bit of a pretext. I have a big love for rotary engines, it all started when my dad was telling me about a road trip he did with his mate, they had been given a Mazda to go up to scotland and back . He said that the engine in the mazda was the best he ever driven, because it wasnt like a normal engine... this one spun round and round. I was confused because as a nine year old i understood how a piston engine worked but i didnt quite get what he meant.
about 6 years later We moved house to a nicer end of town and the neighbour had an rx7 FC and one day i was outside on the driveway and he ripped the rx7 up the road, and i saw flames shooting out, the next day i was in school telling my uninterested friends how i saw this RX7 shooting out flames.
Some years later after finishing university i sold my Peugeot, to a kid i knew through the local cruising scene - he was from new zealand, he was a massive fan of rotary engines, he had a catch phrase "stick a rotor in it bro" that was his solution to every problem haha.
So he ended up moving back out there and by that time i had a mazda 323, i used to find myself looking at videos of rx7's on youtube, and here is one of my favourites.
so i started the hunt for an rx7 - back then the fd3s was pretty expensive and i couldnt afford one of them, so i got the next best thing an FC
excuse the pics they were taken on a camera phone back when smartphones were not available lol
the japanese import cabrio white car was an absolutely totally rust free example - but the engine was clogged with carbon and needed a rebuild. so i bought a very rusty uk ( i still shudder about that) but it had a very good engine and this is the first ever engine swap i did.
i got it running but then i ran out of patience, with it, as there were many many jobs to do. the project stagnated for a while and i got offered a bunch of cash and bought an nice and sensible vw bora tdi.
i got a new job working very near to home, so with extra money every month and only a 3 mile commute to work, i decided to sell the bora and with the money get an rx7 fd3s - literally the day before my birthday i rang around for quotes and was quoted 800-1000 pounds, the next day as i turned 25, i rang elephant insurance and they insured me for 500 pounds. which is rediculously cheap even back then.
with everything sorted i went on the hunt, and there was one pretty local. it had the really expensive mazdaspeed body kit, a recent rebuild, but its paint had faded and i decided that really i should give it a hand.
here is how it looked the day i collected
drove it to work the next morning
a few months later i got some new wheels
mazda speed rear spoiler
had it painted not long before i got married
and painted the interior from a previous owners orrible effort
into a more suble glossy black.
illuminating rx8 gearnob, pretty proud of that.
unfortunately my wife and i were struggling to afford a place of our own, i wanted to make my own way in life and didnt want any help from my parents. so i made the decision to sell the FD.
and since then i have had a gti-6 / corrado g60 / and then my last e21 you all know about, and a few other cars as well. none have come close to the way an rx7 gets down the road, or looks.
So last week i saw this come up on ebay and i bagged it, i know your thinking it looks like it needs work it does, and it doesnt even run. but it did only cost me 1500, and it is largely complete. The story is that the car was going to have a v8 conversion and the engine was taken out, but the conversion didnt happen. matey i bought it from put the rotary engine back in, but he couldnt get it running (although he said it did work when it was taken out).
the spec is pretty good actually.
TWIN ROTOR 13B ENGINE
TWIN SEQUENTIAL TURBOS
JASMA APPROVED EXHAUST SYSTEM
LARGE FRONT MOUNT INTERCOOLER
FULLY POLYBUSHED
HKS ADJUSTABLE COILOVERS
HKS TURBO TIMER
MOMO RACE STEERING WHEEL
HKS PILLAR MOUNTED BOOST GUAGE
KNIGHT SPORT EBS3 BOOST CONTROLLER
17" ALLOY WHEELS
FULL SET OF VERY GOOD 235/40/17 TYRES
CAR WILL ALSO COME WITH:
SPARE FRONT BUMPER (WITH LIGHTS)
SIDE SKIRTS
SPARE EXHAUST
here are some pics
I have been wondering what to do about the white car, firstly its a bit of a dull colour really, and i have a friend who has a rolling shell that has no cosmetic issues and even has a welded in roll cage. best thing is that it is in black as well.
Ill be posting more pics and stuff as this project carries on, the plan is to remore and refurbish / paint all the parts that are crusty looking over to the black shell, and then rebuild this engine with a half bridge so it makes that lovely brap brap brap noise and fit a nice single turbo on there as the twin turbo setup is just far too complicated. i am planning on doing a nice wire tuck and simplification. I predict about 5k will be invested in parts and material i know i could probably buy one for that but it'd be standard. this way ill be happy as i will have everything just the way i like.
