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I've had an FD for a combined total of 5 years and this past weekend was the first RX-7 gathering that i've ever been to. We met at a local track called Pocono Raceway for a car show/track day. The event was put on by the friends of a former RX-7 owner who had passed away from diabetes. This was the 6th year in a row that they gathered together to raise money for a charity in honor of their friend.





The great part about this event was that because it was at a track, we got the chance to take a few parade laps during lunch. Luckily, there was a fellow RX-7 enthusiast who was at the track taking pictures for us while we did the parade lap and he happened to snap a few pictures of me and Isaac.





For the rest of the day, we mostly sat around and talked and enjoyed looking over each others FDs. As you can see from the pictures, most people in America prefer lightly modified (aero) FDs over the more wild looking FDs found in Japan. However, i personally prefer the Japanese style FDs over the American ones, especially since i'm planning to build an RE雨宮 FD myself. Hopefully one day i will be able to properly represent RE雨宮 here in America.







Although American owners don't really like to add more extreme aero parts, they are pretty extreme with their engine builds.





I also have a few updates to my car. Before i took the car to the event, i had finished wrapping the rest of my dash pieces with the 3M carbon vinyl. Unfortunately, i found out at the event that i didn't use enough heat when applying the vinyl so when the inside of the car got hot, the vinyl started peeling. Luckily, i was able to repair everything so it looks fairly decent now.





As far as the car goes, i do have a few things in the pipeline that i still need to complete:

1. Fix a boost leak under the hood
2. Fix the CCFL light that flickers
3. Install my new Bride VIOS III seat but i'm stilling waiting for my seat rails
4. Clean and install my new Brembo monobloc brakes which are being shipped from Japan
5. Fix a leaky diff cover
6. Redo my intercooler pipes to swap in the aluminum elbow
7. Heat wrap everything under the hood by the turbo
8. Install a oil catch can

Once i finish these 8 items, the car should be in tip top shape. Maybe even ready for a few track days!

On my way to the office today, i saw some nice Ferrari's parked outside the New York Stock Exchange. Not sure why they were there, but cool nonetheless.



Update: I happen to catch them loading the Ferrari's into their trailer at the end of the day so i snapped some more pictures:











I've also been working on some small updates to my engine bay. I recently bought a RE雨宮 air filter and pipe kit off Yahoo Auctions, but after i received the items, i found out the back plate for the filter was specific to the stock twins, so in order to use it with my single turbo, i needed to make a custom back plate. Then, after i made the plate, i found out the space was too tight so i needed to buy a silicone elbow to angle the filter higher. After i got it sorted out, the fitment for the air filter was perfect, so i'm very happy.







I'm still working on incorporating the RE雨宮 intercooler pipe. Right now i got it working with another 45 degree silicone elbow, but i think i'd rather have a 45 degree intercooler pipe welded with a standard coupler instead, so i'm waiting for the new parts to come in so i can try to redo the pipes to make it look better.

My new Bride Vios III seat arrived! Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ







Unfortunately, i only got the seat and not the seat rails so i can't install it in the car yet. Looks like i won't be driving the FD for a while since i don't have a seat on the driver's side.

Since i'm replacing the driver seat, i decided to make reuse the stock FD seat by building a Gran Turismo racing simulator cockpit. I've been playing Gran Turismo since the first one came out and i've always enjoyed playing that game with a steering wheel in order to extract as much of the simulation aspect of the game as i could. In the past i made a makeshift cockpit with a small table, some clamps, and a chair from Ikea, but it was never a legitimate racing simulator cockpit. So after nearly 15 years of playing Gran Turismo, i've finally made a proper racing seat to really enjoy the game with.

I ordered some new lights for my RE雨宮 スリークライト a few months back, but i wasn't sure if i wanted to use them. Finally, this past weekend, i decided to do a test fit to see how i liked it, and i must say, i'm very happy with how they turned out! I purchased the kit of yahoo auctions japan and they were very easy to install. The wires slip right into the existing DRL so that they turn on and off together with the DRLs.

I also just ordered a new bucket seat for my car yesterday. I'm especially excited about this purchase because i've wanted a full bucket seat in my car since i first started driving but never got around to ever buying one. I decided to go with the Bride VIOS III in red. At first, i ordered the VIOS III in gradation thinking that a red seat in a red car wouldn't look good. But right after i ordered the gradation color, i began regretting not getting it in red instead. I've always wanted a red bucket seat with green Takata harnesses, so i changed my mind and switched my order to the VIOS III in red. I'm planning to order the Takata harness at a later date since i won't be taking the car to the track any time soon.

This is the seat i ordered:


I'm leaving the passenger seat untouched since my kids still need to sit in their car seat when they ride in the FD with me, so there's no point in switching out the passenger seat right now.



I also never posted pictures from my last drive to Bear Mtn. with Isaac, so i'm putting them here:

Since my car was built in 1992, the interior has aged quite a bit, especially the plastic dash pieces. The driver side door and the center armrest were scratched up and kind of sticky. At first i tried painting the pieces, but i could not get a nice smooth coat, so i gave up on that and decided to purchase 3M DiNoc carbon vinyl wrap instead. I spent a few hours this past weekend applying the wrap and am quite pleased with the results.

This is what the center armrest panel looked like before the wrap:


Here is the vinyl that i cut to size to apply to the piece:


Vinyl applied without any trimming:


Trimmed off all the excess vinyl. All that's left is to cut out the holes:


And this is what the finished product looks like:


Here's the backside of the piece. You can see that everything is trimmed to fit exactly like if i had painted it:


The key to getting the vinyl to wrap around curved areas and edges is to use heat:


Here's what i've done so far. I'm planning to do the center AC panel and also the main meter panel, but since they're not in as bad of a condition, i'm not in a rush.