Building Lotus Esprit style hatch for my FC
 

Well here it is New Years Eve 2011 few hours before going back to work after a week n half off from work. Finally got my new garage organized and well had a project in mind for awhile. Starting to build a Lotus Esprit style hatch for my FC. I've seen an old hatch from Japan in one of my Hyper Tec mags and really wanted one like it. So i decided to build it.

Looked up the Lotus hatch and did a couple of drawings a few days ago, but I'm winging this for the most part. Going to build the sides and over the rear window wing using the window as a mold and then next week go out and buy a sheet of 3/8 FRP to build the flat parts with.

Today I took the window out of the frame and cleaned off most of the window glue crap off the window. Did a test patch on the inside of the glass to see if the can of PAM I had would work good as a releasing agent for the glass.

Covered the window in PAM and laid the first layer of fiberglass mat....

Been awhile since I've played with bodykits and fiberglass. So this hopefully will work out and not cost me an arm n a leg to make. Thinking its only gonna cost me about 250 to 300 to finish it and several hours to have something different. Keep you all up dated with pictures and update on how it's going.

Have a safe and good start to your 2012 year RX7Club forum!

http://www.allsportauto.com/photoaut...v8_gt_06_m.jpghttp://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...l8EvlCyS1IoQKg

https://www.rx7club.com/picture.php?...ictureid=42760
Cleaning and Prepping for the first layer of fiberglass.
https://www.rx7club.com/picture.php?...ictureid=42761
First layer of fiberglass for the sides and window spoiler. Hopefully layer two and three tomorrow. Then release it and trim it on Monday.

Happy new years! That looks really good I hope urs turns out.the.way. you wnt.it...that be a good way.for me to put a sound system with out fear of ppl seeing it and stealing it!

What, the stock B-pillars didn't obstruct rear vision enough?

I've actually seen one of the "Lotus style" rear decks on a 7 in the junkyard.
Not only can't you see anything out the back but the interior was much darker than normal and I'm guessing much noisier as well.

I will grant that it was nicely made, with a finished inner shell bonded to the exterior form and seemingly filled with foam...it was quite heavy. The stock hatch struts (the yard car had none) couldn't possibly have worked.

Other than "unique", I don't see what this project does for you.
Worse vision and reduced cargo space are a given, the effect on chassis aero and interior soundscape, unknown.

Visually, you're adding a ton of "weight" to the rear of the profile- have you done a side profile sketch yet?- and you're also eliminating one of the RX's most distinctive (albeit generally unheralded) engineering solutions.
Did you know that when introduced the S4 rear hatch glass was the largest OEM production piece ever made in Japan?
They were quite proud of it apparently.

Happy New Year to you too.
Even though I think this will end badly, I'll be following anyway because I like to see shit being built.

More would of gotten done today, but Had to spend time with the Girl. Did get a little bit accomplished though.

https://www.rx7club.com/picture.php?...ictureid=42793
Trimmed around the edges and sanded down. Just got done laying the second coat of fiberglass sheet down. tomorrow sand it smooth and pop it from its mold and lay fiberglass mat on the back side.

Very interested in how this turns out!

nice like to see how it turns out but i dont think itl look very close to or good with out that piece that extends past the glass up top on the esprit.

thats why i'm doing a combo of both the garage7 and esprite style, i'm building it with an above the window spoiler like the Lotus.

Interested to see how this turns out. That's commitment.

thinking of adding a 3rd tail light in the window spoiler now so Off to the junk yard tomorrow. if I don't find one that I like I'm gonna do the MR2 SW20 LED 3rd tail I found online.

Update so I'm a little behind took me two days to find someone with a truck to bring over my air compressor. So final trim on the 2nd coat tonight and sanding. LOTS of Sanding...

https://www.rx7club.com/picture.php?...ictureid=42970
Sanded down the fiberglass and frame today. Just did a test fit need one or two more layers of fiberglass before mounting to the frame.

OK, I'll be the guy... Your car isn't mid-engined. :scratch:

May I ask what your motivation is for this modification? I see no upsides to this when it comes to functionality, aerodynamics or looks. I get that you want something else, but why not just get a MR2 or Fiero if you want the mid-engined look.

Riz.

BTW: I do think that you should do what you enjoy, so power to you! :icon_tup:

To have a place to hide my full size spare tire and battery. Might be moving my subwoofer out of my spare tire holder in the back too.

Also to be different. Why would anyone build some of the body kits out there. It's to be different from the others. Yes some kits actually are functional but most are not.

This was one of the easier things I could think of also to get back into fiberglassing and hone in on it, so I can build a JGTC kit for my FC.

Thanks for the encouragement to. Atleast your not totally hating on it. :)

I like the glass hatch. It looks good and makes it easy to see behind you, unlike most cars today. :icon_tup:

Fabricating a rear "deck lid" cover like many other cars that have hatches have would probably be ten times easier than what you are doing. The new and old fortune supra kit from vielside has a hatch like what you are building... And it doesn't look that bad. If you like the look, then go for it.

Highly impractical, but props for ingenuity.

And.... There are no updates.

Fuck just buy one, would be heaps easier !!

http://www.nengun.com/unknown/rx-7-f...the-frp-208741

[IMG]www.nengun.com/unknown/rx-7-fc3s-tailgate-for-the-frp-208741[/IMG]

How ironic... In the listing on that site it says "red-free" and I'm assuming it means "led-free"

i like the idea but i don't see you pulling it off with that start. that fc hatch looks pretty assy to me anyways but the elise much more elegant and tied together. fc model pictured looks like someone dropped a box into the middle of the hatch.

main difference? the eyebrow and how the glass is mounted and its shape.

It's all great and all, but why in the world would I want to spend that to have that shipped from Japan and for how much they want for that. I've Been looking at two BBS RG Wheels from that site and they want like 500 for shipping on 320 dollars worth of wheels.

you sure about that bro?

so someone moved the engine to the hatch area and messed up the balance of the car? i want pics of this.

if you consider the FC to stock be mid engined... not even close. if you consider it to be mid engined because it is just barely behind the centerline of the front axle, think again once again, many FR vehicles are still this way within reason. in fact almost all FR engined cars have the engine behind the front axle because it is not the drive axle.

example of a mid engine car commonly available for viewing would be a toyota MR2 and pontiac fiero, a rear engine car is a volkswagen/porsche, and this site is chock full of front engine vehicles.

Do it im looking forward to the finished product

easy cowboy, just saying, its referred to as front mid engine car.

Still working on it, I've been busy the last few weeks due to my new job at Boeing.... Update this weekend... Hope to have it attacted to the frame. Pics to come. Thanks for following this post....

Also will be working on a set of Advans SA3 i just picked up getting the centers sent off to the powder coater this next week too.

I'm enjoying this mainly because I'm an Espirit fan. And the ingenuity is cool, however impractical :)

well I'm at a stopping point till my brother brings back my air compressor. epic fail on my part. Hopefully will be starting this back up soon.

Also order up the FRP to build the other parts for the hatch.

interesting project
i'm curious to see how it turns out

I think it will look cool when its done if it comes out how you are hoping it does. I like the way the one that is made from Japan looks so Im sure yours will look just as good.

By the way, could possibly send me a savable picture of the RE-A dragon/rotor in your sig? I really like the way it looks plus I love a lot of RE-As work.

i don't think it will ever look cool, it may look "meh" with enough work but the body style will never really match the esprit style hatch. maybe with a widebody kit changing the lines completely...

Because you are used to the original lines the Rx-7 uses. The look of the car is probably what originally attracted most people to the FC in the first place. When you go and change something so drastically and take away something the basically shaped the rear end of course it will look odd and different. I think doing something no one has ever done before is cool just because of the fact that no one else has done it. If it turns out good he may inspire other people to build things and think outside the box with there Rx-7. Granted a lot of people will fail but if you dont try you will never succeed.

And therein lies the rub.
There should be a lot less "IF" in this project, like some renderings of the finished piece.
A few simple photoshops would show how heavy and non-integrated this is going to look.

I agree it will be heavy and look different but I like the idea because of it being different.

not really, i think that truckasaurus rear end looks gaudy and cheap, if this looks anything like that then i don't think you'll get too many people to consider it good looking regardless of whether it is in on FC or any other sport coupe. if he does it more like the lotus rear hatch then it may be somewhat ok, but it will take more than the start he took on.

Hence the reason I said in earlier post : Granted alot of people will fail but if you dont try you will never succeed. Everyone has their own tastes and I think that the hatch replacement looks good so I dont see why his cant if he works hard at it

any updates???

For real, I hope the haters didnt discourage you from pursuing this farther. Or the fact that I left a bunch of comments in defense of your project.

don't worry the project is still a go. Just in the middle of re-amping and finish getting my garage organized. Also still waiting on my brother to bring back my damn air compressor. I would go get it but it's a little oversized for the rx. He should be bringing it back next weekend though.

Good! I'm still curious to see the results. Ill be checking back to see if you made any updates.

keep it up!!!! waiting on final result!

i cant wait too see it

i see no more posts for a while i hope you finished your project and im with cab91089
its something different and i would finish even with all the negatives comments
its all about making your own style so keep up the good work