So I went to look at a few cars for trade this weekend...

I went to go look at both a 240SX and Audi A4. Unfortunately the 240 was too clapped to trade as a daily driver, and the Audi owner wanted too much cash on top, though understandably as it was a much nicer car than my Aristo.

Ever thought you made a dumb decision? I made a bigger one...

In comes a last option. At this point I was dead set on saving for a swap in the GS, but my friend told me about a car that was too good to pass up. I humoured him and went to go take a look. What I saw made me both very nervous, and also excited. I talked with the owner for a good while before striking up a deal. It cost me a bit more than a straight trade, but I've been telling myself since Saturday that it is well worth it.



My 1995 Mazda RX-7, a RHD imported FD that has seen better days, and much worse days. It started life as a factory Montego Blue Auto car, then later in it's life was converted into a show car and then stolen. After it was recovered, most of the car was missing. The car sat for 5 years before another owner bought it, this one with the dedication to put it back on the road. He spent 3 years restoring the car to near factory, though the repaint was fairly far off and it had a mismatch of early and late model parts. 2 more years on the roads of Japan and the car was unfortunately in an accident, causing the car to be damaged out and sent to the auctions with rear passenger side quarter panel and front end damage. It's about 4 months after this time that the previous Valo City owner found the car at the auctions. He had been in Japan for nearly a year and wanted a project he couldn't get his hands on at home. He had always loved the FD but the LHD prices were a bit out of his reach, so this written off RX7 was the perfect project car candidate for him. He ultimately made the highest bid and won the car for dirt cheap and began his quest to build the perfect FD. He spent the time he could on this car until he met his wife, then had his first child. The chassis was repaired and reinforced, the damaged 13B pulled and another engine began to take the place of it.

Cue the engine reveal...





(ignore the battery, my game kept crashing and I got lazy/didn't notice till now )

An RB25 with RB26 Valve covers and a stock 5 speed. The engine is from an R33 GTST and is running a factory ecu with only a few bolt ons. It definitely needs a good refresh and a better tune but this engine has plenty of promise, much more than some silly rotary dorito. And the car has sat mostly untouched since the previous owner's first child was born, the car was still started a few times each month since the swap has been done, and the car is actually driveable though running mostly factory FD or R33 parts. I guess I have a soft spot for giant automotive messes, but the idea of torque in a timeless looking car excites me.

It was imported from Japan about 4 years ago and he included a decent amount of parts with the car, though some are tacky and it's still missing a good amount of the little things. My friend and I hustled all Saturday night to get this thing running a bit healthier, and spent the good part of sunday throwing on everything the car came with. For now, this is how it looks.







Clearly it needs a lot of love, but considering the backstory behind this car and the obviously big potential I've decided to trade my luxury beater for something even stupider than my ford swapped El Camino. All the parts for the 5.8 should be in by tuesday which means I can get to work throwing bolt ons at it, but for the FD I have no idea what I'm going to do. It's clearly a mess but at least I can Uber to work until I get a trunk and the missing taillight

Anyone have FD parts or know of a part out? Please let me know! lol