Boswoj

Hi -

I'm just in the process of fitting new fiberglass fenders to my 1st gen Rx-7 EP car and was curious as to how anyone else finished and attached the rears. Just looking for any cleaner and more useful way to get it done. Pics would be appreciated.

Thanks - Boswoj

Kenku

The rears we got were drilled for rivets already, so after cutting out the sheetmetal underneath, we just riveted them in place. Okay okay, there's probably some minor aerodynamic losses, but...

cpa7man

iTrader: (2)

I'm a total nubie and a hack when it comes to this kind of work but here's pics of what I've been doing. http://rides.webshots.com/album/556233258vHJFka

We just used rivets like Kenku did. Hopefully some paint will make it look better.

Paul

Boswoj

Thanks for the responses guys. I was going to go quick release on the rear fenders, but got to thinking that it would probably be a rare occasion when I took them off, so I had already kind of decided on staying with rivets.

I should have been clearer - how much fender did you cut away underneath, and how did you attach and stabilize the lower edge of the fender? Miata fender stays are handy as they can be bent to almost any shape and already have a nut welded at one end for easy attachment to the fender. I was just curious whether anyone else was fabricating a wheel tub to cut down on "marble" collecting and to keep some of the air outside the fender.

(By the way - nice photo documentation on the build cpa7man - thanks for sharing them.)

wlfpkrcn

Great info guys. I've been contemplating how to cut my rear fenders out and support them.

Great pics CPA7Man!

Kenku

Oh, actually the fender wrapped around part of the bottom edge, IIRC... there were no additional supports other than just riveting it.

We cut away more or less everything that was covered by the new fender; drew around the edge of it with a sharpie, drew another line an inch or two in to give the rivets a place to be, and cut away the rest.

cpa7man

iTrader: (2)

I'll dig around this weekend and see what I have as far as pictures go. I think I took some nude pictures of the 7.

Thanks for the props Boswoj, I've never built a car from scratch, but if I can get this done, anyone can!

Found one shot from the web, I've got more at the house I think. Shows how much I hacked: http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2162...Wi?vhost=rides

Boswoj

cpa7man -

I saw that one on the slideshow, but it was too dark to see how much you hacked. I went back and upped the brightness on my monitor so I could see it better. With that much cut away, it looks like the two pounds of rubber snakes you pick up with slicks will be able to sling off and impact your taillights and wiring. That can't be good, and it is a pain in the *** to clean all that crap out after every race. Are you building sheet metal tubs to keep all the rocks and rubber outside the car?

cpa7man

iTrader: (2)

Take a look at the pictures in this post. This is the car I copied when I did the new one. That certainly is an issue with debris entering into the cabin. I'll cut some aluminum sheet metal pieces and pop rivet them over the holes(as you can see on the drivers side picture). I just purchased another EP car from the left coast (long story) and it’s the same way….I went up to Hallett last weekend and soon realized I needed my shop vac. My suit looked like I had been thru a dirt and rubber storm.
I saw someone selling what they called Mazdacomp inner fender liners. This might be a more elegant solution, I’ve never seen them so I’m not sure.
As to your question regarding the fender attachment… The rear is just pop riveted to sheet metal left behind. Now the front uses the stock reinforcement piece with an L bracket pop riveted to the fenders. The front is also dzus fastened to the front air dam.

Formerly known as jgrewe

It shouldn't be a problem but the SCCA says to keep the fender cut below the door window level. As for 'glass quarter support if you attach the fender on the top, front and rear it will be very strong all by itself. We make our rears a lot thinner because of this built in strength.

We just use good old bondo to hold them on, we use a few holes like we were going to rivet them and use clecos to line things up with the holes. The holes get filled in when we do the final body work smoothing things out. Bondo works very well and it makes for easy replacement when you don't have to try to find the old holes again putting on a new quarter.

Some sheet aluminum cut to fit fills the gaps between the chassis and quarter panels.