Tweet
1987 RX7 and its getting a V8.
*Disclaimers:* Rotards, leave your harsh opinions at home. Love the rotaries, but this is not a rotary car anymore. Constructive thoughts are welcome, slander is not; I suck at taking pictures; I have no money but a lot of time; I wanna go drifting real bad.
I told my self I wouldn't start a build thread until something actually interesting happened, and well tomorrow we start the cage.
So around a year ago my parents left town for the weekend. This normally means I buy a car (lol is kinda a coindence, but its happened multiple times) I found it on craigslist, got it for $450. The kid thought it needed a transmission and/or a clutch. I got it home to figure out that the slave was seeping and the clutch was out of fluid. If i had spotted that earlier I probably could've driven it home.
Car was in great shape, needed some TLC, however the awful stereo install had to go asap. I hit my knee on those stupid door pods every time I got in and out.
I believe its a GXL, it has the turbo brakes, a clutch LSD, power steering, power everything else, even A/C (which didn't work)
Drove it for a bit and decided rotary was not for me. I love the idea of them, and in my head it should work better than pistons. Then when it wouldn't idle for more than 30 seconds at a time, and I decided to not invest any more energy into and look into other options. I wanted something easy, cheap and readily available. I did want to keep it mazda, or at least japanese. However I went parts shopping with my buddy who has a 5.0 fox mustang. Parts are dirt cheap, and I mean stupid cheap for the horsepower you get. They are also everywhere, and there are a lot of people who wrap them around trees, so parts where cheap and readily available. After a bit of research I learned doing the 302 swap would be laughably easy. I've yet to hear of a simpler cross-make engine swap. So the hunt began!
Sold the old engine/tranny for near what I paid for the car, to a guy going to put it in a Datsun 510! (sick!)
This is where I made a slight mistake. Well even before that. I should have just driven it as is and make it work, start doing events and upgraded as I go. But instead I just took it really far apart and had all these plans to do cool stuff. But no money. I'm now still going to do cool stuff, but lol I should have planned that better. I've owned this car way to long to only have driven once, I'm barely familiar with it.
/rant
Stripped it right down
Sold stuff, threw a lot more out (interior was in rough shape)
found some change
kept the good bits
Then stripped it down even further
I have my buddies old mustang motor that needs head gaskets (or we hope thats all it needs). He built a 306 designated for turbo fox body awesomeness.
Scored a T5 for $180! its even a word class rated for 225 ft-lbs. Got a swap kit on ebay for half price of a new one, and it even came with the aluminum driveshaft option!
Bought a bunch of leftover parts from various people and I now have 90% of what I need to make this work the way I want it to.
The plan is as follows:
5.0 mustang engine long block
Sn95 intake upper and lower
Explorer front accessory setup (same as Sn95)
Electric water pump (still figuring out what kind)
3rd gen alternator (this will be the only thing on a belt)
De-powered steering rack (I believe I have a 17:1 rack)
TBA clutch setup
Hydraulic clutch conversion
All new wiring
as much delrin/solid mount stuff I can get my hands on
as much Lucky 10 stuff as I can afford
stock e-brake for now
JIC coils (used but were a steal)
Dual master cylinder brake setup
rebuild the stock calipers
new pads/ rotors
Formula D/SCCA solo 2 spec cage
AN fittings e'erwhere
probably use the stock Rx7 rad, unless I find out its not enough to keep it cool
Big fat electric fan
Momo Corse drivers seat, still working on a pass seat
Crow harnessssssss
Walbro 255
NRG quick release (need some theft deterents here)
Grip royal 'Hills'
Custom gauge panels (i'll get to them in a minute)
Going to Plastidip the entire car when done, I really dislike paint and body work, this way I can make the exterior rust proof but ugly, then just dip over it. goes on like 1.5mm thick, self levelling, easy to fix and weighs maybe a pound. can't loose.
I'm forgetting some small things.
I've found the more research and planning I do the less money I spend.
Not sure on wheels yet...
Also probably going to get a Volvo lip and maybe shine skirts. Though I'd rather spend money on not body kits.
Onto today
hood will be very close, but should clear
Have a few things to fix while the welders busy
DOM is bent and ready to go
Now more on that custom gauge panel,
So what we have here is the stock radio/climate bezel that I just added some 1/4" ABS to fill the space then sanded primed and painted to look like this:
And the gauge cluster bezel got similar treatment
Probably going to dye the dash black and flock it, the blue doesn't go with anything lol
And incase anyone asks the gauges are Faria Euro. They are boat gauges, I think they look great and very different. They're fairly accurate (not auto meter or anything), much cheaper, water proof and built for shock. Still need a big 5" tach...
That's all for now, I'll try and be diligent taking pictures of the cage build tomorrow.
Comment