William Tetro's Rx7...Beyond the Ordinary
/In my line of work, it is very easy to get bored by what you see. Most days we are faced with looking at another boring ass 2020 or 1969 Pro Mod’ish Camaro. So when I had that opportunity to highlight something unique, like William’s Mazda Rx7, I jumped at the chance.
Now when I say boring-ass Camaro or Mustang, that isn’t a dig towards those owners and builders, but it is starting to become a been there done that with a different wrap or paint job. If you sit back and look at the features we have done this year so far, it’s a variety of different things, and we aren’t about to stop now.
What you are witnessing here is William’s 1994 Mazda Rx7 that started as a street toy and morphed into what you are now looking at. In William’s words “it snowballed” into what it has become today. Before it was transformed into what I was able to capture, it was a basic LS3 naturally aspirated car with a 6spd trans and all the street goodies like heat, A/C, power steering, a radio, and more. Obviously, that has gone by the wayside and what you see now is an elegant piece of work that would be just as at home in a high-end car show as it is at the race track.
An incident occurred at one point where William was kicked out of the drag strip for not having a cage in the car, and that incident is how he and Tim Christ from Coast Chassis Design got hooked up. From that moment on, it was Tim’s responsibility to handle all the chassis and cage work that needed to be done and assure that William was never kicked out again.
Looking at the powerplant laid up in the frame rails of this beauty is an LS-based 388” small block spec’d by John Bewley at Full Proof Performance. Gavin Simcoe handles all the cylinder head work as well. Strapped to the front of that LS monster is a Forced Induction N/T98 Turbo. All that forced induction is handled by a Holley EFI system that is tuned by Mike Perduto at Synergy Tuning. All that power is funneled through a Chance converter and a JW TH400 transmission that transfers the power to the rear end.
Out back there is a set of Menscer shocks which help to plant the Mickey Thompson drag radials to the ground. Laying in wait behind those RC wheels is none other than TBM Brakes to make sure this rocket gets stopped in plenty of time.
It’s hard not to notice all the subtle hints of craftsmanship that have gone into this build. Not the least of which is the paint. All the paint and bodywork was handled by the family shop, Harbor Auto Restoration. They laid a layer of Mazda Montego Blue on the body to really make this car stand out above the crowd.
William told me that the goal he and the team have is to run the car in X275. If you follow X275 you already know that variety runs deep in that class. Everything from big-block Fords on spray, to small block Chevy on spray, to 2JZ turbo setups, diesel-powered cars, and just about every damn thing in between. William’s Rx7 will fit perfectly in that class!
I’d like to thank William and his team for taking the time at Lights Out and allowing me to crawl all over this beauty. Few cars strike or peak interest on some days, but this one was special to me. Lastly, it was pretty damn cool to see him start it up and drive it back to their pits after we were done with the photoshoot as well.
