I have a Shine FEED hood with no skeleton which should help a bit. I also did slightly angle cut the RW elbow down. If its still too high, there would be absolutely no way this elbow would work anywhere as unlike everybody else with this elbow, I at least don't have to fit a silicon coupler and hose clamp since I had the next sections of tubing welded on.

Some new pics on the airbox progress: The kevlar fibers in the carbon/kevlar are about impossible to cut cleanly. I got a $30 pair of special "razor blade sharp" scissors and they still can hardly cut this fabric. Pure carbon fiber is so much easier to work with than this carbon/kevlar.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1636.jpg
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1661.jpg
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1628.jpg

So, in looking at these two images, will your airbox butt up to the turbo inlet with the aluminum pipe running inside the airbox? Just trying to figure out what you have planned? Did you consider fabbing an airbox that starts at about your intercooler tube and runs forward to the front bumper support? Either way it's beautiful Jesse and an incredible job!!

Thanks!

Yep -- once I'm happy with the carbon/kevlar finish, I'll demold and cut off from the top so its only about 2.5" tall. I'm really only using the carbon/kevlar as the top "lid" -- the sides, rear and a small bottom piece will be aluminum. The air filter pipe will be fed through a 4" hole in the rear aluminum part of the box and welded. Only about 1" of pipe will be sticking out of the rear of the airbox and thats all I need as the turbo inlet is right there.

I originally planned on using the passenger oil cooler duct for cold air intake, but once I got the bumper off I didn't see an easy way to fit 4" piping there without some major cutting and modification of the body.

That whole radiator/Intercooler/airbox is a work of art. If it wasn't so functional, you could enter it in an art show or something.

So Jesse, where are your fender liners bro? Covering those in CF weave as well?? ;)

Don't MAKE me do mine!! :)

Jesse you should sell me another one of those air boxes! No...seriously

Damn Tim, that would look HOT!! But please, don't give him any other ideas, Jesse really needs to get this car done. :001_07:

Wonder if I could do that myself? I may need to try it.

I really like these nutsert thingies -- I needed to remount the relay box for the Vmount, so I cut off one plastic leg, bent the other metal bracket straight and mounted it upside down near the hood latch. Once I figured where to mount the thing, I drilled two small holes in the sheet metal and used a special rivet tool ($15 at harbor freight) to press in the two pictured threaded aluminum nuts.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1670.jpg

The other small detail needing taken care of because of the vmount was the power steering cooler. I got a $40 Derale cooler from Jegs, but the hose size and hose barb sizes are not a match for the stock barbs off the steering rack and fluid reservoir.

What I ended up doing to minimize fittings/adapters/couplers is cutting off the 10mm hard line on the rack near the drivers side and using a 10mm compression fitting on the end rated for about 4000psi coupled to a 1/4" NPT hose barb with the same size as the Derale cooler. From there I mounted the cooler on the Racing Beat sway bar brace with a couple more nutserts. The hose barb on the steering reservoir was also not the right size, so I drilled out the plastic barb, tapped the reservoir with 1/4" NPT and used some power steering fluid compatible resin to lock the metal hose barb fitting in the plastic reservoir.

I've seen some other RX7 Vmount kits with somewhat goofy hose routing for using an aftermarket power steering cooler. I'm probably being picky, but I don't like the idea of stock hardline off the rack going from drivers side to passenger side, brought back to the drivers side with rubber hose bent 180deg, then connected to a cooler with another 180deg AN fitting to change direction yet again. Meanwhile, the original outlet off the rack is pointing in the right direction only a few inches away from where the cooler is if you're willing to cut the line and use a $5 compression fitting.

Also, this other kit I saw was using aluminum AN fittings for the corrosive hydraulic fluid. Isn't that supposed to be trouble? I always thought aluminum and brake/hydraulic fluid is not good. The fittings I got from McMaster are stainless steel/galvanized steel designed for hydraulics and corrosive environments.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1681.jpg

OK we're pretty much on the same wavelength I think haha, because what you've just posted is what I've been looking to do with mine. First of all, where did you get those riv-nuts? I've been looking for those. I installed a bunch of them on our generators in Kuwait a few years ago when the bolt holes for the panels got messed up and I love those things. Second, I've been wanting to do a PS cooler like that but it's impossible to find one with inlet and outlet that match the hose size of the stock cooler line, which I see you've had problems with as well. I guess I'll have to just get the same cooler since I can't find one with the right size inlet/outlet and run it like you did. Do you have any pics of the hose going to the back of the PS reservoir? How did you work that?

(Like everything else in the engine bay, I painted the reservoir black:)
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1682.jpg

The rivet nuts, as well as the nutsert rivet tool, I got at Harbor Freight.

Here's my parts list from McMaster-Carr if you want to duplicate:
5350K34 - 2x - Zinc-plated steel Barbed Hose Fitting - 5/16" hose, 1/4" male NPT
5269K313 - Metric Steel Compression Tube fitting - 10mm tube, 1/4" male NPT
4464K212 - Stainless Steel 1/4" NPT coupler

The Derale cooler I got came with hose and had the 11/32" hose barbs ends.

Absolutely impeccable attention to detail. It should be a beauty once you're finished.

Thanks for the info! I had no idea you could get the riv-nuts at Harbor Freight lol. I love that place!

So do I!

Here it is, $16.99:

http://www.harborfreight.com/45-piec...-kit-1210.html

Thanks! I just spent about $70 there the other night getting everything needed to spec an engine for rebuild lol.

Argh..... too much detail, you'll never finish the build!! :). Damn perfectionists. Rasing the bar once again. Looks like I might have to get busy soon.... ;).

Looking GREAT Jesse!