Joe O

Thanks ,goodluck to you also....change is mind right now is more or less converter change or maybe a gear swap/taller tire either or...not to aweful bad ... figure I take advantage of the good air now throw in a looser converter and concentrate n/a then when weather gets warmer maybe then create my own atmosphere...

jimlab

Not yet, but my car would probably generate a lot of cheap publicity for someone if they choose to do a feature on it. It'd be one of the first cars able to appear in both Super Chevy and Super Street.

Many rotary guys absolutely hate what I've done*, but they'd probably buy up an issue of Turbo & High Tech Performance just as fast as anyone else to read the details. I talked briefly with a writer for Sport Compact Car a few months ago, but I really don't know if anyone will be interested in featuring it after it's finished, or if I even want to bother. It'd sure generate a lot of controversy on the cover of one of the domestic magazines though, and the same goes for the import mags.

*My car was one of the last two RX-7s imported into the United States in early '97. Not sure where they were hiding it, since '95 was the last year for the RX-7 in the States, but the interior was still wrapped in shipping plastic and it had 104 miles of "dock driving" on the odometer. 1995 was not only the last year for the RX-7 in the U.S., but it's also the rarest year, with only 500 cars produced for the U.S. market, according to Mazda's figures. Of those, 299 were PEP (Popular Equipment Package, i.e. loaded) 5-speeds. 101 were Montego Blue Mica, so it's not an especially common car. Total U.S. production for the 3rd gen. (1993-1995) RX-7 TT was 13,879 cars. Not only that, but it's still one of the lowest mileage RX-7s in the U.S. with only 13,108 miles on the clock...

Joe O

I find it more likely to see a mags advertised vendors car showcased than a ole country boy like myself. Unless I attended a event somewhere and drew attention with a win .. other than that I doubt anything would be published ecspecially with a Lt1 since its kinda gone to the way side to the ls1..sad but true..

jonaddis84

I dont know man, Ive seen a quite a few LT1s still featured in GM high tech and Camaro performers and those mags. And when theres very few guys that run 9s even with the gas, and you do it N/A, thats damn impressive. The only drawback would be that they like featuring new generation cars that anyone can build, not just car gurus.

LTOne4Fun

Nope, anything thatruely impressive never seems to make it in a mag.

jimlab

I think part of the problem are the limitations imposed by the magazines themselves.

Car Craft, for example, never seems to cover anything that their readership couldn't "build for themselves", or at least that's what they've stated on several occasions. Apparently that makes for a lot of articles on carburetor tuning and upgrading drum brakes.

GM High Tech Performance stated in one article on how to get featured in their magazine, that you (I believe) had to be in the New Jersey area or willing to travel to the New Jersey area. Apparently they don't go far afield for their subject matter. Maybe they don't have to.

Super Chevy and Popular Hot Rodding seem to be the magazines most willing to cover the more exotic, one-off stuff. I'm assuming that one of the two are the most likely to be interested in my car, if anyone is. Popular Hot Rodding got a lot of mileage out of the Charger with the Viper V10 swap, and they love shiny engines, so they're probably my best bet. When I talked to Super Chevy about doing an article on the engine, they were already doing a 3-part (?) series on a supercharged LT1 build-up, so the timing was simply bad.

Hot Rod seems to cover more Tri-5 cars than anyone else. If you've got a '55 Chevy or a Nomad, you're in. You pretty much have to show up at a car show, though, to get a feature. I think they follow the show circuit because it's like shooting fish in a barrel. You don't have to do much traveling because the people bring their cars to you.

Where the import magazines are concerned, if it's not a FWD drag car or an import found at a California event, you might as well give up. Turbo & High-Tech Performance used to cover domestics (and hybrids, like an RX-7 with a Buick GN swap) several years ago, but it's been quite awhile since I can remember seeing a domestic on their pages. Still, they'd be the most likely import magazine to cover a car like mine.

Sport Compact Car is far more fascinated with the WRX, plus they ran an 11+ installment feature on a writer's RX-7 and haven't featured many RX-7s in recent issues. They do, however, have a domestic/import "Ultimate Street Car" shootout each year. IIRC, in 2000, a fairly stock autocross-prepped RX-7 driven by Rhys Millen took first, 2001 was a stock Ferrari Modena F360, and last year a fairly stock Viper took the top honors.

Bottom line, though, is that if they don't know about your car, they can't cover it. If you're not going to car shows or big drag events with magazine coverage, you might as well not exist. Soliciting interest almost never works, it seems, but your best bet if you don't into the two categories mentioned above is to send them a comprehensive portfolio on your car with full specs, lots of good pictures, and sell them on the car. They get a flood of submissions anyway, so you have to make yours stand out. At least that's what I've read in every "get your car featured" article I've seen in the magazines.

brain

Geez, what do you consider highly modified? Come on now, built bottom end, heads, cam, extrude honed manifold, triple adjustable penskes, 13 inch REAR brakes, 305/35/18s in the FRONT on 18x12s, 18x13 rear, etc. etc. I think that classifys for a bit more than "fairly stock" don't you? Heck, he's probably got more $$ in mods than you, considering its viper parts, but its still just a viper. I can't wait to see your car run! My friend and I have talked about putting an LT1 or LS1 in an FD for 3 years now. You get all the best things of an RX7 and none of the bad stuff (rotary). Hurry up and finish that thing!!!

jimlab

He had all that? I don't buy Sport Compact Car, so I was going off what I heard from people who had read the article. I believe the owner of the Viper was the owner of the Modena that won the year before, and it was my understanding that the Ferrari was pretty much bone-stock. If the Viper had all of that done to it, obviously it wasn't.

If he had John Hennessey do the work, he probably has stock internals and paid to furnish a room in John's new house...

I'm working on it!

Some of the latest progress...
http://www.torquecentral.com/attachm...=&postid=97333
http://www.torquecentral.com/attachm...=&postid=97334
http://www.torquecentral.com/attachm...=&postid=97335

The pictures above are of my new center section; a new '03 Cobra 8.8" aluminum carrier, 3.55:1 Ford Motorsports gears, a Zexel Torsen T2-R differential, Mark Williams billet bearing caps, Timken bearings, a solid "crush" washer, and Denny's billet 1350-series pinion flange. Fits like a charm, about 7 lbs. lighter than the stock unit, and infinitely stronger than the stock center section, which has a tendency to do this in high horsepower applications...

http://www.torquecentral.com/attachm...=&postid=83415
http://www.torquecentral.com/attachm...=&postid=83416
http://www.torquecentral.com/attachm...=&postid=83417

The following three pictures are of the new LT1 K-member, with a P-Ayr foam engine for test fitting (www.payr.com). The idiot who was supposed to be developing the LT1 kit for sale (and giving me my parts for free for using my car and stock parts for measurements and test fitting) sort of fell down on the job (to put it nicely) and so I had to pretty much start over from scratch.

http://www.torquecentral.com/attachm...=&postid=96247
http://www.torquecentral.com/attachm...=&postid=96248
http://www.torquecentral.com/attachm...=&postid=96249

Maybe my engine will be finished this month. The last dyno session was April 27th... 2002. My how time flies when you're having fun.

Soma07

Jim:

1. Is that Canton Pan an off the shelf piece or is it modified/custom?

2. Are those solid motor mounts?

3. Are those the stock lower control arms?

4. Want to adopt a 23yr old son? I'll even wash your car(s) for you...

FWIW the Viper driver was a guy named Paul Mummsford (I think). He is fairly well known in the Viper community and his car was very un-stock. If I recall the motor didnt have much work (as if it needed any) but the suspension/brakes were pretty much all aftermarket.

He's also an awesome driver, smoking the rest of the field at Willow Springs to the tune of ~4 sec a lap

The guy who won in the Ferrari 360 last year had the MR2 this time around.

jimlab

Off the shelf. I bought a second Canton pan to ensure that the cradle and headers being developed cleared the Canton pan that's on my engine, since I had no idea when it would be showing up.

Nope. Energy Suspension "short and wide" polyurethane mounts.

http://www.jegs.com/photos/35531115.jpg

Yep, stock forged aluminum control arms, but they've been polished obviously.

Tempting.

It was my understanding that the engine was basically stock, but that the suspension and tires had been upgraded. Then again, you don't bring a knife to a gun fight. Anyone who shows up for a competition involving braking, lap, slalom, and skid pad tests who doesn't have a properly setup suspension, good brakes, and good tires might as well not even show up.

Well crap, guess I better buy the issue the next time around. I'm batting about 0% on second-hand information.

Mindgame

Magazines....

I don't care much for magazines.... other than to look at the pictures. I do read The National Dragster and an occasional copy of Pop Hotrodding or Super Rod has been known to appear in my shopping cart but for the most part, I try to stay away from magazines. But that's a whole other subject in itself.

Jim, looks like you are building a whole car there while only using the RX7 body/interior.
I wouldn't mind doing something similiar....... maybe to a Miata.

-Mindgame

Fast Caddie

I walked past one of those things on my way home from class earlier and I thought about Jim's car. How much does a Miata weigh? If his RX-7 is going to be close to... what, 2700? lbs with all that power he has, how would putting a 650hp V8 in a Miata compare? Man, that's like building a 650hp go-kart .

Is it even possible to but a V8 in one of those cars? (without chopping it to pieces) I couldn't picture it. Maybe a Turbo6....

Mindgame

Yep, a V8 will fit. Guys have been throwing 5.0 motors in them for years. Actually use to be an outfit out of cali that built something called the "Monster Miata" with a 5.0 Ford motor.

I'm only halfway joking here as I have another project soon to go underway. I have a serious buyer for my old comp eliminator car, so guess what's next on the list.

I also have a tall deck aluminum Dart block (9.5/4.125/400 mains) from a previous TS car that I have tried to sell for the past year with no luck. I think it'll make a good home but we'll see.

-Mindgame

Mr. Horsepower

Mindgame,

Congrats!

I'm not upset over the intake, just wish I had known that was going to be your route before I worked the heads. I don't work heads alone, I work the head, intake and throttle-body/carb as a system. Only way to do it right, as one effects the other.

Looks good though.

Take care

Mr. Horsepower

Tall-deck aluminum Dart in a Miata........ you're sick.