1987 Mazda RX-7 "Bought Not Built" Track Car & Rebuild Thread

[Nismonic]

2 coats of rustoleum later and the floor is painted! British Racing Green and Tan... always a classic, and a little different than the white or black that most do. 





Seats are back in and it's ready to rock!

[Trev]

What kind of battery is in that case? I thought you had to get special batterys to put inside a car? I really want to put mine in the back of my wagon, but can't afford a dry cell or gel or what ever it is. I used rustoleum when i did the back of my wagon, came out great like yours! Nice job man.

[hydrochloric]

I'm not looking forward to paint the 944's floor...  I still have to get all the sound deadening out, and the wiring...  Well.  Was gonna say buttoned up, but it's more "zip-tied out of the way".

[KA_Killuh]

You can run a regular battery if your battery box is airtight except for a vent to the outside of the car. 

[Nismonic]

What kind of battery is in that case? I thought you had to get special batterys to put inside a car? I really want to put mine in the back of my wagon, but can't afford a dry cell or gel or what ever it is. I used rustoleum when i did the back of my wagon, came out great like yours! Nice job man.

That's a lead acid battery. It won't pass tech anywhere since that's an unsealed marine box. I'm still trying to decide if I can get away with a gel-cell like an optima... or if I should convert to a fully sealed NHRA battery box (with a vent to the outside of the car) and run the battery I already have. Both will cost about the same. From what I've been reading it seems that some NHRA drag strips don't consider an Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) like a Braille or a gel cell like an Optima a sealed battery even though it is for all intents and purposes. So, if I move to an optima I can get through tech at the drift events... but I may not be able to run it on the drag strip or may get flagged at track days. I also need to install a remote battery kill switch on the exterior of the car to make the set up legal with either battery box too. I'm leaning towards the NHRA legal sealed box since it's accepted by all to be a legit setup... but the marine box is really nicely installed and it would be nice to not have to redo all that hard work again.

Anyone know if Lebanon Valley lets you have an optima in an unsealed box inside of the car for drag racing?   

The next project will be organizing the in-cabin wiring and covering it in some nice corrugated split-loom style sleeving.             

[Trev]

I see. Not to derail your thread, just really been on my mind lately.. lol.

[Nismonic]

I see. Not to derail your thread, just really been on my mind lately.. lol.

No problem dude. The marine type battery box works well on a budget if you don't need to meet a sanctioning body's rules.

[Trev]

I have 22b rep vents, and it dumps water right on my battery, so i really need to move it, and my car is never getting rear seats, its getting caged eventually. But i just wanna move it to the back,

[Nismonic]

Boom! Progress...

No more broom sticks or traffic cones required to hold the hood up. I went ahead and ordered some sookitech hood dampers overnight from Japan... well from Taiwan really, and it wasn't over night... but, close enough .



Then I started to install my sealed and vented battery box (NHRA Rule 8.1 Complaint). The big secret about this thing is that it is not really sealed at all, it comes in 3 pieces with no gaskets or o-rings and no where in the instructions does it indicate that RTV or similar is to be used to seal it up... but whatever it meets the rules and is shiny.

Here's the mess of wiring I was met with when I removed the marine battery box (that wasn't even mounted to anything... not good)


Since the only wiring diagram for that mess exists in the previous owner's head I'm going to have to leave it as is until I can totally redo it... but since the new battery box is like 1.5x the size of the old one its all got to get moved out of the way for now.



Weld up a frame for the new box to sit on... weld to chassis... paint.



Now before I clutter this area up with a huge battery box I've got to find a place for all the relays and fuses to go... and the previous owner routed the harness through the chassis so there's no slack to move the harness anywhere. The only option short of cutting and extending all the wire individually was mount every thing right behind the passenger's seat.


Now with the wires out of the way of the battery box (but in the way of everything else now) it's time to assemble the box.

Bottom cover and battery -


Box sides -


All "sealed" up-


Up next was the fire extinguisher mount. I found this quick release mount on ebay and thought it looked neat... some assembly required.


All welded up (I plug welded the slots on the other side... those tacks on the top side of the mount are just for good measure)


Painted and installed on the extinguisher -



Bottom mount installed in car -


Fire extinguisher arm rest! (this will be great until the first time I power shift my elbow right into the bottom of it)



Before putting the passenger's seat back in I covered up the exposed wiring harness up with some wire loom.


I also swapped out the door locks since the last dude to own it changed just the door locks out and then lost the key... So now I've got a key for an ignition and a key for the exterior locks... shitty...  but at least I can lock the car now. This was a much bigger process than I anticipated. I had to strip each door down and remove the side window glass to get the handles out to replace the locks. Nothing really to see there... just a lot of labor for locks that are just clipped in place.   

The last thing I did before heading back to NJ was pulling the lexan windshield out... once all the screws were pulled out it pretty much popped out by itself. I didn't take any pictures of this... but just image the car missing the windshield and you will get the idea. The new glass will be installed at the end of the week and that only leaves a few things to be done before I'm competition/ Clubloose legal.   

[hydrochloric]

More progress than the 944's had...    Looking good.  Why did you have to switch to a normal glass windshield, though?

On the lock front- Try replacing a Roadmaster hatch lock cylinder.  Human hands were NOT used to install it, that's for sure.  Oh, and it's riveted. 

[Nismonic]

More progress than the 944's had...    Looking good.  Why did you have to switch to a normal glass windshield, though?

I'm going back to glass since lexan is silly for any car that isnt trailered to the track. Since I'm going to be driving to all the events this year I'd like to have glass so I can use my windshield wipers without worrying about scratching the plastic. Also, it seem that most sanctioning bodies have different rules regarding how lexan is supported. Rather than adding supports to pass tech with one group and hoping it is good enough for another, I'm just going to go with glass which seems to be accepted as safe everywhere short of a demolition derby.

[hydrochloric]

Wait, there's MORE regulation on Lexan windshields?  That strikes me as odd, but okay.  I guess because it can shatter, unlike tempered glass.

[peter32892]

Wait, there's MORE regulation on Lexan windshields?  That strikes me as odd, but okay.  I guess because it can shatter, unlike tempered glass.

The only benefit of lexan is that it is light weight. The reason different clubs have different rules is because windshields play a vital safety role in the event of a roll over. A glass windshield will absorb energy from in a crash while lexan will not.

[Nismonic]

Wait, there's MORE regulation on Lexan windshields?  That strikes me as odd, but okay.  I guess because it can shatter, unlike tempered glass.

Yeah it seems like every group has its own set of rules regarding a safe install for lexan. Clubloose, for example, requires 1/4" thick lexan for the front windscreen and it needs to be fastened down through the windshield frame at a minimum of every 12" with no less than 4 fasteners per edge. Then they also require an unspecified number of center supports (I'm assuming at least one). SCCA wants 3 supports spaced atleast 6" inches apart. I'm sure that if I found out the most demanding rule set and built to that then I would pass everywhere else... but the only requirement that glass has across the board is that it can't be cracked... I can sleep easier knowing I won't fail tech on account of my 1/8" thick plastic windshield.   

[hydrochloric]

Is the only reason glass is preferred is because it absorbs energy in a rollover (which I find hard to believe in most cases, because of the angle of the windshield)?

[Nismonic]

Is the only reason glass is preferred is because it absorbs energy in a rollover (which I find hard to believe in most cases, because of the angle of the windshield)?

Lexan (polycarbonate) typically isn't preferred for a few reasons, it scratches easily, it cannot be re-polished to a near perfect shine, and it distorts your view more than glass. It also doesn't break or shatter on impact (that's PMMA plastics - Plexiglass and other acrylics which should not be used as a windshield or window replacements at all) and changes dimensions (shrinks and expands) with temperature to a much greater degree than glass. It's great for motor sports since its light weight, can be easily replaced (you can cut and form your own with common power tools and a nice hot sunny day) and it won't break with a few rocks kicked off a set of slicks in front of you. So, you trade off long term durability for plenty of short term gains... again, it's perfect for purpose-built, track-only cars. It's not good on street cars since it distorts your view, scratches way too easily (needs special cleaning, wipers cannot be used, uv breakdown, etc), flexes in the wind, and doesn't break on impact (which you want to happen if it's your head hitting it - the breaking glass absorbs energy so your skull/brain doesn't have to). It usually has to be bolted or clipped in place to keep it from popping out if it expands/contracts/distorts enough that it no longer fits the window frame (and also so it doesn't pop out the other way in the event of a high speed backwards slide). It also needs to be braced in the middle so it cannot flex in at speed (which I guess could lead to an entire lexan windshield in your lap if it's thin enough and isn't properly fastened to the windshield frame)... where as it seems an OEM glass installation as few problems out side of weighing a ton, cracking, chipping or shattering.       

[hydrochloric]

Okay, I see.  Good for a trailered track queen, especially for replacements.  Bad for streetable car.  Gotcha.

Still, I wouldn't have guessed the "crash absorption" was for you head- I was thinking roof.

[Nismonic]

Glass is in! Clubloose season opener is on March 31st... and I've got a ton of shit left to do.

[hydrochloric]

Ha!  At least yours has seats! 

[Nismonic]

This post is worthless with out pics... but here's a small update. The car is getting some tin work done up in Troy at 1945 to make it Club Loose legal. Should be done by next weekend. I ordered a set of XXR wheels to slide on and a set of fat spacers to let the XXRs fill out the Widebody. Nothing too exciting.

These ought to be enough to start the season out... right?


First road course event is the 31st... so pumped! 

[Nismonic]

more parts at my door today... mostly courtesy of Ebay motors... so I can be helladope on the track.

Spacers for flushness (since an 18x10 wheel can't do it on its own  ) 1.5" spacer in the front and 1" hub centric spacer in the rear. I'm taking a chance on the no name spacers here... but 6061 is 6061 and CNC machined is CNC machined right? You don't need a big brand name to make flat aluminum rings with studs pressed in... I hope.       


EBAY No name "JDM" Rear tow hook. My inner ricer is satisfied... too bad this thing is going to see track duty instead of an easy life hard parking... we'll see if this hold up towing the car out of the mud on any off track excursions... or if I would have had more luck zip-tying my $20 bill to the factory tow hook and trying to use that as a tow strap. 


Ronin Speed Works Front tow hook. This one attaches to the frame rail in the front and snakes out through the lower grille. This is purpose built and track tested so it will probably hold up!  This is probably the only thing that I haven't bought off ebay in the last 2 weeks.

[deadlydave]

very very nice.  I'm going to have to order some spacers for the un-cool FWD offset 17's I got for the dirty30.

[hydrochloric]

very very nice.  I'm going to have to order some spacers for the un-cool FWD offset 17's I got for the dirty30.

What, no silly Civic stance?

more parts at my door today... mostly courtesy of Ebay motors... so I can be helladope on the track.

Spacers for flushness (since an 18x10 wheel can't do it on its own  ) 1.5" spacer in the front and 1" hub centric spacer in the rear. I'm taking a chance on the no name spacers here... but 6061 is 6061 and CNC machined is CNC machined right? You don't need a big brand name to make flat aluminum rings with studs pressed in... I hope.       

I wouldn't worry about the spacers so much as the studs! 

[Nismonic]

What, no silly Civic stance?

I wouldn't worry about the spacers so much as the studs! 

The silver colored studs have grade 10.9 stamped on the back and they were made in the USA I'm not too worried about them. The other set with the "brass" colored studs is from an unknown country of orgin with no grade stamped on the back of the studs. They look almost identical to Ichiba Spacers but with a machined finish rather than a matte finish. I wouldnt be surprised if one factory turned these things out under a "Brand" name and a house brand... kinda like how most of the sub-$1000 coilovers are made in the same place.  I'm going to keep my eye on them but I have a set of extended studs that I can press in if these things dont feel solid.

[deadlydave]

What, no silly Civic stance?

Well, the edge of the tire/wheel is rubbing the strut which is unhealthy.  I'm sure my demon camber doesn't help.  Oddly enough the hubcentric rings for the omnipresent 15's that have been on the car since styles owned it are the right size for my 'rota' 17's.