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Unvieling: 12a-BP Widebody
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Well, here it is. The car went in the shop last Thanksgiving weekend, and I have been at it most every day since then. I thought it would take me 2-3 months to do the restoration, rehab and rebuild. Man was I wrong. :rlaugh: A brief description of the work performed: Unibody stripped down to the chassis. The ONLY things not removed from the car were the wiring harnesses and the dash. Everything else came off the car!!! Body and under carriage stripped bare by sanding or sandblasting. Minimal rust repair needed. Body was epoxy coated and the undercarriage was then coated with truck-bed liner. All seams were caulked prior to undercoat. Epoxy was then followed by a polyurethane primer and single stage polyurethane topcoat in matte black. All 4 fenders and air dam are fiberglass, as is the wing. Rear fenders are bonded to the body. I had to trim out and reweld the original rear fenders and liners to increase height clearance for the wheels. Even though they are a slightly smaller diameter than stock. Body kit is from CP Racing. Wing is the Mariah whale tail. Front bumper is the stock sub-bumper modified and glassed to fit the kit. The kit was designed for the SA's. Power steering added due to width of front tires. A/C removed. FC front mount oil cooler added. Every suspension piece replaced, except the idler arm, lower control arms and rear links. If it was a wear item, it is new. All new poly bushings, solid motor mounts are on the way. This also includes the brakes. GSL rear end added along with Brembo slotted discs in the front and ss brake lines all around. Epsilon 3 piece wheels with 225/50/15 T/A’s in front and 245/50/15 rear. Eibach’s, Illumina’s and ST front and rear sway bars. Motor is a fresh rebuild with 1/2 bp secondaries, large street port primaries and large ported exhaust. I have a thread on that titled '12a builders and porters wanted'. Engine, and everything else that could take the heat, is powdercoated. 8 point roll bar, with hinged door bars, fully padded. I have tried to keep as much of the stock interior as possible. I still need to make new door panels and bin covers due to the cage. The body was originally a GS without a sunroof. A po installed an aftermarket sunroof, but not the headliner. That was a pita to install properly. Autometer gauges for: boost/vac (boost is this winters project), oil pressure, temp, volts and fuel. The 4 redundant gauges in the cluster were removed and filled. Added gauges are on their own separate dimmer switch. GSL-SE fuel tank with new 3/8” aluminum supply and return fuel lines. Mallory comp 140 fuel pump (a bit too big) and return style regulator. Mikuni 44 PHH for the breakin period. Holley 650 dp, waiting on the shelf. 5% tint on the hatch and quarter glass, 35% on the door glass. Those are the limits here, I would like the doors darker. Now a little rant about courtesy and decorum. There are 2 things in this entire rebuild that I haven’t done myself. I didn’t set the fixed glass or tint the windows. Everything else was done by these 2 little hands now on the keyboard. If you don’t like the choices I’ve made as far as the kit, the wing, the paint, whatever, at least show some respect for the work it has taken to get the car this far. If you don’t have anything nice to say, STFU. Just in case some of the younger members want to say ‘ricer’, the kit, the wing and the wheels go back more than 20 years. The wheels were made in 85, the wing came off of an ’82 found in a junk yard and the kit is a knock-off of the old Pacific style kit. Rant over. Enjoy the pics. https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...d=131088&stc=1 https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...d=131089&stc=1 https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...d=131090&stc=1 https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...d=131091&stc=1 https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...d=131092&stc=1 |
looks pretty cool. Although the front looks a little wacky if you ask me.
How much did the body kit end up costing? IMO it looks a little tall for all the body work... Maybe im just crazy. But I really appreciate all the work it must have taken for you to get your car to that point. Did you do alot of the work yourself or did you take it to a shop? Do you have any more future plans for the car or are you just planning on driving it? |
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The front end looks tall because the lip is about 4" off the ground, and the car is lowered, of course.
Re-read my post on the work. I thinking on megasquirt and turbo this winter. Still need to break in the engine and then tune the Holley to see how it runs. If I start heading past 250 hp later, I have TII tranny waiting. |
Originally Posted by trochoid
The front end looks tall because the lip is about 4" off the ground, and the car is lowered, of course.
Re-read my post on the work. Ahhh sorry I suck at reading offiously.... It did turn out really nice. I have always loved the looks of a widebody first generation. |
Abso-fucking-lutely badass. I love it. Just needs some boost to finish it off. ;)
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Originally Posted by REVHED
Abso-fucking-lutely badass. I love it. Just needs some boost to finish it off. ;)
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Nice work..
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How does it ride? Your suspension setup is exactly what I'm going with in my SA. My FB has ST springs, ST sway bars (rear in the middle adj. point) and Tokico Blues. When I'm kicking ass this setup rocks, but on these MD city road I wish I could carry another backbone.
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do you plan on putting spacers on the front wheels to have them flush? Or would it take away from the fuction?
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wow very nice man, one day i hope to have my car look like that, one day...
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Nice wide body! Keep up the good work.
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Originally Posted by rotor vs. piston
do you plan on putting spacers on the front wheels to have them flush? Or would it take away from the fuction?
The ride is pretty firm. The Illumina's are set at mid range and the rear sway is set neutral in the middle hole. I had the suspension done last summer and with stock wheels and tires, it handled like a skateboard. With the extra weight of the widebody, cage and wheels, it feels heavier and seems to lean a little more. I can't push it until I get the engine broke in, but with the huge tires on it, it corners well. Stops pretty damn quick too, for stock brake pads. |
- wide body too... well, wide, for me but the car looks great, the suspension must be amazing, and the wheels look beutiful, in the end, I'd drive it. All night long.
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very nice, however i'd like to see the corner markers frenched into the front of the body with the bumper reinforcement hidden behind the kit and the stock bumper off of the car, it looks like it was just glued on the front of the car, very out of place. is the carpet original or did you get it from VB? overall amazing job tho, i'd love to see it in person
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Looks good. I'm not a huge fan of widebody kits, bit this one looks pretty good.
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Originally Posted by whitey85mtu
very nice, however i'd like to see the corner markers frenched into the front of the body with the bumper reinforcement hidden behind the kit and the stock bumper off of the car, it looks like it was just glued on the front of the car, very out of place. is the carpet original or did you get it from VB? overall amazing job tho, i'd love to see it in person
I had concidered eliminating the bumper entirely, and smoothing out the front end, but it just didn't look right. Made the front end of the car look huge, no where near as svelt as the original design. When I bought the car, the chassis had 216 k on it and the engine came in 2 boxes. The interior is mint. I know the door panels have been redone because they are missing the chrome strip, but they look brand new. Those will be for sale. They are just too nice to chop up so they can fit around the door bars. The carpet is oem, but I suspect it is a replacement, the back hatch carpet has been replaced at some point. The drivers seat seat fabric is getting thin, but when I bought the car, there was not a single cut, tear, cigarette burn nor broken piece of plastic in the entire car. The carpet now has a burn in it because the gauge pod is so close to the steering wheel, it knocked the coal off a butt while I was turning. :banghead: FYI, don't buy the VB carpet. I bought thier's for my Z, and returned it because it was so cheap in quality. 1AAutomotive has better carpet, and a wider selection of carpet and colors. Thier replacement rubber is cheaper too. |
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Here is a pic of the bumper 'in the process'.
If anyone one would like to see any process pics, I have taken over 200 pics during this re-work. Included is an early pic of the sandblasting, and yes, that is bare metal, not silver paint. Notice how much the rear wheel wells are radiused for suspension travel. https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...d=131119&stc=1 https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...d=131120&stc=1 |
Holy cow!!! Good work... The cp kit is one I was considering but it just turned out to be too wide for me. Excellent job though. Are you planning on staying flat black?
As far as ricer goes I'll be more ricer than you but to each his own. When you do your own shit let'm say what they want and then have'm show thiers and tell you what they did on it. Toxic_d |
that looks like a 944 so much. lol.
kudos on all the fab work. looks great! |
i reckon it looks pretty sick, my only complaints are the with the height of the car all around, i would try drastically dropping the tyre diamater or even try lowering it a touch more, as if you have that lip practiaclly on the ground it would look badass,
maybe a vented hood and a tow ring to give it a more racer look. apart from that it look good, what the weight difference like is the kit really heavy or what? |
You got a purtey fb. I'll bet she squeels like a pig...:)
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Nice ride. Hows it drive? Are you required by law to have the front plate? I bet it'll look a lot better without.
Also, do you have a bigger photo of the wheels? They look bitchin'. Keep up the great work. |
VERY, very, very nice. Good job, especially doing it all yourself!
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Where did you get the strut tower bar set-up from?
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Looks Gooood!
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i like ur carb set up, I want that same set up but i have no idea out to adjust it to run right. people have told me that you always have to mess with it
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I'll see if I can answer all of the questions in one post.
The mods on the car are mostly old school, but many members have not seen them in a package like this. Thus the anti-rice comment. The kit is a little too wide. I believe there was also a slightly narrower kit that was made once upon a time. I will be staying with the matte black for now, it has that stealth look. I have increased business in town for the bone crackers, from all the little rice kids snapping thier necks, saying wtf was that when I go by in the night. The car is low as it is. I already need to repair the air dam, and that's just from getting in and out of the driveway. Trust me, it is low. I do have a set of 13x7 revolution wheels and they look just plain silly on a stock car, let alone this one. There isn't a curb in town that the front will go over and speed bumps will be a problem with scraping. No hood vents, but I will need to put a tow hook in front. I had to cut the oe ones off to mount the air dam. The front glass will need to come of just to get the car on a flat bed tow truck, and that is the only way it could be towed commecially. I don't think I could get it on a trailer. Front plate is required here. I have already been followed by the popo. I don't need to give them another excuse to pull me over. Strut bar is from Rotary Engineering, no longer in business. It has a nice clean utilitarian look to it. The carb will take some tuning. The 44 is supposedly too small for a bp, yet the afr lamda on the pilot cicuit is running between .85 and .9. If that confuses anyone: lamda=1.0=stoich=14.7 afr's. After I get the motor broken in, I will find out what the afr's for the main cicuit is running, as it is now, it is rich. As far as handling, I had it out last night on some remote 2 lane asphalt hiways and it seemed heavier. I finally realised this afternoon that it isn't that much heavier, it leans more with the bigger tires, due to the higher grip. The stock size tires used to break traction much earlier and the car couldn't get to the point where it would lean, I need to play with tire pressures and shock/strut settings. Here are some close up pics of the wheels, sorry the second one is fuzzy. I don't have a lot of room in the shop. The centers are powdercoated in a charcoal metalic. I would have prefered a black pearl, but couldn't find it. https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...d=131199&stc=1 https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...d=131200&stc=1 |
looks hot scott i can't wait to see it in action!!!!!!!!
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what kind of matte black did you use, exactly? im going for the same look, sans widebody, in mid october.
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Great looking ride. Kinda reminds me of Mad Max with the color and all.
It is a little wide in front, but not too out of place; I love the look from the drivers rear, rear, and both front corner shots, never would know its an FB unless a person knew what they were looking at. Again I love the sattin black look. =Eric |
Not my cup of tea, but gotta admire the amount of work and dedication you put into it. Good job!!!
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Fantastic !
FWIW, I have a little tip for you on the speed bumps and such that has helped me tremendously ( besides going at and over everything at an angle ... lol ): Get some of the sticky backed side moulding that comes in rolls ( and most are black ). Put it on the bottom of your fron bumper/airdam. When/if you do make contact, the ABS or nylon or whatever it is takes the brunt like a champ instead of your fiberglass and paint. You can't see it at all, but it really sacrifices for you. |
The paint is a single stage polyurethane with a flattener added to it. I wanted it flatter, but that was as much as the paint store could add.
David, intersting idea for protecting the air dam. My biggest problem is my driveway. I need to lower the sidewalk and apron. I caught the front on an edge of the sidewalk that sticks up, about 3/8", twice in the same night. I finally found a way to get in and out with out catching, but I have a bit of repair to do on the left front fender. What suprises me is that the exhaust clears the drive, it doesn't on my 2nd gen. |
I like the flat black. I have considered doing the hood and Mariah hatch on my white widebody, but I'm afraid it'll look like a police car.
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Originally Posted by DAVID GRIMES
I like the flat black. I have considered doing the hood and Mariah hatch on my white widebody, but I'm afraid it'll look like a police car.
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Just to give an idea of how extensive this restoration was, here are a couple of shots of the under carriage and wheel well, after sandblasting and epoxy, taped and masked off ready for the truck bed liner under coat.
The narrow bands of white are seam sealer, wider ones are the brake cables taped off. What looks like sticks are Q-tips stuck in all of the bolt holes so I wouldn't have to clean them out later. Note the circular ribbon of seam sealer in the wheel well. This is one of the places that moisture gets in and starts rusting out the wheel wells. I highly reccomend checking yours for any breaching. The factory undercoat usually cracks at this joint and the rust soon follows. https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...d=131477&stc=1 https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...d=131479&stc=1 |
nice car but i think and this is just my personal opinion you need a shiny paint job...and a set of 17*10 (front) and 17*12 (rear) CCW's
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I went with the matte black for a couple or reasons, The first being, I couldn't decide what color I wanted for the final paint. This will make a good base for a dark color later. The second is the glass work and my driveway. My drive is a pita to get in and out. my 2nd gen scrapes, just being lowered, without extra body add-ons, and I have already cracked the dam and left front fender on the widebody. The mattte black paint is easy to blend for repairs.
Wider wheels, definitely. The kit ended up being wider than I thought it would be for the wheels, which is the reason I put the kit on to begin with. 17" rims, probably not. I would need to run a 30 aspect ratio on those and my back hates me as it is now. |
Looks great. Let me know when you want to sell me those epsilons :))
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Inside nice outside, nope.
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What about some larger rims...15's are kinda small. Some 17x9 & 17x10 or 11 would look so fuckin' killer on that car. Dig the color!
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Originally Posted by camocarl
Looks great. Let me know when you want to sell me those epsilons :))
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Originally Posted by Lee Lyons
nice car but i think and this is just my personal opinion you need a shiny paint job...and a set of 17*10 (front) and 17*12 (rear) CCW's
Exactly:D http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...b/f97b8b49.jpg http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/830/angle2il.jpg http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/4526/rear3wo.jpg Looks good though, I love the roll cage. |
wow just wow. that is hawt the only thing i dont like about it is the rear wing. not ym cup of tea but awesome work none the less
oh and that blue one :drool: |
Luiml73,
I do like the way your wheels fill out the wells. Very good fitment choice. I like the old school Epsilons, I just need some wider ones. Nice clean job on your car. We need more widebodies out there, and a larger selection of wheels. My 3 piece Epsilons were cast in 85, and cost 1200 apiece, or so I've been told on the price by the po. There have been very few decent replacements since then. |
kodiak will make some wider half shells for your epsilons. how wide are yours?
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Originally Posted by kuhlrx7
kodiak will make some wider half shells for your epsilons. how wide are yours?
I have not heard of Kodiak, more info on that would be great. It might be cheaper to have a wider set of outers made and move the rears to the front. It's almost scary how well the tires hold in the corners now. With even wider wheels and stickier tires, I think I would need a racing seat and a 4 or 5 point harness. :D |
very nice work on the 7! very inspiring :bigthumb:
you mention how the body kit's fiberglass, is it actually heavier in comparison w/ the factory steel/metal fenders?? |
Originally Posted by d0 Luck
very nice work on the 7! very inspiring :bigthumb:
you mention how the body kit's fiberglass, is it actually heavier in comparison w/ the factory steel/metal fenders?? All in all. it may add 15-30 lbs to the body. I never did weigh the wing. Most of what is added is at the rear. I don't see that as a bad thing. |
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