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Hello all, So I have been a member on here for quite a while now and have popped up with posts and parts for sale but haven’t really posted anything about my RX7 yet. Now I have stripped it fully down and have actually started to make some progress on it, I thought I would start a progress thread to document the progression and so you can all see what I am doing/hoping to do with the project.
So, early 2017 I decided I was going to bite the bullet and stop just talking about getting a RX7 and actually pull my finger out and get one. As we are all aware prices have been on the rise for good examples with decent engines, but to be honest, I wanted a project that I could eventually make my own and have exactly how I want it. This led me onto looking at rolling shells that did not have an engine, one to keep the cost down a little bit and also the fact that I was still toying with the idea of a 20b project.
After a few months of searching and not managing to make a deal on a couple of shells, I managed to find a shell, in yellow, up near Manchester. I went to view it and had a good chat with the owner and decided that this was the shell I wanted and I was going to go for it. A few months later, around August time 2017 and it was time to collect my shell and take it back home so I could start to make it my own.
Very soon after I got it home and parked up I began to strip parts off of it and advertise them for sale as I knew I was going to change the whole look of the car.
During the time I was stripping it down and selling parts I began to know the direction I wanted to go with the project, and this was a stripped out track car that was still road legal. I had a good idea of what I thought I wanted the exterior to look like and began researching for ideas on the interior.
The first couple of parts got bought which were a RE-Amemiya AD9 bonnet, aero catch bonnet catches and a MazdaSpeed GT-Concept front bumper.
There is quite a lot to update in here as I have been lazy and not posted, so there will be several big posts to start until the thread is up to date, then I will update as and when progress happens.
During the time I was stripping it down and selling parts I began to know the direction I wanted to go with the project, and this was a stripped out track car that was still road legal. I had a good idea of what I thought I wanted the exterior to look like and began researching for ideas on the interior.
The first couple of parts got bought which were a RE-Amemiya AD9 bonnet, aero catch bonnet catches and a MazdaSpeed GT-Concept front bumper.
I also managed to find a genuine set of R-Magic headlights which I bought to add to the aggressive look I wanted.
I also have a LRB demister vent, passenger vent delete, centre vent dual gauge pod and blank carbon fibre HVAC and gauge panels that will get cut to hold whichever dash and switches I decide on.
And the dash fully flocked, which now makes it look like this, just needs some more trimming to fit around the roll cage I now have.
Sticking with interior bits, I purchased two Tillett B6 carbon fibre bucket seats, which will match the whole theme of track car/carbon fibre everywhere. Love the look of these!!
Final part for the interior for now, until more recent updates, which I don't have many photos of now, but I did swap shells (HUGE mistake in the end) as this already had the flat floor in the boot and a roll cage etc, which is the direction I am going, so it made sense for the deal to swap, hindsight and a lot of bodyshop bills, a new roll cage and more work still to be done, I now realise this was the worst thing for the project I could have done.
But, it happened and I am still moving towards the goal of getting this finished to a very high spec, so annoyingly, it just added a lot of expenses to the build and a lot more time!!!
The short story was the guy was a cowboy and the cage had been made from what seemed to be scaffolding poles, they weighed a tonne!! And all the other jobs he had done were of very poor quality, which I only realised later down the line, when I got it in better lighting, as his workshop was very dark and I incorrectly trusted him.
I had ordered the TCP MAGIC Ultimate TT carbon kit, but then COVID hit and shipping kept getting delayed due to the pandemic, however the Battle Aero chassis mount wing did manage to arrive before everything got shut down.
Had been struggling for ages but finally managed to get hold of a removable slam panel from DM Motorsports.
And also got a radium fuel cell which is mounted in the flat floor of the boot. Wanted to make a feature of the fuel cell so this is now mounted flush so when I get a FCST it will be a sort of feature of the boot area.
Now a lot of the smaller bits are out the way, it is on to the extensive body work that I had to get done in order to fix the mistakes and poor workmanship from the previous owner and to get this up to the high standards I wanted ready for when the TCP Magic kit to arrive.
So firstly it was a case of flattening all the raise lips from where the rivets had been ripped out when he removed his wide arches. My bodyshop flattened them down and welded them back up to cover any holes that were remaining to hopefully prevent issues later down the line.
I also go the headlights hydro dipped and the covers painted in the potential colour that I was going to have the whole car resprayed when it got to that stage.
Crushed carbon dipped bodies with Aston Martin Sunburst yellow spray on the covers. I loved this colour and knew that it would make all the carbon on the TCP kit stand out so much, so this is the colour the whole car will be, eventually..
Very nice! Enjoyed reading about your progress. I'm in the preparation stages of something similar, so I've got a few questions.
Would you happen to have some more photos of the flat floor in the rear? Have been loosely considering the addition of a fuel cell but would need a firewall and all the classes I want to use the car in allow the use of the stock fuel tank, so I will probably leave it be for the foreseeable future.
How are you planning to mount your dashboard now that the stock bar with the mounting posts is no longer present? I've seen several caged examples and can't figure out how people are securing them other than to the threaded posts that are near the defrost vents. Having a bit of trouble understanding how it would be done.
What size fuel cell did you go with?
How did you mount your pedal assembly? I had initially considered a floor-mounted setup but am now evaluating an overhung assembly due to packaging and the additional pedal ratio available in those configurations.
So the previous owner of the "new" shell decided he was in love with carbon skimming everything (probably to try and hide all the problems) so the next job was for the body shop to remove all the skim and then the resin that was used, which was a huge time burden but one that was necessary to get the body back to how it should be. Once all the rivet holes had been welded they were then ground down and a quick coat of primer applied to prevent rusting before more substantial work happened.
After what seemed to be forever, my TCP Magic kit finally arrived and we got it test fitted briefly just to give an idea as to how it was going to look and how much wider it was in person that a standard arched body. To say I was excited and happy to get the kit test fitted was an understatement!!!
The bonnet had also had some work completed on it too, as there was some slight problems from when I purchased it, so these got sorted as well as the holes cut correctly to accommodate the chassis mount wing from Battle Aero.
Next up was to completely strip another bit of bad workmanship, which was the painting of the whole engine bay, stripping it back to bare metal and then bringing it back to life by spraying it Aston Martin Sunburst Yellow, the same as the lids on the R-Magic headlights. As with most things on this project, it was another big job that uncovered more things the further the guys went, but all is now rectified and looking pretty damn good!!
Another job, another surprise!
When the guys began prep to get ready to be able to blend the rear arches in to the body, they came across a tonne of filler work which was covering the aerial delete that had been done previously. This resulted in all the filler being removed, work being done to the aerial delete and then getting it ready to actually accept the new arches.
During this time they also realised that the work that had been done to cut the arches to allow for a wide arch kit, had been done extremely poorly (I will try and find photos) so again this was all removed, re-welded and then seam sealed.
A lot of prep was also going in to the rest of the body to get it ready for primer.
At some point during all this, I managed to meet up with Jonny and have a look round SEMA, which was insane! Had a good look at both his RX7s. Some of the cars that were at the show were insane and going back again at some point is an absolute must!!!
With the old cage being cut out and thrown away for scrap I ordered an AST Roll Cage V4 NASCAR cage, and then with that being installed I also got a new flat floor made with the addition of the Radium fuel cell.
And that brings me up to date with where I am with the build. Albeit this thread may not be 100% in order, but you get the idea of what has happened and where it started and where we are now..
So now the car has everything removed from underneath as I am in the process of replacing all bushes and pillow *****, as well as hopefully get a new brake kit and coilovers, so this is all done while I wait to get the car in to a new body shop at few months in to next year, when the complete overhaul of the exterior and interior will happen and it will look like I want it to!
And finally, a pic with the seats placed in to the interior, just to give an idea as to how it will look when they are fitted.
Very nice! Enjoyed reading about your progress. I'm in the preparation stages of something similar, so I've got a few questions.
Would you happen to have some more photos of the flat floor in the rear? Have been loosely considering the addition of a fuel cell but would need a firewall and all the classes I want to use the car in allow the use of the stock fuel tank, so I will probably leave it be for the foreseeable future.
How are you planning to mount your dashboard now that the stock bar with the mounting posts is no longer present? I've seen several caged examples and can't figure out how people are securing them other than to the threaded posts that are near the defrost vents. Having a bit of trouble understanding how it would be done.
What size fuel cell did you go with?
How did you mount your pedal assembly? I had initially considered a floor-mounted setup but am now evaluating an overhung assembly due to packaging and the additional pedal ratio available in those configurations.
Keep us updated, would love to see how this goes!
Thank you, I ran out of images yesterday so had to wait and continue today, so hopefully you like the rest of it!
I have now uploaded images of the new floor with the mount that is to hold the fuel cell, if you require more let me know and I will see what I can do. The fuel cell I believe is the 14 gallon one.
The dashboard I am going to get some custom mounts attached, just before the body shop respray the interior, so then I can get it mounted, may need some mounts attaching to the inside of the dash shell but I am not 100% sure yet.
The pedal assembly was the first part of the car that I noticed was done to an awful standard, and have since been removed, if I was to get another pedal box I believe I would go overhung as I think floor mounted would be more trouble than it is worth.
Now this thread has been started I will make sure it stays updated, I was just being lazy and didn't want to start it..
This is coming together nicely - best of luck Briggsy
Thanks! It is taking forever at the moment but I recently swapped jobs and have more time and funds available so hopefully some decent progress can get done now!
Originally Posted by Narfle
Serious machine coming together. Love the door bars and the fuel cell.
Thank you, I love the door bars as well, so much more aggressive (and hopefully safer) than I thought and definitely better than what I had before.
So had a few parcels recently, all related to my suspension overhaul. Got the full set of Super Pro bushes, got a front and rear sway bar as well as I didn't have a front one anyway and the rear one was cut at both ends so was completely useless!!!
Also got my pillowballs from Sakebomb Garage, with all new dust seals, just waiting on the circlips to arrive to complete the set.
Next up will be to get all the control arms and subframes sent off to get powdercoated, then I can start to rebuild it all.
07-16-23, 11:20 AM
