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A lot of people dislike stripes on RX-7's. I tend to disagree to a point. White, Black and Red I don't think should be striped although I have seen a couple of striped black RX-7's that took me by surprise. I chose to stripe my RX-7 because of a few reasons:
First off, I was ready to grab some vinyl, a razor knife and a plastic squeegee and go to town. After talking to Jay (the previous owner), and Stevie O. from Pensacola Signs, I decided to hold off on my trip to Wal-Mart and see what these guys had to say. The Original Stripes The original stripes that were on the car began to decay after a year or so of being baked in the sun. I don't remember paying close attention to them before I bought the car, but Jay said it looked like it was beginning to crack and spider-web all over the place. They were a touch darker than the new stripes and about 1/2 inch narrower. When they were removed, they took the clear-coat off the paint so you could still see where they were. Most of the areas where it was very noticeable was on the hood and roof. Click on the image to enlarge.
Jay had enough vinyl left over to re-stripe the car so I took it down to Pensacola Signs to have it cut to size. After Stevie looked at the vinyl that I had and what happened to the original stripes, he suggested going to a different type of vinyl that is about half the thickness of the original vinyl and is made for vehicle and outdoor applications. Stevie ordered the material and I met him at his shop on a Saturday afternoon to take some measurements and have it cut. We spent probably twenty minutes taking the measurements and feeding the numbers into his computer. The cutter had the stripes cut out in less than five.
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I went to Jay's house and we started the prep work on the car.
We used an alcohol based cleaner and a spray bottle with a mild solution of soap and water to help position the stripes while laying them down. Starting with the hood, we measured at three different points to make sure we had the centerline correct. One measurement at the headlights, one above the wheel centerline and one at the corners of the windshield. We started with both stripes taped in place to make a final visual check for placement. Once they were satisfactory, it came time to peel the backing and not look back. While talking with Stevie, he suggested a nice little trick to ensure the stripes are straight:
This method resulted in perfectly laid stripes with no bubbles on the flat surfaces. The measuring process was the most time consuming. If I were doing these myself, I would have probably jumped the gun and eyeballed it. Since Jay was doing the honors, he took a lot of time making sure they were perfect and I'm glad he did. The stripes almost look painted on and are perfect except for a few choice spots you can't see. Areas of Difficulty On the 2nd generation RX-7's, the easiest part is of course, the hood and roof. They are fairly straight and there is little to worry about. After the hood and roof were finished, we went after the rear of the car. We removed the rear spoiler in order to have a clean working area above the taillights. Removing the spoiler is tough if you haven't ever done it before. There are two screws that go in from the outside under small buttons that are on the leading edges of the spoiler where it wraps around the hatch. A Philips head screwdriver will make short work of those. There are four nuts that need to be removed from inside the car. They are located at the pedestals for the wing and on the outer edges of the wing on each side. If I remember correctly, the driver's side is a few inches in front of the antenna hole and the passenger's side is in the same location on the other side. Lastly, there are two clips that you must twist that are at the outer corners of the wing. These are a REAL pain to get to and turn.
[Click to enlarge]
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