Archetype's 1979 Mazda RX-7

[Archetype]

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...

[Archetype]

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.

[Archetype]

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.

[Archetype]

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:

[Archetype]

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).

[Archetype]

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:

[Archetype]

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:

[Archetype]

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).

[Archetype]

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!

[Archetype]

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.

[Archetype]

I'm in Tauranga this weekend, so I stopped by at my engine builder's again to see if there had been any further progress. The engine is still in bits, so I thought I'd take a few quick pics:

PP housings, modified and lightened RX-8 rotors, balanced and modified eccentric shaft in the background, as well has side plates:

[Archetype]

I'm having a clear out of my garage, and I have a few wheels for sale on Tarde Me:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=235775818

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=235776949

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=235778107

[Archetype]

The spec list:

Items marked in red are either still 'to do' or purchased/completed. Items marked in black are purchased/completed.

Car

*1979 Mazda RX-7

Engine/Drivetrain

S5 13BT plates, eccentric shaft, etc

New housings (peripheral ported)

RX-8 rotors

RX-8 stationary gears

New coils and leads

New seals, springs, gaskets, etc

New 12A front cover

S4 13BT waterpump, alternator

3.5” K&N IDA filter or similar (to suit IDA injection)

IDA throttle body and associated bits and pieces

PP manifold

Link computer

S2 electronic distributor - will sell this and upgrade to a CAS

Gilmer drive

New 3-core radiator

Davies Craig 10inch thermofans and controller

Custom thermofan shroud

Extractors, exhaust muffler

Enlarged fuel lines

US spec 13B sump

Surge tank, fuel pumps, etc

Rotor oil cap

10lb flywheel

H/D clutch

S4 13BT gearbox

S4 short shifter

S4 starter motor

Custom driveshaft

S2 rear end with 4.77 LSD

Wheels/Tyres

15x7" and 15x7.5" Speed Star (SSR) Longchamp XR-4s

205/50R15 tyres

Body

Respray in black (interior and exterior)

- 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

- Interior sound deadening removed

- Underneath stripped and resealed

New front indicators

New windscreen

Carbon fibre mirrors

Suspension, steering and engine mounts powdercoated, painted or chromed

Complete rewire, with all unnecessary wiring deleted, and remaining loom hidden

Suspension/Brakes

KYB shocks

King Springs (super low) for the rear

300lb 65mm ID DobiSport coilover springs

Front struts modified with coilover sleeves

Noltec adjustable strut tops

Series 4 RX-7 front discs and calipers

Stud pattern changed redrilled to 4x114.3 front and rear

Whiteline swaybar

Whiteline strutbrace

Nolathane bushes

Braided brakelines

H/D brake pads for Series 4 front brakes

H/D brake pads for Series 2 rear brakes

H/D brake fluid

Rear swaybar removed

S2 rear discs

Interior

Momo Tuner steering wheel

Momo boss kit

Trust gearknob

VDO water temp, oil temp and oil pressure gauges

Quick release steering hub

Racetech 1000 seats

Alloy seat brackets

Heater box, stereo, etc removed

Carbon fibre door trims

Custom dash

New battery

Battery box (mounted in rear)

Half cage

Custom seat mounts

Custom white gauges

Shift light

2.5kg fire extinguisher

New seat belts

There's more to add, which I will do later.

[Archetype]

I made some good progress on a few little things here and there in the weekend. Today's big news though is my latest purchase:

[Archetype]

Wanted: A dash top out of a Series 1/2/3 Mazda RX-7. Any condition considered, as it will be used to build a mould for my carbon fibre dash.

Cheap, or preferably free. I have a few parts which I could swap if required.

[Archetype]

No progress on the car for a long time due to lack of funds and other priorities, but I'm back into it now, hooray.

Still looking for a Series 1/2/3 RX-7 dash top if anyone has one available.

[Archetype]

I've moved again, and hopefully this will be the last time in a while. I've got a nice little bachelor pad now, with a built-in office, a living space in progress, and heaps of clean, dry space for my cars.

Motivation is high again, and funds are looking a lot better.

I got a few little things done this weekend (first time I've worked on it in months):

- Trimmed the Series 2 inner guards to suit the Series 1 and fitted them.

- Pretty much sorted the clearance issue that I was having with the brakes/suspension - just missing 1 bolt.

- Adjusted a few of the suspension settings to fix up the camber, caster and major toe-in.

- Gave the interior a good vacuum and wipe down.

- Ordered some new tyres for the front.

I test fitted my Lensos from my MX5 on the RX-7 and found that they don't fit on the front or back, which surprised me. There goes my plan for a backup set of wheels. Never mind - Lensos are overdone anyway.

I've got a couple of things up for sale on Trade Me at the moment:

Super low springs for the front

195/50 R15 tyres:

Original diff that was in the car:

[Archetype]

Bought some ultra low bumpstops, as discussed in this thread:

http://www.oldschool.co.nz/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17991

I discovered after I bought them that they are a different thread pitch to the factory bumpstops, so I haven't been able to use them. I think they may be too short anyway, as it looks like the diff will hit the chassis before the bumpstops come into play anyway.

This photo shows the car without any springs, and the ultra low bumpstops just sitting in the mounting hole, so they are still sticking out about 40mm compared to the factory 52mm ones. The tyre sits about 2mm away from the guard like this.

Have been trying to buy some 15mm spacers for the front, but can't find any with a 1.5mm pitch. Fucken thread pitches.

Time to go VDO gauge hunting.

[Archetype]

Found a random pic of my old Series 3 with my Longchamps on it (standard height):

[Archetype]

Picking up new tyres this afternoon.

Ordered some spacers for the front last night, which should arrive tomorrow.

Just spoke to Neil Allport about getting one of these:

He's getting back to me with a final price tomorrow with my specifications, and I'm pretty sure I'll end up getting it. I've always wanted this display from the moment I started planning this car. It's a lot of money, but it's sexy as hell.

I might look at selling my VDO gauges to try and recoup the cost, as the Stack display can pretty much do it all.

I've got an approximate budget for this car of $1000 a month until further notice, or until I finish it. Looks like I'll be going well over that this month though.