Project: "Last RX-7" by Herblenny

[Herblenny]

December 22nd, 2011 - I went over to MPFab to check out the manifold progress and lend a hand if needed (not that I can do much). We also wanted to test fit the turbo and get some measurements and clearance.. But in order to finish everything up, I need to get the new steering rack.

Anyhow, here are some Walker Morgan's handy work (www.MPFab.com)

[mazda6kid]

I idol this guy because i love all his cars and im
In the mazda game i have a static mazda 6 but i want a rx7 second gen i already had a rx3 i loved the rotory power gets ur heart pumping and for me to see this ........ U have inspired me to buy a rx7 hahaha coming soon ....
All your cars 100%

[Herblenny]

I idol this guy because i love all his cars and im
In the mazda game i have a static mazda 6 but i want a rx7 second gen i already had a rx3 i loved the rotory power gets ur heart pumping and for me to see this ........ U have inspired me to buy a rx7 hahaha coming soon ....
All your cars 100%

Awesome!! I love hearing people who said they saw my car(s) and made them want to get an RX7. Good luck on your search and hope get an RX7 that you love.

[Herblenny]

December 26th, 2011 - After a full day at work, I decided to take the dash apart and get it ready to get it recovered by my interior guy tomorrow..

Here are some pics of the stripped dash..



re-enforcement bar and wires..



I'm also re doing the center tunnel and door panels.. Should take about a month..

[NINE]

Keep at it, I can't wait to see more!

[Herblenny]

December 30th, 2011 - Not much update on the car... but in a rotary related thing, I had a chance to go see some rare historical rotary cars in Nashville, TN.

Thanks to Founder/Director of Lane Motor Museum, I had a chance to see, hear, and touch some historical and super rare rotary cars.

Here are some pics from my private tour.

1967 NSU Spider - This is the first production rotary car with single rotor, rear mounted engine.









Another Rare NSU Ro-80 - A Birotor sedan









Citroen GS Birotor - I knew about the NSU, but did not know about this Citroen vehicle.







And finally a super rare Citroen M35 Prototype single rotor vehicle... This is the only one in USA.

[Herblenny]

January 4th, 2012 - Happy New Year!!!
Well, not much have been done to the car as I was busy at work... Also, I'm about to trade this shell for an R1 shell without the sunroof. Hoping to do that this weekend.
Anyhow, the little time I had, I stripped out the dash and refinished the rusty metal dash frame.



I sanded it down to bare metal, treated with rust inhibitor, and primed it.

I then sprayed with gloss black then quick shot of gunmetal and clear the whole thing.. Shouldn't rust again



I'm heading to my fabricator's shop (www.MPFab.com) to pull the engine out and get it ready for this weekend's shell swap.

[Herblenny]

January 5th, 2012 - My clutch for the 20B came in today from my favorite clutch company, EXEDY CLUTCH!! Here are few pics

[NINE]

January 5th, 2012 - My clutch for the 20B came in today from my favorite clutch company, EXEDY CLUTCH!! Here are few pics

Why is exedy your favorite... Just wondering as I have never used one.

Also you have me rethinking taking on a rotary motor some day.

[Herblenny]

Why is exedy your favorite... Just wondering as I have never used one.

Also you have me rethinking taking on a rotary motor some day.

I have used their product for many years with great results and also they have been providing oem parts for many Japanese manufacturers. I have used and heard many horrible stories about SPEC and few other companies.. At the end, Exedy provide quality parts and their support has been #1 for rotary community. Why support these companies who don't give a crap about rotaries when company such as Exedy supports us?

Anyhow, You should try out a rotary car. There is something about them that attracts some of us to it.

[Herblenny]

January 10th, 2012 - Well, I would of made an earlier update but I had to put 14 hour day at work yesterday and didn't have much time to tell you all what happened to my trip.

Well, last week I was running around town trying to get my shell ready for a swap with an R1 shell (without sunroof) that a friend of mine had in GA. So, I had to pull the 20B out, get the hatch from my friend's shop (which I was going to paint it and put on my MB FD), find a trailer, and a friend to help me tow it. Because my fabricator does not come in on saturday, I also had to go there day early to pull the car out so I can load it day after.

Saturday morning (Jan. 7th) - We loaded up the car and got to my friend's place in GA. We started taking stuff off of his car and started to transfer to my shell.



During this process, the car smelled really bad and we found some crazy stuff. Like dead mouse





I guess the car was sitting outside for awhile and a mouse made a nice home out of this RX-7.

Since I was going to strip this car to bare metal, I didn't really care about the smell or the dead mouse.... but I did care about what I found next, a bent frame that lead to bent head light assembly mounting points. This is a bad sign as when headlights are mounted and pop ups go up and down, the geometry is messed up so the lights might not line up. At this point, I was quite upset.. Just because I asked my friend to check the car as he knew the car was in an accident before. Also because my car was on hold for 2-3 weeks as my fabricator couldn't cut anything on the shell because of this swap. And I wasted my weekend, other people's time, etc just because my friend didn't take 10 mins to check over the car carefully and to see where the accident was. But he's a friend and he feels bad and going to help me out later so I cant be mad at him.

Anyhow, we loaded the car back up and drove it back to my fabricator.



Hopefully, I'll have more fabrication updates later this week!

[Herblenny]

January 12, 2012 - Last night, I went over to www.MPFab.com to install the 20B back in to the car and get the car ready so that owner of MPfab.com can start building the exhaust system and the V-mount.

Since its important that everything needs to sit the way it is, we needed to install the tranny, ppf, catback, MP, etc... but like always, we ran into other issues..

Issue #1 - Defined Auto kit did not level the engine.



This might be because I had issue lining up one of their motor mount bracket and I had to enlarge the hole in order to get the brackets to slid into the motor. But, that's not it as one of the top hole should of kept the height in order..

Issue #2 - Correcting leveling issue.

We measured everything to make sure if it was the mount or if it was the car. After measuring the chassis, subframe, core support, etc, we came to the conclusion it was the mount. So, we added couple of spacers to see how much it was off..



After adding the spacers (3/8 inch), we had other issues.. which is now the engine was sitting bit to high and PPF was hitting the tranny tunnel. So, we lifted the engine, pull the passenger side mount and cut 3/8 to level it back out. After that, we wanted to make sure if everything else was going to fit so, we dropped the sub frame and bolted the oil pan on to double check everything...



At this point, everything seems ok after cutting but the PPF still seems bit close to the top of the tranny tunnel.

Next, I'm going to bring my AutoEXE braces so Walker from MPFab.com could build the exhaust that will clear all the bracing.

[nickka24det]

so where is the first place im going to get to see this car? ia atlanta maybe?

[Herblenny]

so where is the first place im going to get to see this car? ia atlanta maybe?

I don't think the car will be ready by IA ATL... But I'll have another car ready by that time.

[Herblenny]

Not much update over the weekend so here is a random pic of my MB FD

[neala09]

I think this is really cool, im gonna be following this story for sure, i want to do stuff like this once i get to a point where im knowledgeable and got the $$, currently i am looking for a first car and i really want an rx-7, but i don't wanna spend a ton, id be okay if it was a running project car, i just don't know of a good place to get one; i live in Atlantic Canada so the population is pretty low, any suggestions on where i might find one?
is this any good?
http://halifax.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehi...AdIdZ327762011

[nickka24det]

your still the opening article on import Alabama, whats it been now a year? http://importalabama.com/articles/ca...ry-anyone.html

[NINE]

your still the opening article on import Alabama, whats it been now a year? http://importalabama.com/articles/ca...ry-anyone.html

Nice! Good read.

[Herblenny]

I think this is really cool, im gonna be following this story for sure, i want to do stuff like this once i get to a point where im knowledgeable and got the $$, currently i am looking for a first car and i really want an rx-7, but i don't wanna spend a ton, id be okay if it was a running project car, i just don't know of a good place to get one; i live in Atlantic Canada so the population is pretty low, any suggestions on where i might find one?
is this any good?
http://halifax.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehi...AdIdZ327762011

Sounds like you are finding decent deals up there in Canada.. Personally, since I don't know the market outside of USA and around my region, its hard for me to help you. But looking through classified and willingness to go somewhere else to pick up would help with your search. Also, go on your local forum and see if fellow rotorhead will help you. Usually an offer of lunch/dinner and a respect, most people will help you with your search.

your still the opening article on import Alabama, whats it been now a year? http://importalabama.com/articles/ca...ry-anyone.html

I haven't been on there in awhile..


Update...

January 18th, 2012 - Got my wheels in from WORK Wheels (http://www.workwheelsusa.com/).





WORK CR Ultimate aka Kiwami.

Spec: 18x9.5 +30 and 18x10.5 +23

[neala09]

Alright thanks!, i have been searching up and down throughout all of eastern Canada, i have also been talking to the owner of the rx7 i linked, he recommend that i start with an impreza, which may be better, especially because we can have harsh winters.
thanks again! good luck with your build! i will be following the rest for certain