My wife is letting me have a Wankle with twins
Discussion
Wow nearly a year gone! not sure what happened there!
So last winters cosmetics work was slightly more than I had planned originally. I decided to finish off the exterior with a diffuser, it's not in your face and suits the side steps that I have on the car also makes the exhaust seem less big (if that's possible).
Rear bumper came off without too much issue, just lots of 10mm bolts and torx bolts holding it on. Worst part was dropping a 10mm spanner between the rear quarter panel and chassis, took an hour to fish it out with a magnet on a string.
The fitting of it was slightly more tricky, the mounting points used are the same as the original rear 'lip' so the whole bumper and diffuser had to go back on in one go making sure all the bolts and holes lined up. I really wish I had a 2nd person to help at this point but managed it on my own.
I did sadly notice some of the corners were a bit scuffed from the fitting and so needed repainting. A lot of news paper and some masking tape sorted it out with little issues
With that all done it was time to give it a blast up to Cheddar
One of the draw backs to most 90's japanese cars is the interior trim. The RX7 is sadly no exception, the windscreen heat vent goes brittle from the sunlight and starts to break up.
Thankfully a company in the US make a nice metal alternative and as there was group buy it would be rude not to...
My only gripe with it was the fittings were horrible big thumb bolts, I decided to trim this down with some counter sunk allen headed bolts. They turned out OK, but to be honest I could do with taking them back out and drilling a little more out.
Whilst I had the dash apart I reviewed my LED lights. Now most of the lights were changed from green to Red LEDs. However the fog light button and pop up headlight button remained green. I discovered that these do have very small nano bulbs that are just tinted green so no need to get the film off from inside the switch. After a bit of trial and error I managed to find some LEDs that would fit.
So the summer came round and I was able to finally use the RX in good way. I soon discovered that my brakes were pretty s
t whilst coming into a rather sharp bend down hill. I decided whilst the weather was good a bit of a refresh was in order. Whilst at the JDMday at castle combe I talked to the guys at HEL who were doing some nice offers on braided brake hoses. So with a set of these in hand and some Red Stuff Pads I decided to give the brakes a good going over.
Before I started on the hoses and pads I felt the calipers could do with a bit of TLC, the fronts were a bit chipped and warn looking, I did think quite hard about the colour to go for, part of me wanted to go all out Ferrari Yellow as it looks so good with the red paint, but not sure on the bronze wheels. In the end I settled for gold as it ties in with the suspension arms (that no one can see). Plus it isn't so in your face.
20 year old hose removed
All finished waiting for a drive!
Although the gauge pod is useful and a boost gauge is a must to keep track of the sequential turbos ensuring everything is boosting like it should, I have never been pleased with the look of them. I have always wanted a more factory finish and something more in line with the instrument panel. I discovered a company in the USA called Drake, they make custom parts for RX7s and one is a gauge pod that looks very much like the 911 GT3 clock pod. I just had to have it!
I also ordered a custom 52mm boost gauge from Speedhut, this would match the Mazda text, only light up with the lights were on and most importantly light up with red LEDs. Although not cheap it was certainly the only option for the factory look I am after. The said it would take 6-8 weeks, it turned up within 3
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/osmWAW5J[/url
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/bfIq1o4d.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/ezg7x9OI" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/ezg7x9OI.jpg)
Thats all for now
So last winters cosmetics work was slightly more than I had planned originally. I decided to finish off the exterior with a diffuser, it's not in your face and suits the side steps that I have on the car also makes the exhaust seem less big (if that's possible).
Rear bumper came off without too much issue, just lots of 10mm bolts and torx bolts holding it on. Worst part was dropping a 10mm spanner between the rear quarter panel and chassis, took an hour to fish it out with a magnet on a string.
The fitting of it was slightly more tricky, the mounting points used are the same as the original rear 'lip' so the whole bumper and diffuser had to go back on in one go making sure all the bolts and holes lined up. I really wish I had a 2nd person to help at this point but managed it on my own.
I did sadly notice some of the corners were a bit scuffed from the fitting and so needed repainting. A lot of news paper and some masking tape sorted it out with little issues
With that all done it was time to give it a blast up to Cheddar
One of the draw backs to most 90's japanese cars is the interior trim. The RX7 is sadly no exception, the windscreen heat vent goes brittle from the sunlight and starts to break up.
Thankfully a company in the US make a nice metal alternative and as there was group buy it would be rude not to...
My only gripe with it was the fittings were horrible big thumb bolts, I decided to trim this down with some counter sunk allen headed bolts. They turned out OK, but to be honest I could do with taking them back out and drilling a little more out.
Whilst I had the dash apart I reviewed my LED lights. Now most of the lights were changed from green to Red LEDs. However the fog light button and pop up headlight button remained green. I discovered that these do have very small nano bulbs that are just tinted green so no need to get the film off from inside the switch. After a bit of trial and error I managed to find some LEDs that would fit.
So the summer came round and I was able to finally use the RX in good way. I soon discovered that my brakes were pretty s
t whilst coming into a rather sharp bend down hill. I decided whilst the weather was good a bit of a refresh was in order. Whilst at the JDMday at castle combe I talked to the guys at HEL who were doing some nice offers on braided brake hoses. So with a set of these in hand and some Red Stuff Pads I decided to give the brakes a good going over. Before I started on the hoses and pads I felt the calipers could do with a bit of TLC, the fronts were a bit chipped and warn looking, I did think quite hard about the colour to go for, part of me wanted to go all out Ferrari Yellow as it looks so good with the red paint, but not sure on the bronze wheels. In the end I settled for gold as it ties in with the suspension arms (that no one can see). Plus it isn't so in your face.
20 year old hose removed
All finished waiting for a drive!
Although the gauge pod is useful and a boost gauge is a must to keep track of the sequential turbos ensuring everything is boosting like it should, I have never been pleased with the look of them. I have always wanted a more factory finish and something more in line with the instrument panel. I discovered a company in the USA called Drake, they make custom parts for RX7s and one is a gauge pod that looks very much like the 911 GT3 clock pod. I just had to have it!
I also ordered a custom 52mm boost gauge from Speedhut, this would match the Mazda text, only light up with the lights were on and most importantly light up with red LEDs. Although not cheap it was certainly the only option for the factory look I am after. The said it would take 6-8 weeks, it turned up within 3
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/osmWAW5J[/urlThats all for now
With the weather getting better (it was honest!) we managed to get the car out for the first time in a while and off to Castle Combe for the annual JDMDay festival. Our 2 year old daughter can now sit in the front with me but my wife is finding it a battle to get into the back "seat" as she is 6 months pregnant. Not sure what we will do when child No2 comes along, I think I may be able to make some form of insert for the childseat
Was a fantastic day out with wonderful weather, the FD Owners Club managed to take the best club stand of the day and had an impressive turn out of 25 RX7s which is no mean feat.
Was a good opportunity to get the car waxed and a few snaps of it.
One with our trophy
I currently have the interior apart as the handbrake handle and boot is looking very sorry for itself. I ordered a new leather boot from ebay with red stitching to match the Nardi wheel but the guy attached the bracket on upside down so it doesn't fit (waiting on a replacement).
The handle is rubber and bonded to the metal handbrake arm. This is then bound in leather which as you can see has got a bit tatty. After a lot of googling you can buy new arms and Handles from Mazda but no one does just the handle. However.... plenty of folk do them for the MX5 and it turns out the mk1 and mk2 MK5 share the same parts as the RX7
So had a hunt on the internet and ordered one from Mitaworld, aluminium handle and button. With no way of knowing if it would 100% fit I was left to cutting the old handle off with a Stanley blade with the thought that if it all went to st I could at least just get a new arm from Mazda.
Thankfully the MX5 handle fitted like a glove and the button screwed in without an issue and retained the original spring.
Now just waiting on the Ebay chap. Once that is done I will be doing something similar with the gear leaver and surround.
Was a fantastic day out with wonderful weather, the FD Owners Club managed to take the best club stand of the day and had an impressive turn out of 25 RX7s which is no mean feat.
Was a good opportunity to get the car waxed and a few snaps of it.
One with our trophy
I currently have the interior apart as the handbrake handle and boot is looking very sorry for itself. I ordered a new leather boot from ebay with red stitching to match the Nardi wheel but the guy attached the bracket on upside down so it doesn't fit (waiting on a replacement).
The handle is rubber and bonded to the metal handbrake arm. This is then bound in leather which as you can see has got a bit tatty. After a lot of googling you can buy new arms and Handles from Mazda but no one does just the handle. However.... plenty of folk do them for the MX5 and it turns out the mk1 and mk2 MK5 share the same parts as the RX7
So had a hunt on the internet and ordered one from Mitaworld, aluminium handle and button. With no way of knowing if it would 100% fit I was left to cutting the old handle off with a Stanley blade with the thought that if it all went to s
t I could at least just get a new arm from Mazda. Thankfully the MX5 handle fitted like a glove and the button screwed in without an issue and retained the original spring.
Now just waiting on the Ebay chap. Once that is done I will be doing something similar with the gear leaver and surround.
So new leather handbrake boot turned up, looks like the guy just has the pattern wrong as this was back to front as well. So thought I would just sort it myself and have s spare in case it all went wrong.
With a Stanley blade i managed to part the leather from the frame and restick it the right way around.
Happy with the result, need to do the gear stick next month to match.
With a Stanley blade i managed to part the leather from the frame and restick it the right way around.
Happy with the result, need to do the gear stick next month to match.
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