The Devils Advocate, 1993 Mazda RX-7 |

The Devils Advocate, 1993 Mazda RX-7


Thomas Westberg-Croessmann is a 20 year old college student and a sheep farmer. He bought two sheep at a yard sale for 40 dollars when he was 13 years old and that is how the sheep business started. He now has about 18 (because he just took a lot to the butcher). He has always had a dream to build a car that would be good enough to make it as a cover/feature in a magazine. Thomas believes he has finally achieved this after working on the Rx7 for five years. Thomas wanted a car that was an all around car. He wanted to be able to take it to shows and tracks but yet drive it comfortably on the street. Thomas bought his 1993 Mazda Rx7 (FD) when he was 15 years old. He only had his drivers permit and for the first couple of months he was only driving the car with his parents. The car was silver with red interior and an automatic transmission. Two months after Thomas bought the car the engine blew and needed replacement. Three months after he replaced the engine the automatic transmission failed and at that point Thomas decided to replace it with the 5 speed manual transmission, which it currently has. It was at that point that Thomas realized what people meant by the “Curse of Rx7s.” Two years later he had saved up enough money selling sheep to do the exterior of the car. Thomas chose to go with a Seibon carbon fiber hood. He designed the whole exterior around that one part. If it wasn’t for that hood Thomas would not have bought the Veilside C2 body kit. The body kit took 9 months to get here from Japan. Next he decided to update the headlights and lose a couple of pounds by buying the Rotary Extreme Sleek headlight kit. With the headlights updated Thomas decided 99 spec Rx7 tail lights were needed. The final part of the exterior was the APR GTU adjustable spoiler. Thomas wanted a color that would do justice to the lines of the FD so he went with Lamborghini Red paint.
After Thomas blew all his money, he partnered with Matrix Settles to continue building the car. Thomas built the sound system next. He wanted something that would sound good INSIDE the car. This meant he didn’t need anything too crazy. Thomas wanted everything to be very usable. He didn’t want TVs in his door panels that were pointless. Thomas wanted everything to have a purpose. Also, at this point he decided to change the color of the interior to black and added some Sparco Torino 2 seats and a Sparco steering wheel. After the Sound System was finished, Thomas was approaching his 18th birthday. Thomas had saved up enough money, so he decided to buy a 1993 Toyota Supra. He decided to put off finishing the Rx7 to buy the Supra. Four months after his 18th birthday Thomas flew out to California on a Friday, bought the Supra and was back in time for his first period class on Monday (at this point Thomas was still in high school). Thomas had the car shipped back to him in Virginia.
At this point the cars were getting a lot of attention even without a built engine. The Rx7 won at every show it ever went to and was constantly getting praises from everyone. At Nopi in Budds Creek, Maryland 2008 the Rx7 won 1st place in the custom class and the Supra won 2nd in the street class. Thomas has also been in the new Mischief video “Joyride” and been on many websites. Also D Sport Magazine put a picture of his car in their magazine when they covered Nopi 2008 at Budds Creek Maryland in their September 2008 edition on page 102.
Six months later Thomas was in his freshman year at James Madison University. Thomas decided that he wanted more power in the Rx7 and he decided to see how much hp he could make on the stock twin turbo’s. Thomas sent the Car to Kyle Rusert at RP Performance located at Summit Point Raceway, WV to have the engine built. He did an Extra Large Street Port, dowel pinned the block and sent the rotating assembly to be balanced by Roger Mandeville (an ex-Mazda factory driver) at Mandeville Autotech. On the stock fuel system it made 342whp at 13 psi of boost on the stock twin turbos. After having this for about 3 months Thomas got bored with the power and started building the big single turbo. Thomas partnered with RP Performance once again to have something that you would not typically see in other Rx7’s. Thomas wanted something that would be unique, produce a lot of hp, and also have a quick spool so he decided to go with a Garrett T04Z turbo. Thomas wanted to have a V mount intercooler setup to make sure both the intercoolers and koyo radiator had adequate air flow. To help direct the air they made custom carbon fiber air ducting so no air would be wasted. Thomas used a CJ motorsports fuel system with 850cc primary injectors and 1680cc secondary injectors and the Supra TT in tank fuel pump with a Bosch 044 booster pump to make sure the rotary had more than enough fuel. With so little room in the engine bay due to the V mount intercooler many things on the engine you have to look hard to find, like the pump for the water injection/ methanol kit. Thomas wanted the engine bay to have a clean look, not just put this here because it’s convenient. Since he had the engine removed Thomas decided it was a perfect time to paint the engine bay a flat black so that all the polished pieces would really pop. During the time it was in the shop, Hyperfest 09 took place at Summit Point, WV where RP Performances shop is located. Even though it wasn’t completely finished or tuned he just barely started the car and drove it the 300 yards to the show ground and won Best Mazda and Best Engine. After Hyperfest, Thomas took the car to get tuned and the car dynoed 537whp@ 24 psi. The day it was dynoed was the hottest day of the summer. It was 98 degrees with 78% humidity. So they are still waiting to go back in the fall when it’s cooler and not stop until they break 600whp. Thomas is extremely confident that it will break 600 whp in cooler weather. There are so many things we are leaving out of this letter purely because the list of modification is so long. Now that the FD is finished he can finally start on the Supra. So, now at age 20 Thomas owns both a 500 plus whp Rx7 and a MK4 Supra. Not bad for a 20 year old!
Because Thomas gets this constantly, we know what you must be thinking. How did he get the money? His parents must have helped him. Well, NO his parents did not help him pay for anything. Thomas has worked very hard and saved all his money up until the time he bought the Rx7 and now that the car is good enough to get sponsors Thomas is hoping that the Supra will not be as expensive to build. People drive down Thomas’s long gravel driveway not expecting to find a RX7 and Supra in the garage.

Engine upgrades:
Extra Large Street Port and Polish
Ported Oil Passages
Ported Coolant Passages
Solid Corner Seals
Teflon Water Seals
Viton Oil O-Rings
Lightened and Balanced Rotating Assembly
Dowel Pinned Block
Atkins Rotary Gasket set
Atkins Rotary Thermal Pellet
Atkins Rotary 2mm Apex Seals (Good to 54 PSI of Boost)
Painted Block
T04Z turbo kit
Custom Carbon Fiber Ducting
CJ Motorsports Fuel System
Polished Parts
SR Motorsports Pulley Kit
Turbo Blanket
Gold Wrapped Parts
Wrapped Downpipe
Motorad AST Tank
Koyo Aluminum radiator
Cooling Mist Water/Methanol Injection
Random High Flow catalytic converter
Racing Beat Ignition wires
HKS Twin Power Ignition
NGK Spark Plugs
PF Supercars Catback exhaust
NOS Nitrous System
Tial 50 mm Blow Off Valve
Tial 44mm Wastegate
Custom V- Mount Intercooler
Greddy Elbow
Gotham Racing FC Holder
Nippodenso Fuel Pump
Bosch 044 Booster Fuel Pump
Hose Tech Silicon Lines and Couplers
Gotham Racing Engine Torque Brace
Mazdaspeed Oil Catch Can
Noltec Motor Mounts
Royal Purple Synthetic Oil 20w 50
Panoramic Racing Rearview Mirror

Security:
Viper Alarm System

Exterior:
Veilside C2 Full Body Kits
APR GTU Adjustable Spoiler
Rotary Extreme Sleek Headlights
Seibon Scoot Carbon Fiber Hood
Lamborghini Red paint
Red coated undercarriage
Engine Bay Painted Flat Black
Tinted Windows, 20% sides, 5% hatch
99 Spec Tail Lights
18” RPM R-505 Rims F: 18*8 R: 18*9
F: Toyo Proxes T1-R 225/35
R: 255/35
*Tuned By PF Supercars 342WHP@13PSI on stock turbos
537WHP @ 24 PSI on T04Z (No N20)

Engine Management
Apexi Power FC Computer + Commander

Brakes:
Brembo cross drilled and slotted rotors
Racing Beat brakelines (stainless)
Hawk HPS brake pads

Drivetrain:
SR Motorsports 9LB Flywheel
ACT Heavy Duty Pressure Plate
ACT Clutch
Automatic to 5-speed conversion
4.10 gear ratio
B&M Short Shift Kit

Interior:
Alpine Ivad 300 Head Unit 7.5”
Sun Visor Screen 7.5”
Custom Sound System,
• 2 JL Audio WV1’s
• JL Audio 1400 Sub Amp
• JL Audio 2150 Speaker Amp
• Boston Rally Speakers
Sparco Torino 2 Seats
Autometer Sportcomp Oil Pressure, Sportcomp Water Temp, Sport comp Boost Gauge, Sport Comp Oil Temp, Procomp Volts, Procomp Wideband Gauge
Momo Sphere shift knob
Sparco Grip Pedal Kit
Sparco Flash Five Steering Wheel
Sparco 2” harnesses
Sparco 2” harness pads
Changed from Red to Black
Custom Harness Bar
Playstation 2
Tri Power center gauge Pod
Autometer A-pillar gauge Pod
Petit Racing Column Mount Gauge Pod

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