Words: Todd Wylie Photos: Richard Opie
“This car reminds me of the old muscle machines I had as a kid — big shiny blower out the bonnet, staggered wheels, low roof with little headroom… it’s low, loud, and makes all the right noises,” says Haden Wasley, owner of this radically different 1979 Mazda RX-7.
While the car was a hit when it was revealed at Mad Mike’s Summer Bash last year, those in the know understand it’s not new to the scene. Sure, it never looked quite like it does now, but it first began turning heads way back in 1996. Back then, a young Craig Date — just a few years into his panelbeating career — decided he wanted to make the car stand out. Careful planning and plenty of courage soon saw the roof cut off and reattached a few inches lower. The work was done so well it could have been factory; only if you know the original silhouette do you notice what’s changed. Of course, Craig didn’t stop there — he also frenched the bumpers for a cleaner look.
After clocking plenty of laps down Queen Street, Craig did what he always did: sold the car to build something else. The next owner had it in the staging lanes at Meremere Dragway many times, and then it ended up in the hands of Sik Performance in Hamilton. What they did took it from subtle and clever to in-your-face wild. That transformation started with a three-quarter chassis to allow wheels far wider than Mr Mazda ever intended. As if that wasn’t enough, they soon fitted a Group C wing to really accentuate the long, low stance.
The car hit the scene again around 2000 looking like this, but sadly, it soon became a thing of legend — vanishing for the next couple of decades. Haden was one of the people who fell in love with the car back then and for years wondered what happened to it and if it would ever reappear. Little did he know that a customer at his auto electrical and fabrication business, Haywire Rotorsport, would one day ask him to do some work on it.
He tells us: “Initially, we took the car in to build for a customer who then changed tack. We ended up striking a deal, and I tucked it away while we completed his other car. I wasn’t sure what we’d do with it at the time, but I was happy just to have it — cool to sit around with a few jars and look at!”
Eventually, Haden and friends came up with a plan. Looking back now, it would have been easier if that plan didn’t include debuting the rebuilt car at MMSB 2024 — because that left just seven weeks to transform it from a rolling shell into a car worthy of icon status.
Luckily, Haden has the skills and contacts to pull rabbits out of hats on builds like this, and that’s exactly what he did. First things first: deciding on the motor combo. In an ideal world, it would have been a naturally aspirated quad-rotor, but that simply wasn’t achievable within the timeframe. He tells us: “Turbo was off the cards as it last had a built 13B JC turbo setup.
So when I saw a 4/71 blower pop up online, I knew that was the angle — tough street rod vibes, roof chopped, tubbed. Does it get any better!?” He’s got a point.
For this, he sourced a Series 5 13B Turbo block and stripped it down to rebuild with extra dowels and a balanced rotating assembly after Green Brothers handled the CNC work. To mount the blower, a six-port intake was fitted with a custom adapter. With a supercharger, there’s more to it than just an intake, so Haden called Nage’s to build a custom front hub to hang off the crank snout, along with a Big Tan’s blower brace kit. For the intake side, Haden opted for a pair of Bosch drive-by-wire throttle bodies. Fuel is fed below the blower by four 1550cc injectors and twin AEM water-methanol nozzles. To match the spark, he set up a Franklin Performance R35 GT-R coil-on-plug conversion before calling James at Haltech NZ. James, well-versed in rotary ECU setups, soon had a Haltech R3 VCU on its way. Wiring is Haden’s gig, so he created a custom mil-spec engine loom, tucking everything out of sight. Linked into the loom are a pair of SPAL fans pulling air through a big Fenix radiator.
While the heavy lifting was done in-house at Haywire, Haden is quick to credit the long list of others involved — names proudly displayed on the rear screen.
The package makes 179kW, which isn’t huge, but the torque from the supercharger throughout the rev range makes it a blast to drive. That meant a decent, but not overkill, driveline was needed. Haden grabbed a Series 6 five-speed box and filled it with a Drew’s Automotive heavy-duty six-puck clutch and Green Brothers billet flywheel. With the car already running a narrowed 9-inch diff, all it needed was an Advanced Engineering three-inch driveshaft to get rolling.
That diff is held in place by a four-link setup and hangs off QA1 coilovers, while up front a set of XYZ coilover inserts sit in the stock front hub assemblies. An FC disc and caliper combo handles braking up front, while Wilwoods take care of the rear.
Luckily for Haden, the 16×7 and 16×12-inch Simmons F90 rims were on the car when he bought it, along with 195/40R16 Nankang NS-20s and 295/50R16 BF Goodrich rubber — not that it hasn’t chewed through a few rears since hitting the road.
Like the brake and suspension setup, the interior is a mix of original and new. The standout addition is the Haltech uC-10 digital dash, while the Autosport Kevlar buckets are pure retro, having been with the car for decades.
When the car was unveiled at Summer Bash, some people knew the history and appreciated the classic touches like the seats, while others loved the build for what it is now. Haden says: “The number of people who followed the build and were genuinely pumped to see the car on the day was awesome! Plenty of cool yarns and stories shared, plus the bonus of getting it alongside Kelly’s DABUZZ blown RX-4 for a snap and a few laps of Hamptons to boot!”
Now that it’s been back out for a year, he tells us he wouldn’t change a thing. “I’ve really enjoyed this build and working with the blower.” His parting words? “Build it for you. We live in a time where people go out of their way to build cars for clout and validation online. Keep it simple, stick to a plan, and get it done! You aren’t getting any younger. Finish your car, bro!” We couldn’t have said it better, especially if that logic results in more builds like this!
SPEC LIST
1979 Mazda RX-7 (SA22C)
Heart
ENGINE: 13B Bridgeport, 1300cc twin-rotor
BLOCK: Series five turbo block, dowelled, race balanced rotating assembly
INTAKE: Six-port with custom adapter to 4/71, twin Bosch drive-by-wire throttle bodies
EXHAUST: Shorty 2.25’-inch headers to 3.5-inch system, twin AdrenalinR dump tip mufflers
BLOWER: 4/71 Roots
FUEL: Four Bosch 1550cc injectors, twin AEM water methanol nozzles
IGNITION: Franklin Performance R35 GT-R coil-on plug conversion
ECU: Haltech R3 VCU, Haywire Rotorsport mil-spec harness
COOLING: Fenix radiator and oil cooler, twin SPAL fans
EXTRA: Nage’s built Custom front hub, Big Tan’s Blower brace kit
Drive
GEARBOX: Mazda series six five-speed
CLUTCH: Heavy-duty six-puck
FLYWHEEL: Green Brothers billet flywheel
DIFF: Nine-inch Ford
EXTRA: Advanced Engineering three-inch drive shaft
Support
STRUTS: (F) XYZ adjustable coilovers (R) QA1 adjustable coilovers (Is this correct?)
BRAKES: FC3S RX-7 front callipers, FC3S RX-7 rotors, factory pads (R) Wilwood callipers, rotors and pads
ARMS/KNUCKLES: Chrome rear four-link
Shoes
WHEELS: (F) 16×7-inch (+0) Simmons F90 (R) 16×12-inch (+0) Simmons F90
TYRES: (F) 195/40R16 Nangkang NS-20 (R) 295/50R16 BF Goodrich
Exterior
PAINT: Original “Gloss Black”
ENHANCEMENTS: Roof chop, three quarter chassis, tubbed rear, Half cage, Group C wing
Interior
SEATS: Autosport Kevlar buckets
STEERING WHEEL: Momo Team 280mm
INSTRUMENTATION: Haltech uC-10 digital dash, Autometer gauges
Performance
POWER: 179kW at the wheels
TORQUE: 235Nm at the wheels
BOOST: 9psi
FUEL TYPE: Mobil 98
TUNER: Haywire Rotorsport
Driver Profile
DRIVER/OWNER: Haden Wasley
AGE: 32
LOCATION: Rotorua
OCCUPATION: Self Employed at Haywire Rotorsport
BUILD TIME: Seven weeks
LENGTH OF OWNERSHIP: 14 Months
THANKS: All of our suppliers (Listed on the rear screen) Wouldn’t have been possible without them! SKUMAZ Engineering – Nage’s, Big Tan’s, and everyone else who spun a spanner or tipped a tin! And last of all my Partner Mia for holding down the home front and looking after our little one while I immersed myself in this project.
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This article originally appeared in New Zealand Performance Car issue 318
