Joe Maddox Rx7

Remember that first car mad mike from redbull built? The first widebody Madbull 20b rotor? I wanted that car really bad. I decided I was going to make one after I finished my RHD FC rx7 build. I had owned a couple of them in the past however I never finished them. I got distracted with the fc build and put them aside each time. Once the RHD was finished and I had just about finished the 78 RHD savanna I wanted to build a RHD FD3S widebody like the madbull but with a full interior and street capable!



My first go with the FD3S was when I picked up The Spyder (Marc) FD3S that he had for sale on the rx7club. It was a wrecked fire shell he got for around 750$ from the salvage yard and pulled the motor and interior parts out.



This is not the best story as the car was built, but the road was long and hard and I should have known this was the type of person I was dealing with:





This was the car he was selling. I was interested in it without the motor as I was going to be putting in another one at a later time. I was not convinced it was a solid start anyway.










I had know Marc for sometime and when it was not business related he was a awesome guy. I was not a fan of how he ran his shop though. I had my wife use it and I paid for him to put in one of the turbo II motors in my wifes Turbo II fc's. I paid him 350 for the install and then a 90 fc vert with a perfect running s5 motor he put in his coworker/friend's car (ben of pineapple racing). His engine builder there was Daniel Leed of Pineapple racing and I hear was really good. He ended up installing the motor, however when I got the call it was done, they said it was not running and would need to be taken home on a trailer. Bad throttle body. I ended up swapping it out at chris's (with the widebody fb I built) house after I picked it up on the trailer. It was missing lots of parts. The N370 AFM and the twin turbo APEXI air filters and the spare turbo. I asked him where it went and he said that it and my RB oil pedestal adapter were sold and I could not use them anyway. I was happy to have the car back and running and he promised that he would help me build my RHD motor for free if I stopped using Daniel Leed as he was on drugs and scamming people and they were taking a break being friends. As this was happening he was closing his shop and moving back in with his parents. He had me move all the cars and some supplies back to his father house in Canby. When I showed up to have the motor built, he had me clean and assemble it, he helped me stack. I was very happy to get hands on training from a person who worked/works at pineapple racing though! All of the pics of this engine are on my RHD build thread. The last straw was when my wife's car ended up having issues and I pulled the ECU out to find the Rtek I had paid Marc for was not put in but he just pocketed the money when he noticed it already had one installed from five years before he touched it. Because they date the ECU. Chris and I were grossed out but let it go as he was the FD3S guy and worked at pineapple and FD3S Engineering. Here are a couple pics of my wifes car getting done there and us moving him home.






So where we had issues in doing business in the past, the day to day with him as a fellow rotary owner was awesome! The man has a pretty set life and the cars that come through are dreams and to be around them is a gift in itself. So I embraced it! I ended up getting the car from him after we talked over what a fair deal would be for it. I was able to get it for 3500.00 with half down and the rest in payments over a couple months. I ended up going with that and we made the deal! In the end, I payed him 2750.00 and sold his pony car for the remainder as he said he did not want to even bother trying but wanted it gone. I over paid but not by much, it was a solid car. I was content.
So I went up to his dads house in Lacey and loaded it up! Talk about rich. Damn! The son of the University of Washington has some nice places and cars! I ended up loading it up and bringing it back to my house. It was winter and I only had a car port for it as the shop was full of the other builds and this one was a ways out.

Joe Maddox Rx7

marc had a friend who ended up also doing FD builds and had a "chump car' ( I know right!?!?!?) that they were parting out. It had bad water seals and I ended up getting it for all the externals. Marc had sold the other block by the time I had him paid back.

This sticker kills me still.

Marc again ended up making this possible by loaning me the money to pay this guy. I promptly paid him back and got ready to put it in and see how bad the seals were. They said it still ran?!


It did not run. So I waited on going any further on this part until I finished the RHD motor that I was finishing up. Rob at pineapple just ported the motors irons and I was going to assemble it soon!

I started on the interior

Finished the interior and got a spare window for it from the "chump" car. ( I think, that one has slipped my mind where it came from)

The body was about ready to be sent to the shop

Got it ready to pull out and put it in the shop to get the body work done and shoot it MB again!

Note the RHD in the back ground. I was offered a car that had everything to finish my RHD project. It was about 10k in parts and I was going to end up buying them in the long run. These parts on this guys car were literally brand new. He had maybe 5k miles on the whole thing and the car ate a side seal on the 100% brand new motor.

He came over and wanted to see if I would be down to trade for the FD. He knew that there was still lots to do in the qtrs and that the engine would need rebuilt. That the car as to where I got it would be a fair trade for the car he just blew up. I said ok, I was down. It was nice having the FD3S but it was nicer not having two project cars. I just gave the RHD motor to chris and set myself back a week or so and this would be a good way to really dive back into that build and finish it right!

The interior I put together was very nice. The sunroof in these cars is a real pain in the butt!

I kept the power fc and datalogit and we traded cars!

Joe Maddox Rx7

So I was really sad to lose the FD3S and be back to only having FC's. I had just sold the widebody FB I had as well.



However after I took the car down and put the time into the RHD FC it ended up being an amazing car and worth every penny! This was the car that died to make the car in the end possible:










So now I needed another FD... The FC was fun but it was time for something new!
I had started another SA build with a 78 RHD Savanna but did not have my heart into it.









I ended up giving almost everything away with this car though. My heart was just not in it. Most of the parts were given to my friend of the time that had this car I had just built:
https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...ebody+turbo+fb




So the hunt for a new FD was on! This next one needed to be right hand drive and I was going straight to the full track build and widebody before making it a daily. First body and then motor. So I set out to find a good deal on a shell I can kinda beat on. Nothing to amazing, but nothing that was a real wreck!

Joe Maddox Rx7

I found one in southern Oregon. It was nasty. I actually found it on accident but they said they would be willing to sell it. It was a RHD conversion but was done alright. not as well as I had done mine, but possible to work with. The motor and tranny was toast as they all are, so I bought it without it.






I ended up making a deal for 2k with some parts traded to knock it down. I loaded it up on the trailers and headed back to the shop with it!





I started taking it apart and seeing what I was going to be dealing with!

Joe Maddox Rx7

It was a mess but nothing that was fatal. Just nasty and lots of wire wheeling ahead of me!
While dealing with several other peoples builds I finally found the time to get it looked over and started the parts list of things I will need and looking into BN Sports for that famous kit!

Joe Maddox Rx7

Well I guess I am a sucker for a clean FC. but this one was special. While working on the FD I ran into this 100k miles real Turbo II in mint condition for 1000.00$

I ended up buying it because I had to...







After getting into it I realized I need to stay the course on the FD and ended up putting it up for sale. A person with a track FD ended up offering me a trade for his FD and I took him up on it.
















The car was nice because it was a FD. the car was actually a pile of ****. I regretted the trade but stood by my word when he came for it. Traded all the fc stuff and started looking into what I was going to do with it. In the long run I ended up swapping a couple parts on it from mine and then letting it go to one of Marcs friends who turned it into a crazy drift car. The firewall had a lot of issues and there was serious flex to the chassis. It had made its rounds and I was going to stay the course on my RHD build!

Joe Maddox Rx7

After lots of elbow grease the grease was all gone! The floors were clean and ready for some sound insulation!



I had removed the roof to swap it over to a R1 skin. I ended up buying one from the dealership near me. Turns out they still make it and it was only a bill!
I also picked up a perfect interior with rear seats and parted a motor from three fd's. Two auto's and one rhd clip that just happened to be near me!

Joe Maddox Rx7

FOUND THE KIT! It was not easy, I tried to get it from the company, they never answered back. My silver was sterling and I am not good enough. But I can preserver lol! I ended up finding the kit through a kid who had a race team in Canada. His dad lived in Washington and I was going to buy it from him and have him bring it to his dads house in WA! Thank god for Zilvia!






He had not mounted it yet and only mocked it up. I told him to tell me where to sent the 5,000$ for it and I went and picked it up!



Real kits are the best!

Joe Maddox Rx7

So now I have the hardest part taken care of. Now it is just the rims and putting the car together to make it look good! I started mocking up the panels and getting ready to have the roof skin put on!

Joe Maddox Rx7

I had a friend weld the roof for me and then got all the panels secured on (besides the front bumper that I was waiting on intercooler piping before I mounted it.





While working on the RHD FD I also got some time to finish up the RHD SA. It had come a very long way since first pictured in the thread.

There was new metal put on everything, new electrical and interior. Custom panels and a 13b turbo motor to drop in!

I got this buttoned up to go while working on FD, however it was never finished as my heart was fading from the game and my friend chris was no longer helping with the cars. and these builds had been like the others, I was alone for them. That gets old after some years.

I had been working on classic cars for almost ten years at that point and had made many nice ones. The current daily driver had me wanting to head back towards classics. However I kept on with the FD pushing towards the goal of having the widebody track car finished!