Mazda Rotary Club

Well Being that I can\'t post in the project area yet thought I would stick a quick one here to introduce my project FD3.

Doesn\'t do it justice.. Looks much worse in the flesh!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/1.jpg)
I am sure we can fit a bit more in here
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/3.jpg)

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/2.jpg)

As you can see from the pictures I have a lot of work to do! It was bought with no engine or gearbox. and an half removed interior which was wedged full of engine parts and also some missing.

Hmm I am sure something is missing?!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/1a.jpg)

Well after getting all the crap out I was left with this..
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/4.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/5.jpg)

Then it was a case of it was easier to take the rest out to clean it out properly! I have seen cleaner skips!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/6.jpg)

Now, once everything was out I began to realise I didn\'t have enough pieces of car to fill all the gaps in trims and seating arrangements! Much to my luck there is a local breakers yard that have just got in an FD3 so I jumped in the car armed with some tools and set about working out what I needed. Lots of the car had been gutted already but fortunately the bits I wanted were still there. Are a few moments (well an hour or 2!!) of figuring out how to get bits off and trying to memorise how it should all go together I was loaded up and ready to go! Was also handy in that I found out where some of the strange bits of plastic I had found in mine came from!
So a bit of a spruce up in the boot and a new back seat and carpet and...
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/7.jpg)

And then into the passenger compartment with some rear trims and deep cleaning and we have..
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/8.jpg)
All done in less than a day! Not bad for a beginner surely?!

That was all last weekend..

This weekend I just tinkered.. fixed a broken dash! found a few wires and plugs I need to work out were they go and gave it a quick clean on the outside to see what the paintwork looked like..
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/9.jpg)
Should come up ok with a bit of elbow grease!

I will try and post each weekend as that\'s the only time I have to do work on it!

Hi Mate, sounds like a good project you have there!
Your the guy with the White  Skyline?
good luck with it all, oh and can you tell us which breakers had the FD
please mate?
Cheers
Paul..

Err yes?? I do have a white skyline? Only a guess from the picture on your tag.. But are you the guy I spoke to at the shell garage that day with the Red FD?
Will tell you where the other one is once I have taken all the bits I need!!

I have already got the engine and box obviously.. I do need a P/S pump though if anyone has a spare?
Half the dash.. centre console, rear seat back.. are gone from this other one Body work wise it\'s had a bit of a prang.. all over! it is red tho! Think the doors and boot are ok..

It\'s at harris\' yard.. Nutbourne

Lee

Oh. and for those of you interested in skylines.. This is the project I just finished.. Was no where near as bad as the FD to start with but all the finishing work, major servicing, and bling have been done my me.. also had it mapped a couple of weeks back.. Grossing 422bhp.. not bad for a baby one!

Click the thumb for a full slide show...

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/th_IMGP0010.jpg) (http://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/?action=view¤t=694dca46.pbw)

Lee

yip that was me, Very clean nice Skyline.
May take a trip over to Harris\' in a few weeks then, just need a few clips
and screws nothing major at all.:Thumbs-up
Paul.

i have a pump if you need one , pm me if you need it

good work on the car, keep it up !!

Will try and keep it up!!

Can you e-mail with info/price about the p/s pump please.. I don\'t have the luxury of pm yet!

Cheers
Leeroy_25@hotmail.com

Nice one. Both mine are a bit like that! The silver one one a bit worse than the red.  I\'m not too far from you if you ever need a hand (North of Basingstoke).
Did you get a PS pump? I\'ve got one if you still need.

Hi Ian,
Thank for the offer... May take you up on i if I get stuck..

I hve P/S pump.. all I am missing is the pulley..Do you have one of those spare perhaps? If so how much.

I was also after an idle/tensioner pulley, a clutch pipe, heater matrix feed pipe and one of the connecting rubber 90deg pipes that join the metal air dump pipes to the CAT.

Any of the above would be very helpful.

Thank you
Lee

more pictures ! :D

Quote from: leeroy_25Hi Ian,
Thank for the offer... May take you up on i if I get stuck..

I hve P/S pump.. all I am missing is the pulley..Do you have one of those spare perhaps? If so how much.

 That\'s a maybe...

I was also after an idle/tensioner pulley (yes), a clutch pipe, (maybe) heater matrix feed pipe (nope) and one of the connecting rubber 90deg pipes that join the metal air dump pipes to the CAT (pretty sure).

Any of the above would be very helpful.

Thank you
Lee

I\'ll have a look and give you some prices over the weekend :cheers

Haa!!

Which one.. FD or GTR!! just kidding..

I am hoping to do a bit more tomorrow. Have to respray my girlfriends bonnet and door first thanks to a little shoping trolley inccident.

Plan is to compression test and leak check the engine! or at least get it ready and fit all the missing parts I can back in place.
Maybe re-wire and fit the radio unit and speakers. and if I can do that put the dash back together.

I haven\'t got my steering adaptor or special seat rails I am having made to move the seat back to get that up together. so that will have to be next weekend!

Thing is I go to do something then find out I am missing a bit! already I am going to have to make a cage to fit the radio which should be fun! I have a double DIN and the slot is not really meant for that room what I can tell measuring it?

As and aside - I was hoping to carbon up my door handles...
Anyone got a gammy set they would be willing to donate me for experimentation purposes?!

Well hopefully there will be something more to look at tomorrow..

Lee

Thanks Ian,

Lee

Well today was a bit of a laim effort!

I had to do a respray on my other halfs car and that basicaly took up most of my time and enthusiam for the day..

However I have made a start sorting out the lump and seeing what\'s missing.

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Thelump.jpg)

I am currently stuck for a P/S pulley.. anyone got one? managed to find an idle pulley and P/S pump okay.

have also got most of the pipes that are missing.

I noticed a couple of areas that I am not sure whether there should be pipes connected to or not.. please take a look and let me know if you can help..

looking into the rats nest from the back of then engine I can see three pipes with nothing on.. 1 at the opening:

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Ratnest2.jpg)

and two right in under the inlet manifold.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RatNest1.jpg)

also there are two open stubs on the side of the inlet manifold. one big and one small..
I am guessing the small one is for the boost guage? where does the big one go?
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Inletpipes.jpg)

I also got around to attempting a compression test which was inconclusive to say the least.. plugs look clean and a nice brown colour. Took the two top plugs out and inject a bit of oil into each chamber as recommended and then hot wired the starter motor..
To start with I got no reading. then I was getting a little on some and not on another.. then I was up around 5bar on all.. then bugger all! I don\'t think it was really turning fast enough for a start.. but also I wondered if oil may have gone in the tester and messed up the readings.. Seeing as I know the engine ran well with a smooth tick over and no smoke I think I am going to take a gamble. only way to really tell will be run it up! and I can only do that in the car! Worst case I have to take it out again and rebuild it!

I promise to make a better effort next weekend.

Thank you
Lee

Well I have made little but some progress since last weekend.. Time is always against us.. I was away Saturday so had to squeeze a bit in on Sunday.
My main aim for this weekend was fitting myself into the car!! I have already attemtped modding the seat rails and thought better of it without a spare pair to practice on.. looked very involved and the rivets and lumps I did drill out gave no gains! So, the other week, during a :Snoring less night, I came up with a cunning plan to avoid heavy modding and dismantling of the seat runners... :Santa I thought it was completely bolt together till I took the seat rails off and checked a second time!! But nothing major.. It involved slight modification of the seatbelt mounting point. Well taking it off and putting it back somewhere different!

Anyway.. lets cut to the chase and see some pictures. Fortunately I work for an engineering company and spend a lot of time designing moulds for composites so I am handy in the area of CAD! I took a few measurements from the seat and then used a bit of knowlegde to give my self a safe sized piece of metal to work from.. then figured exactly where I could move the seat to so that the seat belt could be easily remounted without extra holes or welding and I came up with this!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/SeatRail.jpg)
Which after a trip to the machine shop came out like this:
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Rail1.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Rail2.jpg)

Then it was onto fitting this to the seat! The outer rail is no problem. the rail comes off and the extension piece bolts on in it\'s place. then you remount the rail in the new holes created by the rail. A little like this.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Rail3.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Rail6.jpg)

The inner rail which has the seatbelt attached is not quite so straight forward but its not that bad.. took me a bit to get the little bracket off the top of the rail as it is welded on good a proper.. persistance with the angle grinder, a small die grinder and a drill to remove the spot welds won in the end to leave this.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Rail5.jpg)

Not entirely clear what\'s there unless you have had a seat to pieces! Main thing is the bracket needed to be in one piece as you need to use the hole that\'s in the middle to fix it back o in a sec! First I welded back up the sport weld holes and ground it all back to give a nice flat right angle section. I then opened up the centre hole to 8mm (same as the fixing bolts) so I could fix this back.. When I designed the extension I made sure that the new fixing position was inline with where the seatblet mount needed to be so basically when I bolt the runner to the extension I sandwich the belt bracket between the two job done!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Rail4.jpg)
The end result is I gained exactly 70mm..
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Rail7.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Rail8.jpg)

In tall peoples terms that\'s.. \'Just enough\'!

Let me know what you think. I think I might market it and call it \'R-X7ension\'
with a play on the \'7\' as a \'t\'!

Next part to fit is the new steering wheel a special adapter I had made too! Hopefully this will add a little more leg room.

Lee

Wow great work on those seat rails! Looking good buddy...keep up the hard work :Thumbs-up

Thank you very much.. I was quite pleased myself!! :Laugh

Any takers for the rails and I can maybe look into getting a batch done.. and priced.. I was thinking of polishing them or anodising them eventually.

Lee

pop a thread in the for sale section mate, seeing if you can drum up any interest there. I know loads of tall FD owners!

Unfortunately I am not able to post in the forsale.. Not yet a full member!

Lee

hit the \'new topic\' button in the \'submit parts for sale\' section.. type ur add according to the guideline template, then once submitted it will remain in there for up to 7 days, and only you, mods and full members can view it.
then it will get moved to main section by a mod, so everyone can see it.
Job done.

ok. i\'ll give it a whirl!.. Might point them in the direction of this post and see what interest I get before getting to carried away!

Cheers
Lee

Well Guy\'s here is the latest of my slow progress!! Please remember I am not a slack ass! Just very busy and only got to play with my toys on a Saturday!!
Well Depsite maye not looking like I achieved much Saturday was a good day in the progress department as far as I was concerned!

Finally my missing bit\'s of engine auxillaries are coming together so I am very close to dropping the lump back in!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/parts1.jpg)

On the other hand the car is coming... Well more apart!!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/engbay1.jpg) Well You have to start somewhere.. and I like things to look nice/right! So being that I am putting a body kit on anway and I thought the extra room around the car maybe helpful when fitting the engine back so I stripped off the front end.
Also in the progress I  have found more wires I cannot yet place! Will worry about that later. I would guess from position (Inside the bumper backing) they are spot lights possibly? The little bumper spot lights have got some extra aftermarket looking harness and seperate fuse box All marked FET tunning? I tought the little bumper spots were astandard type R fitting?
Anyway.. Back to the task in hand.. The engine bay was looking a little tired.. The engine removal had obviously taken it\'s toll on things and then on top of that I think it had been sat for a bit with no bonnet! So I Masked it all out and decided to give it a new lease of life!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/engbay2.jpg)
Of course before that point I had throughly cleaned and degreased the bay with a stiff brush and steam cleaner detergent. then a flat back with 600 grade wet and dry and a wipe over with paint thinners. All ready for a coat of primer!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/engbay3.jpg)
Frankly it looked better with just that! A nice even finish so clearly my cleaning efforts had been re-paid!
quick coat of mazda gloss black et voila!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/engbay4.jpg)
Yummy!! Look at that shine!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/engbay5.jpg)

I only used a single pak cellulose based paint for this as it dry\'s quick and I ad to hold some of the wiring out of the way by hand to get at everywhere! Wsan\'t too kean on hanging out in the garage till the wee hours waiting for the fast hardener to activate the two pack!

I have got 2K for the body work which I intend to flat the whole car off ater and go over with clear coat to give a a superior shine!

Next I will be removing all the brackets from the engine bay, sand blasting them and either getting them plated or painting them. I also went to the vast expensive of new nuts and bolts!
Also need to test fit the body kit of which I am still waiting on a front bumper to arrive then I can look at paiting or at least priming it ready.

Last week I mentioned about a Modified steering hub and adaptor I was sorting out to aid my seating position.. Well here it is finished!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/steering2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/steering1.jpg)
The centre part was the adaptor I had machined up to convert the 100mm PCD holes down to the conventional 70mm PCD. I really like the style of the wheel.. And I couldn\'t find a small dished one anywhere else! Hence I went this route.
I had to modify the horn wiring plug to actually fit it!? Don\'t know if this is normal. The actual hub jammed up on the plug sticking out of the rotating terminal ring that runs the horn. Basically I had to cut the plastic off the end of the plug to expose the terminals, Bend them out of the way and then take the 1 terminal that operates the horn and run into the hub. Hope it works!! Let me know if this is standard practice or if I have missed a trick somewhere!

Cheers for looking

Lee

Sorry about the bad grammar and spelling erros!! I ran out of edit time!

Intentional mistake above!

Lee

Well, ths weekend I had hoped to test fit all the front end bodykit.. But it would appear some punk on ebay has tried to stitch me up over a front bumper.. It hasn\'t arrived in two weeks and he hasn\'t responded to my numerous e-mails for tracing info.. Anyway.. I did manage to drill off the front wings and get them fitted up to the car!

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Arch1.jpg)

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Arch2.jpg)

Not bad.. Had a little bit of a fiddle to get them lined up nice and one side for some reason all the mounting flanges where twice as thick as they should be! Had to do a bit of tickling but got there in the end.. Now they are ready for priming.

Spent the rest of the day putting bits back on the engine and also had to give my GTR some TLC as it\'s been feeling neglected!

Well I am making progress which is the main thing!!

Lee

Those small blank pipes are normal. Some of them are used for Auto version.

On the manifold, one is for the boost gauge, the bigger one is for the brake servo pipe.

Cheers Martin...


Lee

Hi,
I am interested in the seat adaptors you made how much are you looking for them?

Hi There Mate,

I have got a few people interested in these!

I am waiting to get a price back from the machinist on a batch to get the best price. Mine were done as a favour through my work! I intend to get them priced with different finishes and in stainless..  And also supply all the fixings. The only thing required of you would be removing the seatbelt bracket to reuse.. I may look at supplying a bracket too as a complete kit if I really do get some serious interest.. Anyway.. Price wise off the top of my head I am guessing/hoping between £75-100 for a pair. It\'s a nicely thought out piece and easy to fit. As a kit with bracket it would take mins. Will see what feedback I get and go from there.

Lee

Firstly.. I have got a price for the seat rail adaptors for anyone interested.. Please see the for sale section.

Now.. This weekend I made some good progress!! I got the whole front end fully test fitted up.. Drilled off and trimmed and then back off ready for paint! Check it out.. Looks a bit odd as the front is so high up where the engine is out.
I started the day thinking it was going to be a nightmare! The wings were not too bad a fit as I had discovered last week.. But the bumper! Oh my! I got this cheap on ebay.. Now I know why! None of the fitting holes were drilled. Two of the mould brackets to hold on the top edge were completely at the wrong angle! (these I now no longer!!). The general moulding is pretty good but things like the edges were too rounded which resulted in large gaps where the bumper met the wing. After a lot of tickling and a bit of glass filler it certainly doesn\'t look bad.. So all in all a good purchase I would say!

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bkit1.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bkit2.jpg)

The very slight gap looks worse with the white on black.. But I plan to final fit the kit and blend the joints right in perfect.. Will probably still leave the bumper and wing as two pieces as it will only crack.. So I will PTFE tape the wing and fill up to it.

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bkit5.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bkit7.jpg)

As you can see below the wide burnout kit means that the wing rolls back in as it comes back to meet the standard body line width and bumper.. I hadn\'t really thought too much about that. Guess it would look better if they had done a wide nose cone and left the arch wide at tip.. Anyway.. Looks worse here again because of the fact the engine is out and the wheel is positive cambered! So I keep telling myself anyway.. Can\'t really judge fairly till it is back on the deck with the wide wheels on. I do have a backup plan in mind that I could blend in a big section between the wing tip and bumper to level them out some what..  I am also considering softening the sharp edges on the burnout kit so they are more in keeping with the curves of the FD3. Thus giving me kind of a bespoke bodykit too!

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bkit6.jpg)

I thought I should drop the bonnet on and see how bad the gaps were.. Much to my surprise they were all **** on!! Love it!!

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bkit9.jpg)

Next week I think it is engine back in time! On that note I repaired the plug that was damaged on the gearbox (see last weeks post!) although I would prefer a new one properly in tact as I have no way of knowing how good the contact is!

Anyone got one of these kicking about?
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Gboxplug1-1.jpg)

Cheers
Lee

Wooohooo!!!

The lump has finally made it\'s way into the engine bay!! Not sure how long it will be there for!!? I have just gambled how good it is.. Mainly I want to run the car and see what  think of it.. then I will worry about rebuilding the engine if need be.. for certain I would do some tuning and blinging up though!

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Engin.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/engin1.jpg)
Job was nothing like as bad as I expected.. dropped the whole lot in in one complete with box.. the only time it got tight was the last little bit trying to get it to drop into the engine mounting holes.. took about 1 1/2 hours to get it in due that little stick up.. other than that reckon we could have done it in about 45mins.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/engin2.jpg)
I had my dad operating the engine lift.. I was guiding the engine.. spent most of the time swimming in gearbox oil under the car!! Once we had nosed the box in, I got under and pulled the box down into the tunnel.. then it was just a case of guide it down and along a bit at a time.. to get the last little bit I had to lift the box up while my dad used a \'delicate\' lever bar to slide the engine along till it dropped into the mounting holes..
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/engin3.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/engin4.jpg)

I got most the pipes and wiring connected up.. found I was short a few nuts an bolts so I need to get those sorted..

Does anyone know what the bolts that hold the aircon pipes to the pump should look like?? are they stepped with a shoulder? or is there a roll pin that they go through to help locate the pipes? I am definately missing those..

I also connected up the prop, and all the bracing under neath the car.. what is the purpose of the ally brackets?? just to stiffen up the chassis a bit I presume?

Was good fun in some ways and a god sense of achievement.. I had to use the powers of deduction to figure what went where as I have basically got two buckets full of bolts bracket clips etc and know idea where they came from!! but it\'s nearly there.. Next week the install should be complete..

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/engin5.jpg)

Now I need to know what fluids I need for the engine, box, powersteering and diff.. anyone got the answers please? rough amounts required might be helpful too..

Cheers

Lee

....It lives!!

Yeeeessssss!!! Sorry I haven\'t written for a while.. I ent on hliday and also owent a weekedn with not a lot to post about.. kept find things missing and ppes leading no where! Well I finally sussed it all out.. The car and engine have been standing for like a year.. Tank was drained as well! cleaned all the fuse box out.. connected the alarm and all good.. turned the key and first time it coughed but didn\'t go.. second turn.. Broom! Away she went! Smoked like a trooper for a minute where I have put oil inside the engine to make sure nothing was rusted.. tick over is a bit poppy but I think thats where the exhaust is leaking at the CAT as there are no gaskets in it! Other than that it purs like a kitten and revs fine! I have\'t got it hot, hot yet so it could still go pear shaped but for now I am a very happy chappy!
I love the turbo waste gate sound! has a lot of induction noise as it\'s runnig ne of the big mushroom filters. Awesome!

Now I just need to finish the rest!!

Cheers for all the help guy\'s.. would have been impossible without you all!

Lee

P.S. Will post some pictrues and maybe a video when I get a chance next week/weekend.

nice one dude! Can you give me a bell as well please...ive lost your number (07947212298)

pretty cool write up - glad you got it working

you have done more work on the car in such a short space of time that most members would do in a life time !!

Thanks grinder!! I thought it was taking time!!! Some times progress seems slow but then I only normally get to play on Saturdays!
Hope to get more photo\'s up soon and start making some serious progress on the bodywork!
Jit I was going to call you Saturday but I was working my butt off trying to get the beast running! Will try and give you a call tomorrow..

Lee

OK People.. Some log awaited pictures of the progress!!

Didn\'t seem to get too much done today.. Cleaned the engine.. and fill the gearbox with oil!! Still waiting on pipes, gaskets and a dump valve to finish the engine side of things for now. I also rewired the sterso system today as soeone had hacked the crap out of it! fitted the rubber gear shift surround and had a maor issue with the alarm system!!
Basicaly te alarm went off and I couldn\'t get it to go off again so the car was immobilised. After a 1 hour of fiddling with wiring and checking all the fuse and changing the key fob battery with no luck I went online and managed to find a manual for the alarm system.. After reading this it sounded like it had gone into anti-car jack mode.. bummer was you need a code to turn it off.. Man did I pray it was still set to the factory one.. Thank my lucky stars it was!! So we had lift off again! I then began stripping the rear interior back out as I need to repair a dent in the rear corner.. How annoying.. If I had known that to get the boot trims out you need to remove the back seat and rear quarter trims I wouldn\'t have put them all back in when I got the car!!

Anyway pictures.. and if it works a video of the car running..

Before a spring clean...
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Engbay3-1.jpg)

After a bit of a spruce up!!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/EngBay2-1.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/EngBay1-1.jpg)
Looks okay I thought!? You can see the quality pipe bung I have in where one of the CRV\'s is missing! really need to fix that properly! Well hopefully next week I should get all the remaining pipes, Gaskets and a Dump valve. Also I will need to take the drivers seat out again and investigate the wiring for the CAT sensor.

It Lives!!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/th_Running.jpg) (http://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/?action=view¤t=Running.flv)

Now.. Just so I know are there any vital signs to look for if ya engine has a water leak or the tips are gone?? I can\'t drive it around at the moment for obvious reason.. It seems to run fine to me.. and I am just waiting for the water level to settle before I can tell if it uses water.. It certainly doesn\'t smoke.. maybe a bit lumpy when it\'s cold for a minute or two? but it has been stood for ages and stil has some pipes and gaskets not connected properly!

Lee

Looks and sounds pretty good tbh! Nice one.

Thanks Ian,

I guess it could all still go wrong..?! Hopefully not though! Don\'t want to make myself too happy just yet! When I get the gaskets and pipes fitted next week I will do a recording from cold..

Lee

Great project, nice to see an rx saved!:driving

I thought it would be such a shame to see it go to waste!! Thank you for the positive words!

Hope you all like the finished article whenever it get\'s there!

Lee

good work
respect to you for doing this

bloody good job

Glad to see you all like!! So far!! the positive votes is what\'s keeping me going! And in times of need I know where to come for answers!! I really appreciate all the help I have had along the way. On that note has anyone got pm facility to send the guy from shine auto a pm so he can get on here and give some advise!! would be nice to see his opinion on the kit when I get round to fititng it back up too! I spoke to a company about wheels today to suit my burnout kit and said I am looking for something like 25-30 offst to play safe and then I will play with spacers and he guy said. No, No, no.. you need +6 offset rims.. 3 piece... 10" rears and 9" fronts.. going to set you back about £2650 for wheels and tyres and we recommend the traffic star?! Well a little more than I had hope to spend on rims (althogh nice rims I am sure!) and also I am not quite convinced of the offset/size he suggest! I know the burnout demo car is supposed to have +6\'s on it but the camber is ridiculous! Anyway. This is one thing I do not want to get wrong and have been seeking lots of adivce on for ages! In my opinion the wheels can make or break the car. it\'s te icing on the cake so to speak!

Cheers
Lee

Good work fella, enjoyed reading the thread :Thumbs-up

Thanks Ricco..
Hopefully I will have plenty more reading for you soon enough! Once I sort all the interior bits and can get back onto the bodywork properly hopefully it will take shape pretty quickly! Hopefully!!

Lee

Hi guy\'s and gal\'s,

Prgoress is a little slw at the mo!! Weather is crap so not helping! Also I ammstill stuck on a little bit of wiring.
Can anyone help me please! On the standard CAT there is a sensor that goes in the side. I have this but the plug is busted of the end. I assume this plugs in under the drivers seat somewhere so I have removed it to investigate and the only plug I can find is this:

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Sniffer2.jpg)

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Sniffer1.jpg)

I am guessing the white plug is the plug I need for the CAT sensor but the colours are totally different? Also the previous owner as made a temporary earth connection form this wire to the chassis? If tis is te CAT wire are you supposed to do this if you De-Cat the car? or can the plug jsut be left empty? I presume is nees to send some kind of signal to the ecu?

Just to confirm the black plug on this section of harness goes to the plug on the bottom of the seat.

I would really appreciate any help and some explanation on this in preperation for taking the CAT off!

Thank you
Lee

Under the drivers seat there are two plugs, one is above the carpet and is the seat belt pre tensioner thingy.  The other one is under the carpet (Sorry, back seats out time again!) and is for the cat heat light.  When you de-cat the car you just connect to two poles of this plug to itself.

good job by the way mate, awesome project! FYI those seat rails you made are a great idea, however you can use the US or UK spec seat rails and these will give you more legroom; i think its what i have in my car as my seats go so far back they touchthe front of the back seat.

Thanks Bobfish.. Not sure how I would go about getting the US or UK seatrails as most cars are jap imports.. But maybe one to know for the future!! Is it definately the rail they have modified for taller drivers?
Anyway. regarding the Heat sensor.. thank you for the feedback.. The fact that my plug is currently earthed to the chassis is incorrect then and I just need to loop the wires together. Would this effect the running at all?
Will I be safe going straight onto my Decat pipe now? or should I wait till I get it mapped with a power FC?

Thank you
Lee

No worries mate.

You need to make sure its actually the cat heat sensor wire thats earthed at the moment. Looping them together also just earths it anyway i believe. It shouldnt affect the running, however i would wait till you get a PFC to decat the car for sure, otherwise engine damage can result due to increased flow (you may still only run 10psi boost, but the flow through the engine is greater and since RX7s use MAP sensors, they cant sense flow - so you lean out)

Thank you for the advice and I will run with the CAT for now!! That is pretty much what I had been told before.. Just checking though incase it was a tunning company trying to con me into getting a Power FC! If I want to connect it up do you know which wire on the sensor goes to which wire on the wiring loom side? As I mentioned somewhere the plug has been stripped off the CAT sensor! I have gone to the effort to take the seats out so may as well connect it back up properly.. The sensor has a red wire and a white wire..
Thanks again

Lee

Well,

It has been a little while since I posted.. I don\'t want you all thinking that I have been slacking of in the build up to Christmas! Well I may have had a few other bits to sort out but hey! It\'s Christmas!

Anyway.. Between all that I have been collecting up bits and pieces that I need. I have finally got some sid skirts and spats! Not sure they will go with the ret of the kit yet but we wil have to wait and see!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Skirts1.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Spats.jpg)

They are pucker Veilside curtiousy of Martin at Speedline. Need a fair amount of TLC but I will get them there!
Also thans to Martin I now have all my missing intake pipe work which is a bonus! I also have purchased a Apexi BOV the other day which in on route form Japan! Little present to myself!

As well as that I have been trying to make use of the few days I have off over work.. I have started prepping and aint parts of the kits ready to bolt back on.
My Copy C-west bumper!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Prep2.jpg)
REA- Low rear wing!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Prep1.jpg)
And my new Eyelids! Just standard for now!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Prep3.jpg)

After a bit of primer I had something resembling this..
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Prime1.jpg)

Then once I got some top coat on and was given my christmas present early! (a 107,000btu space heater!! for the garage!)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Paint1.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Paint2.jpg)

And thats not been polished yet!

I need to flash in some edges on the eyelids and bumper then I will flat it back and give it a  clear coat to enhance the shine some more!!
The bumper was a right cow to do!! All the vents and shapes! I fully expected to scrape a part I had just done or get a run in an awkward area but took my time and has come out pretty good I think!

I hoe to finish spraying over the course of the week and maybe get on the arches next week which I need to blend up to the bumper to loose the very small gap I had when I test fitted it all. Then the front end may look like an FD again!!
Stick with me guys and I hope to show some proper progress in the next week or two!

Have a good New Year..

Lee

that is an AWESOME finish buddy, what spray gun are you using?

edit, and merry xmas & happy new year to you & all too :)

Not sure!! It\'s my dads.. Just a standard type gun.. not a gravity gun.. It\'s about 20 years old!! but I think it was pretty good when he got it. I want to get a nice gravity gun as they are easier on awkward shapes.. I guess with in reason the finish is down to te settings you use and the gun nozzle.. I know expert by any stretch! just experimented to see what gets the best result with the gun I am using currently.

Lee

Now.. The new year has bought me a new lease of life..once I recovered from that dreaded winter vommiting virus! I have been a bit slack on progress I know! But it has taken a bit of shape finally! Over the past couple of weeks I have been prepping and painting various parts ready for fitting. So I thought it was time or another post so you can see how it\'s coming aong!

These are the lovely burnout wings after painting. not yet flatted an polished but still with an awesome deep shine! Basically I have used a 1k basecoated and gone over it with a 2K clear coat to ad depth and protection to the colour..
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/WIng1.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Wing2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Shine.jpg)

Next job was to start fitting the bits!
Starting with the wings..
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Fitting5.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Fitting1.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/FItting2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Fitting4.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Fitting5.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Fitting3.jpg)
I had test fitted all the parts and tickled them back at the beggining of the project so was not anticipaiting to many drama\'s!

Once both wings were on I had to tackle the bumper.. The fit of this was shocking when I first got it as it\'s a copy.. but it now isn\'t too far off..
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bumper1.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Lightsout.jpg)

I may try and tickle the fit some more or use some tiger seal in the very slight panel gap to finish it off.. I have seen better and I have seen worse!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Gap1.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Gap2.jpg)

Once that was on I thought it might be an idea to check the bonnet fit! To my deep joy it was nuts on!! Side to side it is perfect.. hats of to shineauto for the wings!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Gap4.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Gap3.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bonnet1.jpg)

Once I was happy the standard bumper fitted okay.. it was then time to bring out the piece de resistance! My replica AD9 bonnet! Can afford a real one yet and beggars can\'t be choosers!
I as lead to believe this was a shocking fit al over but it\'s not too bad!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/AD92.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/AD94.jpg)

The side gaps are a bit large on it but not terrible.. with a bit of juggling I will get it a bit better.. could possibly squeeze the wings in a touch too. Also may put a little rubber seal strip down the underside edge of the bonnet and let it over hang a touch so it reduces the gap a bit.
You can see in this next one that the bonnet seems to sit up a bit on once side of the bumper.. it\'s actually the bumper that\'s low on one side as it is te same with the standard one on. so I need to adjust the fit on that.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/AD93.jpg)

Well I am very interested to hear your thoughts on the progress and whether I am doing the right things styling wise in your opinions!?

Can someone please find me some nice deep dished 18" rims for a bargain price! Some Works or rays should do the trick!! Also I am not convinced the veilside skirts I have go.. but I will leave that till next time!

Final does anyone know how the idle adjuster works? In for faster out for slower? Does it only work when hot? Is there any cold start adjustment? There seems to be a lot of balancing screws on the throttle body! mine may need a check.. generally it runs fine don\'t get me wrong! Just a little lumpy when cold and a bit poppy? Maybe this is normal I don\'t know?!

Lee

spot on mate looks great! tbh i dont think the skirts will go with it either they are to much of a swoop soft tuch were as the front end with thos wings is mean as hell!
 
i have some work alloys not sure how mucht hey worth but just got some new rubbers n them costing £500 there only 17" like 225/45/17front 235/45/17rear with a lil strech
 
(http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h235/k-tec_tne/rx-7/HPIM0385.jpg)

looks good and the spraying looks amazing :D
 
not too keen on the arches thought but each to their own i suppose.
 
where did you get the bonnet from and how much??

ENVDY,

I am in envy of your rims!! Lucky for you tey are not 18" rims else your car might be sitting on bricks in the morning!! They have a lovely deep dish.. just what I am looking for.. Was hoping to get something different to the mesh spokes as tey seem to be very common. But still very nice!

Karl, My dad is not quite with the wings either! To be honest I am not 100% on the.. They could do with the egdes softening off to blend in more with the curves of the rest of the body. I did toy with modifying them myself but chose not to.. well for now at least.. If I do another one I think I will go for a feed type kit.. there are a couple in that style and they are more rounded. That is why I am in two minds about the skirts. The Veilside ones are very subtle and I think I need something wider and a bit more edgey like some C-West ones..
Also I think once it has some rims on it that fill the arches it will help.. doesn\'t really do it justice on the standard FD rims!! I only did it because I saw the Burnout demo car and thought it looked awesome! Decided I want one too!! So that\'s roughly where I am hoping to end up but with a bit more agressive look. Hence the AD9 bonnet which I got from Speedline imports for £295! It\'s FRP not carbon. I think it was a 1 off he bought for his own FD but didn\'t like it? and as I said the fit is not spot on.. but better than the pictures he showed me of it on his FD?

Thanks for the feedback though..

Lee

Thats looking good Lee.  Yes bonnet was a one off and especially at that price too!  Fitment looks so much better than when I had it fitted.

Excellent job with the project mate, the car looks fantastic! I would go with the Works 18" VS-XX wheels.
(http://www.envyperformance.com/images/products/Vs%20-%20xx.jpg)
The RE-A wing you have will look silly on the car IMO, you should go with a full carbon GT wing, that would really finish the car off, and also a Sanai rear diffuser, these both you can get from Shine.
(http://www.rotaryart.uk.com/acatalog/Shine-FD3S-RD-S-200.jpg)
 
 Those wheels ENVYD is selling are also Work wheels.

Looks good mate - must be getting good job satisfaction out of that!!

As for wheels something like I have on mine would look good I think.  Nice deep dish and you can pick them up for around £550 brand new!!  They are Ultralites.

Quote from: \'M@r{\']you can pick them up for around £550 brand new!!  They are Ultralites.

Where!! :)

edit, oh on the ultralite website of course :Hammer, didn\'t realise ultralite wheels were that cheap?

Hi Guy\'s,

I was looking at ultralites but the only problem is they only do one set with an offset even close too what I need so I would have to run spacers!
Was ENVDY actually selling his rims??

I do like the Works rims but reckon I will be lucky to get a set I can afford! In my opinion rims is what finishes off your motor and the wrong rims will ruin the whole thing.. I am going to see what the REA wing looks like but it is another thing I am not 100% on! I was maybe thinking a big C-West hammer shark style or maybe a OEM 99 spec one.

Lee

Mark which rims size and offset are you running?? They look like the nurgburg rims??

Cheers
Lee

How about the RE-A rims? I have them on mine and even though they are only 17\'s they look really quite special. I\'ve seen a few sets sold in the past so i\'m sure you can get them.
(http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa299/raf_dude/phone020.jpg)
 
(http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa299/raf_dude/DSC_0695.jpg)

Looking good Leeroy - very impressed with the spraying mate!

the arches look good from the front its just looking from the back. looks too squareish. maybe you could sort of make a less of an angle from the front indicator to where they actually start coming out but it sounds like a lot of work but would be really different.

Karl - do you mean the transition from the OE wing shape to the more rounded additional section matching the shape of the arch?  I quite like that - but was worried when I saw the pictures that the lip the arch creates would be too much - but Ive seen a couple of FD\'s with very little arch clearence on big rims, and it just means you see more tyre.

I\'m gonna keep a close eye on this thread!

Quote from: Swanny_UKKarl - do you mean the transition from the OE wing shape to the more rounded additional section matching the shape of the arch? I quite like that - but was worried when I saw the pictures that the lip the arch creates would be too much - but Ive seen a couple of FD\'s with very little arch clearence on big rims, and it just means you see more tyre.
 
I\'m gonna keep a close eye on this thread!

yeh thats what i mean, it like just come out at quite an angle, if that was more "flat" say if you put a load of fibreglass to fill it in. hard to explain lol

Karl, I think I know exactly what you mean... and it is what I thought of doing.. But yes it would be masses of work.. and add lots of weight into the arch.. I will look at it when it\'s done and see if I can  use a carbon panel to create the most of the blend and then bond this in place and blend it in.. What I think you mean is where the bumper meets arch and then suddenly flares out.. As Swanny says it means you end up with lots of tyre sticking out at the bottom of the arch where it goes back to standard body width.. What I would plan to do is start the blend from lower down and further around the bumper.. Also if I did that I think I would soften the sharp edge on the top outer edge of the arch. But I would really like to get it generally finished first to see how it all comes together and then work on the finer details!

Feed Rocket- is your car tge black motor or the white motor with the rear diffuser? Would love to see some more pics of the white one.. Not too kean on the REA wheels personally.. For a start I am not totally sure about gold centres on a black car??

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback and glad I am making some good progress again for you all to see!!

Lee

looking good lee, think the arches will look awsome when you get your wide wheels on! its amazing that your project has come such a long way in such a short time, i remember when you got the arches from me you didnt even have a car to put them on! keep up the good work!

Thanks Dave!

It\'s finally starting to take shape! I think my progress has been slow.. well it has been by my standards! Sadly as I have said before I only get 1 day a week to work on it and that\'s not every week! for instacen this week I am removing a spare engine from another donor car I bought! and then possibly fixing the leak on my GTR or maybe looing at fitting up the rear arches! Will definately have to take my time on that job as I want them to look right! How is your own car coming along?

Lee

Quote from: leeroy_25Thanks Dave!
 
It\'s finally starting to take shape! I think my progress has been slow.. well it has been by my standards! Sadly as I have said before I only get 1 day a week to work on it and that\'s not every week! for instacen this week I am removing a spare engine from another donor car I bought! and then possibly fixing the leak on my GTR or maybe looing at fitting up the rear arches! Will definately have to take my time on that job as I want them to look right! How is your own car coming along?
 
Lee

Its coming along ok, was waiting for the rear bumper to arive from japan, now that has turned up just got to get the tyres put on the wheels then its off to the body shop! :)

okay guys,
So progress has been very slow (NO!) the past couple of weeks but sadly I have had some other commitments to attend to! Anyway.. All being well I should be able to have something to show this weekend! I am about to be ready to fit my rear arches of my burnout kit which basically fit over the standard ones to flare the bodywork out a bit.. I could do with some advise on this as I have been thinking the best/proper way to tackle this.
I don\'t really want to cut away the existing metal work as this will give something for the flares to attach to and also protect them from the inside. Now If I am going to run wider wheels and track to match with the front obviously I need to create some clearance on the standard arch which will remain underneath the burnout flare. So I have a couple of solutions and want to know which you lot think is best!
1. chop away just the lip section of the wheelarch to gain tyre clearance.
2. buy/borrow an arch flaring tool and flare out the standard arch and lip before fitting the burnout arch
3. run ridiculous camber on the rear
4. Do a combination of 1 and a little of 3 or 2 and a little of 3?!

votes please! or better still some words of wisdom from personal experience!

I was just going to post some shiny pictures of my parts from Japan but Photobucket has decided to go an maintain themselves so no can do! maybe tomorrow...? .. I think i\'ll settle down?! (littlest Hobo?) Anyone? or am I just showing my age.. and going mad.. Been a long day!

Thank you
Lee

Quote from: leeroy_25Was ENVDY actually selling his rims??
 

hey mate i was not really set on seling them bout would for good price i dont know what they are worth!
 
was mostly looking for a swap for some other wheels lol!
 
anyways i would roll the arches and a lil bit camber!
 
i thinkthe camber will help with genral driving anyways on a rear wheel drive car thats got no traction controll lol!

You cant say "camber helps RWD cars" thats like saying "putting air in your tyres will make it handle better"

Depending on what you use the car for will depend on the best solution.

If your going to drift it, i\'d say cut the inner lip away and run a bit more camber. However, if you plan on driving it even remotely fast on a circuit or on the road your gonna wanna stick between 1 and 1.5 degrees camber really (depending on spring rates,ride height and anti roll bars) so youll have to roll the arch out.

Personally i would speak to a body shop about getting them to do half the job.  Maybe you could bond the arch skin on, they could modify the existing wheel arch to meet the inner of the new wheel arch, then you could smooth it all in.

You could even cut the rear arches, extend them with metal and then bond the other arch over the top, see what julians done here to see what i mean:

http://www.driftworks.com/forum/drift-car-projects-builds/29908-driftworks-s15-2jzgte.html#post422874

If you want, i can put you in touch with Julian so he can give you a price on just welding on some metal inner arches to meet your outers?

i said "rwd with no traction control" and "a lil bit of camber" i think it give\'s that lil bit more help around fast bends! you have even just said yourself stay between 1-1.5degrees camber witch in my books is still -camber! anyways there just my thoughts but end then end of the day its really up to lad whos car it is and what he thinks feels good!

How does one achieve camber? Is it an art portrayed by the suspension or are further mechanisms required to capture this phenomenon?

Envyd, And Bobfish. thank you both for your replys.. I will go with some camber then for sure.. and maybe experiment a bit to see what feels right.. it will just be a weekend fun car and maybe a track day or two and possibly playing about learning the art of drifting! But we will see.. That link you gave me is awesome! I had already found it and I actually sat and read it the other day.. and it\'s not often I sit and read! It made me wish I had kept my spare shell! But I definately will be on the look for project number two which might be a rx7 along the lines of that rather meaty S15! Everyone have a read it very good! That is when I started thinking about the best way to attack my arches! On the S15 I think they have cut the old outer arch off and then fabricated a rough metal extension and then blend the fibreglass over the top.. from memory that is? The reason was the same as mine but a bit more extreme.. to protect the arch when he\'s shredding tyres while drifting! I say it almost makes me want to get and S15!

Cheers
Lee

Todays installment!!

Not a great effort again! I have been working on three cars at the same time the past couple of weeks! I have got a little fiesta I am using as a daily driver now, due to the ridiculous price of petrol! Anyway I got that finished of this morning and spent some time this afternoon playing wth the FD!
Last week I started straightening out the dent in the rear corner which was
not as easy as you might think!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX-72408072.jpg)
For a start you need to strip out the rear seats interior quarter panel and most of the rest of the boot panel to remove the small piece of trim in the boot that the dent is behind! I think that was on my last post?! What a joke! then there is a couple of electrical items behind that to take out as well.
Once all that is out there is bum all space to swing a hammer! hardly any room to get and block in.. But after much beating of my knuckles an various panle beating tools and bars I got it all out! Almost perfect!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Dent.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Dentout.jpg)

Just small skim of filler to even it out! I will flat that back out next week.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Fillerin.jpg)
The reason I have hesitated on putting the arch blisters on is I want to check tyre clearance when I get some rims on there.. All being well I am hoping to have something to use and show next week! But thats under wraps for now!
On that note has anyone got a Arch rolling tool I could borrow please?! Would help my cause massively and men I could do a very neat tidy job on the arches in a lot less time!

Also I did promise to show some bling last week.. So here is something to wet your appetites!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/BOV.jpg)

Keeping checking back for progress over the next couple of weeks!

Lee

Okay guys\'

I cannot contain my excitement hence my late post!!

But I have been holding back on a little surprise just incase it all went tits! it might still all go tits as they may not fit.. But if that is the case I will \'make them fit\'!
But here we go..
The piece de la resistance!!

Veilside Andrew F\'s...
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/VeilsideAndrewF.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/VeilsideRX7.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/VeilsideAndrewFs.jpg)

I will have to post some better pictures in the day light at the weekend and try fitting them..
Now I do appreciate this may be a love them or hate them senario. To be fair I was not at all sure about them until I unwrapped them and put them up to the car! They need a bit of TLC and my least favourite part is the centre caps so I plan to design my own and get them machined!
I am led to believe that there are not many of these this side of pond. Anyone else on the forum got these out of interest?

Let me know your thoughts people.

Lee

yeah iv gota set of those wheels, so`s ma neighbour, ma gran, the milkman :) .. nice wheels and nice panel beating lol, i had the same but on the other side of ma last rex, was a pig to do but is doable..

the big one is for the break servo and the 2 little ones are for the boost gauge & actuator, The pipes under the plenum are pipeless on mine so not sure

sorry about that i didn\'t see the other 3 pages until i posted

Interloper..
It is me that was toying with your other chrome wheels!! Hence how I recognised the centre caps you were going to flog with them!! Have you actually got a set of these F\'s?? The ones you sent a pic of on your car are different ones?? V\'s or whichever letter of the alphabet Andrew got up to?!
or have you got these as a spare set too?! Are you Mr wheel man?!

Cheers
Lee

nah just playing bud, iv got a set of veilsides yeah but unsure which ones.. im liking yours tho :)

you evil man!!!

I figured your gran probably didn\'t have a set!!!

Ohh what are they worth!!? Not that I would ever sell them... At the minute!

Lee

Interloper is drunk most of the time... take no notice... :Giggle

Quote from: S3THInterloper is drunk most of the time... take no notice... :Giggle

 o thats cold man.. very cold!! lol.. not sure what theres worth to be honest bud, i know before christmas i seen a set like mine without tyres go for £750, these were 18" tho, mines 18" rear 17" fronts :D like a hotrod :yes

I have seen a set of these rims on ebay USA and they were up for over £1000.. without tyres! Don\'t know if they sold or not? That\'s a lot of dough for secondhand rims without rubber!
I am not at liberty to say what I paid for these but in my opinion I got a steel! providing I don\'t find any nasty surprises with them!!

Fingers crossed for my trial fit tomorrow! Hopefully will have some pics up with the car having it\'s rear blisters in place?!

Lee

Well Guy\'s, Another slightly disappointing weeknd as I could not get hold of an arch roller! I managed to rub back my first filling attempt which need a secdon go on a couple of low spots. Then I gave my new wheels a good going over with the steam cleaner as I had to do some others at the same time for my new run around (Ford Fiesta!! Oh the class!)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/VSA2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/VSA3.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/VSA4.jpg)
THe dish on the rears is huge!! Love it!
Then I had test fit of my lush new rims to make sure I wouldn\'t have any issues!!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/VSA5.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/VSA6.jpg)

The fronts are almost perfect in the arches.. If anything could go out a little bit more. THe rears! Woo I will need eveyr bit of the kit to fit those in!! They are almost proud of the standard body work. I stuck one of the blisters in place to see roughly what it would look like and they will fit under! So I definately need that arch roller! Maybe even a cutt off tool to remove some of the lip!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/VSA7.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/VSA8.jpg)

Looks pretty good I thought! Could do with the suspension dropping a bit though!! (I already have a set of Mazdaspeed adjustable coilovers).

I thought I would give one of the rims a good polish up as it had some rusted dust engrained on the lip.. quick bit of elbow grease and voila!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/VSA9.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/VSA11.jpg)

I have designed my new centrecap.. so I will get a price for that and if it\'s viable post some screen shots of the 3D model later.

Lee

P.S. really need an arch rolling tool if anyone in the rough Hampshire West sussex area has one I coud borrow for a smal fee?

Lee, give me a mail about the arch roller ;)

from looking at the pics if you want the car low then you will need to cut the arch may be (could be just the angle the picture is at??)
 
what is the white car in the reflection in the other pics at the top? skybus??

i want them wheels :| lol good job mate! looking good

Can\'t believe how well you\'ve cleaned those wheels up, mate. When you posted the first pics up I thought Yikes! theres a lot of work there, but nuff respec to you, they\'re looking most excellent!

I had to cut my rear arches out when I fitted the ReA kit.  It\'s not that bad to do.  As Karl says, when you lower you wont have ANY of the orig lip in place then :)

was about to post the same, deffo safer cutting the lip away, id say your car needs droped about 40mm :) looking great by the way.. good refurb job on the wheels too .

I\'ve wanted those wheels for sol long there gorgeous.

Well thank you guys!!

Martin may have an arch roller I can borrow.. So I think I will do a combo of the two so I still have  small amount of lip to attach the blister to? Or cut it right out and flare the remaining panel side out to meet the blister? So many options!!

Oh and Karl.. I wish people wouldn\'t call it a skybus!! You cannot knock them! Shame they didn\'t put the engine into something a bit smaller though. that I agree! It is the GTR too.. I love it. but it\'s up for sale shortly to make way for the FD! I do plan to get another with big Bhp down the line.

Anyhow.. Will see what next week brings.. I have to work on Saturday so it\'s going to be a short day on the car but hey! I will get something done!

lol the old skybus carryon.. iv got a GTR32, was planning on running 800bhp with a T78 33D WHOOP WHOOP!

i would cut it right out and flare up to the blister.
 
ive always called them that, dont get me wrong thinking that i was slating it, they are a nice car.  wasnt a bad guess though :D

Hello.. it is that time again! Although I only had from about 2.15pm till 5.00pm to work on the car today I would say I made some good progress.. Mainly because I managed to borrow an arch roller from Martin at speedline. Top bloke! Thanks.. My wheels now fit with clearance!!

Below are some pictures I took with the arch roller setup.. A great tool and a doddle to use. (sorry the pics are not great I had to use my phone as I forgot my camera!)

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Archroll1.jpg)

I found the best result was achieved by keep changing the angle of the roller to ease the lip upwards and then flat.. once the lip was out of the way I began easing the head angle back to about 45° so that it started to push the arch outwards.

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Archroll2.jpg)

The bodywork is pretty springy and I found that I got the best result by using a rubber mallet on it\'s side to carefully knock a curvature into the bodywork hence creating the flare. Once it started to form it was a lot easier to get the arch rolling outwards a bit at a time ..

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/archroll3.jpg)

Almost tempting to leave the arch blister off!! You can hardly even notice any defects in the outer panel where it\'s flared.
I had taken a stab in the dark from test fitting my wheel that the arch needed to flare out by at least 10mm.. so once I had the desired amount I removed the coil over from the rear. fitted a wheel and lifted it up into the arch to check the clearance.. if any!!?

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/archroll4.jpg)

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/archroll5.jpg)

From this lovely pic you can see it\'s spot on!! about 5mm clear and the tyre bottoms right out into the top of the inner arch! perfect! I am one very please puppy!:)

I repeated the process on the other side and then where the paint had cracked I ground it right away on the lip back to bare metal and put some heavy duty primer on it to make sure it is well protected.

Now next weekend I can finally fit the blisters!!

looking good, great pieces of kit
 
think you should have it that low all round lol

thats spot on that like mate i love them wheels, would not mind some on myn! keep up the good work!

dude i\'m bringing my \'7 to yours to have the arches rolled lol, we\'ll discuss a rate no doubt!
i love this project!

Nicely done Lee, very easy to do with the right tools!

cheers guys!!

Sounds like I have found a little sideline!! a few more people like S3th and i\'ll be laughing!!

nice project mate :Thumbs-up

your not to far from me actually, im down in bognor!

will be good to see it when its finished!!!

I work in bognor!! By my reckoning you either drive a black rx7 and candy red one or a purple one?! I currently drive a white gtr and work in southern cross ind est!

Lee

Quote from: leeroy_25I work in bognor!! By my reckoning you either drive a black rx7 and candy red one or a purple one?! I currently drive a white gtr and work in southern cross ind est!

Lee

i think i may have seen you actually!coming in on the a259 maybe...?

no i drive a montego blue one with a set of ultralite nurburg\'s on....

i know the purple one you mean though, i know the guy simon who owns it, its for sale on pistonheads at the moment!

if your not upto much next sunday (9th) there is a Jap car meet up at goodwood (Hampshire Jap Cars and Sussex Jap Cars club) there are quite a few cars (around the 50 mark from what i know) and im hoping to have my rex back by friday to so come up! be good to meet another local rex owner :wave

Nov 2nd is Japcar day at Goodwood, The \'Breakfast club\' is only on the first Sunday of each month?
2nd March for example is for pre 72 cars?

Lee,
will have to catch up sometime see you out and about soon I hope,
your only a couple of miles down the road!
Paul..

http://www.sussexjapclub.com/sjc-and-hjc-meet-sunday-9th-march-2008-goodwood-vt5104.html

Gyles Do I need to register or can I just tunr up there? May come if I can get let out!! I have\'t seen your FD about then? There is another white GTR that goes into bognor but I think that comes accross from pagham way.. and there is a white GTS that goes to havant in the mornings! So if you have seen a white gtr then it\'s quite possibly mine!? Think there are some pics of it at the beginning of this thread? Anyway.. will let you know if I am def coming on Sunday. What happens at the meet?

Lee

Okay time to post my weekly progress report!!

It\'s getting there guy\'s!
First order of the day was to order....!! .. some toolage! always best to have the proper gear to do a job well!! plus an excuse to spend some money and add to the tool collection!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/TheTools.jpg)
I have always wanted an orbital mini palm sander!
Not to much required really.. Starting with a long board.. mainly for the flatish repair area i have done.. had hoped to get one you can shape but couldn\'t find one in time! A rubber sanding block with a handy curve o one side hopefully to get the arch blend nicely! A Rupes Palm sander (otehr brands also available!) and various grades of sanding pads. baper and strip!! I\'ll keep te caht brief as plenty of pictures to speak for themselves.
First job was to trim and fettle the arch blisters! The top one is the trimmed one. The bottom is how it\'s supplied.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Blister1.jpg)
I removed the thick edges that stopped the panels fitting up nicely and caused a big step.. then I trimmed the lip back to a minimum so it met up with  my rolled out arch. Drill them off and they are ready for fitting.
As warm up I got out the long board and attacked my filler repair on the rear corner. I Had to give the filler a second shot for some low spots and knock down a couple of high spots then it was there.. Here is a handy tip.. when you think you are nearly there with the rubbing back spray the area with primer or matt black...
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Filler1.jpg)
.. Then go over it with a fine grade paper.. this then highlights any low spots and when it is all even and all the paint has gone you know you have a smooth flat panel!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Filler2.jpg)

Happy with that is was on to the arches!

I got some meaty ally rivets and positioned the panel using one rivet hole before drilling off the rest to ensure it didn\'t move.
The panel was then attached using sika flex and rivets for the first stage. Sika flex is brilliant stuff. a water proof marine adhesive that goes off under water! Great for leaks! The idea is that the sika flex will stick the panel good and proper but at the same time being slightly flexible it will elinate any vibration between the panels that might cause the top filler to crack later.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Blister2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Blister3.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Blister4.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Blister5.jpg)
I also go under the car and went around the lip using the sika fllex a bit like a seam sealer. now no water can get betwen the panels.
Next step in my plan was to go over the joints with glass reinforced filler/chop strand/bridging filler or whatever you wish to all it.. This is to make double sure the panel is stuck fast to the body work and will never move causing the filler and paint to crack.

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Blister7.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Blister8.jpg)
Finally a quick flat off and then it\'s time for the first coat of filler..
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Blister9.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Blister10.jpg)

After a quick flat back and blend it\'s not looking too bad. couple more shots with the body filler and it should be there..
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Blister11.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Blister12.jpg)

Thanks for keeping with me guy\'s. I can finally start feeling and end is near!!

Lee

just turn up mate, join up if you want, it\'s free and would be good to have another member!
im not sure what will be happening lol, having tea and coffee and looking at some very nice cars. i know most of the guys on sussex jap club and there are some very very nice cars going down! ive counted between the two forums there will be 50+ so there will be plenty to look at.
this site will be more for you seeing as your from hampshire lol http://hampshirejapcars.co.uk/press/

good to see it coming along though mate!

May pop down to goodwood then and give the Skybus a final outing!

Paul is right though Breakfast club was this weekend just gone. but I am sure there will still be some peachy cars there!

Lee

yes, my old man goes in his car to that sometimes.

Sorry Chaps, not much to show from this weekend.. Well nothing noticeable in pictures.. I pretty much finished blending the arches.. Have some super fine filler coming for this weekend to get rid of any pin holes from rubbing back.. Hopefully this weekend I will get some paint on it! And it will still look nice and smooth!

Also in between things I was tarting up the skyline.. The wheels were in depserate need of some TLC!! check out the difference! Sadly I only had enough paint or a pair! but polished al the lips up..

Before:
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/WheelBefore.jpg)

After:
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/AheelAft.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/WheelAfter.jpg)

And a couple more bits for \'the project\' arrived!!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Aerocatch2.jpg)
I have been wanting a set of these for ages!! Now I need to hope I can fit them!!

Until next time..!

How did you polish the wheels up dude, mine could do with a refresh!

Andy

luckily I have a compressor. so I bought a die grinder and a polishing kit! you could do the same with a bench top grinder but you need a flexible drill attachment to go in it. You then need to go down through the grade of wet and dry from about 400 - 2000grit to remove the old lacquer and the imperfections. then hit it with the polisher (which there are three grades to go down thorough!) and finish it off with some duraglit or very fine cutting compound and wax to protect it.. In an ideal world you might want to re-lacquer them.. But some people would disagree.. you just need to keep them clean and waxed!

Lee

nice job :) i used a die grinder to polish a few bits a while ago, have the bench grinder aswell tho lol.. amazed me how much quicker it was :D

Very interesting project. Looking at aero catches for mine, just unsure how you fit them :Giggle

Shaun

Despite the bank holiday due to crap weather an having to work I haven\'t got as far as I would have liked..

I threw a heavy dose of primer at the arches and they are not bad. there is a little bit of a ripple in the blending which I should be able to flat back ready for next time.. The ripples are so faint that you can hardly feel them.. but if the angle of light is right you can see them in the panel. So being that I want perfection I will give them another go over!!

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Primer2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Primer1.jpg)

I will have to get some pictrues of my latest tool aquirement!! A very nice Devilbiss spray gun!! Well if you are going to do these jobs properly (Or try to!) you at least need to have to right tools!
That\'s my excuse and I\'m sticking to it!!

Till next time!

looks very good mate, you got a pik of the arse end? DeVilBiss guns are ok but some times i find that the spray still just does not come out the gun as fine as you want it! i use a SATA 3000 i know its £300+ more then the DeVilBiss but you get a really nice effortless glass finish! but then again if you just using it for lil odd jobs i guess they are ok.
 
also a taste of what yours will sort of look like :D
 
(http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h235/k-tec_tne/size310ey4.jpg)

Envyd.. That is what I am hoping my car will look something like! That\'s a good pic!

All I am short of really is the side skirts.. I was looking for something along the burnout lines.. or possibly C-west would work too? Anyone with some going cheap I would be very interested.. don\'t mind if they are copies or damaged.. As long as they fit!

Being that I have learned to spray on cheap rubbish guns. spraying with the devilbiss is a breeze! The bumper and bits i did before were done with the works Devilbiss Gti gun.. The set I bought is the finishline range. I did look at Sata but I could not justify spending that much!

Cheers
Lee

then you`ve learned the best way lol, if you cn get good results on a bad/hard to use tool then buying a far better bit of kit your results will be way better... iv been using a old upol gun thats kinda half blocked n humped lol.. but you addapted to it and i was getting good results, just bought the latest upol gun fer £200 and WOW!! i dont even have to sand back anymore :D WOOHOO!!! well sometimes some small dust imperfections but now just a good machine polish with some g6 and it`s like a mirror :D

the first gun i even used was a halfords own then on to devilbiss gti then sata but i have to use a sata gun as i may be starting to paint at a aston martin restoration place beside myn and they are very strick on what set up the gun is and you know what PSI the gun is putting out and so on... to get the best finish you can to the rest of the car! but if i was not going there i would probs just stay with the devilbiss

Well.. News for the week!
The main bodywork is black now! Still have the doors and tailgate to do and then my latest edition which is a set of C-west style skirts and a C-west style rear bumper!! So still lots to do!! it seems never ending! I reckon the kit will finish it off just nicely!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/C-WestSides.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/C-WestRear.jpg)

My spraying hasn\'t quite come out as well as I would have hoped.. a bit more orange peel than I was hoping to get.. I was struggling with the temperature in the garage so had to aim a bit on the thick side with the paint. The roof is pretty spot on as it\'s flat so I could get a nice wet layer on it.. just the sides that are going to need a good flat a polish! so some time soon I am going to have a good long day with wet and dry and a polisher! then is will look pucker! I think I wil take the rest of the bits into work and use the oven as you get such a difference in finish! The front wings and bumper I did at work and they don\'t even need polishing yet alone a flat off!

This is the car with a base coat applied all over:
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Black1.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Black2.jpg)

Then with the lacquer on..
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Black3.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Black4.jpg)

I really wish I had gone thinner and lighter on the lacquer now.. But nothing that can\'t be sorted with some elbow grease! Only I am running out of elbow grease at the moment!
I am toying with taking a long weekend either this week or next so I can really impact on the progress. It is so frustrating getting 1 day a week to do it.. And it\'s starting to drag on which is not good for my enthusiam! Then you rush things and make stupid mistakes trying to save time which only end up costing more time in the long run!
It will look so much different if I can just get it on the ground on it\'s lowered springs and wheels! And put all the interior back together. Then I will feel like I have made some proper progress!
Where I am at the moment all the work going into it prepping and blending and paint does really show so much till the end result can be seen.. So I feel like I have done about 3 weeks work and have nothing to show for it! And I am sure you guy\'s must be thinking the same!
Some time off work has to be a good idea!

what mixtures do u use for painting then? do u do a wide heavy spray? your finish looks great :)

The finish has settleda  bit today now it\'s dry. so not so bad a s the picture looks on the orange peel front. Mixture wise I generally go 50/50 on a base coat.. So light and thin. Always go for the biggest fan spread I can get that lays down a good quantity of paint in rasonable time.
The lacquer I use is 2K and I have previoulsy gone about 50/50 with hardener then 10% for thinners as I am essentially air drying it when it really requires an oven! this batch I went by the can a did 3:1 plus 10% but it was too heavy.. Should have either used more hardner or thinner. But generally I try to follow the same principle from primer to top coat. thick enough so it doesn\'t run, thin enough to avoid orange peeling and get it on nice and wet with as wider spray as possible! I guess really it\'s trial and error to see what suits you and your equipment?

Hello all my patient followers! If I still have any left!?

This weekend was okay on progress but not quite as I had hoped, for a couple of reasons. **** poor weather and dodgy fitting pattern bodykits!
My plan had been to remove the standard rear bumper completely which means pulling all the remaining trim out from inside the car to get at the fixings! Then I thought it would be a case of offer the C-west replica bumper up to the car.. mark on the hole positions give it a little tickle over and then paint it! While the paint was drying put the interior back together finally!
What actually happened went a little more like this.
Rear bumper off... Easy! Drill a couple of marked fixing holes on the top of the bumper, attempt to offer it up to the car.. Then reaslise it doesn\'t fit! Curse heavily.. Take it outside to start grinding bits away from it.. At this point it decides to chuck it down so I return indoors and put the interior together while the weather sorts itself out. So the interior is basically back in now! just got to fit the radio and that\'s all sorted.
After grinding the bumper a bit I tried to put it back on but no joy.. I realised it\'s fouling itself on the rear bodywork skins where is has been made a bit to thick. So I delicately relieved a few of the bits sticking out on the bodwork with a block and set about grinding the inside of the bumper back bit by bit! Which I can tell you is not a fun task! By the end of the day I looked like frosty the snow man and felt like someone had filled my clothes with itching powder!
Anyway, a few hours later I had managed to hook the bumper on one corner!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RBump1.jpg)At at this point I reaslied the bumper is essentially a bit wide for the car also or someone has trimmed a bit extra off of it as it gapes down the side of the car.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RBump2.jpg)

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RBump3.jpg)

Also it is clear that during manufacture the mould has been spread/flattened a bit as the bumper does not natruallly follow the curve around the back of the car correctly.. it requires some serious load to get it on! Eventually I ground enough out of the skins to hook it on both sides! And in the process of forcing the other end to hook on it put a small crack in a corner of the bumper from the load required.. I prefered that happened now rather than when it was all painted! So I have gone around it being deliberately heavy handed with it to get any cracking out of the way now!

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RBump4.jpg)

Now I had to do something about the huge gap between the bodywork! So I flash taped the side of the car and set about bridging the gap with fibre glass.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RBump5.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RBump6.jpg)

This is where I am for now.. So I need to remove the bumper again now. Tidy up the fibre glass and reinforce if need be.. then re-tape the car with some fresh tape and build up some filler on top. Then I need to grind back and fill the damaged areas and blend it all back in ready for painting! So probably a weekends work in that!

Essentially I am a weekend behind where I wanted to be! Again! So about 2 months in total!

This is by far the biggest project I have taken on! and maybe I did under esitmate the amount of work to be done! But hopefully it will all be worth it in the end!

Keep Checking back.. one day it will be finished!! and there will hopefully be some lovely pictures to see! I think week after next I will look at putting on the suspension and wheels regardless of how the rest of the painting and bodykit work is coming along as then it will look like a massive load of progress has been made in one step!

looking very good mate shame that the bumper dont fit, pain in the ass when that happens but looks like yours doing a good job to get around it!

Hopefully it will look like a factory fit when it\'s done!

Cheers
Lee

iv got the same rear bumper bud, similar probs, not as bad as yors tho, it1s stuck down with double sided tape at the sides to pull it in a little more, gunna sort it next day im off :) looking good tho.

yeah I thought your bumper looked the same!! What a pain! When it comes to cars nothing is ever easy! If I had just rebuilt it as a standard car I would have been on the road weeks ago! Who\'s idea was it to do something different??

Oh that would me!
DOH!

Quote from: leeroy_25yeah I thought your bumper looked the same!! What a pain! When it comes to cars nothing is ever easy! If I had just rebuilt it as a standard car I would have been on the road weeks ago! Who\'s idea was it to do something different??

Oh that would me!
DOH!

Perfect opportunity to do something different though, I love your project & the way your rex is coming along, have definitely learnt a lot from this thread- so glad you\'re doing it!
When is the projected finishing date?

Hi Folks!!

Had a bit more progress today! Fortunately the weather was nice! Unlike yesterday! But I couldn\'t work on the car then anyway so all good!
So last week I discovered the P*** poor fit of my rear bumper and started hacking at it to make it fit! It was on there but under some serious load which I wasn\'t happy about! As it was very likely it would start cracking when I eventually get to drive the car! So I wondered to myself whether a bit of heat would help relax the bumper and get if fitting a bit better! So one heat gun later we had this!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Rbump12.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Rbump11.jpg)
And that\'s after I had ground some of the worst bits off!
Some major reworking required!! but it had had the desired effect which I was pleased about! After grinding out all the bits that had buldge and split I removed the bumper and backed it up with fresh fibreglass. then I hung it back on the car and filled over the outside with some filler.
So it looked a little like this!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Rbump9.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Rbump10.jpg)

The difference in fitting the bumper up now is huge! Much less load on it.. and it just pops very slightly when you release the screws.. Hopefully this will sort it!

Next job was to finish blending in the gaps along the sides of the bumper.. I put fresh flash tape on the bodywork and waxed it to make sure the filler didn\'t stick! Then put some general purpose fille rin first to build up the majority. After that I removed the bumper. Knocked all the edges off. Applied fresh tape and wax to the bodywork agian!! Then put on the top coat filler ready for flatting back and final shaping. So by the end of the day after a quick sand it looked like this.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RBump7.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Rbump8.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Rbump13.jpg)

In between waiting for filler to dry I set about the side skirts. Fortunately these could never be too far out as they are pretty straight! But hey they still managed to end up with a big gap near the door! I will have to bridge this with fibre glass and filler like the bumper! I also had to grind away some excess material from inside the skirts again to get them to sit on the sill and still allow the door to open! I need to tickle the front wing fit a bit as when the sill is on it pushes it in slightly and makes the door catch it.. I think the easiest way it to put a rubber packing block behind the wing so it keeps it pushed out in the right place. Anyway one side is basically there.

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Side2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Side1.jpg)

That is just hanging there of it\'s own free will! Need to decide how I am fixing it now! I was hoping to have no fixings visible but I don\'t think that will be possible so I will probably get some nice black c/sunk self tapers and rivets to go in the sill.

Progress is being made!!

Sorry Seth.. Only just saw your post!

Projected finishing date!! LMAO! about a month ago! I have been telling people it will be done in a month for weeks now! So I guess it gets done when it gets done! I don\'t want to rush anything and make it anything but perfect when it\'s finished so although I moan it\'s taking so long I am not one for doing things by halves!
Even when it goes on the road it will be far from done! I think this thread could be going for months! I am planning my engine bay enhancements in my head! and also my I.C.E build has to get done! then I might look at performance parts! and I have a spare engine in the garage I hope to rebuild some time and post about it step by step!

At some point I will have to post all the spares I have left over to clear some garage space! I have bits of bodykit, standard panels, interior, engine parts, gbox! I could porbably build another car out of it all! if anyone is looking for something probably worth an ask!

Plenty to feast your eyes on in the months to come!

Cheers for the kind words!

Lee

Fantastic posts Lee, can\'t wait to see it finished!
You\'ve got to get that engine tuned to go with the looks!
Oh and ICE, I\'d love to see what you\'re going to do, if you need any gear give me a shout, my attic is full of Sinfoni, Genesis, US Amps, top stuff... too lazy to put up for sale... :Giggle.

Seth buddy. Drop me an e-mail.. I need an amp or possibly two and also maybe some good 13cm mids. I am intending to have two subs.. one in place or each rear seat.. then some good 6x9\'s either in the seat back or if I can make them fit i\'ll put them in the rear quarter panel where the standard ones go! The some decent mid range for the front and possibly some tiny tweaters? Was thinking about some sublte lighting in there to illuminate the amps but not sure if that will look tacky and too \'chav\'!! Then I need to cover it all in nicely.. maybe black suede (faux suede!) or some black carpet with a sublte blue or red fleck in it.

my e-mail is leeroy_25@hotmail.com.

Thanks
Lee

Sure buddy I can give you a shed load of advise with ICE. Get yourself over to talkaudio.co.uk if you\'re interested in more detail. Will email you later to figure out how important SQ (sound quality) is to you!

Hi S3th, Now that we are back online is there any news on the stereo stuff you have??
Talk audio looks like it might be pretty handy when I get to that stage!
I do like to hear my music. (everything) not just a mash of bass and resonance!) I used to do a bit of producing a la bedroom DJ style so I have a pretty good ear for what sounds right level wise! Never really been to town on a car ICE as I haven\'t had the time, money, or patience. But being that I have managed to collect up most of good set-up I thought I would give it a bash!

Thanks Lee

Sorry Lee! Will write you up an email right now :).

Firstly S3th, thank you for the e-mail! A lot to digest! May take another read later when I have some time to take it in properly.. You are well ito your audio equipment! My knowledge of actual euipment is far less but some of the things you mention are logical to me even if I wasn\'t fully aware of them! Anyway.. I wil drop you a line later.

Well folks what a glorious day Satruday was! I sadly didn\'t get any pictures this weekend.. I forgot my camera and the ones I took on my phone are really poor. I will try and get some this afternon if the weather brightens up.. Basically my task for the day was to get the side skirts fitted correctly! I took the decision in the week to mount them differently and hence get a better fit with luck! The lip that hooks over the top of the sill leaves very little room for the door to open so I decided it would be better to remove this and then attach an angle to the outside of the sill for the skirt to sit on and be fastened too.. So that\'s what I did. looks much better.. And the door doesn\'t rub on the top of the skirt!

I used a bit of right angle aluminium extrusion and riveted this to the outside of the sill. then popped the skirt on and fettled it till I got the best fit I could then spotted through with a 1/8" drill for c/sunk rivets to go in. All I was left with was a bit of a gape towards the rear of the door and a tiny bit to fill in where the vent fits as I have left them out of the wings. So out with the flash tape and filler again! In good old car fashion it was to all be so simple as when I offered up the passenger side skirt I realised it was twisted and going to be a bit harder to get a decent fit on so I tried the same trick as with the bumper and got the heat gun on it. a few layers of skin later the twist was reduce enough that I could get it fitted properly! By the end of the day they were all done and backed up with fibre glass ready for priming and painting.
Made a start sanding back the bumper but didn\'t have time to finish it.  Good progress though and the fit will be perfect! Worth the extra time in my mind.

Was having a thought the other day as I keep saying I think this is taking forever. I worked out that sine I have had the car. If I have worked every Saturday on it (which I haven\'t) I have been doing the project for about 32days! When you look at it like that I guess it\'s not too bad considering the state it started in! Plus all the stop starting wastes lots of time!

Until next time..

Hey Guy\'s.. Made some good progress so far this weekend! I did a deal with work I would do saturday morning if I could have Friday afternoon so that gave me an extra hour or so in in total work time and meant I didn\'t have to wait around for paint to dry so to speak!
Hopefully next weekend will mean it\'s starting to take a final sort of shape on the exterior!

I flatted the bumper and skirts and primed them first off.. (Friday)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/primed1.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/primed2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/primed3.jpg)

Saturday everything was ready to paint and lacquer. So I gave it a quick rub over and set about with the spray gun.
Whilst waiting for the base coat to dry I flatted off the car body work that had already been painted ready for polishing.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Flat1.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Flat2.jpg)

Also here is a quick shot of my side sill mountings I mentioned from last week,
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/SillMount2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Sillmount1.jpg)

Finally I could get around to lacquering it all. I have to say this time I got my paint mixture a bit better and the temperature was a bit more sympathetic to the painting! It shows in the finish!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/FuelCap2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RRPaint2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Rrpaint3.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RRPaint1.jpg)

It\'s all off the gun and mirror smooth! quick poish and it can go on..
And here are some I did with a better camera!!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Rrpaint4.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Sidepaint3.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Sidepaint2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/sidepaint1.jpg)
Those vents are going to look lovely when I get some stainless mesh in them!

May do a bit more tomorrow if I get let out to play!! but looking forward to next weekend already!

The end is nigh!

fantastic work mate #;o)

Cheers Matey!

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.. and I know this time it isn\'t a train coming towards me! Check back next week and the car shoul dbe looking a lot different.

Thanks everyone for all the encouragment and patience!!

Lee

Ahh looking rather good, lot of work you got going on but should be so satisfying when you start bolting it all in place :yes :guinness

Dude your spraying is amazing you should set up shop !!!

Why thank you sir! Not sure I could set up my own paint shop!?? one day when I retire I might set-up a mod shop or something as a hobby to give me some pocket money!
Check back after this weekend as I am really hoping to show some big progress on the car! Fingers crossed!!

Lee

Hey guy\'s, Just a liitle something to wet your appetite for the weekend! Plus I don\'t think I will have time to post again tomorrow! As you can gather by the time.. (11.50pm) I had a long day on the car today!! The Cat is away so with the beast i\'ll play! Hoping to get a bit more done in the morning as well!
Anyway. I didn\'t quite get as far as I wanted to get today, mainly because getting the mesh fitted to the skirts and bumper was a bit more of a tricky job than I had anticipated! But I ddin\'t do to badly! Also the tube of sika flex I was using to stick the mesh decided to break half way through the job! which meant I had to scoop the stuff out with a knife which was very messy!

So first job was to flat and polish the bumper and then stick in the mesh.. then while this was drying polish the sides of the car so I could fit the bumper on.. then the next job was to flat and polish the side skirts and stick the mesh and then while that was drying polis the side sills and front wings ready for fitting the side skirts. I didn\'t quite make the last part! So here\'s how it looks currently.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Polish.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/polish1.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/polish2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/polish3.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/polish4.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/polish5.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/polish6.jpg)

I tell you what.. flatting and polising is a ball ache! My back and knees are killing me! Especially with the heat we had today! I reckon I lost at least a stone! Worth it though when you see the final results!

Hopefully I will have more done tomorrow and i\'ll post up the pictures when I can.

Not suprised you lost a bit of weight sweating into those slightly worrying gimping gloves reflected in the second pic! You\'ve betrayed your guilty secret there, dude!
 
Just kidding, it\'s looking fantastic mate. I wish I had one fraction of the skill, application and talent you\'ve shown in this thread so I could get mine sorted. Awesome work!

very nice mate!
 
must be killing you not been able to drive it for such a long time, will be worth it tho!
 
also very good finish you have there!

I like this pic, you\'re really pleased with yourself :D And so u should be!

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/polish1.jpg)

so what grit wet n dry did u use to sand it bck? i tend to stick with 1200 lol then polish up we g3.. takes me about 2-3 hours per panel, and yeah its a mare of a job lol..
cn i ask what your method is? always keen to learn/try new tricks lol

Quote from: interloper393;497923so what grit wet n dry did u use to sand it bck? i tend to stick with 1200 lol then polish up we g3.. takes me about 2-3 hours per panel, and yeah its a mare of a job lol..
cn i ask what your method is? always keen to learn/try new tricks lol

 
2-3 hours per panel, wow! never tuck that long before, max 1 1/2 hours per panel for me i just use 1500-2000 then g3!
 
also any idea how much layers you got on? i know when i start at aston martin they use 350+ microns (in my mind its to much) and a normal car is from 70-150

iv found the lower the grit the more machining you need to do or the finer the more sanding n less machining so its a catch 22 :S

Hey Guy\'s,

Thanks again for the kind words! except you Nik!!! Aloe Vera gloves.. you can\'t beat them! Actually I only started using them recently as my hands were getting caned and that\'s what we use at work! Saves a few layer of skins and the finger prints come back a bit quicker!!

As for method.. I have flatted back with 1500grit then over again with 2000grit. I use a 3m Trizact compound and then gp over again with finesse-it. When it\'s all done I will carnuba butter it to perfection! Regarding paint thickness I don\'t know exactly how thick it is! How can you tell out of curiosity? I would give it two heavy lacquer coats so I have a good base to polish back.. I would say thicker gives a more glassy look with more depth. that\'s why astons and alike would say thicker that your normal car. I spent a day at the new rolls royce factory and they supposidly lacquer it. flat it back with 1500, lacquer it again, flat it again 2 or 3 times before final flat and polish to give the paint supreme depth!?

Anyhow, I will try and put up some more pictures later in the week of the little extra progress I made today.

i used to alway sand between each coat, too ages tho lol so i just do coats after 30 mins of eachother :)

Quote from: leeroy_25;498124Hey Guy\'s,
 
Thanks again for the kind words! except you Nik!!! Aloe Vera gloves.. you can\'t beat them! Actually I only started using them recently as my hands were getting caned and that\'s what we use at work! Saves a few layer of skins and the finger prints come back a bit quicker!!
 
As for method.. I have flatted back with 1500grit then over again with 2000grit. I use a 3m Trizact compound and then gp over again with finesse-it. When it\'s all done I will carnuba butter it to perfection! Regarding paint thickness I don\'t know exactly how thick it is! How can you tell out of curiosity? I would give it two heavy lacquer coats so I have a good base to polish back.. I would say thicker gives a more glassy look with more depth. that\'s why astons and alike would say thicker that your normal car. I spent a day at the new rolls royce factory and they supposidly lacquer it. flat it back with 1500, lacquer it again, flat it again 2 or 3 times before final flat and polish to give the paint supreme depth!?
 
Anyhow, I will try and put up some more pictures later in the week of the little extra progress I made today.

 
Ooops, sorry! If you\'d said they were lubricated gimping gloves in the first place, I\'d have not bothered mentioning it lol! Should\'ve remembered to put one of these in :), sorry, I was only kidding!
 
Probably one of these, too :Thumbs-up, cos I did say it looks fantastic, too, and complimented your skill and dedication! I couldn\'t believe how discouraged you were sounding a while back, when you thought there was no end in sight, I reckon most people would be pretty chuffed with themselves to have done the amount you have in so short a space of time. Like I said, I wish I had a fraction of the ability you\'ve shown, I wouldn\'t keep running out of talent and having to pay other people to do the work on mine.

Okay chaps. Well, I have a spare couple of minutes! Here are the results of a couple of hours on Sunday morning.. Basically flatting and starting to poilsh the rear bumper, polishing of some of the front wings and then fitting of the side skirts! Hopefully when it\'s got the deep dish chrome rims fitted and the arches are filled it will look something like I planned! I think it\'s roughly going that way!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Polish7.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Polish8.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/polish9.jpg)

Aiming to get te back end all back together this coming weekend and the roof and rear all polished. then will look at flatting the doors and mirror removal ready for a quick blow over!

That paintwork is looking the business! :cool

looks very nice are the arches different..very nice job

Yes the arches are different!! it\'s a burnout arch kit.. with c-west replica kit on the rest of it which has been tweaked to blend in with the burnout arches! Hopefully the end result will look right!? I wonder if maybe feed side skirts would have worked better? but I have what I have for now!

i think your milking this project now just to have more pages than my thread :P lol

Quote from: interloper393;498177i used to alway sand between each coat, too ages tho lol so i just do coats after 30 mins of eachother :)

Possibly daft question - but are you guys talking about sanding back between coats of paint, or rubbing back between coats of polish/wax ?

Interloper,

it\'s funny you should mention your thread.. I only spotted it yesterday! First thing i thought was isn\'t that up for sale!! Did you just recently decide to do work on it after putting it up for sale a while back? It\'s a good post! keep up the good work!

chimpy.. rubbing down we were refering to was between coats of lacquer to add depth to the shine and get a nuts on finish!
Incidently I have a bit more rubbing to do afte my initial polish up as I can stil see a slight orange peel effect in some places that wasn\'t noticable when I first flatted it. So I suppose I will be flatting between polishing too!! pretty sure that\'s not standard practice though. although I have know paint to settle over time and sanding marks to come up from the filler/primer requiring flatting and polishing again assuming they are not real deep. occurs if someone has rubbed down the car with a half brick before priming it with heavy primer in my experience. That\'s when I decided to start trying to do my own paintwork!

nah man been working on her for about 7 months. im hoping it dosnt come to selling it but there hard to sell at the mo so was putting the feelers out incase the worst happens, hoping my other car a sell so i cn keep the rex, need to change jobs cus its doing my head in lol..

Evening all! I have a little more progress!! Sadly last week I didn\'t get anywhere enough time on the car and was dead from a long week of work! I also had a small accident with the polisher on the rear bumper which was possibly a result of my tiredness and meant I had to blow it back in with paint again! I was not impressed! This weekend I have also had to work so again not enough time but here are some more photo\'s and I am hoping to spend a bit more time on it tomorrow! I am happy though as I am starting to see it all come together and the hard work is having some visual reward at last!
There are a few little things I am not totally happy with but 99.9% of people wouldn\'t even notice them and I have only seen them as I am so close to the car all the time! As in my face is literally glued to the body work looking for imperfections constantly!

Anyway.. Here\'s a bit more finish polished bodywork to look at!

Here is the roof! or the sky?! depending on how your eyes adjust!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/polish11.jpg)

Rear pilar looking onto the tailgate.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/polish12.jpg)

Rear End fitted back out with the lights! Yay! Something completed!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/polish13.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/polish14.jpg)

The only problem here is when I got the lights back in I found another area where the bumper was a poor fit! Right under the central brake light bit is a lovely gap!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/lightfit.jpg)
To late to blend it in so I will possibly do an infill strip in carbon which would infact look quite cool I think!? So no major distaster, just an added extra bit to do and very annoying when I have gone to so much trouble to enusre the rest of the bumper fitted snug!

The other small distaster I have had is when paint the doors, which I am very please with the end result of, was I masked the rest of the car out with a dust sheet. and masking paper. (normal!?) Anyway, when I came to take the dust sheet off yesterday after the paint had dried, the bass turd had stuck like the proverbial ****e to a blanket! I had to litterally rip it off which in some areas has pulled the paint off the side skirt! My lovely fresh polished paint! I had intended to go over the top edge of the side sills to cover up the rivets.. Now I definately have to! All being well I will flat it off and sort that tomorrow.. Other than that the main spraying is now finished.. just the wing to do when I decide which one I am using! Oh.. and not fogetting the finishing item.. the piece de la resitance.. My REA AD9 bonnet!

Well It\'s been a hectic last few weeks and to be honest I have run out of energy come the weekend! So progress is slower than I was hoping for at this stage but still pretty good! I can see the finish in sight! I am off on hols next week so won\'t be doing anything for a week or two so thought I would try and give you all (and myself!) a little teaser to keep you interested till then!
I need to give the REA Low spoiler a repaint so did that in the hot sun this morning and left it out to dry. Still not sure if I iwll run that or the carbon GT wing I have!? Two different looks but both seem to work. Anyway while that was drying I changed over the rear suspension to get the ass end a bit lower!
Check out the mazdaspeed coilovers!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Suspension1.jpg)(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Suspension2.jpg)
Not the best money can buy I am sure, but they\'ll do the job for now and they feel like a pretty sensible spring rate for once.. NOT brick hard!
Oh and yes the brake discs and pads do need doing!! It\'s gradually getting harder and harder to roll accross the garage!
Anyhow,
Once it was back together I thought I would drop on one of the rims to see how it fitted under the new body work...

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Veilside1.jpg)
Mmm
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Veilside2.jpg)
Yummy
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/veilside4.jpg)
Oh yeah!!

And seeing as the paint was touch dry I thought it would be rude not to sit the spolier on the boot and see how it shaped up!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/REAlow1.jpg)
Hmm???
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/REAlow2.jpg)That\'s the spot!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/REALow3.jpg)
and I think I just did a wee!

Now I am truly excited to see the finished result and almost of the opinion that wing works well.. it\'s like the exact oposite of the rear bumper! It looks blooming big from above though!

Hope you all like!?

Lee

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Veilside3.jpg)

That looks awesome Leeroy- so what\'s next? Are you going to do something crazy with the interior & under the hood too?

I\'m liking it a lot- if I were to criticise though I would pick up on the c-west sideskirts, I don\'t think they compliment either front or rear arches. also the line-flow looks a bit wierd if you know what I mean- I think some burnout sideskirts would set it off very well & be on the path to being a perf rex.

10/10 for skill and effort!

Seth.

I would agree with you to a certain extent there S3th. They work from some angles and then others, like you say, you can see where the lines don\'t quite work together! I could probably blend them into the arches and bodyork and it would work perfect.. but a massive gamble if it doesn\'t! at least I can change if something else takes my fancy. I think the problem is the c-west skirts go to far up the bodywork. I like the rear vents and the general shape/width. Not too kean on the front vent . would have prefered to see the standard vent there. I did toy with trying to cut away the side skirts and blend in a new shape up to the edge of the vent but I wasn\'t convinced enough it would work! Anyway it does the job for now and I will keep my eyes out!

Lee

I agree Leeroy, love the c-west front and rear bumpers- sides look good from some angles too! I agree the sides should not be blended- So what\'s the next major element to the project? I can\'t wait to see what you\'re going to do with the interior...

Seth.

wether someones mentioned already or not, cos i havent read every post.. but the point you\'v used for the boost gauge coming off the plenum is actually the point for you air-bypass valve or alternatively the vacuum hose for your BOV/dump valve.
 
the one next to it thats been blanked off is for a boost gauge.
 
http://www.autosportracetech.com/RX-7/vacuum.jpg
 
maybe helpful :)
 
again, sorry if someones already mentioned this!

Hi Leeroy, don\'t know if you remember me at all, but we emailed back and forth for a while when you first got this car, Me and my mate Rich have been rebuilding his engine and you were interested in coming over for a look... ring any bells?

Anyway, just wanted to let you know I have been following your thread and I\'m very impressed, your bodywork skills look top notch! We have got our project running, just waiting for the legal bits (MOT, insurance etc) before we can run it in on the road, so you are more than welcome to come and have a look now, and I also wouldn\'t mind coming to see yours too!
I\'m hoping maybe when the budget allows, we might be able to tap your reservoir of bodywork knowledge to help sort our project out, and we might be able to help you out in return if you decide to go a bit mad under the hood to match up to your mental exterior.
You can see our project here if you fancy a peek: http://www.sxoc.co.uk/vbb/showthread.php?t=244980&highlight=strip+rotary

Cheers!
Dandan

Well Guy\'s for those that have asked.. the next stage in the project will certainly be to bling out the engine bay! I have some plans for the interior.. mainly and ICE build and sublte things.. No plans to go to crazy yet! Then of course finally I will need to get some more pony! So I will be looking out for  Power FC or similar to start with! Then we will see where we go from there!

Jonh P thank you for your advice there.. No one has mentioned it yet! Will affect the running of the car? are you saying I have got something not plumbed in that I should have?! Or is it maybe I have plumbed it in somewhere else instead? I will investigate that a bit more!

Dan, Of course I remember! Just sorry I never got around to taking up the offer of popping over before! as you can guess I have been a little bit busy! Glad to hear your build wnet okay! I have a pare lump sat in my garage to look at at some point! So undoubtidly we can swap skills and tips down the line I am sure! I am now o hols for a cope of weeks.. But would be happy for you to pop over once I am back.

Lee

Arh John, I just thought, When I first got it all runnig I had one of the air bypass valves missing. Since then I have fitted one and attached the pipe to the inlet manifold. Possibly not in the same order as the diagram but I would assume that doesn\'t matter?!

Lee

Well, I returned from holidays late this week so managed to squeeze in a day and a bit on the car!
Firstly I took all the exterior door handles apart as they were looking a bit sorry for themselves and colour matched them with the body. Now they look sweet! Then next I fitted the lights into the front bumper and put the covers and cowling back on the pop-up headlights. Fits pretty good. Just need to take a small piece out of the lip that returns down inside the bumper where the headlights go as the cover just catches it when it goes up and down. I also re-jig the front bumper and improved the fit there.

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Light1.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Light2.jpg)

After that I thought I would get the front supsension in. and do the brakes. Well I was expecting a 5 min job after the rears being so easy! How I was fooled! Not sure if I went aout it the right wauy in the end but I released all the bolts on the strut to find that no matter ho I tried I ould not get it out. I then tried releasing the anti-rol bar which didn\'t help at all. In the end I figured I need to release the inside fixings on the top wishbone so I could swing it all out of the way to draw strut up and out.

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Suspension3.jpg)

Once I had figure that on the first side the next side wasn\'t so bad!

Then seeing as the brakes looked a bit grotty I thought a coat of paint would help brighten things up.. Although generally I thing painted calipers look tacky.. and especially red ones I decided if I was going to do I would have to use red! ONly down side with the painting was I had to wait an hour for the paint to go tacky to get a second coat on and then wait 2 hours before I could put it all back together! So that slowed progress much further.

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Suspension5.jpg)

Once that was done I fitted the arch shields back in which much to my surprise went back in a treat and all the fixings went where they were suposed to! all bax and extra bit I can to cut-out so it cleared around the front bumper fixing.

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Suspension6.jpg)

Just to have a little look I also hung a wheel on!

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/wheel1.jpg)

Once I lowered it all back down I found the car is just a tad low! Depsite the block of wood under the front wheels I still nearly got the jack wedged in! So I think maybe I will be adjusting it back up a touch next week!

Great looking project buddy. Now with those coilovers you can realy get an agressive stance setup for the car. Stance is important to pull off the look of widebody kits. As in the pic posted earlier of the original burnout FD. Look closely at how the car is in relation to the ground.
 
Good job. Love it.

Quote from: dandan;504185You can see our project here if you fancy a peek: http://www.sxoc.co.uk/vbb/showthread.php?t=244980&highlight=strip+rotary

Cheers!
Dandan

little hijack but where did you get that intercooler from as it sits very nicely in there.

btw leeroy, looks very smart now, get some pics up of how it sits, as long as you can still get a jack in there when on blocks its all good :D

if you cn fit the jack under there its still 2 high lol, iv got to use a scissor jack then the trolley to lift mine lol

Cars looking good tho bud :)

Interloper.. Do you drive your car onto some 4x2" blocks of wood before trying to jack it up?! Try that.. it\'s  lot easier than faffing with the scissor jack and safer! Use more blocks if need be!
I reckon I need to raise it at least 1/2" otherwise the wheel will come out of the top of the arch when I hit a bump or do some hardcore cornering! I am hoping that I don\'t get any other rubbing issues on the wheels and bodywork.. but time will tell on that one.

All being well (and weather permitting) I will get it on the deck and outside for some pictures this weekend. Might even see what the other rear wing looks like on it. Although I am pretty sure I will use the REA one for now at least!

Lee

Leeroy, top work as usual- 1 question re the bunrout arches to the front bumper, in the pics it looks slightly angled? Is it because only the burnout bumper can be used with burnout arches or something else?

I just bought some burnout arches... they\'re farking expensive! (look how much u influenced me!)

nice one S3th! Blimey I don\'t want everyone to start building rx7\'s with a burnout kit!! The blend between the arches I would say is almost certainly because I don\'t have a matching bumper. if you have the money go for the burnout kit complete! I would except I cannot justify spending that much! if any comes up second hand I will grab it though! You may find another front bumper fits a bit better? trail and error I guess but at the end of the day the burnout kits is designed to go together so the transistion between panels should be expected to be better (perfect!). the other option is to seriously mod any other bumper to get the desired blend. I toyed with this but decided I could live with the fit as it was.. it only really notices from certain angles.

Did your get yours direct?

The burnout front arches can be used with any front bumper, we have an FD at the moment with burnout front arches and an RE-Amemiya front bumper.  I see what you mean though they are very angled, I think the picture however makes it stick out more than it actually does.

nah only use the jack to lift the car maybe half an inch, just enuff to slide the jack under, all wheels still be on the ground lol

Quote from: leeroy_25;508910Did your get yours direct?

I got them off ebay, but genuine burnout nonetheless! Yeah I\'m thinking burnout front arches & bumper, feed carbon sills, rolled arches (read as I\'m coming to your place to do this :rollin:god)  & undecided about the rear bumper- maybe burnout, or a diffuser :3Confused.

Your coming to my place!! LOL! Let me get mine finished first! If you are gong with the burnout arches (which incidentally I think I saw those on ebay!) I would suggest you need to get some sort of blister for the rear. Just a flare alone won\'t look right. really you at least want the burnout rear blisters to follow through with the styling on the edge of the arch. I dare say the same effect could be achieved with a meg bit of arch rolling and bugger loads of filler but it would be a long winded way of going about it and very time consuming. he other blisters I have seen, like feed ones have softer egdes so might look a bit out of place but hard to say without seeing it all together. Trying looking on ebay USA.. you never know your luck!

:InLove...looks fantastic!

Quote from: karl_tate;508678little hijack but where did you get that intercooler from as it sits very nicely in there.

Um don\'t quote me \'cos I didn\'t buy it but I think it is exactly the same as the dragon v-mount kit, big money but worth it by all accounts. And yes it does fit incredibly well, it\'s a very nicely engineered piece of kit.

Really starting to get there now!!

It didn\'t feel like I did much on Saturday as it is all the little finishing bits of painting and putting back together that I am doing now. Also had to fiddle with the suspension. After setting it a bit low last weekend I think now it has gone the other way. I wanted to raise it about 15mm and it looks to me like it\'s gone up nearer 25mm! So may need another tickle later..
I fitted the rear brake pads and cleaned and painted the calipers. Whilst waiting for paint to dry I had to polish the wheels again before fitting them as they had only had a quick clean previously! Then I decided to go and get some replacements discs for the rear as the ones on it were shagged! Fortunately I new where there was a car I could rob them from!
Once that was done. I put it back on the ground complete with wheels for the first time!
That\'s when I realised why I have been working my ass every Saturday for the last 6 months or so!

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/nowing2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/nowing1.jpg)

Well I was pleased anyway! Car still isn\'t actually polished off so looks a bit dull and the sun wasn\'t shining! But hey! Also I stil have the bonnet and rear wing to sort which leads me to my last major bodywork dilema, which wing to fit..
Do I run the REA Low wing;
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Lowwing3.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Lowwing2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Lowwing1.jpg)

Or do I run my carbon GT stlye wing?

(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Gtwing2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/GTwing1.jpg)

They create two very different looks to the car. I had started edging towards the REA one but now I am thinking the GT one has the edge!

Votes please!

Either way I will run the REA one to start with as I need to get some mounts and endplates for the GT one. Anyone no where you can get the mounting feeting from?

Looks great Leeroy, loving the join between the fender and the bumper, absolutely mint... 1 vote for REA from me... I don\'t usually like that spoiler but it goes really well with your car as you mentioned about it flowing with the cwest bumper, also flows quite well with the rear widearch... The GT wing is too low, if you were going down that route get a higher one.....

Thats looking very good!! :cool

ReA one looks ok but not quite right

Having said that the GT wing looks a little on the small side considering the wide arches and all - what make is it??

Well S3th Thank you!

I am in partial agreement with you both. Definately to low on the GT wing front. I had already planned to make some pillar extensions if I go that route!

I thought it was a little narrow too.. But the when it\'s sat low it\'s not too bad.. If you put it up to high it would need to be much wider! Swings and round abouts I guess. Not sure what make it is as I got it second hand. If I do decide to go that way later I may tidy this one up and sell it and get a dirty great drift one!

I remembered what else I did this weekend! I had to refurb all the curb rash out of the rims brefore I polished them! I still need to repolish the edges up! But now they look smooth at least!

NO WING!!!  looks awesome and I feel the wings will detract from the work you\'ve put in...

Much as I REALLY hate to say this, I agree with S3th on this one. Normally I don\'t like the Amemiya low level wing thing, but for some reason it looks just right on your car, perfick! I never like the GT style sort except on proper stickered-up race reps, personally, and that specific example looks like it was made for a car half the size anyway. I vote Amemiya!

Car looks fantastic, btw, top marks, dude!

Spoilerless all the way.

Re-a-all-the-way!!

Defo Bare!

The GT looks a bit mickey mouse, and the RA is just a honking great whale-tail :)

Quote from: Nik da Greek;511077I agree with S3th indefinitely.

Ah how nice of you old man- come to your senses I see.... :).

Envisioning a Mazdaspeed spoiler... I like... give it a try Leeroy, if you like that kinda spoiler?

Well chaps...

A few different opinions but generally a mix of bare or REA! Well.. I am a little surprised actually as like me I was very unsure of the REA one when i got it. i thought it looked naff on the standard cars I had seen before. but just had a vision of it on the wide kitted car in my minds eye and thought.. \'Just maybe\'!
Personally I find the no spioler look just leaves the back end looking unfinished for some angles.. Although other angle it does look mint!

A for you S3th.. We obviously have very similar tastes! I have been trying to find a 99 spec/Mazda speed style wing to try. I was actually really hoping to find a C-west Shark wing.. I reckon that would be perfect.. but without actually having one to try I\'m stuck! Anyone got something along those lines they could lone me maybe with a view to selling it?

Keep the votes coming!

Cheers
Lee

i have a c west tiger shark wing for sale if your interested?

Okay Dave,
Could well be!

Please send pics and price to my e-mail:
Leeroy_25@hotmail.com

Thank you
Lee

Lee, I\'ll bring my MS spoiler with me when I come over to get my arches rolled lol! :Giggle..... On a serious note you\'re welcome to come n take it for a couple of weeks :).

Quote from: S3TH;511213Lee, I\'ll bring my MS spoiler with me when I come over to get my arches rolled lol! :Giggle..... On a serious note you\'re welcome to come n take it for a couple of weeks :).

Lee, mate, if you could accidentally run \'gently\' over his fingers with the arch roller, I\'ll be your loyal slave for life lol! "Agree with S3th indefinitely"??!!! Cheeky fecker! :D I\'ve been misquoted! Scurrilous!

I think you hit it on the head with the Amemiya thing; it looks wrong on most cars cos they\'re not extreme enough to cope with the size of it, whereas yours is so fat (phat?) that it carries it perfectly. I think a \'99 spec Mazda standard one would work better than the Mazdaspeed one. Even though they\'re similar from the side, the Mazdaspeed one has that extra bit along the bootlid that makes them look too tall from the back, and I think would work against the lines of your back end. Just my 2p!

Mazdaspeed is the only spoiler i would consider other than bear back as think it would look ace.  Not that i am biast as i was looking to fit one of these, however was tied as to whether to fit it or go bare back

Ah yes old man, phat with a ph is often embraced in youthful lingo, meaning \'great\'- However fat with an f still goes by dictionary definition. We carry our antics over to every thread we post in :Giggle..... Ah I fear you\'ll run me over if we ever meet at J\'s! :InLove.....

S3th and Nik! blimey people will start to talk!!
Thank you for the offer of the wing S3th. I will see what comes up.. Where exactly are you? I can\'t remember. I have to say though I remember now that I was put of by the lip in the back that Nik mentions. Hmmm..

Oh the choices!

Anyone got any opinions on the C-west Shark number? I thought it was hammer shark? or is there two different styles?

Dave, Let me know about yours please.


S3th if you really want your arches rolled I better get an arch roller!! Remember I borrowed the one I used! Anything is possibly once I have my done!?
As you have probably gather shortage of time is my main problem!

hi leeroy, only just saw your reply so apologies for that, ill send them tonight if i remember, if not then feel free to hastle me by calling or txting me on 07709136667


dave

leeroy mail sent

Quote from: leeroy_25;511360S3th if you really want your arches rolled I better get an arch roller!! Remember I borrowed the one I used! Anything is possibly once I have my done!?
As you have probably gather shortage of time is my main problem!

Ah yes Leeroy, will certainly be needing your expertise..... Think I\'ll be getting the burnout rear arches too.... just replicate what you\'ve done with yours :o.... I\'ll email you when I\'ve got the arches, we\'ll have to discuss your rate & find out when you\'ve got time!

One thing about coming down south is fear of crossing paths with that Old-man.....

where exactly are you based Nik??

Eh? Me? Darkest Worthing, since you ask. I\'m not that old, either, I\'m just saving time by starting on my second childhood without ever really finishing my first! Next week: mid-life crisis!

Course not, I\'m just playing after all.... :) Took u a while to say it outright though- \'i\'m not old\', I admire that. Oh I should get out more.... :Giggle. If I go down south to see leeroy I\'m definitely popping by yours for a bit of banter whether you like it or not! :rollin.

Anytime you\'re passing, Young Boy, feel free to drop by for a cup of your good English tea with added banter! You can explain to me exactly how I\'ve managed to upfcuk the missus computer again, since you seem to understand these newfangled sorta things! :D

Sorry about him spammin up your thread with random, er me abuse, Leeroy, I think he means well, bless him!

Well your not too far from me then. I work in Bognor.
We will have to arrange some kind of meet when I am finally road legal! Are you in the sussex Jap Car Club?

Yeah, sounds good! (meetin up, that is, not Bognor; that sounds less good!). I\'ve not joined the Sussex Jap Car Club, though I keep meaning to, I\'ve heard good things of them. I never seem to get the time, what with work, the little \'un, fixing the bloody car every other weekend, and the bike racing season being on, car shows, fixing the window frames on the house, etc, etc.......I remember sleep, it was something that happened to me back in the 80\'s lol!

But, yeah, I\'ll get my sh!te together and sort out joining some day. I think some other local guys on here are members, I believe there\'s a couple of FDs in Brighton, Lancing and that.

Okay guy\'s..
I think it\'s is finally time! The pictures/post you have been waiting for...
... Stage 1 is finally complete! (When I say complete I have no MOT yet, Still need to fix the bumper mesh in properly and haven\'t fitted the AD9 bonnet-that can be stage 1.5!) Stage 1 is completion of the exterior. So it actually looks like a finished car from the outside. I will need to finish the basics of the interior next week to get it through MOT. Then it will be onto 1.5 most likely so prep, paint and fit bonnet, then stage 2 and 3 which will be the under bonnet and a bit of tunning and the IC build. Not sure which order I will do that in yet!
This weekend was basically flatting and polishing the REA wing and fitting it. then doing the same to the tailgate and bonnet. And then fine compounding the entire car by hand to remove the swirl marks from the machine polishing! Still needs to be waxed but by the end of the day I had sweated so much it wasn\'t funny! I was very pleased how the old bonnet and boot lid came up. After a flat with 2000 wet\'n\'dry they came up a lot better that I expected. The tailgate I won\'t need to repaint unless I run a different wing and have to fill the holes in it. (Although from the voting I think the REA one just had the edge!?) The bonnet is only temporary and only notices up close that the paint is a little dull and tired cmpared to the rest of the fresh paint on the car! Well without further ado here she is...
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Final1f.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Final1a.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Final1b.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Final1c.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Final1d.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Final1e.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Final1g.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Final1k.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/FInal1l.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Final1m.jpg)

To make a slight understatement I was very pleased when I rolled it out of the garage to take these! Shame the sun is in the wrong place by that time! hence a bit of glare. I will get someone with a good camera to do some pics when I get it rolling and have the bonnet on.

Just for comparison.. This is what I was aiming for when I started the project. The kind of vision I had.. Less the 1000\'s of pounds of course!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/BVILLENS_T8S_RX-7_100.jpg)
Can anyone photoshop my car onto the same background by any chance? Please!!?
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Final1.jpg)

i love it, carnt believe the transformation from when you got it.

love the way you have got the same angle picture, wheels etc of your inspiration pic lol

i think the wheels need to be sat in the arches though :D :D

do u use a block for flattning? if you look at a sde angle on my skyline doors it kinda looks rippled :S

cars looking stunningby the way :D

looks stunning mate! very well finished and all parts of the kit seem to fit very well together, even the wing!
 
2 sec photoshop aswell
 
(http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h235/k-tec_tne/BVILLENS_T8S_RX-7_100.jpg)

All your hard work has definitely paid off - it looks stunning! :Thumbs-up

Fantastic. The Bonnet line is just amazing !

Shaun

That\'s top notch work there, looks really really good. I still think it is a shame that black seems to hide the awesome shapes of the burnout arches, they always look bigger on brighter coloured cars to me, still, it\'s a minor niggle when you compare it to the stunning result that you have, want to come and have a go at mine and rich\'s troublesome pinky white oxidised roof paint? :)

Well.. Where do I start!! Thank you for all the positive feedback.. To be honest I am chuffed that everyone else thinks I have done justice to the car. Yet alone please with myself! Big Thank you to Envyd for your photoshop effort.. I need to get a version of that for my pc!

Karl.. when you refer to the wheels sitting in the arches.. do you mean lower?? I will play with the suspension set-up a bit more once I have got it on the road. I want it to be practical.. but would like to lower it a touch more!
Hopefully the AD9 bonnet will add a bit more to the looks too!

Interloper..  I do try and use a rubber block to flat where possible.. Obviously need to be very careful on edges and corners. The best trick is to mist on a contrasting colour over the area you are rubbing back. then when you have rubber all the colour off your panel should be flat!

Dandan - We will need to meet up some time!

Thanks again guy\'s. Especially for all the help along the way putting the car together and getting her running!

Lee

Absolutely incredible, mate. You should be very proud of yourself, awesome job!

Looks stunning, well worth all the hard work!:Thumbs-up

yeh try and lower a bit more.

if you dont mind me asking how much do you think it has cost you in total because i know at the start you were trying to build it on a budget??

To be fair I am not sure if I should answer that question! Put it this way.. I have just about managed to keep i my rough ball park budget so far! I have been keeping tabs on it too make sure I didn\'t go too mad! Finding the parts at the prices I was hoping to get them for has taking me the time and also cost me it in that using copy parts on the bumpers and skirts.. etc.. resulted in a lot of time to get them fitting right. But it did save me financially and seeing as I am in no rush I am not complaining! Yes it was a bit of a headache sometimes but I guess that was to be expected! The area where I have undoubtidly saved the most is doing it the work myself! I dread to imagine how much a bodyshop would charge! Well I could put a fairly good guess on it!
Feel free to have a guess! I might tell you if you get close!

Lee

i can see what you mean and also i can imagine that it has taught you a thing or two and that it feels soo much better knowing that you have done it all your self.

like you say, if you had took it to a bodyshop even with the original parts with near perfect alignment it would of cost a pretty penny.

with your panels i would recon it would of cost, to get it to your standard around £3000+ which including buying the parts gets pretty scary.

I would have guessed somewhere around £2500 for a bodyshop to do the work. And then yeah you have the parts to go on that! I expect I have probably spent less than you imagine.. In some ways I hope I have!

Lee

Nice job you\'ve done with the FD! I can appreciate the hours and money thats gone into it, the first look at the finished article makes you realise it was all worth it in the end eh! :D

Thanks Initial! Is that your car in your avatar thing? Have you got a project page or pictures of it on here? Looks interesting!

Ben I just spotted the blogpsot!! Awesome! I will have a proper read later.. But looks amazing .. And a very nice kit I must say!!

Lee

Hi Guy\'s,
This weekend proved very slow on progress. The last few bits come down to some interior and electrics which generally I hate in cars! I had previously rewired the stereo plugs due to the previous owner doing a bit of cut and shut job on them! So that was all dandy. My aim was to get all the interior back in.. which ideally involved fitting the radio first as I need to make some kind of cage to hold it. Then put all the other bits in and figure out how the ECU mounted. I had not checked any of the other electrics previously so anything could happen!
It turned out mostly ok but fitting the radio has been a it of a nightmare. I started looking at the cage requirements. I had and old Nissan style cage on the double DIN unit I was fitting so began cutting it and bending it till I had fabricated a new bracket to hook into the mazda hole! Next I plugged it all in.. then went to put the aerial plug in and noticed that the car has two female plugs?(big and small) the radio I have which is also japanese has two female plugs too! What the hell!? I had got a band expander for it which fits the larger of the two aerial sockets but still means I somehow need to get a male-male adapter? I have never seen one before? Anyway I decided to pop out to (hu hum) Halfords to see if I could find something.. But as expected no joy? Also why are there two aerial sockets? Does it matter which I use? Anyway I have made up a male-male adapter for now from two regular adaptors but I don\'t know if it works because the next thing I found was the power adapter plug I have to fit the radio has a completely different wire layout to the plugs coming from the car! So I thought get out the circuit tester and see what\'s what on the car and change the adapter around.. No! there was no power from anything!
So My questions regarding the radio are..
1.Can someone please explain to me about the radio aerial. do I need a special adaptor for it? have I got some rog wiring?
2. Can someone please post a pic or link for the radio circuit diagram?
I need to know what is what on the speaker plug and the power plug!
3. Where is the fuse located for the radio? Hopefully that will solve the \'no power\' issue!
So that was a bummer! Guess the radio wasn\'t going in just yet.
Good News after a few minutes of playing with the ECU I figured out how that fitted into the footwell! So one more piece back in! and the foot well trim fitted!
At the mo it looks something like this:
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Interior.jpg)

So then I decided to fit the rest of the dash. fairly straight forward. Next it was time to test it all.. Oh My God.. It all works! Lights, heater, squirters.. The lot! So that was very pleasing.. I had actually achieved something in my day!
Now for the bit I had been dreading. The car alram has blackjax activated and I need to disarm that to drive it for MOT. as it happens I don\'t no the code and it appears the previous keeper changed it from standard! I think I must have guessed by accident before as I have had the alarm go off and then pressed the buttons in the car and got it off.. But that didn\'t seem to work when I tried to enter the program stage. So I am really in the pooh and need some serious help. Does anyone know how you can reset the alarm features without knowing the valet code? Is this possible? I am guessing if it\'s possible it wil require and alram engineer to plug in his pc?
I have a clifford concept 500. The factory 4 digit valet code is on the back of the manual.. but it is defiantely not that. Before I had used an online concept 400 manual which has a factory set code of 2. Which is what I had been trying to use before. and some sort of combination of 2\'s and blanks had obviously disabled it but I don\'t know what for sure!
Please let me know if anyone can help. Otherwise my lovely car won\'t be going anywhere!

Lee

Hhmmm. Just dug out my Concept 650 manual, and that\'s got a four-figure code on the back of the manual, too. I remember that my earlier-generation Clifford just had a default preset of 2, like you say, so it looks like the more modern ones might well have individual codes or a batch code, a bit like padlocks come in batches with the same key as it were. Not much help to you right now, but I\'m sure that there must be a way for an alarm fitting wallah to get into the system and override it. Maybe worth trying Huets in Worthing, not too far from Bognor if you can get there from work or something. They were very helpful with advice when I took a random alarm problem there before, they seem to know what they\'re doing. May even be able to help with your spurious radio wiring questions!

Looking good as always, dude, for what it\'s worth, small comfort if you can\'t drive it, I guess. Loving the old-school steering wheel, my mums got one just like that in her MGB. Actually, that\'s probably not the right thing to say, is it :Giggle!

I don\'t think any typical alarm fitter can sort anything out without the valet code, I had a similar problem a couple of months ago.... There are 2 people currently in the UK who developed the directed alarms, they have software no one else has.... I can email you one of their numbers, he can completely reprogram it too, in case you think someone else has access to a spare fob....

As for the radio, by the sounds of it I\'m pretty certain you haven\'t connected your ground... the stock Jap looms don\'t have a grounding wire in the loom... but stock standards in head units do... You need to take the black wire of your radio loom ("cut & shut" if you like...) & ground it somewhere in the car...

Apologies if that\'s not the issue, let us know if that doesn\'t work & we\'ll think of more things around it... Good work so far Lee :Thumbs-up.

Very impresive mate.
well done.

Maz

S3th. I will definately love a contact for an alarm guru! leeroy_25@hotmail.com if you please! Also I have conected the ground. When I say no power I mean no power coming from the actual loom when the radio is not on!
SO I am guessing or rather hoping it\'s just the fuse is blown? but I need to know where the fuse is to check it!?
Anyone know about the aerial socket issue? Is the car normally a female socket? and what are the two different socket sizes for?

Thank you
Lee

Ah you can get adapters to some effect from halfords, have a look if they have something workable.... there\'s a fuse on the loom itself (or so there should be)... otherwise checkout the footwell, I can\'t remember of the top of my head....

Looks very good leeroy 25...:)

Okay guy\'s,
I think for now the major panic is over. After reading through a 40 manual again and trying the factory set code for this it appears to have worked. I think last time I had not held the last button long enough. But I was all set to guess a few codes and I didn\'t need to! I still haven\'t driven it yet so it could all go horribly wrong on the way to MOT! Anway. I stil need to check the remote start works. Other than tht fingers crossed th alarm wil be okay.
Now moving on to the next problem. I have found a wiring diagram for my audio system but ths does not tell you what each colour wire is for. Can anyone help? I need to know which wires on the power plug correspond to what. ie. power, illumination etc.. I can figure power and ignition due to the wire digram but not the others. Also where is the inline fuse? is there another fuse box in the car? I think possibly the 10amp one is blown as I have ignition live but no constant. Finally what should the radio relay switch look like? I opened the relay box and in the audio position appears to be just some open wires looping the terminals!? I am sure that cannot be right? Finally for audio does te centre speaker not get used if you put in an aftermarket radio? I spotted a small blackplug wth amp written on it and presue this plugs to the amp which I guess is part of the standard headunit?? (Which I don\'t have!)
Last little problem. I noticed I do not have a fog light?! I presume being an import there should be a seperate wired in foglight? if so I need to sort one out as I cannot find any sign of one which is strange as it has been MOT\'d previously! What is the normal deal with this.. Can I wire into the spotlight/front fog switch on the centre console and put a seperate light by the bumper or into the brake light?

Cheers guys
Lee

Glad to hear you\'ve got it sorted alarm-wise, dude. Still cant help with your stereo woes, I\'m afraid. I didn\'t even know my centre speaker wasn\'t wired up to anything until it got taken out to mount some gauges!

You will need an independant rear fog light, and I believe that it has to have a switch that iluminates or other telltale on the dash to stop you from driving it around for months with it left on (though this doesn\'t stop my wife from doin it, lol). Methods vary, from just bolting a cheap Halfrauds one to the bottom of the bumper, to canabilising one of the reverse lights, to clever things with leds and such. Guess it depends how quick you need to get it done, wedging on a Halfords one to get the MOT done and doing something more elegant later is always an option.

I think the switch in the centre console is supposed to work front fogs, I think it was an option to get another for a rear fog with a telltale (cos Jap market doesn\'t require it). Mine has both, but it seems to be uncommon

I have found a thread on converting the rear brake light with a LED style bulb and wiring into the front fog switch whihc is a good option! I planned to use that switch as it saves putting anything extra in the dash. Not sure about needing the tell tale light on the instrument panel as I don\'t recall that being in the skyline? Although I guess the switch illuminates if I use the foglight switch?

Fingers crossed for the weekend now!! Better not rain either!!

Good news and not so good news!

Saturday p.m. the RX7 had it\'s maiden voyage.. Of to the MOT station! I was bricking it! having never been anywhere anything could happen! I took off gingerly for MOT and was very pleased to arrive at the station in one piece without any drama\'s. As the station were running late they suggest I go for a quick drive and come back in 15mins. As I went to start the car.. it fired and I let go of the key but it hadn\'t actually started. Instantly I thought I\'ve flooded it and lo and behold a subsequent attempt to start the car it just turned over and didn\'t fire. After a bit of panic I made a quick call to Martin @ speedline for some advice! Thanks to him.. I removed the relays for the fuel pump and EGI and whizzed it over a few times. First attempt it didn\'t work and the battery started going. So I borrowed a charge pack from the garage and the next attempt it barked up.
Afer that I nipped up the road to clear it out. As I got back to the garage and pulled in for MOT Smoke started curling from under the hood with a distinctly oily pong! Great!! THe car seemed to be running fine wit perfectly good oil pressure and no smoke fomr the exhaust. I popped the hod and couldn\'t see anthing. Then when we got it up on the ramp all we could see was the turbo clearly had a little oil around the housing which was dripping onto the exhaust. No sign of where it was coming from though! After the MOT which it passed! with only an advise on slightly pitted brake discs! (It has been sat for 2 years or more!) I took it back home gingerly. I had another look under neath and found there also seems to be a very slight leak of Power Steering fluid coming from around the bottom of the bottle I think. Hard to tell. As for the oil on the turbo it seemed to be coming from the actuator for the second turbo?! Then I spotted more oil on the little brace bar that fits in just above the radiator.. agian no sign of where from! After more investigation today with my dad we found the oil is coming out of the induction system and hence how it has got into the acutator and appears to be coming from that too! As it doesn\'t appear to be burning any oil I am not sure where it\'s coming from. Although when I got the engine and tried to compression test it I did put quite a bit of oil onto the rotors to help seal it?! Hopefully it is just that.. But I will have to keep an eye on it!
Also I have foind that is seems to be a bit of a pig to start when hot? I have heard this is normally a result of low compression? I certainly hope it is something else! (could it be plugs getting oily from the above issue?) last thing I need now is to have to rebuild the engine! It goes like a train and doesn\'t smoke at all! Quicker than I expected to be honest! I wll hopefully get it to reworx next weekend for a compression check.
The only other bad thing I noticed which could be an oil leak into the box from the engine seal or the oil from the turbo getting in there or even just where it\'s not been used. When I gave it a bit more beans the clutched slipped quite badly as the second turbo kicked in. It only did it once or twice then it was fine.. Even if you tried loading it up in a high gear. So another one to keep and eye on! Is it common for rear oil seals to go?
Last little problem is I notice on y way back fomr MOT the Speedo is reading in KM/h! Is it easy to get a conversion done. Is it just a chip you plug in DIY?

So a few smal problems..  But after all the work that has been carried out ofver the last ew months I think it as to be expected really!?

I have ome work to do one a couple of other cars over the next two or three weeks so there will be no major progress on te FD for a little while. I need to sort out an electrical issue as I still have no Coonstatn live to the radio. Everything else including the earth check out fine? any ideas greatfully recieved!

Lee

ooh, let me know if you plan to go to RE:Worx, and me and Rich will meet you down there for a chat if you like. :)

Dan, I meant to reply earlier. I will be down at rework tomorrow morning about 10.30am for a couple of hours getting a once over!!

Feel free to come say hello!

Cheers
Lee

damn! You should have replied earlier, this is the first saturday in about 2 months that i havent had a reason to go down there! never mind, i\'m sure well catch up at some point.

Nice work dude & good to meet you at Re:Worx, will keep my eye out for you around Pompey, take it easy.

Hi James!
Nice to meet you too! I am sure I will be back down there in the near future! Good luck with your engine swap!

Dandan.. We will hook up some other time. No problem! My fault for not getting in touch sooner! bit of a mad week though!

Well... I had my check over at re-worx this weekend. The news wasn\'t all bad.. Could have been a damn site worse! As I suspected I have a failed rear oil seal which is causing a bit of clutch slip every now and then. I also have a weep off the powersteering pipe which I can change no problem. Not so good is I have a suspected oil leak (seal failure?) in the rear turbo. I had hoped it was just a little oil from the intercooler that had got sucked through the inlet system and squeezed out of the actuator. but there is a fair amount of oil sprayed around the turbo housing when you look from underneath. Turbo seems to be working perfectly okay and it\'s not causing any smoke! Just the oil leaking onto the exhaust is a bit of a concern! I was planning to go single turbo some time! Maybe a little sooner than I thought!
The goodish news was the compression wasn\'t too bad! between 6.5 and 6.7 on the rear rotor and 5.8 -6.0 on the front. So for some reason the front is running a little low but I gather it\'s not the end of the world!
I was also told that I have a paper inlet gasket which would be a good idea to change. Maybe it\'s not helping my warm start issue as even after a bit of a fiddle and a setup it\'s still just as bad. I presume my slightly low front rotor wouldn\'t cause that much of an issue for warm starting?
The guy\'s down at re-worx are brilliant. Very helpful and friendly. I spent plenty of time quizzing them about the FD\'s and rotary engines in general! Also found out what my electrical problem was on my stereo. There was a fuse completely missing! But as I didn\'t have a cover on my joint box I didn\'t know! I had a hunch it could be but thought I wouldn\'t risk it just in case till I knew for sure.
So slightly happier I went home and fitted up my stereo and rear speakers and put all the dash back together properly! Sadly I had no camera to take pics this weekend. I will try and get some for next weekend!

Oh yer almost forgot to ask you where you got hold of an "arche roller" wanna roll mine so can put some spacers on for a nice tight fit to the arche, thanks??

Hi James,
I hired mine from Martin at Speedline. Do you know who I mean? failing that ask around some of the body shops.

Nope don\'t know Martin, how much did they let you have it for?? Yer will check around them, thanks?

James... I can\'t remember how much now.. Not too much.. but it was a bit of a favor as I had bought a few bits off him. I also had to collect it from Cowfold! Not ideal from your point of view!

Lee

Ok matey, thanks thou.

Hi There if you have come looking for an update to this post.. Please visit my follow up thread here:
http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?p=546303#post546303

Thank you
Lee

hi,
wante to ask do you have the seat rail extension for sale as i need one.
 
Ash

Hey Ash,
I can possibly get another pair made up.. Will have to get a price next week.

You up for the bit of DIY involved getting the seatbelt mount off? nothing to trick.

Regards
Lee

was wondering if worked it out yet got money ready.
 
thanks
Ash

Hey Ash,

I had a busy week so far.. I will get a price asap.. I was kind of waitnig for you to come back and confirm you were okay with the bit of DIY involved in fitting it as per my build post. i.e grinding the seat belt mount off carefully!

I\'ll try and send the CAD out tonight so I can get an answer tomorrow.

Regards
Lee

Quote from: James H;518494Oh yer almost forgot to ask you where you got hold of an "arche roller" wanna roll mine so can put some spacers on for a nice tight fit to the arche, thanks??

shove a baseball bat between the arch and wheel and give it a twirl :rollin
 
 
 
EDIT: on a more constructive note, you can buy them on eBay for around £200. if you can sell it on for £150+ it\'d be cheaper than a bodyshop i think?

Hi Ash,

I finally got a price.. sorry for the delay.. been a busy couple of weeks here!
Anyway.. including the CSK fixings they will be £95.

Let me know if that works for you and we can get it sorted.

Regards
Lee

sounds fine, i can send paypal straight away if thats of with you. email me your paypal email address and i will send it straight away. if thats ok.
 
my address is my
username @ yahoo . co . uk