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He worked his butt off and did an amazing job taking it all down. Learning how to be rough with some things but easy on others. Why suspension work sometimes is light work with pins and clips and sometimes you are using hammers and clamps! Because of his hard work I got him a set of BC adjustable coilovers for the project. He got a set of new brakes for it helping build the house With the new brakes and lines in he learned how to put on new brake pads, install the new stainless lines and rotors. He got the rears all done and then went to the fronts! He detailed and redid the plastics, I helped with some new paint and he did the entire suspension and brakes set up. It was like a brand new car under there now! Back on the ground A while later we rolled it out. Tossed the louvers on it to match the finishline tall boy armrest and the sport DP wing we also had for it. The car was starting to come together! The engine was as well! The new paint and the intakes being finished up had liam motivated and excited to get it put together! We had been gathering up and taking down a dozen rotary engines since he started cleaning up this one and he was getting nervous about his first engine assembly. I knew it would run as good as it looked.
Which brings us to this little RHD project he was taking on... Now it just so happens that while he was tinkering on his fc restoration and I was building my GTUs he and I were both thinking about a RHD project. I was not really wanting another conversion. I had done it, its pretty straight forward and I have a nice little build thread on it and am now only wanting to have the GTUs as my project. However I found a mint condition, very low mile RHD that was just imported and the guy flipped it on its roof in a seriously freak accident the first time he took it out. So the before and after pictures of the car that day are... Shocking to say the least. However I talked it over with liam and becky and we decided that we could use the hardtop from the conversion car to fix the actual import and then he could take over that one. I would get to cruise around in a restored RHD that was low miles and clean AF and he would get to then later build it into the white comet or a full drift car as he wanted. So we set out on that course and picked up the Savanna and the sport model hit the chopping block. It was a free parts car from marketplace already beat on and v8 swapped (thus why we felt fine doing the conversion) so there was no loss here and perfect timing to save the Savanna!
The only real sadness to the loss of the Sport model going right after the GXL was because I once had really nice arctic silver turbo II model. Was a nice throwback to that car.
Now to the RHD project is a bit of a handful and I told liam that he should focus on the restoration he is on, but we can tinker on the body of the RHD as we go. The person that we got it from thought that it was not worth or possible to be saved, most shops are pretty intimated over work like this. But the frame was good and it just needed the roof swapped to be back to its original glory! We are not going to make this a full build thread about this project and will make another thread for it, however here are a few pictures to show what distracted us for a few while he started parts gathering for the engine and interior of his first project.
Here is the car right before the accident...
Here is it after: When I first got ahold of him and saved it from the crusher just like the GTUs model. Not the rarest car, but not as common as the sport or SE model we were tinkering on and dirt cheap at 500 bucks! The rims were amazing, but I sold them for a bill. Local has them on his car now, he paid a bit more because the guy who middle manned them is not ethical. That aside, the car was in the shop and ready for the restoration! The motor was toast. The stand alone was as well otherwise the car had everything but a new roof to be as it was! The interior will need a few dash plastics and the obvious new window which we have already from the arctic silver car!
Here is where we currently are with it. Waiting on summer to finish it up!
So began the parts hording for the restoration. All the new plastic interior parts, the lights and turn signals, the gaskets and seals! Not to mention all the cool swag that one might be able to snag up that is old school rare things that might bring some authentic old school vibes to a basic restoration! Things like a Corksport exhaust (as cool as the company is, the reality is the exhaust is nothing more than a ebay can with their tag put on it, same with the radiators and many other parts they sell) and factory dealer wangan wings! All the new plastics for the interior and a bunch of seals for the engine! We found a brand new OEM radiator for the build. Hard to find these days! Although liam wanted to run S5 tail lights we could not pass on getting these brand new OEM s4 tails. Makes one wish they could travel in time to see what these cars looked like off the show room floor! Must have been a gem to see! Liam had a hard time wanting to still run the S5 lights after holding them and mocking them up on the car. We ended up buying a couple sets and selling one to Matt Montgomery for super cheap! The pile of lights for it and the GTUs Now the GTUs build was getting EURO lights while liams was getting USDM/JDM so the plate and light differences were extreme. JDM FTP (flash to pass lights) are a must for every build. The USDM ones are neat, but more lights is better. Speaking of more lights is better. We both decided that we were going to be going with the EURO bi color turn signals for the extra running light and optional amber inserts. Now the body harness for this car was already really messed up and the lights did not work but we were able to trouble shoot the problem to some chewed up wires in the engine bay area and strip them back and redo the lines. However this really annoying as we made the bi color lights capable of adapting to a US harness only to find our chassis/body harness was messed up and needed as much work as the new euro lights. So we made a custom tutorial on how to make these lights if you are a USDM model After all that liam decided he wanted to run the S5 lights so he modified it to fit the s4 model Lights looked good and the car was ready for the motor to be assembled and installed! However did you note the exhaust?
So liam and I ended up getting a old corksport exhaust and decided to run it on this car. He wanted to run a racing beat header but was open to this or apexi for the cat back. Liam instantly got to it, getting the car back into the air again and taking the old exhaust off and fitting the new one on! I must say that it looks good and he got it tucked up real nice!
He also got the transmission taken apart and cleaned up. The gears and everything inside was perfect so we just decided to flush it and get it ready to go back in! New shifter bushings and lucas oils added! Liam told me that he really liked the manual sport style mirrors and wished they were new or could be painted. I told him that paint always comes off these parts and the plastic was dyed to make the black color. So I set out to restore the plastic and save the mirrors. After lots of cut and buffing I ended up bringing them back to the glossy black plastic they were! The ended up looking amazing! I was pretty happy with the turn out. I have been restoring parts like this for over 20 years now, but every time I bring back a new part I get amazed at how nice they look and what the cars must have been like new!
It is time! Motor time! The most exciting time of the build! He was fretting on putting it together for a while. But we decided one day he was just going to get to it and stack the keg! We first started with the cleaning. I helped him get all the apex seal and side seal parts done and then he started on clearancing the side seals. Then we moved to the shop to get started on the keg stacking! First we moved the cars around and made some space. We had just picked up the aristo 2jz for the gtus and were getting ready to swap the rear sump pan on it and get the new trans set up to put it on. The rhd was tucked away and a project for after we finished up the motor build.
Liam did amazing! The motor sounded excellent! Now it was just time for all the externals and setting it in! He helped me with the clutch and trans install and then we got the picker set up and ready to drop the whole package in!
No more old plastic regulator cap! The fires that happen in rx7 engine bays is from the pressure regulator caps cracking and spraying fuel everywhere. This will now assure we can control the amount of fuel and the risk of fire is no more!
Last edited by Joe maddox rx7; 03-30-2021 at 05:55 AM.
While we started on all the externals for the new 13b he just made I had gotten an offer from an old friend. I was going to be spending some time, possibly years building this GTUs and in the meantime everyone wanted me back on the road. Now my buddy had bought a 2003 Miata new from the factory and his family had held on to it, he was thinking about going and getting the new Fiat and wanted to know if I wanted the car. It was starting to get a head gasket leak and was going to need rebuilt, but was a really nice car with a very rare color option. He knew that I was a fan of the Montego Blue FD3S, as I have had a few of them... A stock version, a race/track version and a hypercar version:
Stock
Track
Supercar 1 of 8 first edition BN Sports Blister kits With a new bay And a new drivetrain And a new interior And New Custom Rims I just got bored...
Well after all those and while I was not wanting another FD after getting bored with playing with the last ones, he thought that it would be right up my alley. Funny thing about the Miata, I actually fell in love with the rx7 and made it possible to teach Liam how to restore this car because of the miata. When I was 16 I worked with a guy who owned my future 1982 gsl fb. He wanted the 95 mx5 that had just come out and was trying to get the guy to trade him plus cash for the rx7. He ended up buying the miata and I bought the rx7. It was my 2nd rx7 in 1999 and inspired me to buy this one later:
But in the end I am a FC3S guy all the way
So the Miata is one of the reasons why the rotary engine is so present in my builds and why I shifted from classic muscle car restoration to rotary engines. So when my friend sent me this picture of his 03 NB and asked if I wanted to come pick it up, I thanked him but said that if I was going to buy anything newer than 1990 it will be a Nissan ahahaha. We shared a laugh about my nature and then kinda thought, what about liam? He is only twelve right now and this FC project is pretty much done and he seems to be a little distracted by the RHD savanna we had gotten because he thought the black interior and right hand drive aspect was cooler. So we showed him the picture... To say the least, he loved it. We asked him if it was a project he wanted to take on, a full piston engine build by himself this time. He said lets do it. Liams new splash green NB miata! Next to my friends new fiat and with the volvo 142 in the background!
Last edited by Joe maddox rx7; 03-30-2021 at 07:10 AM.
So we loaded it up on the trailer and took it back to the shop!
We got the miata back to the shop and Liam was a little excited to say the least. He was instantly cleaning the inside and talking about all the things he wants to do to it.
I became obvious he was really excited about the builds as he would only play Forza 4 and use the 90 Savanna he owned and the NB miata he owned.
So liam started buttoning up the externals, driveshaft and brakes, the interior plastics, stereo, a new fuel pump and a flushed tank, The car looked amazing!
Last edited by Joe maddox rx7; 03-30-2021 at 11:10 PM.
03-28-2021 | 04:22 AM
