Restoring an Abandoned Mazda RX7 EP. 13

Getting the RX7 closer to not only becoming a rolling chassis again but getting this thing fully painted. The RX7s Rear diff and transmission head out for Dry Ice blasting next week and I think I may have the power steering rack knocked out as well. Once those items are back in we should be able to move this thing and get cracking on our 13B. This RX7 restoration has come a long way but still has a good amount of work left.
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[@andrewable2634]

I can already see the video title , "Re-painting my RX7"

[@Smeedia]

Lmao might happen 😂

[@zachattach850]

🤣😂🤣 That’s so Evil.

[@hughjanis4555]

Oh it’s happening for sure. This was the practice run.

[@pedrocisneros8900]

love these rx7 videos man, great job! it's looking amazing with each part going back on.

[@Smeedia]

Thanks buddy 🥳 excited to see this thing outside the shop!

[@stefanvanbraam4378]

Think the silver turbo finish would stand out more. I would leave it alone… great video as always!!!

[@Smeedia]

Will hold off on costing it until we see it in the bay 🙌

[@josephmatuszak3855]

I got excited for ya when you got excited about how much better you are getting at painting. Good stuff Tanner! That thing is gonna look amazing! Plz cermaic coat x2 it so washing any dirt of the white won't be an evil routine. (I'm actually pleasantly surprised how easy it was with the right suede applicators and 3M microfiber rags)

[@Smeedia]

That’s the game plan 🫡 once all the paint is corrected I’ll be giving that thing some good ceramic coat to try and keep it clean 😅

[@ChicosMundo]

Looking so good! Getting some serious Panda vibes.....loving it man! Keep it up broski

[@Smeedia]

The black and white combo is always a solid move 😮‍💨🔥

[@Paddy_Badger]

Yeah, boi!! Good stuff on all the painty bits. LOVE that bronze!!! Do the turbo!!!

[@Smeedia]

The bronze looks so way better than I thought it would 😍

[@valrandir]

Tanner's the kind of person who can do anything he puts his mind to.

[@Smeedia]

Only way to learn is by doing 💪

[@omialmanza1900]

Good thing you let the primer dry over night. Brought back memories, I used to paint semi unimount wheels😅. (Dark times). Great work on the coating. This FD will shine ✨️!

[@Smeedia]

I’ve made that mistake already, won’t do it again 😂😅

[@zod9765]

Well done! I’ve following this for a while, can’t wait to see how it looks once finished. 🤠👍

[@Smeedia]

I just want to be able to push it out of the shop and see outside at this point 😅 🔥

[@supcch016]

Darker rims looked legit!

[@OneTastyPickle]

Leave the turbo polished 🤌🏻 Can't wait to see this thing running and driving.

[@kgthegreatone943]

Looks amazing my dude 👌

[@Smeedia]

Thanks dude 🥳🥳

[@t1bmxfbm]

loving the lego part holders

[@coupeL0VE]

this series is great

[@jessehickle7370]

Haven't even watched but so happy you saved those wheels when drilling the gd. White on white looks so awesome! Ps now I watch lol

[@Smeedia]

I refuse to ever get rid of these wheels 😅🔥

[@jacobstephens8447]

Loving the Stormprooper RX7. Its coming along great bro

[@Smeedia]

Hoping to be able to wrap up any painting we have left in the next video 😅🔥

[@tommanning7337]

DUDE YOU ARE KILLING IT!!!!!! I can’t wait to see it rolling, the engine color the white on white body and wheel combo!! DAM!!!!!!!! Love it!!!!! 😎👍🏻👍🏻

[@Smeedia]

Things going to look and drive so good when it’s all said and done 🔥🥳

[@tommanning7337]

@@Smeedia I know it will!!!!! 😎👍🏻👍🏻

[@isherzdeleon1544]

The inserts you used on the lip are nut clips or clip nut depending on where you go. There are floating threaded barrel variants for easier alignment to the fastener.

[@kusty974]

Very nice job! Imo bronze turbo would be dope

[@Smeedia]

I’m thinking the same thing 👀👀

[@bradgreen987]

Love the rotary videos. Such a place in time. I know you'll restore the best body style to perfection. Fun to watch 😊

[@Smeedia]

Been a relaxing time with the RX7 so far 🎉

[@callangouger8696]

Paint match the ganador mirrors for sure. Theres enough contrast with other pieces. Great series so far!

[@Smeedia]

Ima hold off on that until I see everything else first 😅

[@harrisondentoom3570]

I really liked the polished manifold and turbo in the engine bay, looked period correct and gave a no-messing-around, aggressive look!

[@Smeedia]

The polished look was 🔥🔥 I’ll test fit it polished and make the call 😅

[@tabordagg]

Looking so good knowing what you know now what would you have done differently?

[@Smeedia]

Tbh better slower strokes when painting, and taking WAY more photos before disassembly 😅

[@CWisdom87]

It looks so good minus that front bumper. The license plate mount kills it for me personally. But everything else is perfect

[@Smeedia]

I’ve seen some people mount oil coolers where the front plate goes 😅 in person I don’t think it looks too out of place

[@CWisdom87]

That would be kinda dope

[@Grooove_e]

Sticking with the white wheels? Everything looks really nice man, its awesome watching this thing come together!

[@Smeedia]

If I can get em to fit yes 😅 they’re a bit wide 😅

[@Grooove_e]

@@Smeedia Nice! Yeah I think it'd look really good. If they don't fit some Bronze wheels might also look pretty sweet plus match what you have going on in the engine bay

[@joshchaides]

Top Quality Content #brap I vote to Bronze the Turbo

[@Smeedia]

Bronze with black lettering 🔥

[@joshchaides]

@@Smeedia hell yeah 🔥

[@codyhenley12]

Bro your technique is 100% better the more you do it the more comfortable you will get. Looks good bro you can let off your spray gun at the end of each pass and start back up on your next overlapping pass. That will help reduce the overspray

[@Smeedia]

I’ll give that a try in the next couple panels 🫡 the more you do it the more comfortable you get with it 🔥🙌

[@codyhenley12]

@Smeedia 100% looks great though.

[@Cole.Van.]

Looking so good! Just my $0.02 but the mirrors and side vents would look so much better body color. Love your idea for the paint scheme on the hood as well.

[@Smeedia]

I think that might be too much white 😅

[@cd5sircoupe]

Regamasters on an FD are just proper equipment, you can't fuck with the recipe. 4:50 Dude, that shit looks fine on camera. I understand being a perfectionist and all that, but at least you have good paint. My entire passenger side is peeling clear coat halfway down, and I got bondo on my driver rear. The car was mint when I bought it with a clean carfax from a very reputable dealer. There were no warning signs I could spot, and I literally spent six weeks trying to find another clean example after I got t-boned in my last one. They did whatever totally off the books and made it look perfect for the sale. Started deteriorating after the first winter outside in the Northeast, been 8 years now and she's pretty beat up looking. I think you did a pretty fucking good job for your first time. My friend painted his NX2000 in basically a decrepit barn/garage and it had some major flaws, but still looked good in pictures. It was a really nice dark blue with like fucking bass boat level metallic flake. I've seen a lot of "famous" cars in person, and they look way worse for wear IRL than they do in the media they're portrayed in. I've also been around numerous ridiculously expensive muscle cars every day as part of my job. The quality isn't quite as high as you might have set on in your mind. Have standards but be reasonable with yourself. Those hexagon lights actually do a great job of illustrating the orange peel. Most of the time when people try to point it out it's not that easy to spot in video to be honest. 15:07 Yeah been there. My brother got a rear louver for his 190E a few years ago, out of Russia I think. That shit did not fit a 190E by any stretch of the imagination. Just for shiggles, we tried on another friend's E30. Nada. It's just sitting around collecting dust. I guess the silver lining is that it took so long because of Covid that the seller refunded the like $500 and it still showed up, so it was free. I don't care what anyone thinks, ain't shipping that huge thing back to Russia like 9 months after ordering it. 17:02 Aye you found someone semi local that does dry ice blasting for I'm assuming not an arm & a leg. I know you were saying it was cost prohibitive when I brought it up awhile ago.

[@Smeedia]

Thankfully $400 for the trans, diff and steering rack 🙌 I’d rather set the bar WAY higher than I can. Even if I fall a little short of where I want to be it should still be leagues better than what most people are used to seeing. I’m just picky with my own work trying to make ever single detail as good as I can. The Regas will definitely be staying in this thing pending I can make em fit 😅

[@cd5sircoupe]

@@Smeedia Yeah fine, hold yourself to a standard you set, don't be pissed when you fall short of your goal. You're probably better than like 70% of the builders bringing a car to SEMA as the FD stands now. Some of them with an entire like 15-20 person team or some shit. Even taking the show out of consideration. You'll be gucci as long as you put your heart into it.

[@lightofscorpio9396]

if it cant be heated to fit better, maybe you can just put a cut in the diffuser on the right there before the right side mount? then remove a piece of the difuser, maybe a quarter or half inch? then put another mounting bolt in so its flush? either way, this is gonna look amazing.

[@Smeedia]

I’ll try and play with it a bit, if it doesn’t fit well I’ll use a different one 😅

[@josephmatuszak3855]

I'm more of a fan of the Spec RE rear diffuser. Not sure who to look for though. As for the powdercoating, maybe a high temp on the exhaust if you got one that can take that kinda heat. On the intake side if you do powerdercoat it, at least polish back the raised turbo writing.

[@Smeedia]

I have the Re one sitting in my cart right now 😅 For the lower intake manifold and all hot side parts the ceramide should do wonders to help minimize temp as much as possible 🥳

[@lilmike1780]

5:29 no no no repaint……. All it seems to be on the chassis of the car is a lot of peel or maybe a bit of dry spray, cut and buff and it will be perfect. You did an amazing job for your first time painting an entire car, that is a skill that is not easy to just pick up and run with. Looks amazing

[@Smeedia]

Thanks Mike 🥳 I can’t wait to wet sand and polish this thing to see how it’s going to look 😍😍

[@albegt98]

i like this job man 👍💪

[@Smeedia]

🫡🫡🫡

[@Hakiri27]

The painting arc is going well, I still need to learn bodywork / painting from my dad. I'm learning the way of just send it

[@Smeedia]

It’s not nearly as scary as I used to think it is. The prep work is just what sucks butt 😅

[@UncleSpool]

Try using a heat gun on the fiberglass before fitting it, so it can relax. Then heat it as you're attaching it

[@Smeedia]

I’ll give that a try 🫡

[@UncleSpool]

@@Smeedia it's a trick Jimmy Oakes (Spoon) swears by, so I figure they know what they're talking about.

[@andrewharris7868]

I wanna repaint, but I'm not, but i wanna repaint, but i won't.. Next week's episode; so were going to completely repaint the rx7 😆

[@Smeedia]

It’s a dangerous position to be in 😂

[@andrewharris7868]

@@Smeedia you learn fast and your a bit of a perfectionist. I imagine that's a dangerous Marti 😆

[@aynun1647]

I need some of these rentable garages over here, idk why it’s not a thing in more places

[@Smeedia]

Idk why there aren’t more of them 😢

[@Telesko]

Car is looking sick! Paint the turbski imo

[@Smeedia]

I think painting the turbo is the move 🔥

[@alecbarba3748]

I need a speeding merch drop

[@Smeedia]

RX7 hoodies? 👀

[@mlrtimestl]

Where did you get the hardware for the door hinges?

[@Smeedia]

It’s the OEM Hardware I had re zinc plated 🫡

[@STImachine]

Loving this build series. Only thing I don't get, is after all the issues you've had with poor fitting no name brand, or knockoff parts on all the other cars you've built, why you keep buying them. A quality, actual jdm brand diffuser would fit so well, and actually fit the quality level you're trying to achieve. The car deserves it. I know it requires planning in advance, and waiting, but worth it, every time.

[@Smeedia]

I tried finding what I could that was in stock, it’s always only body panels I do it with too and they never work out 😂

[@STImachine]

@@Smeedia the good jdm stuff is almost never gonna be in stock unfortunately. But also, this is kinda what separates those builds from the others.

[@daves5562]

I'm conflicted. I want to see her done asap but also dont want this series on the fd to ever end.

[@Smeedia]

The car won’t be going anywhere after it’s done. So plenty of FD stuff to continue to come 🎉

[@twentyonenix8386]

this thing is gonna be sema ready by the time its done lol

[@Smeedia]

Hoping so 😅

[@Thechaoscrusadors]

I think you should leave it polished until you can see it in the engine bay. Easier to get something powder coated then polished.

[@Smeedia]

Very true, we shall see it in the bay first 👌

[@johnlexus1]

🔥

[@zakura70jr]

10:37 what's that on the fender???

[@Smeedia]

Dust, whole car is dusty 😅

[@silvapain]

Those things you used on the front bumper are called Speed Nuts.

[@jimmybelt8616]

I think polished. The color scheme sounds awesome but there is such thing as to much of a good thing. You didn’t go through and have every single nut and bolt coated black or paint matched. So don’t do the same to the engine bay. I say keep the turbo polished and your waste gates a bright color ( I personally love the purple that tial offers ) and all other mounting hardware a polished look. Everything else color scheme the way you said.

[@Smeedia]

Waste gates are already black 😅 I’ll see how everything looks once it’s all in the engine bay and go from there 🔥

[@670cars8]

I’m scared for the price breakdown of this one. I know it’s gonna be big big money

[@Smeedia]

I haven’t added any of it up, I’m curious to see what it’ll be 😅

[@phdavid4]

Maybe leave the turbo silver to know you have a snail pumping air 😅

[@Indykeebler]

Did I hear a bit of British Tanner? 😂😂😂

[@luxormartin1096]

Hey Tanner, quick question. How big is your shop length/depth x width

[@100cotton0]

You know you wanted to get an RE Pro diffuser anyways!

[@Smeedia]

You right 😅 lmao as it sits in my cart right now 😅

[@100cotton0]

@@Smeedia You'll want the center divider and vortex generators too, looks so good. I got mine all in carbon.

[@thesavage4552]

You are a monster! Keep it up! And collect your commission at Toyota, selling my 2nd Gen Tacoma for a 3rd Highland Bronze that turbo!!

[@Smeedia]

Eyyyy! Lemme know how you like the 3rd gen! I absolutely LOVE mine. Waiting for some parts to come in for it 🔥

[@Menace_sti]

God man i need one haha i wonder if an ej will fit in there haha jk. But man dream car right there.

[@Smeedia]

With a cut off wheel and welder anything is possible 😅

[@HeidiFegles]

You won’t see the flash of white without a head lamp or light in your off hand

[@Smeedia]

I’ll try this 🫡

[@HeidiFegles]

@@Smeedia white is hard to see when painting for sure. I use a dimmable light so I can get the best vision otherwise you get snow blind by the white paint. White I think the hardest color to master just because of the hard to see the flash of the paint when spraying vs red or black where it’s easy to see the flash when it’s perfect. Also the good thing about white is once the car is together you can block sand it, then keep diluting your clear with 50% white 50% clear and with each coat add more and more clear to the ratio till it’s 100% clear. Wet sanding each coat, then finish it off with a pearl coat whichever pear color you want. Then 1 more clear so the pearl is suspended in clear and gives depth. It could take 17 coats to achieve. Just bring some shades cuz when the sun hits the hood at the right angle you see the whole reflection of the sky on the hood and blinded lol. My white 62 chevy pickup with the big flat pearl white hood blinds the shit out of me on a nice day. Also your doing really well, body work looks great. Paint looks great. Only you will know the little tidbits you aren’t happy with from my angle here at home and in camera it looks really good. Ps still waiting to hear that rotor scream haha

[@stephenprimerano5416]

I like the gun metal wheels better. Just sayin.

[@LanceUngerBBYFOZ]

First🎉❤

[@Smeedia]

🫶🫶

[@LanceUngerBBYFOZ]

🎉🎉

[@Smeedia]

Sir Lance! 🫡

[@gregdeen1469]

Speed nuts.

[@Smeedia]

Speeeeed nuts, more fun than u but 😅

[@gregdeen1469]

Lol yep.

[@tw1st3dw1ll7]

So for the seats, tuxedo style covers?

[@Smeedia]

Tbh I don’t mind the OE Leather ones too much 😅 I might toss one of my brides in to see how tight of a fit it will be

[@Kenny.G-33]

Bronze wheels ? 🙏

[@Smeedia]

Bronze regas? 👀

[@dougl4253]

Dude I just got arp studs for my subie and it’s giving me a hard time too

[@Smeedia]

What’s up with them? 👀

[@dougl4253]

The ones I got are 3” long ones trying to get them in without taking the whole wheel hub out

[@jptothetree]

_JIZZ IN MY PANTSSSS_ 🥴

[@Smeedia]

Throw back 😮‍💨

[@leoncarlier]

You know you are going to repaint it right?

[@Smeedia]

I may pending how it comes out after wet sanding

[@Evergreenprospectors]

Im a fan of bronz

[@Smeedia]

The bronze will look so good 🔥

[@travismcginnis7871]

Powder coat the turbo white

[@Smeedia]

That might be a bit too much 😅

[@inactivemogul403]

bronze 🐌

[@Smeedia]

Thinking the same 👀

[@BericBuilds]

Do you think a bunch of people stopped watching because you moved on from the 6 cylinder subie?

[@Smeedia]

A good chunk of people don’t care for the FD so much. Most viewers also mainly watch Subaru content so the Mazda videos don’t get recommended as much. I can see it on the analytics. But for me it’s not just about the views but building something that I’m personally excited about.

[@Pukefroth666]

bronze turbski all the way

[@Smeedia]

The bronze would look 🔥

[@christopherthompson9642]

You sound so sad when you do voice overs. Got me like “who hurt my pookie bear!” 🤣

[@Smeedia]

Lmao was doing them right when my allergies were kicking my ass 😂

[@christopherthompson9642]

@@Smeedia get some zertec and get better homie.

[@roybrown7717]

have you named the Mazda yet?

[@Smeedia]

Not yet, it’s gotta come to us 😅

[@roybrown7717]

@@Smeedia call sign rotary one

[@Haze121201]

Bronze

[@Smeedia]

💪💪

[@cjbeuro2145]

So i know you need the front plate but damn. That front plate section on the front bumper is hideous. I would not run one on this car ever. Lived in colorado for 13 yrs and i got pulled over one time for no front plate. Paid the $20 fine and still never ran one. Please for the love of the rx7 gods, find another solution.

[@dwaynestokes9518]

Bronze

[@Smeedia]

Bronze with black lettering 🔥