this is my new long term project, its copy/pasted from our rotary forum, hope you enjoy!!
hi all, as some of you may know, i have had a 1200 coupe for many yrs now, around 8 i think, my mrs and kids bought it for fathers day from jr100, it has sat around since gathering rust while i gather parts, money and the skills, knowledge and tools to fix it properly.
well i now have suitable knowledge and skills, a little bit of time, no money but a few tools and leftover materials from my ke20 i have just finished, when that sells i will spend a little on some more metal shaping tools and some materials to get the body into epoxy primer, fixing all the rust along the way.
please be very patient, this is a long term project, if i cant find a 12a (we have 1 in a s2 rx7 thats been siting here for 5yrs, im trying to get it for the coupe, gotta sweet talk the mrs, lol)i have a 1300 and 4sp from a stb i wrecked a few yrs ago, i wanna be able to enjoy the car andif it means having to upgrade bits over the next decade, then so be it, i cant afford a $15k build right now
for those who havent seen the car (and not abused me for letting it sit and rot!!)

i have started on the passenger side guard, stripped it back to metal and found a heap of bog

and some nice dents and damage where some dick has attacked it with a grinder!!
i inked it up with a big magic marker and blocked it back to see wat i had to deal with

after around a hr with a slapper file and some dollies and blocking, came up with this, not file finished, but pretty close, these panels bit thin for the file

i decided to take the rib off the back of the guard to give me better access to the dents and some rust, glad i did, as it would have rusted out again in a few yrs time, all this will be epoxy primed and stoneguarded to protect it for many yrs to come

did the same with the front section, its very messy here!!

hope you guys like lots of pics, i plan on posting up heaps!!
i reckon after seeing all the hidden rust, im gonna take off the door skins and reseal them up, maybe even the boot and bonnet, im not selling this car so i want it to last, and if i do, the next owner will be able to rest knowing it shoulnd ever rust in a bloody long time!!
will hopefully be able to get some gas for my welder early next week and make up some panels to fix the rust, will put some more updates then!!
krem

Your a lucky Dog to have one of those Even back in the day they were hard to find.

I would love to own one

yeah, we picked it up really cheap when we got it, the guy who we got it from had 4 of them, the only 4 that were known to be here in tassie, and the other 3 got sold to the mainland states, so as far as we know, its the only 1 in tassie, i had only seen 2 others in my life and this fella had hoarded them.
i could sell the stainless gutter trim for 3 times more than we paind for the whole car!!
apparently there are a few r100's here in tassie, but ive never seen any of them and it could be just "hearsay"
ive been asked to sell it many times, 1 of my mates just wants the wheels and offered me a heap of cash for the whole lot just so he could get the wheels, lol
krem

There were a few around in Anchorage and a Lot more in LA back in the day 25 years ago but they were hi dollar then! Guys I knew in Anchorage were racing them.
Lots of guys were playing with Rotaries back then and still more now. Powerful little engines when built rite.

I kick the idea around about playing with a RX7 or 8 every now and then and then think about what I already have and just stop dreaming. Still I would LOVE playing with a a three rotor!

There was another guy here playing around with RX7s a while back haven't heard hide nor hair from him in a while though his garage was stacked floor to ceiling full of rotary cases and parts.

I hope your planning on Gas welding or Tig welding that sheet metal and not Mig welding. Just my opinion but Mig welding thin sheet metal like that is like using a Bazooka for hunting Squires.
I started with Gas and gave up too soon & went and got a nice Mig and worked with it for a long time then gave up and went out and got cheap used Tig set up, and now have returned back to Gas! The Tig works great as does Gas but Gas is more forging.
A Mig is great for thicker stuff just not what should be used for thin sheet metal.

I went back to Gas over the Tig because it was so much like Gas welding and also wanted to improve my Two handed skills for the Tig and learned in the process that it was more forgiving being able to control the heat better and weld slower, The Tig is FAST.
Also another benefit is the Bead is so much softer and easier to work! Not to mention leads to the correct way of doing it "Hammer welding".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv5bKXJ3kEM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUyTPFKHWn8

I like the second video as it shows how small the heat affected zone is from gas, Which isn't much bigger than a Tig, It also shows how much easier the heat is to control working the bead slower with little to no gap in the panels to be joined And the correct way of straitening the panel from the heat.

Also I use a DA instead of a file to show low spots when working a Panel and found out after a while I didn't need to use ink or paint as a Guide to find Hi and low spots and you dont need to sand the heck out of the skin either just a little be sure to use a Nice new flat pad flat on the skin with light pressure.