In my troubleshooting to resolve the intermittent failure to start issue, I’ve replaced the ignition switch and bypassed Mazda’s security relay. Neither proved to be the solution, but still worth the try and good things to do regardless. The next logical step is to look deeper at the circuitry and determine the weak link at […]

Since the beginning, I have purposely hung the license plate without a bracket, due to my original shyness of branding. As time went on, I eventually opened up and became more accepting of having logos on the car. In a selective manner, of course. After coming across an OEM part number for a Mazdaspeed license […]

I pushed hard to keep the momentum high. The To-Do list was daunting, especially in the short time frame I mandated, or at least desired. The most difficult aspect to manage is the variability of the outsourced work. For example, I dropped off the bumper over a month and a half ago and had to […]

I initially chose to reupholster the Spirit-R Recaros in red and stay true to their original colors and to add contrast to the overall color scheme. That was over 2 years ago. Being reminded of this leaves me baffled at how fast time flew by. 2 years was long enough for me to change my […]

A buddy of mine commented that I should remove the rear bumper for added swag points. I thought it was a cool idea to give the truck a bit of a “shakotan” style and would sophisticatedly accentuate the jankness. I decided to go through with it when I realized the inside of the rear bumper […]

Oh, the irony of intending to take the easiest route possible, but instead only adding complication. The first objective I wanted to take care of after buying the Tacoma was overhaul the suspension with new shocks, springs, leaf packs, bushings, and shackles. I wanted to do it as quickly and effortlessly as possible, so I […]

As if finding out that the roll bar was rusting underneath the clear coat and that the front bumper was the wrong shade of color was not enough bad news, I shorted out and killed the light relays. It was certainly difficult to stomach the list of failures that piled on all at once, but […]

The Greek mythology of Sisyphus is starting to play a disheartening relevance with this build. With the To-Do list provided in the previous post, it is evident to see that the front bumper needs to be removed and repainted for the 4th time, a 3rd roll bar needs to be installed, and the seats needs […]

Another year has passed and 2015 is already in the books. I know the cadence with the car has dramatically slowed down after the LS3 swap was buttoned up. In the past year, the RX-7 mostly spent its life sitting in the garage either in a partially torn apart state or remaining idle while I […]

I did quite a bit of maintenance work and addressed other nitty gritty items, like installing a K&N Cold Air Intake and replacing the factory buckets with reupholstered 60/40 seats. I’m not going to dive into great detail as that is not intent of this website’s subject matter. My focus is the RX-7. So coverage […]

After selling the M3, I bounced around several different ideas and options on what to do next. In the end, I let my sensibility prevail and picked the choice that was the most economical of the bunch. I didn’t want to continue to repeat the cycle of buying and selling cars, as that has mostly […]

Way back when the car was repainted, I decided to spare the retractable power antenna instead of taking the opportunity to shave it. This was always something that I second guessed myself on, but now I’m glad I chose to leave it alone. A member named HalfSpec on the NoRotors forum has designed an adapter […]