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1991 Mazda RX7 - From junk, to showcar in $3,000

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  • 1991 Mazda RX7 - From junk, to showcar in $3,000

    Hello know-it-alls.

    I've been on here for a while, mostly creeping on your builds, or rants, and internet arguing. I've been meaning to make a build thread, and it seems now is the time. I'm new to the stance/slammed/wheel game, but I've been passionate about cars from as far back as I can remember. I've always been obsessed with putting big things into small spaces. When I was a kid, I tried to get the mechanic across the street to mount a 20hp lawnmower engine to my scooter. Years went by, and I never had the opportunity to do the stupid things that I wanted to do. Every one of my attempts was shot down. Some of the reasons were lack of workspace, tools, knowledge, money, and so on. Until a few years ago. I met a guy with a shop, and he mentioned once that I was welcome to use the shop if I needed it. A ray of hope. Over time I hinted to him about starting a V8-swap car build. He seemed curious. I didn't care if he was ready for it or not, cause I was. This was my chance. This was the only opportunity that I got! Knees weak, arms heavy, vomit on my sweater already moms spaghetti, I started looking for my fantasy project car. Drifting was getting pretty popular, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't inspire my build. I knew I wanted a rear-wheel drive coupe, but the rest was open game. Months went by, and I looked at everything from Cobra 427 kits, to Porsche 944's. Everything was priced high, and my self-imposed budget was $3,000.00 for the complete build. (hahahahaha retard) I kept looking, and one day, I found it.

    A white, n/a 1991 Mazda RX7 with black interior. It was perfect. Cut springs, steelies, cracked windshield, non-running, no title, in a ghetto yard under a tree, covered in leaves and birdpoop, guarded by a barking pitbull, frothing at the mouth. I still can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of the beautiful tragedy. The pizza delivery kid that supposedly owned it said it ran once, but I already knew that. It’s a rotary; duh. I jumped it, and after a few minutes of tinkering, the bizarre contraption of an engine fired to life in a smoking, buzzing horror of a whir. I smiled, and prepared myself for the 70-mile drive home. Oh yeah, I was that stupid. The tires were shooting threads, the car had no brakes, and it ran on spells and potions. I whittled the price down to $400, and began my journey home. I took off down the street with what looked like a NASA space-ship launch. Four miles down the road, the magic stopped, and I was dead in the middle of a busy street. I ran some distance to an auto-parts store for a new battery, and dropped my first purchase of the build. The new battery got me running again, but it was a dying alternator that I was dealing with. I knew that had to be it; it was mounted to the engine with 4” zinc wood screws.

    I made the 70 miles home somehow, stopping with only the handbrake, revving the song of my people the whole way to keep it alive. It was already a drift car. I shut it off, and stood there just looking at it, as smoke slowly lifted from my hair and clothing. The dream was finally a reality, the steel was real.

    This intro might seem long winded and contrived, but you need to know, that this all took place many, many years ago. I bought the car on a magical date, 10/10/10. If this was a competition, you could say I took the gold. In this time, all of my closest friends have come to know the car, and it is the start of many awkward conversations.

    Before I show you the pictures, I want to say that I am not building a drift car. I am fulfilling my childhood dream; putting a V8 (and other things) where it (they) doesn't (don't) belong. I’m not trying to make max hp, or “kill the game”, or impress anybody. This is just my story.

    I’m going to narrate our way through these sweet potato photos like parents narrate photos in a family photo album to people that you don’t want looking at you naked in the kitchen sink at 9 months of age.

    Here it is, halfway home, getting more fuel.




    I got the car home that night in nothing short of a miracle. I parked it, and started narrowing my internet research down from 12 different potential build possibilities, to one. The 2nd Generation Mazda FC3S RX7. I had my work cut out for me. What do you do when you buy a car with no title? What engine was I going to put in it? What aftermarket support do these cars have? The scouring for information began, and I slowly began to put pieces together in my head. Back in 2009-10, V8 swaps were't as common. I heard of a few, but they were either carbureted drag cars, or really secretive builds with very little documentation. I knew I wanted fuel injection, and I knew I needed a LOT of documentation if I was ever going to pull this off. In the meantime, I began the process of filing for lost title.

    This was me trying to get it to the DMV for inspection.



    This is basically how it looked for a few months while I got paperwork going on it. I only drove it when I had to, because driving it was illegal, embarrassing, and problematic. Just like old rotaries are known to be.





    Then it sat like this for quite a while, waiting for shop availability.



    Got something that wasn't steelies.



    Did what any ricerboi would.



    Some long time later, we got started on pulling the super awesome reliable rotary that nobody should ever pull out of a mazda cause they're so pure, and awesome, and V8's suck, you're ruining the scene, japan would never do that, etc etc ect





    The driver shock tower is wet because she would get wet when I ran her hard.



    Not sure if burnout or burning engine..... Nope, definitely burning engine.



    Yes that's me breathing into the camera like a horse giving birth.

    That was the last time that engine ran in this car. I really wanted to run it till it exploded or seized, or something else cool, but that never got accomplished. Here is us tearing the engine out.



    Heat wrapped pipe all the way back? So many ricer points!! +++++1



    Aaaand it's out!







    Then I got these used coilovers (from Japan! hah) because I started this build before I knew anything and just bought whatever had the word coilover on it. Turns out, these are not height adjustable. Smh. Oh well, at least it sat better afterward.



    Threw these pretty little things out.




    Alright, that concludes my first post. In for comments and criticisms.

    nowihaveabuildthreadareyouhappydude
    Last edited by Miroteknik; 01-23-2019, 01:35 PM.

  • #2
    Good progress so far


    For a hipster.
    BB6 Prelude . . E36 ///M3 . . VA WRX Limited . . 1969 Nova
    Originally posted by Ollie
    We all love to turn heads. Sub-consciously we're all materialistic attention-craving dickheads.

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    • #3
      good stuff brother!
      Instagram: _jay_borcena_

      Comment


      • #4
        In for Plaid headliner and rusty body panel hipster madness.


        Also, needs more RS's

        Comment


        • #5
          V8 swap? how....original

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          • #6
            In for a $400 bargain.

            Comment


            • #7
              Wow, a V8. Makes you feel special, huh?

              Rotaries are only reliable as you make them.

              A stupid owner=short life

              It looked like your coolant seal blew, which would require a full rebuild. A t2 swap or jdm turbo swap is so easy and cheap, why not go that route?

              𝔣𝔬𝔩𝔩𝔬𝔴 𝔪𝔢
              @𝔳𝔦𝔳𝔢_𝔪𝔢𝔪𝔬𝔯_𝔩𝔢𝔱𝔦

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              • #8
                because with an ls1, $800 in upgrades would have at 400 whp and with a rotary $800 would get you jack shit. But if had a ton of money a three rotor would be sick
                IG: Dimitriantoniou
                1997 bmw 328i vert: sold:http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=55235
                1997 bmw 328is: http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69857

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by MommysLittleMonster View Post
                  Good progress so far
                  For a hipster.

                  Originally posted by vipTL View Post
                  good stuff brother!
                  Thanks!
                  Originally posted by Jlyons617 View Post
                  In for Plaid headliner and rusty body panel hipster madness.
                  Also, needs more RS's
                  Haha that's coming up bro!
                  Originally posted by Minuki View Post
                  V8 swap? how....original
                  Look me in my face, I ain't got no worries.
                  Originally posted by boosted brit View Post
                  In for a $400 bargain.
                  Right?!
                  Originally posted by rice4life View Post
                  Wow, a V8. Makes you feel special, huh?
                  Rotaries are only reliable as you make them.
                  A stupid owner=short life
                  It looked like your coolant seal blew, which would require a full rebuild. A t2 swap or jdm turbo swap is so easy and cheap, why not go that route?
                  I never had a dream to rebuild brotaries. The dream was always V8.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Right, so this brings us to the swap engine. All of you are thinking LSX, but you are mistaken. Game changer! When I started the build, I knew I wanted a Chevy engine, and I knew I wanted EFI. The swaps that I knew of at the time was that purple vert FC with the Ford 5.0, and a few retarded drag cars. I didn't have all the LSX stuff to look at like we do today. I knew I needed something cheap if I was going to do this in $3,000 (hahaha), so I ended up grabbing what happened to come my way.

                    A 5.7L LT1. I thought the engine was perfect, and honestly, I'm still happy with my decision. Its sort-of period correct, it makes decent power, and lets not forget, I wasn't building a max HP car. Getting the engine was a little adventure in itself, but that's all part of the fun in doing something like this. I ordered the Granny's small-block engine mounts, and had it in the car officially after 7 or 8 in-n-out maneuvers. I was pissed, exhausted, and annoyed, but the engine was finally in.







                    Wingless was all the rage back then, so I pulled this wing off and threw it away. (regret it)





                    Then I got kicked out of the shop for some reason that I don't remember, and the car sat outside for a whole winter, looking like this. I couldn't shut the hood due to the alternator bracket.



                    The guy helping me with the build knows how to drive cranes so one day during one of his daily cruises, he sends me these pics. I don't know how heavy that iron bucket is, but I'm sure the build would have been over if it had fallen on the car. Maybe it should have, I don't know.





                    As time went by, I'd drive over to the car and check up on it, and do stupid crap like add 1.5" spacers on it to improve the "stance" haha.



                    Before:


                    After:


                    I also made some clearance for the alternator bracket!



                    Tadaa!


                    Yes those are fake BBS stickers on the center caps, it was a special time of my life.

                    I kept thinking about the car, and kept going over there to obsess over it, so I came up with an idea to change up the interior. (jlyons check it out!) I was and still am a big fan of paisley, so this happened.

                    Before:


                    After:


                    Then more time went on, and the car just sat there, and I fell into depression.
                    Last edited by Miroteknik; 04-09-2018, 11:17 AM.

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                    • #11
                      I actually like the LT1 engines. I think the only downside to them is the optispark system they come with. You can still build it and make good power with them. They make good burnout machines stock though, my parents used to have a 96 impala that thing was fun.
                      2010 135i | Alpine White | Coral Red | 6MT | Bagged

                      Build | Instagram: fifty3bags

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                      • #12
                        BBS emblems fooled me
                        God bless this mess

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                        • #13
                          Damn hipster doorcards.

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                          • #14
                            10/10, would read again.

                            And also stoked for progress.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Door cards are money! $$$$


                              W I L D M A N 'S R O D S H O P




                              R.I.P P.WALKER 2013/11/30

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