1982 RX-7 - First real drive today after refinish
 

Well,
After nearly a year of work, my baby is mostly done. The mechanical work was done last year including brakes, carb rebuild (was nasty gummed up but ran), new radiator, new hoses (need new oil cooler lines). New balljoints/control arms, new struts, shocks, etc. New wheels just arrived and now I am happy. Door panels were done with new vinyl and I used aluminum strip to get the nice crease under the upper padded section. Power windows were added, power doorlocks/keyless entry. AC works just fine (R134).

Paint was initially done at a body shop... but wasn't what I liked so I stripped the hood, ground the roof and sanded it off the doors and fenders. Still need to redo the bumpers (bodyshop did not prep well and now paint is peeling). Used PPG basecoat/clearcoat and a EVO LVLP gun (I highly recommend it) in the driveway. I used a face shield as well as a charcoal respirator and had no issues (these paints are nasty toxic). It has been 10 years since I last did a bc/cc but I am happy with the results. I did have the mother of all horsefly's land in the center of the hood when I was painting the clear. Looked like a snow angel - except in my darn paint. Fortunately, it sanded/rubbed out and I did not have to repaint.

mmmm purty!

Holy shit XD thats the same color as my baby... very clean!

That car is pure secks. Any underhood shots?

Underhood is not great - it is okay, but not great ;)
Engine compartment is pretty clean but original - I did paint the edge of the hood through the bottom as well as the fenders where they bolt. But honestly there is buffing compound everywhere - and it is hard to get off so it looks like crap!

There is no rust on this car per se - it came from a very protective owner in Connecticut. The brake lines still have the factory coating.

Scott

Ohhh I love that color! Oh wait that is same color as mine. Congrats on the finishing touches.

Okay,
Now that the car is really really done, I thought I would post pictures of the new blackdragon seat covers installed!
Plan on 1 hour minimum per panel (plus foam reconstruction as required). A tip - use passenger foams on driver side - I did this on my prior car but not this one ;)
Scott

Edit - I took my 20 year old son for a ride in this and spared no mercy on the turns. I had a good laugh when he said that he was "glad to see I was not babying it". While the 12a doesn't over power the car, and the steering is a tad tight (balance of freeplay vs drivability), it is still a ball to drive. I told him of how jerks would follow me down the highway (I am never more than 6 above speed limit - mostly) and would ride my bumper up to a cloverleaf. Well the -7 takes the turns with no braking, the moron behind me skids - yea, I know it is mean but Darwin was right.

The car looks really good.Im just 2 months away from my rebuild.I cant wait.The seats look really good.I just order mine.Great job my son laughs at the car.i cant wait to put him in and give him the ride of his life.

The car looks incredible. I am really impressed by the seat covers, I didnt think they would look that nice, but they look awesome. Really good job on the car, the black interior with the color of the car really goes well.

Thanks,
The black dragon kit includes the hog ring pliers and rings, so it is complete. I used contact cement to refurbish the foam (it was not horrible). I will tell you that you will need to look for the music wire in the foam and it will be attached with rings - I can pretty much assure you that the cloth that used to go between it and the seat cover has rotted away. The rods slide through the openings in the new covers just perfectly. It is a real pain to do the uppers as there are two hogrings almost hidden by the built in foam headrest that you have to do almost blind (or fold the cover inside out now that I think about it).

Good luck with doorpanels - those were my own fabrication. I used aluminum stock (many holes for screws and blind nuts) to achieve the factory creases. I could not put in the factory heat weld so mine look a little plain.

Great looking car, I hope I can get mine to look that good!! A++ Job

Wow. Looking good. I really like the color. But I may just be biased, though.....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...-7/Pretty2.jpg

this is pretty much identical to how i want my car to look when it's finished....beautiful!


EDIT: what kind of wheels are those/do you have a closeup of them?

very nice

are these the wheels you have on your car?

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/Wheel...2FMachined+Lip

EDIT: nope, they're close but not the same. yours curve more.

Excellant DIY paint job, especially for painting outside in the driveway. Keep up the great work.

Thank you kind sir!

Primer dries really fast, so that isn't an issue and is sanded prior to basecoat. Basecoat is almost dry within 2 min of painting (and CANT be sanded prior to clearcoat), so that isn't an issue. The clearcoat is gooey for probably 30 minutes or more (we had an awesome summer this year) so if the bugs, pollen and other debris get into it, it can be sanded out as long as you have enough coats on it. I used 3 coats of clear, and in many areas of the car, did not even sand it out yet, just buffed it. I am looking for good durability, not a show car.

I just can't emphasize enough, anybody using BC/CC must use an appropriate respirator with a minimum of activated charcoal as a air cleaner - don't breath this crap, it will permanently impact your health. I used a tyvek full body suit for the clear (to protect me and the car - supposedly 30% of debris is reported to come from the painter) and a 15$ clear shield face mask (which worked really well and I highly recommend).

I know longer have to hear the wife "comment" on when the car will be done ;)

Scott

That looks great!!!
You really have skills. You obviously havent lost
your touch.

Damn, I need a paint job...

thats a really nice looking car!

Gorgeous!

BUMP for a gorgeous car and for finding out more information on the wheels >.>

Wheels are easy,
Discount Tire Direct - 800 589 6789 (Don't seem to have the graphite listed)
They are Konig Rewind in Graphite (not silver)

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...&rw=7&bp=4-110

http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda...60-10437G.html

Good luck!

Scott

I wish I had taken more pictures of how I did the seats. I had done them previously (12 years ago on a prior car) and it came back to me after a day (these were a lot more rotted that those). There are sections in the top and bottom that get wire guides that are then clipped by the hog rings. If you have not done this before, take your time, it isn't terribly hard, just go slow, these are straight forward. I did have to reconstruct the drivers foam using a contact cement (and really wish I had swapped driver with passenger like I did in prior. The hog rings can be frustrating, especially on the seat back where you have to clip them in near the headrest.

Scott

I love to paint, hate to prep... You prep, I will paint ;)
My wife would kill me. I had thought about going to the local school body shop to paint but it would have been a pain or I would have had to do it in 2 days - way too rushed.

Scott