i heart haters

Hello all,

I've dreamed of building a car from the ground up since I was in high school. I wrestled with many different ideas but after my buddy suggested a v8 powered rx7 I could never shake it. Here I am, with a 93 roller ready to be built from the ground up. This will most likely be a lengthy build as I intend on doing everything the right way (no cutting corners). My goal is to be up and running within 3-4 years and fully built in 7 to 10. Without further adieu, below are pictures of the car as purchased.

tt7hvn

iTrader: (5)

nice garage! it'll soon be full of parts though so you won't be able to walk in it, lol

def interested in seeing this completed. In for more updates, get your *** moving!

i heart haters

I was slacking on starting a build thread so the above pictures are about 3 to 4 weeks old. Since then I've pulled out quite a bit of the interior as well as the rear end. I am preparing to swap in a custom solid axle in the rear to hold down the power I plan on getting out of this beast





Subframe out (looking back, if I wasn't such a novice, I would have pulled the whole rear including the breaks, control arms etc. out as one piece


Look at that accident lol

TwinCharged RX7

iTrader: (14)

Why on earth would you swap in a solid axle? There are options for IRS that I'm sure will hold your power.

i heart haters

Thanks. My buddy wanted to store his engine and trans in there and I was like, Uhhh I don't think I'm gonna have room.

The IRS swap puts a cobra/explorer rear end in which are notorious for hop. I also don't want to deal with breaking halfshafts every other week. I'm not building this car for autocross or comfort so I don't need an IRS. The car will be a weekend street/track car aiming for 900+ hp on a track tune so I need rear end that can hold that power and put it down on the ground.

gist864

Nice pick up. With your plans imo I think you should have went with a different car.

i heart haters

Thanks, I'm sure that is what most people think and I am ok with being in the minority. I hate muscle cars but I love their power. I personally like foreign and euro body styles. I loved my e46 m3 but Didn't want to spend 50 grand on a stage 4 that couldn't put the horses on the ground anyways. Best of both worlds to me, beautiful looking body style with monster power.

TwinCharged RX7

iTrader: (14)

Ok, but it still doesn't make sense. There are IRS FD's with over 900whp, what you are doing is anything more than what others haven't already done. There are no benefits to a solid axle over what you can put in the FD with much less modification/cost. Wheel hop is no reason to move away from IRS, do it right and you won't be breaking halfshafts anyways.

Narfle

iTrader: (16)

Yeah, plenty of people running upgraded FD rear-ends at that power level.
Also, plenty of people running the cobra/explorer rear end for similar applications.
And, hooking.

But, hell, it's his car. If he wants a straight axle then that's all there is to it.

i heart haters

Thanks for sharing your opinion, to each his own. Its well known that solid axle setups are > IRS for putting power on the ground and running a straight line which is what the car is being built for. If I want more power out of it later I don't need to worry about my rear end blowing up.

TwinCharged RX7

iTrader: (14)

You're right, can't fix stupid.

i heart haters

It's ok, you're in luck because I heart haters. Go troll in someone else's build thread

i heart haters

Just finished ordering the custom 9" rear end housing and axles from Moser Engineering, should be here early next week. Once it comes in I'll be able to start mocking up the 4 link suspension plans.

-Calvin

i heart haters

The rear end housing and axles have arrived! Unfortunately I'm in the process of building a patio so I may not get much time to work on the car for a few weeks but as soon as I make any progress I'll update this thread.

Project88Turbo

iTrader: (22)

I must say, I used to hate this concept. But after riding in VANDAMAGE's LS powered car, and ZDan's 500HP LS powered car, I appreciate what they are: Fast, reliable and fun.

About the straight axle swap:

Are you planning to mostly drag race? That is typically the best axle option and makes sense.

As far as the rest of your build plan, hopefully there are no plans for huge cowl hoods or carbs

Good luck on your build!

Vince

foxrace4

iTrader: (4)

If its gonna be mostly a strip car, I'd go straight axle as well. Keep the updates coming with many pictures

i heart haters

Thanks Vince. It is going to be a drag / weekend fun car which is why I went with the straight axle. I haven't fully thought out details for under the hood but I do know there will be lots of boost .

Project88Turbo

iTrader: (22)

If you are planning on boost, you should definately go with a LS type engine.

I'd also contact Ruler_Mark on here, and look at his build thread. His car is V8/Turbo. He should have some excellent advice on that.

AND, if you have not already done so, start a for sale thread for all the parts you no longer need. That should help the build move along a little faster!

Vince

i heart haters

Its been a hot minute since I've posted anything but it has been slow going (well, no going really lol). I've been busy with this for the past month:

Now that I finished the patio I should be able to turn some attention back to the car . I ordered the 4 link yesterday and am ordering a Kirk Racing roll bar tomorrow. I've also ordered an angle grinder to assist in cutting out some stuff to fit this 4 link underneath. Once I've got the measurements and tacked the 4 link underneath I'll be ordering a panhard bar and a top bar to mount coilovers on.

-Calvin

i heart haters

So the 4 link arrived but it will be about 2 to 4 weeks for the Kirk Racing roll bar to come in. I started making some cuts in the sheet metal yesterday in preparation to fit the 4 link and it looks like I can't do much until the roll bar arrives. I was originally planning on running the 4 link through the interior to the crossmember behind the seats but it is hollow. I'm going to cut out some of that cross member and set in a ladder bar crossmember for better support. The 4 link frame brackets will be tied into the new cross member and the roll bar and I'll also be adding a few additional bars for support.

On another note I didn't realize how high the stock rx7 sits and most that look low are because of kits. Since all the suspension will now be underneath the car that raises the possibility of a mini tub so that I can get the car to sit lower with the extra large tires I plan on running.

-Calvin

RosatiFD

iTrader: (1)

What a fitting name- GLWB

i heart haters

Another short update. Although not much progress has been made over the past month (was waiting on the roll bar) here are a few pics. I'm cutting out the back "seats" and hollow cross member to put in a solid cross member and fit the 4 link suspension. It will all be tied into the roll bar and I'll be adding additional support to make up for everything that was removed. I'm fairly confident that I'll be able to fit everything in nice and tight so that stock plastics can cover up the majority, if not all of the work so you'll only know it's there...if you already know it's there .

jacobcartmill

iTrader: (6)

of all the cars to make a straight-line car out of, you chose an FD?

(this is really just provocation to get you to reference your clever username again)

i heart haters

I figured it was about time for another update on the project. I've slowly made progress over the last few months. It's been a fun learning experience thus far. After making the decision to go straight axle, I measured and purchased the housing and then figured out I would need a 4 link suspension to go along with it. After ordering the 4 link suspension kit it became apparent that tying the 4 link into the car would not be as easy it one would expect with a domestic. A friend suggested I go with a ladder bar crossmember but when we got that in we decided a straight bar would be better so that it could sit as low as possible on the frame in order to tie in as much support for the 4 link brackets as possible. We then decided I should tie it all into the roll bar so I went ahead and ordered a Kirk Racing roll bar (not knowing fully what i was ordering). Hindsight is 20/20 but if I had to do it again I would just make my own, way cheaper and much better fit. I was under the impression that I could buy a 'bolt in' roll bar but just weld it in. That is not the case. The plates they provide with the bar are not 6x6 for attachment to a unibody car (NHRA guidelines). After looking at where the rear supports would go we decided against using them since they would probably just rip right out in the event of an actual roll over. So, I set out on a mission to at least salvage the main hoop. The jury is out on whether the harness bar will be usable or whether I'll have to cut that off, readjust and re-weld or make my own. With all the fabrication I was going to have to be doing I figured I needed a welder so I went ahead and got the new Lincoln Power MIG 210 (which is awesome) but because it wasn't even released until October, delivery was delay until about November. Luckily I have a few experienced welder friends so they came over and help and taught me some of the basics for MIG. At this point I need to get a set of Sparco Evo's in the car before I can put the main hoop in so I know I've got everything in the right place. I'm somewhat at a stand still until I get the seat(s) at this point. I took out the ladder bar cross member that we had tacked in there and plated the frame for the new straight bar for added strength. The four main plates are also 95% welded in for the main hoop and rear bars. Next step will be to tack in the hoop, cut notch and weld the rear bars and then I can start working backwards with the 4 link and rear end. At some point I also build the swing out bars for the driver and passenger sides.

The new welder and my helpers


We originally thought we were going to run a cross bar between the rear strut towers and run the down bar to that.


Tacked up


Bending to fit, I originally tried to use 1/4" which was a mistake (pictured). I switched over to 1/8" which was much easier to form (plates welded to car currently). After working on the rear strut towers there is no way I was going to trust a roll bar that was somehow connected between the two. I will probably need a mini tub anyways so we decided to re-position the rear down bars straight to the floor pan. They're now half on the floor pan and half on the "frame rail".



Main hoop driver side plate and extra plate for the cross member.

7speed

Shouldn't this be in the V8 section?