has any one made a gen 1 targa top RX7?
or will i try to be the first?

 

Hello,

Im sure you realize thats a pic of a Supra for illustrative purposes, of course. Yes there are a few aftermarket, custom, and even ragtop conversions out there...

If your thinking about cutting the roof off and calling it a day beware; that will comprimise the structural integrity of the car. Ive heard it will want to bend, and bind the doors in place. I cant imagine how loose the handling would feel... Id install a roll cage first, so the unibody rigidity is retained. Perhaps a reallly good undercarriage cross-brace would do the job? If your good to go, post some pics; Id love to see a project like this in action!

I looked at a widebody 1st gen, with a custom targa top. I dont think it was of the sunroof variety, but I thought it noteworthy how the weatherstripping was retained with the top. Unfortunately I didnt get a chance to see the brace work under the car. If done nicely, it could be among the nicest 7's on the road!

 

There was a company back in the day that 1st gens were still sold, that did custom targa conversions. They've been out of business a long while, though.

I'd be real concerned about structural strength, too. Anyone who's worked in 1st gens for a while has recognized that even normal jacking stress can make the doors temporarily fit differently - - put just the front up on stands, for example, and then open and close the doors. You'll feel a noticable difference. Removing the top frame would make this a lot worse without additional bracing.

You're also up against the challenge of the framed door glass. You'd need to completely re-work the door/window mechanics, unless you intended to just leave the glass frame in place... which kind of defeats the whole targa look.

 

Petty enterprises did a targa conversion back in the day, I thing they left the front and rear glass channel in place although I am not sure the did remove the top portion and reinforced the frame at the floor, much like on a Pacific Avatar. if you look in the searches on the forum there have been scans from Rotary Rocket that show the Petty cars, if I remember correctly they are also the ones that actually manuf'd the glass sunroofs that were an accessory from mazda

 

Here are PDFs of articles from Rotary Rocket magazine. Several describe the convertible and targa conversions, among other things.


August 1979 Inside Petty Engineering

May 1980 RX-7 Fender Plot

August 1980 The First Convertible

November 1980 Avitar, The Convertible, Part 2

September 1981 Custom RX-7 Conversions

March 1982 Avitar ESP

March 1983 Ultima I

June 1983 Ultima II

June 1983 Commercial Challenge

September 1983 Ultima Stereo Installation Guide

September 1983 Killer Bee 4 wheel drive RX-7

September 1983 NASA Rotary Engine Research

March 1984 1984 & Big Brother is Here

September 1984 163 HP RX-7

September 1984 Gearing your RX-7 for Higher Performance

September 1984 Wheel Buyers guide

December 1984 Cartech Turbo

March 1985 6-Port Fuel Injection Rotary

June 1985 Ultima Security System Install

June 1985 SCCA RX-7

June 1985 InterAmerican Challenge Race

June 1986 Tale of two Turbos

September 1989 RX-777 Racing news

 

hmm interesting i had an 80 rx7 with the IMSA kit and a targa conversion on it back in the day, ive never seen another, i wonder if it was the petty one?

structure was a little noodley without the top, maybe about like a fox body mustang vert?

also the top was like 40lbs of solid fiberglass.

 

THIS ARTICLE POSTING SHOULD BE ARCHIVED! AWESOME SHARE!!

 

i agree.

 

Sorry I lied. They are ZIPs not PDFs. I need to change that. There was a thread titled Old magazine articles. Not sure if it was archived.

Don't want to hijack, but here's another one from September 1982 that I like a lot.
I'm biased
It really is a PDF.

September 1982 Rotary Retrospective