av8r01

iTrader: (13)

So this build thread is written mostly after the fact so sorry for not having pictures of everything along the way. In 2016 after years of owning an RX-8 R3 and not wanting to modify too much on it since the engine warranty is still valid, I wanted a car project to be able to make my own. I opted for the RX-7 FD. I met great people in NM, TX, and CO to see their FD’s in order to give me insight and ideas of how I wanted my build to turn out.

In Nov 2016 I was very close to purchasing a VR R1 in TX after having test driven and reviewed the binder of paperwork. My bank cut me the check, but a buyer flew in from the east coast, bought it, and drove it cross country back home the day before I was going to drive back and pick it up. The next one was a CYM in So Cal, but the seller didn’t seem very motivated to sell and kept coming up with excuses when I tried to schedule a time to look at the car. Finally while bored at work in Dec 2016, I looked on Craigslist from eastern Texas all the way to California and stumbled upon a ’94 CW located in So Cal. So I flew to So Cal the next week, had Fris at Lucky 7 Racing check out the car, then bought it sans the SSR GTV02 wheels after Christmas 2016.

Here are pics from the previous owner. It seemed he went to a couple of meets where semi-pro photographers took some nice pics of the car, hence the watermarks.













Here are my RX-8 R3 and RX-7 FD

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

Here it is being delivered in Jan 2017. I didn’t want to drive it back halfway across the country in the winter, especially with stock wheels (got a better deal without the SSR’s). The comment the truck driver made in this video about the Masserati which I swung right to show is because that Masserati was picked up the day prior and behind my car. It would not jumpstart for over an hour. He had to call a Masserati dealership to find out where the hidden lever was to put it in neutral (it’s an automatic) so it could be rolled out back and out of the way so he could get my car out.

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

The engine bay needed TLC and a fresh paint job. There was no way degreaser would be able to bring it back to its former glory as it seemed the engine bay had lots of work with components installed that were removed several times.

















So with that in mind I started a parts wish list in January 2017 for the engine bay refresh. I found my original wish list for the project today, then realized that most of what’s on it was completed this past weekend (March 2018).

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

Because I wasn’t fully set on the engine bay I initially focused on the interior which I had serious qualms with. I gave the driver’s Sparco Spring and OEM tan passenger seats away, picked up a C’s short shifter, bought a new shifter boot and shifter ****, and replaced the center console. I also picked up a triple gauge pod to hold new Innovate gauges: water temp, AFR, and boost.


Here are a few original pics of the interior I was able to find.











Some of the first things I replaced were the rotors and brake pads, no pics shown. The wheels I bought are 19” Work Rezax II’s. 19” isn’t ideal, but for the price with tires and just a few hours’ drive away I couldn’t pass it up.

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

The seats are white Mazdaspeed A-specs. I had custom brackets made, but if you or someone you know is selling the FD brackets for the seats feel free to let me know! I have the brackets for the Miata.










My car originally had tan carpet which I loathe. I picked up OEM black carpet from a forum member in Colorado. I bought A/C components on the forum, but never got around to installing them. I know it’ll conflict with my GReddy Vmount kit and need some modifications, but since this is a project car A/C is not a priority. I may actually sell them soon.



Also picked up Car Shop Glow tail lights. I bought the center light, but I had to get it re-done because it was DOA.

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

The car sat for several months last year since it was pretty busy for me and my secondary injectors failed in the summer of 2017. I towed the car last fall to meet up with some cool forum dudes in Colorado Springs I met on a previous trip. They helped install the FFE fuel rails and made custom fuel lines for me. After that my buddy there street-tuned the car, making it more rich which helped my hot start issues. I didn’t want to sit at a gas station after every fill up to wait for the car to cool before I could start it again on my trek to So Cal.

At this time I also switched to Ohlins DFV coilovers and SuperPro bushings (not pictured)

After that trip in Colorado Springs I drove it to So Cal in Oct. From then it sat in storage until I could choose which shop would work on my car and in order to save some money. I had a few rotary shops in mind for the rebuild: Lucky 7 Racing, Neptune Speed, and Angel Motorsports. I visited all of their shops, but in the end I opted for Lucky 7 Racing due to timeline requirements. All were great people though. After getting some rebuild quotes I actually decided to forego the rebuild and get a brand new (not reman) 13B engine instead. Ray Crowe is great and hooked me up. The engine in the car was rebuilt from a low mileage ’99 short block about 7,000 miles prior, but since I was in the process of overhauling the engine bay I wanted to start from ground zero and have a warranty attached to my engine. The drive halfway cross country to So Cal was uneventful and the car ran really well though on the engine I bought it with. I’ll keep the original and open it up sometime and inspect/refresh as a future back up, or possibly even sell it. (If anyone is interested it’s currently in So Cal).

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

The month-long marathon of magic began in Feb 2018:



8 Feb: Towed the FD from storage to Lucky 7 Racing for them to strip the engine bay of its components for paint prep and look the car over for other recommendations.

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

16 Feb: I flew in and towed the car to my cousin’s place for prep and paint. At this time I only focused on repainting the engine bay because of the timeline requirement I had to complete everything under the hood before I had to go back home. The rest of the car could wait til later. Paint prep began.












17 Feb: Prep completed

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

18 Feb: Paint started and completed

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

19 Feb: Tan interior carpet removed. Dynamat sound deadening installed. Black OEM carpet installed (The dash was removed so no cuts were made to the new carpet.)























DEI gold wrapped the back half of the engine bay.

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

20 Feb: Car sent back to Lucky 7 Racing for installation of new engine and bay components. Got the bad news the fabricator couldn’t be at the shop to work on the car this week. By 24 Feb the hot pipe was the only thing stopping the car from being completed. I went back home on the 25th so I told Fris to just take his time as I figured out logistics of how to get the car back to storage.















5 Mar: Fris emailed to say the engine fired up and the fabricator would be in to finish the pipes. I told him I was planning to change my turbo in the near future so to ask the fabricator to make temporary IC pipes for the hot and cold side. That’s why you see non-polished aluminum piping in the pics. I’m saving the GReddy ones for the final setup when the new turbo is installed.

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

10 Mar: Engine bay work completed! I flew in and picked up the car to transfer it to storage. Overall a great all-around experience. Fris, Will, and Diana are all awesome. I’m so glad they worked with my timeline and were very patient and accommodating with my evolving to-do list. I was only able to put 150 miles on the engine since the engine was fired up and a bit more will be driven before I get the new turbo selected and the car tuned. There are occasional idle hunting issues as the idle control is disconnected until I get it tuned. When connected it idle hunts, then idles high.



Running normally




Occasional idle hunting

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

Here’s a list of the new engine bay components: brand new 13B engine; ceramic coated UIM/LIM; updated single-turbo engine harness from Palm Tree Rotary; AST delete and new water filler neck (Rotary Werks [not typo’d]); GReddy Vmount IC and radiator kit; new silicone vacuum hoses; cold air turbo piping; new HPS silicone heater hose kit; new NGK ignition wire set, stainless steel clutch line, FFE fuel rails, new primary/secondary injectors. Also went with the ACT stage 3 street/strip clutch

What’s next? I’ll decide on the new turbo and have it dyno tuned and install the rear diffuser I picked up from Shine Auto. After all that, the car’s widebody quarter panels will be blended to the car, then painted. One of the last things would be to upgrade to a dual oil cooler setup. I’ve got some parts that came off the car that will be posted in the For Sale section.

hadokenny

iTrader: (4)

Nice build! What a coincidence, my car is currently at Lucky7 going through similar process as your car right now. My CW FD actually has been sitting at Fris's shop while I have been collecting parts for my build. Not sure if you saw my CW FD with 99 spec front and rear bumpers while at Fris's. Hopefully I will have mine back in the next several weeks.

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

I saw a CW on the side (wankel1 license plate) which he told me the story about and then I saw the 99 spec CW also. I had a feeling they belonged to someone on the forum unfortunately the whole time I was there was a race against the clock to beat the rain and get out of there so I wasn't able to spend much time other than test drive, pack up my old parts, and go.

Michael

iTrader: (3)

Narfle

iTrader: (16)

Cool seats. Looks like they cleaned up nice? How do they ride?

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

The seats aren't the most comfortable, especially during two half cross-country drives last year. I do like them though. I have updates that were done last summer and fall, so I just need to get around to digging through pics and writing about them. The car is currently down and partly taken apart for the season. It was being prepped for paint, but I'm changing the body kit from the pics you'll see in the next few days where the quarter panels were molded to the car. That's all going to be pulled out in favor of a different kit which won't arrive til April. The wheels (Work Rezax II) will be posted for sale in a month or so. They are 19x9.5 +19 and 19x10.5 +19 according to the previous owner.

7_rocket

iTrader: (6)

Pic's dont work for most of the posting

Narfle

iTrader: (16)

Weird, I think they all work for me.

tomCTR

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

Last summer and fall were dedicated to the exterior of the car. New Shine (FEED) fenders were purchased in addition to molding the quarter panels to the car. After all that work and effort to include priming the components, I made the decision to change the body kit. I put a deposit down on the new kit, so hopefully it’ll be in in the next 3 months. I’m hoping to “unveil” the finished product by early fall after the car goes to paint.

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

Chassis wing:





APR carbon fiber mirrors:







80% solution on the exterior before paint. Weeks after this I decided this isn’t the kit I’m going for, so now I’m waiting on my new kit to arrive from Japan:

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

Installed LRB Speed V-mount undertray, Shine rear diffuser, J-Auto pillowball bushings

av8r01

iTrader: (13)

reserved for pics