I would definitely recommend Walker Morgan from www.MPFab.com but he is kind of far from you. But he does amazing work!! see below :)


December 22nd, 2011 - I went over to MPFab to check out the manifold progress and lend a hand if needed (not that I can do much). We also wanted to test fit the turbo and get some measurements and clearance.. But in order to finish everything up, I need to get the new steering rack.

Anyhow, here are some Walker Morgan's handy work (www.MPFab.com)

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...1/walker02.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...1/walker01.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...1/walker05.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...1/walker03.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...1/walker15.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...1/walker13.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...1/walker09.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...1/walker21.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...1/walker19.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...1/walker18.jpg

I'll PM you, Phil.

I keep forgetting you're mounting this turbo upside down, it keeps throwing me off LOL. That manifold is gorgeous.

Scavenger pump in the works for that turbo setup?

GOOD LORD! Someone knows how to run a TIG...

That's just cool!

Looking great Phil, might have to head a little farther south in April ;)

PM replied! Yeah, Walker from MPfab.com is doing an amazing job! I have now known him for about 3 years and he's a fantastic guy with very professional business ethics. He is one of very few guys who gave me a due date and who finished the work ahead of time.

Scavenge pump is at MPFab and we are currently deciding on where to place it.

Definitely! You know you are always welcome!!

And that extra little something special that we talked about? What are his thoughts on that?

Thanks Phil, I appreciate it, hopefully I'll be able to take you up on it next yr!

I think on the same line as us.

Update!

December 26th, 2011 - After a full day at work, I decided to take the dash apart and get it ready to get it recovered by my interior guy tomorrow..

Here are some pics of the stripped dash..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...y/DSC_2782.jpg

re-enforcement bar and wires..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...y/DSC_2783.jpg

I'm also re doing the center tunnel and door panels.. Should take about a month..

December 30th, 2011 - Not much update on the car... but in a rotary related thing, I had a chance to go see some rare historical rotary cars in Nashville, TN.

Thanks to Founder/Director of Lane Motor Museum, I had a chance to see, hear, and touch some historical and super rare rotary cars.

Here are some pics from my private tour.

1967 NSU Spider - This is the first production rotary car with single rotor, rear mounted engine.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...Rotaries29.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...Rotaries31.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...Rotaries28.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...Rotaries33.jpg

Another Rare NSU Ro-80 - A Birotor sedan

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...Rotaries04.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...Rotaries09.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...Rotaries07.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...Rotaries08.jpg

Citroen GS Birotor - I knew about the NSU, but did not know about this Citroen vehicle.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...Rotaries38.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...Rotaries27.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...Rotaries24.jpg

And finally a super rare Citroen M35 Prototype single rotor vehicle... This is the only one in USA.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...Rotaries18.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...Rotaries15.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...Rotaries19.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...Rotaries16.jpg

I'd love to have seen those. I didn't know Citroen made any rotary cars either. I like those single post steering wheels, but I wonder how stable they are haha.

That is amazing. You learn something new everyday!

Man Phil, i wish i could have gotten off to go with you...........lucky S.O.B lol.

Hey Phil, you know I have actually driven a RO80 :) back in 1993.

They have the characteristic PP idle, the coolest thing though is how it "bucks" in gear at light load and the no clutch system on changing gear, you just put your hand on the knob (BDC style) and it "responds" lol (disengages the clutch) and lets you change gear.

The bloke who had it was one of my customers in my engineering job and he was a scientist who bought it from new and even had spare motors for it, I got to see the internals and the PP intakes were tiny tiny lol.

Interesting piece of history :)

Now THAT is cool! Not the BDC part LOL, but how to shift without a clutch.

LOL! I hear ya John :) But it was a very hectic day!!

I actually took a video of this running.. I'll see if I can upload it somewhere..


January 4th, 2012 - Happy New Year!!!
Well, not much have been done to the car as I was busy at work... Also, I'm about to trade this shell for an R1 shell without the sunroof. Hoping to do that this weekend.
Anyhow, the little time I had, I stripped out the dash and refinished the rusty metal dash frame.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...DashFrame1.jpg

I sanded it down to bare metal, treated with rust inhibitor, and primed it.

I then sprayed with gloss black then quick shot of gunmetal and clear the whole thing.. Shouldn't rust again :)

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...DashFrame2.jpg

I'm heading to my fabricator's shop (www.MPFab.com) to pull the engine out and get it ready for this weekend's shell swap.

It's in the details! Nicely done Phil

Trading for a non-sunroof car? I drove 800 miles and towed for 800 miles specifically for a sunroof car!

I didn't want all three cars to have sunroofs :) Also the car that I'm getting, I know personally from my earlier years. Bit of history in it and I think that makes it even more the reason for me to get it.

January 5th, 2012 - My clutch for the 20B came in today from my favorite clutch company, EXEDY CLUTCH!! Here are few pics :)


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...edyClutch1.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...yClutch2-1.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...edyClutch4.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...edyClutch5.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...edyClutch7.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...edyClutch8.jpg

That's Beautiful Phil! :lurk5:

I see... I understand

Clutch.. LOVE IT... I love my Exedy twin... wouldn't trade it for anything

Nice man, makes me wish I could fabricate.

January 10th, 2012 - Well, I would of made an earlier update but I had to put 14 hour day at work yesterday and didn't have much time to tell you all what happened to my trip.

Well, last week I was running around town trying to get my shell ready for a swap with an R1 shell (without sunroof) that a friend of mine had in GA. So, I had to pull the 20B out, get the hatch from my friend's shop (which I was going to paint it and put on my MB FD), find a trailer, and a friend to help me tow it. Because my fabricator does not come in on saturday, I also had to go there day early to pull the car out so I can load it day after.

Saturday morning (Jan. 7th) - We loaded up the car and got to my friend's place in GA. We started taking stuff off of his car and started to transfer to my shell.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...lenny/ATL3.jpg

During this process, the car smelled really bad and we found some crazy stuff. Like dead mouse :)

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...lenny/ATL2.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...lenny/ATL1.jpg

I guess the car was sitting outside for awhile and a mouse made a nice home out of this RX-7.

Since I was going to strip this car to bare metal, I didn't really care about the smell or the dead mouse.... but I did care about what I found next, a bent frame that lead to bent head light assembly mounting points. This is a bad sign as when headlights are mounted and pop ups go up and down, the geometry is messed up so the lights might not line up. At this point, I was quite upset.. Just because I asked my friend to check the car as he knew the car was in an accident before. Also because my car was on hold for 2-3 weeks as my fabricator couldn't cut anything on the shell because of this swap. And I wasted my weekend, other people's time, etc just because my friend didn't take 10 mins to check over the car carefully and to see where the accident was. But he's a friend and he feels bad and going to help me out later so I cant be mad at him.

Anyhow, we loaded the car back up and drove it back to my fabricator.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...lenny/ATL5.jpg

Hopefully, I'll have more fabrication updates later this week!

January 12, 2012 - Last night, I went over to www.MPFab.com to install the 20B back in to the car and get the car ready so that owner of MPfab.com can start building the exhaust system and the V-mount.

Since its important that everything needs to sit the way it is, we needed to install the tranny, ppf, catback, MP, etc... but like always, we ran into other issues..

Issue #1 - Defined Auto kit did not level the engine.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...y/IMG_2059.jpg

This might be because I had issue lining up one of their motor mount bracket and I had to enlarge the hole in order to get the brackets to slid into the motor. But, that's not it as one of the top hole should of kept the height in order..

Issue #2 - Correcting leveling issue.

We measured everything to make sure if it was the mount or if it was the car. After measuring the chassis, subframe, core support, etc, we came to the conclusion it was the mount. So, we added couple of spacers to see how much it was off..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...y/IMG_2060.jpg

After adding the spacers (3/8 inch), we had other issues.. which is now the engine was sitting bit to high and PPF was hitting the tranny tunnel. So, we lifted the engine, pull the passenger side mount and cut 3/8 to level it back out. After that, we wanted to make sure if everything else was going to fit so, we dropped the sub frame and bolted the oil pan on to double check everything...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...y/IMG_2063.jpg

At this point, everything seems ok after cutting but the PPF still seems bit close to the top of the tranny tunnel.

Next, I'm going to bring my AutoEXE braces so Walker from MPFab.com could build the exhaust that will clear all the bracing.

Are you sure the car itself was level when you checked the engine? It's pretty difficult to tell if the car is exactly level when it's on a lift.

Thats a valid point... The racks are usually not perfectly level, etc...

Yep, we checked the car's chassis, lower the car to the ground, checked multiple different part of the car, etc..

January 15th, 2012 - Not much update over the weekend so here is a random pic of my MB FD :)

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...ny/MBFD1-2.jpg

January 18th, 2012 - Got my wheels in from WORK Wheels (http://www.workwheelsusa.com/).

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...y/IMG_2068.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...y/IMG_2070.jpg

WORK CR Ultimate aka Kiwami.

Spec: 18x9.5 +30 and 18x10.5 +23

January 19th, 2012 - Few pics of the update...

Interior.. took the dash out and put just the rebar to hold the steering column in place..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...t1-18-1218.jpg

Also installed my Ti Catback

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...t1-18-1206.jpg

And my MB FD was featured in S3 Mag and they are using one of the photo of my car on their website..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...enny/S3Mag.jpg
www.s3mag.com

I have a ton of photos of the new set up tomorrow...

Looks like you are doing a great job sir,
Keep up the mind blowing work!

January 20th, 2012 - Update from my fabricator's work. Walker Morgan from www.MPFab.com did an awesome job on these parts.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...t1-18-1203.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...t1-18-1204.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...t1-18-1201.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...t1-18-1202.jpg

Downpipe :)

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...t1-18-1209.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...t1-18-1215.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...t1-18-1214.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...t1-18-1210.jpg

Inside the DP.. you could almost see through..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...t1-18-1208.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...t1-18-1207.jpg

Looks fantastic... When seeing those welds my hand might have started to move towards my pants... I may have had to stop it :D...


I tink the down pipe on your car should be renamed the 'jog-pipe' or something...

I mean since really... It's not really down as it is straight back....
Lol


Looks great.... It will almost be a shame that it will be driven... :P



J.

Man that fab work is beautiful.

Watching this precision build makes me want do something with my fd :) I can't wait to see this in action! It's going to sound beastly, makes me quiver with anticipation!

Not quite quivering :), but damned impressive! Curious to see your lube solution for the turbo, but I'm sure you guys have a viable plan. Can't wait to see more. Have you picked a color for the car yet?? Get moving... SEMA is only 10 months off!!! Hope to see it there in person!! If Seventock ends up being a week or two either side of SEMA would be great to see it there as well!

I'll be using one of these for the turbo... should work but real world testing is required.

http://turbowerx.com/Scavenge_Pumps/...s/page23_1.jpg

http://turbowerx.com/Scavenge_Pumps/.../Exa-Pump.html

I haven't picked the color but will be doing it within a month... as the shell will goto the body shop in mid Feb.

January 22nd, 2012 - I've ordered a new wastegate from a friend from the past who owns www.znperformance.com

Gave me a great deal the Tial 44mm MVR wastegate!

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...rformance2.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...rformance3.jpg

www.znperformance.com

While I was at it, I also ordered one of these from ZNPerformance..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...rformance1.jpg

Build looks awesome Phil. Can't wait to see the finished result.

Can't wait to see the results after BDC tunes it ;)

Will you run a HC methadone injection set up ?

You know its the way of the future, just make sure you remove those mixers on the injectors, I hear they can fuck you motor :Chevy_anim:

Great build BTW :bowdown:

LMAO!!!! You know me... I'm a masochist and a complete moron.. which means, I'll let Brian Dumbass Cain to tune it :)

Naw... I'm going E85 :)


January 27th, 2012 - Not much update... I got my new tires the other day and just dropped them off this morning to get it mounted. There is only one place in Bham, AL that I would let people touch new wheels... and only because they have the right machine to do so... Corgi Artiglio Master and Hunter load balancer. This shop also uses special weight for your wheels.. expensive, but worth it!

Wheel Spec: The New WORK CR Ultimate 18x9.5 Front and 18x10.5 Rear

Tire Spec: Toyo Tires, R888 - Front 255/35, Rear 295/30

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...y/WORKTOYO.jpg

February 3rd, 2012 - Few things happened since last update...

Toyo R888s are mounted on the new wheels and now back at the house.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...lenny/R888.jpg


20b stainless flange is machined flat and ready.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...bflange1-1.jpg

All the exterior plastics have been pulled and fenders are on for test fitting.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...ny/update1.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...ny/update2.jpg

and testing out the bumper..
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...ny/update3.jpg