An introduction, and a 1990 RX7 Convertible Winter Beater of Distinction entry... perhaps?

[NeXTGen]

Hi all, and firstly, this is a fantastic set of forums - I have been introduced to this by Junkman himself, as I'm a work colleague of his and we've been swapping car stories for sometime now....

 

A recent purchase resulted in Junkman insisting I get myself on here and say "hi", and introduced me to the concept of the Winter Beater of Distinction :

 

1990 Mazda RX7 Turbo II Convertible, picked up off eBay .....

 

 

A couple of photos :

 

 

Having got it dried out and cleaned out the drains on the tonneau (hot water works a treat..!), dealt with some truly shocking ancient coolant, replaced the water pump for dribbling, and finally found a wiring short in the middle of the front loom (there are 2-1 splits *in* the loom, which coupled with classically bad grounding point bolts had nicely overheated causing the headlights to go up-down-up-down continuously , it seems to be holding up....

 

A little about me:

I'm a bit of a collector of random Japanese autoshite, having been through two Legacys, A Forester and and Impreza Estate, till I got my hands on a 1995 Type RA Impreza (that one's a keeper!). Previous to that I was running an Audi 100e (loved that one... cost 450 quid, sold three years later for 400), a classic Mini which I had to re-engine twice... and decided to turbocharge... then an Omega v6 Estate. My first car was an utterly utterly shagged 1974 MGB GT that I spent most of my spare time and effort welding, brazing the radiator (couldn't afford a new one and generally getting it through MOT's....

 

I love tinkering and buggering about on these great cars, anything goes

 

Thanks,

Edwin

 

 

[Cavcraft]

welcome along.

[skattrd]

Rwd turbo's are ideal* cars for winter - welcome.

[NeXTGen]

Thanks, Cavette ! Its nice to be welcomed - We'll see if I stay welcome

[Junkman]

I like it how your shadow is scratching his head looking at your recent purchase, something mine does frequently, too.

[NeXTGen]

Its usually my other half scratching her head.... In utter bemusement at what I brought home this time...

[Rocket88]

Ahh the RX7 turbo..ideally suited for icy roads...........................good luck with it young sir, if wintery conditions prevail, I'd avoid all solid objects in a 200 yard radius.

[NeXTGen]

Perfect for icy roads, particularly with the pair of mis-matched, no-brand tyres on the rear axle that came with it

[beko1987]

Winter tyres on the front might help*

[Station]

How much did that set you back if you don't mind me asking? I think I remember it being on ebay?

[Junkman]

You could significantly improve* Winter handling and increase your stopping distance by dropping a concrete flag into the boot.

This would also do wonders to the OMGMPG.

[Rocket88]

If you buy an RX7 turbo, I would presume MPG figures was an equation not considered in the original purchase......15 mpg will be about your lot!

[Jim Bergerac]

Welcome.

 

That RX-7 is awesome. The Convertibles can't have been that common here even when new?

[Jim Bell]

Welcome in. All your items are approved.

[eddyramrod]

Welcome aboard Edwin!  Great choice of winter beater*... speaking as a member of the audience   we can sit here all cosy and enjoy your tales of woodland excursions, figure-skating, and AA-truck-spotting.  Lovely!

 

*Says a man in the Lake District, who deliberately raided this forum for a RWD Volvo automatic for exactly the same purpose...

[Rusty_Rocket]

Welcome!  Excellent car, as above, those convertible RX's must be pretty rare now and have aged well.

 

I bought my first 944 in heavy snow.  It proved to be an entirely hopeless vehicle in such weather and with that in mind, I wholeheartedly applause your choice of 'winter beater'

[trigger]

Welcome along Edwin, your RX-7 looks excellent, I bet you can't wait for the summer to come along now!

[oman5]

welcome, nice looking Mazza. well done for throwing caution to the wind. OMGROTORTIPSEAL and OMGMPG, WCPGW etc.

 

My sister had one of those, lovely thing to drive.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Quite a looker these RX-7 soft tops, I reckon the proportions are just right, they look much better than the fastback one which is a bit uninteresting IMO.

[wuvvum]

They are a nice looking thing those convertibles.  There's something almost TVR-esque about them in profile. 

An utterly daft choice of winter transport - I wholeheartedly approve.

[NeXTGen]

Thanks for all the compliments and welcomes ! - in answer to the above, it set me back 1200 quid in the end - seller was a bit of an amateur trader, and had got lumbered with this that no one would touch, so they bunged it up on eBay for 1395 and after a bit of beating about descriptions (ok, the bodywork is mint, obviously been completely resprayed....) engine mounts rusty as b***ery, and idled at 2.5-3k rpm Paperwork goes back to day of first sale though, and has all the essentials done....

 

To fix the idle I stripped the throttle body off and pipe-cleanered (sometimes its useful to enjoy the odd bit of tobacco the waterways that had got gunked up with the bloody red coolant that goes off after 3 years - bit of throttle tweakage, and now she starts first time every time and idles at 750...... (never, ever feed that red shite to any Mazda or Subaru, it destroys them. Recommended is 'Shell Green', pricey unless you get in bulk from a friendly garage, but it works, and everything stays clean).

Replaced the electric ariel, water pump ( you try finding one of those over here... they don't exist!), and the utter chav-o-doom-JVC-faceflipping stereo. Steering wheel was a bit polished up, so dropped on a spare I had (too small, but it works, and is nicer to spin than the original.

 

Bolted the door locks up properly and white greased anything that froze up in the first frosts....

 

Bloody good fun to drive, but its squirmy as hell on those crap rear tyres.... I have a friendly tyre place in Macclesfield that should be able to help me out with a set of something non-suicidal.

 

Its  getting about OMGWTFMPG (about 18-20 ish), and about half a pint of oil per tank (which is expected as it deliberately meters and burns it to keep the tips in good nick).

 

I think the front exhausts are about to rust off, but hey, thats what these things are for

 

MOT advisory on front wheel bearings...

[NeXTGen]

Welcome along Edwin, your RX-7 looks excellent, I bet you can't wait for the summer to come along now!

 

Summer? Nah, I'll see if I can find a UniMog/Arctic spec S3 Landy/DUK going cheap somewhere for summer :- Bit slow on the motorway, but good for pulling the caravans out of the festival mud...

[Junkman]

Yeah, was toying with the idea of getting me a KrAZ 255B for Summer, what with the impeding road tolls and stuff. Fuck roads.

In Winter you'd want something a bit more slippery though for some serious sideways fun.

[NeXTGen]

Once again thanks for the welcomes!

 

I think I've finally got the RX under control, wiring loom is holding up - lights all working. Still have to sort those rear tyres though - they are....scary.

 

I have to confess the best sideways fun I've had has been in my *very* silly Impreza.... which can go around roundabouts without changing approach angle

[overrun]

Fucking

Cool

 

Howdy, squire. See Dave to have a key cut for the beige, single glazed front door.