jimlab

I've debated endlessly on various parts for my car as many of you know. As an example, I've bought two different sets of aftermarket trailing arms and toe links (M2 and K2RD), sold the M2s, still have the K2s, never installed either set, and now I'm considering buying the links from Rotary Extreme. Yeah, I know... I'm crazy as a loon.

I've gone as far as buying three rear wings, one of which (Mazdaspeed) was never delivered and sold the other two (Mazdaspeed, Veilside) without installing them. I even went so far as to have the Veilside wing painted MBM (when my car was still that color) just to see what it would look like when installed.

I've debated on a different front bumper for the car several times, and came as close as sending money for an RE Amemiya AD Facer to someone who was selling one he'd had taken off his car, only to be told that the body shop "threw it in the dumpster" after removing it. He must have been daunted by the prospect of trying to ship it, I assume.

I've sold two R1 front spoilers (I'm on my third), one of which was still brand new, planning to sell the OEM bumper and get an aftermarket bumper, and each time, I end up talking myself out of it and staying stock and bought another front spoiler.

And as some of you know, I went as far as painting everything but the outside surface of the car with DuPont Chromalusion (color changing) paint (at $250/pint), only to paint over it with '02+ Corvette Electron Blue Metallic. Of course, I only did that after I bought three 1/10th scale lexan R/C car bodies and had them painted in the three colors I was considering so I could get a better idea of what the finished car would look like... but I digress.

So besides the RE AD Facer, my favorite front bumper has always been the Border Type II. I've considered buying one several times, but never gone through with it. I was playing around with a picture of it in Photoshop today and started by eliminating the Catz-style driving lights from the original picture, but then thought that the OEM marker lights didn't look quite right with the openings in the bumper. I've seen the Type IV with 99+ spec. marker lights, and while they do match the openings better, I don't like them in conjunction with sleek lights, which I have.

Don't even get me started on sleek light kits... RE Amemiya, C-West, East Bear, C-West, RE... I'm on my 5th kit, and I've never powered up any of them, not to mention the pods I tried to have made by someone else.

So I thought to myself, what if I got rid of the OEM marker lights? (see picture below) I don't know what I'd do about turn signals, whether they should be integrated into the sleek light pods or not, or what to do about marker/daytime running lights, but I thought the result was pretty cool. It's somewhat Ferrari-esque. It's clean and flows well, at least.

So what do you think? Looks good? Looks like ****? Where would you put the turn signals and marker lights, assuming you had sleek lights instead of pop-ups? Just curious.

jimlab

Here's the original with OEM marker lights for comparison...

wickedrx7

iTrader: (14)

It looks kinda cool, but personally I liket the 99 turns better. Have you seen the sleek light kit on the four rotor scoot car? They have turn signals integrated in them. The lights look similar to the new NSX lights.

Personally I think that the 99 front looks better, if you could make the 99 bumper and air damn all one piece, I think that would look tuff. Have you seen a 99 with painted air damn? This looks good, I think if it was all one piece it would flow a lot better. Just a thought, if I get board, I will photoshop one.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Jim,

That Border front is the only other front I would ever consider putting on my FD besides the stock one. However, I love the look of the 93-95 turning lamps so that's one reason I love it. I hate the '99 spec so.......

The Border front is sweet. Another reason I love it is that there is no need for any kind of front spoiler. Although I don't think removing the original location of the stock turn signals improves on the look at all.

Flyrx7

iTrader: (1)

Damn it Jim! You listed about 3 different "throw away" parts that I've been looking for myself (sleek lights, trailing arms and toe links), let me know when you're liquidating again, I'm only about 70 miles from Redmond and can save you the shipping hassle!

As far as the bumper look goes, I think it looks fine with the stock turn signals, maybe even better if they were smoked or tinted.

If you want to try and add some other ideas to your car, you can try one (or more!) of my gauge pods, I'll even deliver.

Seriously though, the bumper is definetely the way to go, I'd like to see it in the Corvette Electron Blue Metallic though.

jimlab

Which gauge pods?

It would definitely look better than this, but you get the general idea...

Flyrx7

iTrader: (1)

I dunno, almost looks better in red, but I think I do get the idea

The pods I'm referring to are in my sig.....(cheasy aol homepage link.....)

Regards,
Frank

jimlab

Here's a picture I took on Tuesday which shows the color reasonable well.



And here's one from back in January when my garage wasn't as organized...



Ah, so you're the one that makes the "periscope" pods.

Unfortunately, I want to keep my center speaker.

Flyrx7

iTrader: (1)

Heh, that's what Dale (tworx7s) call em' too (periscope pods), you remember Dale, don't you?
BTW, nice little workshop you got there, are those Grizzly tools I see?

Frank

Flyrx7

iTrader: (1)

Ahhh, who needs a center speaker
You can always put a full range speaker/tweater in the gauge pod and run only 2 gauges, hell, I'll even make you a nice little speaker grill too

jimlab

Yeah, I remember Dale... do you remember the Z06 thread on the mailing list?

Basically. They're the same models that Grizzly sells, but Harbor Freight has no shipping charges.

Obviously there's the band saw and 9" disc/6" belt sander in the foreground, a 16-speed drill press next to the 20-ton hydraulic press (orange) in the far left corner, and not so obviously, a Lincoln SP-135 MIG welder which you can just barely see the control panel of on the right hand side, just above the belt guard of the sander. The dolly under the sander did come from Grizzly, however.

LT1-7

if you want to stick with the original turn signals I personally think this is the best looking front

Shinobi-X

I was about to add that with a FMIC, that would be one great looking front end, but I caught myself, and realized we are not dealing with 13B-REW's here. As for the bumper, the lines are smooth, and nothing too busy, so it works, IMO better with the 93+ marker lights. The lines on the front openings of the bumper are not too aggresive, and they accomodate them better (perhaps modifying the marker lights themselves though would be interesting).

Can someone tell what bumper this is, in the second pic from the left? http://images.google.com/images?hl=e...ec.com+99+RX-7

It looks similar, but with 93 marker lights, it looks pretty decent.

tmiked

I actually dont like the front. It looks too Ferrari or something to me.
I like the ones that keep a Mazda look. Like RB


Like you I buy a bunch of stuff I havent installed
I have a PFS ECU, and I may buy an AEM and sell the PFS
I have a fronnt strut bar I havent installed because I work on the car more than I drive it
I have Brembo discs and Hawk pads I dont need yet but i plan to install
....................

Flyrx7

iTrader: (1)

Thats a Knight Sports (2) fog light unit, not sure what model number though.

Frank

jimlab

It appears to be the old Knight Sports Type III bumper.

DomFD3S

I like the Border Type II. Agressive, but can still maintain an OEM style look. But I really think it needs to retain the blinkers to look nice. Without them, there is a lot of excess "space" there.

93 R1

Jim,

Good call on the Border front end.

It looks amazing in blue. Just get some 99 spec HID turn signals from FEED? and you are in business.

Shinobi-X

Ok, from the pic, I thought it was one solid light. I'm not too fond of the the double fog lights on that kit.

With that said, the border II w/ markers, or the OEM w/ lip look fine, but upon looking at the pic of the one FD w/ sleek lights in red, it does look a little cluttered/busy.
Here is another similar pic for reference.
(though this doesn't look bad at all)

The layout would be smoother IMO, if you would consider dropping the front markers, and instead mounting them on the side of the bumper, thus keeping the front end looking smoother (sleeker) with one set of lights.

They will be mounted just like any other 93 car.


However, I'm sure there are laws that require the turn signals to be mounted on the front of the car as well, so I'm still not positive as to how you can work that out.

Perhaps these can be an example.
http://www.rtautosports.com/body%20k...invaderRX7.jpg

http://www.rtautosports.com/body%20k...nvader2RX7.jpg

I'm not a big fan of the kit itself, but if you can use some imagination (and ignore the hole in the middle), the sleek lights in relation to the marker lights do flow rather nicely- on the border II, I'm sure it would work better with it's nicer lines than this veilside unit. However, you would have to do some measuring for fit, and mounting etc.

jimlab

That's the RE Amemiya AD Facer bumper that I mentioned above. The only thing I don't like about it is that it sits fairly low and would reqiure sideskirts to keep from looking a little dorky.

TurboFD

i really like that bumper, id keep the turn signals though. i also feel like i need to say that your really retarded for buy ing all that **** and never installing it. for the sleek light kits, the RE AMemiya and rotary extreme are the nicest looking in my opinion and the Rotary extreme are pretty cheap and look just like the RE amemiya ones.

jimlab

Thanks!

Montego

iTrader: (1)

I also liked the border one. When I first saw it (like last year) I thought it looked ferrarish as well. But in my opinion it really needs some kinds of lights. To me the distance from the pop ups to the oil cooler ducts just seems too long with out the lights.

93BlackFD

flyrx7's gauge pods kick so much ***

jimlab

I guess I should have specified that I eliminated the OEM marker lights because I felt they didn't match the shape of the bumper openings very well, but I wasn't saying there shouldn't be any lights at all. Where to put them and what shape they should be was what I was pondering.

Cars with sleek lights and '99-spec marker lights look too "busy" in my opinion, and I don't like the silverish tinge of the '99-spec lights. Their shape does match the bumper openings better, but would only look good on a car which still had pop-ups, I think.

However, I think the bumper with the OEM '93-'95 lights is growing on me, especially now that I've seen it in blue. Anyone know if you can still keep your belly pan and side pans (in front of the wheel wells) with these aftermarket bumpers?