Day 52: Forgot to update this last night. I did some more roof sanding, rust treated the rear subframe and realized I shouldn't replace my subframe bushings. Tonight I'll paint the rear subframe and maybe do some prep on the rear control arms. This weekend is game time for painting the engine bay and interior. I'll also press out the rear control arm bushings and install the new ones and hopefully paint the control arms.

Day 53: Today I painted the engine bay, interior, and door jams. I also painted the rear subframe and the tow hook (safety orange for the tow hook). In order to do all that I had to pull the car out and clean everything up. It was a long day, but it was nice to get behind a paint gun again...it's been a while.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0352.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0353.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0354.jpg

My wife is having surgery on Monday, so I'll have to watch my 3 boys all day. But I think I can still work on my wiring harness in my bar while I watch them. Gotta keep working if I'm going to hit my deadline.

Determination at its finest. Keep at it!

Funny how deadlines motivate (some) people. Your like the TTT of Germany, lol.

nice

I'm not sure who or what TTT is, but I hope it's a good thing, lol.

I think today I'll be waxing the fiberglass molds...I need to get my body parts done and molded to do the last bit of painting.

Day 54: This evening I washed and waxed all the molds. They are now ready to be used. The next few days I'll be working on my wiring harness while my wife heals up.

For those that are curious; the molds are made of gel coated fiberglass with some portions bolted on for easier use. I waxed them with three coats of carnuba wax. I'll be applying PVA (Polyvinyl Alcohol) before I use them. PVA basically forms a trash bag type of surface on the mold and makes it release much easier. The wax allows multiple consecutive applications of PVA, without the use of PVA you'd have to wax after each use. With PVA you can use the mold multiple times before having to re-wax.

I suppose I could do up an actual DIY article, if there's interest...I just need to start taking some pics before it gets too late.

Yes please!

Day 55: My wife's surgery went well and she is in better shape than we thought she would be. I still have to take care of my boys to keep her from tearing any sutures. However, I was able to remove all the emissions wiring and a couple other obsolete wires from the engine harness and re-wrapped it. Tomorrow I'll start working on the chassis harness. I may try to pick up the brake hard lines I need to replace my old corroded ones. There's only a few more things I need to do before I can take the car off the rotisserie.

Here's a pic:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/9b60e600.jpg

Day 56: Today I finished all my harnesses. The pile on the left is all the wire pulled from the harness on the right. This is where most of the trimming came from. There was about 10lbs in all, taken from all the harnesses. This should simplify any future electrical troubleshooting, if there is any, and the weight savings is a bonus. It should also clean up the interior, since none of the panels are going back in.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0361.jpg

Day 57: Today I primed the roof after "smoothing" it with a DA. It'll be wavy as hell, but all well. I also shot white on the insides of the doors. I started running the wiring harnesses as well.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/b785e3b6.jpg

Day 58: I only got about an hours worth of work done. I re-primed the roof with lighter color super-crappy german primer, with a 1/2" spray pattern. I welded the emblem holes shut on the back...I hadn't originally intended to do that, but the wing risers are going to cut right through the emblem, so it had to go. I bondoed the holes. And that's it...not very happy. Tomorrow I'm going to work pretty late. If I get all the noisy stuff done before 10, I can work on the fiberglass later than that. If I'm super fast I can get the glass done before I pass out from exhaustion. I want, ever so desperately, to spray the exterior this weekend, so I can resume reassembly during the week.

Oh yeah, I received my Corksport TID and oil cooler lines. Working on getting the last three major parts: mirrors (APR GT3), v-mount intercooler, and headlights for the FC2000 bumper.

Awesome build you have been working on, keep it up!

Day 59: Primed the rest of the car, ran out before I could do the doors. I also glassed my first mold. Tomorrow I'll do the rest of the molds, prime the doors, finesse the new fiber panels and get ready for paint...who knows, I just might get her painted tomorrow. Lots of work to do still.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/a5f5af36.jpg

Day 60: Today I learned some lessons from the fiberglass session last night, after I took the scoop off the mold. I then proceeded to fiberglass the fenders. I got them done, but it looks like all the pieces are going to need some body filler love. I PVAed the front bumper mold and will glass it tomorrow, I'll also start the body work on the fenders and scoop and get them fitted. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the DIY...I'm saving it for the second run of parts, when I have things down to more of a science and am able to take more time.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/009f4f9c.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/87b9298f.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/0f191f9c.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/2a2bca13.jpg

Oh, and if you're thinking, "man, I can see through those!" It's because you can. I am doing all the parts with only 2-3 layers of fiberglass. Because of the resin I'm using, you can actually push the panels in and they 'pop' back out. I think this will actually make them more durable on a day to day basis. However, I may have to put in some small reinforcement "rods" so that the panels don't distort too much at speed.

Day 61: This is the carnage after my attempt at molding the bumper. Obviously it didn't go as planned. I'm going to order a few more supplies and try again, with a different technique, in a day or two. While I wait for the supplies I'll work on fixing up the fenders and scoop. The bumper really beat up my confidence and motivation, but I'm slowly recovering. I spent the rest of the day cleaning the scoop and bumper molds. This is why I'm waiting to do the DIY.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/67c5ee67.jpg

The pocket under your stereo, where you get that? Seen cars in Norway, USA and now Germany that got it, it gotta be available somewhere?!

Well I don't know where it came from, it was in the car from the beginning, but I'll sell you mine for 40eur shipped :)

I won't be using it, since I'm ditching the whole stereo.

Yikes! That aborted fetus would have bruised my confide too. Keep up the good work though, you are an inspiration to us all.

Day 62: Feeling my 18 Aug deadline slipping away. I may have to reconsider the compromises I'm making for the sake of meeting that deadline. The roof is one thing, but other things are starting to slip and suffer. I worked the fenders a bit today and am reconsidering their immediate serviceability.

Day 63: Tonight I started doing some of the motor work. I got the front cover off and started working on fixing the damn oil leak that's plagued me for over a year. My fix involved a salvaged piece of brake line and a little work with a file. I'm basically doweling a oil passage that leaks at the front engine cover. I'll be glad to have it permanently fixed. Tomorrow I'll put the front cover back on and maybe see about taking the fly wheel off to get ready to install my twin plate clutch.

Here's the details on my fix:

1. I am currently using the modified RX8 front cover gasket:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0377.jpg

2. After you remove the front cover (which I won't go over here), this is what you'll be looking at:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0375.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0374.jpg

3. First I started by finding a piece of tubing that would fit into the holes. Now, the pipe I used is leftover brake line (or the gas tank vent hardline). It fit cleanly into the front cover side, but not at all into the front iron side. I used some sandpaper to remove the vinyl coating from the tube and I pushed it all the way into the front cover. Then, using some drill bits, I stepped the hole in the front iron up one step to 3/16". This allows for a nice and tight press fit. The overall length of the pipe ended up being 61mm.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0376.jpg

4. I found an o-ring in my assorted o-ring kit that fit very snugly onto the tube without having to be stretched too much.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0379.jpg

5. Because the o-ring is a little harder than the original hole on the gasket, it will have to be modified further. I removed the metal around the smallest hole:
Before:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0378.jpg
After:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0380.jpg

6. I then got some leak lock and applied it at about the halfway mark on the tube, then slide it all the way into the front cover. It looks like this:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0381.jpg

7. Once the leak lock is dried (letting it sit over night), I'll remove the slight excess around the tube and place the o-ring on it. Then reassemble everything.

Hopefully this will help some others that may have a similar issue down the road. I'm hoping it works out well for me, but only time will tell.

Oh, by the way, when you drill out the front iron hole; the passage is connected to the oil supply for the turbo. I used my blow gun and blew air into the turbo supply line to blow out any small metal shavings that may have tried to stay in the hole.

And as well oil supply to the front stationary gear bearing.....since you have front cover off, you can remove stationary gear and make sure there is nothing what what you wouldnt want in there...

Like what? I do know that there is flow through there with the thermo-pellet in place, which is a good thing right?

Oil flows from oil filter thru the dowel pins into front iron, then it splits between banjo bolt for turbo oil line, the hole you drilled and rest goes to front stationary gear bearing.

If you drilled and had some shawings to get inside, then used compressed air expecting they will get ouside by banjo bolt, they could have as well went other way > towards stationary gear bearing....

ah, ok...no there's no way shavings made it that far.

I only stepped it up by maybe .5mm, the shavings were minimal and I used the turbo line to direct air out of the hole, so any particles only had one way to go...out.

Day 64: Today I got the front cover put back on. I also finished the last little bit of touch up sanding on the body. After that I started working on the fridge I got, to harvest the compressor off of for vacuum bagging the second set of body parts. I am using the rest of the fridge to store paint in...it's a good way to keep dust and over spray off the containers. Then I started mocking up the v-mount setup. Here's how I did it:

I started by putting in the factory radiator and I used the hoses to determine where the motor's boundaries were and to determine hood clearance.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_1445.jpg

I used strings to mark the boundaries so I could mock everything up.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_1447.jpg

I did some CAD (Card-board Aided Design) to make the IC core I was considering using
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_1449.jpg

Then I made a mock up FD radiator and mounted it in the engine bay
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_1454.jpg

I think this set up should work. Here's some pics from different angles.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_1456.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_1457.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_1459.jpg

Now, there's a few reasons for using the FD radiator. FDs in stock form run more boost and more power than we do. And their typical bolt ons usually see more power than we do. So I figure if I use FD fans with an aftermarket FD radiator, I should be just fine. Plus, it has the advantage of being shorter so the angles are more conducive to the v-mount setup. If anyone has any input on this idea, I'd appreciate it. I'm just trying to work with what I have.

Here's a pic comparing the two factory radiators
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_1450.jpg

good start, but the flow through the rad will not be good because youre asking the air to go through the oil cooler, up through the rad and then through the IC. The problem isn't getting air to flow good between the three, it's getting it through the rad in your design. The way you have it set up is sort of a box design that the air can flow through, but the rad happens to be a wall in that box, not a part in the box for air to flow through. I would try hard to mount the rad as close to stock position as you can, and build yourself a nice sealed cavity for he air to flow through and out.

Sory if that is hard to make sense of, it is hard to try and explain things wthout a diagram.

I should have included the fact that there will be a significant amount of duct work done. I just didn't mock the ducts up yet because I don't have a front bumper done yet and I didn't want to obscure the positioning. The ducting will block off the sides and divide the flow so that the rad/oil cooler have their own duct and the IC has its own. IIRC, the ideal duct opening for proper air flow is 1/4-1/3 the area of the heat exchanger.

Given the cores surface area of 180cm2, I only need a 60cm2 duct inlet...which is quite easy with the FC2000 bumper.

Hope all that makes sense. I'll mock up the ducting as best I can and post more pics :)

Sorry, dropped a zero there. It's 1800cm2 total area for each core, which means I need a duct opening area of 540cm2 for the IC and another of the same size for the rad/oil cooler. Basically I just have to split the opening in half on the FC2000, that will make two opening that are roughly 600cm2. That should ensure there is a sufficient pressure differential to pull the air through both IC and radiator.

Divider duct mock up:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_1463.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_1462.jpg

And from the front, but I need to cut some stuff out of there for it to look right:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_1461.jpg

The horns will be relocated and most of the tabs on that cross bar will be cut off.

There is, of course, going to be ducting on the top and on the bottom, but until I can mount a bumper, mock up is useless.

If you are going to leave the oil cooler in the stock location, consider raising the angle on the IC core so that it is more horizontal. This will allow you to move the Radiator up so that it is unobstructed by the oil cooler. Even with duct work that little pocket below the top of the oil cooler will not see optimial airflow as it will have no incentive to make the 90* required to flow through the bottom 2" or so of your radiator.

Edit:
I don't have any pics from the side to illustrate what I'm talking about, but this gives you an idea. The difference of course being that you would have less overhang past the rad support because you have an FD rad which would work much better than the FC based koyo I used.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-K...3+14.58.39.jpg
More pics here: https://www.rx7club.com/build-thread...-999774/page3/

This would be preferable because you are restricting space on the front end, where you only need 1/4 - 1/3 of the surface area of the core anyway. This will also make for an easier time creating effective duct work.

It looks like you're running a much tighter V. I don't think I need to be quite as tight because of the shorter FD radiator and the larger bumper opening of the FC2000 bumper.

I wish you had more pics. Maybe a better bet for me would be to adjust the positioning of the oil cooler. Maybe to where it fills the entire opening that would lead to the radiator side of the ducting. It may warm the air a little more, but I doubt it will make much difference.

Edit: After looking at more of your pics, my bumper opening is quite a bit lower than yours, which is why I can run a wider 'V'.

Unfortunately, the only way to really take advantage of that extra bumper area is to cut out the front support and relocate it. You can run a wider "v" but you will either have to put the rad behind the support which obstructs airflow, or use your current configuration which is similarly undesirable.

Of course, you could also move the rad in front of the support and relocate the oil cooler lower and/or further forward.

Which support are you talking about? The round one that the oil cooler bolts to? Or the triangular one in front of that?

The round one I'm not too concerned about moving, just removing brackets. It is in the airflow from the factory and doesn't seem like much of a hindrance since its round. The triangular one should actually line up with the top of the bumper opening, so it can be used to mount ducting.

I suppose I need to get the brackets cut off so I can do a more accurate mock up. Getting the actual IC would help too. I found an aluminum FD v-mount radiator (both inlet and outlet are on the top) that should work well.

Finally got a source for my hybrid turbo parts. Here's the supplier in case anyone else wants to use em: Garrett T04 T04E Cosworth Compressor upgrade turbo RS Hybrid A/R 60 57 Trim kit | eBay

Legit parts that are being sold for the intended purpose of upgrading. Not the cheapest solution, but the most convenient for me.

Yea, I was talking about the round one, once you cut the mounting tabs off it should be fine. The triangular brace doesn't really obstruct anything, so no need to worry about that.

I'm going to trim off those mounting tabs tonight, then I'm going to prep the fiberglass molds for round two. Really need to get these parts done.

Day 65: Got the molds coated in PVA. Tomorrow I'll work on trimming the excess metal on the front of car for the v-mount.

Day 66: Last night I trimmed the excess metal from the front end and rechecked my mock-up...should work very well. I also marked the hood for the cutout for the scoop.

Today I'll cut out the hood, finish the rear end bushings and get ready for round two with the fiberglass. I'm also going to try and get my brake hard lines "ordered" so I can pick them up on Monday. The hard lines are really the only thing left to do before I can take the car off the rotisserie.

Day 67: Today I cut out the hood, mounted the front subframe, painted hinges and sway bar links. Tomorrow is game time for the fiberglass. I'll also prime the hood and doors. Tomorrow is going to be a long, busy day.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/41a36d7d.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/a8043f39.jpg

Yikes, that vent is bigger than I thought!

I ended up choosing to go with side mount oil coolers for my vmount setup... but my second idea was to toss the oil cooler inside the bumper core. Cut a hole in it for flow, and duct it up and out, in front of the intercooler.

Your build is coming along very nicely. :)

Yeah, I thought the same thing, lol. But it's not all open and it's just big enough to stay in the big low pressure zone, so should do a good job of sucking all the air through the heat exchangers and any left over heat in the engine bay.

Day 68: Today I painted quite a few pieces (brackets, etc). I mounted the rest of the front suspension with the exception of the left spindle, because I'm waiting for a new one to come in the mail. I also test fit my Sparco seat and 4pt harness. I ordered my front caliper hard lines and a new return-to-center shifter spring from Mazdatrix and my v-mount intercooler core off eBay. I'll need to order some couplers and some pipes, but this should be the last of the major parts I need to order. I had to delay fiberglass until tomorrow.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/20a3f251.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/448d7372.jpg

That shifter return spring is the biggest PITA. If mine ever breaks again, I'm going hks 6-spd.

Day 69: Today I finally got the front bumper fiberglassed, with much help from a friend. I learned a lot today about molding. I also finished painting some rear suspension parts and installed some brackets in the engine bay. Tomorrow I'll finish layering on some more fiberglass on the front bumper and it'll be done. No pics, maybe tomorrow if I get the bumper de-molded. I'll definitely be doing another set of fenders and a hood scoop.