'79 SA Reliability Build.

[FerociousP]

'79 SA 149k with 45k rebuild.

Good
- Beautiful Silver paint with "custom" pinstripes (not a fan of the Rx-7 Stickers)
- Very decent if not awesome interior
- Rock solid idle when warm

Bad
- One rust bubble on rear fender
- Noisy rear end (probably wheel bearings)
- omp lines were connected wrong, but immediately remedied
- oil cooler bracket is broken and currently held up with string... yes.. string...

Overall it's a 30 year old car that is in relatively excellent shape. Planning on fixing the rear end, giving the suspension/steering a once over, and doing the maintenance on the engine replacing vacuum lines, oil, plugs, etc. I has Autolite plugs in it, and while normally I would say only use NGK... the things idles wonderfully and runs decent, so they can't be too bad.

Photos taken just seconds after getting home in poor light.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DOIP7bvsJCI/S4myTg-3kjI/AAAAAAAAAtg/P2ekCk67g0c/s800/100_0122.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_DOIP7bvsJCI/S4myYuzB5rI/AAAAAAAAAtk/X1Zg1RFamWY/s800/100_0124.JPG

[djmtsu]

Where the hell is my finders fee?

[FerociousP]

Where the hell is my finders fee?

i let your dog live while you had a baby... and i owe you a beer... its man law you know

[My5ABaby]

Nice. I'm actually feeling the decal/accents. They match the car well given its age.

[FerociousP]

Couldn't wait. I made a Indyparts shift boot fit the SA trim with a 5spd Rx-8 knob. Now its time to replace that radio, equalizer, and get new shifter bushings when I can... I used a crappy camera but the idea is there.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DOIP7bvsJCI/S42-_d7o5DI/AAAAAAAAAu8/nZW5im8kBpk/s800/IMG00189.jpg

[FC3S Murray]

old school.....SWEET! In great shape man!

[Whizbang]

i need me an SA

[Trout2]

The decals were from the factory or a factory option. My dad bought a 79 SA in July 1979, it came to the dealer that way - someone ordered it and didn't want it after we waited a couple of months for silver or blue. When the car was repainted in the early 80's, another set of decals was purchased but thankfully not applied. Looked much better in yellow w/o brown strips.

Jack

[FerociousP]

Werd thats good to know. He must have either copied the original decals before repainting (or copied someone elses). Were the Rx-7 decals part of that option or did he just get fancy, because I'm about to take them off.

[FerociousP]

Bought a spare panel and added a radio with a pocket from mazdatrix. See above pic that shows a old two post radio and weird equalizer... I think this will add a little more functionality... :)

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DOIP7bvsJCI/S57jZR-aQkI/AAAAAAAAAvg/kpsOFWtVLsk/s800/IMG00215.jpg

[djmtsu]

That stereo is full of win.


Where'd you get it?

:leaving:

[IH8DSM]

pretty fancy there paul, now you need to bring me those wheels to mess with one day

[FerociousP]

UPDATE!

This first pic shows the trimming of the dash to fit the radio. Only took about a half inch on each side but I had to cut through two nuts welded to the back of the panel. Lickily, the two bolts for the dash aren't necessary and the whole center console is still strong and doesn't move. I drilled a small hole and used two sheet metal screws to hold the HVAC controls in the correctly location. The punch holed metal strip serves as a springy support for the radio which otherwise would be completely held up by the plastic front panel. Wiring was a breeze due to having the wiring diagram from www.foxed.ca (http://www.foxed.ca) and it works perfectly. next step will be to add rear speakers :)

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_DOIP7bvsJCI/S6a-mKTCkPI/AAAAAAAAAwI/c7Ap5Brtxvs/s800/100_0140.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DOIP7bvsJCI/S6a-nV_U5fI/AAAAAAAAAwM/ffWd-oqeEDo/s800/100_0147.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DOIP7bvsJCI/S6a-oRQfHXI/AAAAAAAAAwU/GR8p8xmqj7w/s800/100_0151.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_DOIP7bvsJCI/S6a-pjl4iUI/AAAAAAAAAwY/78L_gMAzsMU/s800/100_0152.JPG

[FerociousP]

UPDATE:

She passed emissions with 5ppm and it is now fully registered. The warm idle is now 900rpm with a simple throttle cable adjustment (from 1200). Finishing prep work for the Gap.

Work updated:

- New rear wheel bearings and wheel cylinders
- New shifter bushings
- New tranny and diff fluids
- Adjusted dashpot and throttle cable which was affecting idle



To be done:

- Tint
- Front brakes and wheel bearings
- All coolant hoses
- Passenger side headlight motor

[FerociousP]

Full tank of gas, nobody in it. 2440lbs.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DOIP7bvsJCI/S_rEb9vhhHI/AAAAAAAAA4g/Wh95OxcfAwQ/s800/IMG00073.jpg

Deal's Gap '10
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DOIP7bvsJCI/S82olNl-HVI/AAAAAAAAAyo/8rvSzBVJOB4/s800/Deal%27s%20Gap%202010%20SA.jpg