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Dead Cruiser - 1988 RX7 Vert
What's up s/w, longtime lurker here finally getting around to making a build thread after about two and a half years of continually putting it off and being generally lazy.
To jump right into it I was originally in search of an E30 vert for about 6 months - scouring craigslist and other classifieds every day for the cleanest most unmolested car I could find. After having the perfect one snatched out from under me I decided it was time to expand my options and look into something else because I was becoming eager to get my hands on just about anything. I started looking into 240's and FC's and began stumbling across convertible options (something I hadn't even know existed until this point) and was instantly drawn to them. The lines of the car, the pop-ups, the gauges were all so 80's, I felt stupid for never considering one beforehand. September of 2013 I found an ad for one that seemed relatively clean and made the phone call, two days later I took a trip down to St. Pete to check it out. The car definitely didn't look as nice in person as it did in the photos (no surprise) and the owner failed to mention a few issues with it like the fact that the brake master cyl was on it's way out (sketchy!!) and there was a crazy coolant leak that only gave you about 3 hours of driving time before the car started buzzing at you, but I didn't care my heart was set.
Here's how the car looked when I first picked it up - bone stock, rough paint, but running strong. The coolant leak was actually due to a bad hose clamp so once that was fixed it was smooth sailing.
The first thing I wanted to do was ditch the dated series 4 tails for some series 5. Also ended up picking up another waffle cap because I was missing one (bear with my awful iPhone 4 pics for the first bit of this lol).
big improvement
Random stuff I found under the seat. Also the only pic I have of how bad the paint really was...
Trying my best to DIY (before clear)
After I cleared and buffed it. Really kicking myself for not taking better photos during this time.
After I picked up coils. Also got rid of those scuffs on the rear fender and did my best to clean the paint up.
Then water got under the clear coat on the hood...
Around this time I picked up a TII hood as well as some mazdaspeed skirts
As well as wheels and a trunk spoiler which I never took pics of off the car because I'm a giant idiot... (and that lack of front camber oh man)
...so it was time for real paint
Trying to keep it sorta OEM so I went with Mazda's soul red
Pretty happy with the result, didn't put my skirts on for a while though
Got a new exhaust welded up because my old one was falling apart. I'll post a video eventually.
Then I wanted to start doing stupid stuff so...
Miata headlights.
Just seeing how they'd fit before trimming the plastic
Finished!
Got around to putting on the skirts as well as some g35 mud guards
Then my hoodscoop flew off during some spirited driving :/
Picked up this 370mm nardi and promptly traded it for a D-cut
Came to the realization cleaning my interior was long overdue so I dyed the carpet
meanwhile...
removed all the nasty damp sound deadening
aaaaaand here's how the car sits now, picked up some cheap Subaru lip so my front doesn't look so goofy
Next up will probably just be preventative maintenance and new wheels plus some slight aero change. Also no more awful phone pics
To jump right into it I was originally in search of an E30 vert for about 6 months - scouring craigslist and other classifieds every day for the cleanest most unmolested car I could find. After having the perfect one snatched out from under me I decided it was time to expand my options and look into something else because I was becoming eager to get my hands on just about anything. I started looking into 240's and FC's and began stumbling across convertible options (something I hadn't even know existed until this point) and was instantly drawn to them. The lines of the car, the pop-ups, the gauges were all so 80's, I felt stupid for never considering one beforehand. September of 2013 I found an ad for one that seemed relatively clean and made the phone call, two days later I took a trip down to St. Pete to check it out. The car definitely didn't look as nice in person as it did in the photos (no surprise) and the owner failed to mention a few issues with it like the fact that the brake master cyl was on it's way out (sketchy!!) and there was a crazy coolant leak that only gave you about 3 hours of driving time before the car started buzzing at you, but I didn't care my heart was set.
Here's how the car looked when I first picked it up - bone stock, rough paint, but running strong. The coolant leak was actually due to a bad hose clamp so once that was fixed it was smooth sailing.
The first thing I wanted to do was ditch the dated series 4 tails for some series 5. Also ended up picking up another waffle cap because I was missing one (bear with my awful iPhone 4 pics for the first bit of this lol).
big improvement
Random stuff I found under the seat. Also the only pic I have of how bad the paint really was...
Trying my best to DIY (before clear)
After I cleared and buffed it. Really kicking myself for not taking better photos during this time.
After I picked up coils. Also got rid of those scuffs on the rear fender and did my best to clean the paint up.
Then water got under the clear coat on the hood...
Around this time I picked up a TII hood as well as some mazdaspeed skirts
As well as wheels and a trunk spoiler which I never took pics of off the car because I'm a giant idiot... (and that lack of front camber oh man)
...so it was time for real paint
Trying to keep it sorta OEM so I went with Mazda's soul red
Pretty happy with the result, didn't put my skirts on for a while though
Got a new exhaust welded up because my old one was falling apart. I'll post a video eventually.
Then I wanted to start doing stupid stuff so...
Miata headlights.
Just seeing how they'd fit before trimming the plastic
Finished!
Got around to putting on the skirts as well as some g35 mud guards
Then my hoodscoop flew off during some spirited driving :/
Picked up this 370mm nardi and promptly traded it for a D-cut
Came to the realization cleaning my interior was long overdue so I dyed the carpet
meanwhile...
removed all the nasty damp sound deadening
aaaaaand here's how the car sits now, picked up some cheap Subaru lip so my front doesn't look so goofy
Next up will probably just be preventative maintenance and new wheels plus some slight aero change. Also no more awful phone pics
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