1993 Rx7 + Tesla Motor

varg · 02-27-2025, 04:28 PM

Glad to see an update, PDR is something I'd like to learn but the couple of small dents on my FD are so hard to find that I am not going to try and learn on my nicest car! I'm especially glad to see the weigh in. I was one of those curious about that earlier, though any estimates were highly dependent on battery capacity and I've forgotten and did not see on my second visit what your finished battery capacity and type was. Was that weigh-in with the car 100% assembled, with the cluster posted later and AC, PS, and such? It definitely lost significant weight vs the automatic13B, and shifted the CG forward which is not terribly surprising. The FD has that 20gal tank and it's way out back which serves the balance of the car well.

As an aside, I'm curious what mine weighs, it's a base vs your automatic touring. Supposedly they're below 2,800lb but who knows what the fuel load was. Road and Track's old weigh in of their Bose equipped 5spd Touring FD was 3,040lb, Autoweek's R1 was 2,815lb. Other mags seemed to use book figures.

rjmcdermott81 · 02-27-2025, 09:09 AM

I've always wanted to try out PDR. Trying my hand at some of the small hail dents first. The ones on the door panel came out perfectly. I had a harder time getting the hood right.

(Notice the e30 head on the table too :). From our Lemons race car)

rjmcdermott81 · 02-27-2025, 09:06 AM

Couple years later and the wrap looks like poop.

Removing this is a PITA. Lots of heat, lots of time, and pulling some paint with it. Good thing I'm painting the car.

rjmcdermott81 · 02-27-2025, 09:02 AM

Met up with some cool friends

rjmcdermott81 · 02-27-2025, 09:01 AM

Bought a "Plastic Welder" to help me make a better looking cover for the batteries...

rjmcdermott81 · 02-27-2025, 08:59 AM

With an EV there are many ways to go on the gauges. The most important part is the speed. I got lucky and someone on the Rx7 forum had built an entire custom Speedhut cluster with a GPS speedometer.

I wired up the following for now:

Speedo - GPS driven
Tachometer - shows the Amps being pulled dynamically. Pretty cool and good analogue for how much power you're pushing.
Battery state of charge - shows in the fuel gauge
Battery temp - shows in the temp gauge

He did an awesome job custom fitting the gauges, and finishing it out. It was an awesome find.
New = Left
Stock = Right

rjmcdermott81 · 02-27-2025, 08:53 AM

The manual steering was functional.... but not the best. Even at speed the car was not as settled as it would be with PS. I went the Volvo PS pump route. It was surprisingly easy to wire and plumb.

I was able to make a small modification to the stock mount it came with and bolt it directly to the frame under the driver side headlight.

rjmcdermott81 · 02-27-2025, 08:48 AM

Bumped into the car when gas door was open. Old japanese plastic is not forgiving... had to order a new one directly from the source....

rjmcdermott81 · 02-27-2025, 08:46 AM

Made my deadline and got it to Radwood!

rjmcdermott81 · 02-27-2025, 08:45 AM

Ground control coilovers

rjmcdermott81 · 02-27-2025, 08:43 AM

Took a few tries, but I finally found Mazda emblems on eBay that fit right and look good.

rjmcdermott81 · 02-27-2025, 08:20 AM

Wheels! I really wanted bronze colored but covid supply issues wouldn't let it happen. I went with 18s in the back and 17s in the front for a staggered look.
Toyo Proxes R888 tires