During the downtime waiting for body parts, Pat and Vince kept themselves busy working on the car after work and on weekends. After all, Vince has a shop to run day in and day out, so the FC took on the role of a long-term project. No one involved in the build wanted to half-ass anything, least of all Pat, so taking the time to do things right and wait for the perfect parts was just fine in his book.
Pat had been spending so much time at R/T Tuning and was learning so much that once he finished school he went on staff and now works full-time as a tech alongside Vince and the rest of the crew. As Pat's taste in cars grew and he began to appreciate the different ways any one type of car can be built, he realized that he needed a direction for his build. Originally, he wanted the FC to be a time attack beast, but he changed his mind shortly thereafter. Getting sideways just seemed like the right thing to do.
When setting up the car for drifting, Pat and Vince carefully tested and dialed in the suspension over a period of several months to get everything perfect. They began with a set of Zeal Function B6 coilovers and swapped out all stock arms, links and bushings in favor of specialized aftermarket pieces in each department. One thing that may strike you as odd about this FC is the lack of a rear sway bar; Pat says this helps keep the car nimble and predictable on the drift course. Footwork is handled by a variety of wheels-Pat has several sets that get rotated in from time to time. Currently, the car sits on a set of unmistakable Volk TE37 wheels in staggered sizes, measuring 17x9 inches (+15) up front and 18x9.5 (+12) in the rear. In addition to the offset and staggered size, H&R spacers have been added to give a little extra style and stance, and the result is simply beautiful. White on yellow never gets old.
On the inside, Pat's RX-7 is all function. "When I first got the car, I wanted a street car, but that soon changed as we began the rebuild at R/T. We wanted to make the car a full-fledged drift car, so a minimalistic interior is key," Pat says. A pair of Bride Zeta 3 L seats and Sparco four-point harnesses keep the driver and passenger secure and safe, protected further by a Nate Dog Customs welded in eight-point custom rollcage. The driver's display is an obvious upgrade, coming in the form of an AIM Sports MXL Pista. This piece does so much that it's hard to call it a "gauge cluster" or a "dash." I suppose one could call it an "all-inclusive digital readout," which provides the driver with nearly any information he could need during the heat of competition.
When you peek under the hood of Pat's FC, you see a heavily modified 13B in a clean surrounding. What you don't see is the harrowed history of this particular engine bay. Pat says with a laugh, "The motor that's in there right now is actually the fifth one for this car. And every time the motor popped, I would go out and buy another rotary car in the meantime!"
Some people would cringe and call that madness, others would just smile and nod, knowing the addictive character of rotary-powered cars. The current setup was put together by Pat and Vince with the help of Jose Leduc, a well-known drag racer on the East Coast who lives and dies by the rotor. After blowing the fourth motor during a dyno session soon following the install, Pat was understandably unnerved by the idea of dyno-tuning the latest rotary reincarnation. His luck improved this time, and his baby held together and made a whopping 510 hp at 18 psi on Pennsylvania pump gas. I guess the fifth time's the charm!
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