RallySprint car next.

I just want to say, "Good luck, we're all counting on you".

Yay it's back

I chased the wasps out and flipped the main power switch. 30 seconds of cranking and a bit of gas pedal fluttering and it fired right up. Drove it up and down the driveway to get it up to temperature. My neighbors love me.
It's a mess, but it's still so willing to start and run. I just made a big huge deal about getting the Civic road legal so I don't have to trailer, and now I'm seriously contemplating putting the RX-7 on the trailer for the RX this weekend.

Yes please do Rx, I need someone to live vicariously through

Great thread, I really want an old rotary to play with too! I keep telling my gf that I plan to be the dude on the block who fires up a deafening rotary at all hours of the day when I become a homeowner someday, she is not enthused.

Why does this car continue to start and happily tear up and down the driveway? It makes no sense. It must be keeping alive to fulfill some sort of destiny. Rallysprint? Hopefully.

mazdeuce wrote: Why does this car continue to start and happily tear up and down the driveway? It makes no sense. It must be keeping alive to fulfill some sort of destiny. Rallysprint? Hopefully.

I think it refuses to live up to the "rotaries are unreliable" stereotype.

Deucekid #2 and I loaded up the RX7 and the rallykart and headed off to rallycross. Because this is racing, this was our first stop.
We had fun as a father/son (which is covered in the rallykart thread) but driving the RX7 was a different story.
My faster than me co-driver was faster than me, he could have won mod 2wd fairly comfortably if he could have been consistent, but the car made that about impossible. Front end feel was terrible. You could get the car to turn by nearly threshold braking on corner entry and twitching the car to get rotation started, but that was about the only way to steer. Straight line and turn the wheel and nothing happened. Very frustrating.
We can't decide if it was just a case of conditions and terrible all seasons on the car, or if there is something fundamental that needs to be changed. We're going to throw the rally tires on for a couple of runs at the test and tune coming up in a month as well as experimenting with rear sway bar setting to see what we can work out.
Certainly the RX7 is much less pleasant to drive than the Corolla. The whole reason we're driving it is because it has the cage and it will be legal for rally trials. After this, I'm not sure what I want to do.
Did I mention that it was probably 130 degrees in the car? Removing the sound deadening/heat shielding was a terrible idea.
If anyone has any ideas on bringing back the feeling to a completely dead front end, I'm all ears.