So anyways I've been very busy lately. I've been dealing with a crappy lawyer, the Air Force, working on the RX-7's and RX-8. So anyways he's sort of a progress report.

I finally got the 88 RX-7 I'd say about 95% stripped down. No interior, no lights, engines stripped down to block, wiring harnesses removed, just basically a shell. All that's left to pull is the motor, trans, suspension, and rear axle. I'm putting in the series 5 suspension with the 5 lug, instead of the 4 lug. So once that's swapped out I'll be one step closer to getting where I need to be. Afterwards I need to get a Turbo II hood (if anyone has one they would let to sell please let me know. It MUST be dent free, but it can have chipping paint, surface rust, that's fine) I think I may have already found fender through Jason, I'm need another front clip, plus I'm getting a FEED front lip from Calvin, I need a new rear bumper, the blacked out taillights. I think that just about covers it. Next she'll be ready for paint, inside and out. She'll be getting a nice coat of fresh 1988 Mazda RX-7 white (which by the way if anyone has the paintcode could you please provide it)

Next is the 93 RX-7, purchased over a month ago now, and still not insured, or inspected but it's getting there. I took care of some prevenative maintence, my AST is on it's way. I changed the oil, recharged the A/C system, runs very SOLID. As soon as I get insurance on the car it's going to Mazda for inspection, since I have good relations with my service manager he's going to "hook me up" As far as I can tell it will need new tires, and maybe new brakes but I think everything else is in 100% working order, so wish me luck with that.

Finally the RX-8, the "Problem Child" Still have a transmission with bad syncro's, but I got lucky. Again my service department hooked me up. I was able to purchase an RX-8 tranny for 100$ and all it needs is a 3rd gear bearing, which I'll probably get an aftermarket bearing and have it installed. So then once the new tranny's in I'll send out the old one to get rebuilt, and rebuilt stronger then stock. Hopefully I won't keep breaking them.

Yeah that was a lot to update. I didn't realize how much has happend since I last posted on here. Maybe I should stop by a little more often so I don't give my self corpal tunnel. Later

 

Are you doing the paint job ya self? if you are how much do you charge? cuz i just want a fresh coat of white and a clear coat.

 

put a roll cage in the FC =). well you can go nuts and do spot welds and frame braces and whatnot - since it's down to metal. you going to scrap all the sound deadening off?

next time I stop at rod's, i'll write down the paint code off the door jam. maybe this saturday.

 

Unfortunetly Coke, I'm not doing the paint myself. Cause one I don't have the equipment, and two, definitely don't have the time. I'm sure though if I had both I could hook you right up. I'll have to get pictures of the FC and the condition that she's in. As for the paint code anytime is fine.

 

have you found someone to paint it yet? I'm still looking around for painters for my car...

 

Who is doing the paint? and is it priced lower than going to the dealer who says MIN. 3K for a paint job

 

From what I've heard, depending on which maaco you go to, the job isn't "that bad". My friend has a 3rd gen prelude and it was done by maaco and it actually looks decent .. Far away and close up. There's almost no overspray.

If you're looking for a basic quickie paint job with no bodywork involved, depending on the car, I would guess about 12-1500$ easy. Most of the cost is paint and the clear. The brighter the color, the more expensive it is. So white and black are the cheapest. When you start moving into the oranges and reds, the price goes up. And if you go for the crazy lime greens or bright oranges .. Dollars. And then the extras like metal flakes or pearlcoat or whatever. More Dollars. You also have to worry about the door jabs and rear hatch sill area and all that. And how "complete" you want them to go. Mask the rear lights or actually take them out before shooting? Stuff like that.

My friend restored an old Z and repainted it cherry red. This was back-in-the-day price but he paid about 5k. A decent amount of body repair, 7 layers of red and 2 layers of clear.

 

to go on the Maaco thing - if you prime the car, etc yourself, you're far better off. the maaco over in white marsh(i think they're still around...) doesn't prime their cars. they'll just spray over your existing paint.

 

Technically ... You can do it yourself. The only really important thing you need is a relatively dust free environment. You don't want dust to settle onto the still-wet paint. Air compressor, air gun and paint. You'll need masking tape and newspaper but essentially that's about it.

I have a model magazine that teaches you how to get a mirror finish out of a spray can. Same concept just on a bigger scale. My FD paint (red) came out pretty decent but the model was all messed up. My friend was helping me out and missed the peg that hold the spoiler so it's all crappy looking and I broke what essentially is the steering rack so you can't turn the wheels and get a good picture of it. If I took the time to wetsand it, it would really look good. There's all sorts of tricks to get a professional paint job for less $. Like one tip was to drop/hold the paint can in warm water which will make it flow smoother.

Buy a compressor and a gun and some paint and paint everyone's car =). The gun is really cheap. I think a paint gun that has a 20oz gravity feed was something like 15$ @ harborfreight.

 

Well uh.. eightman.. you still need some help getting the engine out?.. i'll take it off ya hands as well.. :-D

 

Eightman, You may want to consider going with a base 5 speed rx8 transmission if you can find one. They maybe stronger then the 6 speed box. I'm not sure, not an 8 guy. Good luck with it all.

 

I'm pretty sure RX-8s are either 6 speed or automatic... but I could be wrong

 

i'm almost 100% positive he's got a 5spd as it is...





though i can't remember. brains are mushy today.

 

no, he has the 6 speed

 

If I had the time to paint my car, I'd go right over to the Ft. Meade paint booth that's on base. As far as the painting goes I don't think it would be a problem for them to paint the FC. The car is completely gutted out, and all they'd have to do it blast it down to sheet metal, prime, 5 to 7 coats of Mazda white, and then 3 coats of clear. But a big majority of the work for paint is already done. It takes a while to pull out all parts, interior, wires, dash, I mean EVERYTHING.

Oh the RX-8 has a 6 speed tranny, and the 7's have the 5 speeds. The 8 transmission isn't that great. I've already broken 3 of em, and getting ready to put in the 4th. They didn't do a good job on syncros. Anyways I'm still looking for those parts, so please if you know of anyone that has them PM me.

 

Gut the FD and respray it white

... recreate the apex'i fd ... that would be PIMP

 

I want to get the FD on the road, not take it down for a couple of months. Besides that I don't think my basement could hold anymore car parts as it is. I've basically have a whole FC down here now lol. Oh and again the parts I'm looking for are

Turbo II Hood
FC Fenders (Both)
Front Air Dam
Rear Air Dam
Feed Front Lip

Willing to pay cash, if you or any you know has these parts and wanting to sell PLEASE PM me, thanks for your time guys.

 

front and rear air dam? what's that?

feed lip -> go to chargespeed and i think for 3xx$ (+ X$ for s&h). they make replicas. i'm thinking about just picking up one instead of fixing mine. I need to stop by Rod's shop and gauge how good his fiberglass skill is. if it's good then i'm probably going to have to pay for it. so 3xx$ may (or may not) be a better choice

 

ahhh this was great...i was just listening to 98Rock. someone drove Mickey around the practice track set up at Ravens stadium. he just about pissed himself - he'd never been in a drift car before...


ahhhh i love that little leprechaun of a man sometimes...

 

^^^ that was intended for the hyperfest post. hunger pwnt me