Stickydiljoe.com presents the RYWIRE ITR build

Stickydiljoe.com has had the opportunity to get with Ryan from rywire, and document this amazing type r build. we have been following it from the start. but with part 4 debuted last night. i just couldn't resist posting it. the car is just flat out amazing.

Below is the part 4 article from stickydiljoe.com. there is also links at the bottom of parts 1, 2, and 3. please enjoy.


It’s been almost three months since the last update, but late last week, I got word that Ryan had gone up to Norcal to finally pick up his ITR chassis. Sunny from Franklin Autobody had been busy trying to finish it up but with SEMA and so many other projects at his shop, it took a little longer than expected. Everything that we have covered on the build up until this point had been without having the chassis down here in Socal so when we heard that the car was ready, we were all pretty excited to finally see it in person for the first time. Ryan had seen it, as well as a couple other of the Norcal homies, but everyone else down here had seen just as much as all of you had, which was only in photos. There’s a lot going on lately and more than enough content to fill up the rest of this month, but Ryan finally having the chassis at the Rywire facilities was huge news that I just couldn’t pass up. With all the coverage that is coming, it would likely get lost in the mix so it’s better to toss this up today during the beginning of the week….




I wasn’t there the day it finally arrived…Ryan had gone up to Norcal and came back down with our buddy Nick Caster and his trailer. The rest of us were over at Autocon 2011 and then the next day I had to head out to Santa Barbara for a bit. While I was up there, Ryan was sending me photos with the car unloaded off the trailer and in the shop but I told him right away to stop doing any work he had planned on doing because I wanted to document it. Today I was originally planning on working on my own car but since it was raining like crazy down here, I decided to just grab my camera shit and go to the shop to see the ITR for myself….The pictures obviously do not do the paint work any justice. The Porsche GT3 orange is a great color that just has to be experienced in the sunlight but with all that is left to do, it’s unlikely to see any sunlight in the next couple months. For now, I’ll try to document as much of the progress as I can and try to bring you the build in full detail. Unlike the Big Mike Prelude build, I’ll actually be present for a majority of this build, which means that I can provide as much information and as many photos as possible. This is going to be an amazing, one-of-a-kind build that you definitely do not want to miss…

It’s still pretty crazy to see this car in person finally…I don’t even think it’s hit Ryan yet. Sunny did an amazing job though from what I see, and it was definitely worth the wait. So far, the chassis is almost as bare as can be with the exception with some suspension pieces already installed by Ryan. He got excited and started mocking up how he wanted everything…

It’s hard to tell since it’s been painted black but the exhaust opening on the rear bumper has been smoothed out and streamlined with the rest of the bumper. Ryan’s exhaust isn’t going to be routed out of the rear anymore so that opening just wouldn’t make sense. Sunny worked his magic and now the rear bumper looks like it should have came that way from the factory…

Mugen Gen. 2 rear wing with center section painted black. The base plates were left a raw aluminum finish since they were in such mint condition and Ryan had intentions on matching it a gloss black but liked the contrast of the aluminum finish…

Color-matched interior that has been completely stripped of everything minus the steering column…when it’s all said and done, a majority of it will still be gutted minus the dashboard, seats, and door panels. There’s no rush to re-install anything in here because Ryan still has to wire up the whole car inside and out…

One of the most interesting aspects of the build so far has to be the custom metal fenders fabricated by Sunny from Franklin Autobody…They came out amazing and still accentuates the OEM lines of the chassis. The fenders were also measured and designed specifically with those Regamaster wheels in mind so there will be no issues with wheel fitment down the line….

If you saw part 3 of this build, you will have seen the massive pile of parts that were sent off to be powdercoated. A large chunk of those parts were suspension pieces and you can see here how the parts look after they’ve been cleaned-up and coated a high gloss black…Everything that will go back on this ITR will either be new or restored components. This is a shot of the rear suspension along with some brand new Skunk2 Pro-C coilovers that might be replaced later on when the car is closer to completion. Ryan hasn’t really made a decision on whether or not to keep these or to run something different like JRZ’s…

Everything up front is new as well…even the hub assembly behind the Wilwood brake rotor will be replaced later on with a new unit. You’ll probably noticed the crusty old tie rod end in the photo, which contrasts with the clean, gloss black suspension pieces. That old tie rod end is attached to a spare steering rack that Ryan re-installed on the chassis just to get the car moving from the bodyshop back to his shop…

No glass has been installed on the ITR body yet, except for the rear hatch window…here you can see parts of the cage through the rear window…the paint looks wet still and the whole car still needs to be cut and buffed. Sunny will come down personally later on down the line to clean everything up before it makes it’s official public debut…

Another glimpse of the cage and interior with the rear hatch up…don’t forget the battery box sitting just behind the passenger seat area…

Here’s what the bay looks like, bare minus the coilovers being mounted, as well as the subframe and the spare steering rack…Speaking of the steering rack, there’s a reason why was using a temporary unit…

While I was there, he was still busy putting his modified rack back together. I would like to explain to you exactly what he was doing to it, but I felt it would be more appropriate for Ryan himself to tell you….

GREAT VIDEO ON HOW TO CONVERT YOUR POWER RACK TO MANUAL.

That’s pretty much it for now. He’s slowing doing stuff to it and I’ll update you when he does but there are so many customer projects there at that time that he has to concentrate on finishing up those cars first…check back for more soon…




Here are the links to the previous parts of the build that you may have missed…


PART 1

PART 2

PART 3