REsuper7のブログ一覧

October 13, 2016

Probably the most anticipated event of 2016 for me was the weekend of October 15th. Even before i joined up with the David and the rest of the guys in Final Form, there was talk of David and the Final Form crew making the trip up from Texas to attend First Class Fitment. The first time i heard about it was back when i was still rebuilding my car. Unfortunately, it never happened in 2015, but David made good on his promise to Dave Tormey, the co-founder of Canibeat, and the 2016 trip was a go! I helped scout a hotel for the guys to ensure there was adequate parking for their cars and trailers. Luckily i found one near my house which also happened to have a covered parking area for all the cars.



With social media getting wind of this rare appearance in the East Coast, it was soon dubbed the #rotaryrivalry. To make sure our out of town guests were rewarded for making the 1000+ mile trip from Texas to NJ, i helped plan out activities for each day they were here. Not wanting to waste any time, for the day they arrived, i enlisted the help of the guys at Prime NYC to organize a cruise through Times Square. The event was promoted on social media under the banner, Street Icons. As expected, we got off to a late start due to the fact that the transport carrying David and Khiem’s car showed up late. Not only that, but both cars arrived with damage to bumpers and fenders. After getting off work, i picked up the FD and drove over to meet up with the guys at their hotel. When i arrived, everyone was busy working on David’s car to raise it enough so he could safely drive it through Times Square. This being my first time meeting the Final Form guys in person, we had a few brief introductions. Riding shotgun with me was John from Defined Lifestyle, who wanted to shoot some footage of the cruise.



The media coverage for this event was pretty extensive, so instead of rehashing it all here, i’ll provide some links below for anyone who wants to see more. Overall, the night was a huge success and i can’t thank Edwin and Prav enough for putting it together and making it happen. Best of all, not only did Street Icons make the pages of USDM FREAX magazine, the event, as told by Edwin, made its way onto Speedhunters! Dreams do come true!

くるまたのしですね. As much fun as cars are, being able to share your love of cars with others makes it even more fun and interesting. That is why car enthusiasts around the world find all sorts of ways to meet up to enjoy this passion we share with other like-minded individuals, from cars and coffees, to car shows, to track days. Having since met so many new friends that i never would have met if it weren't for my love for RX-7s, i've started to see the joy in opening up more and sharing with others this passion. As such, i've recently made the decision to join a group of guys who, like me, share a great passion for the Japanese tuning culture. Although i'm not quite sure if its a car club or a team or a business, or perhaps a mixture of all of the above, what i do know is they have a great respect for Japanese tuners and are keen to represent them here in the U.S. as accurately and as faithfully as possible. As anyone who's followed my build at one point or another knows, i too have a great respect for Japanese tuners, which is why i've made it a point not to run any replica parts, but always original parts. Luckily for me, after sheepishly sending a message to the guy who started the group, i was warmly welcomed into the family. Right after accepting my request to join, David sent me a nice little care package as a welcoming gift.



David had just gotten back from a trip to Japan where he attended the last Attack - Maximum Challenge - event at Tsukuba, and had picked up a bunch of stickers while there. But the main purpose for the care package was the official team banner that signified my membership to the team.



Team Final Form USA. The picture above was the one i posted on Instagram to announce my membership to the team, along with the following blurb:

"Some people build cars to be unique and to stand out. Others build cars simply because they love them, regardless of what others are doing. In the world of RX-7s, RE-Amemiya is legendary. From street to touge to drift to GT to time attack, RE-Amemiya has dominated in each at one point or another. They've built so many badass RX-7s and inspired so many others to do the same, that RE-Amemiya kitted FD's are no longer unique. But for someone like myself, who has had the legend of RE-Amemiya burned deep into my soul, being part of the RE-Amemiya cult trumped any desire to be unique. #FinalForm. To me, executing your vision, regardless of what other people think, is what it means to achieve your #FinalForm. I had been an admirer of @finalformfd's work since his Mayday Garage days, and when he announced his break from MG to start #FinalForm, I was intrigued. Since then, @finalformfd has shown me that his vision for #FinalForm is similar to my vision for my FD; to represent and support the Japanese tuners who blaze trails and bring to life their visions which inspire the rest of us to achieve our goals. This is why I've decided to team up with @finalformfd and join the #FinalForm crew. Big thanks to the #FinalForm team for welcoming me into their family."

This pretty much sums up my motivation for this alignment. Although i really have no idea what the future holds being part of Final Forms USA, i do know that it'll be more fun than just going it alone.

Although i don't really know any of the guys on Team FInal Form USA very well at this time, since they all live in Texas, i do know they have some pretty badass RX-7s, and anyone who can build an RX-7 this nice has gotta be a pretty cool guy. Check out some pics of their cars:

David's Pro Shop Fukuoh FD




Khiem's 2JZ FD




Clay's RE-Amemiya FD




John's Final Form S14 - Work in Progress (then again, who's car isnt?)




Although i feel a little outclassed in comparison to the Texans, with my crappy paint job, and DIY build, it's nice to be in the company of guys who appreciate not just the cars, but the build process too, as much as i do. The guys are planning to come up to Jersey in October for First Class Fitment, so i'm looking forward to hanging out and meeting them, but first, i need to get my car up to par with theirs or they might not even let me into the show!

Besides building some badass cars, David and Khiem also take some amazing photos as well. He's actually done a few edits for me which i will be sharing in the future. But in the meantime, if you'd like to see some pictures, head over to http://finalformusa.com. The site also happens to be a store for U.S. customers looking for some rare JDM parts.

Hello everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I still have a few updates from 2015 to share, so i'll be back tracking a little bit. One of my motivators for finishing my rebuild was so that i could attend First Class Fitment in October. FCF was the first car show i ever participated in back in 2014, so i was hoping to join in on the fun again last year. Luckily, the timing worked out perfectly and i was able to get the car ready for the big show. Although my car wasn't really built to be a show car, i somehow managed to sneak in. There's a lot of pictures to share, so i won't dwell too much on each.

The event is not a particularly big one, but what they lack in size, they make up for in quality, as there are a good number of clean builds and a decent variety as well.



Here's a cool aerial shot of the Princeton airport, the venue for the annual show:



First up are some cool VIP cars from the Liberty VIP car club:



Although there was no Ferrari F40 this year, they made up for it with a couple other cool exotics, like this McLaren SLR



And this nicely modded Ferrari 458 Italia



Although, if you ask me, i don't really go to car shows to look at exotics, even if they are modified. I'm more of a JDM enthusiast (obviously, hahaha) so i'm more excited to see cars like this Varis kitted 370z



I had only seen pictures of that Z on social media and assumed it was over on the west coast, so you can imagine how excited i was to see it pull up to the event.

Other JDM favorites include the NSX



The new WRX STI



And of course, one of my all-time favorites, the R34 GTR!!



The best part is, i even got to sit in the legendary R34 for the first time ever...oh man it was awesome!

And not to be overshadowed by his younger brother, is the R33 GTR...although not quite as popular as the R34, it will always hold a special place in my heart



Continuing with the old school theme is this classic Hachi-Roku...a cult classic



And of course, the not-so-new-kid-on-the-block,



And a few of the really nice builds that stood out to me:







And no car show is complete without at least 1 or 2 Integra Type-Rs...my childhood dream car



Besides the usual car show entrants, they always have a car here and there that stands out from the crowd...in this case, literally


And of course, how could i not share all the cars representing rotary power??









Check out how clean this last FD's engine bay is...amazing!



And last but not least, yours truly



This year SNTRL didn't have a booth, so Ted and i got recruited by Flipzco.

And lastly, some of my favorite shots other people took of my car at the show:









Until next year!

Sorry for the lack of updates lately! Partially it's because i started a new job on 10/5, but also because i've been cramming as many car related events as i could into the past three weeks. On the plus side, i have lots of new photos to share, so let's get started!

The weekend after i "finished" my car, i got in touch with my good friend Ted who owns the yellow RE FD. Originally we were planning a short drive to Round Valley to help break in my car and build up my confidence in the car to make sure everything was ok, but at the last minute, we decided to crash a Nissan meet 35 minutes away from my house. Ted had some friends at the show already who promised to save us some spots so we headed over. Naomi wanted to join us so we took her along for the first drive out of our town. Needless to say, i was super nervous the whole time. Ted asked me to lead since he knew i would drive real slow. Luckily we made it to the meet without any issues!

When we arrived, amidst a sea of Nissans was a lone white FD waiting for us to join him.



The meet had already been underway for a while, so we didn't waste any time and started checking out some of the cars right away. There were a nice selection of cars on hand and this row of S14s were some of my favorite:



After walking a little further down, we came across this deadly looking R35. This is not a car i would want to bump into on the free way that's for sure!



I was also happy to see some classics on hand as well, including this classic Z



and this not quite classic yet, R33



We were expecting another friend to arrive, Darren, the one with the itasha S14 drift car, but even after making our rounds, was no where to be seen. Until, we look down the street and lo and behold there's a bunch of guys rolling the carpet queen down the road like he was some kind of royalty



Turns out his fuel pump was acting up so he didn't want to start the car, although, later on he did figure it out and was able to fire the car back up. As a side note, i gotta say, Darren is one of the nicest people i have ever met since Ted introduced me to all the local car people. Even though i've only hung out with him a couple of times and hadn't seen him in months, he treats you like you're his best friend. Definitely a great guy to be around.

Along with Darren was this purple Supra that looked like it meant business. Another car i wouldn't want to bump into on the freeway.



I didn't stay too long and had to leave first because it was the day before i started my new job and wanted to make sure i got some rest before my first day. Although it was short, it was nice to see some old friends and meet some new ones as well. It's good to be back.

Here's a shot that a local photographer took that came out pretty cool. That's me sitting on the curb and that's Ted sitting on the ground with Naomi behind my car.



And of course, i had to take one of my little princess to commemorate our first real drive in the revived REsuper7



Originally i was just going to do one post to cover all the events i've done since i finished the car, but after i started collecting pictures i realized it would be foolish to even try. Instead, i will split them up and dedicate one post to each, so stay tuned for more updates!

Leading up to every weekend i tell myself this is the weekend i fire up the car, and every Monday i find myself disappointed, feeling like i'm still not even close. That basically sums up this past weekend as well. I didn't realize how long it would take me to make a few brackets to hold the radiator in place, but that's all i got done over the weekend.



They don't look like much, but these small little brackets took hours to make. It took a lot of trial and error to figure out exactly what sizes i would need in order to get the radiator at just the right angle. To be honest, i'm not still 100% sure the radiator fitment is perfect because i have yet to fully install my front bumper and undersweep (that's my plan for this coming weekend). It's possible i may still need to readjust the angle if i have too much trouble fitting the bumper and undersweep. But anyway, at least i got most of the work needed for the vmount kit done this weekend, including the radiator hoses. Luckily i was able to reuse my old ones so i could return the $85 hose kit i bought off of amazon.



Here's what it looks like with the lower brackets mounted up. The only reason i painted the brackets is to prevent the steel plates from rusting. At this point, i'm trying to cut as many corners as possible just so i can get the car running again. And here's a top view:



As you can tell, i was too lazy to tape up the core so a lot of the fins got bent during the install process. Like i said, i'm in the "do whatever it takes, as quickly as possible" mode right now so didn't really care if i got a few bent fins. Another view of the radiator from the top with the intercooler mounting bracket in place as well:



I used to think the intercooler bracket was pretty cool, but now i feel like it's a nuisance and adds unnecessary complication to the vmount setup. Although, it's possible that the bracket did save me from having to buy a new intercooler after the crash. Either way, if i were to do it over again, i think i'd get rid of the bracket and just have the core mounted directly to the frame without the stupid bracket. Here's a view from the "mouth":



And finally, here's a view of the kit installed:



The intercooler is not quite mounted yet because as i mentioned earlier, i still need to do a final fit test with the bumper and undersweep. If it all lines up without the need to hack up the bodywork to fit then i'll go ahead and bolt down the intercooler and get ready to fill up the fluids. But with my luck, i'll probably need to take everything off and realign it again.

Quick Update (8/18)

So i got a chance to fit the front bumper last night and i'm pleased to report that i don't think i need to make anymore adjustments to the vmount.



I really love how the radiator tucks nicely right underneath the front lip, especially in comparison to my old setup where the radiator stuck out so much. Although the bottom bracket of fan does protrude out underneath slightly, i think i should be able to adjust the undersweep enough to get it all to fit.



Since i didn't plan to make any more adjustments, i bolted up the intercooler and attached all the pipes. My engine bay is really starting to look like it used to again!



There's still a couple of more things i need to do before firing up the car, including, installing the AST, the oil catch can, the fuel pump, and the slew of underbody braces. From there i just need to add oil, coolant, and fuel and i should be able to fire it up. Slowly but surely...