I'm build ling a widebody supra as we speak

 

thanks.

 

Was not a fan of the wide rear fenders, until this thread!

 

Saw this car in person today and got all giddy. Nice car and Mike (owner) is a cool guy.

 

I need to get out in the scene more so I can start seeing these cars in person. Looks good man, I keep up with Mayday and see your car on there periodically. I'll definitely be using this for motivation.

 

Thanks for a truly inspiring build thread, I am contemplating my own swap... I picked up a 99 pro touring firebird, with a built motor and a lot of race parts... so I am currently driving my donor, while the 94 rx7 sits with a blown motor...

I am currently debating between going your route, and taking a year or two (or 5) working on misc paint and body items, maybe a color swap, wide body fenders et al... or

Going right for the engine swap with minimal fuss, sticking with the stock paint, stock fenders, and taking on some of the details down the road... (maybe even burining up some of my old stock tires before I find wider rims)

The latter is a more of a put it on and take it off again type of build, where I may be in for a couple of rounds of driveshaft lengths and such as I go from a stock diff to a explorer diff... but I figure I could have the car on the road by spring, and enjoy the v8. (also seems to me to be a lot less cost to get the car driving again)

I would be curious to know your opinion, as well as anything you care to share about what was brilliant vs a total waste... (parts, process, order of tasks ect)..

Finally, care to share how you have it insured? I had to get a Hagerty policy for the 99 firebird because of all of the performance mods, my Acuity insurance wouldn't touch it.

 

Just read your whole build thread over lunch! Wow, what a car man!
AWSOME work.

 

can you go into more detail on how you painted and preped everything?

compressor , gun, brand of paint..etc? what prep work? sanding inbetween? etc?

Thank you! awesome build!

 

Honestly as awesome as the car turned out, I regret stretching the build for as long as I did. Ive talked to so many people who knew what the car went from and they all said if it was their car the reward was worth the wait. I disagree. Id have had more fun driving it and fixing it up slowly than going from zero to hero. By the time I finished i had forgotten what it was like to drive an RX7 and it had been so long it felt like getting in someone else's car. I would have appreciated it more had the memory of the rotary been fresh in my head. Prep and paint the engine bay so you dont have to pull the motor back out, but bodywork is something that can come later.

Brilliant? Well, I cant say there's anything that I felt was an amazing decision, but there are two regrets I have.

1. I would have put power steering on it instead of converting the rack. I went from cheapo 245's to sticky 265's. The steering effort definitely increased. Its manageable, but for a daily driver Id have rather had power steering.

2. As sick as the widebody looks, its not needed. I have a local friend running the same tires but in 265s and he has no traction problems despite making more than 50whp than myself. Plus $330 PER tire hurts, especially when you're replacing them every 10k miles.


As far as insurance - I have mine with state farm as a declared value vehicle. I kept every single receipt for everything and told them what it would cost for me to replace it. It has full coverage. Now in a couple years when the car hits classic status....Im not sure what will happen.

Thanks!

oil-less 33gallon compressor from sears (it could keep up, but barely). Primer gun was an iwata and base/clear gun was a cornwell (devilbiss). Id recommend just forking over the money for a quality base/clear gun from the start. The cornwell one is a pain to use and difficult to make consistent. The primers are all dupont Nason, base is sherwin williams 4th dimension, clear is dupont 2:1.

1.Sand metal
2.Clean with bug and tar remover/acetone
3.Tack cloth
4.Etch primer
5.Tack cloth
6.Filler primer
7.Sand
8.Bug and tar remover
9.Tack cloth
10.Sealer
11.Tack cloth
12.Basecoat
13.Tack cloth
14.Clear coat
15.Sand (stating at 600-1200 depending on blemishes and going up to 2000, finishing with staged buffing pads, meguires 105 then 205, and finally wax)

Some people sand after 2 coats of base, then shoot 2 more before shooting the clear, but the sealer I used went on very thin and didnt add any orange peel. Downside to the sherwin williams base was I had to shoot 4 layers on it (compared to the usual 2-3), but each went on and smoothed out like glass.

 

Benjamin Button.

 

 

Great Build

 

Great build and write up!

 

Thank you for the painting advice! Just finished painting my wide body using the same method. I don't think I ever went to do it again.

Result was great!!

Color match was a bit off.

Let me know if you want to see a picture of it. Once again thank you very much for the detailed steps!

 

What muffler is that?

 

Tanabe medallion. Its surprisingly quiet - sounds like a stock vette at idle.

 

this is awesome!

 

 

awesome build. looks so perfect with the white paintjob. are u planning on getting power steering ? i used to hate not having power steering in my old car

 

I LOOOOOVE your can man! Few years ago I was searching for a motor-less FD RX7 but never could find one. I settled on a 300zx for my LS1/T56 swap. Currently in the shop now for a fully built, forged twin turbo LS motor! I, much like you changed to a hyper white color. I suggest coloring your fuel rail covers to match your cars paint but thats just my opinion from one finished project car to another! Im still searching for a good body/interior FD RX7 for my next LS project!

 

I appreciate all your pics very helpful!! Beautiful car! I'm in the process now of swapping in an ls2!
I'm going to use this a motivation!