Hi guys\',
Some of you may have been following progress on my build. So this is just an update on my current progress. Others may not. If you wish to read from the start please check out this link:
http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42539
So. I had a little break from the Mazda as I had plenty of othe jobs to sort out! I started back on it a few weeks ago now and progress felt slow at first but it seems to have finally come together. Mainly I have been trying to sort out some small mechanical niggles I have and oils leaks, getting there with that! My end aim was to complete the Exterior.
Last off the car was pretty much done on the exterior but there were some fine details to be completed and my AD9 bonnet to paint and fit. So first off I tackled the smaller parts. Easy bit was to fit the front bumper mesh.. I ended up getting some neat little plastic cable tie guides and bonding these inside the bumper around the opening so there are no visible fixings for the mesh and it is easily removable if need be!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/bumpermesh.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/front.jpg)
Next my Veilside rims needed much attention to the centre caps. I have planned to get some new ones machined but even as a favour it was working out quite expensive. So I opted to modify and polish up the old ones!
Okay so the cap started life like this..
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Centrecap1.jpg)
Very sorry for itself!
After a bit of a mod (because I think the centre nut looks hidious!) and a quick polish we had this:
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/wheelcentre2.jpg)
and after some more elbow grease we had these!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/wheelcentre1.jpg)
Then completed with some nice stainless cap head bolts to replace the tasteless gold ones!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/wheelcentre3.jpg).
So now the centre was looking a little bare..
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/wheel2.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Wheel1-1.jpg)
Hmm.. I know what would look quite nice there. A little carbon badge! Lucky for me we had some perfect off cuts of UD carbon sheet at work from a project! Also I figured a logo would really be needed on the caps. After much thought and various options I decided I would have a go at engraving the simple \'Veilside\' logo into the caps using a fine diamond point on a pencil grinder. I printed off some appropriately sized logo\'s and spray glues them to the carbon sheet and then simply ground through along the letter. I did a test piece first:
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Carbon1.jpg)
After that I cut some more circles for the cabron sheet and engraved these in the same way. To add to the contrast I decided to paint over them in silver and then flat them off to leave the silver paint in the engraving before giving it a good coat of lacquer.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Carbon3.jpg)
Also while I was at it I decided to make a new surround for my radio seeing as it didn\'t have one!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Radio1.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Carbon2.jpg)
Then with a flat and a polish.. Voila!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1050.jpg)
And here they are finally fitted to the car..
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1051.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1052.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1053.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1059.jpg)
Hope you like the finishing touches!
I Think I\'ll break here for a bit and continue with the update later or tomorrow!
Thanks for looking
Lee
Top skills mate. Those are some really nice touches :D
Fancy giving a little more detail about you bumper mesh fitment/fittings. Want to put some on mine over the winter :)
Adam
Leeroy... You have skills! That\'s an understatement... :cool:King.
i saw you in bognor the other week filling up at the esso garage on the chichester road... looks pretty sweet!
Leeroy very nice work mate, looks really good. :King
Where did you get your bumper mesh from as I am currently in need of some? :)
Also will have to come and say hi at some point as I\'m only just down the road in Southampton. :chat
Thanks guys.. Hoping to do a nice big post with lots of pics tonight if I have time..
S3th.. Thanks for the thumbs up!
Gyles.. what car do you have? I have seen a green, black and candy red RX7 around bognor! The other week was before I had out all these finishing touches on! Well the mesh was fitted and the blank centre caps in.. but also it was in need of compound and polish again as after my first quick job doing this the shine had died down a bit!
Stormbleeder.. Are you the guy who was doing the rebuild on the 200sx forum? Dan\'s mate?
I got my mesh from ebay I think.. ages ago.. I had it in my garage left over from my last car.. do be careful which one you get as some meshes on there are rubbish!
Regarding the mesh fixings I got Ada7 asked about.. these also came from trusty ebay! I will try and get a listing for them tonight. The other way you can do it is how my bonnet was done.. fibre glass some thin steel strips to the inside that you can bend through the mesh and over to look it into place. I would have done it that way but didn\'t have any thing suitable to hand.
The clips I used are intended to be screwed on.. but you can just bond them in place or use a nice csk rivet which I did up under where the number plate sits.. so you cannot see them anyway.
superb work bud - well done!
Wheels are looking filthy now #;o)
Right, So where was I? Arh yes. The final finishing touch! (in my eyes anyway!) That would be the bonnet then! Sadly I did not get any prep and prime pictrues as my battery went on my camera that day.. But nothing interesting to see there! First off I had some problems with the base coat. Initially I thought it was a paint reaction or solvent pop but then discovered it was actually some very fine pin holes in the gel coat of the FRP bonnet that had decided to come through. They hadn\'t shown up when it was primed for some reason. Probably due to the flat nature of the primer. But they showed up real bad in the base coat.. millions of them all over the surface! I tried a number of coats to cover them and slightly less thinners in the base coat but they still kept coming up... After talking to the paint supplier and a friendly painter it was decided I had two choices, start again and flat the whole thing back and seal and primer again or try and see if I could loose the pin holes with a few coats of 2k lacquer which has a lot more guts to it than the base coat.. I decided I might as well give the lacquer a go! Once I had pleased myself there was definately no primer showing up thrugh the pin holes I started with the lacquer and luckily after about 4 or 5 coats it was pretty much sweet.. Just a few fine pin holes to fill by hand and flat out. SO it looked a little like this:
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bonnet1-1.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/bonnet4.jpg)
Now I had plenty of paint to flat and polish to get a nice glassy finish! So down through the grade like I did with the rest of the car..
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bonnet5.jpg)
Then some serious compounding and a fine finish polish:
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bonnet6.jpg)Those vents are a real cow to get in! But look the nuts! Sorry, but I love the AD9!! :Thumbsup! Somehow sleek yet agressive!?! Really it\'s the only reason I bought the car! I wanted to fit the bonnet! :Giggle
Once it was all polished up I then fitted my mesh and bonnet catches back in which you can just see in this pic:
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bonnet8.jpg)
I had planned to fit some aerocatches but partly due to the holes already being in the bonnet for these catches and my balls not being big enough to cut a big hole in my bonnet I am running with these for now! Might fit the aerocatches at a later date.
Okay.. I am of for a bite to eat and then possibly I will complete this Thread with some finished pictures of the exterior! Bonnet fitted and polished up!
Very nice same bonnet going on my track car to!good choice :Thumbsup!
Okay guy\'s now for the biggy! I think I might have got a it carried away with the camera! It was just so shiny! it kept calling me! Plus the weather kept changing! one minute it was cloudy then the sun came out so I just had to go for a drive!! I won\'t right much!! Just lots of pics to see! I hope you like the end (1st stage complete!) Result?!
Starting with some of the bonnet fitted just as I finished late Saturday!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1056.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1055.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1065.jpg)
I really must get a bigger flash! Lets try that with some morning light!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1094.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1097.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1092.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1095.jpg)
Right so light still improving lets get a few more general shots starting at the back and working forwards!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1088.jpg)
Does my bum look big in this?!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1087.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1086.jpg)
Oh no.. it\'s just my camera lense that is a little too small!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1089.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1084.jpg)
Moving around some more just as the drizzle starts to set in!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1068.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1080.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1079.jpg)
Okay. pause for quick very light shower...
Now.. from the front!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1075.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1074.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1072.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1070.jpg)
Oh is that sun I see.. Time for a drive to find a suitable photo location! Hmm that quiet spot at the side of the road will have to do!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1106.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1107.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1105.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1103.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1102.jpg)
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1101.jpg)
And finally no thread would be complete without a picture of the proud threadie! Not that I am really pleased or anything!!:rolleyes:
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1099.jpg)
Umm no dear just a little more to the left. That\'s my bad side!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1100.jpg)
Super and just one more round to the right!
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/RX7%20Stage1%20Finished/101_1098.jpg)
Well, there it is as she stands today.. Thank you again for all the help, support and words of encouragement along the way. The project will be on going for sometime yet.. I need to sort out the rear oil seal and change the clutch which I may or may not post pics of which wil have me off the road and tied up for a weekend or two once I get the parts!
Then I hope to return in a few weeks with a new thread aimed at my interior build and or a single turbo conversion! Stages 2 and 3.
Ohh. And just for a quick reminder can I just post this!?!
September 2007
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/1.jpg)
A partially empty tatty shell on my parents driveway! What have I let myself in for?!
Stunning! You\'ve put a lot of effort into that car and it definitely shows!
Nicely done :)
Get some better pictures if you can mate. Dont think your doing it and yourself for all your efforts enough justice :D
Adam
Quote from: leeroy_25;546408Stormbleeder.. Are you the guy who was doing the rebuild on the 200sx forum? Dan\'s mate?
I am indeed mate. :yes
Okay Ada7, I\'ll see what I can do!!
I was planning to try and use our work camera on Friday if the weather is okay. My camera is not that great to be fair although it does a reasonable job.. And not being a professional photographer myself I just have to make do! Also I find personally that you cannot get accross in pictures what you can when you physically see something?? Maybe that\'s just me..
but I will try and do some good pics at some point. Actually the Hampshire Jap car club photographer had offered to do some for me.. I might have to darken his door step!
Stormbleeder.. Would definately be worth hooking up.. Be interested to see you motor and hear about your rebuild experiences. I am planning to pull apart a secondhand motor I have soon!
What spoiler is that on the car ?
Looks very posh mate :) Good looking Rex, nicely done.
The rear wing is an REA Type-Low.. It looks huge from behind but blends with the lines quite nicely from the side.. I think?!
Cheers
Lee
Quote from: leeroy_25;546838The rear wing is an REA Type-Low.. It looks huge from behind but blends with the lines quite nicely from the side.. I think?!
Cheers
Lee
I like the spoiler which is why I asked :)
Think it looks different and like a sort of drag spoiler ...
Awesome work on the paint job - looks absolutely stunning. The detailing on the wheels is a nice touch too :D
Makes me very green indeed :)
Thanks mate! :cool
I liked the wing as it is different also! and does blend nicely with the rest of the kit I think..
Just one thing,
you must please use wet look tyre spray to make them blend in :Laugh
It\'s incredible, mate, simply stunning job. Can\'t believe how much you\'ve transformed that car. You don\'t need to apologise for the number of photos, I\'d be wanting to show off if I\'d just turned out a car that looked that good :Thumbs-up
Blimey! Thanks!1 Don\'t know what to say to that! :mmmm
Tell you what thoguh.. I had actually forgotten to put my tyre gel on!! Wil do tat this weekend!! :Giggle
Lee
An amazing car ! inspires me:god, but aint gona happen :2Rolleyes
anychance of a pic looking up from below of your bonnet pins, i have the same bonnet but in carbon, and have pins here just scared to fit them !
I\'ll try and get something over the weekend.. Basically the bonnet was already fitted with these pins when I got it.. All they did was remove the bump stop by the head light and fit pins here. To mark the hole position in the bonnet I might suggest first puttig some white paint onto the top of the bump stop and letting the bonnet sit down on it. Then you have a centre mark for you hole.. then I think I would drill a small center hole right through and then put the pins into the front panel and then use a pencil grinder to slowly open out the hole until the pin can come up though it? You will then need to open up the hole in the inner skin on the underside so that the rubber stop normally fitted to the bonnet pin can pass through. That\'s just how I would do it.. Maybe there is an easier way or a proper way??!
Hope that helps but I will try and get some pictures. I need to show how my mesh is held on as well for aother request!
Hi there,
There were some people who had asked a couple fo questions about mesh fittings and bonnet pins.. I finally got 5mins to post up the answers!!
Here is waht I used or the mesh on the bumper
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/grillfix.jpg)
You can get them off ebay here:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Cable-Tie-Mounts-Base-Saddle-100-PACK-Black-OR-White_W0QQitemZ350121246779QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item350121246779&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1301%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318
Other types and brands are available!
I forgot to take a picture of the bonnet showing how the mesh is held in with steel tags that you bend through the mesh to trap it in place. These are laminated into the fibre glass.
Next was the bonnet pins. I have the normal type pin in the front panel where one of the rubbers fits:
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/BonnetPin.jpg)
Then this goes through the bonnet in an area that is doubled skinned so you need to cut a hole through the inner skin big enough for te rubber to go through like so:
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/bonnetPin1.jpg)
Then you can just see the square hole that goes through the top skin which the pin head sticks through here:
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/BonnetPin2.jpg)
Hope that is some help!?
I have just got a clutch from the states and hope to fit that next weekend along with my Rear engine oil seal! Wish me luck!
Lee
good luck lol i just done a clutch on a starlet n it took me 2 days lol,
I am expecting it to take a least a long day! I was reckoning by the time I had all the car set up and on stands it will be best part of a day to remove the box and if lucky do the rear oil seals then half a day or so to put it back together.. I wouldn\'t say two days is that bad.. Not like I have a pit or proper car lift I can use to make life easy!
Lee
Nice to see another RX7 in Hampshire same colour as mine too so far thats 4 RX7 owners locally there\'s Paul with a red one another guy from the Hampshire Japanese Car Club with a green one well at least thats the only ones owning up to the fact that they own an RX7 hopefully see you around some time. By the way I have looked into the V8 conversion (I started a thread a while back on the subject)as I noticed your interest in possible transplants.
Hey there Dave,
I\'ll look for that post.. maybe catch you at a meet sometime?
Since fitting all my bodykit up I have felt it was a little flimsy/wobbly and have been meaning to make up some brackets for it.. Well I finally got around to it today!
I did try to make some brackets out of some thin plate that you can get from B&Q or Homebase but it was to flexy still so I purchased some 1 1/4"x3/16" ally flat bar and set about a bit of fab work! I found a couple of points close to the front of the chassis rail which I used to bolt the brackets to.
I also cut a long piece that I could use to sit inside the lip of the bumper and act as a sandwich plate and make the structure more rigid rather than just bolting straight into the fibreglass which would undoubtidly crack.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bracket1.jpg)
I needed to remove some material from the back of the long strip at either end to allow it to sit further back due to the bumper having a slight curve.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bracket2.jpg)
Then with my dummy parts I previously made I set about bending the new thicker plate.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bracket3.jpg)
Then with all pieces done I put some holes in ready to mount to the car.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bracket4.jpg)
After measuring it all out to make sure it was square under the car.. and a couple of rivets to help hold the support strip in place here it was.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t59/Leeroy_25/Bracket5.jpg)
Much better!
The dummy brackets didn\'t go to waste as I cut these in half and used these to make some little brackets to attach to the side of the bumper and help hold the crap shield in place which was slightly floating in the breeze due to not quite reaching the lip of the arch at the lower front edge. No pics of these tho as my phone ran out of memory!
Looking good mate, shes really coming together... still have yet to see you on the road in Pompey! My FC is still half way thru the project but the rx8 engine is in & she is on the road now (since Christmas) anyway will keep my eyes out for you, my FC has currently got an unpainted body kit on it & some new wheels.
Hey James,
I saw you a few weeks back going towards southampton.. I was in the missus Fiesta... we heard you coming fomr a mile off and my other half thought you were ging to die when flames started coming out of your exhaust!
sounded awesome!
I\'ll be over re-worx in a few weeks to get a tune up. The old girl is back off the road now getting a single conversion.. had some boost problems with the twins and had to give in!
keep up the work on yours.
Lee
Ha brilliant timing, a bit of flame-age for a fellow rotary head, we sadly dont get to appreciate that very often as we are usually driving lol! Hmmm go up to Southampton bout every 2 weeks & havn\'t been for a while now so, i must have been missing a rear bumper & still had my old white wheels on then!
Single conversion hey...... nice i heard nothing but good things & some big bhp figures!
Anyway mate you keep up the good work & let me know when she is back on the road, try organize a little south meet, James.