Life seems to happen when you want it not to sometimes.
Circumstances bully you for your time when you'd much prefer they leave you be.
Problems arise in the midst of jubilation and RX7s can and tend to fail at the most inconvenient times.
I don't have any special story or epic tale to tell of me having decimated a V8 muscle car and shown the Mitsu and Subaru boys tail lights for the quarter mile stretch. Nor do I have the experience of maxing out Sarah, spitting fire until the Mazda factory buzzer stopped remembering to tell me I shouldn't be at this speed.
I hadn't gotten there yet.
Yes I knew the car's potential but I just hadn't gotten there.
And so when driving down to work on the highway that morning and I heard this sickening pop from behind me and felt the car lose power and slow down to a near halt and I had to mosey on to the shoulder lane, the last thing on my mind was that the engine had given up the ghost.
I knew what I heard, I knew that I lost power, and I knew that I was getting great trouble to start this engine again.
I also knew the sun was scorchingly hot and I had to get to work.
I tried Anil, to see if he happened to be home but didn't get through.
I didn't have anyone else to call, so I tried and tried and finally got the engine to start.
But it was a very slow, almost funeral march home.
I didn't know what was the issue, so I parked Sarah home and went to work, figuring I'd have to look into that later on.
Even though I didn't know the extent of the damage I knew that the dynamics of the sale transaction I had previously considered had changed without a doubt. What I had no clue about was how much.
There was however one person, who had expressed great interest in Sarah when I had put it on Trinituner, but we had not as yet met for the usual test drive etc.
He was from the South land and said that he and his brother had been to visit Anil the one time that Sarah was there, to get an engine for a project his brother was working on and they saw it at that point.
He apparently had liked the car then and was happy when he saw it go up for sale on the forum.
So he had expressed his interest and I said no problem we'll see how things will work out.
But when this happened, I thought it best to alert him because I knew that the price could not be the same and I didn't know what his interest would be after hearing the news.
Strangely enough he was still interested.
And why is that?
Well as he reminded me the license plate of Sarah is PBG 5531
The license plate of the RX2 RE project that his brother has, PS 5531.
As he put it, it was fate for them to be together.
So since this was part of destiny all we had to do is adjust the pricing.
So we spoke about that and struck this deal in a mixture of online and telephone conversations.
There were only two issues to this agreement.
Firstly, he at that time did not have all the money.
He explained that he and his brother were building a business and they had a shipment coming in about April, this being late January and post the sale of items in that shipment he would be able to complete the purchase.
And the second more weighty matter was, we had never met.
I had only the information shown in the 100 plus page thread on the Mazda forum and the other posts on trinituner to go on.
Either he and his brother were for real or this whole deal was shot.
Either this transaction would be completed and it would be a story to remember or nothing would happen and it would all fade away like dust.
I figured two things.
One I bought this car to learn and so time is on my side in waiting for him to complete his business. Either he is for real or not but either way I'm in no hurry.
Secondly, I really didn't have a secondly, if he wasn't for real then I'd sell to someone else if I couldn't fix the issue.
So that was my rationale at that point.
And trust me lots of persons could not comprehend the decision that seemed simple to me.
Nobody was losing here. Whilst he did his part I would continue mine.
Either after April we linked up and did the deal or not.
It wasn't like he was asking me to hold my breath for six months.
All I had to do now was try to figure out what might be the issue and let time pass.
And so I researched online.
I searched local websites, tried to get contact numbers for different persons.
I hunted I asked, I went and saw some persons.
I did all of this very cautiously mind you, because I knew that not everyone was likely to be honest and reasonable with sharing information.
And time passed, and I learnt more.
Everything pointed to a seal having blown and caused a loss of compression.
So since for the most part the car wasn't moving, I focused on gaining confidence and increasing in my comfort level with automotive mechanical things.
So through that period I accumulated a lot of tools and a great deal of knowledge about cars in general; much more than I had previously.
And this was the point of this whole jumping in all Gung Ho into this rotary business.
To learn about cars in general and survive the learning process.
April came and the shipment arrived as promised. I think it had been delayed by a week and a half or two weeks but it arrived.
I was kept up to date on the progress and the January deal remained in tact.
Some of the initial sales were slow but as before, waiting was not hurting either of us.
What most people, including my parents did not comprehend was my willingness to wait for a virtual stranger.
Truly virtual since my initial introduction had been online.
I tried to explain my reasoning but that fell on deaf ears.
At least they let the car sit in the garage so I knew they didn't think I had completely lost all of my marbles :)
And then one day the required sales were almost complete and the savings were almost there.
And I got a call, shortly before I had to leave the country for a bit.
The guy and his brother and a friend wanted to come up to just see the car before we closed the deal.
If my friends and parents thought I was losing it I figure the same was occurring on his side, cause he'd never met me. Who was to say I was for real?
So we arranged and a Wednesday evening they came up, inspected the car and we talked like we'd known each other for years.
Who was this person and his brother you may ask?
Well none other than Khaleel and Khayam of Maztune.
And their friend who came to make sure everything was on the up and up?
Rana a true rotary enthusiast.
See Maztune's facebook page here Maztune
So I left for vacation and when I came back we closed the deal the Saturday after I came back.
And well that's how I met Maztune and how Sarah got the home she now has in Southern Trinidad.
The real question was how would I continue to learn now that Sarah was gone?
If you like how the story is progressing,
Leave Comments below or
Follow me on Twitter: MyRX7Story
Coming Soon: And there was 2 before 7
Previously:
3rd Gen's a Charm
Sarah's First Service
Bringing Home Sarah (Part II).
Bringing Home Sarah (Part I).
Rotary Owner and Loving It.
Is She The One? (Part II)
Is She The One? (Part I)
Rotary Revealed
Frustrated Wannabe Amateur Tuner
Navigating The Financial Labyrinth
European Exodus
RX7 Genesis
See pics:
My RX7 Story Facebook Page
Follow me on Twitter: MyRX7Story
Email me at safeq@myrx7story.com
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
3rd Gen's a Charm.
"I'm calling about the 3rd Gen I saw in the paper. Can you give me some more details about it?"
"Stock, black, 18" staggered rims..."
"Ok when can we arrange a viewing?"
"I'll bring it up so you can see it this evening."
A few hours later...
"So this is it."
My eyes beheld a Black 3rd gen, 18" staggered with a big black wing on the trunk.
"Yeah, running stock boost. Jump in lehwe (let us) go for a test drive."
"Watch dis eh..." (Pay attention to this which I am doing or about to do.)
Now that's an excerpt of a conversation I had with a 3rd Gen RX7 owner soon after seeing the one in Grande.
Why did I call to check it out?
Well it was much cheaper and I was curious.
So you meet me at the point where I've just gotten into the car and the owner, whom I'll call E, was about to take me for a test drive.
It was late in the evening on that day and we were in front of my workplace and the street was pretty much empty.
It's a broad enough street for two cars to pass side by side with cars parked on both sides.
We were on the right side, just beyond the office gate.
I do believe that I should have taken note of those words, "Watch dis eh..."
Now one translation of this would be what I stated above, "Pay attention to what I am doing or about to do."
Another translation depends on the context and might strike some concern into the hearts and minds of mortals.
"I going and try something, let's see how it goes."
This I believe to be a better translation and more suited to what then unfolded before my eyes, ears and within my physical being.
I heard the engine revs increase in pitch, most significantly.
Like really really plenty and like really really quickly.
The next few moments can only be described as memorable.
I know we were in neutral, then I do remember him putting the car in 1st gear and even though I wasn't specifically looking I know his foot came off the clutch, the handbrake went down and we began to be propelled ever forward and never backward.
But you see I didn't see very much as things got a bit blurry, but I did feel us proceeding up the street, with the car not entirely positioned in a northward direction, more North Westerly for a great portion of the road.
We weren't exactly drifting, but we weren't exactly not doing it at the same time.
See drifting reference here: Drifting
I wasn't hearing anything he was saying, if he was, because of the deafening roar of that exhaust but some thoughts began to come to me with great force of clarity.
One: I never met this guy before. So how do I know that he can drive?
Two: My seatbelt was not fastened. Refer to thought one and insert some measure of concern when that light bulb went off.
Three: How do I know we will return in one piece?
Four: What are you really doing here in this car at this point? Yuh mad awah? (Have you indeed lost some of your mental capacity to logically process information within the appropriate decision making paradigm?)
And so these thoughts stayed with me throughout this test drive, making it the most memorable I've had.
But what was more interesting post the drive and my heart coming back down from 9000 rpm was what my friend and work colleague, Jerry had to say.
Yip same Jerry from the roadtrip.
When we were leaving the curbside and migrating ourselves from this position up the street in a near sideways fashion, he saw blue and yellow flames erupting from the depths of the exhaust barrel, and embracing the crisp evening air.
He himself wondered, what was really wrong with me.
Needless to say, I did not go for that car, partly because of how tail-happy it was and I thought that living was a much better option.
There was also a bit of an oil leak and I couldn't handle an engine rebuild if it was serious.
But though I never forgot that ride, I always hoped for another chance at a 3rd gen.
And just around Christmas, going on 2 months of owning the 2nd Gen that I had hunted so hard for, I saw an ad for a 3rd Gen and the price was near enough within reach.
But I had to be out of the country for a bit and so, though I spoke with the guy, we arranged for after the New Year holiday to link up.
So my plan was simple, see if I can get someone to buy the second Gen in time and borrow the extra cash to upgrade since it was a really attractive deal.
And so for that reason only, I made a post on tuner to sell the 2nd Gen in hope that the timings would line up and I would get the chance to own an entry level beast.
But when I called the guy early in the New Year, he told me that in the midst of the New Year festivities his engine had blown and so he would sell the shell at a much reduced price.
I felt crushed at that point.
While that price was closer to what I would sell the 2nd Gen for, I'd have to foot the bill of either rebuilding the present engine or acquiring a new one and doing work on that potentially.
So I had to contemplate that. Is it worth giving up a working car, to go and take public transportation and hopefully at some point get a faster rolling car or not?
Since the car had been on trinituner there was a bit of early interest and so I figured I'd at least see what the interest was like and arranged with a couple people to view, whilst I made up my mind.
So some people came to view and test drive and gave me their feedback and pointed out some things and all was going fine, until one morning driving down the road to work, not far from my home, everything changed...
If you like how the story is progressing,
Leave Comments below or
Follow me on Twitter: MyRX7Story
Next: Walking Through the Wankel Wilderness.
Previously:
Sarah's First Service
Bringing Home Sarah (Part II).
Bringing Home Sarah (Part I).
Rotary Owner and Loving It.
Is She The One? (Part II)
Is She The One? (Part I)
Rotary Revealed
Frustrated Wannabe Amateur Tuner
Navigating The Financial Labyrinth
European Exodus
RX7 Genesis
See pics:
My RX7 Story Facebook Page
Follow me on Twitter: MyRX7Story
Email me at safeq@myrx7story.com
"Stock, black, 18" staggered rims..."
"Ok when can we arrange a viewing?"
"I'll bring it up so you can see it this evening."
A few hours later...
"So this is it."
My eyes beheld a Black 3rd gen, 18" staggered with a big black wing on the trunk.
"Yeah, running stock boost. Jump in lehwe (let us) go for a test drive."
"Watch dis eh..." (Pay attention to this which I am doing or about to do.)
Now that's an excerpt of a conversation I had with a 3rd Gen RX7 owner soon after seeing the one in Grande.
Why did I call to check it out?
Well it was much cheaper and I was curious.
So you meet me at the point where I've just gotten into the car and the owner, whom I'll call E, was about to take me for a test drive.
It was late in the evening on that day and we were in front of my workplace and the street was pretty much empty.
It's a broad enough street for two cars to pass side by side with cars parked on both sides.
We were on the right side, just beyond the office gate.
I do believe that I should have taken note of those words, "Watch dis eh..."
Now one translation of this would be what I stated above, "Pay attention to what I am doing or about to do."
Another translation depends on the context and might strike some concern into the hearts and minds of mortals.
"I going and try something, let's see how it goes."
This I believe to be a better translation and more suited to what then unfolded before my eyes, ears and within my physical being.
I heard the engine revs increase in pitch, most significantly.
Like really really plenty and like really really quickly.
The next few moments can only be described as memorable.
I know we were in neutral, then I do remember him putting the car in 1st gear and even though I wasn't specifically looking I know his foot came off the clutch, the handbrake went down and we began to be propelled ever forward and never backward.
But you see I didn't see very much as things got a bit blurry, but I did feel us proceeding up the street, with the car not entirely positioned in a northward direction, more North Westerly for a great portion of the road.
We weren't exactly drifting, but we weren't exactly not doing it at the same time.
See drifting reference here: Drifting
I wasn't hearing anything he was saying, if he was, because of the deafening roar of that exhaust but some thoughts began to come to me with great force of clarity.
One: I never met this guy before. So how do I know that he can drive?
Two: My seatbelt was not fastened. Refer to thought one and insert some measure of concern when that light bulb went off.
Three: How do I know we will return in one piece?
Four: What are you really doing here in this car at this point? Yuh mad awah? (Have you indeed lost some of your mental capacity to logically process information within the appropriate decision making paradigm?)
And so these thoughts stayed with me throughout this test drive, making it the most memorable I've had.
But what was more interesting post the drive and my heart coming back down from 9000 rpm was what my friend and work colleague, Jerry had to say.
Yip same Jerry from the roadtrip.
When we were leaving the curbside and migrating ourselves from this position up the street in a near sideways fashion, he saw blue and yellow flames erupting from the depths of the exhaust barrel, and embracing the crisp evening air.
He himself wondered, what was really wrong with me.
Needless to say, I did not go for that car, partly because of how tail-happy it was and I thought that living was a much better option.
There was also a bit of an oil leak and I couldn't handle an engine rebuild if it was serious.
But though I never forgot that ride, I always hoped for another chance at a 3rd gen.
And just around Christmas, going on 2 months of owning the 2nd Gen that I had hunted so hard for, I saw an ad for a 3rd Gen and the price was near enough within reach.
But I had to be out of the country for a bit and so, though I spoke with the guy, we arranged for after the New Year holiday to link up.
So my plan was simple, see if I can get someone to buy the second Gen in time and borrow the extra cash to upgrade since it was a really attractive deal.
And so for that reason only, I made a post on tuner to sell the 2nd Gen in hope that the timings would line up and I would get the chance to own an entry level beast.
But when I called the guy early in the New Year, he told me that in the midst of the New Year festivities his engine had blown and so he would sell the shell at a much reduced price.
I felt crushed at that point.
While that price was closer to what I would sell the 2nd Gen for, I'd have to foot the bill of either rebuilding the present engine or acquiring a new one and doing work on that potentially.
So I had to contemplate that. Is it worth giving up a working car, to go and take public transportation and hopefully at some point get a faster rolling car or not?
Since the car had been on trinituner there was a bit of early interest and so I figured I'd at least see what the interest was like and arranged with a couple people to view, whilst I made up my mind.
So some people came to view and test drive and gave me their feedback and pointed out some things and all was going fine, until one morning driving down the road to work, not far from my home, everything changed...
If you like how the story is progressing,
Leave Comments below or
Follow me on Twitter: MyRX7Story
Next: Walking Through the Wankel Wilderness.
Previously:
Sarah's First Service
Bringing Home Sarah (Part II).
Bringing Home Sarah (Part I).
Rotary Owner and Loving It.
Is She The One? (Part II)
Is She The One? (Part I)
Rotary Revealed
Frustrated Wannabe Amateur Tuner
Navigating The Financial Labyrinth
European Exodus
RX7 Genesis
See pics:
My RX7 Story Facebook Page
Follow me on Twitter: MyRX7Story
Email me at safeq@myrx7story.com
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Sarah's First Service
When I was much younger I used to dream like any other young boy about owning cool cars. I knew all the high end brands, Jaguar, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti and so on and I could identify them with only mere glimpses.
As I grew older the reality of the structure of life began to set in and the realisation of why these cars were still only dreams began to settle into my consciousness.
But this had never stopped me from car-gaping (aka car gazing, or drooling over sweet machines on wheels).
And long before I had gotten Josephine, the green Peugeot 306, I used to travel (utilise public transportation) via Maxi-Taxis (large taxis) to Port of Spain to get to work. This was a regular, until I started getting a lift into town with some friends.
On the occasions I would travel however, it would invariably be on the Priority Bus Route. Because of this, there was a house in Tacarigua that I would pass with an open yard that would always have on display a wide assortment of very attractive sports cars. I would enjoy that portion of the journey, though I did not know all of the cars at that time.
Years later during the consideration processes surrounding me undertaking this RX7 project, I had been investigating available Rotary mechanics and where they were located.
Lo and behold, to my surprise there was a rotary mechanic who lived at the same house where I would observe a wide range of sports cars, and so to me it seemed to be almost destined to be.
So I went and I spoke to the mechanic, Anil, who's a very cool and knowledgeable guy, about my RX7 considerations and he gave me some advice about what to look for etc and said when I did buy something I could bring it by and he'd take a look etc.
So post the drama of the first night bringing Sarah home, I made an appointment with Anil to service the car and check it out and dropped it off for him to do the needful.
During the same day that I dropped the car off by Anil for a routine service, unknown to me at the time, two brothers visited Anil to purchase a 3rd Generation RX7 13b-REW enginge for a project that one of the brothers was working on.
The older brother's plan was to put said engine in a Mazda RX2 RE and make a good attempt of reaching the moon, with the type of power that would be hitting the wheels.
I'll revisit that Mazda RX2 RE at a later date.
So Anil called me later on in the day to pick the car up in the evening when I was finished work. When I got there we chatted about the results of the checks he had done and he pointed out that the transmission seals needed to change, which is why I was getting a leak that I had but I could just keep topping up until I got to change it out. He gave me a link of someone to check for that. At the time it wasn't the highest priority since I planned to go manual anyway with Sarah.
Since his focus at that time wasn't so much on the older rotaries, he would help as much as possible but wouldn't be able to function as my primary aid. So as expected the real challenge in the journey going forth would be to meet the right people, those that were honest, knowledgeable and willing to assist.
And so I continued the reading I was doing, and joined a RX7 forum, www.rx7club.com and started searching for more technical RX7 resources on Trinituner and came across a crew called Mazda People United.
At the time there was just a very long, like 100+ pages long thread in the technical section of Trinituner, before it was split up amongst the most popular brands so aficionados could focus on their brand of choice.
See Mazda People United thread here: Mazda People United
Mazda People United Facebook page here: Mazda People United
So I decided, if I'm going to link with these guys I need to read from the first post by Turbodrive to the last until I made my first post. Gotta have my rights of passage dealt with properly so to speak.
And it was a very fun read. I came across legendary characters like Miggy and Five Forward and heard about these guys who had a laser sedan and hatch projects and about this Mazda RX2 RE project....sounds familiar huh?
I didn't know it at the time, but all these separate threads were all connected and would be revealed in time.
If you like how the story is progressing,
Leave Comments below or
Follow me on Twitter: MyRX7Story
Next: 3rd Gen's a Charm.
Previously:
Bringing Home Sarah (Part II).
Bringing Home Sarah (Part I).
Rotary Owner and Loving It.
Is She The One? (Part II)
Is She The One? (Part I)
Rotary Revealed
Frustrated Wannabe Amateur Tuner
Navigating The Financial Labyrinth
European Exodus
RX7 Genesis
See pics:
My RX7 Story Facebook Page
Follow me on Twitter: MyRX7Story
Email me at safeq@myrx7story.com
As I grew older the reality of the structure of life began to set in and the realisation of why these cars were still only dreams began to settle into my consciousness.
But this had never stopped me from car-gaping (aka car gazing, or drooling over sweet machines on wheels).
And long before I had gotten Josephine, the green Peugeot 306, I used to travel (utilise public transportation) via Maxi-Taxis (large taxis) to Port of Spain to get to work. This was a regular, until I started getting a lift into town with some friends.
On the occasions I would travel however, it would invariably be on the Priority Bus Route. Because of this, there was a house in Tacarigua that I would pass with an open yard that would always have on display a wide assortment of very attractive sports cars. I would enjoy that portion of the journey, though I did not know all of the cars at that time.
Years later during the consideration processes surrounding me undertaking this RX7 project, I had been investigating available Rotary mechanics and where they were located.
Lo and behold, to my surprise there was a rotary mechanic who lived at the same house where I would observe a wide range of sports cars, and so to me it seemed to be almost destined to be.
So I went and I spoke to the mechanic, Anil, who's a very cool and knowledgeable guy, about my RX7 considerations and he gave me some advice about what to look for etc and said when I did buy something I could bring it by and he'd take a look etc.
So post the drama of the first night bringing Sarah home, I made an appointment with Anil to service the car and check it out and dropped it off for him to do the needful.
During the same day that I dropped the car off by Anil for a routine service, unknown to me at the time, two brothers visited Anil to purchase a 3rd Generation RX7 13b-REW enginge for a project that one of the brothers was working on.
The older brother's plan was to put said engine in a Mazda RX2 RE and make a good attempt of reaching the moon, with the type of power that would be hitting the wheels.
I'll revisit that Mazda RX2 RE at a later date.
So Anil called me later on in the day to pick the car up in the evening when I was finished work. When I got there we chatted about the results of the checks he had done and he pointed out that the transmission seals needed to change, which is why I was getting a leak that I had but I could just keep topping up until I got to change it out. He gave me a link of someone to check for that. At the time it wasn't the highest priority since I planned to go manual anyway with Sarah.
Since his focus at that time wasn't so much on the older rotaries, he would help as much as possible but wouldn't be able to function as my primary aid. So as expected the real challenge in the journey going forth would be to meet the right people, those that were honest, knowledgeable and willing to assist.
And so I continued the reading I was doing, and joined a RX7 forum, www.rx7club.com and started searching for more technical RX7 resources on Trinituner and came across a crew called Mazda People United.
At the time there was just a very long, like 100+ pages long thread in the technical section of Trinituner, before it was split up amongst the most popular brands so aficionados could focus on their brand of choice.
See Mazda People United thread here: Mazda People United
Mazda People United Facebook page here: Mazda People United
So I decided, if I'm going to link with these guys I need to read from the first post by Turbodrive to the last until I made my first post. Gotta have my rights of passage dealt with properly so to speak.
And it was a very fun read. I came across legendary characters like Miggy and Five Forward and heard about these guys who had a laser sedan and hatch projects and about this Mazda RX2 RE project....sounds familiar huh?
I didn't know it at the time, but all these separate threads were all connected and would be revealed in time.
If you like how the story is progressing,
Leave Comments below or
Follow me on Twitter: MyRX7Story
Next: 3rd Gen's a Charm.
Previously:
Bringing Home Sarah (Part II).
Bringing Home Sarah (Part I).
Rotary Owner and Loving It.
Is She The One? (Part II)
Is She The One? (Part I)
Rotary Revealed
Frustrated Wannabe Amateur Tuner
Navigating The Financial Labyrinth
European Exodus
RX7 Genesis
See pics:
My RX7 Story Facebook Page
Follow me on Twitter: MyRX7Story
Email me at safeq@myrx7story.com
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