craaaazzy

iTrader: (9)

hey guys,
i'm going to keep a build thread here in the SE forum, if that's ok w/ the mods.

rented a uhaul and drove up to NC to pick up an 85 rx7. car already has a lot of work done to it. engine rebuilt, suspension redone, brakes upgraded, etc. car came with a widebody kit from black dragon. car seems to be at about 80% complete. mainly it's installing oil cooler, installing seats, installing rollcage, mounting the widebody kit, and finally paint.

i've got one pic for u guys as a teaser, will get more later when i have time to work on the car but priority right now is to put together my 74 bmw 2002 when i get it back from paint.

fred

craaaazzy

iTrader: (9)

btw, i'll be hitting up SE members for help on finishing the car. am looking for some parts that i know i'll need. some include the following so if u have em, please let me know. thanks.

SA front bumper
SA rear bumper
stock seat rails

also looking for advice on doing prep work for paint. i've never done body work so any advice/help would be awesome.

rotorypolo

iTrader: (1)

Sweet 1st gen. Saw the car in person and it is a mean looking machine! Can't wait to see the finished product!

lx_machado

iTrader: (13)

WOW looks like a cool project!

I started sanding mine down awhile ago but decided to just let the professionals do it. if you end up doing the prep work please post the progress!

If Ray doesn't come and pick up this seat i have then you can have the rails off of it.

Good luck Fred

craaaazzy

iTrader: (9)

thanks for coming to pick it up with me!

thanks, just keep me posted. question for u...are the rails the only thing i need or are there some sort of mounts that need to go along with it? trying to research but of course, not much info on rails, just seats that people have installed.

ray green

iTrader: (14)

The seat rails bolt into the bottom of the seats and then bolt into the floor boards. I have a set put aside for you, always an honor to contribute to a new and worthy FB project.

Post up some more info and pictures of the wide body project when you get a chance. And that '74 2002 is a fantastic car, wouldn't mind seeing a few photos of it too (or even a visit to an OGTA meeting, good for 1 12A equivalent for sure).

craaaazzy

iTrader: (9)

thanks ray!

as for the 02, it's currently disassembled. was at the painters for 4 months and little work had been done so i finally towed it back to my place. i am now one of those people who got "screwed" by their painter. i am in the process of looking for another painter so if anyone can recommend me someone who is reasonably priced, please let me know. will need the 02 painted as well as the rx7.

this is what it looked like prior to sending it to the painter:


here it is disassembled:


and the new wheels that will go on it once it's painted:

ray green

iTrader: (14)

That 2002 is a pretty looking car, right up there with the RX-2's and RX-3's in Megastyle.

I need to paint a couple cars myself, I tempted to learn how and just do it.

BrettLinton7

iTrader: (33)

I'm leaning towards that with my FC at the moment...

Good luck with the widebody, craaaazzy. What sort of wheels are you going to run to match up with those fenders?

craaaazzy

iTrader: (9)

thanks guys. i'm debating whether or not on tackling the prep myself w/ the rx7. so if u guys find any good sites that i can learn from, please shoot them my way.

as for the wheels brett, i'm most likely getting a set of custom steelies from bassett. that way i can figure out the correct backspacing and width required to fill the widebody prior to having to spend serious money on other wheels (ccw's preferably but that's a lot of $$$). this is a slow project as i just got the 02 back and this is what it looks like at the moment...

ray green

iTrader: (14)

Are you going to paint it back to the original light tan? That would be a classy color for that car.

I've been rocking the wet sander lately, it's more fun than packing front bearings, for sure.

I'm seriously thinking about hooking the compressor up to a spray gun and see what happens.

craaaazzy

iTrader: (9)

Yes, it's going to stay the original color (charmonix).

I say try and paint it urself. Worse that can happen is u have to sand it back down.

craaaazzy

iTrader: (9)

was able to work on the car a little bit this past weekend. unfortunately things didn't go as planned. i picked up a used oil cooler since mine was cracked (2 places on the same bung) and when i went to install it, i ended up cracking the top bung myself (i swear, i barely torqued the thing down!) so am now looking to get this cooler welded up. car already has racing beat SS lines so what I'm thinking is to have the crack welded up as well as the 16mm to -10 fitting welded to it. only concern is the different materials but i'll see if that can be done.

also found a few more problems with the car. a small oil leak from the oil pan which i will now requires me to drop the pan and seal it correctly.

the other problem is the water temp gauge was non-functional. checking the wiring diagram, it tells me the wire connecting the gauge to the sensor is yellow with a white stripe. i don't see this wire. what i do is either a tan wire (could be yellow) with brown dots every inch apart or a brown wire with a gold stripe. the tan w/ brown dots did not affect the temp gauge and i did not get the chance to try the other wire cause that's when i noticed my oil cooler was leaking. so any help here would be great.

btw, i didn't mention it in my original post but this is an 85 gsl-se. thanks.

edit: alright, according to this post, i have the right wire on the sensor: https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ight=temp+wire
now i need to confirm that the wiring to the gauge is good, that the gauge itself is good, or the sensor is good. i read i can simply ground the wire and the gauge should move, this should narrow down the first two at least.

dbragg

iTrader: (7)

Fred,

I just had some fittings welded to my oil cooler for use with RB lines, so it shouldnt be a problem. I keep having some minor leaking issues at the cooler, but that's just because AN fittings are so temperamental. I am slowly tightening it to try to stop the leak, but I dont want to over tighten it.

I also just had my coolant gauge go out when I installed the FD alt in car, and yes you can test the gauge by grounding it out. I have seen this work numerous times on other cars, so it should work on ours. That is my next step with my car too. Just rub the wire on a ground and you should see the needle move around.

Once you get these sorted out, you need to drive that thing around! Maybe source some stock fenders so you can drive the car around a little. That'll give you time to figure out installed the widebody, and let you enjoy the car.

craaaazzy

iTrader: (9)

hey donnie,
did u have AN fittings welded onto the oil cooler? my fittings are actually the RB ones that comes w/ the RB SS lines...hopefully welder can weld that to the cooler (non-aluminum to aluminum weld). we'll see what he says today.

thanks for confirming the ground theory. will have to try it when i get the chance to at least confirm the gauge. i also have an autometer gauge and will need to hook that up.

rotorypolo

iTrader: (1)

Donnie, i say we go over to Fred's and take on that project ourselves..at this rate, car wont be running till next year..lol

craaaazzy

iTrader: (9)

i can use all the help i can get...

dbragg

iTrader: (7)

Fred, I had aluminum fittings welded to the cooler, so your case may be different, but I am sure it can be done. You just have to have a proficient welder. Since my temp gauge quit working, I need to install an aftermarket gauge as well. I just have to decide where I want to place the sender and what gauge to buy.

Marco and Fred, I am definitely down to come tweak on the SE one day. We just need to find the time and plan it. I hope to knock out a timing belt change on my DD, Rav4, next week. If all my parts come in in time, I hope to do it Tuesday. Then I will be free from work Thursday. If they don't, then I will spend Thursday changing the belt and all. Just drive the SE to Marietta and we can wrench on it

craaaazzy

iTrader: (9)

welder is welding an fittings to the cooler. he didn't want to weld the RB fittings since they were not aluminum. should get it back sometime next week. think i'll try to tackle the oil pan this weekend if i can find the time.

craaaazzy

iTrader: (9)

Oil cooler is now installed. Also had to redo the oil pan as there was a slight leak from one of the bolts. Previous owner had used a gasket on it and it did not seal properly around one of the bolts.

I think i've figured out the cage install so need to drill holes through the floorboard and rear wheel well and bolt it down. I'm only going to be installing the back hoop portion and not the front half as the car is going to be a street car, not a dedicated track car.

Also figured out how to install the driver side sparco seat. Just need to buy the supplies and do some fabrication and mount them.

Let's see, last thing was wiring up the autometer water temp and oil pressure gauges. Not sure if the water temp sender is f'ed up or what cause the needle on the gauge did not move past 100 degrees. Wiring should be good cause I've got a good ground and power powering the lights on the gauges and it shares those wires.

craaaazzy

iTrader: (9)

Btw I wanted to thank Ray for the seat rails as well as Alex for bringing then over to me. Them nice people.

craaaazzy

iTrader: (9)

Alright, I may have an idea as to why the water temp is not reading so let me run this by u guys. Reading the instructions, it says that the sender is grounded by the threads. This would be good if I mounted it directly on the engine but since mounted it on a coolant line via an adapter, it is not grounding itself so I need to some how wire up a ground to it. Does that make sense? And if so, how do I add a ground to the sender?

craaaazzy

iTrader: (9)

autometer water temp and oil pressure gauges are in. now need to fabricate some sort of plate and mount them to the center console. anyone have a spare clock i can have? previous owner took it out but i'd rather put one back in.


also modified seat rails and cut/drilled flat stock to bolt down seat. installed the sparco seat belts also...let me tell u, these were not as easy to install as i would have though. the way u have to loop the belts, u have 3 layers that need to go through a small slit.


installed the rollbar.


and finally, started drilling to mount the rear fender.

ray green

iTrader: (14)

That's looking pretty Wide, Fred. That seat looks like a wide body too. Nice Work!

craaaazzy

iTrader: (9)

u have no idea ray...i still need to get wheels to fill them but can't do that until i finish the 02 first. the widebody fenders stick out 5 inches past the stock fenders! i should take a pic from the back just so u guys can see it.

as for the seat, they are sparco torino's. i'm a 32 waist and it fits me well.

just took pics from the back.


this one is looking straight at the rear tires.