BIG J MIXALOT

how do you do this to a rx7

1984special

The vert style looks OK, but it gets really ugly with the top up.
Do you or anyone you know have good CF or fiberglass skills?
You should make a HARDTOP

THAT would be pretty cool.

Rotofire

eeeeewwwww

BIG J MIXALOT

how do you stragthen it without the roof

jason_child

Hey I don't have any pictures but my dad built an 82 into a convertable and put corvette tail lights in in. it looks much different than any of them on here. its red with a much nicer rear end than the ones on here and he built it when they were brand new i could find out more if you want me to

jorx81@aol.com

iTrader: (6)

basically integrate the overhead bar to the front and rear of car. unless you are racing, or really concerned for your saftey you don't have to do anything, I would definetly reccomend a roll bar though.
If you look for avatar info you'll find they stuffed a rod into the windsheild pilliars. and i think they show the other stuff they did.

If this thread goes for a couple more days, I'll get to chopping the roof on my project and post some pics

BIG J MIXALOT

bliffle

As the owner of a red 62 Alfa Spyder Veloce (which I bought new) I can say that it looks sorta similar, but not the same. Each is good looking , tho.

B

12RotorMonster

I found this in an article a few weeks back...i think its a spyder rather than a vert tho (it doesn't seem to have a top of any sort). I think it's th OZ one but dont quote me on that....

stilettoman

iTrader: (1)

It is interesting to see such an ancient thread reactivated. This dates back before I joined the forum, and I have posted photos of my custom convertibles on here somewhere in the past.

If anyone is considering this kind of project, you absolutely must reinforce the chassis or you will have a limp noodle that will behave very badly on rough roads. And if you park on a very uneven surface, i.e., with one wheel on a curb, you may not be able to open the doors. My reinforcement was all inside under the carpets, and I only added about 50 pounds of steel. It is a matter of putting it in the right places. My cars did not weigh any more than the original coupe. The torsional stiffness was adequate for street driving, and the handling was not noticeably affected in normal driving, but it definitely was not acceptable for a race car. Adapting a top mechanism and designing it to keep out the water was a big challenge. Some details of my 3 convertibles are shown here on page 3:

www.cardomain.com/ride/646433

PaulFitzwarryne

No this is one by Pacific Avator from the look of the rear and roll bar. The OZ version was rhd with a 626 trunk lid. I will post some shots of mine in a few days when I get out of Laos.

They can be made stiffer than stock if the strengthening runs the whole length under the body, with vertical struts to the firewall and the area in front of the rear wheel arches. The rural roads I drive on are rough and there is no noticeable body flex. I did think of adding a front strut tower bar but experience showed it to be not necessary. A roof bar would also potentially stiffen the rear, as the rear strut towers are too low to link effectively. The most powerful PA version was 300hp from a 13B water injected turbo and gave no problem. My 12AT puts only puts out 275hp so there is no noticeable flex even on hard cornering.

cosmicbang

Have you guys with convertibles thought of putting wire knock-off wheels on them? They have similar lines to a Ghibli Spyder so it might look good with some Borranis or reproductions thereof. What do you think?

PaulFitzwarryne

No. Wire wheels look great on early sports cars, even as late as an MGB, but they are too retro for an RX-7. The genuine knock off wheels are now illegal in many places for safety reasons.

The problem with wire wheels is while they look good the structural strength is low and they flex under heavy cornering with the power most recent sports car have. The modern 5 stud wide base configuration is better.

However, wire wheels really make the look of any pre 1960s sports car and were always my choice until Minilites came in.

PaulFitzwarryne

No. Wire wheels look great on early sports cars, even as late as an MGB, but they are too retro for an RX-7. The genuine knock off wheels are now illegal in many places for safety reasons.

The problem with wire wheels is while they look good the structural strength is low and they flex under heavy cornering with the power most recent sports car have. The modern 5 stud wide base configuration is better.

However, wire wheels really make the look of any pre 1960s sports car and were always my choice until Minilites came in.

cosmicbang

Thanks for the opinion. Strength is a consideration, but the RX-7 is light weight, underpowered and probably wouldn't experience a lot of extremely heavy cornering. I think they look ok on post-60s cars.

Rx7carl

stillettoman, any chance of sharing some more detailed info on the body reinforcement? Pics?

fc3s-gxl

the rear of the car looks like an alfa romeo

Jose Feliciano

I want to do that to my GSLSE

stilettoman

iTrader: (1)

Rx7carl - I have a video that shows the whole procees, but I can't remember if I took stills of the chassis reinforcement. I will take a look and post photos if I have any.

Basically, I took 1/8 inch steel plate and bent it to fit over the inside rockers, welded to the pinch weld on the door sill, and welded to the floor, running from the firewall to the rear wheel arch. Then I put a piece vertically from the rear of the door opening back to the rear wheel arch, and from the front of the door opening to the firewall. These pieces front and rear were then boxed in with another plate sloping out to the inside surface of the rocker. This made a rigid U-shaped reinforcement through the door opening, to provide longitudinal bending stiffness. We tested this by jacking up one side of the car with a jack under the middle of the door opening, and measuring the change in the gap at the rear of the door. We did the same test on a 914 and a Fiat spyder, and mine had the least flex. The only other stiffening was the bulkhead between the rear shock towers, which made a solid bulkhead between the trunk and passenger compartment. This provided some torsional stiffness, which is the most important for handling. The torsional stiffness was not as good as the Porsche, but adequate for normal street driving.