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For the past nine or ten years Ive bought sold, traded my way through nearly 25 cars. The one car I have always owned is my first car, a 1981 Mazda Rx-7 base model that I lucked into. I bought it in '04 and had no idea what I was getting into.
For those that might care here is how I came across it.
I was sixteen and looking for my first car, I dreamed of Celica-Supras, MK1 MR2s and Z cars of any year. I even considered many different vintages of Celica. I frequented many local car lots, and eventually one received a 1985 Celica-Supra. They also had a Z31 Turbo, which made the decision difficult. Although the Z was an automatic both were within my budget. While trying to decide I wandered around the lot until an El Camino caught my eye. I walked towards it and while looking it over I saw something far behind the lot in an overgrown field sitting among a few derelict cars. I instantly thought I had seen the silhouette of a Porsche 944, a car my dad had recently bought. I walked over and quickly realized this was something very different. It was surrounded by weeds taller than the fenders and the paint was starting to fade. I asked the dealer what they wanted for it, and he told me it was a bad idea for a first car. It was hard to start, and flooded all the time. I convinced him to start it and move a dozen cars to take it for a test drive. When we got back, he told me the price. Nearly half the price of the Z and cheaper than the Supra. I was sold, and took it home.
Here are some scanned pics from 2004,
I had no idea what a good deal I had gotten, I had no idea how many rare parts were on the car.
The car remained like this relatively unchanged, a base model targa with few options. It was an open diff car with rear drums, until I grenaded the diff merging on the interstate. This led to a GSL rear end swap, discs with a clutch type LSD. Again, it was left unchanged for a long period of time.
I went through a period of buying various different types of 4x110 wheels for it. Most have been since sold on. The black 13s were Riken Meshies, I still own those.
15" Weds Autobahns
14" Enkei 92s
15" Enkei 92s
Then it was time for a direct fire ignition upgrade, e-fan, and a Gilmer belt drive.
And a random pic with my old Turbo FC
Then not long after, I traded this FB for a Miata. Shortly after that, I traded the Miata for my FB back. I then traded my FC to get a white Miata. My girlfriend bought an MR2 and this led to this picture. My time with lowered Miatas and subsequent track days led me to realize its time to do some suspension work to the FB.
I mean even my girlfriend bought coilovers for her car! The FB looked like a lifted pickup.
I did tons of research, only one company builds coilovers for the FB, and they recently stopped shipping orders. However that isnt stopping them from taking peoples money. There are almost no lowering springs that were low enough for me. So I cut the springs, this led to a lot of thinking and deciding I could build my own coilovers.
I bought some 2.5 inch ebay springs for the adjusters and some shaft collar clamps. Then I quickly found that the 2.5 inch springs wouldnt fit in the factory rear shock tower. This led to much head scratching and brain storming. I was about to cut and widen the shock towers when I found 1.8 inch coilover springs. (Ignore rusty blown shock used for mock-up purposes)
Here we are, halfway done!
Then I finished the fronts, which was far more simple than figuring out the rear.
For those that might care here is how I came across it.
I was sixteen and looking for my first car, I dreamed of Celica-Supras, MK1 MR2s and Z cars of any year. I even considered many different vintages of Celica. I frequented many local car lots, and eventually one received a 1985 Celica-Supra. They also had a Z31 Turbo, which made the decision difficult. Although the Z was an automatic both were within my budget. While trying to decide I wandered around the lot until an El Camino caught my eye. I walked towards it and while looking it over I saw something far behind the lot in an overgrown field sitting among a few derelict cars. I instantly thought I had seen the silhouette of a Porsche 944, a car my dad had recently bought. I walked over and quickly realized this was something very different. It was surrounded by weeds taller than the fenders and the paint was starting to fade. I asked the dealer what they wanted for it, and he told me it was a bad idea for a first car. It was hard to start, and flooded all the time. I convinced him to start it and move a dozen cars to take it for a test drive. When we got back, he told me the price. Nearly half the price of the Z and cheaper than the Supra. I was sold, and took it home.
Here are some scanned pics from 2004,
I had no idea what a good deal I had gotten, I had no idea how many rare parts were on the car.
The car remained like this relatively unchanged, a base model targa with few options. It was an open diff car with rear drums, until I grenaded the diff merging on the interstate. This led to a GSL rear end swap, discs with a clutch type LSD. Again, it was left unchanged for a long period of time.
I went through a period of buying various different types of 4x110 wheels for it. Most have been since sold on. The black 13s were Riken Meshies, I still own those.
15" Weds Autobahns
14" Enkei 92s
15" Enkei 92s
Then it was time for a direct fire ignition upgrade, e-fan, and a Gilmer belt drive.
And a random pic with my old Turbo FC
Then not long after, I traded this FB for a Miata. Shortly after that, I traded the Miata for my FB back. I then traded my FC to get a white Miata. My girlfriend bought an MR2 and this led to this picture. My time with lowered Miatas and subsequent track days led me to realize its time to do some suspension work to the FB.
I mean even my girlfriend bought coilovers for her car! The FB looked like a lifted pickup.
I did tons of research, only one company builds coilovers for the FB, and they recently stopped shipping orders. However that isnt stopping them from taking peoples money. There are almost no lowering springs that were low enough for me. So I cut the springs, this led to a lot of thinking and deciding I could build my own coilovers.
I bought some 2.5 inch ebay springs for the adjusters and some shaft collar clamps. Then I quickly found that the 2.5 inch springs wouldnt fit in the factory rear shock tower. This led to much head scratching and brain storming. I was about to cut and widen the shock towers when I found 1.8 inch coilover springs. (Ignore rusty blown shock used for mock-up purposes)
Here we are, halfway done!
Then I finished the fronts, which was far more simple than figuring out the rear.
, like it so far
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