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.

F*ck man. This sucks...I remember your car bein clean as hell on dyno day....and normally I dont like body kits.

I cleaned up the headlight cover a bit, i want to start fresh due to the welding and cutting. Tomorrow i will give it a even glaze of bondo and start shaping it for good fitment on the car.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001608.jpg
Quick pic of the cover on the car. It is installed and i operated the lights today, they go up and down perfectly.
Also i started the fitting of the bumper, its not done yet i still have to work a couple of screws to get the perfect fit.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001611.jpg

Heres what i was working with today , i am happy to say that it doesnt fit like that anymore, i will post the new pics tomorrow of the fitment on the same areas, i say the fitent is about 90% good now, the picture shows 10%.
BEFORE
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001615.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001614.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001613.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001612.jpg

The problems i was having on the fitment was when i had the kit a lot was moved and re aligned in order for it to fit right, i am talking fenders, support, brackets all were messed with in some way when i was installing the gp sports kit. But now i am happy that its coming along. I also cut out the air grill out and had to trim a couple of parts off the bumper on the inside in order to have the bumper clear the ic pipes.

that headlight cover your turbo might suck a bird in man!!!!!! lmao

wow never seen fitment issue like that, i understand how you had to make adjustments to your kit, just never where the original fenders and bumper dont line up.. crazieee man!


man that broken aero stuff sucks, esp when its broke unintentionally . If i broke it at the track or driving hard, that is ok, but when you break it from regular driving.
Mine broke goin to my friends house who lived a few blocks away, i get to his house and look at my car "oh !%!@!!! when did that happen?"

http://i33.tinypic.com/2wnv2i9.jpg
gotta love white and 200mph racers tape =p

think ill need to paint the fc white just so i can use racers tape lol

Today i started working on the cover i want to get it out the way because i am slacking,i took a DA with 80grit sandpaper to it so when i slap the bondo on there it will stick better ,got a little bit of thinner and cleaned the cover after.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001617.jpg
First glaze of bondo you can see the high and low spots already, what i do is do a light coat so i can see where i have to bring up or down, some peopl would rather slap a thick coat but i for something this small you want to SLAP, SAND, and PRIMER,
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001618.jpg
I rounded the sides of the inlets a bit , trying to make it a bit curvy not a squared up
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001619.jpg

Here the finish stage of the cover , i will later sand it with 320g once i get ready for primer, but for now its great
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001620.jpg
Started working the fenders, and whaaaamm my compressor burnt up on me, so i will have to buy one tomorrow so i can continue. But you can see what i am working with. I also popped out a dent and fixed a crease on the right fender
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001621.jpg

Lookin good!! I admire your skillz.

for body filler, try a milkshake! i did one recently on my rear spoiler.. you thin out the bodyfiller by mixing it with fiberglass resin so its easier and thinner to apply.

hey so is that bodyfiller on the fender to line it up with the gp bumper you had prior?? I was thinking about adding filler to my gp bumper to match up with my fg fenders :lol:

Make sure they're both polyester. And also, if you're not careful a mixture like that can become superheated while curing....kinda dangerous to mix stuff like that.

Looks to be. And good luck fitting a GP sports bumper to those POS FG vented fenders floating around. Fitting either piece to a stock piece is tough enough in itself, putting them together.......going to need to pretty much break and remake sections of both parts.

Car's looking good Alex, you're after my own heart with that headlight cover. Function FTW. Good on you stepping away from the shaving too, it always leads to problems :) Keep it up!!

Yeah, these damn ebay stores that sell kits dont care how the fitment is all they care about is making the next mold. I had my kit atleast 95% fitted i mean when i did the work on it i took hours on a single side. But now i think back and regret it, look at how much filler i have on those corners.

Thanks bro , i am just tired of the whole low drift look. I want to drive my car not be cautious every where i drive.

As for the headlight , i needed something diffrent , yeah you dont notice a big diffrence in hp but i bet it will help with my air temps and fuel consumption...lol


By the way what do you suggest for primer on the urethane parts?

Wanna sell that broken front bumper? I have an idea...

Well, I'm partial to BASF since I've used it at the shop as logn as I've been around. I'd hit the bare plastic spots on the FC bumpers with 865 adhesion promoter, and use DP20 high build on them. Flexed of course.

They're a strange plastic, some type of TPO (yellow plastic...) but I used these products on an FC resto I did for a customer a few years ago and the paint's holding up great, and those covers were stripped completely down to bare plastic so the 865 (*only on the plastic*) and DP20 should serve you well.

But I don't know what brand you're planning on :)

I started the front nose of the car and i will start working my way around counter clockwise. The bumper now lines back up like factory in that corner.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001622.jpg
Got a set of pliers and started to fix the dented lip,
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001623.jpg
Here goes Dent number 1..lol
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001624.jpg
Working the lower half of the fender , on the first body kit i had it was those half kits and i used rivets to hold the kit in while it was molded to the bumper , Well tis tis now i have to deal with 2 pin holes.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001625.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001626.jpg

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001627.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001628.jpg
started grinding the mold so i can seperate the side skirts , worked great by the way
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001629.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001630.jpg
CREASE number 1, theres nothing i hate more than a crease , i can deal with dents and dings but crease's are not your friend especially where i got it right on the curvy part of the fender
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001631.jpg

started pulling the skirts man it looks ungly under there
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001634.jpg
The skirt came off easy , what i used was windshield glue then i screwed the skirts to the body and let it sit over night, then i removed the screws and it was on to the body, never had a crack or seperation from that trick
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001635.jpg
Modification #1 -since i am using the gp sports skirts i still want to flow with the lines of the car so i will be re glassing and cutting the corner so it can flow with the fender's curve
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001636.jpg

Man it looks ugly but hey bodywork is like alcohol, all you need is a couple of drinks and she will look good
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001637.jpg
just getting ahead of myself , as i go through the car i mark spots where i see dents,dings, crease, warpage, rust...etc
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001638.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001639.jpg
Heres what i was explaining about the skirts and fender, the gp sports are more box shape and the oem fenders have that rare ass curve...why ..i think mazda felt it was cool and deflected rocks and dirt from the fenders. These skirts will be worked on til i can take them from my car and put them on another, so i will get this done
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001640.jpg
and the back part of the skirt , with the molding on , this is just the mock up phase...i will eventually make them sit perfectly flush with the body and i am going to try to do this with out the use of double side tape
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...7/S5001641.jpg

great bro

i will look into it next week, i think i should be ok with atleast a quart of it, i will try to get all thi pin holes and dimples with glaze so i wont use to much primer

i just want a reliable primer adhesive that will bond so if i just touch a curb or dead stop and it will flex with the bumper and not crack all over the place..

Thanks again bro

looks good! I gotta throw my car back in the bodyshop sometime.

Keep up the good work, Alex! Are ya gonna make SSXI car or not?

looks gay , i mean good sorry iam allready drunk:lol: :lol: :lol:

lol...i knew your ass would post something like that...yo bro you think Angel will transport the car for me

when is it , because if i am still waiting on orders by then and i ship my car out there i might make it if there still time

what i will do is ship it to Lucky7 and i will head from there:icon_tup:

esa es buena that way he can take mine back ask him fosho he will doit :icon_tup: :icon_tup: besides the trailor hes got is mine