1984 silver series 3

[ian65]

This week, completely due to chance and a series of amazing co-incidences, I was lucky enough to have met Mr Robert Grounds, the retired former proprietor of 3 Spires Mazda, Lichfield who were one of this areas premier RX7 dealers in the 1980’s.
I emailed Robert after seeing a photo he posted on the internet of a RX7 he had sold back in 1986.... a car that was later owned by a friend of mine.
Subsequently, during a telephone conversation, Robert told me that he had a series 3 RX7 that he wanted to pass on to an enthusiast. The car had been sold by 3 Spires Mazda to Roberts brother in law and when said brother in law emigrated in 1988, Robert had the car back and has owned it since. The car was used until the early / mid 1990’s when it was stored.
Recently, it has stood on the driveway of his house under a heavy duty car cover and Robert felt that it was time to pass it to a new owner but didn’t want it to go to someone who would abuse it and wanted it to go to an enthusiast who would appreciate it for what it is.

I went over during the week and spent an hour and a half looking at the car and talking to Robert.... great to talk cars and RX7’s...

The car is totally original... factory exhaust, air pump, everything. Robert tells me it's never been repaired in any way and has only ever been worked on at his main dealership. The interior is factory original and in wonderful condition, just a touch mildewy in places.... the underside in straight and unmolested with no jacking dents etc although there are a few rust scabs on the outer panels. It looks very smart with its silver coachwork and wine coloured interior.
A bit of love and affection and it'll be a stunner... and is just so original right down to the dealer stickers, everything.

Robert told me that if I would like to re-commission the car, I could have it for free... a very kind and generous gesture on his part.
He also had some parts to go with the car..... a new drivers door, still in its box, a glass sunroof, and numerous Mazda service spares that came from the dealership. I bought the sunroof and door off him and he gave me the service parts for free, another great and much appreciated gesture.
I got the car collected on Wednesday and taken to my house...



Pics from when I got the car home...











Although the car has been laid up for a long time,this works for it and against it..... it's suffering the usual 1st gen inactivity woes.... sticking brakes, clutch hydraulics, old tyres but the underside... sills, arches, floors are in superb condition .... probably helped by not having to suffer years of salty roads.

The doors etc shut like a new car.... it's got the potential to be a nice car.
All the electrics work... even the electric aerial! 1st priority is to fire up the engine. Robert filled the rotor chambers with redex when he laid it up so I'll try and smoke the neighbours out Saturday.
A few more pictures...











Here’s a few of the parts....
Service parts...





The Pacific T-top glass roof ( fitted to the car)...





Drivers door NOS...







The car does need a repair to the drivers door... someone backed into the existing one but as I’ve got the NOS door that's an easy fix.... not even worth trying to repair the old one... just build up the new door and get it painted.

It's had a new windscreen as well at some point and has developed some rust under the windscreen pillar trims... this seems to be common in cars that have had the screens changed.... maybe the way they seal them in or something..... on a positive, it'll be easier to get the screen out to fix this as replacement screens are easier to remove... the factory bonded screens are a bitch to get out... I can then get National windscreens just up the road to re-bond it for me.

My plan is to re-commission /lightly restore it back to A1 condition and I'm keeping it looking completely standard although I may put my spare Elford setup under the bonnet ( and keep all the original parts in case I ever want to return it to factory standard.)

It would make a very nice show car with a bit of fettling.

After recently selling my black shell, I wasn't looking for another project just yet but this car deserves to go back on the road and won't need much to get it through the mot..... I hope!

It's been really nice of Robert to give me all this stuff and I'm itching to have a play with the car on Saturday

I'm quite excited by it all!

[spoddy]

well done ian

i bet you are excited lol. very fortunate to get something like that given to you, ok you have to get it back on the road but
moon roof and spares. i bet you felt like your birthdays/christmases had all come at once.

looks a nice series 3, i wonder what the rear bumper is like on the passenger side as seems a bit rusty?

but for nothing its some find.

best of luck

[ian65]

well done ian

i bet you are excited lol. very fortunate to get something like that given to you, ok you have to get it back on the road but
moon roof and spares. i bet you felt like your birthdays/christmases had all come at once.

looks a nice series 3, i wonder what the rear bumper is like on the passenger side as seems a bit rusty?

but for nothing its some find.

best of luck

yeah, there are a few rust scabs on the body but nothing major... the shell is ace and that's the important thing.... most rust spots have come from blocked drains and leaks..... this is so solid and clean though it's got the potential to be a show car .... especially given its originality.

.

[spoddy]

well its gone to the right man and if anyone can get her on the road again its yourself.

i would keep her original, so its like it just came out of the factory etc. the rust parts look superficial.
hopefully the bit on the rear light/bumper isn't too bad. your a lucky man, wish i could get something like that.

but it goes to show the hidden gems knocking about just waiting to be found. that interior is like new.

[syebba]

Haha,when i saw this my 1st thought was f.ck me,he's gone & got another.
2nd thought,he's a jammy git.

Looks pretty good ian,sure you'll do wonders with it,reminds me of inspector nocks fb.

& to get a new old stock door as well!

Where's the 4"X2" wood holding up the tailgate

ta stu..

[spoddy]

so its just minimal bodywork and the rest mechanical, ie fire up the engine and unseize the brakes or probably rebuild them?
the rear glass tail gate looks like brand new. is your misses happy at another fb in the yard lol?

[MelloYello]

Wow, more reason to "pop in" now and check out your new acquisition

[codge]

Looks pretty good ian,sure you'll do wonders with it,reminds me of inspector nocks fb.
ta stu..

Marvellous Ian.....get a red coach line.....very urgent - red coach line, 1st job... buggxr the mechanicals, lets have some posh.

[Chud]

Good score there, nice bunch of NOS parts too.

[ian65]

this car hasn't been run for over 15 years so the first job was to see if it would fire up and run.
Redex was put into the engine to protect it when it was laid up in the 90's and the engine turned over ok by hand.
I decided that rather than mess about with the existing Nikki carb that was probably in need of a rebuild due to being gummed up with old fuel, I'd use the good clean Nikki that I took of my black s3 when I turbo'd it last year.
It's an easy 30 minute job to change the carb ..... I left the existing rats nest on the car.



The fuel pump was then taken off the car and I put my own spare pump on in its place and fitted a new fuel filter...



The stale fuel in the old fuel filter smelt like varnish.

I then disconnected the fuel flow and return lines and blew them out with compressed air...

As the carb, lines and pump were then known to be clean and as , at the moment, I don't know how clean or otherwise the tank is, I decided to run some tube from the fuel pump to a petrol can of new unleaded.... that way I could be sure that everything going into the engine was clean....



I then put a spare battery on the car, pulled the plugs out and spun the engine over to blow out any excess redex/ oil. I cleaned up some spare plugs that I had in the garage and put them into the engine.

The engine was then spun over without the fuel pump connected to get the oil pressure up and to make sure it lifted.

I was about to fire it up when Keith called in so he helped me try to start it...
1st try the battery was flat so we jumped it off the wifes Peugeot.... after some spinning to get the fuel through, it fired up and ran great.... we left it running for about 10 mins and most of the redex burnt off.... but when we revved it up, there's some right dust and crap coming out of the exhaust... 15 years of rust, dust, and anything else that's crawled up the exhaust.... it needs a good blast on the road to clear it out.

Here's the video.... the horrible popping and rattling noise is the Peugeot.... she went out this morning and came home with a broken exhaust... another job for tomorrow....



The car ran and ticked over nicely and sounds great.... the redex did its job..... when it got hot and I gave it some stick, the fanbelt started to shred... and surprise surprise, the bloody viscous fan is very stiff so I need to sort that.... also the choke doesn't hold on the magnet maybe a loose wire , or else I'll have to fit one out of my spares cupboard...

All in all, I'm very happy. Next job is to sort the clutch so that the car will move under its own power.

.