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So I’ve had this rx3 for 10 years. Lots of cars have come and gone in that time but it’s finally time for this ol girl. Long story short, the plan is maybe a little unconventional and may not be everyone’s cup of tea but I’m building this to be a real all purpose car. Can go on a nice cruise one day and hit up the track the next.
The plan:
I want the car to not look too modified from the outside. Not stock but not overdone. Undecided on the motor. It’s a toss up between a pport 12a and a mild N/A 20b. But the real fun part is what I’m doing with the suspension. The car is getting Miata suspension both front and rear. Yes. You read that right. It’s something I’d been thinking about for years and now it’s getting done. The track width is a bit wider but with some minor flaring and the right offset wheels it shouldn’t be too bad. I’ll try to update any progress here but most pictures will be on my Instagram account. It’s the same as my username here. Feel free to take a look and follow. Otherwise I’ll try to be diligent is my posts here as well. Should be quite a build and looking forward to any advice I can get from you guys.
Thanks Rotary Addict. I’m excited about it. Long road ahead though. But another small update. New metal in the front after finding quite a bit of rust. Also a section of front frame rails has been cut out to make room for the Miata front subframe.
Sweet project! I have a reason to check the forums again.
Happy to bring you back. Haha. It’s going to be a long term project but I’m excited it’s finally getting going.
And thanks for the info RX7(613). Now I need to see if anyone has info on fitting either combo in an rx3. I want to keep the shifter location within the stock hole so I can keep a full interior.
So lots got done this week. It’s a rolling chassis again!! Sean at Better Motorsports pit in some serious time on the build and the front and rear subframes are in! He made the suggestion to go with QA1 coilovers for a couple reasons. Valving and springs being easy to change being one and it also being an easier install/fab job to go with that vs building a whole new shock tower. Anyways, things are rolling and wanted to show those who are interested where I’m at with it.
Not a major update but things are still rolling along. Still trying to get some things figured out on the trans. An rx8 box doesn’t sit the shifter in the right spot and shortening the TII box is close if we shorten it as much as possible. Can’t move it all ahead much without modifying the oil pan as it hits the steering rack. Looked into the T56 option but I believe that we’d have to do too much work to the trans tunnel. Anyone have some good advice?
But the steering is hooked up now. Miata ahead of the firewall and stock rx3 behind it to keep a somewhat stock appearance. Floors still need some attention but really happy with the progress.
So for anyone keeping track, here’s how things look now. I’ve bought an rx8 trans and we’re going to try to get some sort of linkage set up to keep the shifter location stock. It may seem trivial but I have the reproduction savanah console from Phil’s that I really want to use. In the home stretch as far as this round of metal work is concerned. Sean is going to fit the fuel cell next and then patch the floors. If he has time he will then replace the rockers because they’re all bondo right now. Looking at wheels even though that’s an issue for way down the line now. I’m liking the look of the Work CR-01. But anyways. Next project after the metal work will be some paint and then wiring the completely new chassis harness.
Thanks for all the encouragement guys. No updates unfortunately. Things have been hectic. Next thing is to do some reinforcements under the car. I didn't want a cage or roll bar in the car so instead I’m working on the bottom of the car to stiffen it up and keep it all together. Going to do a basic rebuild on the 20b for now so I can run it for a while once it’s road worthy before tackling the big build. Hoping to have everything done to send to paint next winter.
Originally Posted by 13BT_RX3
Looking good.
Which fuel cell are you going with?
That fuel cell is just a plastic tank from summit. Not a true fuel cell.
So put on the wheels and just set a fender and the nose cone on for some motivation.
I went with a 15x8 +25 front and 15x9 +35 rear. I’ll need to pull the fenders a little over 2” front and rear. The original plan was stock body but I think it will look pretty bad *** with a bit of a flared fender to fit the wider tires. But not much of an update. Just wanted to show you guys the pics. Soon I’ll be working on getting the car completely stripped. Going to get it acid dipped so I can truly remove all the rust. Then it will be patching and stitch welding the whole chassis. I’d still like to add some beefy frame rails and maybe even add runners out to the rockers to keep it stiffer but we’ll see how it goes.
