Representing Minnesota: My cute little Rx8 DD Build
 

Hello all!

I have owned my Rx8 since last year. Finally got a few pics of it to initiate a build thread.

Little bit about myself:
I am a father of two beautiful kids. I am graduating law school next week. I walk May 22, 2016. Finally done with schooling!!!!:worship:

Anywho, got into the rotary scene several years back. My first Rotary was a 1987 Rx7 Base model. Over the years I have owned around 10 second gen Rx7s and two 3rd gen Rx7s. Last year I sold one of my 3rd gens to help fund the completion of my 20b build.

People that do know me generally know me for having ripped apart cars and Rx7 and Rx8 parts galore. My entire garage is shelves and shelves of parts. What can I say, I am a parts whore:mdrmed:.

I have been selling mainly Rx7 parts for the past 5/6 years now. It pays the bills ahah.

Little bit about the car:
Bought it form a guy that said he was the second owner. Sadly he did not store it during the winters here in Minnesota. Thus rust formed.

Color: Winning Blue
Year: 2004
Trans: 6spd
Model: GT?
Interior color: Black on Black
Mileage: 136,xxx miles on the body


I purchased the car for $1,700. At first I thought that was a deal being that it had a blown engine, but when I started looking into the rust I probably paid more than I should have. Whatever though I wanted to own an Rx8.

This build thread is intended to help people and to generate some peaceful conversation. So please do not hate on the process. Just do your best to correct me if you see something wrong or you suggest I go a different direction and explain why. Communication is key.:shocking:.

Current Plans for the Car:
My plans are forever changing. My goal is to have a fun 8 to drive that people look at (in a good way).

So Sit back....relax...and enjoy this super slow build:rock:


Here are some pics before I got it to my house:

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/


And when I got it to my place:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/


THE RUST:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

The interior:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

Money Shot:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/




START OF BUILD WILL BE IN NEXT POSTING

Start of Build
 

So I started by pulling the 8 into my garage and removing the hood.
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

Then I gently placed the hood on the roof of the 8
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

Back shot:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

Front shot:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

Its dark back shot:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/


Better lighting front shot:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/



I started taking apart the engine bay to prepare to pull the engine:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

And PULLED THE ENGINE LIKE A BOSS:boink:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

The build goes on
 

After removing the engine I decided to put it where it belongs....on the floor:hahano:

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

Such an ugly engine bay.
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/


Then I started to remove more crap:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

And talk to myself about why I hate rust so much:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

But after all that hoopla I got the front end removed:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

I then took a night to remove everything in the engine bay:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

THE CLIPS UNDER THE DASH WERE A PITA!!!!


UPDATES LIKE IN 10 Seconds:rock:

Engine bay completely gutted:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

Sanded:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

Primed:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

Painted: Grand Prix White (aka NSX White...its bright lol)
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/


I am almost caught up to where I stand today. The next few pics are about to get real exotic:mdrmed:. Some may love...Some may hate...but I love these colors...

Preparing to do some work on the body:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

PANSPEED REAR OVER FENDERS WHAAAT!!!!
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

SEXY PAINT:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

SEXY PAINT CLEARED:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/


Well that is about where I am at.

Stay tuned. I will post some pics of the current parts I have for it and what my mods/planned mods and other crap I have for it.

Thanks for watching and hopefully being apart of my build.


THE GOAL IS TO BE DRIVING IT FOR PowerCruise in June.

-Nick

Good work so far, Love the white.

Thanks!

Yeah with the exterior midori green I figured the white would look nice.

Looks to be interesting build! Good luck and I will be following along :)

Thanks!

When some of my parts get back from chips motor sports I'll hopefully get the rebuild underway. Also am waiting for my housings to come back from goopy.

Love the Panspeeds. I think those are supppper rare or something. Anyway, those are sweeet!! Can't wait to see those installed.

Following! Awesome progress so far!

What's your plan for the rear fenders/rust? Im assuming you'll cut it all out/treat it and use the over-fenders on top for the visual aspect?

Thanks!!!

As far as with the rust, I will cut out what I can, treat it, seal it, and weld in sheet metal where needed. Then use rivnuts to bolt on the fenders to cover it up. It'll all be painted, under the fenders and fenders, to match the car.

I have been parting out this other rx8 so I've been lagging a little on my car lol.

It should be out of paint next week I think.

Thanks again,
Nick

Very nice thread. Such a shame that Mazda's wheel arch design was so terrible. It doesn't help that they only have a thin layer of paint too.

So many cars have problem areas either above the rear wheel well (we just had a rust spot cut out/repaired on our Evo right there) or on the rear 1/4 somewhere else. Shame it always seems to be on the one panel thats not easily removable/replaceable, lol.

This car went to a good home tho, with that amount of rust it had, it would have been too much work for the average person to want to deal with... so its great to see that you are repairing it and reviving it fully :)

Yes it is pretty lame.


Thanks:icon_tup:

The rust is not super bad, but it made me almost consider just parting it out and scrapping it like I do with other cars with rust lol.


Speaking of rust...
Nothing super exciting, but I have an updated pic of the door that had rust as well and had to be blasted clean:mdrmed:

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/


That is all for now.

Lately parts have been selling like crazy on my parts Rx8 so as soon as I get caught up with shipping those parts out I will make sure to post some more pics.


DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE TO ORDER ABOUT 60 OF THOSE LITTLE WHITE CLIPS FOR THE WEATHER STRIPPING?

Thanks again for tuning in :rock:

-Nick

Midori green? Oh no.

:mdrmed:

Very cool! can't wait to see the finished project, I am biased towards the white though!

Re the clips for weatherstriping and similar stuff, I've had good luck with finding the Mazda part number on a parts diagram and then searching Amazon.

:mdrmed::mdrmed::mdrmed: Yeah. It is cool.

Sweet. I guess I never thought of doing that, but I am sure it would be easier.


Little update.

Rust repair in progress.....:sweatdrop:sweatdrop:sweatdrop....

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

This is pretty ugly. Super ugly. Makes me want to throw the car away ugly. But it'll be fixed.

My goal is hopefully have my engine built next weekend and then have it completely painted in two weeks.

That way maybe by mid May I can actually drive it. I wont hold my breath though lol.

On another note...been a while since I played games, but thought it would be fun to try to new Gears of War 4 Beta
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/
Didn't do too bad for my first time. I guess I still got it in me:mdrmed:

Where are you getting the engine built?

I'm nowhere near the point (cross my fingers) of needing an engine rebuilt on my '04. But I'm just curious who locally does it.

(My thinking all along is I would do it myself when the time comes.)

I've helped a friend rebuild a 12A out of a 79 RX-7.. and I've got the 13B video's from Australia. None of it seemed very difficult. (Note, I'd never even bother with a piston engine. Someone else can go through that pain. :shocking:)

Anyway, good luck. Look forward to seeing another RX-8 driving around here in MN.

My buddy is going to help me. He builds engines for turblown/turbo source.

If you're interested I can connect you with him.

Just shoot me a text.

Short little update
 

So as my bar exam approaches, I found myself confused with my build. I have spent more time parting out my cars than building them.

My winning blue rx8 that a friend's little brother F*cked up I sold the other weekend.

So here is the 411...

I recently sold the winning blue rx8 for $800. I did this because I already made money on it and it was just taking up too much of my time worrying about the rust repair and the lack of assistance that I was receiving from people that said they would do it.

Therefore, selling it took a lot of my useless stress off of my plate. However, I knew I wanted to continue building on an Rx8 platform.

So my buddy was selling a Shinka shell that had no rust and minor body defects (blemishes and little dents here and there), but nothing crazy and nothing I could not fix.

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

The Shinka had came with a 13bREW motor mount kit already installed, but I decided I wanted a cosmos in the bay. Who wants to be the same as every other rx8 owner:mdrmed:

Ok so maybe I am going a little off the deep end with that previous statement, but I wanted a "rarer" swap.

Thus, I got a good deal on this and picked it up:
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

So now that I have a cleaner shell and an engine that is worth building (resale value of course) I needed some unique rims for the 8.

Thus, instead of tossing these on my fiance's gs300...I decided to refinish them and put them on the 8. Sizes are 18x9 +42 (little high offset, but should be adequate).
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/


Needless to say, if you have seen my massive amount of part threads its because I once again went a different route :rock::rock::rock:

What is the point of following a path when there are so many you can make by yourself.

#norenesis
 

Looking good!

You Sir need to move this to the rotary swap section :)

Mods can you please move this to the correct location? Thought I asked someone to move it before, but whatever :)

Little update
 

So I've been stripping this car down. The interior is almost all out.

I'm selling a bunch of parts so hopefully I can get some funds off of this stuff to maybe buy a seat or two and then some of the engine parts I need lol.

Here is the work so far.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...7a100e138.jpeg

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...f47ab7eb4.jpeg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...ebde075fd.jpeg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...93a34afba.jpeg

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...b4b49bb81.jpeg

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...cf4953795.jpeg

Momo steering wheel, works bell quick release, and hub. Apparently the fd setup works with the 8 setup. This is from my fd. So now I'll need to get a new setup when it gets back home.


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...9f3b65bfc.jpeg

Helper testing it out.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...ca5b2c869.jpeg

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...61f426bf5.jpeg

When I got the 13bre to the house


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...b38b92196.jpeg

On the stand looking at my project


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...ac9334193.jpeg

Today I removed the accessories and got it down to the keg. Deleted the omp since I have like 50 of those little blockoff stud things to put in the housings.<br/><br/>Plan right now is possibly do a half-bridge. Need to figure out what's reasonable for the power I'm trying to toss down.<br/><br/>Will likely go with the turblown long runner manifold with a gt35r or equivalent.<br/><br/>I'll need to do a custom intercooler and radiator setup. Will likely get a used nascar radistor (pwr/c & r)



Thanks for tuning in :).