With the interior mostly settled, I turned my attention to maintenance work. Over the past few years, I noticed that the rear hatch struts were gradually weakening. They eventually gave out a few months ago and could no longer hold the hatch up. I called my favorite parts guru at Malloy Mazda and learned that […]

I am so fond of the RX-7 because it harks back to the heyday of proper, driver-oriented motoring. It is modern enough to capture refinements in certain technological methods, but old enough to escape to the clench of restrictions and dummy aids. However, the fact remains that this is now a 20+ year old car, […]

After sacrificing entire weekends back-to-back with long and grueling hours on all days, I was eventually able to heat shrink the last splice, pull the final zip tie, and complete the packaging and wiring work. Yes, my garage attire consists of oversized Fila waterproof pants and bright green Crocs. Go ahead. Judge. With so many […]

I knew from the beginning that the AiM MXG dash would be the exemplary choice for my needs. However, as I started formulating through all the different demands to ensure a feature-rich final product, I realized that buying just the dash was a piece to a larger puzzle. In the end, the list grew to […]

After nearly half a year of planning and waiting, I found myself switching roles from a behind-the-scenes bystander to the active participant. At long last, the trim panels were complete and all the AiM components were in my hands. One would assume that remaining idle for so long would render me into slow form. Quite […]

The M3 came with section 1 Rogue Engineering Rasp Pipes and a section 3 exhaust. I filled the gap with a section 2 X-pipe from Status Gruppe. The days of laying on my back on cold cement floors are over… My standards have elevated and I no longer want to bother with jack stands if […]

I’ve been sitting on these pictures for far too long, time to get them out there in one go. Installing the new Alcantara steering wheel with ti-stitching. I had this made with thickened padding so the girth of the wheel matches that of the 1M. Matching Alcantara shift and e-brake boots in black stitching. Being […]

With the new shade of grey chosen, all of the existing pieces were resprayed. Toby finished the gauge fascia by mounting the dash with brackets and installing the momentary buttons. The pictures below were taken in his white balanced photo booth again. The change of color can be compared to this, previously. Up close of […]

My immediate impression was that the chosen grey color was on the lighter side. In order to match well with the otherwise black interior, the trim pieces needed to be quite dark, but still distinguishably grey. Jumping on any doubt, I referred back to the SEM color chart and picked out 2 more shades that […]

It may be noteworthy to share that I moved places to San Jose at the beginning of the year. I’ve been spending much of my attention towards settling in and bringing my condo up to speed, on top of everything else around me getting busier. The paralleling decline in cadence with the RX-7 really puts […]

The oil pressure sensor was leftover as unfinished business after I picked up the car from Marcus back in June. The factory Mazda oil pressure sensor was removed and we thought we could plug in the OEM GM sensor instead, but the ECU’s harness lacked such a connection. The next alternative was to run an […]

With the stereo surround and shifter console pieces filled in and prepped, attention was turned back to the gauge fascia. This is where the money making happens. Picking up from before, more sanding and smoothing… and scribing: Cutout made: More filler and smoothing: Wrinkle finish applied: Painted grey with the new AiM MXG dash mocked […]