RX3UTE rebirth - throwback thing build

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And back together ..

whipped out more CAD work.

i need to stuff the lower BJ back under the lower arm. 
 

but have cut out a template for the lower bag plate which will sit on the control arm. 
 

this is ride height, give or take a few mm for tyre profile. 
but the plan is to set the bag and bracket angles parallel to each other at ride height.

 

then the next brain work is working out where the shocks will go and what shocks I actually need. 
 

still waiting on the wrap plates. 

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New brakes acquired.

 

picked up a complete pair of front uprights from a FC RX7. So pinched the hubs and calipers. 
there are ridiculously close to being a direct fit.

rear bearing only needs a bush made up to delete a 5x5 spacer, but extend into the bearing to take up an 8mm difference, so 4mm thick. Should be epic.

b1600 caliper mounts are just a bolt of plate, so the get a big YEET and a new one made to reduce the bolt spacing by 15mm. 
so close. 
 

I will rebuild the calipers and do new discs later.

And just for shitz n gigz , a sneaky pic of the work vans that are babysitting my plates for now.

 

IYKYK

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Decided to mount the rear plate.

i wanted this to have a floating look to it.

Got the number plate lights coming which are also the mounting bolts. 
 

designed for motorbikes. Should do the trick. 
 

got the plate perfectly level to the tray which is mint

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Started on mounting the seats today. 
 

Took some thinking and measuring and thinking.

this is what I’ve come up with.

 

let me know if you don’t think it’ll pass.

 

basically I have 2 x 50x25x3 flat on the floor with 2 more welded to the top of these running lengthways.

the sliders bolt to these. 
 

im hoping with this design , I can just bolt through the floor and add a doubler plate to the underside.

these are 350z seats, with electric sliders. 

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After a hell of a shit fight the mount bases are done.

havent drilled the floor yet or made the doubler plates, or crush tubes. 
but theyr in place where they will go, both measure up evenly and both have a nice feel to the positioning.

 

plus it leaves plenty of room for a custom console (I’d like to try a rx3 console in there)

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Shit arse photo , but I picked up my hubs today.

 

s4 rx7 hubs fully mounted to the b1600 stubs. 
I left the caliper plates with him for some extra work to get the rx7 alloy dust covers to clear and also set in the speed sensor. 
 

I have full 2nd set too incase I do the same with the second ute. 
 

he also has it all on file incase I get more made to sell as a kit in the future. 
 

coolest part was that he came up with the exact thing I had planned out in my head. The caliper plates are pretty sweet too

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So been busy starting on the front bag plates. 
the upper will have a strip approx 40/50mm wrapping around the upper plate to create a full wrap gusset.

From my calculations, the frame should end up 15-20mm above the ground when slammed, depending on tyre profile (70mm sidewall was calculated in on a 18” rim).

my brain considers this strong enough.

Current wheel camber is -1.2 degree, think I calculated -3.7 degree at full slam.

 

 

also…

ive been thinking of ways to add strength to the front 4 link mounts.

 

did some ghetto CAD, and came up with this. 
 

please tell me if this would be suitable or not.

 

this ties the 4link mounts into the back tower and chassis crossbeam aswell as a vertical brace from the chassis, that part is also boxed in back to the 4 link mount. The inner side is arched and has a 40mm strap added. 
 

 

anything else required to be legit?

 

I could also tie both sides together with a bar that acts like a “strut brace” kind of set up.

it will need to be high enough to clear the driveshaft, but can also be utilised for the driveshaft hoop mount.

 

thoughts?

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Figured out the airbag set up today.

got the required fittings and plumbed it all up.

just need an adaptor for 3/8” to 1/4” npt for the tank sensor.

oh and I have lost an olive on one of the fittings for a bag. 
 

but it all goes up and down making psh noises. 
 

only running 1/4” line and fittings. Not after fast bags. Yet. 
 

the sensors I have are 3 wire, the ones the accuair uses are single sense wire.

 

need to figure out if I can Jerry rig the 3 wire units to be a single feed as they are much nicer looking and less bulky than the massive ones.

 

i do have enough Parker style valves, T’s and 3/8” fittings to rig it all up to 3/8”.

but the set up looks yuk with those.

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Oops, forgot pic addition. No one likes picture less updates right

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Started welding up the notch and forward link boxes.

 

oops, didn’t take a pic of the link boxes. But I’m pretty chuffed with them. 
 

I really need to get onto the watts link/panhard next.

been a pain trying to find a diff cover that has the factory ford watts link.

 

Looking forward to getting this chassis back on the ground so I can chuck a cab on it

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And done. Well almost.

i do have 4 more welds to finish on the inside of the link boxes. I’ll do that when I add in a backing plate to tie the link plates together. At the moment the inner plates are only attached at the top, so I’ll plate the back to tie them together.

 

this thing gets 8” drop from ride height haha, overkill. But, from my calculations, that even with a 4” drop, I can still fit my bump stop in the notch.

also realised that on the front lower arm, the bag is offset, so this also gives me room for a bump stop to be fitted easily.

 

stoked with that.

 

it is now time to finalise what wheel choice I’m going to run.

i have a set of 18s but would require some “guard mods”.

 

i have another wheel in mind but need to work out what offset I can run.

im not good at figuring out wheel offsets.

 

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Thanks for the heads up from @Bearded Baldy a quick “work trip” to pick a part netted us a complete AU bro falcon diff cover and watts linkage, for the princely sum of $31 including the $4 for us to get in.

best part was that we only had to undo 1 bolt.

 

fyi, there is another complete AU diff there with watts link. Measures about 1620mm wide face to face.

mine is 200mm narrower. 
 

now the fun part of figuring out how I can get the end link mounts to look decent and be strong.

the bush ends fall directly inline with the chassis like it’s meant to be. 
 

it’s either, use the stock falcon arms, or make shorter ones for more money. 
im thinking that i slice a 100x50 to connect to each rear notch then build tabs off these to take the arms. 

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Still quiet at work, so did more on the ute.

don’t really get much done, more pacing, looking, thinking, picking shit up, thinking nope not today.

 

so I saw the compressor sitting in the box and decided to mount them.

have settled to mount these below the deck at the headboard. The tank will sit above the deck. I’ve just run out of room in the back with the fuel tank going there and now the watts link.

im fine with that. The compressor lines will come up through the deck and into the ends. 
 

i also decided to mock up the exhaust that runs from the headers to the tip, this has to dump in front of the diff.

looks like a damn rocket ship of doom.

ill make up a bit of an exhaust cradle as a hanger. 
will remake the headers to suit. 

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Big dilemma …

 

wheel choice.

 

ive decided to go with 17s to fill the arches a bit more . But what wheel???

I thought of going with the new style of 17” Hotwire but decided nope after seeing them on a Torana. 
 

so it only leaves me 2 options , but I’m swaying toward one more than the other .

the 2 choices are a new set of 17” “Simmons” reps

Oooooor

a 30 year old set of Rays MS-01’s.

i had these on my fc many moons ago and regretted selling them.

these go for dumb money and always need to be refreshed.

thoughts?

 

or other decent alternatives that aren’t G Zeros??

5x114

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Getting close to shelving this chassis project and just roll static , yeah it’s a shit ride, but I’m over the non answered calls to “certifiers” and other “qualified” people in the trade. Just makes it so much harder than it needed to be.

 

i just want to save everyone time and pain later on by getting advice now. 
 

yes i know theyr all busy, but Jesus, message back or even check emails once a while. 
(not directed at Clint- already chatted).

 

anyway. This is where I’m going to leave it for now I think.

got a set of wheels on it which I believe is around the same circumference as a 17” with a non rubber band tire. 
then sat it at optimal ride height.

then started playing with bag mounts and locations. 
these utes are a bit dicky due to the arms sitting horizontal at near full lift as standard. 
 

but here is the 3 bag settings (close to full lift +/-30mm, ride height and full slam) it won’t get to full slam once I fit a bump stop. I don’t want the bag to be taking the impact at full slam.

what I’ve had to do to get bag clearance is to use the base plate, then a 50nb tube to lift it above the BJ bolts. The pipe  is angled inwards 5 degrees to find a happy medium for full lift/slam.

the upper plate will still be gussetted. 

the back end can wait until I figure out the panhard/watts link set up 

but at full slam the diff clears the notch tubes by 10mm.

i still don’t like the driveshaft travel with the 2 piece driveshaft, the rear section is quite short which makes it on a hell of an angle. 
 

anywho, here’s the pics. 
 

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So I went into the workshop this morning to make a gate.

then got grossly distracted by this thing.

bolted in the driveshaft (into the static 3 ute). 
then had to figure out how to run the oil cooler lines as the cooler -an port is right in front of the crossmember. I’ve figured if I can do a -10an 90+90 that gets me a clear shot to the rear by jogging over the crossmember.

the upper will need 2 -10an 45s to get a direct hit.

i also planned out the EWP so just need to get the hard pipes bent up/fabbed to suit.

then I got sidetracked for the 1000th time and bolted in the seat mounts. Now I only need to sort the crush tubes and doubler plates. 
 

then, yet another sidetrack moment I fitted the dash pad and checked that the vent cover and dash eyebrows will fit. One needs some tweaking to be perfect.

 

then yet another bloody sidetrack, I shot to Taupiri to pickup a set of gauges that I hope to adapt to the dash. (Factory Mazda). 
 

I also figured out how I’ll run all of the cab wiring forward of the firewall.

should be tidy.

 

no photos cos I got too distracted

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Turns out that 19x9 rims fit.

havent found any clearance issues and the engine is in this as it sits.

could do with going lower though, a little. 

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Was planning on gutting out a FD RX7 gauge cluster to retro fit.

however I looked at what I’ve achieved in the last 6 months compared to the time left til I’d like to drive it.

yup, outta time to naff around with that idea.

 

so, I found some gauges on marketplace and had them sent up.

 

went with the typical Autometer sport comp stuff, which I did actually use back in the day. So period correct for this build.

i only need to find out what speedo cable to use/have made.

i also have the matching oil pieces and fuel gauges, will also get the overheating gauge 

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Got my axles back today.

not a cheap exercise at all.

but they were put back together with new bearings and studs, so that saves an extra headache.

 

plus the guys that did these were beyond petrol heads, I killed 90mins in there just sharning hard. 
 

10mins in the shop and one side was swapped out and the big fat 19s were on!!

bear in mind it will still come out another 8-10mm for the rotor thickness. 
 

I really need to sort out how the get the front lower now

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Too much hi, get down now!!!