My "Blue Devil" matchbox racer build 2.0
 

So some back story, I've had the car for almost 7 years, and in that time I drove it for just over a year under its own power, registered, and raced it every chance I got. To fill my void of not driving it I went through a S13, BB6, S14, EP3, M Coupe, and a MKIV Supra with a T67.... all failed to trill as much as the FD.

To make building this car that much easier, I'm located on the West Coast of Canada where auto parts are non-existent even for the LS unless you want to pay ridiculous prices (think 10k for a 98 LS1 with 90k miles on it.... right....) registering a car is only a step below California as far as rules and regulations, and being an artist for a living doesn't mean you always have some spare coin heh. BUT, we do what we have to for our passions and don't look back.

The start:

The inspiring beginning, 13b, auto, picture a nice stream of fire where the hood used to be and it had been rear ended... considering, the bay was not in bad shape at this point.
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Fixed up interior, installed MT pedals, got it some new skin to go over the beaten body, had the rear arches cut and welded for widebody wheel clearance.
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Bough "horrible sponsor" sub-frame from the old forum days... engine went in and was quite crooked like the sub-frames fabricator heh, anyways initial motor install. Did my own oem type of rad setup, short intake setup, and here we can see real C-West sleek lights which are headlight kit 3/5 and then the even worse Evo-R 90mm sleek kit 4/5. Laughs aside, at this point it was just wiring away from firing up.
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New location for fuses etc
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New suspension to replace lopsided blown shocks
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New custom harness work that a friend did for me, I have a 16lb box of wiring that was leftover from what I gave him. Its all tucked and hidden in the chassis for the cleanest bay possible.
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Picked up some authentic Mazdaspeed seats, also you can see my GTech Pro super gauge on the column.
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Bought a hood, car was ready to head off to paint.
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While at paint, something beautiful came in the mail, so I had to immediately have it powder coated in red
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Annnnnd its in full matchbox racer version 1.0!
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Under some sun
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Doing what your supposed to do with your FD, racing! - photos are courtesy of "I think I'm a photographer because I have a SLR so I'm going to charge $5 for each photo in high res even if they look a bit like poo" which is why they are in low res with watermarks heh. Car performed like a champ, I had traffic most of the day with EvoX's playing catch up and AMG cars not moving or getting their slow asses off the track. Not bad for a new car and rusty driver, car did show what parts were lacking to hold up to the massive power increase as well as where some parts were form>function, but it was fun.
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Specs at this point:
LS2 with f-body accessories and T56 - 0 miles, builder said it was good for at least 450whp, same guy who built Kyle's LS3 that was in his race car
220/550 LS6 type cam
Mild head polish
Scarab clutch - I've never heard of this company but its held up no problem
JTR ceramic coated 1-7/8th longtubes
Y-straight 3" exhaust with HKS Carbon-Ti muffler
TR6 plugs
PTM 92mm TB
Aluminum DS
Samberg mounting parts
Stance GR+ coilovers
Improved racing front strut bar
R-Magic rear strut bar
Work LS-105 18x9-0 w/245/35/18 and 19x10-1 w/275/35/19
Full Origin-Lab kit with 25mm front and 50mm rear fenders and RE rear diffuser
Evo-R "poo" sleek lights

So now its onto Version 2.0 - where almost everything in the above list that failed or was a bit too street/show must go :D

And in case anyone is wondering about the thread title, most of the times I have ever posted or show a pic of the car, people seem to say it looks like a matchbox or toy car... I think its due to the color, fenders and giant wheels. Why "Blue Devil"? well, its fucking loud, pant browning fast as any LS FD owner knows, was popping rather large flames until we got it tuned to be not so rich, and like the Wangan Midnight Devil Z, everyone outside of myself and my wiring/mechanic friend who has ever driven it, had had a nasty spin, rear end snap, sliding into the other lane trying to go straight, or some other bogus claim that something is wrong with the car blaming suspension, tuning, my diff blah blah blah

Just adds to the cars character :D - more to come!

I know there will be less love for the car now that pistons are residing under the hood, but as I see it, it was a step away from a wrecker yard and was in fact almost scrapped. If it still had a decent 13B to work with, I would have kept it rotary, and if getting a rotary to pass in this city wasn't as hard as pulling gold from your ass I would gladly have a 20B in it.

But, this is how it is, and it works for me :)

^That is all up to about five months or so ago, so now we move onto the parts collecting and installing things that work better.

Brakes and suspension: The oem ones are great with upgraded pads and rotors, but there is a particular R35 at the track that I want to chase down, so I'm going to have to up my game a whole lot as well as the car lol.

Carbon ducts, Racing Brake front and rear kit with open slot rotors, 929 MC upgrade, RE toe and trailing arms, I've held off installing as I am waiting for a few parts to arrive so new lines can be made and ABS will no longer be in the car.
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And finally my prized Quantum coilovers with external resovoirs and Nova 14k springs upgrade - these things are ridiculous light and the build quality is amazing. I want to keep streeting my car so these are about as crazy as I will go with upgrading the suspension. Bryan hooked these up as well as another super rare part for me, always a pleasure doing business with you man!
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Samberg V2 rad - like the subframe, amazing quality like ass his stuff. Seriously, why get anything else heh
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Onto sleek headlight kit number 5/5 which are carbon fiber RE-Extreme with Hella lights of of Kai. Like Amemiya lights, these require some cutting, but that is a small sacrifice for proper light output and quality.
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Replaced those very bright, very white seats, sitting on fixed Atomic Rex mounts
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Now to more recent work, interior has been pulled in preparation for the full cage!
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The cage will be based off of the RE-Amemiya 2004 street legal track car, and while keeping on theme with proven parts from Amemiya, new front bumper with full carbon under-tray + pro-canards (not pictured), and functional vented carbon hood.
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A proper Carbonetics 2-way for good measure
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All buttoned up and ready to be torn apart, last shots of the engine before it gets yanked out
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FINALLY!
What could be in the mystery box? hmmm......
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I liked the white seats, went well with the blue. Could it be a body part? o:

please take pics of the lightout put.. definitely interested in that.

I liked them as well, I will miss how incredibly comfortable they were. I did over 5000miles in those seats with no complaints.

Oh and nope, not a body part, just something real nasty.....

I wasn't able to find much for showing light output, I must have deleted the pics after I sold the lights. I have these of the cutoff and light itself with 8000k HID. The light wasn't bad, just not a great angle. They blinded people as much as my C-West lights did, but I could see a lot more with them.

Also, the police were not a fan of them...
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You can see how the light is all over the place instead of under the cut off.

Dang, awesome build though. Quantum susp. I sick had some of the has levels on my fd and they were great, keep up the badass work!

Cool build, a lot of custom touches! what else do you have planned?

Love the front bumper man great build thread

that is a very clean setup...what is the color called?

Thanks, I feel the same way about your build man. If I ever get up to whistler with this thing I will give you a shout :D

Thanks!

Its a custom blue that I chose after seeing the Genki 7 at last years TAS when Amemiya changed to the darker blue tone. Its a solid color, no flake, metallic or anything like that.

*cough*

What was in the box...
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Back from some polish next to what was in the other box that came...
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BW S475 and the Ti muffer from the HKS 4" race exhaust courtesy of Bryan from RX-7 Boutique :D The manifolds are ss and the downpipe is 5-4" to mate with the exhaust, so no resonators.... its going to be loud I think....

I went with polish instead of ceramic coat because I am a huge fan of how the ss will change over time as more and more heat goes through it. The golds and blues around the welds should be a nice contrast to my black engine bay and black motor. The exhaust should also change as the head goes through the titanium, but I don't think it will be as dramatic. Can't wait to hear the rumble through that exhaust!

Stunning car.. How was the fitment on those fenders?

wowwow nice parts... this is gonna be beastlyyyyyyy

uhhhh... Might as well call it the drool maker because I'm starting to form a puddle. You really are an artist.

Thank god you're changing that awful bumper. If racing is your goal you might want lighter, less gaudy wheels with better fitment.

With a front mount turbo kit, you may want to rethink the polished vs coated/wrapped scheme. The under hood temps will be astounding.

The Origin-Lab 25mm fronts and 50mm rears fit quite nice, the rears especially had quite a bit of flex in them. I am going wider this time :)

I hope so!

Thanks, going to try and improve the aesthetics and keep the car serious best I can.

I had different goals for the car when I started, hence why the bumper changes are so drastic. The Work LS-105s were 100% for looks, they will be replaced with 275/315 combo and lightweight wheels.

I am definitely worried a bit about the under hood temps, but I want to try a find a few options outside of wrapping if possible, even some extreme hood venting/cuts with reflective tape if it will help. The manifolds are such a work of art themselves that I would rather not cover them up with tape if possible.

They have thermal coatings available in chrome, but I am unsure if it is as effective as less aesthetic options. Also, it won't color shift from heat.

Great thread and some quality parts chosen, good work.

Yes, its been a while, life has a way of delaying some things but I am adamant that this thing hits the track this summer!

I've been up to a few things, and so has the welder. The rear struts have been re-enforced as well as all the contact points and braces for the cage. I have to talk with him again this week to discuss the gusset plating that has to go on, but for the most part, the cage plan has been finalized allowing the dash to come in and out along with the seats, giving relatively oem servicing to those areas.
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I have been busy trying to check and double check what to get in order to suit the cars function best, as much as it could be a drag strip beast, I am building it to blast through corners so I have to keep that in mind.
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Seen above is:
AEM meth kit
Siemans 80lb injectors
Speed in fuel rails
FPR
CJ in tank dual pump with dual Aeromotive Stealth pumps
Earls fuel filters
Pulley to replace the PS one (if Atomic ever gets building racks again...)
And the switch panel to help a bit more in making me feel 5yrs old in a fighter plane when starting it up ;)

Whats left for parts:
- New rad (looking at the universal Mishimoto w/fan)
- Intercooler (looking at Treadstone, twin intake feed at top and single to turbo on bottom)
- AEM ECU
- FPR gauge
- MGW shifter
- AEM Boost solenoid
- Wideband for the Gtech
- New wastegate spring (mine is .374 (5.43 PSI) if I plan to run around 8-10PSI I need a higher one correct? re: boost creep)
- oil press, oil temp, boost, and water temp gauges
- possibly accusump along with misc small fittings etc ( It would have to plumb into the rear intake as the pan fittings are taken up with the oil cooler, I'm not sure if the rear of the intake has enough room for it...)

The rest is exterior which is less important along with wheels, I know what those will be so I'm not thinking about them right now.

If anyone has any advice on the build or can recommend where to get said parts that remain please let me know :)

ughhh this car is soooo bossssssssssssssssss!!!!