Words and Photos: Richard Opie
Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, there’s absolutely no doubt about it. The notion of a ‘golden era’ is something that persists, not only among aficionados of music, cinema, or any other cultural phenomenon, but also increasingly conspicuously among a specific demographic of the modified car sphere.
The two are inextricably linked. The mere idea of a time that outshone any other is, when you break it down, simply a byproduct of feeling nostalgic. It seems inevitable as we all get on a bit —life starts happening at an ever-increasing pace and responsibilities magnify exponentially. All of a sudden all that stuff (in our case, automotive) that got our wheels spinning, provided a social hub, and of course, ensured a bottomless bucket in which to funnel untold amounts of disposable income.
For some of our readers who could be seen to be, well, moving steadily toward middle-age, the plates bolted to the front and rear of quite possibly the cleanest RX-3 coupe screwed together on Kiwi shores is bound to ignite a few pangs of nostalgia. The pair of pressed aluminium sheets boldly proclaiming ‘UWANIT’ are a succinct reminder of a time when the ‘import’ scene felt like unstoppable, consecutive endless summers of brappin’ rotaries, chuffing blow-off valves, and wheels with chrome so shiny you could see your reflection’s reflection.
For those who weren’t there, or were a bit too young to grasp the gravity of this time, the turn of the millennium saw the arguable zenith of the ‘4 and Rotary’ street scene. In an era when events were rare, the weekend extravaganza bearing that same ‘4&R’ moniker was in full swing. This was a summer pilgrimage for anyone who was into all things modified that distinctively weren’t stuffy classic Euros or bogan bent-eights.
If you rolled into the show hall, or across the staging beams of the drags over the course of one of those weekends in something special, you’d become a minor celebrity. Spit-shined show winners detailed to an inch of their usability or quarter-mile weapons ruthlessly dispatching 400m as efficiently as possible — if you and your car stood at the peak, chances are you’d be a minor celebrity in the scene.
But back to that plate. Along with the emerald-toned RX-3 coupe it was attached to, there’s a strong case to be made that UWANIT is top of the heap when it comes to trophy-hogging show machines. Debuted by owner Tim Wood in 2000, the RX-3 was one third of a holy trinity of rotary show machines, revered to this day.
Along with Jason Powrie’s immaculate RX-7, and John Harvey’s flashy RX-2 coupe ‘DIE4IT,’ Tim’s original RX-3 build lit a fire under the arse of the award ceremonies, sweeping the board on debut with Best Rotary, Best RX-3, Best Paint, Best Displayed, and the coveted People’s Choice. It repeated the Best Rotary award another three times in a row, remaining undefeated until 2003.
But these things don’t just happen overnight, that original UWANIT was the culmination of years of rotary ownership, experience, and inspiration. Retrospectively, it was a massive building block for Tim’s 2023 remaster as you see it here — a brand spankers UWANIT RX-3 creation to relive those bad old days of the early 2000s, learning from a few mis-steps, and embracing 25 years of leaps and bounds in tech to surpass his earlier endeavours and do further justice to its original namesake.
Going back even further though, Tim’s rotary journey began as a fresh-faced 15-year-old, with a trip to the Ellerslie Concours d’Elegance with his dad. At the time, Tim had a “rusty old Mark 2 Escort 1600 Sport,” and he was immediately taken by a lime-green RX-3 coupe sitting on the Mazda Rotary Enthusiasts Club stand.
That car would become another Kiwi rotary icon — BAD RX — and a mere month afterwards when Tim’s Escort was stolen, the insurance money went towards the first in a long, and so far never-ending line of rotary street machines.
“I immediately went and bought an RX-2 coupe I saw on the side of the road, for $1800,” he laughs. “It even had a 13B and five-speed in it. That was the early 90s, and I’ve been addicted to them since. I’ve never wavered.” Cars have come and gone, but Tim’s infatuation for the distinctly Japanese styling, intricate badges, unique dashboards, and of course the unmistakable pulse of a rotary has remained constant.
Whether or not that trip to the Ellerslie Concours was an influence, it’s an eye for detail that’s always defined Tim’s approach to building a car. “I’d always liked a tidy car,” he explains, “and when I built that car [the original UWANIT] I made a bet with a mate, a box of Lion Reds, that I was going to build the best RX-3 in New Zealand.”
As an 18-year-old tyre fitter making $18,500 a year, Tim set out to earn himself a box of beer, swapping an RX-2 four-door for an RX-3 project, owned by a panel beater mate. The Kiwi rotary scene wasn’t short on inspiration, with cars like the aforementioned BAD RX, and MEAN 3 setting the benchmarks as far as quality went, with smoothed engine bays and polished alloy in abundance.
It was a five year — and six-figure — build process. With cues taken from the Kiwi legends like the highly detailed injected 13B PP , as well as cues from across the ditch with then mind-blowing 17-inch Simmons, smoothed firewall and a thorough interior retrim, Tim and UWANIT set the show scene alight, etching their places in Kiwi modified car history.
The car would be moved on — regrettably as it transpired — but Tim’s attention turned to preservation rather than modification. A decade ago, a chance encounter while in Aussie for work would unearth an unmolested ’73 RX-3 coupe, with only 24,000km on the clock, resplendent in its original duco. Numbers matching, original 10A, owner’s manual, the lot, Tim would spirit the car back over to Aotearoa, endowing it with the UWANIT plates once complied and roaming Kiwi tarmac.
Despite having maybe the best 100 percent original old rotary in the country, and a subsequent concours-winning RX-7 restoration, Tim came to a bit of realisation they weren’t totally scratching the Mazda itch. “I just wanted something fun again,” says Tim. “The original cars are great, but they aren’t the same kind of fun.”
“I actually didn’t set out to build another coupe,” grins Tim, “but this car sort of found me at the right place and the right time, kind of an opportunity that arose.”
In fact, Tim had already embarked on an RX-3 sedan project, and before he’d even unearthed the coupe, the Willy Green-built 13B PP, complete with a selection of key components like the Green Brothers billet PP sleeves, EFI Hardware 55mm billet throttle body (complete with fuel rails), and more.
Not only was a fresh 13B sitting on the garage bench ready to go, but even the running gear, brakes, and suspension was all ‘in stock’ ready to be thrust into the upcoming sedan build. It’s almost like Tim had a kitset sitting there ready to rock, with Series 5 RX-5 five-speed gearbox and associated Green Brothers flywheel and clutch package all there just itching to transfer 10,000rpm of braps to a shortened Hilux rear end.
The pretty rusty sedan had only just been dropped to the panel shop when the coupe came up and stopped that project dead in its tracks, but as Tim explains, that wasn’t really where the story began for him, and the RX-3 coupe.
“Before I bought the yellow [original] car, this car came up in the South Island, in Ashburton. It was original, with a 13B in it, and I flew down to see it. The guy told me he’d sold it when I arrived, I was gutted,” Tims says, shaking his head. “It ended up in Auckland; one guy started restoring it, had it panelled and couldn’t finish it, then another guy got his hands on it and ended up contacting me about some 10A parts!”
Upon seeing some pics of the coupe, Tim knew it was ‘the Ashburton car, and instead of hooking the owner up with some 10A bits and pieces, he took another tack and enquired if the car was for sale.
“He gave me a number, which was ridiculous, but I thought I’d go and take a look,” smiles Tim.
With panel work already completed by Choppers Auto Body and paint by Whenuapai Auto Refinish in its original Phoenix Blue, the car was assembled and in a state ready to receive a bog-stock 10A and effectively become a restoration — one of those ‘not quite as fun’ cars Tim was going out of his way to avoid!
But it was decent — good enough for Tim to trailer home without an engine and box, safe in the knowledge he was going to augment with his exacting eye for detail and transform into one hell of a good time to boot.
It stands to reason that Tim’s also got a knack for getting the best team on board to help get a project over the line. After sitting in his shed for a few months waiting for an opening, the RX-3 was into the workshop at Rocket Speed Equipment in Hamilton — a workshop better known for casting their magic wand over a number of high-profile hot rod builds — where Dan, Wingnut and the team set about moulding UWANIT version 2.0 to Tim’s vision.
Despite being already painted, the engine bay, underfloor, and boot sheetmetal all received modification, whether it be for functional reasons like clearance for the diff or exhaust, or aesthetics like the smoothed engine bay surfaces, ensuring the detailed 13B takes pride of place akin to a modernist art gallery display.
With Tim’s ‘kitset’ in their hands, the boys at Rocket offered up the components to the RX-3. Even the 16-inch Work CR-01 wheels worked with the ’70s hue dripping from the coupes coke-bottle curves, no doubt assisted by the BC coilovers and filled to perfection by the large Wilwood stoppers.
“The original UWANIT was never really that good to drive,” admits Tim. “It was quick, but never handled that well, stopped that well, or was that driveable. This car fixes all of that, but there were things on that car I wanted on this one.”
One of those direct influences is the engine bay. “I wanted that level of detail, but even cleaner,but I didn’t want to modify the interior, I wanted it fully stock, looking like it left the factory.”
The driver’s door opens with a satisfying click, to reveal an interior that has hit the mark perfectly. It’s a sea of black vinyl — 80s kids will recoil in searing pain at the thought — but with the care and attention put into it by Scott at Elite Motor Trimmers, it’s possibly even better than a ’70s Mazda ever was, right down to the complex embossing that epitomises the Japanese style of the era.
The factory dash remains — mint of course — and despite a Haltech iC7 display perched atop the column, it retains all of its original functionality, right down to the factory radio. It’s a curious juxtaposition with the 205kW 13B up front endowing the RX-3 with a personality akin to a bolt-counter car enthusiast sparking to life at a rave.
“It still had to be as ‘RX-3’ as it could be,” emphasises Tim. Every single piece of factory trim, and every last badge and emblem remains in place, either a NOS Mazda component or restored to better than original — nothing on this car is a reproduction piece. “The beauty of it compared to the original UWANIT, is that car was a really hacked-up car when I started. This is a documented original car, it’s got a paper trail, all the way back to when it was sold new in Morrinsville.”
Tim reckons he’s hit the mark well. “I wanted to turn up to a show and kick arse, and I want to turn up to a track a kick arse,” he laughs. “Practical but able to break necks!” It’s a build that’s so complete, yet equally unassuming that it really needs to be witnessed in the metal to appreciate the way in which the details mesh to create one of the highest quality rotary builds that’s surely doing the rounds today.
It’s Tim’s Golden Era cranked right up to 11 (or should we make that 13?), and it’s already picked up where his original UWANIT left off, taking out the new Modified class at Ellerslie by a significant margin and opening a few traditionalist restorers’ eyes on the way.
But remember that sedan he started but didn’t see through? There’s already another RX-3 four-door sitting in the Wood garage, ready for the treatment — and continuing the theme, it’s another improvement on a past concept, this time reliving an old Earth Green sedan he blazed around in as a much younger guy.
We’re certain of one thing though — this one will also be put together with current day tech, know how, be better than it ever could have been, but channel the past equally faithfully.
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This article originally appeared in New Zealand Performance Car issue 310
SPEC LIST
1973 Mazda RX-3 Coupe
Heart
ENGINE: 13B, 1300cc peripheral port
BLOCK: FD3S RX-7 crate motor, series five rotors, balanced
INTAKE: Green Brothers Racing billet PP sleeves, EFI Hardware 55mm billet throttle body
EXHAUST: Twin 2-inch into 3-inch at the diff, AdrenalinR race pack resonators, 3-inch AdrenalinR polished stainless steel rear muffler
FUEL: EFI Hardware in-tank fuel pump custom fitted to original fuel tank
IGNITION: Crank angle sensor with 1000hp Nissan coil on plug
ECU: Haltech R3 ECU/PDM
COOLING: Custom made alloy radiator and oil cooler
Drive
GEARBOX: Series 5 RX-7 five speed, MX-5 shifter body
CLUTCH: Green Brothers Racing heavy duty clutch
FLYWHEEL: Green Brothers Racing 10lb lightened
DIFF: Hilux diff shortened, 4.8:1 LSD
Support
STRUTS: BC Gold Pac Performance kit
BRAKES: (F) 12-inch Wilwood Pac Performance Kit, 2-piece rotor, billet hubs, (R) Custom Wilwood rear setup
ARMS/KNUCKLES: Factory
Shoes
WHEELS: (F) 16×7.5-inch (R) 16×8-inch Work CR01
TYRES: (F) 205/40R16 (R) 215/40R16 Nexen
Exterior:
PAINT: Factory Phoenix Blue
ENHANCEMENTS: Savanna front valance, new old-stock trim and badges
Interior
SEATS: Factory RX-3 trimmed by Elite Motor Trimmers
STEERING WHEEL: Momo Prototipo Black Edition with matching gear knob
INSTRUMENTATION: Haltech iC7 display with custom 3D-printed bracket to fit the RX-3 steering column
Performance:
POWER: 204kW at the wheels
FUEL TYPE: 98 Octane
TUNER: Mark Haynes at Revolution Engine Services
Driver Profile:
DRIVER/OWNER: Tim Wood
AGE: 47
LOCATION: Hamilton
OCCUPATION: Managing director
BUILD TIME: Nine months
LENGTH OF OWNERSHIP: 20 months
THANKS: Massive thanks to Dan, Wingnut and the Rocket Speed Equipment team in Hamilton for building the car to such a high standard, Azhar from Pac Performance NZ for all the help with the parts, Willy Green for building the engine, gearbox and diff, Choppers Autobody for all the panel work, Tony Hancox for the custom paint on the engine and running gear, Ryan at OCD Performance for the epic custom wiring, James at Haltech, Scott at Elite Motor Trimmers, Simon at Ultimate Motor Group Mazda for all the parts, Mark at Revolution Engine Services for tuning the car, Winton at Waipa Auto Painters and, of course, my wife for letting me spend an obscene amount of money on this car