Project FD RX-7

[V1GiLaNtE]

The photos may be borked. It could well be my work computer restrictions though.

Nope photos borked....or all the parts fell on Godspeed and he was unable to fully copy the photo link... SEND HALP!1!

[Goodspeed]

Photo fixed, I just forgot how to internet

[ScottyB]

all the parts fell on Godspeed

they were just trying to give him a group hug. so much tragedy

[Goodspeed]

After nearly a year in the shop - with some back and forth to get things just right - the Fikse Profil 13's I picked up for this car long ago now have come back.  As I touched on elsewhere in this thread, I decided about halfway through their stay that I think I'd ultimately prefer and am hoping to go with a different set of wheels, but the beautiful shape they're in almost has me reconsidering:





Mercy.  They're up for sale (if anyone wants or knows someone, 17x8.5 +38 17x10 +43) but at least I'll always have the pics.

The wheels I'm hoping to go with would be a relative to these, Fikse FM/10's.  Ultimately decided these are the best looking wheels on a FD in my humble opinion:



A quick & dirty (and tiny) photoshop of what they'd look like with the '99 body bits on red:



I sent the '99 spec steering wheel to Craft Customs in Texas for a full re-wrap in new smooth & perforated leather with red stitching.  It's gonna be a few weeks but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing it when it comes back.  Nothing crazy, looking for a very OEM look.  Speaking of the interior, I got an idea to replace the endearing, but goofy looking "Exhaust Overheat" warning lights & such in the center console with some JDM coin pockets - and then learned they're not available new anymore & hard to find.  Before I could even feel sad about that, BubbleTech here in the US released little replica bits, so now my center console will get that sleek little upgrade:



That's it for now, I'll try to get some pics of the wheel when it gets back and I have a new airbag for it 

[Goodspeed]

That's it for now, I'll try to get some pics of the wheel when it gets back and I have a new airbag for it 

No new airbag yet, but I just got the wheel back from Craft Customs in Texas this evening and they did a gorgeous job.  The leather is so supple that I barely resisted the urge to rub my face on it.  In fact, I don't think I'll be able to drive this car for fear of touching this:





They were great to work with - very communicative.  I actually gave my mom (who is big into hobbyist knitting) my Spirit R shift knob and she went to a knitting supply store to match the red stitching color to a sample color spool of thread that I sent with the wheel to Craft.  They matched the red nicely, and the baseball stitch will match both the shift knob and the e-brake handle.  Interestingly, the factory '02 Spirit R wheel doesn't use a baseball stitch, but a euro-style diamond stitch.  I'm guessing this is because it was supplied by Nardi in Italy, but who knows.  I felt it clashed too much so baseball stitch all around it is.

Another dumb-luck story: there were a few panels behind the B-pillars and into the trunk area that I wanted to source replacements for.  Mine aren't bad at all for a 25 year old car, but they just had the usual wear and tear from being panels in the storage compartment area over the years.  The most annoying to me were the rear storage bins behind the seats - at some point in the car's life it had a bumpin' audio system installed and they drilled & cut holes in them to mount an amp and run wires.

Well, I'm cruising FB the other night and come across a post 17 minutes-old by a Marine stationed at Quantico who is building a FD shell he brought back from California into a track car.  He had every panel I was looking for and they were damn near mint, so next thing I know I'm meeting him on base and getting theses panels from him.  Another set of parts that people are constantly searching for (the bins especially disappear immediately) and now I'm nearing the end on my quest of having a brandy new looking interior in this car.



Random: I'm kinda sad I'm not shooting for 1000hp here because I wish I had a use for an eye-candy 12 injector billet manifold setup

[JPolen01]

I was literally just thinking about how we needed an update on this journey the other night and almost FB messaged you. Funny how that works. That streering wheel looks mint. You may need to stash a set of white linen gloves in the car. Something like what the caretaker of the Stanley Cup wears.

[SlimKlim]

I was literally just thinking about how we needed an update on this journey 

Yes yes but enough with the foreplay already. PUT IT IN!!!!!!

[Jake]

LOVE the progress on this! Steering wheel looks awesome. If anyone has even thought about a french fry in the last month, you can't allow them inside the car once that's installed.

[.RJ]

I was literally just thinking about how we needed an update on this journey 

Yes yes but enough with the foreplay already. PUT IT IN!!!!!!

balls deep, please

[ScottyB]

my friday's already better, i knew something wasn't right with the world until i just now saw the FD got new goodies

[Goodspeed]

I was literally just thinking about how we needed an update on this journey the other night and almost FB messaged you. Funny how that works. That streering wheel looks mint. You may need to stash a set of white linen gloves in the car. Something like what the caretaker of the Stanley Cup wears.

It's like we got ESP or something...

LOVE the progress on this! Steering wheel looks awesome. If anyone has even thought about a french fry in the last month, you can't allow them inside the car once that's installed.

Fries?



No fries allowed.

I was literally just thinking about how we needed an update on this journey 

Yes yes but enough with the foreplay already. PUT IT IN!!!!!!

balls deep, please

 


 

my friday's already better, i knew something wasn't right with the world until i just now saw the FD got new goodies

Couple more little bits that were in the back of the Lightning that I forgot about - I ordered them in October of last year and they just showed up.  Brake MC brace and a trunk extinguisher mount with a fancy quick release:





Both from Sakebomb Garage in CA.  Awesome little company that makes great, niche parts for a bunch of platforms - but you've gotta wait a bit.  No complaints here given someone is out there willing to go through all the trouble to make high quality, low-quantity stuff for an ancient platform.

[Goodspeed]

The End of Project RX-7

Well, it's time to post this.  I sold the car and, at this point, a large bulk of the parts for reasons I'll describe below.  The takeaway is that while this project will no longer come to pass, I'm surprisingly OK with it - though it was a tough decision to make initially.  I know some of you were aware of the sale and I appreciate the support you gave me, and to everyone else, though I frankly don't do a good enough job keeping in touch with all of you individually, I wanted to keep this low-key until I felt like posting about it.  Here goes:



I had a grand vision for this car; this whole thread is a testament to that.  I never wanted a huge audience for what I was trying to achieve with Project RX-7 - this forum is virtually the only place pictures or descriptions of this project ever landed on the internet - but I was really excited to see the end result come into focus for much of the past two years I owned this car.  Then things just changed in the latter half of this year, and the sale was a result of a confluence of events and changes in my (outlook on) life.

I've spent a lot of my time on cars.  Driving them, looking at them, thinking about them.  The entirety of my adult life so far, ever since getting my driver's license (freshman year at JMU, this is true) has, in an outsized way, often orbited around cars - always caring passionately for the ones I owned, always desiring ones out of reach.  I spent so many weekend mornings at various Cars & Coffee, with many larger trips to shows locally, regionally and even on the other side of the country.  I've been to the automotive orgy that is Monterey Car Week twice now, and though I was fortunate to live in Europe as a kid, my main motivations for going back at least were going to Goodwood in the UK, and driving the 'Ring.

It was, for me, getting to be too much.  Every decision can bring with it the possibility of regret, and every decision has an opportunity cost - and the decision to spend the mental & physical energy I was spending not only on this car, but on cars in general was becoming detrimental to the rest of my life.  I began to see this project as being more than a bit obsessive, and I was foregoing enjoying other endeavors and improving further other parts of my life in the pursuit of this one hobby.

Truth be told, I haven't been happy for a few years now on the path I've been on - carving some sort of a place for myself in this NoVA/DC area.  This conundrum of living in this area is a theme of the MM forums, I know, and I'm not immune to it myself. This region has never felt like home to me, nothing I've done for work has enriched my wellbeing as I've so desired, and I've hemmed and hawed over different ideas to change my station in life - but as silly as it sounds now, I partly feared certain prospects that meant giving up this automotive hobby that I loved.  What if I couldn't go to the events, shows, museums?  What if I couldn't enjoy the passion of driving & building?  What if this pursuit meant I couldn't afford to buy or do x, y, or z with cars?  

I realized that the car hobby was pulling a blanket over what was bubbling underneath.  I could softly ignore the signs that I was unhappy, & stubbornly often unwilling to change my situation, if I received the joy of a new part showing up in the mail, or enjoyed a certain event revolving around cars.  I began to more clearly see this situation for what it was, and realized this had to change.  My first course of action was, after too long, to get away & vacation again, which I did in August by touring the interior & coastal west.  I finished the trip at the aforementioned Monterey Car Week again, which I last attended in 2015.  I enjoyed all the events I went to, all the cars I saw - but almost immediately afterwards, I realized the love had gone a bit.  Whereas the visit to Monterey was the highlight of my last vacation, it ultimately was the nadir of this one.  The memories of being immersed by the beauty of Zion & Olympic national parks, and the time I spent with family are what I recall fondly. If I wanted to improve my happiness & wellbeing, not to mention my location, the car had to be the first thing to go.

Financially, it didn't make sense to continue the project.  I spent too much money on what I hoped, at least, was an appreciating asset, but the short term affect that had on my ability to enjoy every other part of life a bit more care-free wasn't worth it.  There was still lots of cash to burn, if my vision was to be attained - and by the time it took to get there, I was going to be focused, I'm sure, on other financial responsibilities in life.  What a tragedy it would've been to "finish" the car, only to be forced to sell it for a house, or a move, or another reason - so I avoided that situation entirely.  I had the most value in a stock car (that had increasing interest from 90's nostalgia buyers-be) and a heap of new parts in boxes.  The economy was still good, with murmurs of a downturn in the future.  It was time to sell, and sell it did, quickly.  I'm more interested now in saving more of my money & investing for the long term, and spending my play money on traveling & making memories instead of collecting things.

I sold the car to a fellow named Andrew, from the hills of western North Carolina.  He had the car transported down to a rotary specialist in Charlotte, to get done-up how he wants, and will retrieve it to enjoy on his local roads.  I know the car will have a much better life there than on the traffic-clogged roads of the DC area.  As for what's next for me - I'll always be a car guy, just one with better perspective now.  I credit the hobby with introducing me to so many of you who are my friends, and I'll always have a hankering for this car or that.  I'm interested in getting a new daily at some point, and am pretty interested in electric cars and seeing what the next few years holds there.  

With that, I'll leave it there.  It would've been a great journey and result to see this car through to the end, but I'm happy to let the new owner see it through. In the meantime, I'm more excited for the clarity I've gained & the pursuit of other, hopefully bigger & more meaningful things.

[JustinG]

[ScottyB]

it hurt to read that.

but then i kinda cheered for you man.

it was also one of the best articulated and most introspective things i've read here, and it hit home pretty hard because i've been there too...i think we all have. i know WAY too many friends that burned out a bit on car projects, chasing "the keeper", throwing all sense to the wind to have that project just right and then its a bit like the story of Icarus...so close but ultimately at the expense of everything. i'm really glad you did what's right for you and i think as you said its all about perspective. you don't have to give up the passion but there's a point where the hobby can own you instead of the other way around sometimes. to make it out from under a burden and be in a good place means you had the sense to be brave enough to admit some hard things and you have my respect for that.

sounds like the car's going to a good place and that's half the battle. keep us up to date on your next adventures on wheels, because you always tell a great story.

[CaptainHenreh]

#dontcrybecauseitsoversmilebecauseithappened
#livelaughlove
#V8POWERYOUMADDABITCHLESGOOOOOOOO

[Senor_Taylor]

I'm glad you're focusing on you. Echoing Scotty, we all have been there. I realized not too long ago that I actually DID have a problem with trying to quell the sadness with new car parts and a new project to keep my hands busy so the demons didn't catch me. If you can find happiness in the "normal people" stuff, that's a great thing. I hope things go well for you.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[.RJ]

I was very much in the same place when I was racing cars, and I kind of grew to hate it - I took a looong break and dont regret it at all. Good for you for recognizing what's important and what's not.

[Deceus]

[JPolen01]

I hate that I can't see your vision finished but I respect the hell out of you for making a life change of this magnitude to better yourself.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Awesome perspective. This doesn’t mean forever. Different times of your life will dictate certain changes. Excited to see your next chapter.