This is a really interesting build, can't wait to see how it turns out with those rotors!

You can see the seats in this FD...

http://www.modified.com/features/mod...7/viewall.html

I've been curious about Status seats for a while, and those will look great!

Logan sent me some pictures the other day of the slide throttles being built. I think they look killer! Cant wait to see them fully integrated into an intake system :D

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=493437
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=493438
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=493439
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=493440
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=493441

Extremely nice build! I'd love to have a proper set of brake ducts on my car!

Thanks Gordon. Not that I can take much credit for it. It sort of amazes me sometimes though when you can post pictures of off the shelf items like seats or wheels and people go nuts, but custom designed and fabricated parts such as the intake, throttles, header, etc... no one seems to care :scratch:

What swayed you to the slide throttles? Believe they will impact driveability. Are you pport or sideport?

No real great reason for the slide throttle. Hopefully at WOT they will prove less obtrusive and create less turbulence than a traditional butterfly valve, but we'll see. Logan has done some preliminary testing on his own car, and he reports no real drivability or transition issues. But when it comes down to it, Logan was prototyping these and asked if I'd be interested, so it was more of a "sure why not", than anything else. So well see how they do :)
And I'm side port only

So Logan and Matt at Defined are busy trying to finish up another project before diving into completing mine, Ive been changing things up a bit. After all the work and effort I put in to making my AMEs how I wanted, I uhm... sold them :blush: . So to replace, this is what Ive been up to. Ive always loved gold RPF1s on a black FD, but they aren't available in gold 18" sizes. So, I bought a set of RPF1s in the sizes I wanted. 18x9.5 +45 F and 18x10 +38 R, and then dropped them off at the powedercoaters. Just picked these suckers up less than an hour ago. 18" RPf1 in gold hawtness! They look awesome! Honestly my camera (phone...) washes the color out a bit, they look much nicer in person. They will be wrapped in Hankook RS-3, 265/35 and 285/35, also pictured. Just waiting for my new valve stems and enkei decals to come in then off to get mounted. With these I will be comfortably able to use stock fenders and liners, which I like very much.

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=494260
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=494261
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=494262
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=494263

i dooooo love gold....

Love those wheels. Great build too.

AAron, Gordon.. Thanks! I tried very hard to match the color that comes on the "factory" gold RPF1s, and I think the powdercoater did an amazing job.

David, thanks! I really hope to be able to make it down to the get together you guys have planned in May. Looking forward to meeting you and checking out your beast. It will all depend on how soon this gets together and I get some seat time to be comfortable with it and work any bugs out.

This is so awesome cant wait for more updates.

The sun decided to pop out from its hibernation today. In between some yardwork I wanted to put a wheel out and see how it pops in the sun :)

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=494314

Popage.......... achieved ;)

Who let you out of the shop... :nono:

Love gold rims on black car, that exhaust is nice, what does the outlet look like?

Thanks! And the exhaust exit isnt complete yet. I really want to try and loop it back around to exit in the factory location on the passenger side, but due to space constraints that may not be possible. Going back and forth with Logan with some things, so not sure how it will turn out yet. Ill update as soon as it is complete.

Updates?? With all the progress I have seen on Gordon's car I would think yours would be out tearing up the streets by now.

Unfortunately with Logan and Matt basically being a 2 guy crew all of their work lately has been going into Gordon's car. Logan tells me now that his is basically completed (minus the recent setback) mine is next up to get completed and I should have many updates shortly. I hope so, as Ive been trying very hard to distract myself from the fact I keep walking out to my garage and seeing no FD in there. I was actually this close to buying a C5Z last weekend just because its been so long since Ive had a fun car to enjoy. But I withheld from my impulse buy and hope I will be hearing 3 rotor music very soon.

Hmmm the C5Z is a very capable track machine... But the wait will be worth it for the FD.

Sad to see you sell the AME's. I wanted them but went with the Wedsports due to lack of sizes with the AME's

The AMEs are now on Matt's FD I believe. I liked them as well, but for my purposes I'm probably better off with the boring ole' RPF1s anyway. I justify their lack of flair by telling myself how light they are haha. I wasn't really looking to sell the AMEs but I guess Matt fell in love with them and made me an offer I couldn't refuse :) And the Weds look amazing on your car :bigthumb:

So not a ton to report picture wise, but a cool update none the less. First, in thinking of ways to reduce weight without stripping the car down I have purchased a CF hatch and will be installing a lexan window. The hatch is Seibon, havent test fitted yet but Ive heard they fit great and the quality looks outstanding. The lexan is on backorder from Summit so just waiting for that to come in. Im not usually a huge CF guy but it does look really nice. Almost a shame to paint it, but.. well its getting painted.

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=503069
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=503070

Secondly and probably more interesting, the 20B is finally fully assembled! :D Logan was cool enough to put together a little video of the final assembly. One caveat is Logan wanted me to say that a video of engine assembly is not something he provides to customers. Mine was sort of a one-off, possibly because of some "favors" which I was coaxed into..:squint: . Anyways, enjoy:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11g6cb_defined-autoworks-20b-assembly_auto

Love the video Lenny. Engine looks great and looking forward to seeing it all together.

And the fenders were delivered yesterday so thanks so much for that. Perfect timing.

David: Thanks, hope those fenders work out for you.

Gordon: I wouldnt say Im too far ahead of you. Engine may be together but still a good bit of work ahead. Once yours is reassembled its just pop it in and drive :). As for the weight on the hatch, Ive heard conflicting reports so Ill be sure to weigh this as an assembly and then weigh the OEM hatch and glass when its removed. I dont think its going to be hugely significant.. probably around 35-40lbs if I had to guess. But every little bit helps! Id really like to have the car down to ~2600lbs or so without it being gutted or appear stripped down. This hatch has all the provisions for the OEM plastics and panels to be reattached.

If possible can you get a weight of the CF hatch and the steel hatch without the glass? Then weigh the glass and the lexan seperatly. I would like to know how much weight can be saved by just switching to a lexan window and keeping the OEM hatch. I have a theory that most of the rear hatch weight is in the glass and not the actual hatch.

Thanks, Hopefully this is up and running soon:icon_tup:

Wasn't really planning on separating my oem glass from the hatch, but I'll see what I can do. I agree it would be nice to have solid info on weights of those pieces individually.

I have a damaged hatch with intact glass. I may separate them to see the weight.

I have been contemplating the benefits of using a cf hatch but am unsure it will make much difference.

what do you plan to do to keep the lexan from scratching?

Honestly not really sure. Just hoping for the best at this point. Ive seen some that have been installed for a couple years and they dont look too bad. For about $200 for the lexan though if it lasts a couple years before starting to look really bad, I would probably just replace it once in a while.

Subscribed, inspirational build indeed. So many things are right with your setup, love it! Those wheels are ridiculous!

^Thanks! Unfortunately as before, not a whole heck of a lot of progress or anything to report :/ Logan assures me that the car will be coming together very quickly in the next month or so, ..so fingers crossed. Id like to at least get a bit of seat time in it late this season to get things loosely dialed in and iron out any bugs. Then over the winter will be spent tidying up any loose ends, and making everything "as it should be". For at least the past year or so Ive been very back and forth on what I wanted to do about a gauge setup. I love the simplicity and ease of use of an all in one cluster such as the racepak IQ3, but aesthetically it never quite did it for me. So, recently I made up my mind and ordered a set of gauges from Speedhut. This will be one of my first little side projects once the car is returned to my possession. Ive always loved the in your face yellow center tachs on Ferraris.. so did something a bit similar with my setup. 4.5" red face center tack, with some custom logo to remind you whats wailing under the hood ;). 4" GPS Speedo,, and then the basics of oil temp, oil pressure, coolant temp, fuel level and fuel pressure.(they did not have an "off the shelf" oil pressure gauge for 150PSI. It was just 100PSI. The picture doesnt show how it will be laid out, but the word "PRESS" will be replaced with the word "OIL", so it will match the rest of the gauges). The fuel level and pressure will go up on my center speaker dual pod, and the rest in the dash obviously. I did a quick crop and layout of them from the pics off speedhuts website.. will post more pics once they arrive. Im excited to see how they turn out!

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=508947

^Gordon, the red is more of a true "red" than I believe it appears in the image. I like to keep everything down to 2 colors, as I believe it gives nice contrast without looking too busy. My interior is all black with red accenting. I originally wanted to go black background gauges with red numbers/ticks.. but I think overall it would make the interior too dark and I didnt want to feel like I was sitting in a dungeon haha. So I went with the silver background for the rest of the gauges. I think the tach will be different enough to stand out, but not look too out of place... if that makes any sense :scratch:
And speedhut so far has really been great. There are enough options on their site to pretty much get you whatever you want, but if not just give them a call/email and they can pretty much make your gauges however you could imagine.

Gauges came in today. Im really happy with them, quality seems very good. Obviously will have to wait until the car is back to me so I can install, but I'm looking forward to it and think they'll look great. Figured Id just post a picture as I got them as I dont have much else to report.

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=510356
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=510357

Also for those who were wondering, I have weights for the carbon hatch and FAL window:

Seibon CF hatch: 15.2 lbs
FAL Lexan window: 11.6 lbs

So a total weight of about 27lbs. Ill report back with weight of stock hatch/glass once I get it off, unless someone else has confirmed numbers they'd care to share for comparison.

^ The LEDs are in fact shift lights. They are progressive, with 3 yellows followed by a red. You can program at what RPM each light starts to illuminate. There is a second red LED as an overrev indicator that will blink more rapidly I believe.
And yes, all of the gauges beside tach are silver face with red dial/numbers. The picture washes the colors out a bit.

Beautiful gauges!

Nice gauges. Can't wait to see them mounted. By seeing that you got the speedo with the hih bean and turn signal, I take it that you are mounting them strainght to the dash and not like I did mine?

To be perfectly honest, at my time of ordering I didn't realize there was a difference, and a gauge available without the high beam/signal lights. Ill most likely still mount it similar to what you did, but just use the indicators on the gauge. I don't think it'll be noticeable, but we'll see what I decide once I get into it. Thanks again for the thread with your gauges BTW, as I said Ive been back and forth for a while but seeing your pics definitely influenced my decision.

Haven't heard anything in a while. How are things coming along?

I myself haven't heard anything in a while. I had hoped to have the car back as soon as last month, not really sure where it stands at the moment. There are quite a few things on my end to be done so I hope to have it back soon so they can be completed and the car can be ready come spring. Perhaps Logan can give some more specifics on where the car stands and expected completion time.

Did you ever mount the status seats into the car? How's fitment?

Yep, seats have been installed. They fit well. There is a slight amount of rub on the drivers seat shoulder bolster and the door panel, and some rub on the passenger seat to trans tunnel when slid all the way forward. There is a slight amount of adjustment in the rails so both of these may be able to be mitigated some, but I haven't been back to the car to try yet. When its back in my possession Ill fine tune the adjustment, but it isn't that big of a deal.

That's great to hear as these seats are definitely an affordable option for custom seats, which bride sliders did you use? Or would any aftermarket slider work in conjunction with the status mount brackets?

I used Bride R039LF and R040LF rails with supplied bride brackets.

Logan had sent me some pictures earlier this afternoon. I guess not too much you haven't seen yet, but as of now everything is finally buttoned up and ready to be installed back into the car. Its been a long frustrating road with alot of headaches but fingers crossed car should be completed by spring.

Triple disc clutch and 7lb flywheel mated to engine:

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=519557

Custom annular release bearing:

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=519558

Drysump tube setup and bottom plate:

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=519559
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=519560

Engine and trans mated for hopefully final time:

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=519561

Nice engine and gauges, are you hiding the gauge behind the OEM lens or fitting them inside the bezel?

^Thanks. I plan on fitting the gauges behind the plastic.

wow that quartermaster clutch is serious.

a good friend used to be Marketing Manager for them about 10 years ago.

good times.

Haha yea. Clutch is probably rated for about triple the torque I will be making. Also kinda off topic, but everytime I see your username it just makes me think back to my FC days and your TII. Not sure why that sticks in my head. Seems like forever ago.

yeah man!

fortunately, i've moved on and have had several cars since my last FC: 3 SC300s, a G37, and 2 FDs.
but the FC still holds a special place in my heart.

look how far we've come! :)

Ahh, think you can lay a couple of those inside the stock bezel when you get a chance? :)

I always wonder how the revolution black look inside the stock bezel, I like the look of that mounting method but not with the revolution silver.