ProjectR13B

iTrader: (1)

I've decided to undertake what will be a really, really, really, really long build from the ground up. It's going to take a long time because I like time and money to build a car. I don't see why either of these things should stop me though.

This is RX-7 number 6 for me. Usually projects get thrown to the side because I need money or have no where to store the car, or what have you, so I've had the misfortune of having to sell quite a few 7s for far under what they were worth.

So here I am. Bought the car for a whopping $200 from someone who was going to V8 swap it, but then bought a nicer SE, then found an even nicer FD at a steal. He was parting it and I ended up with the car at a price I could actually afford.

So, we set out early in November on the worst attempt to rent a trailer ever, thanks to U-Haul. Show up, they don't have our trailer or reservation. Go to the next location, they have 2 trailers, neither is for us. Go to the final location and finally get everything hooked up and are on our way to get the car.

A quick note for later, the car was missing the front struts. Previous owner trashed them to be replaced when the V8 dropped in, but then he sold the car to me. He was nice enough to let me borrow his front struts from his SE so we could get it back to my house though.

So, we easily push it up on the trailer, and tie down anything that might have blown away because the hood latch and windows had been removed. Then, off we went on the 30 mile trek back to my house.

Here's the car going across the Chesapeake Bay.


Which is consistently packed with traffic.

ProjectR13B

iTrader: (1)

We got the car home and thought it would be a quick push it off the trailer, then into my garage which you can see in the back corner of the next picture. However, the tie rods hadn't really been secured, so when the car shifted in transport, the came loose. This proved to make the front end completely useless and unturnable. To make matters worse, I had nothing laying around to secure the bolts.



So there it sat, in front of my neighbors how while we tried to figure out a way to fix it for around 2 hours. After a trip to Lowes to by some long bolts, we got the tie rods in and the wheels back on, which was no easy task on a trailer. It took some 2 x 4s, some emergency jacks and a lot of ingenuity to get the car off the trailer.



So, naturally while we were working on this, my neighbor took it upon herself to call the police and make a complaint, then tell us about how she called the police on us, roughly 10 minutes before we got the car off the trailer. I don't talk to this lady, and I've never done anything to disturb her in the 3 years I've lived her, but hey, what are neighbors for.

Plus side, police never showed up to say anything, and we eventually got it safe and sound in the garage.

ProjectR13B

iTrader: (1)

I took the time that night to at least remove the sellers front struts and put the front on jack stands so he could but his car back together early that following week. and I pulled the hood off since I have nothing to cover with it.

ProjectR13B

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Next began the immense job of pulling everything out of the car. Previous owner had stripped pretty much everything and began removing sound deadening, so I had quite a bit of work taken care of for me already.



This is the first few items removed. That corner is filled now, along with the walls and some other spaces.


Roof liner was a bit upside down.


BUT, it had what I can only describe as the cleanest set of FC seats I've probably ever seen, and certainly the cleanest I've owned.


This is a bit over half way empty.




And eventually, I was down to sound deadening, glue, and a **** ton of wire harness.


Also, an e-brake and some pedals and steering equipment.


So, here's the walls lined with everything that was inside. Some of it is a bit hidden behind some tubs, but man, was there a lot of stuff stuck in there.

ProjectR13B

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I had ordered some shocks from a nice man parting out a TII before I actually picked up the car. They showed up a few weeks later so I got them installed and got the car off of jack stands for the first time in weeks.



But while I was installing them, I thought it was a good time to remove the fenders and bumpers as well.


At least Skeletor could still give a slight wink...


Until I removed it's headlight eyes as well.

ProjectR13B

iTrader: (1)

And then comes the minor rust on the car. I'm looking at removing the spare tire well because where I'm going, we won't need roads... I mean spare tires. Cause no way this thing will be street legal still.

There's a tiny hole through the floor pan I plan to clean before the cage goes in, but I'm still fighting to get all of the wiring out.

And then comes the front end around the radiator support. It's not bad, but it needs some attention.





This part was cleaned up by the previous owner so there should be very little sanding needed to be done, but I'll clean it and prime it again when I go to paint the engine bay.






And that's it. Really manageable, especially compared to say, my first FC, which had a hole along the floor pan under the drivers seat. I wouldn't even drive that now, but 17 year old me thought it was safe enough to learn to drift in.

ProjectR13B

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Next step was removing the wing and antenna. I'm planning on a bit more down force in the future (hopefully) so the stock spoiler was sort of unnecessary. Luckily for me, the 2 screws towards the front of the car had had the heads stripped, and they were of course, the only 25 year old bolts/screws that refused to simple snap in half when you looked at them menacingly.

I of course, have a very limited array of tools, so I used a Dremel and a carbon tungsten bit to saw out a deep enough groove to where I could take a flat head screw driver to the screws and get them to twist out. I'd say it went OK.

Me: 2, Screws: 0


What's also hard to see in this pictures is the the wing had broken in two at one of the connecting points, so I used some epoxy to glue the two halves back together. It worked like a charm, so with a bit of sanding, I have a paintable, salvageable wing to sell.

ProjectR13B

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A few more pictures of the epoxy repair on the wing. I know it looks excessive, but the plan is to sand it down some so it's smooth again.

Top View


Side-ish View

ProjectR13B

iTrader: (1)

And now this thread is caught up to where I am currently sitting on the project. The portion I've dubbed, [b]The Eternal Struggle[b], aka removing the wiring.

FCs as you all know have a **** load of wiring. What some people may not know, is that it's a pain in the *** to remove it all. So here's some pictures of where I started and not any of where I'm really at.

In the beginning:


Mmm, connectors, plastic, tape, and bolts.


The e-brake light switch, possibly one of the easiest pieces to remove.


And after the plastic was freed.


I've gotten almost all of the ECU harness out at this point. It's just stuck between that point where I choose to force it into the engine bay, or into the cabin and right now, cabin is winning, but it got snagged and I had to stop the other night. I'd expect it out within the next few days though, then I work my way towards the back of the car with a bit more patience as I'm going to need signals and stop lights, even on the track. It's the courteous thing to do when on the track with other drivers. At least I think so.

hartnsol

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IAN

iTrader: (3)

You have quite the puzzle to put back together

unek87

I've done a chassis harness tuck and engine . All I can say is you just gotta dig in and do it to it captain . Next step for me is to start( or try to ) all new wiring from the cpu and go to were I need for lights ,etc .

ProjectR13B

iTrader: (1)

Haha that's part of what I've been trying to work out while I'm pulling wiring out since so little is going back into the car. I haven't decided on what ECU I want to run yet so I've still got a lot of research to do on the matter. The shop I'm going to get to build my engine is mostly tuning with Power FCs and Adaptronics right now, but I've got a while to go before I start installing a drive train and tuning/wiring it.

ProjectR13B

iTrader: (1)

I haven't had a chance to work on the car in the last week or so due to time and the weather. So, I thought I'd take the chance to make a short FAQ about the project to answer some of the questions I get most frequently from friends, and coworkers, as well as other car people.

I've gotten no real questions from RX-7 owners because you guys seem to understand the rotary struggle <3<3<3.

So.....

1.) Why an RX-7?

I was going to do a Rotary Miata, but the simple fact of the matter is I don't fit under roll bars without extensive modification, which may seem ironic since I'm now building a car that will require extensive modification, but, I think the FC will make a better chassis in the long run, plus I my FC knowledge greatly outweighs my Miata knowledge.

2.) When will it be done?

6 years. J/K probably longer.

3.) Why?

Cause I'm broke bitch!

Seriously, I had always planned to buy a running TII and work my way down and back up with the build, doing the engine last or whenever it blew, so I'd have a running car most of the time. Then, this shell popped up for $200 and I couldn't pass it up. So now I'm starting from the bottom and working my way up. No stripping, no pulling an engine, no concerns about hidden damage. The car is bare and that means I can start building a new car almost from scratch.

4.) Wouldn't it be better to have a running car?

I have an 03 Miata SE. It has 61,000 miles on the original engine, and it's the easiest/funnest car to drive. It's bone stock and it doesn't need any work. I don't need a running RX-7 that I'm trying to build between racing it when I can just take my Miata out for the weekend. I can drive it to the track and beat the living **** out of it and it just smiles with it's stupid Miata grin, then it drives me home safely with cool A/C. I also have a Mazdaspeed 3 if I want a change of pace, but that's my daily and a bit more temperamental than the Miata.

E. Why not sell the Miata to fund the 7?

Miata is paid for and costs me almost nothing to insure and maintain. I drive it maybe a few thousand miles a year now that I have the 3. Gets a new set of tires before race season starts that will probably last me until the winter. Other than that, oil changes are about $45. Just changed all of the other fluids. Could use rotors and a radiator flush, but that's it really.

6.) You're never going to finish this car. (That's not a question)

People seem to think I won't ever be done because I don't have a lot of money right now and I seem like I don't work on it much. Truth is I have a lot of prep work that has to go into the car. I still have sound deadening that needs to come out, suspension pieces and a diff that need removing and inspecting, a shell to clean and sand and metal to prep for welding. None of that stuff will cost me a lot of money except for some primer I'll probably need. And some sand paper.

Anyone who's done some of this stuff knows it's a lot of work and takes time to do right. Just because I got the shell on the cheap doesn't mean I'm willing to be cheap when it comes to the build. Especially since the first things going in are the seat and cage and other safety devices. It's a car I'm building for me and I want to be safe in it, so half assed doesn't cut it.




So, that kind of fills in the blanks on a lot of what I'm working with and why I'm building the way I am. I do now have a set of rules to build off of to be able to participate competitively in time attacks. Not that I'm trying to be super competitive with it, but it's always fun to race. I'm also looking into getting a seat sooner than later. I need it to fit bracing to mount it to the cage, so that's probably going to be my first purchase in the near future.

pontiackid

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like this car is going to be getting 0 cats/mufflers and the absolute **** reved out of it 5am MONDAY!

So jelly of everone getting these cars for cheap, around here a pos, non-running base 86 goes for 3k on craigslist.

Do you plan to keep it NA?

unek87

Brotha all I can say is it took me 8 yrs !! To get where I'm finally at . Just got keep on keepin on

ProjectR13B

iTrader: (1)

Haha I'm not saying some neighbors might not get some revs, but really, I may not even live in this same house by the time I have an engine. Who could resist revving it up, especially after that initial start up.

Definitely going turbo. Probably S5 TII, though the shop I'm getting the engine from has a thing for REWs so we'll see what they think. I'm shooting for 400 to the wheels, but would like to build strong enough to bump up the boost some if I want to in the future.

Thanks man I appreciate it. I've got my seat picked out and lined up for whenever tax returns come in, so that's going to be the first brand new piece purchased for the 7.

younG_Gunner

iTrader: (2)

In your second picture there is a blue harness connector in the bottom left corner. Below it is a white(?) connector. Where does that connect to? Can anyone answer? Feel like I missed this connector putting in my dash

hartnsol

iTrader: (2)

I got a REW if you decided to go that route

LargeOrangeFont

iTrader: (7)

Dash. It plugs into the dash harness right next to the blue connector.

Those 2 plugs power the entire dash except for the idiot light panel.

ProjectR13B

iTrader: (1)

Good to know, but I probably won't be doing much engine work for about 3 years or so, but if you still have it by then .

I plan on getting Angel Motorsports do my engine rebuild and they seem to have a things for making big power with REWs.

ProjectR13B

iTrader: (1)

After some struggling and a lot of gentle guidance, I finally got the wire harness out of the front of the car.

Here's the jumbled mess it turned into. It honestly probably wouldn't be that hard to plug back into a car though it everything else was installed.


It all went through this area, and in retrospect, I would suggest removing the master cylinders and brake lines first if a full tear down is being down. It would have made things a bit easier.


And the tiny hole it came through. I pulled it through into the passenger area. It didn't seem like it could be done the other way around due to the fuse box.


And now the interior is looking cleaner and cleaner.


Another shot of the empty hole and mounting area of the turn signal controller and fuse box.


Currently the car is sitting in my back yard with a tarp protecting it's lovely interior as I do not have a sunroof to go with the sunroof hole, and my door glass is not installed. I had to move it so I'd have a place that's semi warm to do maintenance on my speed 3. Likelihood of that door glass going back in is pretty much zero though. Driver's side is getting a safety net in the future. passenger side I'll have to check rules and regulations on, but if anything it's getting lexan.

ProjectR13B

iTrader: (1)

I was in Maryland for about 5 days for MAGFest 13, so I haven't done much work on the car recently....

So here's a picture of a DMC 12 that was randomly parked in the convention center by a bunch of game consoles and TVs.

archaphil

iTrader: (1)

She never called the cops, and if she did, they are aware of how bat **** crazy she is. Offer to shovel her driveway and or do some kind of BS task like lawn mowing, and get in good, then ask about that extra garage stall she has to park something in. I do this **** all the time. I have 10 garage stalls atm for nothing more then some of my time and some labor. "whoopety doooooo"

ProjectR13B

iTrader: (1)

To be honest, I haven't seen her in weeks. It's cold and she's semi-recluse to begin with. She has a husband who comes over but doesn't live with her. That's all I know about her. She's weird, so I just kind of mind my own business. She did apologize about yelling at us, but she did it while I was pushing a Kia Sportage I was donating to charity out of the middle of the road, so I didn't really have a chance to have a conversation with her.

Side note, Kia Sportages are a lot heavier than they look.