My First Generation RX7 Project

VexXx Dogg · Postby **VexXx Dogg** » January 23rd, 2014, 10:48 pm

+1 on zg fender flares.
They really bring out 70's and 80's cars and thankfully isn't too popular down here. We tend to overkill stuff and spoil vomit.

I love the functional look.

fass4drs · Postby **fass4drs** » January 25th, 2014, 11:19 am

VexXx Dogg wrote:+1 on zg fender flares.
They really bring out 70's and 80's cars and thankfully isn't too popular down here. We tend to overkill stuff and spoil vomit.

I love the functional look.

agree ...ditch the wide body kit if you can

RoTaRyBoYz · Postby **RoTaRyBoYz** » January 25th, 2014, 6:17 pm

Don't listen to those fellas above... This kit if very rare and you seem to have the complete Mariah package with wheels etc. My advice to you is repaint the entire car, and redo the suspension. Leave the kit on there! BTW, everybody and dey mother have the ZG flares.. smh

Postby **eliteauto** » January 25th, 2014, 7:28 pm

agreed, allyuh clearly eh see the pic

beautiful!

Bezman · Postby **Bezman** » January 26th, 2014, 9:50 am

20b for sale in the classifieds. Hmmmmm

Ted_v2 · Postby **Ted_v2** » January 26th, 2014, 10:44 am

do etttttttttt

Aaron 2NR · Postby **Aaron 2NR** » January 26th, 2014, 10:46 am

Boy aaron something I learnt a while now...read up a lot on foreign forums...lots of trinis "know" everytbing and most of the times the advise is wrong....

Bezman · Postby **Bezman** » January 26th, 2014, 11:31 am

With any of my projects, I do what I want to my taste. Register on all the top forums and as you can see buy any learning materials I can get.

My thoughts are that if I keep the body kit, I find it needs the power to match the look. The kit looks like the car should have 400whp 20b with a gt35r and a nasty snarl and smell of 100 octane. But I dunno if that's me right now.

I want a very simple 200-240hp NA in a very stock looking car. Clean restomod

So I'm putting allot of thought into it and taking my time and enjoying the learning, research and tinkering on the car in the garage.

Bezman · Postby **Bezman** » January 27th, 2014, 9:25 am

Some pics from a guy who took off his Mariah kit in a morning by himself with a sander and grinder.

Has me thinking. But I'll need to find, front bumper, front fenders and front lower apron. Hmmmm could be expensive.

moti · Postby **moti** » January 27th, 2014, 10:50 am

But can you get the kit sold if taken off?

Seems it can be reused in the pics above.

Again, trump auto has these parts as they normally bring in clips from the us.

RoTaRyBoYz · Postby **RoTaRyBoYz** » January 27th, 2014, 11:16 am

The trick to making a widebody FB look awesome is the wheel size/offset & the stance. You don't need to buy that expensive rear coilover kit you posted above. QA1 makes a kit for the AE86 that will bolt into the rear shock tower of a 1st gen Rx7. It can also be customer valved to suit your needs. Call Luis at ParadiseRacing.com and he will sort you out. Tell him I sent you
I don't think the rims you have now will do the kit justice, unless you add some spacers to bring it out a little. You might need to play around with different wheels to get the right offset. You want it on the edge, with a little tuck.

RoTaRyBoYz · Postby **RoTaRyBoYz** » January 27th, 2014, 11:18 am

CCW's on this widebody.

Bezman · Postby **Bezman** » January 27th, 2014, 11:34 am

already have 15x8 and 15x10 wheels and thats what the kit asks for (dont know how much wider you would want to go).

Me personally, I dont like the kit, its old., and its not what I had in mind when I wanted a First Gen all these years.. Me personally, i find that blue car above looks like crap in my opinion (and it's not the same kit, has much wider rear fenders).. just looks, 80's, chunky and weird.. bleh.

- it really needs the right color combo and wheels..

Thanks for the link for the AE86 stuff, I know it "works" but i prefer something that was designed/engineered for my car.. I dont mind paying more and I know I obviously dont have to buy it, but i want to..

I am leaning towards removing the kit, and already have a couple ppl who want it. It retails for over $2000 USD (without shipping).. i'll be selling for like 6000 once I get it off clean.

Edit: But as I said, I'm not rushing anything. Thanks for all the comments and feedback.

RoTaRyBoYz · Postby **RoTaRyBoYz** » January 27th, 2014, 3:16 pm

I believe the rear coilover kits on the market now are revalved AE kits... Also some say the rear shock tower may need bracing if you plan to install coilovers because they weren't originally meant to support the weight of the car.

Good luck with your project. It seems like you have it figured out

Ted_v2 · Postby **Ted_v2** » January 27th, 2014, 5:00 pm

No kits.

Bezman · Postby **Bezman** » January 28th, 2014, 4:02 pm

a lil time in the studio

had a lil time to think, research, talk it over and was thinking,

Swap to five lug using the FC TII front lower control arm, spindle, hub, brakes, shock/coilovers, steering/sway bar linkages etc and re-drill the rear to 5 lug..

Front: 17x9 ET+0 5x114.3 - 225/40R17 Toyo RA1
Rear: 17x10 ET-15 5x114.3 - 255/40R17 Toyo RA1

Paullct · Postby **Paullct** » January 28th, 2014, 5:42 pm

^ impressive!

droppa · Postby **droppa** » January 29th, 2014, 10:22 am

okay now you talk, the body now looking like something can happen there......

Aaron 2NR · Postby **Aaron 2NR** » January 29th, 2014, 10:24 am

not bad at all aaron

kg494EJ-1 · Postby **kg494EJ-1** » January 29th, 2014, 10:54 am

Bezman wrote:a lil time in the studio

had a lil time to think, research, talk it over and was thinking,

Swap to five lug using the FC TII front lower control arm, spindle, hub, brakes, shock/coilovers, steering/sway bar linkages etc and re-drill the rear to 5 lug..

Front: 17x9 ET+0 5x114.3 - 225/40R17 Toyo RA1
Rear: 17x10 ET-15 5x114.3 - 255/40R17 Toyo RA1

reminds me of a Stingray, I like stigrays, do it :twisted:

Postby **- Rovin's car audio -** » January 29th, 2014, 1:51 pm

oh boi , gotta love those 1st gen 7

my older bro had a couple back in d 80s & early 90s , even more Rx2s b4 he had d 7s

original body vs wide kit - its all about personal preference , who can argue with classic original but d wide kits when done right were just awesome to look at , even d big whale tail rear spoiler looked great , kinda resembles d ole porsche 911

if were me id keep d wide kit but hey whichever way u go u will still have a sweet machine ...

Bezman · Postby **Bezman** » January 31st, 2014, 1:58 pm

Boxes of parts are starting to arrive

de_dougla_smurf · Postby **de_dougla_smurf** » January 31st, 2014, 2:00 pm

Meanwhile, customs dog inspects for tin juice.

Bezman · Postby **Bezman** » January 31st, 2014, 8:30 pm

Got some side trim. A few of the decals, the complete interior plastic trim, the rotary tuner book and random clips.

Still got lots to come in... More books, interior trim and switches. Small things.

I think the first project I am going to undertake is the 5 lug swap.

Doing lots of research for the time being on various forums on it as I would like to keep the original power steering etc

RoTaRyBoYz · Postby **RoTaRyBoYz** » February 1st, 2014, 3:22 am

FC front subframe swap will allow you to run the FC rack & pinion steering plus you'll have the added bonus of using the FC struts & bigger brakes. It's a pretty simple swap

Bezman · Postby **Bezman** » February 3rd, 2014, 9:16 am

Yeah I know about the FC sub frame swap

(my original post had rambling about that and other methods which I will go into later, but i was trying to edit it from my phone it and messed it up and deleted allot of it.)

I dont want to do the FC sub frame/crossmember swap as i dont want to drill the frame rails and also already have power steering etc (yes I know its not rack and pinion) but would like to explore other options first..

I think I am going with the FC knuckle, spindle, hub, brake, shock strut swap.. like the photo below:

: lca-fc-swap.JPG (43.6 KiB) Viewed 3096 times

This is the way allot of JDM SAcc2's are done over there, I am even thinking of getting the Techno Toy Tuning FB/SA adjustable lower control arms and using those for more adjustment. Very close to piecing all of this together.. will post updates when I start to put it on the car.

RoTaRyBoYz · Postby **RoTaRyBoYz** » February 3rd, 2014, 12:16 pm

Yep, the FC subframe swap requires you to drill 2-4 holes into the frame rails. I don't remember the exact details as I did it 6-7yrs ago, but it wasn't anything overly difficult. I only did it bcuz it allowed me to easily expand my options if installing different motors (RE, 20B, etc.).. It also got me away from the old steering design that might cause a problem to find parts in the future etc.

If you go with the route you suggested, how do you plan to work out the location of the tie rod attachment points? IIRC, the FC knuckles have the tierod positioned forward & the FB positioned towards the rear.

hindian · Postby **hindian** » February 3rd, 2014, 12:23 pm

Is it me or in the pic above the car supported on the tow eye :shock:

Bezman · Postby **Bezman** » February 3rd, 2014, 12:44 pm

Rotaryboyz. They swap them left to right. So the tie rod is at the back instead of the front and mounts the opposite way. Iirc. I had to do the same for my datsun 1200 using s13 knuckles/hubs etc

RoTaRyBoYz · Postby **RoTaRyBoYz** » February 3rd, 2014, 1:00 pm

Hmm got it.. Keep an eye on your Ackerman angle bcuz that's very important for a street car. A lot of race cars & drift guys can get away with it being off but it tends to be more noticeable at low speeds. That's why I'm a bit cautious about swapping knuckles left to right.