The ‘Lifetime Love’ is a short series of ‘the favourite vehicle’ that one of the Fraser team has owned in their lifetime.
1989 Mazda RX-7 Savanna FC3C
Engine – 13B turbo
It has snowballed big time!! Many times telling myself “while it is apart… I might as well do this too” – I’m sure you have all been there!
Every time I lifted the bonnet I thought to myself that it’s not a small engine bay but, the 13B turbo isn’t a big engine either, but there is such a lack of space! So I decided the next step I wanted to take after converting it to manual back in 2014 was a big ‘delete’.
Removing air conditioning, power steering, cruise control, the ABS system, charcoal canister. Plus relocating the battery, the fuse box in the engine bay. Plus customising the radiator and going to an electric fan and outing the mechanical fan. Amongst custom brackets and other things, the list goes on!
Currently Richard is helping me with the wiring (in exchange for welding work on his projects), although this is now on hold due to the lockdown. The positive side of the lockdown is I have much more time to spend on it getting other things done, it is now almost to a point of reassembly.
Also during the lockdown I have had time to find out more about the history of the car. I was interested to find out more because of the second owner, who I have recently tracked down and got in contact with. The second owner who had owned the car for 17 years bought it back in 1995 in Nagoya from a dealership. Went to a RX7 meet in 2006 where some photos were taken of it for a magazine, which I am currently trying to find a copy of. He moved to New Zealand in 2010 and shipped the car out with him, before selling it a few years later to his neighbour, who sold it to me about 4 months later. I won’t bore you with any more of the history but I am receiving lots of old photos and info which has kept me interested.
