Team Chihuahua Rocket Bunny RB25 RX7
 

When I was buying the bumper and skirts for the RX8 this kit became available, fell in love with the yellow one that Powervehicles had sold a few years back so bought the kit and threw it into the shed for next year to build a daily.

However as things transpired one of my mates decided to break his 1997 Bathurst Model FD3S and since I knew the car from previous owners and its history I decided to take the plunge now. It has been fully Polly bushed, tein coilovers, red carpet and most of the interior (no seats). There is no running gear in this so I will be looking at fitting something reliable but with enough poke not to let the car down.

On the shopping list down the line will be wheels, running gear, seats and paint. For the moment I have been looking at 1UZFE's (4.0 V8) and M3's as a power plant however there seems to be a lot of grief converting the Toyota lump to manual. Don't expect regular updates on this project as my main focus is still on the SRX8 and I want to get a few bits done with the KP61 while its above in John Stones.

Never realised the sheer size of the kit but soon figured it out :
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Unpacked it and threw the Works under it for a giggle :
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As close as I’ve been to drifting the past year :
https://i628.photobucket.com/albums/...20RX7/0009.jpg
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The minty shell :
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Picked up yet another vent from Mr. Driftkits :)
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Got my hands on a BGW from damo86 so I plan to cut it, extend it and wrap it in carbon and have some legs made up :
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Since I’m getting a lot of bits off Brian he added the Team Chihuahua logo into the vent, it is actually between the layer of fibreglass, I think it looks pretty cool :)
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Test fitted the quarters and it fits in the garage, fit is absolutely brutal but it just means a few more hours work and that the quarters will never come off once fitted :)
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So I broke out the the Meisters and I'm shocked, they have actually been tamed ha, ha...
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They will not be staying on this, they are for the RX8 but dam they look sweet...

So before I started cutting the quarter panels, I wanted to make sure the widearch panels were placed properly. That they would align with the skirts, front wing and rear bumper. To be fair the fit is brutal :( So this will just save me time down the line.

Sideskirts really do step out from the car and even at this height are only 4.5"'s from the ground, car is to be dropped at least 2" yet...
https://i628.photobucket.com/albums/...psf44c4eae.jpg
https://i628.photobucket.com/albums/...ps07d90413.jpg

Wings will take a full day each to get right at least :
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https://i628.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1f4d2213.jpg
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But she will have a nice fat arse on her once complete :
https://i628.photobucket.com/albums/...psa72987d9.jpg

Try go at the quarter panels with the grinder next and get them ready for welding...

For the latest updates on any of the cars as usual just check out :

Had a bit of time free so decided to sort out the clearance for the wheel, will weld it up Monday when I get a chance but happy enough for now :
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Looks like a big project, congrats and good luck! Keep us updated.

looks awesome! subd!

your nehibor getting outa the car in the one picture looks grumpy haha

Will do fella, should be back on this next week hopefully...

Welcome along :)

Just confused more than anything :)

The mock up on the driveway is great, confuse the neighbors.
This will be a fun build. Body work is always cool cus the changes are so visible.

This is gonna be super dope when done.. Gotta be careful with that beaut.

looking forward to see finished car

Ah ya, just need to get rid of the S13 Shell from my driveway first :)

Chop, chop, chop :)

Be a while but hopefully this year.

Well I have been up the walls with work the past few weeks but I have a little update, I finally bought an engine for this pony, I decided to stay with what I know, Nissan. The new power plant is a forged RB25, spec below :

RB25DET Spec 1
Head Polished with Gasket Matched (Westward Precision Engineering)
HKS Camshafts : Intake 254 / Exhaust 264 (Spec’d By Garage D)
New Mahle Forged Pistons (1mm Oversized)
New Eagle H Beam Rods
RB25 Crank Balanced (Westward Precision Engineering)
New ARP Head Studs
New Spool Head Drain Kit
New ACL Race Bearings
New Nissan Full Gasket Set
New Metal head gasket
New Nissan Belt Set
New Nissan N1 Oil Pump
New Nissan Water Pump
Anodised Blue Lightweight Pulleys
New Nismo Low Temperature Thermostat
Garrett GT3037 Turbo Dynamic’s (Turbo Dynamic’s)
Japspeed Manifold
Metal Exhaust Gasket (Summit Racing)
Custom Downpipe
Z32 AFM (Japanese Performance)
Nistune RB20DET ECU
New Crank Case Breather Kit
SARD 280LPH Fuel Pump (Japanese Performance)
New Fuel Filter
Turbo Blanket (Turbo Dynamic’s)
Custom Intake Pipe
RB25 Gearbox
Custom Prop-shaft
HKS Twin Plate Clutch

In the car :
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On its way up to Gripfab ;)
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I want to change the injectors from 550cc to something a bit higher and replace the standard intake manifold, have it looking more like the engine below :
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The aim is for a comfortable 500bhp without pushing the engine too hard.

Definitely going to be an awesome build

Will try...

So I offered up some Racing Harts I had out in the shed, 18 x 10JJ and with a 50mm spacer I think they'll be minty :)
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this is going to be a nice build looking good

I love how the engine is in the back of the van...

I was with you until the engine choice......

^ lol, so true tho...

love the wheels

Thanks mate...

Classy alright :)

Direct strokes for different folks...

:)

Cheers fella...

Poor car is feeling neglected but hopefully she'll be heading up to Gripfab soon to have some fab work done :
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But at least its good for storing wheels :
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...psd67e929c.jpg

And here are some shots of the Racing Harts :

Front 18 x 8.5JJ offset +5
Rear 18 x 10JJ offset 0

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Rear dish 4.5"
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Front Dish 3.5"
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That is a lot of fiberglass. Good luck with the build.

love the racingharts! work meisters are def cool too but everyone and their mother has them now it seems.

lol dog poop

Practically the whole car, hmmm, must get a bonnet now too :)

The Meisters have been kept for the SR20 RX8 :)

I actually got the wheels at good money because they need a refurb and thats what I do outside the day job :) Here it the car they came from, a GT300 Kitted Celica from back in the day. The Racing Harts filled out the arches nicely however these are 5 x 100 so when I have my adapter/spacer machine I can sit the wheels exactly where I want down to the MM ;)

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...27078957_n.jpg

Be careful who you trust to build your engine, so called built RB25, ran for 30mins, opened her up to have a look and found sand in the oil and the so called machined head wasn't exactly right ?! Real pro at work here, good job I didn't trust him and had a proper mechanic strip it down to inspect it. Now she needs some head work, new acl race bearings, polish the crank and oil wash the engine before rebuilding it properly !!! Rant Over...

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I would be hella pissed!

You need to have those racinghearts widened to like 18x12 and 18x13 with 7in lips to be super legit with that bn blister ;)

I as for a while alright :egrin: I'll rock on with what I have for now and maybe change down the line...

So just a quick update, I have ordered the GTR style intake manifold, ACL Race Bearings, Trust Washers, a huge intercooler, 3" alloy radiator and the crank / oil pump is going away to be polished along with some headwork it should turn up trumps :) Its 2k I didn't want to spend but needs must, at least it will be a kick ass engine afterwards :)

Another small update :

GTR Style Intake Plenum arrived from Garage-D :
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ACL Race Bearings and Trust Washers arrived from the states, posted them up to Gripfab :
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And I decided to clean off my wheel polishing workbench :
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So she is all powerhosed down and ready for 6 cylinders, should be going up to Gripfab next week as the RX8 is coming home ;)
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Pulled the S13 shell out of the driveway, RX7 out of the garage and got them ready for their trip to Gripfab last night :
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Should be seeing more of the RX7 come the end of July middle of August, plan is to rebuild the engine, fit it and get her going. So now off she goes :
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In the meantime looks whats back in the driveway to keep me busy ;)

So the rebuild is well under way, a fully forged RB25, what do you think :)

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That's going to be gorgeous!

Still needs more rotary.
But, very cool.

:)

Agreed but straight 6 will do for now :)

Small engine update, said while it was all apart may as well freshen up the engine so the block has gone black and the covers super white, looking forward to seeing her finished now :) May polish up the turbo housing now too.

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Well I haven't posted an updated on the RX7 in quiet a while so I thought it best to check in :) Realistically it has been issue after issue with the build but these are the joys of going custom. As you all know the bearings were in sh*t so the freshly built engine had to be rebuilt. As the piping wouldn't allow the bonnet to close I went for the GTR style intake plenum which has brought along its on problems as it faces the throttle body directly into the back of the light motor but there is a fix being worked.

What took a while to figure out was the placement of the engine and we learned that the RB25 sump just wouldn't cut it regardless of how it could be modified so Brendan S. sourced an RB30 sump however it was too deep and would hit the road so that had to be modified also, arrrgggghhhh....

So yesterday the engine bay got a fresh lick of paint and now it should be going back together, its been a long journey but getting all the mechanical side of things sorted first was key and we're on the home stretch. All this would not have been possible without the aid of Gripfab so massive shout out to John, Brendan and Bryan, cheers lads for converting not only the RX7 but the RX8 and sure we've a KP61 to go at yet ;)

More updates to follow over the next week or two. Tis good to be on the way back with this one, it will be the weekend bus after all :)
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just rolling along! looks good I like the RB25 idea something abit different from the usual lsx and JZ builds. good luck!

Cheers dude, not far off...

Bit of an update :
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Nice and snug against the bulkhead :
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Turbo manifold has to be modified as the turbo sits too high :
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But she looks at home in the new white bay, mock up rockers on to keep the white ones clean for now...
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Intake plenum had to be chopped and modified as it pointed into the back of the headlight, adapter is being made up now for the throttle body as we'll be keeping all the piping 3"...
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Top mounts for the rad and intercooler are made, next up the bottom, hence the wood :)
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More next week :)

So John dropped the bonnet and cut it so it would close, first run looked like this :
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So that wasn't going to work, the only way around it was to chop the exhaust manifold in multiple places and basically make it work better, John did an awesome job cause I still wanted a bit of turbo to say hello ;) So this is where we are at, I was going to build a hump into the bonnet but I may just polish the housing and tidy up the cut line, getting excited now to see her done :)
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love the kit and love the swap. i'm hoping to start this swap in the next little bit over winter.

Best of luck with your build dude...

So while herself is watching X-Factor I'll throw up a few pic's, took a trip up to Gripfab today while on my way to Dublin.

There was alot of this :
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Ice white :
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Is it just me or does the manifold look like spider legs :)
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Pipes have worked out really short :
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The throttle body still has to go back on so the pipe will be about 3inches LoL
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Hello beasty :
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Should be back in the next 3-4weeks, the wiring is going to be a nightmare.

With the help of Japanese Performance this is the new wheel set up for the Team Chihuahua RB25 RX7. Should be here sometime in February :)

Fronts 18 x 11JJ Offset -22
Rears 18 x 15JJ Offset -7 (The widest / lowest offset Meisters available on the market)

https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/...96794981_n.jpg

Happy New Year from Team Chihuahua :)

Roll on 2014 when this car will actually be finished !

Much wide. Very flush

My two projects up in Gripfab, its known as Kruizer's Korner at this stage LoL
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As you can see the wiring now goes on the outside of the front panel, sounds simple but is far from it, you can also see the subframe and how it holds the engine :
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Manifold :
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A nice look at the HKS clutch :
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Car should be back in Limerick next week with some luck.

So not a whole pile to update since my last post, have had a few issues with the wiring and the previous cowboy that worked on the engine but nothing Gripfab can't handle, should be ready for transport back to Limerick very soon :)

John got to make up this interesting section for the exhaust cross over :
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And Dave in JDM Distro sent me on a few pic's of my wheels now that they are ready to leave Japan, will be 8 weeks before they arrive but I'm sure I'll be able to keep myself busy until then with the other cars, anyway enough talk pics :
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Until next time....

Right so after a very long time away, the beast is home, arrived late last night, needs a few niggle little bits done before I can get it mapped but nothing major. For the next few months it will be all bodywork and getting this beast looking as phat as possible, even Romeo came out to have a look, trying to find in the two of the pic's is like a game of where's wally :)
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So I wanted to know how wide it was cause I have forgotten and this was the out come, not too bad. Thinking of keeping the standard bumper with a big ass diffuser.
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Wing is pretty low to the ground. Just a measuring tape on its side.
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Engine looks at home :)
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Oh and its first start up, I think ya need headphones cause it sounds off through my laptop speakers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rGwR...ature=youtu.be

So back to fibreglass, as said much earlier the fit is shocking however with a few bolts here and a heat gun burning the arse out of the kit it started to come right if only the wings it was a step forward.
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Only took 2 hours to get the wings to fit but looks alot better.
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I have to do some trimming around the lights, adjust the hinges for the bonnet, move the power steering fluid bottle and the gaps should be some bit better. Screwed on the quarters too but again they need alot of work, be a while before its all sorted...
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So I had a spare hour and decided to see what way the skirts would line up to the wings and quarters, suprise, suprise, shocking was the answer, there seems to be a pretty decent gap on both sides, now it is even however I don't know whether to cut the skirts in the middle and move them forward to close it or leave them as is, there is strain on them already and I'd be afraid of the joint cracking tbh.
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I reckon the easiest thing to do is use filler to build up the recess however still leave a joint and that should prevent the stress of making the skirts longer without cracking... So I then threw on the rear bumper, worse fitment than the front but I was hardly shocked, was thinking of binning the whole kit until I pushed it back in the garage, the presence of the car in the garage sold me, its going to be a long few months of work but I reckon it'll be worth it :)
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So I spent an hour or so heating and twisting the bumper :
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First issue was the bonnet line, the bonnet wouldn't close, anyone who has fitted an aftermarket from bumper to an RX7 knows that the bonnet line is the hardest to get right :
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So ground back the front of the bonnet just a shave, pinned the bumper back from underneath and finally ground back the bumper just enough, the wings aren't lining up to the bumper at the sides yet but 3hrs was more than enough of looking at this thing :
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Anyways I got some good news yesterday, the Meisters have arrived from Japan, the baked beans diet is nearly over ha, ha... Collecting them in 2 weeks so should be interesting to see the fitment under the BN Sports Kit :)
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So finally got some time to go up and collect the wheels but Romeo wanted to play hide and go seek instead :
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The thing is I bought 11jj's for the front but beside the 15jj's they looked crap so we put some 13jj's in the middle, so now I have 13jj's for the front and 15jj's for the rear ;) Bye, bye 11jj's :
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Phoebe whose Caesar's girlfriend jumped in for a quick pic :) :
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And here she is, 13jj up front -34 and 15jj on the rear :
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http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...psf80a00ce.jpg
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