definitely wait for it to fully cure before you drive in... i got a little too excited and the tires peeled the paint off because they were too "hot" who woulda thought driving the car in from the driveway into the garage would get the tires hot enough to peel the epoxy =(

 

So things have slowed down with the car (relatively), due the whole purchasing a house dealy-o....but there still has been some progress.

1. I took the car back to Makito at SevenApple to glasurit clear the Feed wing (right over the Afflux sticker too, so its "set in stone" so to speak!). He also helped make some repairs to the paint on the front bumper.

2. Got and installed Shine Auto's twill weave carbon 3-piece front underpanel. I had been running without an underpanel for awhile (since the stock one had gone to sh*t), and I didn't have the heart to install the OE one back on ever since the car was painted. There's some fitment issues to be corrected, mainly some air gaps where the panel meets the front bumper. Corrections will have to wait until my garage floor is fully prepped and I can park the car in, since my parents have started renovating their own house and the garage is inundated with construction materials and equipment.




3. Had a carbon fiber Shine Auto Feed hood painted to match the car color by Makito. Fitment and color is spot(friggin) on! However, even with the carbon fiber construction (vs. fiberglass), there is some hood flap that makes me nervous, particularly on windy days. Which led to me debating on hood pins: what type, and what orientation I wanted to install it in...


4. I decided against using the aerocatch pins, because it had a comparatively large footprint on the hood against traditional hoodpins. I think it could be minimized if the aerocatch were painted body color, but I don't think painting them interlagos fire would turn out all too well either. So I priced out anodizing black a set of sparco hood pins...and realized I could save myself time and headache by springing a little more cash up front for some J's Racing hoodpins, which have a choice of coming in black already. Now its just a matter of deciding how I want them oriented. I'm leaning towards the spot above the headlights, in a horizontal orientation...its something minor for me to play around with.

 

5. Also, with a list of parts to fully refresh the differential, and a bunch of extra diff fluid to break things in and flush the system again...my car gained a new dimension of fun! When we popped open the oem differential, surprise surprise...there were actually chunks missing in the gears.....where did it go?!?








6. But when I sniffed the car and scented a small diff fluid leak, I also found a tear in the driverside rear axle boot So I scratched one thing off my list, and added two more. Axle boot is replaced now, trying to figure out whats causing my small diff fluid drip now. I think its just leaking from the drain bolt, but despite tightening, it doesn't seem to alleviate. Might be a washer issue.




7. And finally, with the car sitting from shop to shop barely run, on the same engine I've driven on since I purchased the car in 2006, and a heavy footed overly zealous Kaaz owner performing the differential break in procedures...I noticed my car had a surging idle, and a hint of sweetness only coolant burning could replicate in the exhaust fumes. A trip to Rotary Reliability and Racing cemented the fact that the engine was on the outs (as well as the 2ndary turbo). So now, my car building thread has finally crescendo-ed to the point where I'll start working on the heart of the engine. I've been trying to avoid this part since it involves a ton of cash in one go....(terrible when you're trying to furnish a home)...but I'll have a new update on parts I'm accumulating in about a month!

 

Carol, good choice on the Glasurit clear..... not cheap but worth it. I sprung for it on my FD during my last round of paintwork as well

Impressive work on the rear diff, you definitely did it right with some high-end parts

I'll send you a PM later about your engine issues

 

the exterior of your car is beautiful and the feed body is my favorite design of all time
I probably wouldnt want to fab my own IC, but if you have the time and dedication, go for it
I hope you can make the engine bay as shocking as the rest of the car

 

@muibubbles: thanks for the warning. i know its set enough (2 weeks) as is...b whenever my epoxy clear finally gets sent to me and it gets applied...looks i'll have another 1-2 weeks wait from that time onward

@gmonsen: thanks Gordon. If only I had less bedrooms and more garage space!

@goodfellafd3s: yup. glasurit all over the car was well worth it. i await to hear your thoughts on my engine.

@potatochobit: i don't know if i have the time these days, but i'm picky enough to dedicate time to building one up with a custom radiator and fan setup. things are progressing slowly now since time and money flow are waning. I hope my ideas for the engine align with the rest of the car as well!

 

I debated about doing my garage floor before moving in... But looking at yours, I wished I did..

 

Car is amazing. Don't cheapen it with traditional hood pins. Aerocatches are hardly any bigger than those and look 1000000 better.

 

Totally disagree. The Aerocatch latches are way too big and stand out in a bad way. Stick with the sparco pins positioned just like you have them above the lights; that's how Scrub has his sparco pins and they look great.

 

I agree with Cabaynes. I haven't seen a single car with the Aerocatch latches that I didn't think to myself "Wow, those stick out like a sore thumb." Stick with the hood pins Carol; it'll look great.

 

I did neither. IMHO I thought the Aerolatch too big and the common hood pins... well....just too common. I also used the generic hood pin type on my old race car and they wore out/bent, etc way too quickly if you are one like me who is constantly opening the hood for oen reaosn or another.

I went with Moroso Low profile latches.

and from a distance they are VERY small





Apologies for the hijack Carol. Your car is STILL one of the best looking out there....PERIOD

FWIW,
Crispy

 

Those look pretty cool, how do they release and lock?

 

Crispy those are very cool! Found them on Jegs:

http://www.jegs.com/i/Moroso/710/39010/10002/-1

Looks like it's just a sliding U that clips around the pin.

 

I was just at Shine talking to Ken about this car! Your car is freakin dope!!

 

love the pick up on the j's racing latches, where did you get them carol ? locally from evasive or something ? I'm looking for something similar for my scoot hood.

and how long did it take for makito to light up your fenders, hood and bumper ? they look near perfect !

 

I agree with Gordon, the AeroCatch latches look great color matched, are much less noticeable, and don't look as cheap as some of the more common latches.

 

That's what I was saying. They're almost flush the body lines and are really not that large. I'd wager they take up the same amount of real estate on the hood as the standard hood pin setup.

 

If I had to do mine again I would probably use dzus fasteners, but I like what crispy did. I kept the factory latch in addition to the hood pins.... I really don't like the way aero latch hood pins look even when they're painted.

 

Carol, the car looks amazing as always. As far as your hood pins go, keep them oriented horizontal. I've unfortunately seen them pull out first hand at 140mph at VIR when oriented vertical and smash the hood into the windshield... not fun when you are trying to figure out where to go. Another thing you can do if you decide to mount them veritcally(or just for added safety), is drill your pin so you can install a cotter pin so it can't pull out. Keeping your stock latch as you have already gives you a fail safe per say with your hood pins, but just wanted to share my experience... regardless of what hood pins or orientation you go with.

BTW, house and garage looks great!

 

Sorry - I guess when the thread moved, I stopped getting notices that people were posting in it

Slevin77: I went with J's Racing USA, they were able to get them ordered faster than Evasive could, for the same price in this case.

I still haven't installed any hoodpins on the car yet, but I did pick up the 1000lb Engine stand from Harbor freight and Pineapple Racing's engine stand adapter in preparation for my new engine Also finally got delivery of the Quikrete Epoxy clearcoat (apparently its not sold in California, so a vendor snuck it in to me by UPS Ground?). Ground finally cured fully, and I moved the rx7 back to the house yesterday

 

car looks freaking awesome!
looking at your and Phil's car makes me wanna go feed widebody
i got a question though, approx. how much clearance is there left on the inside and outside of the wheel/tire setup that was 265/35, 18x9.5 +22 front, 315/30, 18x10.5 +18 rear?
i need to clarify some sizing stuff before i purchase the widebody, please do let me know! thanks!

 

haters gonna hate dawg



aerocatch ftw

 

wow car looks great

 

They do that.

 

Wow, who knew hoodpins are such a controversial topic!
I'm in no hurry - still deciding what I want to ultimately use, but it'll be based on my own taste and opinion As long as I like it, right?