Here's a Story of a Lovely Lady
04-23-14, 02:28 PM
#1
Here's a Story of a Lovely Lady
In the early and mid '90s I was more of a 240/SR20 kind of guy. My '96 looked like this:
Sometime in the early 2000, I was producing the pilot to a racing tv show that never happened and I met a guy named Emory who would introduce me to RX-7s. I fell in love with the cars and bought my first one in 2005.
It was far from perfect, had high miles and requires a LOT of maintenance to finally get it into a state where it was reliable. Probably the best kind of RX-7 to have as a first one.
Fast forward to 2010. I bought my third RX-7, a manual transmission white '94. It had no mods, lived in a heat garage and had 40K miles. Original everything (except for the wheels)
I had it shipped over in an enclosed trailer.
Like many of us who have multiple RX-7s do, I proceeded to put some of the nicer parts from my previous RX-7s on this white car. I also had the front-end changed from the original '92/93 style to the '99/minor change.
Eventually it would look like this:
But the, spring of last year an errant, delaminated 18-wheel tire hit the car on the freeway:
It doesn't look too bad there, but according to the insurance company there was about 3K worth of damage.
I've started over in the sense that it'll be a bit more aggressive. The car is almost done--or getting close to it. I'll post a few photos in the near future.
Sometime in the early 2000, I was producing the pilot to a racing tv show that never happened and I met a guy named Emory who would introduce me to RX-7s. I fell in love with the cars and bought my first one in 2005.
It was far from perfect, had high miles and requires a LOT of maintenance to finally get it into a state where it was reliable. Probably the best kind of RX-7 to have as a first one.
Fast forward to 2010. I bought my third RX-7, a manual transmission white '94. It had no mods, lived in a heat garage and had 40K miles. Original everything (except for the wheels)
I had it shipped over in an enclosed trailer.
Like many of us who have multiple RX-7s do, I proceeded to put some of the nicer parts from my previous RX-7s on this white car. I also had the front-end changed from the original '92/93 style to the '99/minor change.
Eventually it would look like this:
But the, spring of last year an errant, delaminated 18-wheel tire hit the car on the freeway:
It doesn't look too bad there, but according to the insurance company there was about 3K worth of damage.
I've started over in the sense that it'll be a bit more aggressive. The car is almost done--or getting close to it. I'll post a few photos in the near future.
04-27-14, 02:55 PM
#3
So as my third RX-7, I knew a lot more about what I needed to do to the car to keep it running properly, but also had a bunch of decent parts I wanted to transplant over to the new car.
One of the first things I did was replace the stock suspension with OEM Bathurst R suspension, along with 18" Volk SE-37As (8.5 front, 9.5 rear). The offset didn't require any fender rolling (which I hate) and looked flush (to me).
Another modification, which I consider very important, that you're not seeing is the upgraded ARC radiator and a Power FC.
And here's a shot of the interior a couple of days after I received the car. Looks just like every other stock RX-7 interior.
One of the first things I did was replace the stock suspension with OEM Bathurst R suspension, along with 18" Volk SE-37As (8.5 front, 9.5 rear). The offset didn't require any fender rolling (which I hate) and looked flush (to me).
Another modification, which I consider very important, that you're not seeing is the upgraded ARC radiator and a Power FC.
And here's a shot of the interior a couple of days after I received the car. Looks just like every other stock RX-7 interior.
04-27-14, 11:54 PM
#6
As I mentioned in the first post, this specific FD had ZERO mods (I don't consider the upgraded wheels officially a mod, at least not these). While the idea of a completely factory RX-7 is awesome, I wanted to take care of any potential issues before they became issues.
One of the first "big" jobs done to the car was removing the massive pre-cat/downpipe combination. It was replaced with a KnightSports twin downpipe. I had some old heatwrap from another car and used it here.
The sound of the stock turbos was immediately noticeable after removing the factory piece.
Also, too the time to install a Power FC from my previous RX-7.
One of the first "big" jobs done to the car was removing the massive pre-cat/downpipe combination. It was replaced with a KnightSports twin downpipe. I had some old heatwrap from another car and used it here.
The sound of the stock turbos was immediately noticeable after removing the factory piece.
Also, too the time to install a Power FC from my previous RX-7.
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06-28-14, 05:29 AM
#8
The body work is nearly done on the car so it's time for an update.
As I mentioned, the first refresh on the car was a '99 front end with '99 lip etc. I used all OEM parts except for the vented hood.
For the second refresh the car gets the following parts:
- New '99 front end
- Mazdaspeed carbon fiber lip
- RE enlarged carbon vents
- Mazdaspeed rear diffuser
- Mazdaspeed carbon fiber touring wing (I think this is quite rare)
- MISSING: Mazdaspeed MS-01 wheels (not yet mounted)
- I also had them remove the rear bumper reflector and back-up light (which I'm moving near the rear license plate)
More updates after I get the car back. Now for photos
As I mentioned, the first refresh on the car was a '99 front end with '99 lip etc. I used all OEM parts except for the vented hood.
For the second refresh the car gets the following parts:
- New '99 front end
- Mazdaspeed carbon fiber lip
- RE enlarged carbon vents
- Mazdaspeed rear diffuser
- Mazdaspeed carbon fiber touring wing (I think this is quite rare)
- MISSING: Mazdaspeed MS-01 wheels (not yet mounted)
- I also had them remove the rear bumper reflector and back-up light (which I'm moving near the rear license plate)
More updates after I get the car back. Now for photos
06-29-14, 03:15 AM
#11
Thanks!
The ARC radiator has proven to be great. I had a Koyo on another RX-7 and the fitment wasn't drop-in. With the ARC, it's as easy to install as a factory unit and I don't see temperature about 88. It must be doing something right
The ARC radiator has proven to be great. I had a Koyo on another RX-7 and the fitment wasn't drop-in. With the ARC, it's as easy to install as a factory unit and I don't see temperature about 88. It must be doing something right
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