1983 RX-7 GSL "FB" gets it's new lease on life

[FCRotary]

Awesome, I'll have to come watch, I doubt my GXL will be completed by then, I still need to find half of the interior... haha

Good luck with it.

[P71]

New update for everybody!

Well I did a TON of bodywork on the the new door. The welded crack is better than new now.





I sanded the whole thing with 100 grit and primed with 2 coats of primer.





It's starting to look respectable up close and I've maintained the body lines and "blood strake" well.





I actually painted the thing Red yesterday, but it didn't turn out so hot I think there's just no good way to self-paint metallics. I'm going to have to have it painted when the time for color comes. Unfortunately the rest of the body has to be sanded because of clear coat peel.





I figure I'll keep chipping away at it. Part of me wants to prime the whole car but that looks crappier then primer spots.

Here's the exhaust all cleaned up, painted with header paint, and wrapped with DEI wrap.







I even got a real RB header gasket



I'll post an update with installed pics soon. Homework is getting crazy and I got laid off so I'm trying to find work and doing a lot of side jobs to keep the moola rolling in. First autocross is in a little over a week! I think I'm ready!

[josh18_2k]

time is allllmmmost here! better get that thing finished!

[P71]

Hey it runs and drives great! I've been terrorizing the neighborhood with it all week

[P71]

Header and exhaust installed!







(Taken upside down :P)



Lots of ground clearance for the anticipated suspension drop.



Resonator all the way at the back. 2.5" pipe goes up and over the axle, mandrel bent. Fits perfect!



And the end.







I literally just took these

[P71]

Results of the first autocross of 2009:

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...5132#post75132

[P71]

Pics from the first autocross, the "Spring Break Out".















Fastest RX-7 of the day Sunday! Beating a 300+RWHP FD and a 300+RWHP LS1 FC. Thank God for rain!

[josh18_2k]

i think jared is closer to 400...
but yah- awesome job mike!!

[P71]

UPDATE TIME!!!

I've been getting a TON of work done the last few days during the nice weather! So let's dive right in. First I figured out my rear wiper was leaking so I swapped out hatches for a standard one and put all of my rear wiper stuff up for sale. I also changed out the rear hatch rubber and did a bunch of little things here and there that were getting on my nerves.

The big news is that I now have race seats! Yes, they really do fit in 1st Gens. Grab a beer and read how:

This is what I started with, blue FC seats on FB/FC hybrid sliders (read about that swap in the 1st Gen Tech Section).



And this is what I finished with! They are red and black suede and I picked them up used for a trade.



In order to get them to fit I took some measurements and figured out they have identical track width and even rail tops with RX-7's! If I could figure out how to separate the rail tops and bottoms that would have been the easiest route, but it wasn't meant to be. I did figure out that a little time with the Dremel and a grinding stone to wallow out the mounting holes was all I needed to do to bolt the FB/FC tracks to the seats. Driver's seat worked perfectly but the passenger has a slight problem. The inner front mount doesn't work because the track won't slide up far enough. This is remedied by drilling and tapping a new hole in the seat frame. As an aside, make sure you check the function of the sliders, mine required some clearance grinding on the spring cams so as not to interfere with the seats bottom.



Clearance is TIGHT with such large seats! The drivers side inner thigh bolster rubs the parking brake handle.



Both shoulder bolsters run perilously close to the glass, door panels, and b-pillars. Any wider and this wouldn't work. You have to grab the seatbelt before closing the door, otherwise they are fine.



As you can see they look pretty awesome in there. As you can also see some of my door panel turned black! I have a complete black interior for the car (except seats, door panels, and the dash top) so I decided it was high time I started installing it.



This is what I'm starting with door panel wise. In good shape but faded to brown and generally ugly.



I disassembled everything and masked it off and re-dyed it with Dupli-Color Fabric & Vinyl dye in Satin Black. The dye works perfectly, doesn't rub off, and looks factory. I'm going to dye the carpet on the bottom black and dye the red cloth in the middle bright red to match the seats.



As a factory sunroof car (with the glass roof) some of the plastics are destroyed. The a-pillars are the worse though the hatch plastic comes close!



I took out my nice black ones and did a quick re-dye to get them back to factory coloring. I swapped out the passenger a-pillar and roof rail to see what it was going to look like and I'm pleased!



And finally I swapped out my rear finish panel for the black one after re-dyeing the plastic and cleaning the carpet. For this piece and the a-pillars I used Dupli-Color Fusion for Plastic paint in Satin Black. I will be doing the entire rest of the interior at the same time in some point soon.



Finally, I placed a Racing Beat order today, so I will have even more updates next week

[josh18_2k]

this looks really classy- i like it. like vintage and nice at the same time

[P71]

I told you I was dangerous with a can of paint and some tape

I'm going to dye the carpet black to match the black carpet for the floor and change the red to match the seats though.

You going to stab your seats in or what?

[Phoenix7]

werd, you did a great job....keep it up man.

[josh18_2k]

i'll be working on my seat this coming week. hopefully i can use my OEM slider without damaging it.. so if im not done by sat i can throw my stock seat back in lol.
mine will take a little more 'customization'. its a side mount.

[P71]

Oooh, ouch! Good luck with that! :P Did you only get one?

[jtbshaw]

Wow, what a blast from the past. Those Ractive seats are the exact ones I used in my 83 buildup 7 years ago...same color combo too. Very easy to make fit. The seats lasted great. I drove the car with those seats for over 2 years as my daily and no tears/rips and comfy too. Just a little fading on the upper bolsters.

Not to hijack (and I think I posted this somewhere on this board), but here's my old cardomain page: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/852654

Todd B.