NoPistons -Mazda Rx7 & Rx8 Rotary Forum - Unveiling Widebody 12a-bp

After many months of work, car went in the shop Thanksgiving weekend, the project is nearly done and on the street. The car was stripped down to the chassis, leaving the dash and wiring harnesses. Everything else, and I do mean eveything, was removed and refurbished or replaced. From the firewall back the unibody was sanded and or sandblasted bare. The underbody was epoxied and coated with truck bed liner, the exterior was epoxied, primed with a high build urethane and top coated with a single stage matte black polyurethane. Body kit is an old school Pacific knock-off, whale tail is Mariah.

The entire suspension and brakes have been replaced, except the idler arm. Eibach's, Illuminas, all poly bushings, ST front and rear sways, Brembo slotted front rotors, ss brake lines, pads calipers etc. Epsilon wheels with 225/50/15 front, 245/50/15 rear. Power steering added due to front tire size, not sure if I like it yet, it's twitchy. Very different from my 2nd gen. GSL rear end added, ( car was a GS originally).

Engine. 1/2 sp-1/2 bp with large ported exhaust. Running a Mikuni 44PHH for break-in, have a 650 dp ready. If the Mikuni can be tuned for the 1/2 bp, I'll keep it. Everything that could take the heat was powdercoated, everything else refurbished. FC oil cooler added. Fuel tank replaced with a GSL-SE tank. Mallory Comp 140 uiel pump with return style regulator. Supply and return fuel lines replaced with 3/8" aluminum tubing. Fusible links replaced with FC fuse box. Line lock mounted but not cut into brake lines yet, too tempting.

Interior. Chassis had 216k on it when I bought the car and had the cleanest interior in a 1st gen I've seen. Not a single rip, tear, cigarette burn or broken piece of plastic in the entire car. The body also had minimal rust and has never been wrecked. Sad part is the mint door panels will not fit with the Competition Engineering 8 point roll bar. Stock tach and speedo kept, all other gauges replaced with Autometer, including the fuel gauge. Boost/vac gauge added (winter project, Phase 3).

Rant on:

Now for those of you who want to rag on the choices I've made in this build, or those that want to yell rice, let me say a couple of things first.

Most of the parts on the body are old school. The kit, the wheels and the wing were all first produced over 20 years ago. The wheels themselves were built in 85 and are true 3 piece wheels, $1200 each back then. The only thing that I concider even close to being 'rice' are the tinted tail lights, but to me they add to the steath look. The only badge on the car is the one on the hatch glass, and nobdy seems to know what the car is. Not even the police, who seems to like to follow me quite a bit while I drive around and break in the new engine.

The 2 little hands, typing this post on the keyboard, have done every bit of work on this build, except setting the fixed glass and tinting the windows. While you may not like the car, at least respect the work and effort it took to build it.

Rant off:

Enjoy the pics kids.

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