Adding RX-7 Wing to Miata

Inspiration

After watching the Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift when I was a kid, the RX7 became my dream car. Everything from the curves, uniqueness of the rotary engine, and nostalgia is perfect in my eyes. The whole original reason I got the Miata NB is because it reminded me of a poor mans RX7!

With the constant urge to always upgrade my cars, I decided to start this "MX7" look with the wing.

Choosing the Right Wing

I was looking all sort of RX7 wings, from used Spirit R wings from eBay to aftermarket wings. After researching my options, I ended up getting the a fiberglass wing from Carbon Miata. The main reason I stuck with Carbon Miata, is because it was the most affordable and I wouldn't feel as bad messing this up. Since Carbon Miata is based in China, shipping took a few months. It finally arrived in giant wooden crate waiting to be installed.

Installation Process

The installation took around 16 hours total. That's with me having working with fiberglass once and taking my time.

Sanding

It start with me dry fitting the wing on using painters tape to mark where I wanted the wing to sit. Right off the bat, I noticed the wing would teeter from side to side. There's a couple of reasons why:

• The wing came imperfect, the right front side had more fiberglass tacked onto it causing it tip around.

• The wing is not made for the Miata! While curves are similar to RX7, they are not identical.

I just sanded using 80 grit sandpaper using an orbital sander. Here's a small preview of what I was dealing with:

Mounting

I mounted the wing using bolt and nuts. Here was the process I followed:

1. Line up front corners of wing using the painter tape guideline.

2. Line tape on car where you approximately think drill holes will go.

3. Lift up wing slightly and drop liquid into a pre-made drill hole in the wing. I just used blue loctite since thats what I had around.

4. Drop the wing down onto car and press down. The liquid should leave a dot on the tape.

5. Drill on marked dot. See if bolt dry fits through hole and wing.

6. Repeat steps 1-5 for each bolt hole.

7. Finally use bolts and nuts to secure the wing onto the car.

Example of how I lining up tape for mounting

You can also mount the wing using auto 3M tape. I contacted Marc, owner of Carbon Miata, he stated:

So I installed it with 3M but you could also drill it and use screws! For me the 3M was enough but I do not track the car! 😉

Painting

After sanding and preparing the drill holes, I had to prepare for the paint process. I used higher grit sandpaper to smooth out the rough edges and apply some gelcoat so it get a nice smooth finish. After it was prepped, I took the Miata for a fresh paint job with the wing.

Fresh out of the shop painted

Aftermath (A year later)

The wing installation turned out great! It's held up at high speeds, and people can't help but stare at this unique-looking Miata. However, I learned a couple of lessons:

1. You get what you pay for when it comes to paint jobs. Lots of orange peel from Maaco job 😬

2. Be sure to water-seal the bolt holes to prevent water from seeping into the trunk.
   

Hopefully this blog post helped you the same way it helped me.