The Adventure Begins!

I am.. a car guy. It's gained me friends, it's lost me friends, over babbling about stupid cars. I love 'em. To me, there're more than a way from point A to point B, though I will never deny their usefulness for that purpose.

I've grown up in the import generation. Influenced by movies like The Fast and the Furious, and Gone in 60 Seconds, games like Initial D and Grand Turismo. Mazda, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, Kia, Datsun.. those and many other Asian-made import cars are what I've been around my whole life. I've got as much loyalty to Huyndai as any guy to their old Ford truck, or Chevy classic car.

There's a story about my loyalty to Hyundai, and my eagerness to defend their only sports model, the Tiburon, but that's another story for another blog.

My story is about my dream car. Every kid's got one. Could be a GM truck.. could be a Honda Civic, could be a Chevy Impala, the list goes on and on and on. Everyone's got an idea of what a dream car is.. handling, power, look and feel, sound system, flashy paintjobs, running lights or useless gadgets. Mine? Well, take one of the most legendary of the Japanese sports cars.. load it with the best engine that the American smallblocks are famous for, and you've got yourself a hell of a machine. That's my dream car. And the other day, the first step of that dream came true.

I had an accident in my mother's Tiburon becuase of poor road conditions and no snow tires. It was going to cost me an arm and a leg to fix. Still is! I was at work, complaining about how such a little accident could cause so much damage, when a co-worker piped up.
"Three grand in damage? I've got an RX7 for sale. $300. You could take that money and totally fix this thing up for that much!"

There was a long and involved conversation, but the son of a bitch convinced me. First thing I asked, nautrally, was "$300? What the hell's wrong with it!"
Turns out, a lot more than I realized, but nothing to deter me. The other day, the sale was finalized. Three hundred dollars, plus another hundred to get it regestered, towed, and a new key cut.

Now, there's no way I was *not* going to pay for the damage I did to my mom's car, so becuase of that, my plans for this vehicle are going to put on hold for a few extra months while I pay back that loan. Again, another story.

So here we are: My dream car. My burgundy-red 1983 Mazda RX7 is sitting in my backyard, begging for attention. I'm not a hell of a mechanic.. I'm not even a hell of a mediocre one either. I'm not claiming I know exactly how to do this, but that's why this is a project car! That's why I'm creating this livejournal, or as I prefer to call it in this sort of context, my blog.

Becuase I don't want to bore my friends to death with all the bullshit that goes on with this thing, I wanted a place to rant and go on about technical details that nobody I know would give a rat's ass about.. and anyone who was intrested in this sort of thing could read, give me advice, pointers, or just scream at me if I'm doing something wrong. This may go months without updates, who knows. This is just the introduction to this thing. I like listing stuff, so here it goes. I'll start with the specs and the condition it's in, and my initial reaction to what work needs to be done.

1st Generation 1983 Mazda RX7

What I like:
-It's a fucking RX7
-Nice colour
-Very little body damage
-Extremely cheap to aquire
-Already paid off, ie, work at a pace I can afford

What I don't like:
-Has been sitting in bad conditions for a while (2 years +)
-Has many more problems then was initally described
-Small vehicle
-Going to be expensive to insure once fixed.

Known Damage:
-Flat front left tire
-Blown transmission
-Engine possibly not working
-Doesn't start (expected)
-Rust-though back left wheel well
-Possible wiring problems
-Weather-stripping missing from rear window, letting bugs/weather in
-Fairly damaged interior possible due to above
-Locks don't work (at this point, irrelavant)
-Illegal amount of window tinting (by today's standards)
-Hood no longer bolted on
-Radiator missing (looks like previous owner started work, but did not finish)
-Steering is locked up

Initial Plan:
It's currently sitting in my back yard right now. Once Febuary comes, I'll actually have garage space at a friend's house to store and work on it. The real work begins once the car is there and I can actually work on it. I don't know much about fixing stuff, but I sure as hell do know how to disassemble stuff! I plan on pretty much stripping everything down, interior and mechanically, getting rid of what's broken, keeping what's not, and selling off parts that are still good. The first step would be cleaning it out, stripping it down, then going to town on any rust on the frame with a wirebrush attachment for a drill. These are all things that I can do myself, and won't cost me anything but time and effort.

Long Term Plan:
A complete rebuild is what I'm going for here. Anything, ANYTHING, inside, outside and mechanical will be either fixed or replaced. Eventually, I want to be looking at a restored RX7 with a Chevy 302 smallblock 8-cylinder engine. It will be one of the lighest, fastest cars in my city. Even though I'm not exactly heavy into the local street-racing scene, knowing I have a car that could not only do it, but do it and win will give me something to be extremely proud of. Other men have done more with less of a vehicle to work with.

Build Cost Tally:
Can't say at this point. I know it's not going to be finished in any less than two years. Two years, assuming I can hold my job and whatnot, will give me a lot of room to save. There's a lot of work I can do on my own, a lot I need to take it in for, or learn how to do on the fly. I'm expecting to spend no less than $15,000-$20,000 on this vehicle during the restoration.

"But Kori! For that amount, you could have a brand new vehicle!"
True.. but going out and buying new will not be something I can be proud of. This car represents me, and as such.. I am willing to spend the time and money to save this vehicle from the junk yard. This will truly be MY RX7, something I know I worked goddamn hard for. It's going to take time. You can quote me on that one.

But when your dream car comes waltzing into your life.. it's destiny. Pictures up soon!