so i was talking to my friend's dad, and he wants to see my rex looking like an old imsa, specifically roger's rex. so i'm taking him up on it. i just have some questions and ideas and need some input. biggest problem is wheels. i was lookin for some wide mesh wheels to fill out the widebody. probably like 10" in the back and 8" in the front. does anybody know where i could get 4x110 wheels that are mesh and wide? next, where could i find racing seats that look a little older, like an old imsa, and put them in rex? i'm thinkin maybe ebay, but i dont wanna cheap out. and roll cage, what's the best looking roll cage and will fit in rex pretty nice? for the dash, would i have to get someone to make a dash like this? or could i buy one somewhere?

for body repair i will probably go to a close shop and maybe build some of my own custom stuff like front splitter. i'm still not sure on body painting design, but it might just stay yellow and have sponsor stickers on it and some black trim, like on spoiler. if u guys have any input for rex or have some ideas, let me know. thanks a lot.






there is no more center console. and the interior is glossy grey, not primer












engine bay needs to be redone and painted.

the car's engine is a 12a, i believe bridgeport, probably gonna up that to PP in the near future, has headers, mikuni carb, K&N intake (might redo intake so i can get air flow through fog light holes in front), NGK ignition set (plugs and wires), MSD blaster coils, had a viper alarm system ( that got torn out by me, hehe), AC got taken out, holley fuel pump (veryyyyy loud), and im not sure what else has been done to it by previous owners... but my favorite feature is the widebody.

 

since you're nearby you should talk to the man himself, his car changed over the years.

he started in GTU, and as the rules evolved, so did his cars.

his GTU car from 82, which is 12a bp tube frame, or 12aPP stock tub, depending on when and where
http://www.pbase.com/mwphoto/image/38382437
http://www.pbase.com/mwphoto/image/23875985

note the kent racing body work...

by 84 he was running the brochure car in GTO, which would be 13B PP

http://www.pbase.com/mwphoto/image/24644622

this angle really shows the "tube frame" construction of the car, the roof is dropped, the nose is dropped

in 85 the car had those neat fenders

http://www.pbase.com/mwphoto/image/38231436


the GOOD news is that you can still get the majority of the fiberglass from mazda still (they list it as available, i checked the part numbers about a month ago)

also if you look close they all were running 5 lugs

for the safety things like cage and seat, modern is better, most vintage racing kind of want you to upgrade anyways.

it would be really neat if you did something like this, i've always wanted to myself

 

my friend is going down to SC over thanksgiving break, and his dad owns a GTUs 2nd gen, so he plans on visiting roger himself, and is gonna talk to him for me (im pretty excited about it). im also a big fan of the body style roger had in 84 and 85, as for the 5 lugs, what conversion would i have to do? and what would be the best lug pattern if i did do the 5 lug conversion? i will let you guys know what happens if my friends dad talks to roger, i might just go visit him myself sometime soon. thanks for the help with the body style also, i wil check out the fiberglass.

 

http://mariahmotorsports.com/images/...ngbodypkgs.gif

i'm not sure what they used for brakes/hubs/struts back in the day (nissan Z stuff looks promising), how ever these days, RE-Speed has a kit to put the FC hubs and brakes on the 1st gen strut, which is way easy.

gives you a 5x114.3 bolt pattern.

i dunno about the GTO cars, but C&D tested the racing beat 1980 GTU car, and it was running 16x10 and 16x12 wheels....

 

i will look into the conversion on re-speed. but when i was talking to kearny, he said he did z conversions to his rx3, so i might do that, i will see what happens. hopefully this whole project will be done within 2-5 years depending on money. i want to get this thing on the track. thanks man. and how much do u think body repair will be for her? im thinking about getting that done for christmas, im just not sure how much it will cost. it has bout 3-6 rust spots, very small, biggest one is bout 5 inches long and 1 inch wide, and needs bout 10 touch up spots with paint. biggest parts are front bumper, cracked right down middle in lower side for bout 5 inches and behind the driver side its cracked where the body kit was molded on. for a long way



crack on body kit




front bumper crack

 

Here's a picture of Mandeville's first RX7, shared at Riverside 6 hours with Jim Downing.

This was the sister car to the green Daytona winner. Notice the bolt pattern.

The second picture is with the original Mazda bodywork as driven by Walt Bohrens, who moved to Racing Beat and won the GTU title in '80.

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Those race RX7s were inspiring.

Good luck on your project

 

Daytona '80

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Would you like to see the first ever RX7 photo published? Even before the production car photos were released...and after long, long years of driving RX2s, RX3s, RX4s, and suffering thru the total disappointment of the Cosmo...we finally got our Z killer.

Mazda would take these photos on the shipping docks at Hiroshima...we were totally blown away. This is the green car you've seen restored at Sevenstock, etc...but you can see it sits pretty in the original stance.













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all of those images saved to my imsa rx7 folder, haha, every single photo inspires me more, cant wait to see mine done. and one thing to notice about the picture above is the interior, gotta love that seat fabrication style. hehe.

 

Glad you appreciate the shots, since you do...

These were taken in '02 while restoring the first GTU racer. The Racing Beat crew shaking it down at the recently closed El Toro Marine Air Base.

The original plaid seats were bolstered with extra padding for racing in '79. The original 14" wheels were removed for period correct wheeels and Hoosier tires for vintage racing events. I like the original ones better, and wish they'd get the front ride height down again.

The first 2 years RX7s used long straight pipes with a y just before a megaphone tip.

They were so earsplitting they were cracking others windshields when passing them, and became the first racecars requiring mufflers

At Daytona running rich Webers they were shooting 5 foot flames while shifting...at night it was awesome. 270 hp 12A peripheral port. These cars were very close to stock production cars.

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Where can you get the widebody fiberglass?

 

I want those seats... SOOO awesome.

 

Where can you get the widebody fiberglass?


I've never seen this anywhere since the factory cars in '79. Otherwise I think we'd have seen it copied a lot.

The only ones close were always from Australia, anybody there from downunder? The Hitman's NOT 20B had these from Freedom Bodystyling in Blacktown, NSW.

http://www.hitman.hm/rx7-pics.htm


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Those can be custom made real easy and cheap with an upholstery guy, the plaid fad didn't last too long...but you could be SOOO different

Or you could check out the awesome Racing Beat factory replacement seat covers for $269.00 pair...these are my actual seats used to prototype the covers for their catalog.

If you have an RB catalog you can see my Montego blue '83 S/SE...which is now for sale.

I do not work for RB...I''m just a groupie.

http://www.racingbeat.com/FRmazda1.htm

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i just might have to get those seats made from my seats that i have right now, i loveee that style.

 

Damn, I'd of loved to have a widebody like these imsa rx7s

 

i wuld too ^. i just wish the flares were a little bigger and wider.

 

You'll find them if you keep surfing the net. Like I said the Aussies & NZ have years of racing RXs with similar add on flares, mostly racers that have built stuff for their own community. Just keep looking and one site leads to another.

Whether you find something available will be half the fun. Sooner or later you'll find that unique look that will make it all worth it.

It took me 20 years to get some things I wanted.


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very clean vert, i like the headlights in the front, but pop ups are just too awesome, i culdnt get rid of mine.

 

They still pop up...or shine thru the smoked lenses.

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Mandeville or any RX7 race car never used pop up lights. I like round ones under plexiglas.

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yeha, its just seeing the lights pop up at night when i drive it, makes my day. hehe.

 

lmao, i was just looking at the 5/78 road and track today, which has that picture, wondering if that was sa22c-100007, the one we've been seeing since 2002..