The Hillclimb RX7 - a saga
01-22-15, 11:57 AM
#126
I've owned my place for 14 months now, and in that time I've taken a shell of a building and turned it into a shop I'm pretty proud of. I took 2 weeks off around the holidays and finished things off.
And hanging out with my other little buddy
And hanging out with my other little buddy
01-22-15, 12:00 PM
#127
Made the shop clean, time to make it dirty again.
This is my hot-wire foam cutting rig for making flares/wings/whathaveyous
This will be getting a workout soon.
Prepping the car for the drivetrain to go back in. Heat insulation and gloss white paint.
Then this happened:
This is my hot-wire foam cutting rig for making flares/wings/whathaveyous
This will be getting a workout soon.
Prepping the car for the drivetrain to go back in. Heat insulation and gloss white paint.
Then this happened:
01-23-15, 04:42 AM
#129
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Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Manchganistan, NH, USA
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Are you buying Winston's car? I'm picking up an 87 GXL running parts car from him for a Lemons rig next weekend.
My suspension is far from finalized. Turner Motorsports is valving some Bilsteins for me and I'm picking up a pair of AWR front strut housings. The rear end is all delrin bushings beyond the rear trailing arm, which I left alone due to binding concerns with more "solid" materials. Rear lateral links have been replaced with Battle Version units with heim joints - same with the camber link.
If you wanted to swing by to check out the cage we can make that happen.
I need to update this build thread badly....
My suspension is far from finalized. Turner Motorsports is valving some Bilsteins for me and I'm picking up a pair of AWR front strut housings. The rear end is all delrin bushings beyond the rear trailing arm, which I left alone due to binding concerns with more "solid" materials. Rear lateral links have been replaced with Battle Version units with heim joints - same with the camber link.
If you wanted to swing by to check out the cage we can make that happen.
I need to update this build thread badly....
I got a really good look at this one when he blew the motor at Burke (and got a good feel for what it weighs when we had to push it to where he could roll back down). There's a turboII shell on Craigslist right now that I've been considering as well, since it already has decent-ish dampers and an LSD. It really just comes down to the amount of workspace I can get. Your shop looks like a dream to work in.
I'm busy all of this weekend, but could probably head down next weekend if you're free, and depending upon where in MA you are.
01-23-15, 07:38 AM
#130
Yeah, I really couldn't pass it up for the price. Is that red one the GXL? I have a friend in Nashua who's parting out a convertible in Nashua to stuff most of its drivetrain in his Lemons car as wel.
I got a really good look at this one when he blew the motor at Burke (and got a good feel for what it weighs when we had to push it to where he could roll back down). There's a turboII shell on Craigslist right now that I've been considering as well, since it already has decent-ish dampers and an LSD. It really just comes down to the amount of workspace I can get. Your shop looks like a dream to work in.
I'm busy all of this weekend, but could probably head down next weekend if you're free, and depending upon where in MA you are.
I got a really good look at this one when he blew the motor at Burke (and got a good feel for what it weighs when we had to push it to where he could roll back down). There's a turboII shell on Craigslist right now that I've been considering as well, since it already has decent-ish dampers and an LSD. It really just comes down to the amount of workspace I can get. Your shop looks like a dream to work in.
I'm busy all of this weekend, but could probably head down next weekend if you're free, and depending upon where in MA you are.
I'll be going up to pickup the car next Saturday - should be home late afternoon. I don't think anything is planned for Sunday beyond Superbowl shenanigans in the evening.
I'm in the northeast corner of MA. Hour away from Nashua. Hour away from Manchvegas.
01-23-15, 09:51 AM
#131
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Yeah the red one is a GXL. The weight of his makes me excited to see how much (how little?) mine weighs.
I'll be going up to pickup the car next Saturday - should be home late afternoon. I don't think anything is planned for Sunday beyond Superbowl shenanigans in the evening.
I'm in the northeast corner of MA. Hour away from Nashua. Hour away from Manchvegas.
I'll be going up to pickup the car next Saturday - should be home late afternoon. I don't think anything is planned for Sunday beyond Superbowl shenanigans in the evening.
I'm in the northeast corner of MA. Hour away from Nashua. Hour away from Manchvegas.
03-06-15, 06:52 AM
#133
Racing season is approaching so it's time for me to get my *** in gear. Made a little trip to visit these guys for some suspension advice.
They haven't discovered me yet, but I fear my time among them is short.
Great guys. Super helpful. Nice prices on valved Billys!
Time to throw some more money at this pig.
That checks off the ignition, and I finally decided to run my Weber 48 IDA rather than my Weber 48 DCOE, which meant I needed that nice shiny new manifold.
Playing with unorthodox fuel cell placement since the radiator eats a lot of real estate in the back. It will be mounted about 5" up on the firewall and boxed in for safety reasons. Centralize all the weight.
So now I'm waiting on AWR for my front strut housings and my tig-welding buddy to come down and burn in some 4130 Cro-Mo so I can mount the radiator and start plugging things into the car.
And just because having time and money is over rated, we decided we want to go Lemons'ing. Time for a second RX7! Turns out it's not a GXL - it's a GTU!
They haven't discovered me yet, but I fear my time among them is short.
Great guys. Super helpful. Nice prices on valved Billys!
Time to throw some more money at this pig.
That checks off the ignition, and I finally decided to run my Weber 48 IDA rather than my Weber 48 DCOE, which meant I needed that nice shiny new manifold.
Playing with unorthodox fuel cell placement since the radiator eats a lot of real estate in the back. It will be mounted about 5" up on the firewall and boxed in for safety reasons. Centralize all the weight.
So now I'm waiting on AWR for my front strut housings and my tig-welding buddy to come down and burn in some 4130 Cro-Mo so I can mount the radiator and start plugging things into the car.
And just because having time and money is over rated, we decided we want to go Lemons'ing. Time for a second RX7! Turns out it's not a GXL - it's a GTU!
03-23-15, 01:14 PM
#134
While I'm waiting for AWR to finish my strut housings and a local shop to finish my custom fuel cell, I decided I needed to get my *** in gear on wiring. That means I need my seat mounted so I can decide on where things need to be. That means I needed my pedals mounted. That meant I needed to clearance the firewall for the master cylinders. And then I needed to extend the steering column 6 inches.
Busy day.
Always make templates before just cutting into expensive metal
Important things realized by mocking things up. 1: The brake fluid resevoirs wouldn't be accessible with the windshield in. That's a strike. 2: Can't reach switches while belted into the seat. Strike 2. It didn't strike out, so I modified it by eliminating the reservoirs and extended the dash 4 inches.
Transfer template to T6 aluminum sheet
A little time with a plasma cutter and some bending
I need to add one more hole for my AFR gauge.
That's how you make a 3 pound dash.
Busy day.
Always make templates before just cutting into expensive metal
Important things realized by mocking things up. 1: The brake fluid resevoirs wouldn't be accessible with the windshield in. That's a strike. 2: Can't reach switches while belted into the seat. Strike 2. It didn't strike out, so I modified it by eliminating the reservoirs and extended the dash 4 inches.
Transfer template to T6 aluminum sheet
A little time with a plasma cutter and some bending
I need to add one more hole for my AFR gauge.
That's how you make a 3 pound dash.
03-26-15, 10:08 PM
#137
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Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Manchganistan, NH, USA
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Looking great Dave! The weather's finally clearing up and I just ordered all the tubing for my cage, I have Saturday free if you'd like a couple sets of hands helping turn some wrenches. We may also get some measurements of your cage and where your bends are, if that's all right with you.
04-10-15, 01:50 PM
#143
Rebuilt and rejetted
Installed in the car and fabbed up an aluminum heat shield
Fuel cell is complete
Next up is a little frame notching to fit the cell and then a subframe to further support the cell and the radiator.
After that it's plumbing time. AN fittings add up fast!
Installed in the car and fabbed up an aluminum heat shield
Fuel cell is complete
Next up is a little frame notching to fit the cell and then a subframe to further support the cell and the radiator.
After that it's plumbing time. AN fittings add up fast!
04-16-15, 10:15 AM
#146
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Could I get a photo of whatever you did for your main hoop feet? I've been considering a lot of different solutions, from using the 'shelf' to going to the floor and trying to box that off, but there's so much complex geometry there that none of these ideas are really appealing. The only idea I actually like is going through the 'shelf' behind the seats, and plating to the rear-inside of the rocker, then welding the top of the plate back around the main hoop.
Thankfully, Don and Walter seem pretty open to whatever works for the car.
Thankfully, Don and Walter seem pretty open to whatever works for the car.
04-17-15, 01:07 PM
#147
Mine is welded to the floor. More direct contact with the frame. I'll snap a pic tonight.
Recent progress:
Wiring everything. This sucks. Lots of time trying different ways to route things so it's neat and then shrink tubing everything.
Sidemount alternator setup showed up:
Waiting on orders from Amazon, Racingbeat and Jegs now. AWR EP strut housings should be waiting when I get home.
Recent progress:
Wiring everything. This sucks. Lots of time trying different ways to route things so it's neat and then shrink tubing everything.
Sidemount alternator setup showed up:
Waiting on orders from Amazon, Racingbeat and Jegs now. AWR EP strut housings should be waiting when I get home.
04-21-15, 07:15 AM
#149
Fuel system plumbing came: -6 AN
Coolant system plumbing came too: -16 AN
Dash got finished up and installed in the car so I could build out the harness in the engine bay. Total weight is about 9 pounds.
Comparing the old AGXs (blech) to the new hotness. I'll need to machine the shocks to fit my AWR camber plates. NBD.
And over the weekend I picked up this. Lets see if anybody can tell what it is.
Coolant system plumbing came too: -16 AN
Dash got finished up and installed in the car so I could build out the harness in the engine bay. Total weight is about 9 pounds.
Comparing the old AGXs (blech) to the new hotness. I'll need to machine the shocks to fit my AWR camber plates. NBD.
And over the weekend I picked up this. Lets see if anybody can tell what it is.
