My 1983 RX-7 GSL buildup

[RX-7 Chris]

For those of you that don't remember or were not in the club then, I did the first member's ride article. I'll start with that, I dug it out of the archives of my computer. Quite a bit has changed since then but it is a good starting place.

[RX-7 Chris]

Cars have been my passion for the last ten years. My screen name is RX-7 Chris. I own a 1983 Mazda Rx-7 GSL, a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL, a 1970 Ford F250 pickup, and a 1957 Willys Wagon. The Galaxie is my baby, this car has always been my pride and joy. I have always worked on all my cars my self. It started as a cost thing and now has evolved into an enjoyable pastime. I will say there are times that I get very frustrated and wish I would just take it in. I guess I just don’t trust anyone else touching my cars.

Than there is the RX-7. This car is my toy; I have had more fun in this car than any other. I have always had a love-hate relationship with my RX-7 although I would never get rid of it. There are days that I wish I hade a new car than I look at the price of a new and think of all the things I can do to my car with that kind of money.

I bought the 7 from a good friend of mine named Brian in April of 2001 for $450. Brian got the car about six months before from a friend of his for free. His friend was moving, he had to get rid of the car, and it didn’t run. We replaced a spark plug wire, put a new battery in, and did a tune up. The car started right up and ran great. Not long after he got the car, Brian was stopped at a light and the radio shorted out. He shut the car off quick but it still melted a number of wires under the dash. Someone had wired the radio up with no fuse.

We had a great time driving all over mountain passes pushing the car to its limit. One day Brian’s brother Mark was driving the car home from work late at night and hit a dear on I-70 going 75 mph. He didn’t just hit the dear, he flew over the dear. He then slid down the interstate sideways and did not roll the car. He hit the dirt and bent both passenger side wheels, the tirod, and axel. All the dear did was put a dent in the gas tank.

When I bought the car the damage from the dear was fixed. Brian had been driving the car for a month with no working brake master cylinder and was using the parking brake to stop. That was the first thing to be fixed. The car had about 115,000 miles on it at this point. Over the years I have done a lot of work to the car. Everything that has been fixed or modified on the car, I have done myself with help sometimes.

List of fixes:
-Repaired most of the interior
-New starter, alternator
-New front end
-Clutch master and slave cylinders
-Rear wiper replaced
-Rearend work a number of times
-Drive shaft
-Brakes and tire obviously
-Tune-ups

List of mods:
-Racing Beat lightweight steel flywheel
-Centerforce II clutch
-Carter Super Street Fuel Pump
-Accel Superstock Coils
-Racing Beat Header
-MONZA Performance Exhaust Systems
-No cat or other emissions
-Removed AC
-Optima Red Top
-KYB GR-2 Gas Shock Absorbers
-Lowered 3/4"
-Royal Purple oil in rearend and soon to be in transmission
-Alpine CDA-7875 stereo, JL 4” components in front, Alpine 6.5” in back
-FC main fuse block conversion

List of future mods:
-Paint and bodywork
-Finish interior
-Streetport motor
-RespeedStage II Rack/Pinion Conversion
-Flaming River Steering Rack, 15:1 Quick Ratio
-Respeed Camber Plate Kit
-Respeed Strut Tower and Firewall Brace
-RespeedTubular Competition Sway Bar
-MSD 6A
-Racing Beat exhaust
-465 cfmHolley Carb Systems for streetport motor
-Hawk HPS brake pads
-DOT Approved Stainless Brake Lines
-Power Slot front brake rotors
-And I am sure a hundred other things

[RX-7 Chris]

[RX-7 Chris]

Right after I finished the article this happened:

First Car To Die On The Way To A Meet

[RX-7 Chris]

It was then time to start pulling the motor out and clean the engine bay from the 178K Miles of grime.

This is what I started with:



I started with pulling the battery and draining all the fluids:


Next came the air cleaner, carb, and distributer:



I then removed the alternator, fan shroud, fan, radiator hoses, radiator, and radiator supports:

[RX-7 Chris]

I then removed the exhaust system and anything else that is attached to the motor and transmission:

If anyone wants a list of everything else that is involved with pulling everything off just ask.

Time to remove the motor and transmission:

[RX-7 Chris]

Next was the cleanup, paint, and wire loom:

[RX-7 Chris]

I put in 3/8" stainless fuel line from Summit Racing. The stainless line was a real pain to bend but now I have fuel line that will outlive the car.


My new Carter fuel pump installed:



Location of new wiring:

I did a 30amp relay setup with 14ga wiring to the main fuse block. The fuse block is an FC block that I installed right before the old motor died. I really like this fuel pump but is is very noisy.

[RX-7 Chris]

I painted my header and midpipe with 1500 temp silver paint. I still would like to have the header powder coated.



Right after I finished that the Racing beat 465cfm Holley car setup cam in:




I added timing marks to my main pulley:

the orange mark is TDC and is stock. the pulley is 360mm in circumference so I ground a mark with my dremel every 5mm which is 5deg.

[RX-7 Chris]

The motor came in after 2 months of waiting from Rotary Warehouse:







The first thing I did was install an oil pan baffle


I added the main pulley, and oil line for the beehive. I also test fitted the waterpump housing and waterpump



I installed the rear main and RB lightwieght steal flywheel.

[RX-7 Chris]

The installed distributer, NGK spark plugs, and magnecor 8.5mm wires. It can be a little tough getting TDC right with an upgraded flywheel so figure that out before the motor goes in. It is done by looking at the rear on the motor. the pulley can go on in any direction.



Here I have the intake, carb, header, and heat shield installed:

[RX-7 Chris]

Pics of the finished install:



Thanks to Drifter for helping with pulling the old motor and and installing the new one. And I can't forget the fun with the startup and a motor filled with assembly lube. My eyes never burned so much in my life.

[RX-7 Chris]

Since all this was finished:

-painted cover in front of the radiator
-painted fan shroud
-relocated the Holley FPR
-installed a FC alternator I got out of a car at A1. tested as good and only paid $15
-changed out the crankcase vent setup
-pollished the underside of the hood
-KN air filter (no dyno change over the foam one)


And we can't forget the tune and Dyno at SR Tuning.

[RX-7 Chris]

My car would not pull above 6500rpm and at the time I could not figure it out. It turns out to be my ignition coils.

[RX-7 Chris]

I just remembered the other stuff I did.

-Replaced and painted the rear wiper setup
-Painted the front wiper arms
-repaired wiper link assembly
-repaired the window regulators
-replaced window channels and seals
-changed out power window motors and swiches
-Power window relay setup (thanks to Goldrocket for the relays and his driveway)
-Changed out door panels and rear panels
-FC highback seats
-Repaired and repainted stereo panel
-installed Alpine 6 1/2" speakers in rear
-replaced and repainted quite a few interior pieces

I know I will think of other stuff.