Man_in_black49464

iTrader: (1)

The girly gave me the all clear for a wide body when she saw trochoids avatar picture and wanted to know what kind of car it was i told her it was a wide body RX7 she got into it and now wants a GTO style for my car but i hate body work. from you guys that have them and have done them is it a simple task for a well involved person by that i mean im good with autos and welding but is fiberglass a hole different monster?

food7373

iTrader: (2)

Well I just put back together my front bumper using fiberglass, and I guess it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I believe if you went through with doing this, you would be happy you did it in the end.

Directfreak

iTrader: (2)

Show her the different widebodies first, before she can help you decide which one first.

dream36realms

iTrader: (4)

I liked the gto as well. the mark1 is better imo. I say go for it.

food7373

iTrader: (2)

GTO-1 or the GTU look amazing. IMO the GTU has more of a "leaner" look and I like how it keeps the lines of the original front end, but the GTO-1 also just looks sexy. Either way, widebody is amazing.



GTO-1



GTU

Kentetsu

Oh boy, another project!






.

lx_machado

iTrader: (13)

I like the GTU

Man_in_black49464

iTrader: (1)

You know it mark but with this one all i have to do is buy it and her little brother who is a auto body student is going to do it. so no skin off my back

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

That's a huge compliment for me, tell her thank you from the bottom of my rotor.

Other than doing minor repairs on the Kaminari kit, I had no fiberglass experience and very very little body work under my belt prior to starting the widebody. But then I can be a tenacious stubborn old fart when I put my mind to a new project that requires learning new skills. Glass work was just one of many things I had to learn and get good at and/or how to repair my mistakes. When you get started, I'll give you all the sideline coaching I can.

I prefer the GTU and ISC's widebody front ends. Both are also more aerodynamic than BD kit. If I could come up with an extra $800-1k, I would change the front to either of those instead of rebuilding the glass on mine since I stuck in a snow bank this past winter and shattered the front fenders and air dam. Besides the cost, both of those kits are slightly narrower and I don't think the 15X9" SSR wheels will fit. One thing to keep in mind before deciding on the BD kit is you can't buy separate pieces of it. You either repair the damage or buy the entire kit, which sucks.

Here's a link to the build you can show your 'girly'.

https://www.rx7club.com/build-threads-293/unvieling-12a-bp-widebody-462184/

Good luck with the project and welcome to the 'Fat Boys' club.

Just to help encourage her, here's a few pics taken during the build. There were over 450 taken.











This is what started it all. The damn tires didn't fit.

Rx7ner

Do you hae to put expanding foam inside the fiberglass fenders? I heard somewhere that it would help support the fender and keep it from cracking?

IanS

iTrader: (4)

He should have reinforced the front bumper with angle iron or something for his highway speed off-roading adventures LOL. He'll probably never come to Iowa again.

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

No. I did have to add a couple more layers of fine weave/finish fiberglass cloth to stiffen the fenders up just to be able to finish sand for paint. If the glass is going to crack, it will crack, foam won't do anything except collect moisture.

The OEM bumper came out fine both times. Re-enforcement would have just pushed the damage to another part of the fiberglass and may have made it worse. I'd love to get back to Iowa and see how that sp of yours is.

IanS

iTrader: (4)

You are always welcome. The car may scare you how fast it is... Still wanting to run em one of these days. I promise I wont spray..... much lol.

widz

iTrader: (1)

lol looks like you got the hard part done

Man_in_black49464

iTrader: (1)

ok so wide body a no go for my GSL im gunna put some fender flairs on it and customize the hood a bit and paint it with a roller this will be interesting but i orderd the fuel cell so here it goes.

Directfreak

iTrader: (2)

Huh? What happened?

food7373

iTrader: (2)

Man_in_black49464

iTrader: (1)

going bridge port so money has to be spread right turbo bridge port 12a and fender flares and paint. speed first.

mikeric

iTrader: (20)

I know you dropped the widebody thing, but I just wanted to clarify something: Both of those "kits" you were looking at are not kits at all but are body packages for tube chassis race cars. Mariah does not recemmend them for non-tube chassis cars as both the kit and the car would require extensive modification.