Well, tomorrow it begins. I have spent the last few months cleaning up and rearranging the garage, getting a few niggling projects done (putting new suspension and cats on my Subaru daily-driver, new injectors and a tuneup on my Golf beater car, and replacing the alternator and tuning up my Miata) and I am finally ready to start work on the RX-3.
I need to do a walkaround with a camera to capture its current state for posterity. Assuming my video camera still works, I'll do that tomorrow and start posting.
As it stands now, here's what I know:
The rear end's blown. It's a Dana 30 axle from a Volvo 240. Yukon (via Summit) seems to have everything, but I'm not sure if they're the best thing, or what ratio rear end I should get.
It's got a Mazda transmission out of an RX-7 in it. My plan is to replace that with a T5.
The engine is in unknown state. I'm afraid to fire it up since it hasn't been run in 10 years. No idea if rust has gotten into it. That's on the "we'll see" list.
The rear quarter panels are shot. I was hoping I could peel off the Bondo and bang them straight but after looking at the insides I suspect they've been worked too much already. The inside surface sort of looks like the Atlantic ocean in winter, and I suspect it's been work hardened and metal's been moved around to the point where it's got massive high spots and low spots. The current plan is to cut most of that out and fabricate some Escort2-esque flares for the rear. Box flares would be easier but would look silly on a car of this vintage.
The fronts fenders might be salvageable, but I'm trying to find if I can find some fiberglass replacements.
The basic structure looks fine. Needs a major cleaning; will know more after that.
I'm going to put new bushings in everything; front and rear suspension, 4-link. I need to figure out what bushings were in the 4-link. Clearly they're custom so that might be sort of a pain. Also, it'd be nice to box the 4-link so that it didn't have the plastic boots running through the rear pan, but I don't really have any good ideas on how to do that.
The gas tank is coming out; it'll probably be replaced by a fuel cell with bigger capacity. Apparently the thing gets lousy gas mileage and it was always sketchy getting it through a long leg.
Brakes need overhauling; don't know whether to keep the Volvo independent 4-pots or go with something else.
I'm probably going to wire-wheel the underside to get the surface rust and other gunk off; is there something better/easier than POR to coat it with? It'll get a sheet of HDPE before I'm done; I just need something to keep future rust in abeyance.
More as I work on it.
Self-righteous douche canoe
