Right Hand Drive Conversions

So in the early 200's RHD cars were not able to be imported. There were very few that ever made it to the states and none that were allowed on the roads. If you spotted one it was like seeing a unicorn! I however wanted a RHD FC rx7 after seeing the Initial D car. This made me decide I was going to go ahead and build it!

I ended up finding a guy with a front clip imported from japan who had the same dreams as I did, however he was not able to take them on as its a huge project and never been done before correctly. I was determined to reverse engineer a front clip we were allowed to import from japan and then a donor car, then re assemble them and create new wiring etc. Here is how I ended up doing it:

You start with a shell of your choice. With this build being a "white comet" tribute car a series four car was used. I brought it in the shop and got to work.

After Taking apart the half cut and getting everything wiring and interior prepped. I can start taking apart the LHD parts! Tearing this down starts fun, then gets brutal. The old sealant and tack welds need removed, the same goes with the RHD clip. There are many parts to a swap but we will make it seem simple by just saying you slide out the old one and slide in the new one. It however is not as easy as just saying that.

After Putting in the new firewall, the real job begins! There is tons of welding, interior work. I choose only to do these rhd swaps for those who are going to tend to everything from the engine to interior, suspension to brakes. The reason for this is I am taking the car down to nothing.

After Paint you are ready to start doing the brakes, electrical, underlay's, carpets, dash, ect. This is when it really starts coming together. There is always glitches though, the clips never come complete or functional and we end up having to source and sometimes wait for international shipping.

Every Right hand drive build is different. I have never encountered a car that was the same or a person who wanted the same car. This example was one of my favorites and was featured to show the length one can go to with these builds. I ended up building a few more, an FD3s RHD and an SA rx7, both were fun little projects that I ended up passing along to friends after finishing!

Check out the full RHD turbo RX7 conversion here: