I don't drive either FB much in the winter, but took the car out last week to get inspected (can't believe its been 2 years since I finished building it and put it on the road!) and it passed on the first try surprisingly enough. Anyway, I decided to drive it around for the few days following that, and of course was out during a snow storm (so much for keeping the salt off of it...) So I decided to wash it really well this weekend, and get all that salt off of it. Decided to take a bunch of pics of it, I was experiementing with my camera and have a bunch more if anyone is interested.
Enjoy!
Sean

 

Love that paint! very nice car

 

I take it you were really into Hatchi's at one point in time? LOL

 

nice..car...and rims..

 

it's cute, i like it. It's no hatchi, but it doesn't look bad panda.

 

not usually a fan of 2 tone but that looks very good

 

That looks clean. I love it.

What spoiler is that? I really like the looks of it.

 

very nice looking car! would definatly love to see more pics of it!

 

Thanks for the compliments guys! I'll post up some more pics when I get home. And yes I was going through my initial D/drifting stage when I planned and built this car, hence the paintjob, came out pretty good for the first time I ever painted a car, but could be better. I'm planning on redoing it at some point over the next few years, once some of the other projects are done.
Just in case anyone is curious I spent hours looking at as many pictures of panda AE86's as i could to get all the details as accurate as possible (given the car is a totally different shape haha) and went as far as getting the actual Toyota paint codes mixed up for it, and its a base/clear paint job.
As for the spoiler, its from a FC, a S5 more specifically, fits alright, but there are some gaps along the bottom since the angle of the FB and FC's sheet metal are very different. I am not sure if I'll redo this spoiler or simply go with something else...
More pics to follow!

 

what was the original color of your car? any chance on re-spraying it the original color?

 

It, along with the T2 FB I'm building right now (have you seen the thread?) started life as RH Sunrise red cars.
I know keeping it the original color makes it worth more etc, but I don't plan on ever selling either of these.. So I guess my answer is, no I don't plan on returning it to the original color.
Having said that I would like to someday get one of the various limited edition cars (whether it be a 79 ltd, 83 LE, 80 LS, 80 anniversary X) and restoring it to completely stock specs, would be cool. But for now I like modifying them

 

i dont blame you. enjoy the cars that you have and if you like the color, keep it my friend. owning limited production or low mileage 7's is a hobby of mine. i have an 88 10AE, an 80 LS, and an 84 GSL with 55K original miles.

 

Yeah I've read quite a few of your posts, you definatly like keeping things clean and original, which is very cool, someone has to keep some of the stock ones around .
You have a nice little collection going there, do you have a cardomain site or anything with pics of them all?

 

Ok here are some more pics, the first two from the other day, and the rest from today. Just in case anyone is curious, the second pic is focused on a rusty old flagpole in our front yard, I was playing around with the camera, kinda cool. Just a bit of trivia, the bottom section of that flagpole is actually a lamp post from NYC from the late 1800's, a gas lantern sat on top of it (which we also still have stored safely inside)
Sean

 

i definatly do like originality, but i'm not opposed to playing around or modifying. my big thing is restoration. i'm pretty far underway with my 85 S. i just took a break from the garage where i'm replacing the tension rod and front sway bar bushings with polyurethane. this will be the last of the bushings to replace, as i have replaced al lof the others as well as the sway bar end links/bushings. next will be the bin/wheel well rust.

i am currently downsizing on my car collection. i currently own 14 cars, 8 of which are rx-7's. its getting to be too much and i'm losing focus on other projects that i would rather be working on. i dont have a car domain site but i am willing to post a pic or two of each car if you would like.

 

Very nice ride.

 

Yea I kinda fall in the middle, guess I'm the "resto-mod" type, since all of my projects have required lots of rust repair, and replacment of worn parts as well the modification and addition of aftermarket parts... Poly bushings are nice, both of mine have them on all points, makes everything nice and tight.
Speaking of resto-mod, I know you posted in my projects build thread way back when I first started it, but have you been following it since then? If not here's the link if you're interested: https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generation-specific-1979-1985-18/project-83-s-restoration-t2-swap-update-624258/
It's in desperate need of an update, but there are a few good pics on the last page of all the custom work I've been doing. The car is almost done, probably another 2 months I figure and it'll be on the road ripping it up!
I think you should make a new thread and post pics of your 7's, I have seen the LS, as well as the 10th anniversary FC, but don't know if I've seen any of the others, so go ahead.
Sean

 

Thanks! Guess i'll have to change those spark plugs, since as you put it, "thats FB abuse" haha

 

i'll collect the pics tonight and post them in a thread later tonight or tomorrow morning. i finished the bushings and started in on the rust repair. i finished the front wheel wells and stopped on the RR wheel well, as i could stick four fingers through the hole. i'll finish fixing that tomorrow. i've got a nice start on it. i've been in the garage for about five hours and have been sucking in rust dust and primer and undercoating fumes. i'm tired and a tad dizzy, at this point, lol. i'll check out your restoration thread.

 

Yea that rust dust and cutoff wheel dust can get real nasty... The car pictured in this thread had so much rust in the wheel wells I had to replace almost the whole thing, I still have pics from the panda's resto, i'll post some up if you guys want..

 

i'd like to see the restoration pics if you wouldnt mind. you car looks great! the pic with the rusty pole looks nice as well!

 

Thanks man, when I get home I post a few of the pics I have from 2004 when I first stripped the car down.

 

i'll be looking forward to seeing the pics!!

 

Alright, I have hundreds of pics of this project, so picking good ones its kinda tough, but here a few of it, before and during the build, after is obviously posted already
Quick history; I found the car in a junkyard, primer red, sitting on the ground with no wheels, missing the cowl plate, smashed up hood, smashed up header panel, torn seats, and a bunch of the interior parts painted red... this was back in 2002. Other than replacing the missing/damaged body parts with ones from my parts car and removing the red from theh interior parts I didn't do a whole lot until late 2003, early 2004, when I took the whole thing apart and began rust repair.
The before pics, are all after replacing the hood etc, and obviously putting some wheels on it haha!
I should also mention that after looking over these pics, compared to my current project its so amateur haha. Building this car taught me how to weld (never done it before this) fabricate sheet metal (again never did any prior) and paint using a HVLP gun (also a first) so I guess all things considered its not too bad....
I took pics of any and all rust I found, I won't post them all, but needless to say it was pretty rusted, lots of patching etc was needed...
Anyway, enough typing

 

Few more of rust repair...