1985 Mazda RX‑7 GSL‑SE

Long-term project originally started by my dad (Spaikmos). I took over after the initial teardown. This page documents some of the work I have done to the car. I have done pretty much everything you could do to a normal car throughout this restoration.

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Background

One-owner 1985 GSL-SE with ~167k miles, sat outside from 2004–2014. When my dad picked it up, the car had typical long-term storage issues: cracked taillights, peeling paint, rust around the clutch master cylinder, bypassed heater core, worn suspension, a corroded cooling system, and most importantly, a crank no-start situation. The internal condition of the engine was unknown, prompting my father to heavily consider an engine rebuild.

Initial Condition

This is the car as it arrived. Previous owner kept it stock.

Engine Bay — Early Work

My dad started the teardown: clutch hydraulics, distributor, starter, part of the intake assembly. The slave cylinder came out in pieces. Radiator piping crumbled. The engine turned freely. This ended up setting me back more than you could imagine - I am fortunate that he labelled most of the items he tore apart.

Taking Over the Project

I didn't really understand cars until taking over this project. I spent countless hours researching forums, the factory service manual, and youtube videos before I could even touch the car. Any work I had done before was usually just oil changes on my other cars, aside from the time I did the struts on my Toyota 4runner (RIP). It was an interesting experience, as I'd usually research the procedure I wanted to complete on my car during the week at University, then spend the whole weekend doing what I had researched. It let me pace myself and prevent burnout.

The first things I did was to install a new clutch master/slave, new fuel filter, and new ignition components (distributor,plugs, rotor, wires). I took the alternator to Autozone to get tested, and replaced it with an ACDELCO Reman after it failed testing. I'd also like to note that automotive stores like Autozone lend out tools for free (with a deposit).

Fuel System

The car continuously cranked but wouldn’t start. I had actually burned out the old starter by cranking too hard. Spark was good after ignition component replacement, so I checked fuel. Tank smelled like varnish. Dropped the tank, cleaned it, repaired the fuel pump connector, replaced the pump, and replaced ALL of the rubber fuel lines.

Injector Service

The fuel injectors were sent out for cleaning and flow testing. They came back with much better flow numbers (The injectors were at 70% of their rated flow rate before they were cleaned). Reinstalled the intake manifold and capped vacuum lines as needed.

JAFA Engineering Electronic Actuators

Replaced the stock air-injected 6-port actuators with JAFA Engineering electronic units. This required rebuilding the entire lower intake manifold. The install was fine, but I made a wiring mistake early on: I hooked the positive lead to an ignition coil instead of a proper switched 12V source. This fried the control board immediately. After replacing the board and correcting the wiring, the actuators worked normally. Ports open and close reliably now, and the setup is cleaner than the stock air system. A note to anyone attempting this, you do need to replace the stock catalytic converter to a midpipe or block off the air injection system. I used a combination of Racing Beat GSL-SE headers and 84-85 12A presilencer. If you do use the Racing Beat headers, you should also install their heat shield. The heat shield fits with a little bit of cutting on the 6port intake manifold.

Suspension

Full suspension rebuild using Energy Suspension bushings. Installed a Drifting Dad Performance panhard bar and lower rear control arms to try and eliminate the binding issue common with these cars. I will get around to messing with the upper control arm links someday, but as of now the car drives just fine on the street.

First Start

After fuel system repairs, injector service, ignition refresh, fuel system replacement, and vacuum cleanup, the car finally started for the first time in 20 years. It smoked heavily at first, and had an idle issue. I had to floor the gas to keep the car going. Later I learned that one injector pigtail was broken and promply replaced it.

Current Status

The car is in good working order. Cooling system is solid with a 3" Champion radiator. Starts and runs reliably. It does need an alignment and has a small oil leak from the oil pan area - I will need to reseal the pan. Otherwise, the car is mostly done with a few cosmetic things I need to fix.