www.RX7fb.com

I seem to be a little late to this site, but glad to have found it. I live in the US. I'm an original owner of a Sunrise Red 79. I was just 19 and looking to purchase my first new vehicle. I fell in love with this new thing called an Rx-7 that year and have enjoyed over 40 years of ownership and counting. The ole girl now has little over 31K miles (50,000km) and can still turn a head. It was always a 2nd, fun vehicle for me, never a daily driver.

She spent a while sitting in the back of the garage while kids and other life distractions came and went. I was pretty much the only one I knew who had one of these cars as it had been many years that I even saw another on the road. Around 2004, I lost a wiper cap of all things. Although still in excellent condition, I decided it was time to clean the ole girl up, replace the wiper cap and bring the maintenance on her up to snuff.

Thats when I found the Rx-7 club forums and discovered a whole community of Rotary enthusiasts who also covet these machines. It re-ignited my passion for these cars and I naturally began buying spare parts so that I could keep my baby running in the future. Next, I added another car, which only led to more parts and so on. My latest purchase is a JDM 1st Gen that came from a long time Rotary collector in Texas. He passed away in 2020 and the car was one of five vehicles purchased from his estate by and old acquaintance. I purchased it from this other collector earlier this year from the Chicago area.

It's a true RH drive model, pretty rare here in the US. It starts and has good compression but won't currently run on its own. The car is pretty clean and rust free, but needs a complete teardown and restoration. Thats my ambitious plan anyway. I'm hoping that this site may help me find some RH drive info and parts that I'll need to track down. In the meantime, here are some pic's of my original car. Enjoy and thanks for reading.

Welcome Mr. "Banzai" feel free asking us for help A lot of knowledge here. Thanks for the nice pictures. The british people always get big eyes when someone show them S1 Rx7as rare as hens' teeth in england
Have good time and wish you a perfect restore.

Thomas

Thanks. Here is the RH drive project car as it sits. Originally, I believe it was originally Specter Green, kind of a dark green. It was re sprayed at some point in a multi-flake, speckled green color. It is a non-powered mirror car with the 4 spoke steering wheel, center console and dead pedal. This leads me to believe it was a GT model. I have no detailed history on the car. From the VIN, I'v been told it was most likely built in Jan of 78, the first month of production.

Not sure, but the hood and fenders may have been replaced and are aftermarket. See the pics that show the stamp / markings I've never saw before. Has anyone else ever run across these? The dash is pretty cracked, but I was able to locate another from a fellow in GB named Russell Overbury. Seems like a nice guy, anyone ever dealt with him before?

Just to update, I received my RH dash from GB. I'll need to paint it as I want to do the 2 tone Brown and Tan scheme made popular when Mazda launched the car in 78 with the Mach Green exterior. The dash was a major piece I needed for the interior. Much thanks to Russell Overbury of Chapel Ln.

Welcome along banzai. Lovely to hear from an original owner of over 40 years - and you've looked after that car well

Interesting project with the green one. You'll find a lot of us in the UK source our parts from "Rock Auto" in the US. The shipping is a killer, but it still works out cheaper than buying in UK/Europe overall, if we can even find the parts we need over here!

I can't imagine how hard it must be for enthusiasts over there to source parts and keep their cars on the road. Even here, I've noticed that SA parts in general, have dried up the last 10 years. Earlier this year, I started looking for some exhaust parts, only to find that even a lot of the gaskets have gone NLA. I've bought a few things through Rock Auto. For OEM parts, I always check Mazda Parts Online first. (https://www.mazdabestpartsonline.com/)

You need the factory P/N to put in the system, but its a good way to check and see if something is still available. You'd be surprised sometimes. They found 2 headpipe to thermal reactor exhaust gaskets in a dealers inventory on the east coast. The dealer had to blow the dust off them to confirm the P/N, but they had em!