El Nene 7's bodywork and paint ---part 2
 

Well its sad to say i broke my gp sports front bumper in a way far beyond fixing. Damn scrap piece of tire off semi trucks aka (GATORS). It took almost 3 feet of bumper with it. I am not mad because , one -the gp sports kit got played out bad so the tire did me a favor , TWO- i was getting sick and tired of the " Will i make it over that bump and man this looks like its gonna hit".

So with that been said i am re-doing my car again this time i am going a diffrent route. I will be going with the same red by Nason Dupont just because i had good experience with it and its cheap. This time i will not be throwing flake on the car because of future repairs and body modifications. And finally i am going with the OEM Track look.

For the BUMPERS- i just got my shipment in from Fris at lucky7racing.com, S5 front and rear bumpers along with S5 mouldings.

SIDESKIRTS- i am going to cut and modify my Gp Sports sideskirts so thati can use the oem mouldin trims and make it easy to put on and off the car if i wanted.

Front Lip- i will see my options on this i am still trying to decide, I might go with a full carbonfiber lip...stay tuned

Passenger headlight- OOOOOOHH you guys are either onna love or hate this i will post pics of what i have done to a headlight assembly and the cover....TRUST ME STAY TUNED A BIT OF WELDING AND FABRICATION WENT ON TO COMPLETE THIS ...and did i mention its fully functional better than does frp headlight vents that dont do nothing

Rear and Front quarter panels- i am still deciding if i will continue my project, Fenders Lips off a specific vehicle welded on to my quarters, i dont want to roll my fenders becuase of th ugly sharp lip that is left after rolling

IF SHINEAUTO IS READING THIS- uuuhmm uhhm a break on the full carbon fiber diffuser will be nice

well off to the pics my camera is damaged so i have to borrow my neighbors so be patient i will get them rolling , hey its me i always post pics

By the way this was part 1 of this car's bodywork history!
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ight=rotor7ven

I'm glad you are going this route. There is nothing like a good condition lowered stock FC (with the stock front lip) and some nice wheels.

Alright here it goes the front bumper i got is in great condition thanks to Fris at lucky7racing , i gave him a call early in the morning the other day he didnt have any at the shop but a couple hours later i get a call from him telling me he got a hold of a parts car and he was sending what i wanted my way, the man shipped everything the same day

The bumpers original color is red but it was painted over twice the second color is green. The third is flat black- i hate it when people rattle can their cars because it makes it hard for us who have to do the bodywork to remove all the spray can crap. So what i am doing is taking it down with 220grit just enough where i am removing the rattle can paint and getting into the red/green. The green paint is real paint so it makes it easy for me with the body work. Here i am just sanding the high spots and drips and runs, so when i go with the 220grit i do long and steady stokes so i wont get no waves.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001578.jpg
Here i am doing the hard to get areas first , like the groove in the moulding and ftp, turn signal housings.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001579.jpg
Another pic of the groove and i started working on the upper half of the bumper,
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001580.jpg

That is all for tonight , i want you guys to come back for more...lol tomorrow i will post the bumpers aftermath with the gator, pics of the TOPSECRET headlight assembly, and more of the bumpers progress

nice cant wait to see it done =]

sweet, ill be waiting for the finished results!

Heres what i have in mind for my rear quarters and i will find a diffrent set for my fronts but these will do, When i had my E46 BMW i loved the way the front fenders were flared out so why not take the lips of the fenders and weld them on my quarters

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...19397764-S.jpg

For my side skirts after looking at this silver fc a fellow member posted , i set my goals to do the same, basically they are gp sports sideskirts cut and raised. I like the stock oem t2 skirts but i dont like the price people try and sell them because of the "RARENESSSSSS" also the part about them been 2 pieces never suited me.

again on the sideskirts i will not mold them at all i am thru with the molding crap too, its dump and a headache waiting to happen so when i finish my skirts i will also paint them out side the car so if i have to remove them in the future my paint will match
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/luckylip.jpg

sweet mang! yeah, i totally agree that the gp kit has been overdone.. which is sad, because it is the best looking kit imo..... ill be keeping an eye on your progress! keep up the good work

i like the sideskirt idea, but on the silver car, the back section looks like it hits the bottom of the door

The only thing that sucks is that i am working out of my parents place because i am in the process of moving back to california. So all the body work and welding i will be doing at my parents, when it comes time to paint i will be taking my car to my local air force base where i can rent a paint both for $15 bucks and $2 each day after....sweeeeeeeettt


gotta love auto hobby shops on base,

Oh got a call from Lucky7racing today, they got a set of door handles for me, i will be painting two sets of door handles too because i am having problems with one i have right now and i dont want to have a broken door handle in the future and be ass'd out with a diffrent color handle

I am still gonna keep her shaved on the rear no wing or antenna, i might put the badges back on her i will see once i get there.

You aint lying Jesse i mean 3 years ago this kit was hot fire but now its all over the place,

as for the skirts the same way they sit in my car is the way i am going to fab them up,

By the way Jesse i am heading back to cali so you will get to see her.

Also on the engine bay i will be spot welding and re painting it. My headlight assembly took some thinking but hey thats why i have my uncle he builds race car chassis for v8s and old school hot rods(rat rods).

This is gonna look good when it's done! Personally, I like the tracked-out stock look over a kit any day. Good luck with it all, and I'll be checking back often. :icon_tup:

Hrmm....oddly enough I took my kit off about a year ago..I'm all stock s5, I just got s5 bumper painted two months ago...to post pics or to not post pics? That is the question!

Thanks guys for the comment well here todays update i am taking a small break .

as promised here what a GATOR will do to you kit , it sucks because i didnt even see it , its was 4:00am and doing about 80mph ....wahhhmm i quickly looked at my boost gauge to see if i had broken my intercooler and i was good so i checked everything when i got to a well lit area
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001594.jpg
again people please stop rattle canning your cars, if you want a flat black job go to maaco and tell them to skip the clear its way cheaper and will come out 100 times better than this
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001596.jpg
sprayed a lil bit of liquid magic on the side mouldings ...uuhhmm THINNER
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001588.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001589.jpg
I started this morning early and pumped up so when i started sanding the bumper i decided to take it all the way to the original paint because of a couple SPIDER WEBS that i saw on the bumper. I call small web like cracks on the urethane bumper spider webs because of the way they shaped . This is a small mistake a lot of people do, when you are repairing anything with old paint on rubber you must atleast take it past the old clear so you wont get your new paint cracked in the same location with the same web like patterns in the future.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001590.jpg
I hit the signal and ftp housings good because this area always tends to flake first on the bumper due to removal of the lenses
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001591.jpg
When i do my own work i like my stuff to be perfect or atleast close to it so , i gave a little extra attention on the bottom of the bumper. I also removed all the clips that are used to hold the lip , a lot of people paint their bumpers and dont even remove them, but when it comes time to remove the their paint is all fkay and coming off around the area.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001592.jpg
Upper half is done, just spraying the bumper with water and it looks smooth as hell,
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001593.jpg



For now i am keeping the vent grill in the front of the bumper on until i get ready to cut it to shape of the fmic, The reason i dont cut it now because theres a lot of stress going on the bumper right now with the sanding and soon the fitment stage, that having the center piece removed will make the bumper super flimsy and we all know how weak the skin is without the guts.

Oh i got a FREEEBIEE S4 bumper for now , because i am not putting all this work on the bumper to put it on and off every day and risking dirt and debri damaging the bodywork....soooo i cut and modified this s4 skin for my fmic doesnt look bad
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001597.jpg

Well break time is over i am getting back to work on the bumper and mouldings stand by for the headlight assembly ....lol

Bumper is done, tomorrow i will be cutting the air grill out and test fitting it to the car so i can see what i have to do to make it sit as flush as possible with the fmic.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001598.jpg
all dryed up
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001602.jpg

Heres the functional headlight vent, i went all out on this one, i like it its diffrent and best of all it actually works
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001600.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001599.jpg
all welded up no fiberglass here
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001601.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001603.jpg

heres the assembly all together look through the vent
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001605.jpg
parts of the assembly that had to be cut and re welded in order for the vent to clear and hide inside the unit when i want to use my headlights

also the upper skeleton got a little modified up, did i mention its super strong does not jiggle or flex its more solid than before
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001604.jpg
closed
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001606.jpg
open
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001607.jpg

tomorrow i will get to work on the lid and side mouldings, i am done for tonight

You need a haircut! :) Time for some beater track wheels once you're done!

So you're coming back to cali, huh?

You just reminded me how much I hate doing body work.

LOL... yeah i am holding on it because i am waiting to swear in again It a US Marine thing...lol

I re- enlisted for another 4 years , i made my decision that the military is for me, i traveld the world , served my country, and best of all i met the best people wich some are my best friends in the Marine corps. I eel like i belong here.

Thats why iam headig back to cali boyeeeeee, yo Maczpayne we gotta go buttonwillow and track it up

yup my fingers are taking the beating plus i ave to much in my mind so pain is weakness leaving the body:icon_tup:

SHIT, if he needs a haircut, I REALLY need one! Airforce=Chairforce.:lol:

Vent looks good man. What are you going to use for ducting? I am stoked to see what your FC will look like when finished! What are you planning to do to the rear as well?

hah ..lol.. Thanks bro, well i am building a custom air box out of aluminum all welded up and sealed using weather strip to seal the top so basically the cold air will go in the sealed box wich my intercooler pipe is running through it also still keeping it seal around the pipe. and the filter will be there a slight 90 degree 4 inch pipe back to the turbo. But thats in the process i will post that on a seperate thread when the time is right

For the rear i want a carbon diffuser , i am hoping Ken is reading this from shineauto and hook me up, if not i will have to buy that sucker straight cost

Hell yeah, that rear diffuser is sick! I was honestly thinking about doing the same thing with my headlight cover. Will be good to see.