Pelo.

Epic job on the carpet! Looks really good. Did you need to heat mold it for fitting?

Try some of this wool tuft testing to figure out where to fiddle

Since then? Not a lot has happened. Just the monthly drive out to the local car show. My daughter is nearly one year old now, and family has taken up most of my time - which has been very enjoyable. I’ve driven only 1500 kms since she was born! Future plans for the RX7 at the moment are unclear. But it’s no worry having it wait in the garage for now.

February 2019 Instead of going to Rotary REUnion, I did an Auckland Car Club race event. I raced in the Dual and Multi car sprints. This was my first real race meeting. Staying in the pits, talking to actual racers, and driving with legit race cars on track was rather great. I was the only road car in the sprint class, which was surprising. All the other class entrants were racers just getting some extra laps in. So of course I was slowest! (Excuses!) The day was very hot, at 27c before lunch. The track temp must have been over 50c. I put some effort into my tyre pressures. Havingi started with F30 R28 psi, they got really slippery and up to 36 even after the practice session. By the end of the day I had dropped the cold pressure to 25, which heated up to 33F 31R (measured in the pits after a cool down lap). The car was much grippier and predictable with the lower pressure, plus the wear seems more even. The road tyres don't get as much of those melted lumps and strips. The Hampton Downs National circuit is so much faster than the club. I was easily hitting 200 on the straight. I just tried to get my lines and braking consistent all day. My oil catch can works! No more oil spraying out of the BOV on to the exhaust! But the can leaks! After draining it, duct tape saved the day. I’ll need to replace it with a better setup. Overall I certainly get more driving time at a track day, but this was worth doing. The engine still has some rough spots. I reckon its turbo related. The boost fluctuates, and I can hear turbo spooling and slowing like an on-off oscillation. It will go away and run normally if I back off for a bit. Time to again look into the turbo control system…

December 2018 A good old fashioned car park motorkhana / autotest / autocross, with the Sports Car Club of NZ.

November 2018 Time for a sound system upgrade! Nothing major, just a kit to improve on the worn out factory stuff. This car doesn’t have the crazy Bose setup like some RX7s, so it’s just a simple 4+1 speaker ‘90s system, that rattles like crazy. The crusty old front speakers in their bespoke bracket. With some help from carspeakeradapters.com, the new Sony 6” split component speakers are mounted. Tweeters are worth having. The rear speakers are a drop in fit 6x8” Pioneer, and I’ve also fitted a compact powered 8” subwoofer in the boot. The head unit remains the same Sony media player. A cheap and cheerful setup overall.

October 2018 I got sick of the ugly gauge mount. I found a guy https://www.draklore.com/ that makes interior pieces for the RX7 and a few other cars. The Drakelore gauge pod replaces the centre dash speaker. It looks good and fits well. This is also a cheaper and sturdier option than finding a rare RE Amemiya steering column mount.

September 2018 I installed a cheap oil catch can, with “custom” (Bunnings) aluminium brackets and 8mm vinyl hose, plumbed between front turbo inlet and filler vent tube. I’ve kept the PCV valve to intake manifold. There isn’t much room to fit one of these, I should really get a catch can custom built. A test drive shows nothing coming out of the blow off valve, but it will be more obvious on track.

August 2018. We are back at Chrome. It was fun, but not great like last year. Too much waiting and traffic on track. The car ran well and fast. The Blitz blow off valve is puffing blowby oil, directly on to the exhaust manifold, and started smoking. I’ve bought a catch can. It only happens on track cornering. One suggestion I’ve read is to keep the oil level around half full, but that is not a risk I’m willing to take! On the way home from the track I got a lovely golf ball sized dent in my bonnet from a truck kicking up a stone. It probably would have gone straight through my windscreen, so that was some luck I guess. The headlights, poor by modern standards, have been upgraded to the most expensive halogen bulbs I could find - NARVA PLATINUM PLUS 130. They are noticeably brighter.

Wow it has actually been a year since I updated this blog! June 2018 At the sprint event I damaged the front spoiler, as the road was very bumpy at 200 kph! It had never looked very good, and had obvious fading and plastic welding marks. I removed the front spoiler, with many rusted mounting bolts breaking. Thankfully there was no damage under the car. I sanded off all the scratches and plastic welding marks from previous repairs, straightened it out, replaced the mounting bolts and clips, and painted it with spray on black Plastidip. It came out quite well for a first attempt. Much better than the very temporary “black restorer” goo. When the Plastidip coating gets damaged again I’ll do some more sanding to get it even smoother, and try to avoid bubbling. I also cleaned the filthy front bumper with wax and grease remover, sanded off some old overspray, and adjusted the brake duct fitment. The FD has legit brake cooling ducts below the oil coolers, but they do get damaged sitting below the bumper there. I have invested in a clay bar, orbital polisher, polish and wax kit, as I need to get rid of all sorts of blemished spots. The paint has been a bit neglected because I don’t really enjoy washing cars. Luckily the red looks great in good sunlight even unpolished. Spot the differences with this fully restored RX7!

If you pre book via the link in the facebook event, Hampton Downs go karts are $29 instead of $49 that day only

The idea is to split the event and spread it out. I'm not sure i want to drive all the way to HD unless there is racing on. It's such a boring drive on the motorway.

I like caffeine and classics because of the variety. Mustang next to skyline next to lancia next to mini next to Celica. Where else does that happen?

Thats a random and unusual choice for a Track car. It looks fun! I had a 96 mirage hatch with i think the same motor and it went hard for what it was. So nimble! 2kcup won't allow mods like throttle and brake upgrades so keep that in mind.

The Burgerfuel in Botany was happy to accommodate the Kiwi Rotor meet last month. Plenty of parking although its not central.