I'm thinking about trying to make some plastic trim pieces exclusively for rx7 club members. It will probably consist of things like the idiot light surround, radio bezel, door handle trim, etc. The things that usually have rotted away after 20 years.

By plastic vacuum forming, I can make these parts pretty easily, and for a low price. I just have to put a little R&D into it. If anyone's interested, let me know so I can start the process.

I'll post pics of the progress, and keep updates of how much I'll think their costs will be. I'm speculating that the idiot light surrounds probably won't be over 20 bucks shipped, just to give you an idea.

ALSO-
I'm up for design suggestions. If you want to see something different aside from the stock stuff let me know. Sorry, I can't do carbon fiber yet.

-Terrence

 

what about like was suggested on a topic on the front page, an idiot light surround modified for maybe 2 gauges. id buy one if you made one, or a stock one cause my surround is cracked. its an s4 style





Like that but maybe with 2 gauges, or 3, either one. is that possible for you to do?

 

Can you produce the stock colors?

 

If not plastic is easy enough to paint and make look just like stock

 

FC king-
I believe I can make it happen. I just need to know what size gauges you'd be using so they can fit. It looks like a kind of neat design, and I actually saw someone at the SC Rx7 meet with a gauge pod like that. My only concern was that you lose all of your warning lights (the low oil one saved my freshly-built 500 mile engine when the crank pulley bolt ejected).
But that aside, I'll start making my fiberglass-covered styrofoam prototypes.


I don't quite know about stock colors unfortunately. I'll have to do some searching to find out where I can get my plastic sheet source from and in what colors. The only vacuum forming I have done so far has been really thick abs plastic, and it was bright blue. (not on any fc parts, it's a whole other ballgame called the SCA) But FCking is right though, it's easily painted

 

Id imagine 2 1/16'' (52mm) would be most desirable. And for anyone wanting to retain most crucial lights (low oil and low coolant) They could just buy a handfull of LED bulbs from radioshack or a local electronics store, wire them up to the factory wiring for the stock bulbs, and drill 2 small holes (just smaller than the bulb) and push the bulbs through. Or something like that. Plus you still have the buzzer, if it works.

If those compound curves are too tough to shape, I dont see why a flat top and flat face wouldnt work. Just cut out the holes into the face of the pod. Maybe even make them with no holes so the buyer can lay them out his way with his size gauges?

Like this, but of course made to fit into the stock location without any ugly holes. I guess one design would work for both S4 and S5

 

$20 shipped for a typical piece? Sounds good to me.
If you can't match the colors & texture then black would be fine. Better smooth black than a blue that's also smooth while the color's not quite right.

Would you also be able to do details like vents?

 

Yeah man vents would be the most saught after thing, i need some of them if you were to make them would you ship to aus

 

Well, the contours would be easily done with vacuum forming. It's pretty simple. All it is, is a piece of almost melted plastic that is laid over a mold on top of a box with holes in the top, and a large hole in the side that supplies vacuum. The little holes on top suck the floppy heated plastic onto the mold. Nothing to it.

The vents on the other hand.... they *could* be done, but I'd have to manually cut the slots out for the vent louvers. I can't promise anything pretty. I'll try a couple of those and see how it ends up.

It may cost a hair more for AUS shipping.

 

My center vents cracked for S5...

Also the covers over the inside of the side mirrors both cracked off

 

a modified cold air intake box for a cone filter, cold air inlet flange in the front bumper area and keeping the stock box "mazda" lid for it would be interesting

 

hmm... now that is interesting! Draw me a pic of what you had in mind and I'll throw it all in the mix.

 

Here we go again. Another person promising make parts for our cars. Just as everyone gets excited, they disappear never to be seen again...

If you can supply commonly broken trim pieces (stereo surround, demister vents, a pillar trim, idiot cluster trim) at LESS THEN OEM prices, I think people would be all over it. The trim must duplicate the stock fit and finish perfectly. However I don't see most of this happening via vacuum forming. I'm not an expert in the process but from what I have seen it's only suitable for creating simple shapes. A lot of the trim has internal clips and catches that would be difficult if not impossible to reproduce.

And then there is the matter of cost. A stereo surround from Mazdatrix is slightly less then $100. That's not very costly. Last time I bought a piece of A-pillar trim from Mazda it cost $70 Canadian. Again, not very expensive and it was a direct and perfect fit, came with all the hardware, took 3 days to arrive at my dealership and I didn't have to deal with shipping. If your version costs $40, to me it's not worth it because I then have to cover shipping, paint it to the appropriate colour, and make it fit (aftermarket trim NEVER fits perfectly).

Custom parts would be an option. For example, an idiot light cluster gauge pod that allows you to keep the idiot lights. A few months ago I would have paid for that.

I'm not trying to discourage you but most of the long-time members here have seen this happen again and again. When someone realises the effort required to produce a part, the project gets scrapped.

Also keep in mind that if you intend to sell on this forums, you must contact the Admins and apply for vendor status.

 

well put aaron.. you beet me to saying it.. if you are going to tell us you are making members items for sale, follow up.. like he said no itent to discourage but i would say if i did the math, the chance of you actually following through and the chance of your items being what we want are not in your favor

 

i too would like to see a gauge pod with warning lights intergrated on the bottom.

 

Wow. Something I've recently learned is that there are a handful of pessimistic people on this forum board. No promises were ever made. I'm just going to do my part to make an attempt. So I think I'll completely disregard what was said, and continue my efforts. If anyone out there doesn't want one, then it's as simple as not saying anything.

As for the rest of you, I'm working on my styrofoam/fiberglass moulds right now, and will attempt to post some pics, pending on how busy I am.

Just as a warning. The stock clips will probably not be how these are mounted. Since the whole reason why these things break is because they have to be pried out of the clips with a plastic or teflon trim stick, and they easily break upon doing so. I think that a nicely-covered screw hole (plastic countersunk caps possibly?) would be a better option since it allows for easier disassembly, as almost all FC owners have wrestled with r&r of their interiors over and over again. There will, however, be felt tape applied to the backs of these so they don't rattle.

I'll probably send the first one to FCking free of charge for a critique of fit and finish. If it passes, I'll start production. If not, then I'll either fix the mould and continue, or scrap the project. Nobody gets burned, everyone benefits. Don't see where any more negative comments should arise.

-Terrence

 

I like the idea. On that guage cluster/idiot light console, I like the 3 guages, but instead of making them rise above the level of the dash, how about making them flush with the top of the bezel? And maybe producing them WITH the 3mm LED holes. Hell, if you are willing to experiment and make some good money, you could try selling the bezels with the stock idiot light motherboard attached. I would paint you a picture of what I'm seeing, but I can't paint worth a damn. That front mount cold air bow would be really nice as well. That I would definately buy.

 

I doubt that they can be flush with the dash Bama. Since they're 2"~ish in diameter, they'd probably (and unfortunately) have to poke some above the dashline.

Great ideas guys. Keep them coming

 

maybe the center consule lid? I just broke one of the hinges off today

 

yes go into production, i also need the plastic piece around the idiot light, s5. i thought s4 and s5 on that piece was the same? are they or are they not?

 

s4 an s5 idiot light pieces are different

 

Not pessimistic, just realistic. We've been through this 100x already in the last 12 months.

No, the reason the trim breaks is because it's 20 years old and after that much sun exposure, it's very brittle. The new trim I have in my car is removed and installed often and has never come close to breaking.

 

update:

I've been working on the prototypes, but they've been pretty crappy. The styrofoam thing wasn't working at all. The fiberglass came out... ok.... but still not what I wanted it to be. Here's where I am now. I scrounged through my old Rx7 parts bin and found my old busted warning light surround. It was busted into 3 big pieces, which I still have all of. What I'm intending on doing is gluing it back together, reinforcing the bottom with fiberglass, and using that as the mold. However, I don't think I'm going to actually make it 100% like the stock trim piece. I want to improve on its design. Stronger, more flexible will definitely be a plus, as well as the hidden screws, which will subject it to alot less stress.

As for the dash gauge pod, I think that it will actually be easier than making the stock piece. Some more R&D is going to be done in the next few days that I have off before shipping off to bootcamp in RTC Great Lakes. At which point, I may utilize my brother for the production.

 

custom intake box for cone filter??

 

New update.

Everything I've been coming up with has turned out to be crap. I'm also completely out of time. Bootcamp is a week away, and I can't make plans for production with that 2-month long monster in the way.

Thanks for the interest, and I hope to resume when I get back from basic training.

Terrence