So I was more than half way through my last CW FD build when the unthinkable happened. A lady ran a stop sign and hit my car. Sadly the car was a total loss. This is the aftermath...





The silverlining was that my insurance company cut me a decent check. Luckily I was able to find another clean CW running FD with straight chasis local to me. After picking up my new canvas I decided to build this FD exactly the way I want without cutting any corners. Little by little I will be documenting the build in this thread.

Starting from scratch...




My goal is to build something that imitates the style of Spirit R, but at the same time taking the performance to an even higher level. I would like to keep the body as true to the OEM look as possible with some tweaks here and there with the exterior and interior to make it my own. My philosophy is to keep everything as OEM-like as possible. OEM+ is the goal of this build without going too overboard in terms of its style.

Stay tuned...

 

Some toys I have collected that will be going into the car...


VOLK SE37K wheels. Its a priority I keep the a period correct look for the FD. Sure the newer wheels may be nice looking by themselves but they look very out of place on a 90s Japanese sports car. These are the perfect wheels for the FD IMO. The look great on both the NSX and FD. These were the same wheels I have on my old FD that I will be swapping to my new one. Gotta love the fact that they only weight in approx. 15-16lbs.



Spirit R seats with tilt rails. Must have for goal of OEM+ build. Found these in near mint condition. Can't wait to put them in once my interior is back together. Had RZ seats in my old FD. They were very comfortable despite the padding being worn and beat up. My car will be see both street and track use so these seats are perfect for my purpose.




Nardi Gara 365mm steering wheel. Slightly smaller than the OEM Nardi one. I prefer these to the more popular 350mm wheels due the more finished look. Never a big fan of the bare metal hub look on most aftermarket wheels, so this one seems like a good compromise. Debating weather to recover it in alcantara or leather....decisions...

 

Man, sucks that your other one got wrecked--I was so jealous of that car! What is the mileage on CW #2?

I love your thinking with your mods--I hate bare metal hubs on steering wheels too. Love those Spirit R seats too--they're the only non-standard seats I like. I would replace the seats in my car (why do the stock seats sit so high?), but the red Spirit R thing would clash with MB + Tan. :P

 

Thanks man! The new CW has 110k miles on the chassis. I am swapping most of my parts from my old FD to the new one.

 

I'm normally not too hot on gold wheels but you're right - those fit the era of the car well. Sorry to hear about your previous car but nice to see that you're moving forward with a new build. Best of luck !

 

You cannot go wrong with OEM+ .

CW with a red interior is a fantastic combo too, I'll be keeping an eye on this one for updates .

 

You are probably right. I will try to recondition the leather and see how it turns out. Recovering the steering wheel would cost around 200-300 bux. I can probably get a brand new one for not much more than that.

 

First major thing I wanted to tackle for this build is the paint. The previous owner had the body repainted at a cheapo Maaco. To their credit, the paint finish is actually not bad. However, it has overspray that will make baby jesus weep. I also wanted to do a sunroof delete on the FD. Luckily I was able to score one of the few slick top roof panel left from Mazda. Engine of the car has been removed and is currently getting worked on. I figured this will be a good time to get the car including the engine bay painted as well with the engine out. I sent the car to a local hot rod restoration shop that's got a good reputation for their paint work. The car is in the process to getting repainted. I should have it back in a week or so. 99 spec bumper + spoiler will also be going on at the same time. After that, the engine and single turbo kit will be going back in along with a few performance upgrades. Exciting times ahead!

Here are some progress pic for now...

Engine bay before



Engine bay after with the new roof panel installed...




Progress in the paint booth... As you can see from the rear. I also had a the antenna hole shaved for a cleaner look. I will be using a stealth radio antenna instead.

 

Looking good!

Whats with the quarter-sized holes on the hatch?

 

CW FTW! Good luck!

 

Very nice.

 

Holes for the 99spec spoiler.

 

Looking to get mine repainted...do you mind sharing with us what that ran you? I bought a 94 VR with some pretty deep key scratches...looks like the owner pissed off Freddy Krueger.

 

Depends on how much prep work the shop needs to do. Do the engine bay and door jams, etc need to be painted? Does the engine need to be removed before painting? Are you replacing all the glass and trims with new ones?

Good quality full body paint job will run anywhere from $5k-10k. Mine will probably end up costing $5-6k. I did a lot of the prep work myself and the engine was already out. I did need the body shop to swap the roof.

 

A little update on progress. Car is out of the body shop! Really happy with how it turned out. The shop did a good job with the sunroof delete panel. Looks like it never happened! Now its off to LUCKY7 for installation of engine and other goodies.






Still waiting on my OEM 99 spec lip...put the R1 lip on for now.


Some sneak peak of my interior project...

I always though the rear bins in the FD look cheap. Something about the feel and appearance of the plastic bins that really bother me, so I decided to get some OEM JDM rear seats for this build. Since I got the Spirit R seats, I reupholstered the rear seats with red as closely matched to OEM recaro fabric as possible. I also had horizontal pleads placed in a similar style as the pleads pattern on the spirit R seats along with red contrast stitching just like some of the other spirit R goodies that I will be installing (hard to see in the pic due to lighting). There were also cracks and rips on the vinyl and plastic of side panels that needed repairing due to age/wear&tear. Pretty happy with how they turned out! Really looking forward to see how the whole interior looks with all these pieces installed.

 

Looks great!!! I'll need to get my door jams painted, but the engine bay is still good. I can remove the windows, bumpers and do a lot of the prep work; going to keep my sunroof.

 

Damn that looks so good. I really like the everyone and what you did to the rear panels with the red fabric.

Vince

 

Nice meeting you too Gordon! Seeing your car in person was def a treat.

 

Rear seats look great! Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

Car is progressing slowly but surely.







Just got done putting in some sound deadening. Also installed homelink dimming rear view mirror from miata. Decided to go with red carpets for the interior.

Going to drop the engine and interior pieces back in... stay tuned!

 

nice, I don't miss doing that interior stuff.

 

Subscribed. Looking good!

 

Got more spirit R goodies coming. Just had these calipers rebuilt and repainted.

 

did they use the same Chaste White paint for the engine bay as they did the exterior, or match the creamy light yellow-ish color the engine bay seemed to have? also, what paint shop did the work? my car is in So Cal and I'm looking to do a fresh repaint

 

Same chaste white for engine bay as well.

I believe from factory the engine bay color is same as exterior color just without clear coat but I may be wrong.

Foreign Motors Body Shop | ForeignMotorsBodyShop.com
Body shop is in Temple City. They do mostly hotrod / vintage car restorations.