Well, After a long winter of collecting parts Ive finally dug into my project. I figured Id let all of you guys in on the progress so I guess this will be like a little RX journal. Before I put the beast away for the winter, I hadnt done too many upgrades. I had a straightpipe exhaust from the manifold back to a cheap ractive muffler. I put in some TII seats and a stereo, painted up some interior panels black from the faded red, cleaned up all the un-necessary stuff from under the hood (rats nest, ac, airpump, a bunch of wires!) I tinted the windows and also the rear tail lights, side markers, and front turn signals. I also removed the side moulding and did a few touch ups on the body. This is what she looked like:


Now I am not finished yet but I figured Id give you guys some teaser pics, and let you in on my plans. I am hoping to have the car on the road by June, so Ill keep you guys updated as it comes.

The first area I started on was the rear end. I started with poly bushings all over (of course after sandblasting and painting all the pieces):


Then I went a little further with all new clutchplates for the LSD including 4X oversize discs and oversize thrust washers. I picked up 4.88 R+P gears, and all the bearings and setup pieces for out back. I also have racingbeat springs, and new shocks, new brake rotors, pads, and SS brake lines(not shown):


Then moving up front, I picked up new balljoints, tie rod ends, pitman arm, controll arm bushings, wheel bearings, seals, brake rotor, pads and hardware. Oh yes almost forgot the shocks and springs:


For a little extra power I picked up a racingbeat header. I also figured I best have a new clutch for the...Plans...so a sprung 4puck and heavyduty PP were in order had to get all the bearings and seals for that job too. And a thermostat for good measure:


And the icing on the cake, some new koseis wrapped in BF Goodrich G-Force T/A KDW's:



Ill be back with more, but I have a feeling its gonna be a good summer!

 

DAMN! I had to make the pictures huuge. Sorry dudes, I guess you gotta live with it.. POO

Edit: 75% of original...haha much bettah!

 

your brave putting wheels on carpet!

I like how the parts look new.

I will get under mine and get some of that sand blasted and spray it.

one day,

we can all dream.

 

Very nice. I really like the taillights blacked out. How many coats did you use? I think you could clean up the sidemarkers a bunch by removing them completely and just filling in the holes and sadning them down smooth. I do say though she is a beaut

 

Sweet. I'll be keeping up on this project. I love silver first gens. Simply love them.

Mount the wheels for ***** and giggles and a nice little photoshoot, I say!

 

Looks awesome, are you planning on doing all the differential work yourself?

 

I used 3-4 prety heavy coats of niteshades on the taillights followed by a few coats of clear to make it shine again. Although Ive never been pulled over, the lenses are prety dark and I would reccomend going as light as possible on the tint. I am going to try some LED bulbs, In hope that they brighten em up a little more during the daytime (nighttime has never been a problem) but definately go as easy as possible as they get dark prety quick.

As for the differential, I contemplated doing it all myself but since its a fresh R+P Im a little leery about setting it up, so I figure ill just leave it to the pros. No sense in wasting a pile of good parts because I wasnt experienced.

Heh, also looking back over the pictures, I missed my magnecor 10mm plug wires, short shifter, and dual pulley kit. But you guys can see those once its done .

 

Ok, so today I finished making up some custom center bushings for the rear upper suspension links. Once Ive got everything together I am going to test out a few different ideas Ive had for the rear. I know people discourage using poly bushings in the rear end, but I figured that a suspension company like energy susp. probably knew what they were doing so I went ahead and ordered the 4 link kit. When I got it I found that rather than a 2 piece style that I was expecting it was actually 3 bushings per end of the link. I was happy to see that the outter sections were actually quite soft, which is what any 4 link needs so it wont bind in a curve or uneven bump situation, however the center wouldnt compress much at all which worried me due to the rx-7s other geometry problem being the uneven links. So it hit me, I had to make a mold of the center bushing and try some softer ones in the upper links. I made 2 sets (only pictured half of them for comparaison) soft, and softer and I will be trying all 3 to let you guys know if this is a decent fix. My only concern with soft upper bushings is some sort of issue with the watts link, but I guess Im gonna have to see for myself. Anyways heres the picture of the options Ive got for a link haha.


Black came with the kit, the blue is soft, and the red is softer.


Oh, the options!! I might even have to try hard at the chassis and soft at the diff..
I hope this isnt just a waste of time...opinions?

 

wow!!

thats a whole lotta parts. seems now that spring is here, everyone is jumping into action, i know i will be putting new stuff on is the best!!!

~b.k.

 

I envy you! Looks like you have your work cut out for ya! Good luck and I hope to hear some good results.
Justin

 

Dude.. I love these threads

Have fun with that dude There's some stuff in there that didn't make it onto my "Spring List" this year.... So I'm drooling and jealous

Edit: good choice on the suspension. Be careful of the SS brake lines, when we did Eric's car they weren't the right thread so we really seriously had to force them in there. They'll probably never be able to be removed again, and we really had to bleed it to get the little shavings out, but at least they're in... and we didn't have to return them to the 'states!

Jon

 

i love lookin at goody pages i wish i would get payed more so i can do exsactly the same lol

 

Argh, damn you and your shiny new toys . You'll have to show me the car when you get it on the road. Hell, I might show up to your place when my pos is roadworthy.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys, I appreciate it !! keep it comin lol.
The rear end went in today, they say the holdup is going to be sending outthe bent axle...(oops!)still, it should be back on monday or tuesday. Which is getting me really excited now. Once thats back in, itll be time to finish up the front end, and a few things here and there she'll be ready to go!

One thing Im unsure of is where to get new copper washers for the brake lines. My old ones look prety trashed. Is this something I should/can go to mazda for or would they have them at somewhere else cheaper. I also assume there are 5 needed for a car?

I already test fit the stainless lines so thats not a problem tight but nice, haha.