RX7 Barn Find - rare Mazda rotary survivor
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- Опубликовано: 14 июн 2024
- This barn find classic Mazda RX-7 FB was pretty special, simply because it is our first experience trying to start up a Mazda rotary engine. The car in question is a 1983 'FB' phase 2 RX-7, so it's the early shape car that's extremely rare in the UK these days.
Thanks for stopping by The Late Brake Show.
The owner, Bev, used to daily drive it after buying it in the late 1980s. But in winter traction was an issue (she lives high up in Yorkshire), and she'd noticed synchro on second gear becoming worn. She parked it inside her garage, removed the battery and covered it up. The garage door alone hadn't been opened in over 20 years, as the last time it shut on her head and drew blood!
To read more about this rare Mazda and how Jonny came across it, then head over and join our Patreon Page: / thelatebrakeshow
If you are serious about purchasing this car please send an email titled 'RX7' to contact@thelatebrakeshow.com
Big thanks to David Greenwood for contacting TLBS on behalf of Bev, the car owner. Thanks also to rotary mechanic Josh Scott (@blackustan on Insta) at Black Star Motorsport ( / blackstar.motorsport ) for his help with the fire up.
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Filmed and edited by: Phil Vaughn Pritchard www.philvfilms.com
Thumbnail by: Matt Tarrant www.matttarantdesign.com
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Jonny Smith Creative content maker, car presenter & car pervert for hire since '98
Website: www.carpervert.com
Instagram: / jonnycarpervert
Twitter: / carpervert
CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
1:05 Meet Bev the owner
2:10 Bought in 1988
4:00 First look inside garage
5:00 Uncovering it
7:38 For sale
8:22 RX7 FB history
8:55 How a rotary works
9:49 Siamese cat riding shotgun
11:00 Opening broken garage door
12:18 Uncovering the back end
12:37 Josh Scott the rotary guru
15:43 Door jammed!
18:36 Pushing it outside
19:11 Interior look
20:16 Engine bay
21:27 Engine checks
27:19 Pop up lights!
27:45 First fire up attempt
29:05 Second fire up
30:59 Verdict
#4k #barnfindrx7 #willitstart #thelatebrakeshow #barnfind 
Авто/Мото
Jonny at his enthusiastic best. Glad he’s still doing these. Not much would get me thru 32 minutes on RUclips but you just want to see it to the end. Great fun.
Do you want to have a go at a Lancia Y10........?
same here... that was great!
A bit off-topic...but would you mond adding "I'm" to the behinning of your screen name?
It would be nice if you did revisit some of the barn finds to let us know what happened after they appeared on the show. Did they go back to sleep or did they receive a well earned restoration? Would be great to see!
Great to see Josh on the channel. He did some great stuff with the Car Throttle boys on their RX-8.
Agreed! I'd love to see him in future videos
I have watched his Renesis rebuild twice...it’s mechanical poetry.
I was thinking it must have been him
Was about to say the same. Saw him on Car Throttle too and he seems a top lad 👍🏻 Definitely a good educator too. Would love to see more content of his.
Was checking the comments to see if anyone remembered this guy from the Car Throttle episodes.
‘kissing a rotary’ cracked me up.
Owning this and a Z, this lady has good taste in cars 👍🏻
Don’t know what made me happier, the engine firing up, or the lights popping up!
Me too a 1984 RX-7 then 1990 300zx ( still own the 3 ) loved this video Memories:-)
Definitely the firing up, but the headlight opening up was very satisfying.
“There’s no signs of any mice in here” probably because there’s 100 cats living in the garage.
I'll take mouse poop over cat pee anyday
I was thinking the same!!! 😅😂😂
Cats will leave your wiring alone. And your seat foam...
@@Lemma01 Exactly
Brilliant
Johnny is in his own league. Calm, detailed, but interesting. A presenter who has mastered his style and we love it!!!
King 🤴
Oh you, stop it! 😊😘
Always enjoyable to watch. Also has a great taste in cars. Need more of Johnny and C Harris together.
@@TheLateBrakeShow. Jonny, I’m relatively new to TLBS but have avidly watching these videos. I really do like your calm, interested and knowledgable style and the wide range of contacts you have within the car industry who seem to support you whenever asked. I know others have asked about barn find updates and those would be good to see. I also wonder(as a forces veteran) whether there is scope for a restoration garage project feeding in to support veterans who are generally people with an eye for detail and committed to task who could undertake restoration for the benefit of veterans who struggle with their own demons but also bringing some of these barn find cars back to life. It strikes me that if a car has sat for years, the owner would be prepared to wait for such a project. I have seen a similar model in the states and wondered if it could work here. It’d need a lot of support from your friends but what a show that might make. Keep up the great work matey, I’m hooked and now subscribe. Wayne
@@TheLateBrakeShow Nope! You are the best!
That was lovely, and has made me extremely nostalgic.
Not long after I married my wife, she became interested in the Porsche 924. I took her to the dealer, and my goodness, they were expensive! Almost US$20,000! So I suggested we go across the street to the Mazda dealer. She wanted an automatic, but they only had a five-speed so we took it for a test drive. She tried driving in a parking lot, discovered she could, and we went back, wrote a check for about $10,000, and went home with a brand new 1979 RX-7, in "Sonic Bronze".
We had some great times in that car! It turned over its 10,000th mile in the town of Omak, Washington, on the 17th of May, 1980. The following day we were puzzled why the weather had gotten so dusty that we had to close the sunroof. It was the eruption of Mount St. Helens. One of the biggest mistakes of my life was trading it in on a Mercury Sable, which was an utter lemon of a car.
Thank you for the video and some nice memories.
This has to be one of my favorite barn/ garage finds you’ve done. I love the car and the story behind it. This was incredible thank you for sharing this.
It was called the Mazda Savanna in Japan
What a beauty! Great find. The cats did a great job keeping the mice out!
It's hard to get your head around such cars being so rare when you can easily remember seeing them about when growing up. A sure sign I'm getting old!
And this is why Jonnie is my favourite car related presenter. He is so down to earth and friendly…and he genuinely seemed really happy when this car fired up. Keep up the great work 👏👍
I was!
I currently have 7 RX7s in my collection 6 first gens (one is a road race car) and one second gen. Never lost an apex seal on any of my first gens, they're bulletproof. My ex wife's second gen got a stuck apex seal from her never revving the engine and lugging it around town.Two tips for a long rotary life, change the oil often and exercise the apex seals by taking it to red line a couple of times on each drive. Happy Rotoring! :)
If you want to sell one let me know 👍
Sounds good tell us about your road race rx7?
@@rallycrosscraig It's set-up to look like the 1981 24hr of Spa overall winner.. A giant killer!
I had a 74 rotary pickup truck loved that truck.
Let me get one bruh. Don’t be selfish.
Superb episode Jonny.
Bev is quite a character.
Josh is a natural in front of a camera.
And that RX7 is sweet.
Now mate, PLEASE do a follow up for us later. 🙏
And find out what bikes she had /has
@@Ivorbiggin bikes ? I'm even more interested now. Josh is an absolute legend.
@@Ivorbiggin deffo...get shakey up there.
30 years of no use and the headlights raise / lower perfectly and together - a brand new 80s Lotus could struggle with that
My dad's currently trying to fix the wipers that don't work on a 2011 freelander 2 with just 44k on the clock ! They only work on the fastest setting and only work some of the time. Often they don't work at all. Has the mot due and he is panicking it will fail
Oh yeah Japanese build quality ! I rescued an 80’s Celica GT from a very similar situation to this ( 12 year only not 28!) after nee cambelt oil fuel new flexies that Celica started first turn of the key - everything worked perfectly all electric windows sunroof pop up lights - they knew how to build great cars just not how to make them rust proof in crappy climates like U.K.!
Sweet video, I actually went through the same process with my 84 12a car last year. The one suggestion I would have made was before even giving it power you should have lubricated the apex seals with premix through the spark plug holes and turned it by hand. Cranking a dry, sitting rotary can basically tear apart old dried apex seals and your engine will quickly lose compression. Other than that awesome video and great to see another FB saved
I agree but I used a light gearbox oil that mine has had in it for about 5 years. I hope it starts eventually!!
Didn't they mention taking out the spark plugs ? And being an expert I would have thought he sprayed some oil in. I have a few seized engines to look at. Will definitely spray in some oil in the spark plug holes.
Forgot to lubricate the seals before starting
Absolutely! those apex seals go and its gonna have no compression at all...gotta take extra care when it hasnt been started in like forever/
mine wouldn't run without releasing coolant pressure. still did 0-60 really fast. Rx4 dual port.
Jonny creates the most perfect of videos. Bev is a bit of a legend, and Josh an absolute star. I don't think anyone compares to Jonny when it comes to this type of content, I love it.
Josh is definitely the man for the job!!! He needs his own channel.
It's early morning here in Oz and I was delighted to see a story on the RX7. My son like your nephew is rotary obsessed, having being brought up with an RX8 that we daily from 2004 to this very day. He is an FD RX7 nut but we simply cannot afford one of those, so being inspired by your import video we went about finding an FB RX7 in the USA last year. After researching the car and market we looked for the 13b variant known as a GSLSE model produced from 1984 to 85 exclusively for the North American market. We found one that was promising 48k miles from new located in Texas, after purchase it took some six months to arrive (got it Jan 22). It truly is a time capsule the interior is mint condition 80s brown leather. After being sitting for so long we envisaged some problems with starting, but no turn the key it starts then stalls, restarts and runs like a dream. We have taken the car to a couple of shows since and people love it.
I have since bought 2 more a racing version and a higher mileage 1 that my son can hotrod, but for heavens sake please don't tell my wife.
Good work Uncle
How did you get the American sourced cars into Australia?
@@glennoc8585 Hi I used Dazmac to import the car they handle everything that needs to be done. Just be aware that there can be additional costs other than the container shipment including American customs inspection and bio security cleaning. Neither are cheap!
Josh is an absolute whizz on these , if you’ve got a rotary he’s your man. I’m tempted by an RX8 that he can sort for the long term
Jonny what are your thoughts on the Rx8?
I like the RX8, so long as you check it religiously. I reckon they will be rare in standard form very soon!
@@TheLateBrakeShow thank you and great work on RUclips , changing the game
Put some Wankel if your life!
To say he's easy on the eye would be an understatement
These videos are so enjoyable. Jonny does them perfectly. No nonsense, just love for the whole process of uncovering the car and the story behind it. Definitely have to revisit all of them at the right time.
Great video Johnny. From the days when you use to see rusty cars on the road. Love these videos, keep em coming 👍
I'm so glad I'm from a part of the world where rusty cars are not common
right comment .nice time.
Most cars die now without a spot of rust.
I love an honest classic. Makes you wonder what other delights are tucked away in UK garages, sheds & barns. Keep hunting them down Jonny 🙏
Georgeous car, really cool owner, and an amazing sound!
Truly a marvelous episode of the Barn Find series.
That was fab. Big smiles when the headlights popped up and then when it burst into life. Love this content Jonny.
The late brake show is just so much better than ever. These stories are great. Love them keep them coming
Philip, thank you! 🙏🏼
My face when the lights popped up: 😮.
Fantastic. Another awesome barn find Jonny! I loved Bev’s attitude to let it go to someone who can give it the time it deserves. Especially if she gets a drive when it’s done. Love that!
I once knew an old chap who owned two NSU RO 80's, one blue, one white, and a Rolls Royce. Prior to retirement he had been an engineer in the auto industry. He reckoned the RO 80's were the best cars he had ever owned: and never bother driving the Silver Shadow after purchasing the RO 80's. He took the time to explain to me how the rotary engine worked.
I had to smile when that engine turned over. I haven’t heard that sound in 30 years as we’ll. I need one of them.
The RX7 S1 is still a great looking car. In the early 1980’s they raced in Australia in Group C form… the touring car class at the time. One of the best looking & cigarette funded was the Allan Moffat RX7 with the big flares and wide wheels. The scream of the rotary @ Bathurst was unbelievable.
Yes, I remember Moffat raving about his ''Marzda' and how the bigger cars had an unfair advantage....
Some of us still race them in Australia: ruclips.net/video/haK1HgOpwhI/видео.html
Sounds like Jonny's nephew needs to own this car ...
He'd love that!
@@TheLateBrakeShow Raiding his piggy bank as he watches the video!
I have a 85. Exact same color. 145k miles still running strong. Never been rebuilt. 12a baby!
Around 2010 I bought a 'lady owner' RX7 mk1 with factory TWR bodykit, reg A171THM, I loved that car! Drove it from Lands End to Stornoway and it only broke down once. On taking for MOT sadly the chassis was falling apart from rust. Thanks for making this video it brings back some fond memories!
Another tremendous one Jonny. I've got plenty of memories with rotaries back in the 80s out here in Australia. Bloody quick cars. Thanks Jonny and Josh and of course Bev.
Sure were!
Memories of Alan Moffat at Bathurst 👍🇦🇺
So good, Jonny. When that rotary fired up it took me straight back to my childhood. My dad bought a series 2 here in Australia in 1982. I was 14. I couldn’t believe that my dad would buy one of these after having family cars all my life up to that point. It probably had something to do with him being recently single. Anyway, the sound of the rotary idling became a regular part of life as he would fire it up in the morning before heading back inside to finish his breakfast prior to heading off to work. Even after several minutes warming up there would still be a few explosions as he drove off to work. I was thankful that he still had the car a couple of years later as I was learning to drive and I even took my drivers test in the car. It was also the car that I first hit 100mph in but I ran out of road before I could reach 200km/h. Probably a good thing as I was only 16 and had only had my licence a few months.
I hope this car can get the love it deserves. They truly were a special machine.
Learning to drive and passing your test with your Dad's rotary is such a great memory. Love to hear stories like this.
This is definitely one of my fave barn find episodes… what a fabulous car, and a real testament to Japanese build quality
When I was 19 in 1989, I bought an '83 Rx7 gsl. Super capable little track car for the price with like 51%-49% weight balance AND likes to rev so you can always be in the power band without stressing it out too much. But where it shined was light-to-light racing on Main street downtown. MR2s, CRXs, Nissan Pulsars were not even close. It was for sure underpowered, but 7000 red line and stupid light 2150 lbs... I am pretty sure it out tracked the same year Porche 944. Drop the clutch and hit 7200 rpm on each shift and it would chirp the tires going into 3rd. The only car (non v8) that kept giving me trouble was an '86 or '87 Chevy Cavalier V6 manual trans. That stupid thing was qucik. Beat a lot of V8s light-to-light. 1987 IROC was the first Iroc to beat me regularly. Super underrated car. for the price.... I wrecked it it two years. Dont judge me!
Wow amazing don’t know much about the rotary engines but sounded lovley when it started brilliant well done mate by far one of your best barn finds 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻
Cheers Jeff!
Great to see Josh back on my RUclips feed again!
What a great video. I bought a white - coloured 1983 model from the Tom Walkinshaw garage at Dorchester on Thames in 1986. It had been fitted with an Elford Turbo and TWR had put a body kit, smaller steering wheels and TWR decals on it. It was a wonderful car and apart from its thirst for NGK racing spark plugs and fuel it was one of the finest cars I ever had. Great memories and I really wish that I still had it today.
Yes! I’ve been slowly rebuilding an 83 GSL that had lived under a tarp for 22 years. Finally drove it down the street last nite. These fellas had it easy!! Keep rescuing the rotaries.
Awesome! These were so common in Australia when I was growing up. There's a strong following here with these cool little cars today. Allen Moffat drove these to great success in our premier touring car races, including Bathurst. 👌
Love a barn find episode, well done Jonny. You need to also take credit for fixing the garage door and conquering Bev's fear of it.
Great Sunday night viewing. Thanks fellas and thanks Bev.
This is awesome. I love the respect Jonny has for everything automotive, does his research, and really respects the owners too! Well done
Awesome find! I grew up idolising the RX-8 and have always loved the rotary engine. The RX-7 is even more special. Genuinely one of the most enjoyable barn finds. Thanks Jonny!
Always starts my Sunday off right! Thank you, Jonny! Love this content: my college girlfriend drove one of these in 1989! You can trust a Josh 😀
These types of videos are what really makes this channel brilliant. Real car people and their cars.
Any thanks Duncan. Hope others feel the same.
What a lovely film. I dreamt of these in the 80’s when I had a MAZDA MONTROSE 2.0 GLS . Thank you Josh, and Johnny for not using the ladspeak of “Mate”, “Man” etc being so respectful to Bev, and being so natural, in all ways a heart-warming and practical real world video. I wish I had the capacity to re home this beautiful time warp Mazda . Thank you
Excellent stuff! 30 ish years of being dormant and it starts pretty easily and the pop ups work! Hope it finds a good new home.
What a find. Great to see Josh again. Like probably everyone else, I saw him on Car Throttles “living with a rotary” series. Top bloke would love to see more content with him.
My ‘85 (12a) rx7 might be the funnest car I ever owned. Really appreciated seeing the whole process of getting this ‘83 fired up again. Cheers from Northern California (US)
Cheers for watching Scott. Welcome aboard TLBS
What a gem and not even the slightest whiff of oil smoke on start up.
These Barn find stories are just getting better, I actually felt like I was with you when you first turned the key till the moment it started. I've seen Josh before somewhere, Not sure where. Excellent job, Thanks.
I remember driving a early basic but nearly new one and loving how it drove. Really nice car. My RAC days I went out to a few but never anything serious wrong with them sometimes on my Norton rotary patrol motorcycle. Wankel is a great engine 👍
Wow what was your rotary motorcycle like to ride?
Throttle response must have been instant?
Like a two stroke?
I remember they use to race rotory bike at the TT..
190mph I think...
@@stuartd9741 They are very different to anything else I've ridden. Linear power all the way through the rev range, no engine braking like a two-stroke. Sounded lovely.
Great to see Josh back again on youtube videos. Miss him from Car Throttle.
By far and away the best thirty minutes I’ve seen on RUclips!!! I like lots of other people in the comments would like to see a follow up video!!! New ownership restoration videos too!!! Top work guys!!
I just love these barn find videos . Excellent stuff. This one is one of the best. I hope it gets restored.
Loved this...! Testament to Japanese engineering that after the best part of 30 years, it fired up and sat there happily running. Great stuff...!!!
WOW!!!! Amazing video.
I loved the simplicity, like when you found a unspected treasure. I felt a little bit nervous waiting if you could start it.
As a Japanese cars lover you make me smile.
Thanks for this beautiful work.
Good Job, Keep going!!
And Greetings from Spain!!
Cant beat a decent barn find on a Monday. Great, Josh is a star in the making too. I hope this goes to a good home and it gets returned to its former glory.
Good memories for me, I had a number of them, including Elford Turbo's. My 1st RX-7 I bought from BL, it was a 1978 US model they got for evaluation & I was driving it before the UK version was announced in September 1979. My first Mazda rotary was an R100 in 1969. If I were younger I'd certainly put in a bid. Good find Jonny.
Love this series, what a woman, amazing taste in motors
You should take this on as a project with your nephew for his first car!
Really lovely video including Bev’s fabulous car, Josh’s interesting rotary knowledge with expertise and Johnny’s infectious passion for lost four wheel gems.
Thanks for sharing
Awesome find! I drove an '84 RX7 for a few years back in 2010. As an engineer, I was always impressed by the simplicity of the rotary engine, such a well-designed car. The only downside to these is the fuel, even with the cheap prices of gas in the US, they just love to drink....but that 7~8k rpm and beyond just made it all worth it.
Engine life, my cars engine broke at 90k miles, which for a 84 car was probably all the life they expected. I had Mazda tech do compression test when it broke. He said lucky to get past 50k, or 35k on the turbo version. I rebuilt the engine. I reckon the tips should be changed at 70k. My car would do 18 miles imp gallon.
Love these finds. Would really like to see a revisit, what happens to them after they got unearthed?
100% for a revisit.
First generation always seems to be the purest and most beautiful.
It's an absolute beauty, big thank you to this lady for allowing us to see this piece of amazing Japanese engineering. Got to love a rotary.
Brilliant episode! I remember my history teacher had a brand spanking new red one & I thought she was soooo cool!👍
Nice one Jonny & Josh!👍😊👏👏👏
I’ve picked one of these bad boys up a few months back, currently in the middle of patching it up and getting it mot’d but unfortunately the British roads haven’t been kind to it! The little running around in it we did though felt fantastic.
Hope someone gets to enjoy this one!
I love Josh's energy so chilled and funny, saw him first on auto Alex ages ago on the rx8 build and he really knows his stuff on the rotary engines for sure, that rx7 engine sounds sweet has to be the best barn find start up I have heard sounds almost like a new car 😂
When I was 16 we had a small Mazda dealership across the street from the Yamaha shop. They were a small dealer and never had more than 30 cars between the new & used inventory. Anyhow I rode Yamahas in those days and once in a while while when I was getting my motorcycle serviced I would check out the Mazdas on the lot. They did sell a few of the rotary engine RX7 Rotary cars though I haven't seen any of them on the road here in many years. Back in the day besides the Yamaha motorcycle I was driving late 60's Camaros & GTO's so I never ever considered buying one of the Mazdas though I did kind of pay attention to the rotary engine idea which seemed at least to me kind of modern for the times. Thanks Jonny for posting such a cool video!
What a brilliant find. The guys over on the Mighty Car Mods channel have a lovely one they’ve been working on. They’ve upgraded the Ignition system and ecu to run something more modern for reliability and improved drivability.
Really worth checking out if you enjoyed this.
I came to say the same thing!
Unbelievable you get this stuff going - sometimes it takes me all day to get my petrol mower going after not using it for a few weeks !!
It made my heart leap to hear that 12A fire up - I so miss that sound. I had a 1972 Rx-2 sedan as my first car and drove it from mid-college through the early part of my Boeing career. It was rear-ended and shortened by about a foot with over 200K miles on it (and soon in need of an engine rebuild) when I had to let it go. This was even though an engine rebuild on a 12A or 13B back then was less than $1000 and my regular Mazda mechanic (who is still my regular Mazda mechanic) used to build successful racing rotaries. The sound of one firing up (with the top of the air cleaner off like that) is unmistakeable.
On the Rx-2 I used to do my own tunes, and I would often run it on one ignition system (leading or trailing) while setting the timing on the other, so yes they will run on one. I never drove it that way, but it would start and run fine. I imagine the dual coils (and in my Rx-2, also dual distributors) were because the timing between the leading and trailing plugs was so close. We later had an Rx-4 station wagon, and it had a single distributor, with a dual level rotor, but still two coils.
So many people underestimated my ordinary-looking Japanese sedan....until it hit 4000 RPM and those big back barrels of that 4 barrel carb opened up. Then they got a shock as I still had 3000 RPM more I could ask it for if I wanted.
Man I miss my rotary cars. They were a little thirsty. I got 17 mpg average in the Rx-2, 14 mpg on the Rx-4 wagon (bigger, heavier, with a 13B engine) but oh they were fun.
I am really wondering about the rumored "range extender" for the MX-30 being a rotary of some kind. Maybe a single 10A or 12A rotor?
Thanks for this.
Thank you Jonny for a brilliant vid. Thank you Bev for allowing us to see your beautiful car, you are a lady of great taste. And thank you Josh, you are a star and I hope we much more from you!
Loved these cars back in the day, someone in our village, had one back in about 1989 in that pale metallic blue that they all seem to come in. If memory serves me right it was very crusty and this car was probably only about 6 years old.
I’ve started countless NSU Ro80’s in similar situations. Always get them running. These 12A’s are pretty much bullet proof. Don’t believe all the nonsense the rotary haters will try and have you believe! Great episode, my favourite so far 👍
Cheers a lot. Glad you enjoyed it. I was chuffed Josh got it running.
Lovely lady owner. My teacher at primary school had the exact same model. Must have been 1981 /82. it was just after Christmas, and we were back into class ( i was around 6)
I remember the teachers discussing how Christmas went / what happened.. Mrs Jones said, "oh - I got a Mazda RX7"
Totally awesome parked amongst the Escorts & Metros..
She was a great teacher, way in front of the others - an inspiration xx
Awesome video & awesome car. Along with everyone else I would love to see it back on the road and let Bev relive her memories (with or without a cat).
This is Josh, a bit of a guru... I see what you did there 👏👏👏
😉
Ba dum tsh 🥁
Your nephew should buy this and do it up in time for him passing his driving test... new series...
Love the look of these. A customer from a previous work place still rallies his RX7 of this vintage, a wonderful noise on full chat.
Martin on 'Mighty Car Mods' channel bought an RX7 (he loves it) and they uprated the electronics and fuel system so now it runs a seperate ECU running fuel injection. He replaced the lunched gearbox too and various other bits like coilovers, wheels, all sorts. Now it runs and drives excellently! Definitely WORTH watching that series of videos!!! 👍😉 😎🇬🇧
Hi Johnny, this video brought back memories I had a Mazda RX2 back in 74 to 76 in Toronto Canada. A very small light two door four seater (just about) It was fun to pull up alongside a big V8 at the lights and leave it in the dust. It only had the two chambers but three power pulses per rev per chamber equal to a V6. It ran well till one fateful evening on the way to work cruising down the highway I noticed the temperature gauge climb into the red zone shut the engine off and coasted to a stop, to late the radiator had failed engine overheated the curse of different thermal expansion coefficients had struck. The chambers were made of aluminium and the dividing plates of Steel. Mazda gave me a new engine I just had to pay for the removal and reinstall of the engine. You may ask how did it handle a Canadian winter I had to install a block heater to keep it warm as the the long chamber and rotor area at very low temperatures caused the gasoline vapour to condense back to gasoline and not fire. Driving it in the winter it was so light it handled like a cat on a hot tin roof. I still love the smoothness of the rotary engine and cats................
Should clean up nicely, hope the gearbox gremlins aren't too much of an issue. 👍
A really great episode. I'm really enjoying the range of different vehicles you have been showcasing in your barn finds Jonny. It would be good to see more of Josh in future barn finds.
Another great episode of what is easily the best car show around today. Can't believe it has survived so well, please do a follow up video if it gets put back on the road. Cheers!
Guru Josh! 🕺
😎
Josh , bit of a guru , see what you did there . I remember having a quick drive of one of these in LA circa 1982.
1990 time for the guru
Sade’s?
Owned by a lady, but not Sade.
That montage, with the 80s music. Just brilliant 💪
This 1983 Mazda RX-7 first registered in May 1983, and MOT Taxed until 1st April 1995 ,from 1995 this is parked such an amazing Video 👍🏻
Watch last few episodes of Mighty car mods channel on You Tube, they have been restoring an rx7, learn quite a bit about them in the few episodes out there in Australia.
The Junkyard Digs RUclips channel has a recent video where someone swapped in a snowmobile engine into a similar generation RX-7. It was actually faster than when it had the rotary engine. It's really interesting, y'all should check it out
I don't know what disappointed me more on that conversion. The god awful racket it made or the hideously ugly bonnet arrangement They could of easily quadrupled the power of the original engine by fitting a ported and turboed.......Rotary!
@@trevc4021 I agree but I thought it was really cool to see something different and way outside of the box
Wow, that bought back some memories for me, I was an apprentice spark back in 1985 and the bloke I was trained by had an A reg, 1983 in a metalic light green colour one of these. We had a job in Brighton and travelled down from Nottingham every Monday morning and back on a Friday. It was a lovely smooth car on the motorways and ate up the miles. Interestingly he had gear box issues where the car would drop out of top gear while crusing and wouldn't go back in and spent time going back and forth to the dealer but was never fully resolved as I recall. Thanks to Bev for allowing you to bring her car out after all these years, a great barn find again Jonny
It warms my heart to see these lost gems found again, another great episode!
Just be glad that the Siamese cat in the harness wasn't still in there when you opened the door....
Meow!
That 80’s synth music when rolling it out is amazing! Totally puts the car in perspective.
That was terrific. The RX7 was a favorite here in the USA and I actually drove a friends new one in 1981.
Josh obviously knows quite a bit of the Mazda rotary engine and etc. He was a good find for you.👏🏻👏🏻
Superbly kept car! Clean house, clean garage, clean car. Not surprising really.