My Attempt at a clean DD 90 GXL
 

Hello everyone, my name is Dustin and I own a 1990 RX7 GXL. I purchased the car about a year and a half ago from an elderly gentlemen who had posted an ad in my local paper. I was trying to sell my dd at the time (1995 toyota celica gt vert) so that I could pick up something with bit more power and something that stood out.

My first car was a car that my father bought me, and at the time I believed it was rather cool.

When i first bought it:
[IMG]http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/...pse1955c46.jpg[/IMG]

So I owned the celica for a couple of years and then I started to want something I could fix up. With not a whole lot of options for a 6th gen celica convertible at that, i began the craigslist search for a new dd and posted the celica for sale. The first car I stumbled upon that grabbed my attention was a mildly modified lancer rally edition, you know the ones with the O.Z wheels. :naughty: . Anyways the deal fell through and he wanted more than what I felt the car was worth. So I continued to look for months and months and my car continued not to sell for months and months..

At this time I was ready to make a change and the easiest way to do that was to make some changes to the celica. I approached the following situation in many different was... not all neccesarrily good...

Some extra body pieces that had come with the car. I tried to fit them but apparently cutting my car up wasn't considered good behavior to my father :dunno: , but nonetheless, i fitted that damn front just to see:

[IMG]http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7613b050.jpg[/IMG]

Anyway after more treacherous backyard modifications to the celica i obtained the RX7.

One night my mother was reading the paper and told me that thee was a 1990 RX7 for sale locally. Immediately when she said 1990,
(not knowing much at the time), I thought of an FD.... :rlaugh: yeah yeah i know, bring the hate. Anyway, I was very excited and was ready to go and see and drive the car. My father, again not knowing much about these cars, went to check out the car the day before I got to. He came home telling me that the car was in great shape, garage kept, and low mileage. When I did go to see the car, I was disappointed at first to see that the car wasn't a stock version of my childhood idol Dominic Toretto's speed machine. Nonetheless my father like the car and asked me if I liked the car. After a couple of hours on google images, I decided that I would get the car and if I didn't like it, I would just resell it. The next day I went back for a test drive. My dad went with me and drove for awhile and then let me take it for a spin. I got into it one time, and that's all she wrote. Unfortunately, my drive was short-lived by some smoke from the rear passenger tire. No, it was not from bunouts, but a stuck e-brake cable. It had locked up and wore a groove in the rotor. We got it unstuck and went back to the mans house. After the accident we talked him down a few buck and a new set of rear rotors, I drove the car home,...after stalling out in his driveway.

So here it was when i bought it:

[IMG]http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/...ps59803d98.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/...psffd7dc80.jpg[/IMG]

That winter I decided to take it off the road so that I wouldn't ruin the racing beat exhaust and the rest of the car by driving it on the over-salted raods here. In the meantime I did some cleaning.

[IMG]http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/...ps77c0b5c3.png[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/...ps41c19902.png[/IMG]

Fast forward a few months and I was ready for a change, something big that would help my car stand out a bit more. (It already did considering the only other tuner cars around here are a few hondas, some baggeed vw/audis, and a few newer evos.) Wheels. That's what I needed to set it off and i knew exactly which ones I needed.

After doing my usual search through instagram with #rx7 and such i stumbled across a picture that changed the way I would look at my car forever...

[IMG]http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/...psfa06230e.jpg[/IMG]

I knew I had to have those wheels as soon as I saw them. So I began saving money to order them... little did I know, Lady luck was on my side..

A few months had passed here in good ol wv and I saw this instagram post. It was Lane, (The guy with the rx7 in the pic), and he was selling his wheels. I quickly hopped on it and bought the wheels from him. I immediately got to work and cleaned them up and slapped them on the car along with a few other things..

[IMG]http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/...psc7f73499.jpg[/IMG]

Now to the current day... I have many people that give me inspiration, (forgive me for just putting your instagram names), radio87, gorillasdrift, samshizzle, hurley990, luisborden, and so many others. You guys inspire me to make my car better and better everyday. :bowdown:

So now on the list is a few more things. I also obtained a 68' Camaro from my uncle for a good deal and I plan to be selling it soon due to lack of interest and I will be using the funds to build my RX. Plans are coilovers and some bride seats and I would like to have a couple body pieces, possibly a lip and a roof spoiler. I would be happy to hear your input on anything on this thread and would love to get more ideas and get to know more people on here!

coilovers might be pretty rough for a DD car... depends on the drivers tolerance to road vibration of course.
Mesh spoked rims are my absolute favorite on FC's. They really suit the car and era it came from:nod:
What are your thoughts on the racing beat exhaust? Im thinking of replacing my rusted and blown stock exhaust but i dont want the car to be very loud

Thanks man. Yeah I love my racing beat exhaust. It sounds really good at high revs. If you want an exhaust that is really loud then I wouldn't recommend this exhaust. Other than that I love it. It hangs kind of low in the middle also so if you want to lower your car I would be careful with that.

Wheres the pics of your car with the new wheels? Your teasing us..hahaha

lol I didn't even notice, I'll put it up soon.

I totally forgot to post pictures of my car with the wheels on :lol...

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Later today I will post up my Grip royal I installed. :icon_tup:

Okay so today I started her up and decided to see what the Grip Royal woodie that I got from my gf for christmas would look like. I also decided to slap the sticker I ordered with it on, (probably not the best idea since its almost in the negatives here).

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Rims look great! I forgot how silly this car looks on stock suspension, its not that the car itself is low, its just there so much darn space in those wheel wells.
Body and paint looks absolutely flawless :icon_tup:

Thank you good sir:icon_tup: and yes i know, all of my friends around here make fun of it and call it a monster truck because of all the wheel gap that I have. But no worries, I just poseted my Camaro for sale today so hopefully that sells and i can get some my coilovers and other things need to complete the car for this summer. :nod:

Ok so I never realized how easy it is to let a thread like this slip away from you :( , but nonetheless I'm back with some very good news. I just ordered my PBM coilovers and Shine Auto goodies last night so... in a week or so, I'll be back with some more pics and hopefully on my way to making the car look the way it deserves to. :nod:

Also I got these in the mail.

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Thanks for the hookup southsidecox! Should make the front look a little sharper. I need to touch up my FTPs before this summer too.

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On a different note, I was just wondering if any of you guys have experienced this problem before.

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One day I just got in my car and realized that the mechanism was sunk back in the socket. Just for visual purposes, here is what it is supposed to look like

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Im not sure if I would have to remove the whole shabang to get it back out or if its an easy fix.

The plastic in these cars is shitty and old. Any mounts, especially where screws are holding things in place are going to break. They will break just doing nothing. They will break when you take them out, and they will break when you put them back.

If you attempt to fix your stalk mount, you will break a mount somewhere else.

However, you can fix the ABS plastic with acetone and some ABS "saw dust". The acetone will melt/weld ABS plastic together, and with the "saw dust" you can make a goo/slurry.

Look for clokkers thread in the main section, he has repaired ABS components in his FC before by doing thing.

Very clean! I'm not understanding the dildo shifter thing everyone is doung though?

Thanks ^

Thank you. But yes I catch a lot of flack about that shifter. I do it for ease of shifting. I have a short shifter in my car and with a lower pivot point, I find it more comfortable/easy to shift with a taller one.

Time for total dumpage. Attachment 650139

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More goodies arrive tomorrow :nod::nod:

looks so clean.. and really good. i like it 5*

Very nice!

So as I promised, new parts came in the other day. I've had my hands full but finally I am able to post because I know how anxious you guys are to see my updates, jk. Anyway look what came in the mail yesterday :egrin:

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Oh you guys wanna know whats in the box?


OK...

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I'm currently looking for someone to paint these pieces because the last person that I asked said 1k..... you guys know anybody around wv/va that would do them for a reasonable price?

Ok so out of impatience I decided to mock up the body pieces and I'm pretty pissed that I did because now I want them on ASAP. Hopefully it warms up around here and I get them painted. Good news is that my car should be legal soon. But enough with that here's what they look like without paint. Let me know what you guys think.

I think I'm gonna do the lip myself and leave it black.

Such a clean GXL, great job man!

If we didnt have such nasty winters i would love to find a NA S5 and clean it up and make it a fun DD.

Your FC will look damn good come time you get the body accessories painted and get rid of that fender gap.

Thanks man!

Looks good! Can't wait to see it all painted! Are the coilovers on in the last pic?

Thank you. Finding paint on a budget is not easy. But no they are not. I plan on the car being very low when they are though :)

This is what I did to fix the posts:

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If the post is completely gone, fill the "mold" with the filler as mentioned - drill a pilot hole for the screw to bite into and good to go.

Ok so I should be throwing on all these parts that I ordered soon enough. Just have to get a few more things knocked out first. So in the mean time I got her legal and cleaned the wheels up.


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Also made an impulsive buy..

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But it's kinda looking like a PITA to mount the harnesses. Anyway... Like I said I should have stuff on the roll soon enough. Still trying to get a good quote on paint but who knows when that'll happen.

So today my patience was wearing thin looking at this thing sitting in my room so it went on. The four bolts that actually hold the bumper to what looks like a support of some sort snapped off from being rusted.. So I'm waiting to see if those were really that important. Anyway I installed the lip to the factory mounting points and am very happy with the results. It's going to get taken off and painted a gloss black eventually, but it will be cheap rattle can paint because I expect that lip to take a beating once the car is lowered...

Quick shot before I went to class.

Ok so I got the seats in. Never knew that getting aftermarket seat brackets in would be such a PITA. They sit really high but I'm going to get my uncle to maybe cut them up and modify them to make the seats sit lower. But overall I am happy and they are very comfortable.

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The next step is to find a spot where I can mount the harness bar for the harnesses.

Those look great but man It would drive me crazy rubbing on the headliner like that.

I found these the other day they've gotten great reviews from what I've read going to try them out when I get enough money for seats and a cage.Low Seat Sliders

Holy balls, 500 for a set?

Yeah... I'm just gonna roll with mine, and I have to I'll get someone to fab completely new ones.. Seat rails are so overpriced.

You said the roads there get nasty in the winters? i recommend putting a bit of anti-seize on the threads when you go to put the coilovers in. I had to raise my car up this winter for my snow tires and it was seized together. had to leave it outside in the -20 degree weather and then hit it with a torch and a hammer to get it apart. Great build though, after you get those coilovers on it will make the biggest difference. i hate my winter setup because it sits about 2 1/2" higher than it does in the summer, and i think it makes my car look ugly haha.

Thanks for the tip man, but yeah I'm pretty excited to get them on. And I agree. Wheel gap= ugly car

Those are some super sexy coils! and damn i want that lip so bad. gotta save pennies (which I'm terrible at) I just bought a S5 front number, crash bar with fog lights so I'm in the midst of changing from s4 to s5 and then I'm getting the lip and roof spoiler and a diffuser from shine auto. Loving the car man! That lip makes the s5 front end so worth in for my sake in the end! s4 is pretty, s5 has got a bit of down-syndrome but with the lip its pure sex!. keep it coming man! BTW coil over install is super easy! i did my teins in like 2 hours! GET TO IT!

Ok so today I finally had the time and weather permitting to clean my interior up a little. I got the harnesses just about where I want them, although I still need to do a little more modification. But here are some pics of the interior cleaned up today.

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This weekend the coilovers will FINALLY go in. I will return with updates then.

I'm confused about what's going on with the harnesses.
What are the shoulder straps going to attach to?

They are attatched via a hole right behind where the bolts that hold the bins are located. The angle of the belts is close to a 45 degree angle, but i believe it will be ok.

I've never seen such an arrangement (is there another buckle/snap/latch in the back?) but sorry, it doesn't look "ok" at all.
Just to start, I believe that @10° is the max below horizontal allowed for the shoulder strap mounts.

There is a bracket at the bottom that bolts to the floor. And the paper says that the shoulder belts shouldn't exceed a forty-five degree angle. So I'm pretty sure I'm good... I understand that it's all about safety but I think I'll be fine.

It really is all about safety... Racing seats and harnesses aren't supposed to be for looks.

I understand that. I meet all the requirements according to the manufacturer. And this is temporary setup until I find the bolt in location for a harness bar to decrease the angle of the shoulder straps.

The coilovers finally got installed so i decided to take some pics.

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If u ever feel like u need a break from the fc, I want u to know I'm here to help. I would gladly take possession of it for you for a couple days... Or months........ Maybe years lol.

Well I said it wasn't going to happen..but it did. With this thing called life, I seem to have slipped away from this forum again. I owe you all A LOT of updates. So I guess we will start off with the new wheels.
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Lets just say I made em work.

I guess before that I can say that I added a few things like skirts and rear caps to the car... the lip that I added got destroyed when I used to be on 17s..

So i just drove the whole summer of 2014. But after a while, I changed the way I wanted the car to look. I want my car to look straight out of the street/sexy style japanese culture. I just want people to see my car and be like man... I can see where his influences came from.

Anyway I drove her a lengthy 6 hours to h20i (yes i know its a vw show but hey i like to party too). I decided that the car wasnt low enough (dumb) so i lowered it more than its ever been and tighened up that suspension and made the haul (mistake). First on the way down I hit a chunk of ashpalt right off the Bay Bridge... Destorying my front lip that I just reglassed and painted.. Was mad, but not that mad, coulda been way worse.
So anyway we get down there and I drive in the rain with no wipers (dumb) and say to hell with it ill wait till the weather clears up. So it finally does and i go to get breakfast about a hundered streets away from my hotel.. and my tools. Go to leave Dennys and my clutch master bites the dust.. Skip all the advance auto bs and tryin get a master and needless to say that the ol man came through and hauled a trailor down to come get her.. Was super bummed cause I got tons of offers while down there to be featured in multiple things but hey thats life :dunno:
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Anyway I got her back home and fixed her up and drove it until it was freezing balls.

Got it fixed and got a few pics before winter set in.
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Anyway shes in the garage now getting a few new things. Ill post more pics as I advance in progress. (promise)