Keep it white and let's get this sucka put together. I need to have you guys back on the street cruising with me!! :) BTW, seeing the pics of that yellow car's engine bay again just reminds me of how unbelieveable his attention to detail was. For those who didn't see the car, it was hands down the best FD I've ever seen. Small attention to detail was OVER THE TOP! Simply spectacular!!

So, what are you saying Tim......the RX8 is chopped liver?!!??

Are we not cool enough to roll with you and your FD when we are in the RX8?!?!!




Just Kidding :tongue1:



I have tried to tear Jesse away from his vacuum and vacuum bag experimenting so that we can focus this weekend on dismantling the engine bay and maybe getting it painted. Keep your fingers crossed that I can keep him on task. These darn engineers are so difficult to work with. :lol:

We did not get to painting the engine bay this last weekend, but you will never even notice the yellowing paint once Jesse's new project is done and in there. Here is a little sneak peak of his newest project.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build100.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build098.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build103.jpg

He had to clean up the PFS SMIC air duct by redoing some fiberglass sections and bondoing some imperfections. He spent over 4 hours wet sanding it last night and should be done with it in the next couple of days. This project looks incredible! Will post up some more pics once he has it finished.

It is all done (maybe)

Some stages through the process

After the 7th and final coat of resin

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build105.jpg

After 4 hours of course sanding

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build113.jpg

After another 4 hours of wet sanding to make it shiny and pretty. Up against the SMIC.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build115.jpg

In place in the engine bay

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build127.jpg

Jesse is not totally satisfied with the outcome. He may apply more coats of resin and start the sanding process all over again to make the shine a little deeper. Either way, he put a lot of hard work into it and it looks amazing.

Looks good to me!

Willing to take lessons any time.

Wow! That intake boot is a work of art! I like how the fabric shows through the clear resin. I am curious why the wrinkle partway down, does that go around something?

The car looks amazing. Nice work!

Thank you!

That wrinkle is there to form fit around the radiator and the reinforcement bar that slightly curves inward where the hood latch is. The pic above of it in the engine bay is slightly wrong -- its supposed to slide a little more (1") forward and fit flush against that bar.

Looking good guys. I have a special part coming for my car that I need to make you aware of. Will call you sometime today (Sat) so we can discuss some more. Jesse... looking incredible bro. I take it that this is the new higher temp epoxy on the duct, correct??

Yep -- I took some samples and did an experiment in the temp chamber I have at work for testing electronic circuit boards. This new resin (Silmar 249) should hold up far better to engine bay temperatures in Arizona. I should have taken a picture of the Kleer Koat epoxy sample at 80C -- it was about as flexible as a slice of cheese. Its too bad, that epoxy was by far the easiest to work with.

Some pictures of Jesses' next project

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build135.jpg

With a lot of resin and fiberglass that becomes this

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build140.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build137.jpg

Again, with a lot of resin and more fiberglass that becomes this

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build141.jpg

If it is not obvious, this new project is a water/meth reservoir in the spare tire well.

Very original, thinking out of the box.

My new project :hurray: It took a lot of convincing to get Jesse to agree to this. He was not that happy about having to remove the ABS, brake drum and everything else. But he did, and I think it is well worth it. Now we can also clean up all the stuff that was removed. I am a very happy camper now!

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build157.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build158.jpg

The white is not an identical match. But it is much better than the dirty, yellowed, burnt color currently in the engine bay.

YAAA!!

So, are you guys planning to paint the entire engine bay (around the shock towers and up to the front as well)? When are you going to be done with this project? Next Sevenstock? ;) Tell Jesse to start burning up some of his vacation time!!

Where did you guys source these fastners? I'm definitely interested.

Painting is done. We did the whole engine bay.

Taking some vacation next week but not working on the car-- going to SEMA again.

I had to stop my fiberglass water/meth tank because I ran out of the special methanol resistant resin and its not something you can find anywhere local. I got the internal baffling done though.

Fasteners I got through ebay. I changed my mind about using the red ones since I think they're just a little too showy for me and am planning on using only the black ones.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWNX%3AIT

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build161.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build165.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1146.jpg