I just realized that not a single part from this rx7 will be used in the car. Only the overall size and feel, maybe shrunken down a bit more.

I'm going to use a twin turbo 13b and a ford rear end. Custom links all the way around and a power steering rack from Sweet.

Got any suggestions for seats?

Also this wheel is pretty rad: http://www.stackltd.com/steeringdash.html

Sparco seats are still my favorite, unless you're fat.

I would not opt for any seats with significant amounts of underhang where sand and dirt and salt will get stuck and rust at the joints, nor would I really put anything complicated and high-tech like that wheel on the interior of the car. All the sandrails I've ridden in are a step above diamond plate interior.

This isn't going to be a sand rail, but i'll probably still use diamond plate around the passengers legs.

What's wrong with the wheel? If you're thinking about theft, it'll detach and actually be a theft deterant.

Bride makes a hell of a seat http://www.hopupracing.com/brstrasefcos.html. I'm not too partial to the recline but i think it would be nice. all though i guess it would be kind of pointless since i'm not putting them on sliders. You either fit in the car or you dont :)

Sparcos are nice and cheap. I should probably not spend 1500 bucks on a pair of seats. They're just gonna get shit in.


[Edited by - bzroom on April 29, 2009 9:59:23 PM]

I'm not thinking about theft, mostly about dirt and grime and sand - a couple dirt naps and fancy electronics like that tend to fail in self-built cars. I figured you were planning for offroad excursions with your tube-frame chassis and question about RWD offroading earlier. If you do go forward with it, make sure your ECU is compatible (I suspect you'll be moving to a Megasquirt just to get information to fill the gauges with) and also that you do a fantastic job on the wiring.

Bride makes gorgeous seats but IMHO they're quite overpriced. Another decent budget option is OMP but I've yet to sit in one of theirs. Recaro is very expensive but also quite comfortable.

I'm not really a fan of the in wheel gauge system. It seems like it offers too many issues to go wrong, not to mention if you're trying to turn while you hit something that jerks the wheel on you could have you trying to hang onto the gauge panel,... Likely not a good thing.

If you want to get cool, find a reliable way to rig up a proper HUD system in a sealed unit on the dash, or better yet, an eyepiece based HUD! That, or just mount your gauges to an instrument pipe so they're always where you expect them, and not waving around in front of you while you try to steer and check your stats out of the corner of your eye.

I was gonna sneak the new chassis pics in but after i was looking at them i wanted to get your opinion. What do you think of the new tubes compared to the old (orange) ones?

Thanks

chassis pics:

I'm not really up on my mechanical engineering, unfortunately, so I can't say whether or not that chassis design will hold its own weight or start to shear under torque.

Are you experienced with welding? I wanted to try to learn it but I don't have the equipment. That looks like a pretty involved job, but nothing physically impossible so far.

I think you might need more support on your windshield frame though; that will definitely bend if you roll it over. Either make the A-pillar wider, or add some crossbeams (which you can obscure with the firewall and dashboard).

Looks good so far at least. Did you seafoam the 12A? That might clear up a bit of the stumbling and hesitation and save you from having to buy a new carb.

Not yet but i definitely want to put something through there (the carb).

I used to be a full time welder doing really heavy stuff: bump stops, load cradles, leaf drops, even axel levers for trucks like Hendrickson, Advanced Mixer, Peterbuilt. So yea i've done a fair bit of MIG welding. Done some tig in school but it's been to long.

The tube profiling company has sample packs of tubes that are cut to fit together to practice welding on. I'm definitely going to be picking one of those up.



Here's one of my welds:


A bit cross eyed after staring at the sun:




[Edited by - bzroom on April 30, 2009 2:54:57 AM]

So you want to get a car which is RWD and really great at drifting?

So, what's wrong with the RX7 that you have to tear it apart, I thought this was one of the classic cars used in drifting?
Is the aim of this project simply to build a car for the sake of it, or to get some particular handling that normal cars don't provide?