RX-7 Roll bar progress

[Kevin Doe]

Hello folks. You know my style. I like progress threads. I'm building a custom roll bar setup for my car. I didn't like any of the available kits, so I decided I'd build my own. I don't/won't race in any sanctioned event where the cage needs to meet any specs. I will run test and tune drag events, and autox, and mainly HPDE/TT events. None of those need a spec'd out cage. I designed it so that it will hopefully meet those requirements, but if not, I don't mind too much. I want the cage for two reasons. Safety, and rigidity, safety being the most important.

Here is my best attempt at describing the design. Its going to be a chromoly setup, tig welded. Rob at Rigid will be bending and notching the tubes for me.

1. Main hoop.
2. Harness bar.
3. Diagnal through the main hoop.
4. Door bars, rigid bars, no swingouts here.
5. From the main hoop where the door bars intersect, to the front of the shock towers.
6. From the top outsides of the main hoop to the front of the shock towers.
7. Shock tower bar that goes between the two towers.
8. From the top outsides of the main hoop to the insides of the shock tower, possibly onto the very outsides of the tower bar.
9. Possibly a bar from the main hoop floor mount, to the middle of the door bar.

The door bar will extend to the same location where my heel rests, but outside the clutch petal a few inches. The main hoop will attach to the stiffening brade that runs right under the front of the rear buckets. Not all these tubes will be 1 5/8" 0.083. They will be smaller where allowed to save weight.

So far all I have done is the rear shock tower plates. They're HRPO 10 gauge (1/8" basically) steel. First I started out with the virgin towers, then welded the seam at the top. Then banged out some pieces to wrap most of the way around the towers. I don't have any such tools to bend this thickness of metal, so I laid it in the dirt, and just started pounding away with a 2 lb hammer till it was taking the shape I wanted. I had to make it out of two seperate pieces so it was easier to work with. Then I TIG welded it all down after I wire wheeled the paint off.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Towerplatesstarted2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/shocktowerplatescompleted4.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/shocktowerplatescompleted3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/shocktowerplatescompleted.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/shocktowerplatescompleted2.jpg

During the mockup stages of the design. I was doing this since the clearance between the seat and door pannel was so tight. I also wanted to make sure I could get in and out of the car with the bar where it was. With a friend holding the tube, I was able to get out with a bit of dexterity, hopefully its gets easier with repetition. The steering wheel really makes it tough with the way the seat is so low. The tube crosses my arm right betwene my shoulder and elbow as it should. Ignore the other green tube, that is just there to hold the door bar up, that is not how the main hoop will be.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/doorbarmockup.jpg

[mustangboy]

Looks like it might be time to upgrade to a Momo or Sparco removeable steering wheel. Makes getting in and out a WHOLE lot easier as well as a great theft deterrant (little hard to steal something with no steering wheel).;)

[Rob]

We could install a removable steering wheel to make it much easier getting in and out of the car. Unless you want to keep the car as stock as possible :D

[Kevin Doe]

We could install a removable steering wheel to make it much easier getting in and out of the car. Unless you want to keep the car as stock as possible :D

I was wondering if you caught the design changes I made since we talked. I looked more are interior pannel removal, and whatnot, and changed where the main hoop will tie down to, as well as how the door bar will be run. Remember we were talking about the bar getting in the way of my clutch foot if we ran a straight bar. That is not the case, I still have a lot of clutch room, so I'll be going further to the front.

I can get out w/o the removable wheel, and unless I find it to be a must, I'll be keeping the stock wheel. I just hate hacked up looking interiors.

Rob, What do you think about the getting me in within the next few weeks? I shoudl be done with the remaining plates maybe end of the week next week for sure I'd think.

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Wow man didn't you just have your engine bay painted, and you're already grinding on it again?

[5.0calypso93lx]

Wow man didn't you just have your engine bay painted, and you're already grinding on it again?

Those are the rear shock towers.

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Oh hell i didn't even notice.


Carry on :D

[93cobra]

Rob, What do you think about the getting me in within the next few weeks? I shoudl be done with the remaining plates maybe end of the week next week for sure I'd think.

Rob would be happy to get you in when the black 93 cobra is leaving on a trailer finished:D:kidding:

[Kevin Doe]

Rob would be happy to get you in when the black 93 cobra is leaving on a trailer finished:D:kidding:

Hahahahaahaha :cool1: :flipoff:

[Kevin Doe]

Here is a mockup of my floor plate design for the main hoop mounts. I think this should sufficiently distrubute the loading, and transfer the load to the main frame rail on the outside of the car.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Hoopplatedesign.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Hoopplatedesign3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Hoopplatedesign2.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

Cut out the main hoop plates and welded the driver side plates down. All TIG welded.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Mainhoopplates3.jpg


Then I made a tape cage (coolnicks idea), to help me visualize my plans. I'm very glad I did that. I relaized that I had gone overboard on the planning. I after seeing this I decided to remove the rear X. I think that should clear up a lot of clutter, and the shouldn't really affect the function too much.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/f8cbf23c.jpg

[Da Natti]

that thing i going to be sick looking!

[Rob]

Rob would be happy to get you in when the black 93 cobra is leaving on a trailer finished:D:kidding:

:agree: We are waiting on some transmission parts in order to have the cobra finished. After that bring it on :D

Everything looks good. You can stitch weld some areas of the plates as well to keep from putting too much heat into the sheet metal. Looks good though :bigthumb

[facemelter71]

Kevin,all i have to say is damn.You have one hell of a car there:rockon:,I just wish i had some of your talents.You must save me a seat for a ride in that thing.Keep intouch with me,maybe i can come over sometime and learn some things from you.It was good to meet you tonight,its always nice to put a name with the face.

[Kevin Doe]

It was nice to meet you too Adam. Thanks for the compliments!

Adam: "So where's the mustang?"
Me: "Don't have one"
Adam: "You had one?"
Me: "Nope."
Adam: "Going to buy one?"
Me: "Nope."
Adam: Confused look, probalby wondering why I'm on SBZ.
Me: "I have and RX-7 with an LS1 in it"
Adam: Looked like he was going to punch me out for such sacrilege.

Hahahahaha.

[facemelter71]

You said you were bad with names.Its Andy.Would you trade your truck for a shotgun??That was funny,i was like ok its his ranger,thats why hes on SBZ.So i looked at the ranger and was like,maybe its a small block with a blower????Naaaaaa,cant be.Then he said im the one with the RX-7 with an LS-1.ENVIOUS!!
And your plates,they are the shit.I want them.

[Kevin Doe]

You said you were bad with names.Its Andy.Would you trade you truck for a shotgun??

hahahahahahhahhahahahaa, my bad. I knew it started with an A. I could have swore it was Adam. I told you I was terrible with names. Probably not on the truck/shotgun trade.

[facemelter71]

I thought i would ask.Adam/Andy,its close enough.You have to let me know when the cage gets put in so i can come check it out.

[BUHBYY]

It was nice to meet you too Adam. Thanks for the compliments!

Adam: "So where's the mustang?"
Me: "Don't have one"
Adam: "You had one?"
Me: "Nope."
Adam: "Going to buy one?"
Me: "Nope."
Adam: Confused look, probalby wondering why I'm on SBZ.
Me: "I have and RX-7 with an LS1 in it"
Adam: Looked like he was going to punch me out for such sacrilege.

Hahahahaha.


don't forget about the pinto bean !!!

[Kevin Doe]

Finished up the last of the floor plates tonight. I did the plates where the door bars will hit the floor up in the footwells. Since I didn't weld onto two or more planes, I made sure the plates I used would distrubute the load over as large of an area as possible, so I used two 1/8" plates, and made the top plate smaller than the bottom plate. I TIG welded the two plates together, and MIG welded the plates to the floor. So far this was the only MIG welding I've done on the plates, and will be the only MIG welds on the whole cage. I didn't feel like removing parts of hte dash, and pedals to get the TIG torch in there, and dind't feel like being contorted like a circus freak trying to get my body up in that tiny ass spot and TIG weld. After I got done MIG welding them in, I was reminded why I hate MIG welding. It looks like shit, and splatter, I hate that. Oh well, it should be plenty strong, and serve its purpose quite well.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Doorbarplates.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

I've made some good progress on the roll bar. I originally talked to Rob at Rigid Race Cars about the car. We agreed that I would do everything besides bending and notching the tubes. Basically I took my car to him with the interior all stripped, and the floor plates welded in. He was going to just bend and notch all the tubes, then I was giong to take it home and do the welding myself. Once I got there, and things started progressing well, I decided to have him do the welding as well. I was there with him most days helping as much as I could w/o getting in his way.

I had the design of the cage 90% complete, and Rob had some nice suggestions for small changes. We planned it out pretty well, then got to work. I want to really thank the crew at Rigid Race Cars (Rob and Justin) for doing a fantastic job. I am extremely impressed with how it turned out. Rob really has some great ideas and is a great fabricator. I'm a hard guy to impress as far as quality designed and fabricated stuff goes, and Rigid has definately impressed me. I would recommend Rigid Race Cars to anyone who needs custom fabrication done, they won't do you wrong.

Now for the good stuff. The first pic is during mockup, and the rest of the pics are of the roll bar finsihed. The next steps are welding on some tabs for various things, then painting it with Por-15. Then a little more interior trimming, and putting the whole interior back in.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rollbarweldedin2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rollbarweldedin3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rollbarweldedin4.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rollbarweldedin6.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rollbarweldedin5.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rollbarweldedin7.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rollbarweldedin8.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rollbarweldedin9.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rollbarweldedin14.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rollbarweldedin13.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rollbarweldedin12.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rollbarweldedin10.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rollbarweldedin11.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rollbarweldedin12.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rollbarweldedin.jpg

[JonS]

That looks really good.:bigthumb

[Evil_Capri]

Damn that looks good!!

[mach_u]

Looks sweet! :bigthumb

[Brandon Alsept]

Looks great, and your right Rob is awesome. You guys did a really awesome job with your car Kevin;)

[Walter]

Niiiiiiiiiice.

[Da Natti]

that looks sweet

[PaulFiveOh]

Holy Smokes. God forbid, if you do wreck, your car is simply going to bounce.

[ibstrokin]

Looks great, the welds are nice, should be strong. How about some updated pics of the pinto.

[R825OH]

Yeah that looks brutally safe (which is a good thing) but I do agree how bout some more Pinto pics?

[Carl]

That is so freakin badass....I want a ride in it!!

[NXcoupe]

Lookin good Kevin! What's next with it?

[Kevin Doe]

Lookin good Kevin! What's next with it?

Not much honestly. Finishing touches to get it ready for track duty. I've got a new front fully adjustable sway bar to put on. Maybe fab up some brake cooling ducts for the front, maybe a short shifter, but thats about it. I've still got to paint the roll bar and put the interior back in. I've been busy trying to put some sound deadening material in to keep the exhaust drone down as much as possible. I've got a baby on the way, so I'm going to tone down the car spending here real soon.

[5.0calypso93lx]

Not much honestly. Finishing touches to get it ready for track duty. I've got a new front fully adjustable sway bar to put on. Maybe fab up some brake cooling ducts for the front, maybe a short shifter, but thats about it. I've still got to paint the roll bar and put the interior back in. I've been busy trying to put some sound deadening material in to keep the exhaust drone down as much as possible. I've got a baby on the way, so I'm going to tone down the car spending here real soon.

Thats awesome man, Congrats!!

[Ryan218]

welds look great...nice car!

[Kevin Doe]

Lately I've been working on getting the interior ready to go back in. I had to split several pannels. Both rear quarter trim pannels had to be split to go around the roll bar tubing. The rear bucket had to be split in half to fit in the car. With all the tubes, it just wouldn't fit into the car at all. I also had to make some cuts in the pannel to get the main hoop and diagnal to fit around it.

The quarter pannels I split, and will be reconnectin them with aluminum rivets. On the back side there is a piece of sheet aluminum that the rivets go through. Here are a few pics of that. I will be puttin some rubber edge molding (bulb style) on the quarter trim pannels where the roll bar tubing goes through it. I think that the molding should seal the gap I have and look pretty nice. This is when it would pay off to have a black interior. :(

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/a63d90f5.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/e8401ca5.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/2a25d06e.jpg

The car is way too loud on the inside, so I removed all the factory sound deadening, ~12 lbs. I replaced that with 20 lbs of dynamat extreme. I dynamatted the entire trunk area, rear bucket area, tunnel, and floorboards. I will also be addin some dynaliner to the tunnel, and a dynapad to the trunk area. I'll add another 12 lbs with all that stuff, but I don't really care. The car was just way too loud to enjoy as a daily driver. And some pics.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/13315ac0.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/b83876fc.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/6f784ea7.jpg


I also added mounting points for the 5 point harnesses. I added mount points for the lap bents and anti-submarining straps. For the shoulder belts I just wrapped them around the harness bar of my cage. Here are some pics.

Inside lap belt plate.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/8a822f05.jpg

Outside lap belt plate.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/5c71b19d.jpg

Nut welded to the back sided of the plate. I'm using 1/2" grade 8 fastners.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/8baad75c.jpg

I guess I didn't snap a pic of the anti-sub belt mount this time. I'll get a pic of that later.

[Kevin Doe]

For the antisubmarining straps I needed a hole in teh seat, so I took my seats to a local upholstery shop (Edgetech Upholstery), and he did a very fine job on them. Pics.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/auti-substraphole3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/auti-substraphole2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/auti-substraphole.jpg

[PaulFiveOh]

Looking good. Congrats to you and your wife on the baby.

[Kevin Doe]

Thanks Paul.

8 hours, 16 purple scotch brite pads, and tired ass arms later the roll bar is prepped for paint. I removed all that dark grey coating. Por15 sticks best to bare metal.

All clean silver looking metal, scuffed ready for the por-15 process.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/dce9838b.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/50d78bec.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/482364b0.jpg

whew, I'm pooped out.

[Black Hole]

Lookin good guy!!!

Congrats on the little one! :cheers:

[Kevin Doe]

Today was fun filled with sound deading stuff.

Since I don't have a spare tire anymore, I needed to fill that void in the trunk. I plan on making a custom carpet piece back there, so it must be flat. I decided I'd take advantage of that large area, and stuff it full of a sound deadening material. Sound absorbing foam was my choice. 1" thick. I bought it from McMaster. It has a NRC of 0.75. I layreed it 6 pieces deep, and cut them to fit inside the spare tire well. Then I used 3M spray adhesive to glue them all together.

Here is what it looks like.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/1bbb9b0f.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/337124d6.jpg

On top of that I will put another layer of 1" foam over the entire trunk for additional sound deadening, and to level out any countours and whatnot. Then on top of that goes the DynaPad. Then on top of that an ABS plastic piece wrapped in nice plush black carpet.

I think that should effectively make my car feel like a caddy on the inside. And hopefully my ears will thank me on those long drives. The foam is so light, its not even worth considering the weight gain. All the foam I'm going to be using is less than 3 lbs.


Then I started dynamattin the floorboards and trans tunnel. I'm going to the od the entire tunnel, then line that with DynaLiner to keep the tunnel heat off me.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/adfa77b3.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

Lookin good guy!!!

Congrats on the little one! :cheers:

Thanks a lot! I can't wait.

[mach_u]

I've got a baby on the way, so I'm going to tone down the car spending here real soon.
Just noticed this. Congrat's dude! :bigthumb Progress looks great also! Where are you going to put a car seat? ;) :lol:

[DeckerEnt]

Just noticed this. Congrat's dude! :bigthumb Progress looks great also! Where are you going to put a car seat? ;) :lol:

That is what all that foam is for.
Congrats Kevin!! The $$$$$ for the car will have to go to diapers and bottles.
Keith

[Kevin Doe]

I should make a baby sized cutout in there.

I added a layer of 1" sound absorbing foam to the entire flooroboard. I made some relief cuts on the underside to help level it out, for items that were sticking up a little. Then I cut the DynaPad to cover the entire floor. It acts like a sound barrier, and is supposed to really help with low frequency noise. There is a solid core, sandwitched between foam. The core absorbs the sound waves, vibrates, and it absorbed into the surrounding. Aparently its the shit, or so I'm told.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Firstfoamlayerintrunk.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/DynaPad.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/DynaPad2.jpg

[Maximus]

I've got a baby on the way, so I'm going to tone down the car spending here real soon.

No no! Spend now because when the lil one gets here, your done!!! :lol:
Congrats!!:bigthumb

[Kevin Doe]

No no! Spend now because when the lil one gets here, your done!!! :lol:
Congrats!!:bigthumb

LOL. Thanks a lot!

[Maximus]

LOL. Thanks a lot!

They take alot of time as well. Why you think Im here so late.:lol:
Seriously, the GREATEST thing that will ever happen to ya is having a lil one.:bigthumb

[Kevin Doe]

I am very excited about it. Mid/late August is my self calculated due date. This is going to be so badass.

[Kevin Doe]

Coat 1: Check.

I'm impressed with how it looks. Just like I remember it. Took like 2 hours just for one coat though, and I've got three more to to before its all done.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/por15coat1.jpg

[ibstrokin]

Looking good. Should be a blast this summer.

[Mustard]

man it's going to be a sweet car when it's done

[replicobra]

man your car is sick. congrats on the baby as well. i have my 1st one coming august 11? with that said i'm trying to get some stuff for the L soon.

[Kevin Doe]

I put the next layer of sound deadening over the trans tunnel and in the buckets behind the seats. I used DynaLiner, 1/2" thick. It is also a thermal barrier. I wanted to put it to the test before I used it.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/DSC03406.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/DSC03407.jpg

Here is the link to the info sheet for DynaLiner.
http://dynamat.com/download/specs/2211_Spec_Sheet_Dynaliner.pdf

I was extremely bored, so I decided to make a video of my testing, and play around with the windows movie maker thing since I've never really used it before. Here it is.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/th_DynaLinerTesting.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/?action=view&current=DynaLinerTesting.flv)


Cut holes in the carpet for the roll bar tubes.

Rear hole
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/holescutincarpet.jpg

Front hole
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/holescutincarpet2.jpg

I made a cover for the shifter hole in the tunnel. Its 4 layers.
1. 3/16" thick neoprene rubber. I'm using this as a gasket.
2. 1/8" thick aluminum
3. Dynamat extreme
4. 1/2" thick Dyaliner. I made the hole in this smaller so it would hug the shifter boot well and make an "air tight" seal.

The dynamat is on the aluminum in this pic.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Shifterholecover2.jpg

and installed
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Shifterholecover.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

I put 1/4" dynaliner on the inside of all the rear pannels.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Dynalinerlinedpannels.jpg

Then started stuffing the 1" thick sound deadening foam into every space available.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/sounddeadeninfoamstuffedin.jpg

[wild87stang]

Nice job an looking really good! At least your taking the tie to do a good job!

[DeckerEnt]

You better bring this thing to at least one cruise in. Be ready to show it off all day long.
Keith

[Kevin Doe]

I'll definately be out and about.

And the rear has reached completion. Well, mostly. I got the carpet cut and fit in there. I just need to take it to the upholestry shop and get some edging sewn on. Looks nearly stock other than the battery, and I left that exposed for easy access. I think some black powercoating on the bracket might be in order.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/trunkcarpet2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/trunkcarpet.jpg

[PaulFiveOh]

Jeeze.

Once again, incredibly thorough design and implementation.

Outstanding work.

I would have like to seen a dB level reading inside the cockpit before any sound deadener and then a dB reading after, but over all, stellar work!

[Kevin Doe]

I would have like to seen a dB level reading inside the cockpit before any sound deadener and then a dB reading after, but over all, stellar work!


I was just thinking about that earlier today. I really with I would have. Its too late now though.

[5.0calypso93lx]

Were those rear panels originally black or tan?

[Kevin Doe]

Orginally black. All the pannels in my car are original.

[phatford]

my buddy has a LS1 RX7, i am going to tell him tolook at this to get some ideas for his cage. this thing looks flawless. nice job

[Kevin Doe]

Mo progress.

I got the interior mostly in. Just finishing up a few last things till the seats and center concole go in.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/interiorprogress2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/interiorprogress.jpg

I'm also making some door bar covers for the door bar tubing. The covers serve several purposes.
1. Padding to prevent elbow shattering.
2. Prevent paint from looking like shit in 1 month.
3. Keep the cold bars off my arms when its cold out.
So I went to my mother seeking sewing lessons. She taught me out to do a few stitches and how to adjust the machine for my application.

I am using a Rave brand vinyl, which is very leather like. Very soft, very durable. I purchased from Miami Rubber Corp. I also purchased some UV resistant black nylon thread. Its much stronger than standard cotton thread. Under the vinly will be a 3/16" piece of neoprene rubber. I made quite a few practice pieces and basically taught myself how to sew in a day or so. Then onto the actual pieces.

Cutting out the piece and marking lines to fold on.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Sewingbarcovers2.jpg

Folded over and sewed. I made two passes on each side for extra strength.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Sewingbarcovers3.jpg

Excess trimmed off, and edge folded over and sewn down.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Sewingbarcovers4.jpg

Slits cut and metal rods inserted.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Sewingbarcovers5.jpg

Last edge sewn shut, and metal rods are now stuck inside.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Sewingbarcovers.jpg

I'll be using the metal rods to tighten this down on the rubber/door bar. I did a few trial pieces and it held it in place very strong. I'll probably have it installed tomorrow and pics will follow. Once those are on, the seats and center console go in. Then I'm done.

Side note, I added a circuit to my tach wiring and now it works. Yay!

[mach_u]

Who can spot Kevin Doe?
http://web.mit.edu/kjforbes/www/Pictures/Shenzen-sewing.JPG

:lol: jfwy. Looking really good dude! :bigthumb

[poncho2001]

Man that looks awesome.

[brncoupe5.0]

unreal ,I wish I had half your skills, looks awesome

[Kevin Doe]

Damn AJ, you really work those women hard. IV bags so they don't have to take lunch breaks. Brilliant!!!!

[mach_u]

Damn AJ, you really work those women hard. IV bags so they don't have to take lunch breaks. Brilliant!!!!
I keep ma pimp hand strong like Bill Gates. :D
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n18/ecq100/billsteve.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

I got the reminder of the interior installed today. Such a weight off my back.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Interiorinstalled2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Interiorinstalled.jpg

The little strings hanging off roll bar padding will be cut off. I'm waiting a few days for the material to stretch, and retighten before I cut them off.

*Note the retardedly tall shifter. I HAVE to do something about that asap! LOL.