www.RX7fb.com

Hello! I'm Ben from Indiana and I've recently purchased my very first rotary.

This 1985 rx7 gs had 54k on the clock when I found it in Oregon. After extensive information exchange with the owner, I agreed to fly to Eugene and pick it up. It was an interesting trip because I left and arrived on a Thursday knowing full well I had a flight to Paris to catch in Chicago the following Wednesday. It's nearly perfect with only a few small dings and rock chips, the paint is beautiful on the sides and lowers, but tragically faded on the roof and starting to on the hood and rear. It was mechanically perfect with only the A/C being nonoperational. I've owned it since June and only had to replace fluids (engine, tranny, and diff oil, coolant, brake fluid, etc.) and recharge the A/C system. It's function is my daily driver and autocross toy until I'm finish with school and have money to sink into restoring it.

Enough talking, here are some pics.

This is right before leaving Idaho for Wyoming. I was so glad to get out of the 102 degree heat and see the mountains finally.


These were taken shortly after I returned to Indiana.




And this was my first autocross event in the car, but not my first event.




Thanks for stopping by, I'm sure I'll have questions for all of you as I familiarize myself with the car. I've a vague idea with what direction I'd like to head in and what parts I'll need, but we'll see how things
as I accumulate funds for the project and allot time for the work.

Welcome in, Ben. Car looks great. Keep us posted on your plans, are they for greater competition bias? Is autocross your thing?

Autocross is something I enjoy, but at this point it's just a hobby and I don't intend to compete for points. This is my first reliable car in awhile, I daily drove a motorcycle as my sole transportation for the last two years.

My plan basically boils down to priorities: finish up maintenance, upgrade worn out parts with better ones where available, and finally I'll worry about competition upgrades.

Highest priority right now is new rotors and bearings. I've never worked on a car with bearings house in the rotors before, so that's new. Then I want to check and replace any worn bushings especially up front, and possibly out rear. The Watts Linkage (and live rear axle in general) is new to me and I've read multiple opinions on rear suspension setups so I'm sort of still wading through that info. After those are sorted I might consider doing some clutch work. My pilot bearing is going bad, but the throwout bearing and clutch still seem to have plenty of life left. I haven't decided yet whether I'll just replace the pilot or, since I have to go all the way in there anyway, I'll shoot for a full clutch kit.

Interior is nearly immaculate, but the leather trim on top of the doors is sagging a bit and I might replace it. Also, being 6'2" means I hit the headliner while wearing a helmet for Autocross, so I'm considering some FC seats for the 1" drop, but I'd want them to match the interior as best as possible. The driver's door crank window is a bit faulty. It works find, but isn't nearly as smooth as the passenger one and there's considerable wind noise at speed with it closed.

Wheels are one of my highest considerations right now. I absolutely love the look of the stock 13s as well as the optional Waffles that came on the SA (which I can get a set of 5 for under $100 nearby), but the tire options are complete crap. I had to replace the aging Fisk Classics the car came with, and the best option I found was a set of discontinued Sumitomos off ebay. Even these provide only a minimal grip increase over the Fisks. I don't mind the bad tires, it is an absolute blast being able to drive this car to its limits at reasonable speeds, but the rain traction is downright dangerous. I've basically grown accustomed to not expect the car to travel in a straight line while driving around town in the rain. This isn't such a terrible thing for me, but passengers seem less than enthused and I'd like the reassurance of modern rubber. I'd like to keep cost down, so I've been looking at 4x110 options instead of swapping for GSL-SE hubs or something else. This basically leaves me the Konig Rewinds, which I'm not terribly a fan of the look or offset, or custom order a set of Diamond Racing wheels which is what I'm leaning towards. I know some go as large as 15x8 in the Diamond racing, but I think a 15x6 with an offset that best mimics the stock 4.?? backspacing is what I'd prefer. That gives me a great selection of modern all-season, winter, and high performance tires.

I'm open to any input and anything I've mistaken or just gotten blatantly wrong.

Nice car!

But do I read that correctly? You drove from Oregon to Wyoming? Isn't that like 1000miles??

Flew to Oregon and drove from Eugene, OR to Bloomington, IN in four days. Ended up being nearly 2,700 miles after all my stops. Essentially Eugene, Portland, Mt Hood, Boise, Jackson, Yellowstone, Cody, and then mad dash home. Averaged 29mpg over the course of the trip, with 27mpg being my lowest of daily averages.

Nice to hear from your hot / cool trip. How i understand you was on the road from oregon home to indiana and that´s about 2200 Miles. Respect!
Good car but i doesn´t like to hear you are willing to stress it with auto cross.
Thomas

Hey Ben,
welcome to the forum bud,
great looking car and some real nice scenic photos there..... I'd love to do a proper roadtrip like that in a 1st gen although at UK gas prices, I'd probably have to re-mortgage my house first.
Rockauto is a good source of parts for you, especially if you're replacing linkages and clutch bearings etc

Glad to have you onboard

^ Thanks! I assume you're the one approving my posts haha.

spirit r wrote:Nice to hear from your hot / cool trip. How i understand you was on the road from oregon home to indiana and that´s about 2200 Miles. Respect!
Good car but i doesn´t like to hear you are willing to stress it with auto cross.
Thomas

Oregon, USA nach Indiana, USA - Google Maps.pdf

Autocross is something I truly enjoy and appreciate. Sure, it gives the increased risk for car failure, but that's failure within a controlled and safe environment outside of road traffic.

If I do my job correctly the car should be able to handle the occasional weekend raceday without drama, and if not I'll find out with the least possible risk to the car while building skills I can apply to everyday driving.

I assume you're from Germany? I spent a month there a few years ago. Two weeks in Ranis outside Pößneck and two in Staufen/Pfaffenweiler. Also got to see Dresden, Munich, Berlin, and a few other places. Absolutely gorgeous country and I intend to return as soon as I'm able.

wereweazle wrote:^ Thanks! I assume you're the one approving my posts haha.

yeah, when you first registered, your posts need to be approved until you've introduced yourself and then one of the admins has to manually lift the restriction by upgrading your membership status.... usually happens straight away but we're a bit slow today! You've got full unrestricted access now so you're good to go.

wereweazle wrote: Two weeks in Ranis outside Pößneck and two in Staufen/Pfaffenweiler. Also got to see Dresden, Munich, Berlin, and a few other places. Absolutely gorgeous country and I intend to return as soon as I'm able.

Staufen is about 60 min from my home so tell me if you are able to return to interchange some spare parts and minds
Thomas