DREAM PROJECT CAR - SUPER RARE FEED Afflux v5 Wide Kit!!
 

Hello All,

So as per my new member introduction; I recently began making my dream project a reality and would like to share my progress with you all. I will update as often as I can and will answer all questions and appreciate your feedback. However please be patient if my build updates are slow as this is an expensive project and I want it done right!!


So a little history:

I got my first FD RX7 in my early twenties. It was a clean 1999 with a fairly subtle HKS bodykit, a Mazda Speed high mount wing, RE Amemiya vented Hood, RE Amemiya Wheels and a stock motor. Over the course of about three years I gradually modified this car. But due to my young age, limited knowledge, limited funds and the rite of passage that is an unplanned engine rebuild; the project was always a compromise.

As the story so often goes, life happened and I ended up having to sell the car for a huge loss. However, the seed had been planted and I was now totally hooked on rotaries!



Several cars later and fast forwards to my early thirties…….

I had done a lot of research and a lot of obsessing over the FD3S RX7 during this time. I knew that my next build needed to have no compromises and the car needed to be a keeper as there was no way I wanted to lose money on aftermarket parts again.

My original plan was to purchase a clean stock car with low mileage and build from there. So throughout my late twenties and into my thirties I had been amassing all the parts I needed for my next build.

In our two bedroom condo I managed to cram parts everywhere imaginable, to the point that we had a fullwide arch kit and a spare 13B block in the guest bathroom on permanent display……….(yes my wife is very patient and supportive!).

So the wide arch – after much deliberation I decided on a full RE Amemiya AD GT kit including fender mirrors and everything. As mentioned my last RX7 had HKS kit on it, but I had always wished it had wider fenders for a more aggressive look. I researched many kits,some were ignored due to being damn ugly (Rocket Bunny, RE Amemiya Super G) andother due to cost (Veilside Fortune). My two top contenders were the R-Magic kit and the RE Amemiya AD-GT that I bought. I liked the R Magic kit because so few people have it, but I ended up going RE-A because I felt that it kept more true to the stock lines of the FD.

In 2013 I changed jobs and met a new friend, as coincidence would have it – a friend who was also a massive car guy. Turns out that he regularly imported cars from Japan and as time went by he offered to help me import an RX7 knowing that the money saved by importing would drastically help accelerate my project.

So in 2016 I signed up to gain access to view the auction house websites and began checking the cars coming up for sale and noting the prices, condition, mileage, modifications etc. (If you have never done this I highly recommend it! If nothing else it allows you to dream about what you might do with that lottery win!).

After a lot of searching it dawned on me that instead of looking for a clean stock car, I could stand to save a lot of money (to use elsewhere on the project!) by purchasing a vehicle with some of modifications that I was planning to do already installed. Specifically, the major savings seemed to be the cars with wide arch kits already fitted. The cost of a wide kit is very expensive (and I already had the RE Amemiya one at home), but the real cost is fitting, prep work and paint. Not to mention working out the wheel offsets and suspension setup. So I figured, if I can find an RX7 with a full RE-Amemiya wide arch already professionally installed then that could be a major win.

I expanded my search to include modified vehicles and was really surprised by some of the crazy cars built in Japan! Time went by, exchange rates changed (for the worse) but I was lucky and got some bonuses at work and my car fund grew. By late 2016 I still had not made a purchase and as winter drew closer I began to abandon the search with the intent of restarting just before spring of 2017.

Then one morning in October 2016 my friend (the one who imports cars) sent me an email……it simply said “Crazy Mazda at auction”:


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Original Auction Photo - This is all I had to base my bid off!

That picture blew my mind. :nod:


It showed the meanest looking FD I had seen sporting a wide arch kit that I did not know existed. Why did I stop checking the auction houses?!

I immediately responded with “There is a lot of $$$ there. What did it sell for? Or is it yet to hit the hammer? I am interested! Starting with a base like this could potentially save me a lot of$$$”

The response was not good, “Already sold - $21,924 L”

I was gutted. I then proceeded to do some research and find out what that body kit was. It turns out that it was a Fujita Engineering Afflux v5 kit, which is super rare (only 12 made to date) and way out of my budget as it costs more than the Veilside Fortune Kit. Whoever bought that car got the deal of a lifetime.

This news sucked. I was now completely obsessed with a kit I could not afford and found my RE-Amemiya AD GT kit boring by comparison. I began obsessively checking the auctions again.

Less than a week later I was very surprised to see the same Fujita Engineering Afflux v5 kitted car up for auction. Turns out that the $21,924 was the highest bid when the auction ended – but the reserve was not met! So the car had not sold and this meant I still had a chance!!!!

After lengthy conversation with my friend, his contact in Japan (Mark Bremner at Brave Auto) and of course my very supportive wife, we decided on a max bid price and waited………

Auction day came and I secured the highest bid….but did not meet reserve. Being the highest bidder allowed Mark to see the reserve and enter sale by negotiation.


Turns out the reserve was much higher than my current "highest bid", in fact the reserve was actually my agreed maximum…..and I needed my max to also cover auction and agent fees. Now bear in mind that all this happened while I was asleep in Canada so on the face of thing this is not good.


Now, Mark being the awesome guy he is, decided (cheekily! :lol:) to stretch my agreed maximum a little in order to submit a bid at the reserve price, but he expected them to counter and I would have had to bow out.

Turns out I was very lucky! They did not counter and I secured the car for about $1,000 over my max price. Normally an agent would not do this but Mark knew how much I wanted this car and in the grand scheme of this build, $1,000 is nothing. Suffice to say I was ecstatic!!

So, its October…..it’s already below zero here in Canada and I just bought an insane car from Japan….now what?!

Mark to the rescue! Being the great guy he is, Mark offered to store the car at his lot in Japan until the spring here in Canada. To help me cope with the long wait for the car Mark also made a fullwalk around/test drive video of the car and published it to YouTube. I think most of the views are mine!

So that’s the beginning of this story.


There is A LOT more to come!!! There have already been significant developments to this project and I will be continuing the updates.

Very excited about this build. True work of art!

So a minimum of 6 months waiting to suffer through…..this will be rough……how to keep busy???

Well it turns out there was a lot to prepare for the car’s arrival. Thankfully I had my friend to guide me through the process. First job was easy, choosing an Import Agent at Vancouver Port, my friend highly recommended Al Thompson of Thompson Logistics and I agree; he is a great guy. So job one – DONE!

Next was finding a local shop to do the OOP that I actually trusted with this car. As luck would have it (I guess everything has a silver lining) I recently had a bad experience with my local mechanic on my truck. That forced me to change to a different mechanic in the area and he does a great job. So when I approached him about doing the OOP on a RHD car it turned out one of his employees also owns cars from Japan (Skylines)- Perfect!

The most important job was still to come– finding a good rotary tuner to setup the car for Canadian Fuel. Now this was interesting, as you can imagine there are plenty of opinions on this topic. Long story short - I found a shop that I am very happy with - ForceFed Racing - and bottom line – THEY ARE AWESOME!!! (I will post a more detailed review in the Canadian Tuners section).

With everything set up and knowing that the car required dyno time and several mods to achieve a safe tune on Canadian fuel, I realized that I needed to review the hoard of parts at my house….this was a perfect winter job!

After scrutinizing the video Mark made (over and over and over…….) I was able to determine what I no longer need and what else I needed to buy.

After several months of shopping (and selling) I managed to fill the closets in the guest bedroom, added a Bride bucket seat to the living room seating area and had collected the rest of the parts* I wanted for my build.


*Pictures will follow once I get them off my camera!

that's one sexy FD

I saw the YT video a while ago. Vert excited to see your build thread.

First batch of parts just before hauling to ForceFed:egrin:


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Christmas!!!!

Nice!!
Now you need that feed speedo cluster to go with it :)

I wish I could find a black FEED speedo cluster :(

Thinking I may just get some custom gauge faces instead....we will see....

Shipping...
 

So spring finally rolled around and I was able to get Mark to sort out the shipping.

The car was loaded onto the Virgo Leader and I obsessively tracked its route from Japan, via the USA and finally to Vancouver Canada (that's after I was fooled by it's ETA to Vancouver USA....:lol:).

I was super worried the whole time as I was very concerned about loading/unloading on the port ramps with the car being so low.

The car cleared customs with no issues and I made the trip to port with Ben from Frasier Valley Imports - If you ever need a low ground clearance car picking up he is your man, his truck is super slick with the way the whole deck moves onto the ground.

So after over 6 months of waiting I finally got to see the car and if it had indeed been damaged during loading and unloading.....

Thankfully it had only gained some curb rash on one of the rims (annoying but not as bad as damaging that front bumper!). Unfortunately, for those of you that watch the Brave Auto YouTube video I linked.....someone stole my umbrella :lol:

So here is the car is on the day I first saw it (filthy!!!):


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And loaded:


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We then hauled it to ForceFed but before we could do any work I had to wash it and inspect the body for any damage that may require insurance claims.

It sure needs a good polish but it already looks better:


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So the plan from here was to check the mechanicals, bolt on my parts stick her on the dyno and be on my merry way.....but unsurprisingly that is not how it went down.....

After getting the car up on the lift and putting it under the expert scrutiny of Marko and Taylor and Robb, we could find no sign whatsoever of the alleged rebuild. With 140,000 km on the clock I was not about to take any chances.

Less than a day after I first saw the car at port the block was out:


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That's right - the whole exhaust is titanium!!!

The block was opened and was rammed full of carbon.

After a night of cleaning there was a silver lining....the block (minus one rotor) was in immaculate shape, a perfect candidate for a quality rebuild.

So what now......well step one.....budget - now that's gonna need a re think......


Basically pulling the block had drastically accelerated my plans for this car. I took a night to sleep on it an decide what I wanted to do.

The decision - lets make the powertrain worthy of that body!!!! :egrin:

Well after a sleep and a chat with my awesome wife we had a plan!

But I am not going to spill the beans now, you just have to keep reading!!! :egrin:

I'm not listing every part used but if you see something interesting or have a question please ask away!

So that red engine bay - it just had to go, it was awful....

Thank you Jared :icon_tup: (https://www.instagram.com/nismos13.5/) it now looks MUCH better:


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Next came a bit of a delay as the powder coater was very busy........

But boy were these ever worth the wait!!!!!!!

Big thanks to Dylan at TopCoat (https://www.instagram.com/topcoatpowder/)


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Purple Illusion - DAMN!!!!!

Those SakeBomb Garage Dual Oil Coolers look pretty mean too!!

Then came the block, huge thank you to Marko, especially for his magic on the porting!!!! :egrin: :icon_tup:


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Getting there.....


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Some quality custom fabrication in the trunk, big thanks Taylor!!!!

Custom Methanol tank and my super lightweight (9lbs) Antigravity Lithium Battery:

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Now things are getting really awesome!!!!!!


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As if things weren't already amazing.. it only gets better!

Amazing car!
When I was in Osaka 3 years ago, my only item to do there was to visit FEED Engineering. Great guys, Fujita-san was a awesome host, and gave me a ride back to the train station in his RX-8 powered Miata.

If you ever decide to swap out a few things (FEED exhaust, floor mats), then I would gladly take them off your hands!

Will you be at the 7s Day with this thing at ForceFed? It is looking awesome by the way, I hope I can see it in person.

Thank you and yes that's the plan!

Man that would have been awesome! I have not made it to Japan yet but one day I hope to visit!

The exhaust will be a keeper, being solid titanium front to back the thing is so damn light anything else would be a down grade! I am toying with the idea of getting custom titanium duals for the rear section, like the ReinHard dual cannons but well, much lighter!!

As for floor mats etc, some of the FEED parts will be for sale mainly just due to preference (ie plain black FEED mats vs red checkered).

I will post any for sale items accordingly on the forums but can give you a heads up first :icon_tup:

Thanks for the support! As you can imagine this project is already very expensive and continues to snowball, but I really want to do the car justice :nod:

Subscribed! Beautiful build going on here

:icon_tup: Thanks!

No major updates today - lots of work going on to get ready for 7's day but no photos.....hopefully tomorrow!!!

Did get some stuff in the mail, small but will make a big difference :nod:


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7's Day Teaser!
 

7's Day Teaser! :icon_tup:


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Getting ready for 7's Day!!!

The small details certainly matter and you're doing this car justice! How have to dealt with the tire rub?

Unfortunately I have not fixed the tyre rub.

We had a look at the front fenders to see where the rubbing was occurring. It is right on the frame behind the OEM headlights . It is caused by the tire width and there is nothing I can do without either cutting the frame or going to smaller wheels.

It only rubs at low speed when on heavy lock to park etc, so its pretty low risk. My wiring is no where near that area so I will just have to keep an eye on the liner. Worst case the tire takes extra wear if it hits the frame but i wont let the liner rub that far through.

But if anyone has any bright ideas please let me know!!

You have a very nice build going here, love the purple and I hope it comes out just as planned.

My suggestion for the tire rub would be to drop to a 19 or 18inch wheel to eliminate the rub. You wouldn't loose anything concerning handling and it would probably improve it to be honest.

You could keep the width front/rear due to the kit with a wider wheel and go up in profile from the 35 front/25 rear respectively to 45/35 setup or 45 all around, never understood the smaller profile in rear for the FD but I'm sure there's a reason.

Those are nice wheels, but 20 is a bit large imo for that car. Whatever you decide to do I hope it works out.

RHD Dreams
 

T. Good to meet you at Force Fed Sevens' Day open house. Great to see someone so invested in building out an RHD. Certainly a challenge and inspiration to all the builders, young and old, on the Westcoast.

Thank you for the comment!

I am toying with the idea of a second set of wheels (18") for the road and keeping these for shows. But to be honest I love how these look on the car. Also as these are single piece forged, they are insanely light, even though they are 20" I expect my choice of 18" wheels at that weight will be limited.

Anyway, once I get it running I will see how they feel on the highway.

As for the smaller profile in the rear - its because the rear tires in FD's are usually wider so a smaller % is required to achieve the same sidewall height as the fronts.

You too! Always nice to put a face to the name on the forum! I loved seeing your FD, so clean!!

Such a good group of people passionate about rotaries in the area. I wish I lived closer so that I could take part in more of your events!

Keep in touch!

7's Day at ForceFed
 

Well this was my first ever car meet and turned out to be a great one! :icon_tup:


I had an awesome day and really enjoyed meeting everyone. Thank you all for the kind words on my car, that appreciation definitely helps motivate me to keep working hard at my day job to pay for this build!

I hope you all keep in touch - I am terrible with names but never forget a face (or car) so I am sure I will work out "who" you are!

As those of you who attended know, the car still needs work before it will run (wiring, fuel system hookup etc) but here are some pictures from the show that provide a good idea as to what the finished engine bay will look like.

I think the purple changes colour quite nicely depending on the intensity of the light:

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Yellow Pops
 

Once you have seen the yellow filters in person you can't imagine going back to something more subdued. It's a great juxtaposition.

Funnily enough the yellow purple/contrast was not planned! :lol:

The filters supplied by HKS were yellow, so i bought one of each colour they offered so that i could choose once they were on the car.

But when i opened the hood for the first time i knew instantly that the yellow had to say! It really does pop and I love it! :icon_tup:

Very cool project!

Nishi San is very pleased that the car went to the right owner, and is very impressed with what you have done so far!
Keep up the great work!

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Awesome, thank you for sharing those photos!!!

So are in touch with the previous owner?!?! I would be very interested to speak with him.

I am happy that he feels the car went to a good home. I know how it feels to sell something you put so much time and money into. It certainly will be looked after and given the attention and care it needs for many more years to come. I have been saving for this project for many years and intend to do things right.

It must have been hard for him to part with this beauty!

FaceBook
 

So for anyone wishing to share this build or contact me more easily, I have duplicated this thread on FaceBook:

www.facebook.com/feedafflux/


This forum will be my primary build log with FaceBook updated second. I just wanted another avenue to get some publicity on this special car!

Thanks for the support so far! :icon_tup:

Famous in Japan
 

Famous kit in Japan it seems.


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Cool! Where did you find that?! :scratch:

I read an article about that silver version a while back, it is actually the
DD of the owner of FEED!

Tuner Bibles
 

The magazine is one of the number of "tuner bibles" that come up for auction on ebay from time to time. I won this one with a low bid. It is pretty comprehensive. It has separate write-ups on all the kits current at the time. Also a catalogue of aftermarket parts which is fascinating. The section on "troubleshooting" frankly lists out many of the issues with the car that we have all come to be very aware of. Equally frank is the buyers guide.


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(Picture updated.)

Did you really upload a blurry picture that no one can even see? Behave yourself sir