Joe Maddox Rx7

After giving lots of things like the lights and the louvers and the interior ect to that car and many others I had an amazing assortment of cars. I had one of each generation finally! The FD3S was a project and a cast out of marcs, but it was still an FD.

When I brought it home from marcs. It was burnt and had a partial interior. No roof or glass, wiring was toast and he kept and sold the drivetrain. It was 3500$ on the rx7club but he took some payments and I worked my *** off for him for a long time. Sold his cars and then found out he bought this car from a wrecking yard complete for 750$. I suckered lol

This was it after I got it all together. Glass, interior, engine and trans. Was finishing it up and then I got an offer I could not refuse...






I was almost done with it and then got an offer I could not refuse...

Joe Maddox Rx7

I guy who had everything I wanted for my FC from the the tien coilovers and EDFC to brand new Apexi N1 duals... His car was with the thousands of dollars of parts I was dream shopping for. the FD was nice, but after dealing with the people who have them and driving a few of them I was not a fan as much as the FC. It is the better looking in ways, but I am just a fan of the FC! Plus that car was not really what I wanted. So I made a trade and that is how my FC ended up with the Tiens and all the goodies that came to it in the end as I will show!

So this crap was taken off and put on another car!

So there I was with a car I almost had done and a car I almost had done. I sold one and the other one is now sitting with a ton of new parts and really nice, but no motor or trans.

Joe Maddox Rx7

So I started working on another motor! I had build many since then. A few for local people, one for a friend and now this one for myself. I wanted to try something new that I had not done before. Everything has been done in the car world, but I had yet to make a mutt motor. I started with a good set of s5 NA irons and a turbo middle. I used S4 turbo rotors and started putting it all together! Ever try to build motors by yourself on a hundred degree day when everyone is at the river? Brap life! lol

Joe Maddox Rx7

Note the hood and the car had gotten a new body kit on it? After helping out a few people with their cars and builds and finding that I was not getting anything in return I started charging. Not that I was not ok with the gifts I was offering, it just started to feel more like it was a expectation as opposed to a gift. I did not want to work and pay for peoples projects, all the time. So I charge for a few engine builds and car restorations and got all the rest of the parts for the right hand drive build! For each one of these engines my trader score rose as well, that was always nice.










They were all very happy people each time. All but one of my motors is still on the road today! That is a nice feeling!

Joe Maddox Rx7

So! The car was redone for several reasons. First was I did not like the s4 trim and s5 trim meshing together. No matter how rare the kit was, I would rather a knock off than the mixed set up. Then I also bought some euro lights I wanted to run on a s5 bumper. Having the rear already I figured I would just go that route. I also did not like the interior not having the factory insulation. I have been restoring classic cars for many years and finally decided to give this car the work I put into my classics. So this is what it looked like when I pulled the motor. this is how done it was:

Joe Maddox Rx7

I started on the interior first. tear down was easy, been here before. restoration of a restoration is always easy.




I ended up getting better carpet and went with some stock fc seats as the fd seats were nice, but not really comfy compared to the gxl seats.




I tossed on my FD3S wheel and then got started on the body again!

I wanted things to be a little different this time so I went with the BN sports kit, RE mirrors, Wangan wing, JDM FTP lights and euro bi color turn signals. I had not seen many with this combo. the Blitz 03 rims I thought really brought the room together.

Joe Maddox Rx7

Well it was time for paint, however my shop was down for the count. I needed to shoot in another place. I had a shop next door that was not ok with paint in the air and although I was in right, it was wrong. So I asked a friend if he could help and we took it to his shop!








Again it turned out amazing! I was really happy to see the new kit on and the trim all matching. So not we are back to putting the motor in it! I got the Carbon hood from a customers car. Trade for getting him back on the road! I was not sure how I felt about it at first, however it grew on me really fast!

Joe Maddox Rx7

I did it again! Alone on a hot summer day I managed to drop this sucker in without a chip to the new paint!

Joe Maddox Rx7

After many hours of work I had the engine bay all buttoned up and the motor in! New gauges,new radiator and a bunch of JDM swap I was ready to give it a start!

Joe Maddox Rx7

After touching up on the exhaust by topping it off with a Jasma downpipe to RB presilencer and Apexi N1 duals I had it fired up!




I drove it over to my friends shop to have another bracket put on, He has the ability to raise the car better! ahaha