After stripping the donor RX-7 down to next to nothing, it was finally time to start moving in the other direction: building the racecar! There was some prep work I wanted to do before getting the roll cage and paint done. The main task was getting rid of the sunroof; this is necessary both to comply with the rules (safety) and to remove weight from up high, where it hurts you most. The cars that had a factory sunroof have some extra support structure built into the roof area, which is extra weight and the reason for the desirability of non-sunroof cars. My car did not have a factory sunroof, but rather a cheapo aftermarket one added somewhere in its colorful past. Therefore, none of the factory support structure was there, just a gaping hole in the roof. I got a roof skin from a wrecked non-sunroof RX-7 at 7s Only Racing to solve the problem. Again, no need to get fancy with seamless show car metalwork. I laid the skin on the roof of my car in the proper position and traced the sunroof opening onto the inside of it through the hole with a marker. I laid it on the garage floor, added a couple of inches to the size all around for overlap, and cut out my new roof patch panel with a nibbler. After checking for fit, I scuffed the mating surfaces, applied a generous amount of “Liquid Nails” adhesive (because I had it around – any good adhesive will do) and positioned the panel. After it had cured up a bit I drilled holes a few inches apart around the whole mating area and riveted the panel to the roof. The finished product is just as stiff and very nearly as light as a true non-sunroof car, and besides, riveted sheet metal panels look cool on a racecar! Tidbit of Trivia: At the point in time when I was patching the sunroof hole on the RX-7 at home, I was also responsible for the assembly of the suspension members of the 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers at work at JPL. These are thin-wall electron beam welded titanium box structures assembled to machined titanium end fittings by bonding, match drilling and riveting. I simply put the sunroof patch panel together with the same general process I was using at work – the difference is that one of the many rover suspension members costs more than my entire completed racecar! The rest of my prep work consisted of grinding out some minor rust here and there, slapping on some Bondo, stripping all of the exterior trim, the adhesive residue behind it, and giving everything a good scrubdown. It was time to get on with it. At this point I dragged the car up to 7s Only Racing at Buttonwillow Raceway Park near Bakersfield, CA. They welded in their 8-point full roll cage with NASCAR-style door bars and generous reinforcement where the cage meets the car’s unibody. This cage is a beautiful thing and really helps give you a sense of security in the car, especially in the driver’s side area where you obviously need it the most. They have built many, many roll cages for PRO7 cars and have all of the little details and nuances thought out. They can weld in the necessary mounting hardware for the window net and your relocated hood latch, as well as make a perfect frame to house the gauges you need. The whole deal is absolutely top notch. After the cage install, it was time for paint, which 7s Only handled as well. Don’t even dream of dropping a lot of cash on a show-car paint job – on a typical race weekend the car gets bombarded with gravel, dirt, tire rubber, car parts, and occasionally other cars and you will get grey hair watching your House of Color shine get annihilated. However, this is not to say that you can’t have a great-looking racecar. I had the car shot inside and out in Fly Yellow with black Le Mans stripes – an homage to the 1966 Ford GT40 Mk. II raced at Le Mans by Alan Mann Racing, a longtime favorite of mine. I also had a couple of other odds & ends done while the car was at 7s Only – mostly involving welding. I can weld well enough to get by in a pinch, but I’m nowhere near ready to trust my life to it. They welded on the new spring perch seats to allow conversion of the old front strut bodies to coil-overs and did a couple of other bits as well. When all of this was done it was time to take my new baby home and get busy with the assembly!