Pictures by: Mike Alonso | Article by: Jason Siu
Courtesy of: ImportSpeed-South.com

Everyone has a vision when building a car. Sometimes people start out with one vision leading into another, and ultimately a final product. Jose was out perusing for a car in February of 1998 when he came up to a 93 RX-7. Now as most passionate import fanatics know, the RX-7 is one of the most beautiful cars ever designed in our market. Its simply slick lines hardly pay justice to what lies under the hood. So back to Jose...when browsing around at a used parts seller in Miami , Jose noticed an RX-7 with some major damage to the front and absolutely no justice being done to the car. As he said, the car was being used for parts and mostly a garbage can. Most of us would just shake our heads in shame when seeing such a machine so mistreated, but Jose went the extra step and purchased it. That's when the buildup began...

Being a daily driver, Jose began rebuilding the car and putting it back piece by piece. After getting it up and running, Jose did a few modifications, but nothing major. In November of 2000 however, it struck him. After many months of blood, sweat, and tears of rebuilding the RX-7 onto the road, Jose decided to set it completely apart from everyone else's around. Tearing the car apart, yet again, Jose ordered a complete 2000 OEM RX-7 body upgrade straight from Mazda of Japan. Fresh off the boat was a new front nose, bumper lights, reinforcement bar, front fog lights, fender side markers, round taillights, and rear adjustable wing - painted with the 2000 red hue. To finish off the body lines, Jose opted for APEX'i side skirts. Hitting up a local PPG paint supply store, they matched the red off the wing and Jose splashed the entire body of the RX in that shade.

Next up were some fancy shiny wheels!!! Jose needed something aggressive, yet elegant to match the simplistic lines of his new RX. Nothing but Racing Hart could fill that task, with the huge reputation in producing some of the best wheels out in the market. 18x8.5 sat in the front and a nice and wide 18x10 sat in the rear. Nitto Extreme NT555 wrap the rims (225/45 in the front, 275/35 in the rear) while Racing Beat springs and Tokico 5way adjustable shocks set off the suspension.

Now the car was as beautiful as can be, a splendid eye catcher. But speed? Here it comes...the 13B rotary engine was rebuilt by Alex Lopez from Lopez Racing Inc. Internal modifications came from 3mm Apex seals, full port and polished intake and exhaust, and extra dowel pins. Now visibly under the hood comes a Hi-Flow custom made intercooler, HKS SSQ BOV, Fluidyne radiator, MSD ignition, Aeromotive 700hp fuel pump and fuel pressure regulator, ACT extreme clutch, Unorthodox pulleys, silicone vacuum hoses, 3" mandrel bent down pipe, Ultraflow mid section out to an APEX'i Dunk megaphone muffler. Fuel management comes from an APEX'i Power FC.

Recently, the power has been further upped by the install of a single 60-1 turbo from Turbonetics and a custom exhaust manifold, done by Lopez Racing. Engine decorations come from B-Oscars Plating in Miami. All the paint, performance, and sound system work was done by Jose's shop, PNC Autoworks.

Last but not least, the interior was kept simple. An Autometer exhaust temp gauge and boost gauge was installed to monitor the vital signs of the RX. An HKS turbo timer was the finishing touch. For car audio, the stock Bose stereo is in there, but 2 Rockford Fosgate 200watt amps were installed powering a set of Polk Audio speakers installed in the doors and a set of Diamond Audio on the side panels. A 10" Pioneer gold sub woofer bazooka, a Bose wave subwoofer and a set of Pioneer tweeters finish off the sound.

SPECS

Exterior:

• 2000 J-Spec OEM Front Bumper
• 2000 J-Spec OEM Bumper lights
• 2000 J-Spec OEM Reinforcement bar
• 2000 J-Spec OEM Front fog lights
• 2000 J-Spec OEM Fender side markers
• 2000 J-Spec OEM Round taillights
• 2000 J-Spec OEM Rear adjustable wing
• APEX'i side skirts

Interior:

• Autometer Exhaust Temp Gauge
• Autometer Boost Gauge
• HKS turbo timer
• 2 Rockford Fosgate 200watt amps
• Polk Audio Speakers
• Diamond Audio Speakers
• 10" Pioneer gold sub woofer bazooka
• Bose wave subwoofer
• Pioneer tweeters
• APEX'i Power FC

Wheels & Suspension:

• Racing Hart C2 (18x8.5 front, 18x10 rear)
• Nitto Extreme NT555 (225/45 front, 275/35 rear)
• Racing Beat springs
• Tokico 5way adjustable shocks.

Engine:

• Rebuilt 13B rotary engine
• Turbonetics 60-1 turbo
• Custom exhaust manifold
• 3mm Apex seals
• Full port and polished intake and exhaust
• Extra dowel pins.
• Hi-Flow custom made intercooler
• HKS SSQ BOV
• Fluidyne radiator
• MSD ignition
• Aeromotive 700hp fuel pump and fuel pressure regulator
• ACT extreme clutch
• Unorthodox pulleys
• Silicone vacuum hoses
• 3" mandrel bent down pipe
• Ultraflow mid section
• APEX'i Dunk megaphone muffler

Interview with Jose:
By Luis Garcia

1. We can certainly see a change in the car from the time that you bought it till today. What actually made you buy a crashed Rx-7 and convert it to this amazing machine we see today? I always wanted to have a 3rd gen. but the ones I saw were all beat up and expensive, so I decided to get one beat up but cheap, because I knew that once I would finish the car it would be the way I wanted it from the beginning.

2. Most people would have gone with some crazy body kit to outline the body of the car, but instead you choose to import a stock OEM pieces from Japan . Is there any reason behind this? I choose the OEM body kit because I like clean sporty line that it carries and the quality of the parts. It also looks better than most of the body kits around and the fit is perfect. I just gave it the additional touch of painting the front lower lip in red and installed the APEX-i side skirts to give that smooth look on the sides.

3. What caught our attention to feature your car was how clean it is. We love the way the red flows around your car, and it just highlights the body. Is there any reason why you opted to paint the car factory Red? The car was red originally; I didn’t want to change the color. When I ordered the rear wing I asked for it to be sent in red, but when the wing arrived it came with the 2000 red tone. So I matched the wing color to paint the car, that's how I got the red on the car. The cleanliness and the details of my car are a priority to me because there is nothing worse than a nice and pretty car on the outside and full dirt and oil under the hood. I know you have seen a lot of those in car shows. Every time I do new things to the car I try to build them as clean looking as possible. (Details count)

4. We’ve noticed that the Racing Hart C2’s are a beautiful example of a classic wheel. What made you choose this wheel vs. any other? I decided to purchase the Racing Hart C2's because they are very elegant and I like the way the wheel sits in the wheel wells, nice and fattttt.

5. Most people choose to go with a simple performance upgrade, but in your case you chose to go with a single 60-1 turbo set up. What made you go for the single turbo? I went single turbo because I was tired of the twin turbo set up, I tried upgrades but nothing satisfied my appetite and those factory turbos you boost them at 13 psi. And they start screaming like BITCHES until they fall apart. But on the other hand, a nice 60-1 will do the job right. (Don’t you think) and it won't hesitate and it has a really nice kick.

6. Okay here we go again…if there was one item that you can take from your car if it was engulfed in flames, what would it be? I'll be the only item hauling ass out of the car if the car is on fire..