RotaHavik

As some of you know I have gone through couple 4 doors 323 hatchys, 626, rx7 etc but for me its always come back to the 2 door bug which was my favorite project that ended up dyeing after someone forgot to put steering wheel nut on



So sold my 4 door recess hatch and picked this beast up from tepuke for far too much money but in its favor reg on hold and it drove 5 hours back to palmy north on the lock dif and no back brakes







My lil girl Aria had to come out and check out the new "brum" gave me a hand pulled off the recess front and traded it for a whole lot of mint parts i needed for the 2 door includein 2 brand new bugeye bezals so recess is gone bugeye will be dummy fitted next few days



Plans are to pull it all down and respray it in baby blue, not everyones taste but a semi original mazda colour and a change to gloss back and ice white (those colours stil rule) bugeye it and slam it on some nice yet to be chosen rims, bodys mint no rusty surprises yet and even sills ant stuffed from jacks so despite looking cak as at the moment should tidy up Mint

project number... 23?

Got motivated today got the bugeye front all bolted on for a dummy fit got to tweak acouple of the panel gaps but all the lights etc all work so its a good start and looks better already







Out with the old



In with the new



Got to get a uncut centre piece with the am stereo surround but def a improvement gotta love uncraked dash pads

Need your opinions guys - originally had the long tail lights and have fitted the bugeye ones with minor modification however there is the gap left over from the long lights, I was thinking of just plateing it up pretty much as pictured as i dont think it will be too noticeable once its all done, has anyone else converted there tail lights in a 323 hatch and howd ya do it? any help/opinions appreciated

just leave the old tail lights. Itl look boogy if you dont do it properly and just put a plate there.

thats the mean idea id do it cant be hard to get right

the old lights are not a option i really dont like them with the bug front, i dont want to cut the arse end up too much but may have to pull out the marker pens, a grinder and welder i keep looking at it and am 50/50 on it



yeah it dont look too bad im 50/50 love the short tail lights and pretty sure i can pull it off, and its the easy option but it might annoy me a bit too much down the track do i just keep looking at it, might have to measure cut and weld soon... fingers crossed

You just answered your own question didnt you?

And you cant see the front and back at the same time so doesnt really matter.

I was meaning should I plate it up (easy option) as pictured or cut the buldge bit and extend it to the lights like factory? - Alot more work but may pay off, then again might not, so im still 50/50 ill be useing the short tail lights for certain just a matter of that gap

see what u mean now didnt click about the short gap, yea cut it out make it wider

Still couldnt vision the plate properly so dummyed it in there and gave it a lick in gloss black and I think it works, pretty sure most people wont even know and will look straight past it

only thing is the body shape is obviously for the longer tail lights, you would need to shorten the curve and the bottom of end where these lights end if you get what i mean.

how it should look

a mate of kine has a two door hatch 77 tail light cut that you could stitch on to yours, think hed waqnt around the hundred mark for it but its good nick and cut past the factory stitching. you still keen for that uncut dash plate nats weekend aye bro? hatch looking good. 2drs own big time

hey man give me a pm about that tail light panel could be keen on that, im not a rich man though so try get him down on price, and yeah still keen on that dash strip ($40?)

Have fully stripped the car out in preparation for respray and after much thought decided to cut the arse end out ot a bugeye hatch and get it all welded in properly then trying to plate it to suit, you can clearly see the diffenent size in the buldge and length of the tail lights, I will be getting this all cut and welded in in the next couple weeks when time allows



Have also dealt to the suspension and got it sitting nice and slammed, have put rx7 struts and brakes up front with superlow king springs, up back got the rear springs compressed right down and removed the bumpstops (will be fitting ultra low ones and shortened shocks) keeping it all captive and have plenty of travel, will take pics of all the compontents when i and bolt the shorter shocks and bumps in

ive just finished my exterior and got wof and reg on my white whaletail dropped on 13x7 spittys, im n palmy mate, should catch up sometime, you got your colour in mind? Ive just pulled out a my bugeye bits n pieces, ur hatchy has man me realize i should of ran the bugeye jailbar front instead of the recess front dammit
ur hatch is coming along pretty good, keep up the work man
like the guy sed b4 me, 2doors own

cheers dude as for the colour was going baby blue as already have it sitting there but thinking more of going with maybe a metallic cadbury wrapper type colour, still dont know really but if anyone has some mean 2k colour going cheap let me know!

got busy on my day off today and got my bugeye tail light panel all converted over, welded in and welds partially smoothed, still got to do a tiny arse bit of bog work to smooth it all but I am LOVIN it!!!sat the lights in and it looks so much better than the long ones everything lines up really nice and once its finished be hard to tell it was even converted



Out with the old.........

In with the new



Also welded the boot lock and holes for the badges and side window chrome (not planning on running it) All in all rather productive day and now can get on to more easy panel work for paint. Well worth the effort i reckon

mean way better with dat back end in ' should chuck inn sum rx2 lightz wile your on tha weld mish !!

you gota tanga all sortid 4 diz or just gna bee a pisty rola,

Going stright rotary bro, dont have one sorted yet still setting it all up.... Been busy paneling got the arse end real tidy and super stright ready for primer and paint (dummy fitted everything to get panel gaps and cheak aligment - all of which is good



Also picked up some race suspension from a s3 rx7, adjustable, bigger brakes than my s2 ones (on the right) and ventilated and cross drilled disks in 4x114.3 stud! got them on a $1 reserve auction with some other rx7 parts but got them real cheap so super happy and mean upgrade going to clean them all up fit them in but should be able to super slam the car way under 100mm now

Nice progress dude good to see ya doin another one! Didn't let the last mishap hold you back aye....

Cheers man just means i have to build this one even better! , seen my old one today, sold it to a mate who spent close to 6g on it and alot of time getting it all straightened out, gutted as that i didnt have the skills to do it myself at the time cos it looks the biz now





I miss that it was mine but my new one will be even better!! just many many more hours to go (not to mention the $$)!!! should have the shell all in primer next week

Yep that looks badass. Just bust out some whitewalls and you'll win the sickest hatch in palmy title haha!

is it for sale?

thats a phat lil hatchy (wonder wot the spittys would look like on it) , i must pull in some time this weekend brother, show u the whaletail.

Did you end up getting the jailbar for it?

Hard bro im keen to see it, be home most the weekend too