Archetype

More pics and updates added now. My Longchamps are 4x114.3, and I had the stud pattern changed front and rear to suit my wheels specifically. I thought about putting Series 3 front struts and rear end in, but the +38/40 Series 3 offset meant that the wheels would stick out even further.

Almost back on four wheels: I've run into a little problem though. The front wheels fit over the brakes ok as far as the diameter goes, but I have not accounted for the width of the S4 calipers, and they are out by 5-10mm (hard up against the wheels, as pictured). I think I'm going to have to put some 10mm spacers on the front, which is not going to make it easy to fit the wheels under the guards. I'm already a little concerned about the combination of the width of the wheels, the offset and the extra track gained from the S4 brake conversion. I'm also missing a couple of minor suspension and steering components, which is slowing my progress too.

More progress: I went to the workshop that is building my engine to seeing how things were progressing, and this was parked outside, ready to be taken to the signwriters: Mmm, 4 rotor!

I sent 941 nuts/bolts/etc away for zincing and chroming, and I got 938 back, which I think is a very good efforting considering the minute size of some of them. Before: After: The After pic really doesn't do them justice - they look so good in the flesh. For anyone doing some serious rebuilding work on their car - I would highly recommend getting the nuts and bolts cleaned up and re-zinced. They look a million times better, and the threads are so clean that it makes reassembly a breeze. I spent a bit of time over the Christmas/New Years period ('06-'07!) bolting things back onto the car - custom seat mounts, pedal assembly/steering, custom dash mounts, rear suspension, headlights and headlight motor assemblies (which were stripped down, painted, powdercoated, etc), and various parts in the engine bay. My S1 hubs have been machined down to fit the S4 discs, and I have had some custom caliper mounts made up for the S4 brake calipers. My struts are currently having some threaded sleeves welded onto them, so I'll take some pics of all these bits and pieces as soon as I get them back. Also, the stud pattern has been converted to 4x114.3 on the new front brake setup, as well as the S2 rear end. After a bit of hunting and a lot of patience, I was finally able to source the wheels that I have being trying to get for my Series 1. A massive thank you to Dom (Savannarx3) and also to John (autokiwi) for all your help (both via Ausortary.com). The first thing I did when I got them home was test fit them on my Series 3: They stick out of the guards very slightly on the Series 3, which matched perfectly with my measurements and calculations I made to ensure that I got the right offset: Taking into consideration that the offset is +20 on a Series 1 (compared to +38/40 on a Series 3), they should fit almost perfectly, filling out the guards to the maximum. I'm a little concerned that the fronts are going to stick out a bit too far though, as my brake mods mean they will stick out a further 8mm from the standard hub. All 4 wheels are 15x7, with a +11 offset. I really wanted to go wider on the back, but it appears that anything wider than 7" had offsets which were either too low, or negative. Bolting on some fugly flares is not an option with this car. I have looked into having a pair of them widened, but it doesn't look feasible due to the way they have been manufactured (spun alloy).

Finally, after 14 months at the painters, the Series 1 was painted and delivered to my house (I'd moved twice since it was taken away ). Here it is being strapped down for the journey: Made it home safely: I cleaned all the old underseal off, and a new layer was applied while it was being painted: The lower half of this pic is the roof of the RX-7. The blue reflection is a tarpaulin which is hanging from the roof:

Finally a bit of progress. The engine bay and interior of the Series 1 now painted: Some Technoracing TV-Rs that I bought: They are 14x6.5 all round (114.3x4), with 185/60 and 205/60 tyres. I put them on my Series 3 to see what they looked like: Little bit of a Photochop:

In between this build up, I owned a very tidy and original Series 3 RX-7 too: The Series 3 came with a spare rear window wiper motor, as the original one was stuffed: I put my Series 1 wheels on the Series 3 (Series 1 has 4x114 adapters) briefly for shits and giggles: (I enlarged the wheels in Photoshop).

Thanks guys. crazytim - I'd love to see scnas of that mag if you get a chance. Those pics I've uploaded so far are out of date now. I'll add to the thread with more details (including engine specs) and pics later tonight. I can't remember how much I paid for the wing mirrors of the top of my head, but they came from here: http://www.aprperformance.com/ They are great quality, and are super light. I would like to get some for my daily car - when I buy it that is (still looking for the right one). Some of you might be intererested in that car too, but I'll keep quiet until I actually get one.

Half cage is installed, as well as custom seat mounts for a pair of Racetech 1000s: Now to the panelbeaters: - Door locks removed - Fuel filler lock removed - Badges and mouldings removed - Side indicators removed - Engine bay holes and brackets removed - Battery mount removed - Rear number plate brackets removed - Engine bay wiring harnesses holes deleted Here are the panels after a fresh coat of paint. Still waiting for the body though. 7 months and counting Series 4 13BT gearbox, after a quick clean and polish: Carbon fibre mirrors: I thought I'd go for something a little different in regards to choosing wheels for my car. Longchamp XR-4s are my favourite old school wheel, and I came across a set on Ebay (with 4x110 stud pattern) a couple of months ago. The rears were 15x7.5 and the fronts were 15x7. To cut a long story short, the guy was a dodgy seller and has taken my money, and I have no wheels. I finally got some of my parts back a few days ago which have been powdercoated. Here are some before and after shots:

My attempt at taking the windscreen out: I removed all the sound deadening, underseal and 30+ years of gunk from the car. I actually enjoyed taking off the sound deadening with dry ice, but the underneath of the car was time consuming and painful. Starting to look clean and tidy now: The inside of the roof will be painted to match the rest of the car: Underneath the car: Fully stripped, the car is finally trailered away. This is the first time the car has moved for about a year.

The stripping begins: I took the engine out and sold it, along with the gearbox, diff and a few other bits and pieces: A couple of areas which needed attention: The next thing to do was pull out all the wiring (deleting anything which wasn't necessary along the way and labelling everything clearly): A previous owner replaced the bushing on the steering column with a piece of graden hose. Kiwi ingenuity at it's best.

Hey guys, I've been a long term lurker on the forum, but I've never really posted much. I thought I'd start a thread on my RX-7 project, as I need a bit of motivation to get it finished. So here's a brief rundown so far (copied and pasted from Ausrotary): My 2nd car was a very tidy and original Series 1 RX-7 which I owned for about a year and a half, until it was stolen and written off in 1999. As I was studying fulltime, I saw no reason to buy another one until I had a decent place to live and a reasonable income to buy and rebuild the first of my dream cars. Fast forward another 3 and a half years to 2003, when I finally bought another RX-7: Specs of the car as I bought it: - New WOF and Rego - 12A 6-port - Extractors - RX-4 4-speed gearbox - Custom respray - red with gold pearl - 16" wheels, 205/45 and 225/45 tyres (still not sure what they are exactly) - Mazda 323 seats - Momo Sprint steering wheel - Jamex springs - Very straight, and relatively rust free - Everything bolted together with half the amount of bolts required - Rooted front shocks - Below average brakes - Noisy diff My first RX-7 (before it was stolen and written off): My 2nd RX-7 (current project), as I bought it: I drove the car around in this state for around 8 months, which was fun, but I really wanted to build the car exactly how I wanted it. I made the decision to take it off the road and do it all properly, rather than doing little bits here and there. More pics and info to follow...