Another winter, another project...



I've been itching to build another car, similar to how I built my old black 240sx, with practicality thrown out the window and a chance at trying new and different things. I've been wanting to do this for a while now. I had fun in the Bimmer this year but I want a more 'purpose built' car.


So I picked up a FC RX7 rolling chassis from a friend in the Madcou. It was cheap enough that I won't be bothered cutting/welding it up in places I normally wouldn't.

I've always loved the look of this chassis and this is one project I hope to keep and continue 'refining' through the years...


First night in the garage, how it arrived...

 

Initial teardown/inspection




Bonus; car came with 5 lug swap and TII brakes (4piston alum. calipers up front)

 

Damage report; lots of mostly surface rusting and beat to hell 'frame rails' and seams...







Some fun with dry ice...




...exposes the only real rust holes in the car




It's all right though, got a cool fix for all this madness...





Stay tuned...

 

It took until the last half of the pictures to figure out where the "rust"oration cam in. Good luck with the build.

 

Very interested in this because of my own rust repairs.

Riz.

 

Since this is a 'catch-up' thread, some of this will seem present tense...


Continued dismantling this thing today. Took off the fenders and doors, forgot to take pics of that though. Man the doors are heavy, need to do something about that!

Got down to business with one of the two 4' pieces of 2" 18gauge square tubing I bought last week. I'm doing 'though the floor' subframe connectors. Not only will this beef things up quite a bit, it gets me in a good spot to pound the stock 'frame rail' back out where they're beat up.



Opened up...



In place...


Through the rear...


and out the back.


Since I'm going to put solid rear subframe mounts in I'm going to make attachment points to bolt the rear subframe to the new 'frame rails'. Should stiffen things up quite a bit...


The front ends inside where the more solid section of the stock 'frame rails' begin, the part that goes up and into the engine bay.



Gotta get the other side to this point then I'll bust out the old Hobart...

 

next time you use dry ice, put it in a garbage bag so its easier to move around

looking good so far

 

Tig'd some tabs on the ends of the subframe connector tubing...


Finally all welded in, took some time. Gotta love thin factory sheetmetal





Drilled some holes in the sides of the stock rails so I could plug weld them to the new rails...



This is where I'm going to connect the uh, connectors to the rear subframe...


First step of many complete.

 

About got it down to a completely bare shell! Kinda cool I can lift the front or rear by myself now. Sorry for the crappy iPhone pics but got tired of feeding the other camera batteries. I actually think these came out better lol


F&R crossmembers and junk...


Fuel tank, super easy to take out in this car compared to others I've done...


The jackstands are on the factory 'frame rails'. Totally wouldn't have been possible to do that before I put the connectors in...

 

Make a rotisserie out of them engine stands. Life becomes easy then.

 

ugh, rust. I admire your patience.

 

I like this! I've got a car that's been sitting in VA for the past 4 years, that may need very similar treatment.

 

Way ahead of you.


Getting this chicken ready for the rotisserie. I feel bad for the guy that had to feed the wiring through the firewall on these things at the old Mazda factory :shock:




Fuel and brake lines. Rusty enough to be sketchy so I'm going to replace them...



Got it on the stands. Only way to describe it is holy **** lol. Never had a car up this high and it was definatly a (sketchy) adventure!


Rear lifting setup. Hoist is getting the stand itb...


Up in the air...


Oh yea...


Should make things a little easier under there!


Here's where it gets sketchy. Check the right caster.

This is where the front started to meet it's tipping point. You can see my safety 'kickstand' on the left. Gonna have to do some modding there. Luckily this front stand has a semi brake slack adjuster so I can rotate the car with a ratchet. If they were both 'normal' stands the car would probly be on it's roof right now.



Comparison shot. And no the Acura isn't lowered. Yet.

 

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I believe im many steps ahead of you lol::.....
https://www.rx7club.com/build-threads-294/vert-restoration-101-heavy-update-2014-a-893883/

 

you got a long way ahead of you to get rid of all that rust .. good luck

 

Well I thought about it overnight and came to the conclusion that the setup was 'top heavy' causing it to want to tip over. So today I lowered it down on the stands and that helped a lot. Still think I need to lower it a little more because now it starts to get tippy at the 90deg point. Either way it's going to work awesome. Took a good look under there today, I've got some work ahead of me under there!




...tilting it is just a matter of turning the ratchet!


Time for some more rusty dusty work...


Decided to chop off the bottom of the stock rails to expose the new rails to look alot cleaner...


Also seam welded them to the body on both sides...


bitches should be rock solid now.


More hell to deal with...


right rear


left rear


Got one thing knocked off the 'short' list lol

 

Played around a little more tonight, my little saw thingy I bought at Harbor Freight was missing a couple screws so I didn't get to hack up as much as I wanted. Instead I tried out this spot weld bit I picked up there...



and removed one of the rear speaker mounts...

before...


after...


trash...

 

Like a pro... I wish I had skills like you!

 

ya, when i had a coupe i hacked out the speaker towers, totally useless and gets in the way of everything. looks WAY better without them!
keep up the good work, im doing the same thing to a datsun s30, so i feel the amount of work youre putting in!
might want to reconsider bolting the subframe to anything other than where its at right now.

Lloyd

 

You need to find a clean shell to get all the pieces behind the rear wheel well.

 

Thanks guys!

It's not as bad as it looks back there, you'll see in further updates...



Well got one major rust area taken care of over the weekend. Here's what it started out looking like...



Before



fubar'd body seam...



Other side but what pretty much same crap...






After





Brace for under the seam...


Patch piece...


one side welded up...



smoothed...


inside of the repaired area...




Should look better once there's paint on it all lol. Got some good stuff on the way for it...

 

At that point I would considder replacing the floorpanals.

Riz.

 

Great job. I am always really amazed that people even bother with rusty cars.. I would never in a million years put that kind of effort into a car with cancer. I know that it is going to be as good/better then new when you get done, but I wouldnt have the heart.

I guess in the south rusty cars are rare and disposable.

I would rather put my time and effort into a clean shell. More power to you and I will be following this build.

 

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