Because it’s Motorsport Month here on Speedhunters, you may be asking why you are looking at a street FD RX7. I might struggle to justify this but, to me at least, this is a proper, realistic race car on the road. The highlights are 450BHP, full cage, single turbo conversion, bucket seats and harnesses. A lot of race inspired street cars are just race cars with registration plates or are those which just try to exploit or just avoid local road legal requirements. This has a full interior, it has comfort (although it doesn’t have a radio, yet) and it’s just as comfortable being in start / stop traffic as it is on the track.
I think it’s refreshing to see a car that doesn’t rely on mega-dished wheels to look good. Instead the owner has chosen to go with Advan Model 6’s; 18 x 9s on the front and 18 x 10s on the rear. The wheels use a hollow core techology that keeps the weight down and the strength up.
Before someone points it out, the rear tires are non-directional and are not on back to front !
The Origin front bumper works well with the R Magic front wings, RE-Amemiya side skirts and URAS front lights. You can just about spy the GReddy front mount intercooler hiding behind the front bumper.
Here is when things get a little bit more interesting. We have a new 13B motor built by Dragon Performance, with an Aquamist 2D water injection system. There’s a Greddy exhaust manifold, external wastegate and thick core front mount intercooler. 1600cc injectors in top-fed KG fuel rail, GReddy lightweight underdrive pulley kit and an Apex’i alloy air separator tank.
The GReddy TD-06 25G single turbo conversion is on a new street ported engine.
It looks sublime in motion. All those choice exterior modifications have really paid off.
The interior combines that same mix of performance and praticallity.
A HKS Tachometer and boost gauge sit above a pair of Omori oil pressure and temperature gauges on a carbon plate where the radio used to be.
Bride reclining bucket seat and Sabelt harnesses. You’ll just about notice the stealthy and padded seven point Cusco through-dash cage in some of these shots as well.
With the standard gauges, the tachometer takes centre stage. I love those 9,000RPM clocks.
The rear wing is an Origin drag item; the exhaust is a custom titanium piece. All these exterior clues provide us with hints of subtle agression.
A small reminder of this cars origins; a Japanese parking permit as ar as I know ?
I usually prefer the fixed headlamps but the original pop-up lights really play to this car’s attributes.
It was with this last shot I noticed the lines on the R Magic wings. Even after spending an entire day with the car, you still keep noticing more and more of the small things.
What does everyone make of this ? Is this the proper way of building a fast road car ? Do you prefer the stripped interior and bare essentials look ? Do cars like this even belong on the road ?
I’m sure this car will divide opinions, but if we were to all like the same things it’d be a boring world !
Paddy.
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
Simply beautiful.
Less really is more with this car. It's one tidy FD
Less really is more with this car. It's one tidy FD
nice paddy, love cars like tis one
Wow.
rx7s like this make it so temptin to get one... but sigh.. if it wasnt for the heavy fuel consumption, id surely get one...
Once again, another case of a fantastic car that is ruined by a huge fart cannon exhaust. Way to be a buzz kill.
Once again, another case of a fantastic car that is ruined by a huge fart cannon exhaust. Way to be a buzz kill.
Very clean... I enjoy it! Is it located in England somewhere?
This is one of the cars that are close enough to perfection to touch it.
Amazing.
I think its perfect the way it is.
Great photography! That first interior-shot is sublime.
id prefer to see some wheels with a decent lip to them, its just not the same without it... overall though its a hot car
id prefer to see some wheels with a decent lip to them, its just not the same without it... overall though its a hot car
id prefer to see some wheels with a decent lip to them, its just not the same without it... overall though its a hot car
great looking car, perfect for the street and occasional track day. very clean. for me, a lot of aero on a predominantly street car grabs too much attention, and really isnt nesecary. all in all id say this car is done perfect
Sweet.
Hmm.. Nice and clean RX7, Like it.
2Lastspark
Well, you know its not just for show off.. the exhaust, khm.
NO!!! I need my deep dish wheels...but i love the aero and the fact he kept the pop-ups! great build!
I love the stealth cage with the full interior!
The wheels are very cool too, sometimes offset isn't everything..
One very nice street car..
One very well sorted FD. Congratulations to the owner, you have style.
So clean
love clean cars like this 
not feeling the bodykit. Or the rear wheels. They look ... funny. Not sure why. Front wheels look great. I really don't understand why it has TWO tachometers either. Seems pretty ricerish, considering how low the "racing" tachometer is mounted. The only one you'll ever look at while driving is the one in the cluster.
A+ for not having a lsx motor but very clean fd
car is looking sweet, love those front wings.. subtle but still a little different.. looks like it could do a little bit of everything.. drifting, 1/4 miles and a track day or two. nice car man.. it's the best RX-7 i've seen for a while..
Just beautiful. Really stylish.
one of the best all rounders ive seen in a long long time its even beautiful
Ehh, its still kinda posing as a race car. If it sees track time, the paint sure doesnt show it. Id imagine that the owner swaps body cladding if it does ever see a track. As for those rear wheels, is that positive camber?
Those gigantic wheels with stock brakes behind them do not instill confidence either. I'm seeing a big lack of a front splitter, major cooling modifications, and a fixed bucket that would allude to real racer status.
As far as I call it, this is rice, albeit it does look good. Im just not convinced on the functionality.
there's not a single thing wrong with having a street driven race car with a full interior, i think its classy not to mention SUPER CLEAN!!!
What does everyone make of this? It's amazing. 10/10
Is this the proper way of building a fast road car? HELL YES
Do you prefer the stripped interior and bare essentials look? It really depends on what the owner is going for I guess.
Do cars like this even belong on the road ? YES
Fart cannon exhaust? What the hell are you even talking about. Try turboing your car with 2in piping, moron.
Fart cannon exhaust? What the hell are you even talking about. Try turboing your car with 2in piping, moron.
deadly looking car but think i seen it for sale on donedeal
the perfect way to build a fast car, love it
this is just off the hook! one of the best looking FD's I've seen.
Where can I get hi res photos of these? Its amazing!
It's Amazing, plain and simple.
If I had an FD, this is the look I would be going for, no doubt.
dude go wash that thing! sheesh
lmfaoz @ cot . nevertheless its a veri clean fd . but should have gone wif a wing . n it will be perfect . btw veri nicely setup too .
dont see too many cars rocking model 6's... this looks great!
Great job on the car Paddy..saw it on Hostyle and featured it in my blog...
Here some references:
http://hostyle001.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/mazda-rx-7-by-paddy-mcgrath/
My blog feature:
http://ra64freddy.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/greys-fd/
Paddy's Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paddymcgrath/
Awesome car!
Wow its like someone plucked this badboy out of my dreams. Love the color, body mods, stance, power, I mean really what is there not to like. Bravo to the builder and for write up.
I agree with Paddy, the car is an excellent compromise between performance and street styling. He didn't mention anything about the suspension though, has that been modified yet?
@Rob
Where do you see two tachs? I only see one.
honestly doesn't look like a race car to me, looks like a street car. It looks too tame to be considered a race car. I would agree this is probably the proper way to build a fast road car. It's not clean enough to be considered a show car, not fast enough and built up enough to be a race car. Very beautiful FD.
in the center console, on the CF plate. Right next to the boost gauge. Two tachs = mclame sauce.
Excellent choice on the headlights. bug eyes are lame on fd'ssss
Looks great, and so do the wheels. But I don't like the sideskirts, the additional tacometer and the orginial seatbelt still being in place.
For suspension Joe is using HSD coilovers, forgot to mention that. I can understand the concerns about the large exhaust can, but you'll notice the bung is in to keep noise down whilst still retaining the performance.
@Kees The original seatbelt is required by Irish law or else the car won't get it's certificate of road worthyness.
Its' great: at first glance it looks just like any RX-7, but then you start to see all those great details. My kind of car
That sticker is for JCI i think. Kinda like smog inspection for Japan, but more hardcore.
Its not a parking permit its a Japanese registration no?
@Rob
The large gauge you see in the center console is an exhaust temperature gauge and the sender is mounted in the exhaust housing of the turbo,
This is the suspension setup
Mazdaspeed 1.5 way LSD ,HSD Coilovers ,Cusco front and rear ARB ,Cusco rear toe arms ,Mazda speed PPF
Thanks to Paddy for the excellent write up and photos
That is DEFINATELY the right way to do an FD. And that is the ONLY way to do a proper street/track hybrid; blistering power, awesome suspension setup and looks that could win at any import car show. Flawless combination that is absolutely sex on wheels. But then again, even though I'm a Nissan and BMW guy (strange bedfellows right?), you can't go wrong with an FD3S.
If it's not a rotor is not a motor! i love this 7
ZOMG you have given me rx-7 fever
Great car, but did no one else notice the gap in front of the headlights?
That shit bugs me. And the wheels are cool but im just not feeling them.
Otherwise, great color, mods, interior, engine!!!
Love it. I think dished wheels would take away from the sleeper-ish look going on.
Not really a fan of the rims... but everything else is bang on! Great FD.
Rad. I'm feelin it
Too bad the back rear wheel has its tire mounted the wrong way
tires look pretty directional to me, perhaps he was too ashamed to admit he mounted it backwards
Sleek, sophisticated and evil.
The front guard in the last pic looks awesome.
Perfect example of a FD RX7.
7 + 12 Wallpapers! Awesome car too
i still prefer the less is best,stripped interior race car look. but every now and then a decent car that has full interior just like this one is always alright with me.
excellent car. people forget that while 450hp on the internet dosnt sound like much i bet that on the street its a handful. What is the car used for? other than street driving?
@Sean Datto280z
Read the article and all will be explained.
As far as the car goes, its appearance is ok, but imo it would look better in red with silver, polished, slightly dished wheels and I'm not really into the kit, but at least it doesn't look riced. imo this is how the average RX7 FD should look, but sadly it doesn't due to it being one of the top two most riced cars on the street along with the Supra IV.
As Matt put it,
"Ehh, its still kinda posing as a race car. If it sees track time, the paint sure doesnt show it. Id imagine that the owner swaps body cladding if it does ever see a track. As for those rear wheels, is that positive camber?"
It is a very nice street car and tasteful indeed. But to say that it is a race car for the street is really pushing it for the sake of it. I doubt it has actually seen the track.
This car never gets old.
NEVER!!
I love those rims.
Just because you put a 6" fart cannon on it doesn't mean the rest of the pipe is 6". At most for that little engine with a couple of turbos strapped to it, 3" exhaust would work just fine. And it doesn't matter how big you make the end of the exhaust, the flow of the exhaust happens throughout the entire cars pipe work. Also you need to understand that back pressure can be a good thing as well. If you know how to use it properly.
It's not my personal favorite, but the exterior flows pretty good considering it has parts from several different companies. And that exhaust isn't all that big. I think perhaps folks forget what a meensy car the RX-7 is. A 'race' car it is not, but it looks like a fun and well executed street car for sure.
This is the type of build I aspire to. Thanks for the inspiration!
Focken nice for a daily.
side skirts dont go well with those bumper caps. An upgraded vented hood would be next on my list if it were mine.
What a year. Just what an incredible year it has been. To think, in January of this year I was still
what body kit is on that beautiful car