After years of searching iv finally managed to secure a 1973 RX3 with about 41k on the clock.
The purchase was an unusual one with me spotting and taking a chance on an unseen RX3 that was on Ebay but also in Inverness, so to far for me to go take a peek at.
Anyway the seller didn\'t know anything about cars so he was very helpfull but vague.
The car was purchased by the sellers father new in 1973 then after a lot of miles in the 1st 4 years the engine blew in 1978 so the car was laid up in a huge dry barn, then 3 years ago the barn was sold, so it was moved to a carport for 2 year then the house was sold so moved to a backyard with a tarpaulin over it for the last year.
So the car has only been run for the 1st 4 years of its life :2eek then laid up and stored.
Anyway the car turned up today and im well pleased.
The engine is a no go and has been pulled out and just balanced inside the engine bay.
The structure is about as good as i could expect but duz need some work.
So here goes :D
Here is the car as i got it.
This is what greated us under the bonnet so we promptly removed it to give us a little space to work.
Drag Car !!!!! do it!!!
After removing various engine bay items the engine bay itself was in surprisingly good condition as was the rest of the car excluding the sills and door bottoms that need replacing.
luckily its only the outer sills and door bottoms so just cosmetic really and nothing i haven\'t tackled before.
A few pictures of before and after cleaning the bay up a little.
Quote from: BlitzBoy;637888Drag Car !!!!! do it!!!
I am tempted :Giggle
Underneath the car is fantastic btw :D
Another of the bay.
as you can see the engine bay is in fantastic condition with only 2 small holes needing welding due to blocked drain holes.
So we parked her up (this is where she is going to live for a while) and started to have a look what i had purchased, and before i knew it i got carried away :D
1st to come off was the worst side wing and to our surprise all we found was flakey paint and alight coating of rust just on the surface , with it just one small patch needing welding.
Here you can see after we have brushed most of the loose stuff off.
A few more of the wing after further cleaning.
I was pleased to see nice sharp/clean edges on most joints and panels.
Loving that! Will it be ready for wings and wheels? :Giggle
So time to cut our the bad metal.
On this pic you can see the strut torwe needed patching and you can also see the whole inside the bay that needs welding up.
Quote from: Brett;637905Loving that! Will it be ready for wings and wheels? :Giggle
I doubt that but ill try :2Confused
I do plan to have it ready and on the road within 4 months though :D
Then its down to pulling all the front end undercarriage off.
as you can see all looks like it will go again with a little sandblasting and powder coating.
Then after cleaning all the inside of the damaged area and blowing all the crap out, i set to and rust treated and waxoiled the inside and then welded a patch on that was galv primed.
After welding the patch in place i then used some access holes to waxoil inside once again as welding burns some of it off.
this is not the best pic as the patch looks a little odd but the second picture shows it half way through waxoiling and third after its been fully waxoiled over the top.
Next was the front, it was clean to start with but needed lots of fiddly sanding and a nice coat of rust eater and priming.
Thats as far as i got today but work should steam ahead.
Here are some pictures that never managed to make a previous post.
A few of the boot that was amazing condition as was the underneath at the back end.
Wow, looking like it will be a minter !
Very good find.
Shaun
The underneath of RX3 should be pretty good as they were all Galvanised.
Nice buy there Steve!
Regards
Carl
Great find Steve!
Looks like a good one.
Have you had the carpets up yet?
They sometimes go where the floor pan in welded to the chassis legs, OK from the outside, but rusted through on the inside. Also, where the accelerator pedal is mounted to the floor.
Are you planning on sticking with the 10a?
Ray
Quote from: Ray;637942Great find Steve!
Looks like a good one.
Have you had the carpets up yet?
They sometimes go where the floor pan in welded to the chassis legs, OK from the outside, but rusted through on the inside. Also, where the accelerator pedal is mounted to the floor.
Are you planning on sticking with the 10a?
Ray
Yep had the carpets up and all looks good on 1st inspection, but hopefully its as good when i remove the dirt.
I dont know what Engine im going to pop in it yet. iv yet to pull the 10a apart that came with it and inspect whats salvageable.
Also i havent a clue what kind of prices the older engines go for and availability.
So less old school Mazda, restore it originally! :D
Ahh so its you who bought this :D
Looking great so far, very jealous :)
Adam
Nice one Steve, good luck. Keep us updated
A bit more work dun today
Found 2 more places under the wing where there was a little bubbling so i cut it out and welded in some patches after treating all the inside with galv spray and then waxoil when it was in place.
After the welds had cooled i then primed with rust neutralising primer and then waxoild over the top.
Also decided to see what was under the paint in the door shut where the hinges are and to my surprise, Nothing just metal :D
So cut back and galv sprayed.
I did however find a small hole where the piller met the iner door section so as usual i cut the old metal out, welded a new section in and finished with more galve spray.
The whole car is going to be bare metal, treated then 2 pack primed.
So that said i continued to sand the back of the car down.
Still lots of bright work to be removed from the car yet.
A little more dun today
On closer inspection of the bottom of the sill where the wing bolts on i found it to be a little on the thin side, so cut out the old metal welded some new in and gave it a bit of primer.
Back 1/4 has been buging me so decided to treat it and put some filler in to make it the right shape.
Still a little work to be dun but its almost there.
Before picture is just after i got it.
wouldn\'t it be better to plastic blast the body to find all teh weak spots?
Quote from: Speedworks;638745wouldn\'t it be better to plastic blast the body to find all teh weak spots?
It would yes :Thumbsup!
But thats perfection, and im not aiming for concourse just extreemly good :D
Also it costs a lot :o
Oh and there shouldnt be anything iv missed as its all going back to bear metal bit by bit.
Managed a little more today.
Sills now have new metal and look a little nicer.
Rear 1/4 before and after the arch needs new metal, so tackled that today as well.
Not finished but a little closer.
this is how she sits by the end of the day.
Nice to see another 3 coupe getting a new lease of life :Thumbs-up
Well im determined to get the old girl on the road fairly soon :D
Hey Steve how is the resto going lately? What engine is going to be fitted? (Bridgeport, turbo ect?)
Due to unforseen circumstances Steve\'s had to put the car onto the back burner for a while, nodoubt he\'ll be back onto it in the next week or so.
OMG I was bidding on this car and lost out to you :( I was so gutted as its on my list of dream cars. My bloke said I wasn\'t too go mental and stopped me bidding anymore. What i should have done was dump him and carried on :Laugh. now I\'ve ended up with a cortina on the driveway.. :(.
Anyway looks like your doing a good job and its looking really nice. I\'m so Jealous. :( If you ever want to sell it.. please give me a shout :)
Quote from: 666FLO;642024OMG I was bidding on this car and lost out to you :( I was so gutted as its on my list of dream cars. My bloke said I wasn\'t too go mental and stopped me bidding anymore. What i should have done was dump him and carried on :Laugh. now I\'ve ended up with a cortina on the driveway.. :(.
Anyway looks like your doing a good job and its looking really nice. I\'m so Jealous. :( If you ever want to sell it.. please give me a shout :)
Well i will keep you in mind but i cant see me letting this go in the near future :D
TBH my final bid was a lot higher than the car finished at, as i was desperate to get my hands on one :Thumbs-up
RX3 coupe is for life! Best mazda ever made buddy (imo)
Quote from: HaywardRotary;637937The underneath of RX3 should be pretty good as they were all Galvanised.
Nice buy there Steve!
Regards
Carl[/quote
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha-ha! Not all of them as you well know!!!!- But not as well as me!!!!!!
Quote from: Bob Monkhouse;647174Quote from: HaywardRotary;637937The underneath of RX3 should be pretty good as they were all Galvanised.
Nice buy there Steve!
Regards
Carl[/quote
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha-ha! Not all of them as you well know!!!!- But not as well as me!!!!!!
Well race cars were not so well protected that is true.
LOL
Carl
Steve, I think it\'s brilliant how you\'ve just steamed in there with this car, it\'s taken me years sometime to get that much work done on one car! I saw it on Ebay at the time and thought despite the way it looked it was probably not so bad. Great stuff, cant wait to see it finished. If you decide to go for a 10A, give me a shout. I have a fair few bits and a complete engine which you could maybe use to make one out of the two? Cheers, Phil.
Oh, and does anyone know where the yellow rx3 saloon recently on ebay went to? that was right under my nose but alas no money to buy!
Quote from: Ultraman_Cosmo;649219Steve, I think it\'s brilliant how you\'ve just steamed in there with this car, it\'s taken me years sometime to get that much work done on one car! I saw it on Ebay at the time and thought despite the way it looked it was probably not so bad. Great stuff, cant wait to see it finished. If you decide to go for a 10A, give me a shout. I have a fair few bits and a complete engine which you could maybe use to make one out of the two? Cheers, Phil.
Cheers for that.
The car did go on hold for a while but its full steam ahead again, so shouldn\'t be long before its up and running.
Haven\'t a clue where i going engine wise at the mo but its nice to know there are a few spare engines around to maybe make a good one, thanx for the offer.
As for the yellow 4 door on ebay, i was wondering that myself.
Great work steve. This is more along the lines of the VW stuff i also follow (Bugs and Vans) with all the resto work that has to be carried out. :Thumbs-up
Dont think to hard about the engine yet, just get it up and running and have some fun in it. Can always change the engine later on :D
Adam
Hi guys, I\'m Andrew and the person who bought the yellow RX3 in question.
I\'m moving it to a new location this weekend so I\'ll take some photos and post them in the old school Mazda\'s.
Nice work on your RX3 coupe restoration Steve....looks like you\'ve been busy since buying it.
I was a bidder on that one too but missed out to you, I\'m happy the saloon came along to so quickly though.
look forward to seeing your progress too :-)
Hey how are you coming along with this project? I want to see more pictures of the car i never won .. drrroooollllll :Laugh
Well it has a 12a engine and a gearbox in now as well as one of the sides and the floor is dun.
when i striped the interior and carpets i found only 2 small holes about the size of a 50p so not a lot to do there.
iv also striped off all the running gear and im slowly but surely blasting them and painting them with smooth hamerite.
I Keep trolling ebay and iv managed to pick up a set of new shocks for it for £12 as well as new ball joints all round, track rod ends etc all new.
Iv decided to make this car mint so im taking my time as i now have the RX4 as well as the RX7 FD pp to play with.
Ok so now this is back on track and making progress, so ill be posting a few more pictures of the restoration soon.
Good to see you are now progressing with the car again. I started my own thread about the rx4 but haven\'t had time to update it as I have been working every hour possible these last few weeks. If it helps you with some motivation, I thought I would let you know that the rx4 is fully painted and buffed up to g10. Needs polishing now and then ready to be put back on some wheels!
awesome job ! my rx4 coupe is now having everything removed for all the rust to be done and also resprayed in a metallic silver. ill be throwing in a 12a 6 port with extractors and a 5 speed gearbox as mine was auto, ill try to also throw a sa22 non turbo 4.11 diff center and tailshaft in but im not sure if they bolt right up to the rx4 coupe 12a auto diff. does anyone know if it will? thanks !
More work completed this week.
The whole rear under carriage is off the car and has been cleaned up.
Diff has been split (no pics) found to be in good condition, so its been flushed and is waiting for nice fresh oil.
And now all nice and clean.
Next is to replace brake lines and brake components before its ready to be reinstalled.
Also managed to secure an elford turbo engine from Grant Monkhouse this week so im possibly going to be fitting this into the RX3.
Should still be oldschool but a little quicker.
Looking really good steve, good to see you have found some spare time to do a little bit.
It\'s still an old school no matter what type of rotary is in it, that includes bridge port turbos!:Giggle:Giggle:Giggle
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;745371Looking really good steve, good to see you have found some spare time to do a little bit.
It\'s still an old school no matter what type of rotary is in it, that includes bridge port turbos!:Giggle:Giggle:Giggle
Your Rx4 is going to be mental mate :Thumbs-up
Sure is, I don\'t think I can think of how much faster it is going to be than the FD though? My twins are fast, is a single going to be a lot faster? I know the chassis are different, FD is a sports/race car, RX4 is a luxury/sports. Hopefully be good with how much I will have lowered it by.
chaps, just FYI - If you need a stronger diff MGB axles are practically a straight swap......
Quote from: dubber91;745497chaps, just FYI - If you need a stronger diff MGB axles are practically a straight swap......
Cheers :Thumbs-up
Think grants sorted diff wise as hes putting down a lot more power.
If my diff duznt cope with the ETL tubby then maybe ill have to look for a bit of an upgrade.
Mine is only going to be a street car so dont think im going to punish it much.
Although my foot is heavy :rollin
Saturday left me with an hour to spare to put the rear to rear brake lines and new shockers on.
Nice work! I need to get to my garage now!!!!
Quote from: Rivalrx;745897Nice work! I need to get to my garage now!!!!
If your anything like me then time is the hardest thing to find to do these jobs.
Managed to get underneath the car today
After striping out brake lines and cables and fuel line, i was pleasantly surprised by how structurally sound it was.
Did lots of poking with a small screwdriver to get hard to reach rust and rubbing with a wire brush to find everything was totally intact and just needs cleaning up and treating.
Lots more to clean underneath before sandblasting and painting.
Old brake lines/cables and fuel lines stripped out, fuel lines looked in good condition but brake lines hadn\'t weather very well.
Stripped them all out anyway and will be replaced with new.
Started cleaning the front suspension and again found them to be in great condition.
Even the shockers are good to use again, but im going to replace with new inserts so i dont have to strip them again in the near future.
As can be see even the rubber shock cover was in fantastic condition
Looking good Steve, you may end up getting yours back together before i get mine done! argh, better get my finger out!!
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;746183Looking good Steve, you may end up getting yours back together before i get mine done! argh, better get my finger out!!
Come on mate we need these Oldschool motors on the road, there aint enough round these parts :D
I know, just need to redrill half shafts, and get the front hubs cut then the rest will be east, bit of painting to do but thats a days job.
When are you thinking of picking the engine up?
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;746191I know, just need to redrill half shafts, and get the front hubs cut then the rest will be east, bit of painting to do but thats a days job.
When are you thinking of picking the engine up?
Hopefully before the weekend Grant, if not then it will be sunday again.
Ill bring some cash with me :Thumbs-up
ok brilliant, just let me know before hand so im in the house
At 6:30pm i thought id better stop work and start play :D
Started with the suspension as id just previously brushed it off.
I was amazed at how easily it came apart, i was expecting some rusted and sized bolts but everything came apart as it should.
as you can see, although a little rusty the front disks are hardly even used.
The brake pads had about the same wear, as they should on a low mileage car.
Rest of the suspension stripped and painted.
even the rubbers were in fantastic condition.
everything to finish underneath has arrived minus just the full bushing kits front and rear from Aus.
Cant wait to get the bottom cleaned off ready for paint and new lines :D
Well today i decided to do some more cleaning of the underbody, but after 1hr of getting grit in my eyes i decided to have a look at worst part of the whole car, the door bottoms.
They looked like this and had me a little concerned as to weather id be able to make the good again.
i decided to concentrate on the inner door 1st, also i thought it better to attack it in sections to make it easier on myself, after a little cutting the 1st part of the door looked like this.
I only had sheet steel and the lipped panel for sill sections so i had to fab my own bends.
Not easy when all i had was 2 pieces of angle iron, 3 vice grips and a hammer.
After a few hours of bashing, clamping and welding i ended up with this.
As you can see, the next bit to attack is the corner of the inner door.
Made a start but at 8pm i decided to call it a day.
Not bad to say i was dreading doing the doors.
Well done steve, not too bad once you get stuck into the worst looking bits.
Quick bit of advice for cleaning underside of car muck off, WEAR SKI GOGGLES, NOTHING GETS THROUGH THOSE. have used them on all the cars we have stripped and makes you able to scrape and brush for hours! Lol
I\'m sure you don\'t need me to say this but when you have completed the repairs, hang the door back where It belongs, check nothing is rubbing and you can practice at lining up the lines.
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;747748Well done steve, not too bad once you get stuck into the worst looking bits.
Quick bit of advice for cleaning underside of car muck off, WEAR SKI GOGGLES, NOTHING GETS THROUGH THOSE. have used them on all the cars we have stripped and makes you able to scrape and brush for hours! Lol
Yer i was wearing safty glasses but not the goggle ones, but still it ended up in my eyes mouth, ears , just about every orifice that was exposed :Giggle
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;747752I\'m sure you don\'t need me to say this but when you have completed the repairs, hang the door back where It belongs, check nothing is rubbing and you can practice at lining up the lines.
Yer they will be hung back on the car before i start on the outer skin, as it will give me a guide as to where the outer sections need to end.
Luckily there was just enough metal left to let me know where the lines needed to be.
It will be a case of hang, cut, grind, weld and shape :D
Quote from: steve garbutt;747754Yer i was wearing safty glasses but not the goggle ones, but still it ended up in my eyes mouth, ears , just about every orifice that was exposed :Giggle
Yes it gets everywhere you don\'t want it. If I do a restoration like mine and yours again I am going just cut and replace rear end for real coil spring racing car setup, save the Hastle of of time consuming bits, or just get something solid to start with. Ha
I think if I was to do this sort of thing again it would have to be an rx3, 20B.
Nudge nudge hint hint!!!:Giggle:Giggle
haha no chance of me popping my 20b into the RX3 mate :D
Thats reserved for the RX7 :D
A little more dun today.
It needs a little more work to make it the correct shape but i ran out of time.
After the inner door sections are complete, the door will be offered up to see if everything lines up, then the outer skin offered and measured.
A before and after shot for comparison.
Lovely, Very nice piece of kit in the dynofile too !
Wish I could do stuff as nice as that !
Shaun
Quote from: shaunwil;748224Lovely, Very nice piece of kit in the dynofile too !
Wish I could do stuff as nice as that !
Shaun
Im sure with a little praccy you could accomplish the same :Thumbsup!
Well Saturday after 2pm sore me start on the drivers door again.
The opposite door corner was repaired but i forgot to get pictures, ill take some Monday and get them posted.
Half way through cutting the door bottom of the door skin i remembered to get the camera.
This shows the rust on the door bottom.
After cutting and the door bottom removed.
The door bottom corners turned out very well on the inside, nice and neat with good weld penetration.
As can be seen in these pictures the inner door is in good condition with just some surface rust needing to be removed and treated.
The welded sections still need some seam sealer on as they will trap water if its not applied, but this will be put on just before replacing the door bottom skin.
I still have to make this door skin support work again as it rusted through.
Well Saturday night pub time loomed ever closer but i just managed to trim the new door bottom to a workable length and lay it on the door.
in the last pic you can see the lip that will be bent over to complete the finish on the bottom of the door, the same will be dun on the edges as well.
Some goodies turned up today for the RX3 from Australia :D
The front bumper indicators were missing when i got the car and the brake cables were seized, so they have been replaced with new items.
The radio was also missing but i wanted to keep it original so managed to find a professionally reconditioned unit from Australia at great cost but these things supposed to be rare.
After 5pm i was determined to get the door finished so we hung the door back on the car to see if we have clearance and panel gapping.
Pleasantly we found everything to be spot on, i guess taking my time payed dividends.
so we offered the new lower panel we had made for it.
As can be seen everything lined up great :D
So seen as everything fit we seam sealed the joints of the repair sections to stop water getting in and around the edge where the replacement door bottom was going to be crimped.
Next was to shape and tack the door bottom on.
Outstanding :D
Shaun
The came the task of knocking the edge over on the seam sealant to make a neat watertight seal on the door bottom and edge of the door.
Then to finalist the metalwork we finished welding the boor bottom, replaced a few little patches on the skin and ground all the welds down.
Quote from: shaunwil;748947Outstanding :D
Shaun
Thank you :Thumbsup!
A quick skim some rubbing and a little primer had the door looking like this.
This is how the car ended up today.
A looking great with a good door hung back on her. :D
Ignore the front wing gapping its just balanced on there.
Great work Steve. Whats next on the list?
Adam
The other door, lol. Engine being delivered 2moro.
Quote from: Ada7;748956Great work Steve. Whats next on the list?
Adam
Next up is to finish the front wing on the same side so i can squirt one side on all the same colour primer :rollin
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;748959The other door, lol. Engine being delivered 2moro.
Yep then the other door :2Confused :rollin
Cheers for dropping the engine off Grant :Thumbs-up
No problem, I know your really busy so makes sense to drop it off for you.
You can console me on the fact that we are going to have to paint my car again!
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;748963No problem, I know your really busy so makes sense to drop it off for you.
You can console me on the fact that we are going to have to paint my car again!
Paint it again ? Why\'s that ?
Two words, Pearlescent Paint. I will explain properly 2moro, but were just not happy with it. Not a huge job to do but another job nonetheless.
Good news though is that I have finished my designs for custom hubs for FD disks and stud pattern.
Well paint is always an uncertainty at the best of times, iv just had to fully repaint a car that didnt go to plan, but it ended up looking fantastic :D
Good news on the FD disks, that should make you stop haha
Well I\'m going to need big stoppers for the big ponies under the bonnet!
What have you done with the 10a steve? Weighed it in? Would have been good to show a few people what Mazda thought was adequate for ports in that engine, haha.
10a was a pile of scrap Grant.
Not only had it blown but it had also seized, the corrosion has taken the plating off of the housings and rotors were pitted.
Well today i decided that come 6:30 id had enough of work and wasnt in the mood for welding, so i decided to have a go at the RX3 underbody and start stripping the engine bay.
1st was out with the engine and g/box id rested in to take measurement with, then i started stripping the engine bay down ready to start prepping for primer.
It started off with all this lot in it.
Crappy pictures i know but they were taken for pipe placement reference to get a little closer to original.
And ended up looking like this, ready to be cleaned up for primer.
Still lots to remove but almost there.
Also decided to finish cleaning the underbody so i could get a nice coat of Dinitrol RC800 Rust Covertor.
After wire brushing its brush coated on and left for 24hrs to neutralize the rust.
This was some i did yesterday in comparison to the unbrushed half.
Its hard to see with the camera flash but where the surface rust was its turned it black and very hard.
I did managed to finish brushing and treating the underbody by about 8:30pm :2Confused so tomorrow im hoping to start on the next step of covering the rust converter with some smooth black hammerite, then waxoil on top of that.
3 layers of protection should give it a fighting chance. :D
my only dilemma is in engine choice to put in it.
I have 3 engine sat waiting to be installed into something, one is a new street port 13b with a t61 tubby on and the other 2 are these two little gems :D
Put the 12a in the fd and put the 20b in the rx3. Oh hang on, I think I got that the wrong way around?! Or did I? Hmmm.
If you can\'t make your mind up steve then I will have the 20B in my rx4?? Would definately need a 9" diff then, but that\'s something to do in the future!
Well today sore me one again laid on my back :D
Painting the underneath of the car in smooth hammerite.
1st coat even though put on rather thick ended up looking like this.
About an hour later it was dry enough to pop on a second layer.
Next to do underneath is the new fuel and brake lines, then the new bushings should have arrived by then ready for me to mount the undercarriage back onto the car.
Cant wait to get the old girl back on her wheels :)
Drop the 3 rotor in this :D
Not got one of them over here as far as i know (3 rotor rx3 i mean) and it would go like stick me thinks :D
Adam
Quote from: Ada7;749648Drop the 3 rotor in this :D
Not got one of them over here as far as i know (3 rotor rx3 i mean) and it would go like stick me thinks :D
Adam
I would love to :InLove but im going with the elford turbo 12a :Thumbs-up
The engine needs rebuilding but should give good power for the stock RX3 setup.
Think i i went 20b id have to change shocks brakes power plant etc :2Confused
Is the 12a fubar\'d steve? 20b In this would take at least another 2 grand just on suspension diff and brakes. And that\'s doing it as cheaply as possible. Just looked at 9inch 4.8-1 race diff and disk brakes, 3000 dollars! That\'s without a 4/5 link setup, strut towers springs etc.
If you fancy a different diff I can get you a contact email for the guy in oz that I got my diff from but I\'m sure the standard one will be more than adequate for the elford.
Engine is has virtually no compression on one face but everything looks good with a little camera stuck down the spark plug hole, so it will be fine for a rebuild Grant :Thumbsup!
I also have the other 12a for any donor parts so all good :D
Not a problem, i wanted to have a rebuilt engine in it anyway mate :D
Will just mean ill have a chance to paint my plates the same colour as the car and polish the housings :D
Saturday i decided to take a look at the bottom of the front wing as it looked as bad as the boor bottom.
I put a plate on the outer skin but didnt take any pictures as it was a simple cut and weld.
The inner section was a little more complicated.
After treating with dinotro rust treatment it looked like this.
So i made a replacement section out of thicker steal as this is also a mounting point.
offered it up a few times to make sure fitment was correct.
The leading edge needed to be a little more curved than the wing outer skin as the outer skin needed pulling in to follow the correct body lines.
After a bit of welding and grinding it was looking a little more like it should.
These turned up from Australia Saturday and to my surprise i found they were polly bushes instead of the stock rubber ones i thought i had ordered, so i couldnt help myself i just had to put them on the car :D
The old ones werent that bad on the inside, they just were falling apart on the outside.
Dimensions were also spot on, so all in all i was happy :D
1st to sort was the rear spring and diff bushes.
Seen as the rear was all polly bushed up, i decided best place for it was back on the car :D
Im not fitting the front suspension as of yet as i need to paint the engine bay 1st, but i offered the bushes up to the roll bar to see the fitment and again they look spot on.
Today i got carried away getting some shape back into the front wing.
after about 2 hrs it was time to put a layer of 2 pack primer to see how close i was.
Not perfect but getting closer, the primer when blocked back will help me see what work iv got let to do.
I thought 2PAC was now for industrial use only now steve? Or something along those lines, all cars must be sprayed with water based paints. Hehehe.
Good Job the paint shop I go to doesn\'t care too much about rules and regs.
You are going to have to slow down on the rebuild steve, the car will be done before mine and I just can\'t have that!
Could you let me know where you got that bush kit from? Might need a couple o es for the front that we can\'t make in the lathe.
Just got a steering rack today. 2.4 turns lock to lock. Frees up space fOr turbo down pipe and easier to catch the car if I go sideways when I don\'t want to. Standard steering box is 4.5 turns lock to lock.
Its an industrial car grant ;)
Im actually going to be speeding up on the RX3 as a relative who is a painter by trade is having 2 weeks off at the end of april and he put aside 2 days so we can both paint the RX3 :D
Busings i got from Australian ebay but i found later i could get them in this country here (ill pm the link)
2.4 ? thats a quick rack, careful on those corrections on the strip Grant.
Well im hoping I won\'t have to do any corrections up the strip if I have the front wheels in the air all the way. (I can only hope!) heavy right foot, a side step with the left and drag slicks. Lol. Wheels up or broken parts is the way is see it!
Well lots dun since the last post but most of it fiddly bit of cleaning and painting parts that are going to be bolted back on.
everything eventually turned up for the brakes so 1st on the agenda was reassembling the rear drum brakes and fitting the hand brake cables.
Biggest step forward has been the engine bay that also gave me the drive to do more on the car.
at the beginning of the day and lots of hard work, it started off looking like this.
Then with lots more hard work it ended up looking like this.
That is just stunning... for an engine bay... what\'s the main bodywork going to look like?
Hopefully even better :D
Todays task will be new brake and fuel lines, hopefully some progress pictures by the end of the day.
Sterling work. Pleased you kept it now
Quote from: kiwimazda;764776Sterling work. Pleased you kept it now
Oh yes deffo. :Thumbs-up
Dont know what i was thinking trying to sell it :o
Well at 5:30 we started fitting the brake and fuel lines.
The job wasnt as hard as i expected so after lots of small jobs it ended up with a set of wheels on and sore light for the first time in a long time :D
Steve it goes without saying, very good work!!
So now there is going to be a light blue rx3 and a dark blue rx4.
Everything should come together quickly now it\'s on it\'s wheel.
Won\'t be long before mine is on some wheels, and hoping to get my engine from carl in next couple of weeks.
What size line have you used for fuel lines? Steel or copper?
Would be good to see 2 very nice old school RX\'s in the same area mate ;)
Fuel lines are copper but i dont know the size off the top of my head, ill have a look tomorrow if you want.
Yes that would be good. Cheers.
As has already been said, very nice work :-)
Quote from: RobMatthews;765065As has already been said, very nice work :-)
When are you starting a thread? And what are your plans for the car?
Thread hijack but we need to know what he\'s doing to his car don\'t we steve?
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;765096When are you starting a thread? And what are your plans for the car?
Thread hijack but we need to know what he\'s doing to his car don\'t we steve?
Too right Grant :)
Come on Rob get thread started :Thumbsup!
http://www.exile-rotorsport.com/viewtopic.php?t=4199 ;)
As soon as i\'ve got the fd track car in paint and all the underside work done and back on wheels it will swap from the large barn its in to the \'small one car that you cant open the door in garage\' and the rx4 will begin in the barn where i can get it on the axel stands and strip/rebuild
grant, and steve it may be of interest to you too, regards to rechroming bumpers and bits i\'ve got a friend who\'s dad rebuilds old pre 1950\'s cars he sends his chrome bumpers up to weymouth somewhere- as soon as i get details i\'ll let you know, and i\'ll start a thread in the shadow of this one asap!hopefully within a month :-)
brilliant rob, keep me informed, do you rekon it will be cheaper than £150 a bumper?
Im also interested in rechroming bumpers etc.
Like Grant says, keep us informed.
bump any updates? if not why not?:Tongue1
Yep plenty of work dun.
just not had time to update the thread.
Ill try get some pictures up tomorrow.
Since last update im half way through sorting the engine (elford turbo 12a), and the bodywork is still being sorted as i keep finding small dents iv missed.
also the car had been run over prior to me owning it so the roof had some big size nine dents in it that we are sorting.
I still have the passengers door bottom to tackle but im hoping the car will be ready for paint in the next few weeks :D
the engine should be in before then and hopefully running :D
Good to hear your getting along well steve. How was the engine inside?
Engine will prolly just need rebuilding Grant so all good there :)
steve, have you measured the engine bay? the elford turbo setup is very wide by design and a member on ex1le found it wouldnt fit nicely in his RX3
Have you tried slinging the Elford engine in place? When I had my rx3 and the Elford turbo engine thats now in my Viva I looked into fitting the elford into the 3. I think the turrets are too close together on 3\'s compared to rx7\'s and it didn\'t look at all like it would fit with the turbo hitting the turret.
I hope for you it does as it would be a great period fitment into the 3.
I have and there may be a little bit of modification that needs doing, so maybe a little bit more paintwork in the engine bay but hopefully nothing major.
If it duznt fit then ill go with maybe a nice carb setup :D
Im not really fussy i just want something a little different but in keeping with the car :D
This most definately needs an update Steve. Forgot to ask about it yesterday but didn\'t want to keep you when you were busy at work.
As grant said update time,I was only thinking of this one tonight as I was tediously grinding away on my 4, and its good for motivation seeing others old school cars coming together! - and I need that in by the lorry load at the moment:-)
After a long wait the RX3 is now getting the bodywork finished.
Even though it was solid and the correct shape did have lots of small dents and imperfections, so we are taking it all back ready for primer hopefully by the end of next week.
Pictures will follow.
Hi Steve
Would be great if you can bring the car to Rotorstock, any chance of this happening?
Hi Lisa
We are frantically trying to complete it for RS, so yes hopefully.
I did say it would be ready for last year, so iv no excuse :o
Pictures pictures pictures, please :god
Well i think a bit of an update is called for.
As most will know the bodywork is now all metal with all rust repairs sorted, it has been like this for a long time but i havent been happy with all the small imperfections in body panel shape and small primer imperfections.
As somebody had run over the roof, bonnet and boot at one point in its life, there was a lot of work poping the roof out and panel beating it to the correct shape, the same had to happen to the bonnet and boot as well as i didnt just want to fill it full of filler.
Well that is now complete and its just waiting for its last coat of primer.
Spraying the car will be the last thing to do as i want to get her running first.
These are some pictures of the last few months getting the panels as perfect as i possibly can.
Are you doing the roof a different colour? Or a vinyl?
Not the best pictures as they are from my iphone but the best i can get for the moment.
The back lower body was then stripped of paint and surface rust then treated with rust neutralizer and stone guarded, and a nice layer of primer laid on.
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;836274Are you doing the roof a different colour? Or a vinyl?
Nope roof is going to be same colour as the rest of the car Grant.
As you can guess we are still working on getting the roof straight in them pictures :)
Front nose cone, bonnet and boot now the correct shape and almost all imperfections now gone, still a little work to be done.
As i have now got a 12a engine and gearbox in, it needed a new gearbox mount.
I Wanted to do it only once so i made it properly in the first place out of 8mm steel.
Due to our purchase of this fantastic piece of kit everything\'s getting sand blasted prior to painting including the gearbox brace :)
As i had already completed the rear brakes a long time ago, next on the agenda was the front calipers.
So with a bit of optimism i purchased a caliper rebuild kit.
Sandblaster you say??? Nice:D 8mm for the brace? I made mine out of 6mm, but I\'m mounting it in 2 areas so that makes 12mm!
Even though the pistons were stuck in the calipers i was amazed that after 2 hrs of struggling they eventually came free and i found they were in superb condition inside.
So after a little cleaning they were reassembled with the new kit.
You can see in the side by side pictures before and after cleaning.
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;836284Sandblaster you say??? Nice:D 8mm for the brace? I made mine out of 6mm, but I\'m mounting it in 2 areas so that makes 12mm!
I know, overkill for a n/a 12a :)
These two bits were purchased so on they went :)
Yesterdays Job was to mount the nice big aluminium radiator i had purchased ,so there would be no issues with cooling.
And today found me playing with the shot blaster again getting the front light holders looking almost as good as new :)
This is how they started off.
After stripping them down i found they were better than first thought.
Amazing what a bit of sandblasting can do :D
first pic is the back plate half done.
Then priming and painting in black to finish them.
All thats left for the light holders is for the rest to be cleaned and reassembled :)
Cracking work :D
Amazing how they can come up !
Shaun
Some very nice work there, Its nice to see bits nice and clean after a sandblast! :-)
Mind me asking where you got the brake calliper rebuild kit?
Forgot to say Steve, got a quote for stripping polishing and rechroming my front and rear bumper.............£280 each!!!!!!!!!!!
If I polish them its half the price for stripping and rechroming, they will be the only bits getting redone on my car as those prices are disgusting
Calliper rebuild kit was from eBay.com.au Australian eBay :)
I get most my bits for the rx3 there but make sure you check they deliver to the uk, most do :)
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;836369Forgot to say Steve, got a quote for stripping polishing and rechroming my front and rear bumper.............£280 each!!!!!!!!!!!
If I polish them its half the price for stripping and rechroming, they will be the only bits getting redone on my car as those prices are disgusting
£280 :eek:
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;836369Forgot to say Steve, got a quote for stripping polishing and rechroming my front and rear bumper.............£280 each!!!!!!!!!!!
If I polish them its half the price for stripping and rechroming, they will be the only bits getting redone on my car as those prices are disgusting
I\'ve been using a company called Castle Chrome for a few things on the RX-4, as you know the RX-4 bumpers are 6 pieces and for re-chroming including de-denting them charged £400, which I thought was OK when you think of all the work involved
Well the car is almost ready for paint, tomorrow we will be prepping for the colour inside the door shuts and panels, then its rehang all the panels before the colour goes on the exterior of the car.
Iv been wanting to do something with the wheels for a while but i wanted to keep it period.
A friend of mine reminded me that in the 70\'s they used to widen the wheel by banding them.
After finding a set of donor wheels, banding commenced.
Unfortunately 3 pictures i took didnt work so i cant show you the very rusty condition they started off in.
We had 2 wide rears and 2 narrower but still a lot wider than the originals for the fronts.
Decided that the best coarse of action was to widen the narrowest of the 2 wheels.
This is one of the widest 2 after shot blasting.
After banding the narrowest ones they came out much wider than the wide ones.
Banding involves cutting the rim of and welding a band of metal in-between the rim and center of the wheel.
In this picture you can see the 1.5 inch band we put in.
here you can see the comparison between what used to be the wide rim and what used to be the narrow rim, as you can see with the band in the narrow rim is much wider giving it a nice lip for some wide tires :D
the Rim on the right used to be narrow, you can see the band welded in.
After a bit of prep and primer they were close to being ready for paint.
and after painting the centers PZ black and the rims a high power silver 2 layers of clear were laid over the top :D
Steel wheels banded and painted like they used to in the 70\'s period upgrade ftw :)
BTW there is only 3 as they last one was still on the paint bench and wet, so i couldn\'t move it with the rest.
Nice they look good!
And there was me thinking you would be busy clearing the gravel from the under tray on the RX8 and polishing out the scratches yesterday, not finding the time to paint wheels. :D
Ray
The rx8 is Steves beater. The rx3 is his love child.
Looking good mate but stop messing around with how things look and get it running:) :D
Quote from: rote8;844345And there was me thinking you would be busy clearing the gravel from the under tray on the RX8 and polishing out the scratches yesterday, not finding the time to paint wheels. :D
Ray
Think the last half of the day on track got rid of most of the gravel but with it being stripped out you can hear every bit of dirt and stone chucked up by the wheels so im still driving round listening to the gravel that i collected from Brands Hatch :Giggle
As Grant says the RX8 is there for driving and driving hard :driving :evillaugh
Whereas the RX3 is there for me to look at and cruise down the the road listening to MW as it dosnt have FM haha :Giggle
we are painting inside the door shuts and panel gaps today :)
Pics or it didn\'t happen;) hopefully off work next week Steve so will arrange a day to come over and have a brew
Now that\'s something different for the wheels that will work well :Thumbs-up
Quote from: clive;844360Now that\'s something different for the wheels that will work well :Thumbs-up
Im hoping for them to still look oldschool :)
A little update.
The Doors and panels are all bolted on and the the car is ready for the last coat of white primer for the base to go over, before we do the final wet flatting.
Then its on the colour goes :)
This is how it looked by the end of today.
Looking good :D
Whens the rest of the paint going on? :wave
Quote from: Brett;845187Looking good :D
Whens the rest of the paint going on? :wave
It looks better now but Steve is being lazy and not posting pictures!
Steve, get your bloody camera out and get some pics up on here :):)
I know, even Grant has posted an update with evidence rather than rhetoric for a change! :Giggle
I don\'t know what rhetoric means! But ROFL anyway:):):)
Rhetoric - Language designed to have a persuasive or impressive effect on its audience, but often regarded as lacking in sincerity or meaningful... ;)
looking nice! what colour will it be painted?
Quote from: Kevint;845244Rhetoric - Language designed to have a persuasive or impressive effect on its audience, but often regarded as lacking in sincerity or meaningful... ;)
Yeh I googled it too;):Giggle
It\'s painted blitz but steves too lazy to take a picture;)
As Grant says its all painted :) and yes I\'m being lazy.
But I will get pictures up today :)
I mind making banded steels years ago on old rothdials for a mk2 escort, havent heard of anybody doing this for years now, well done
Come on then, us natives are getting restless for pics!
Can\'t wait :D
Shaun
Haha iv seen it and none of you have. :)
OK as promised here are the pics of finishing prep and painting the RX3.
this is the old girl in the corner of the shop masked up and waiting to have the final coats of white primer.
Then it was on with the primer and a nice guide coat ready for us to spend a full day almost just cutting the car back to a perfect surface for the colour.
This is after a day of cutting the white primer back to accept the base coat and remasked up.
Tried to capture the perfect finish we achieved with the finish coat of primer in this pic
these next pictures show the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th layers of base coat applied.
these are the 1st and 6th coats of clear to make the old girl shine :D
Wow :InLove
And some random pics to try capture the colour and the pearl that makes it shade from blue to green in different light.
All the paint and primer is House of Colour.
the primer is base white.
the base coat it medium teal
the clear is high gloss anti scratch
Im well chuffed with the result :D
Outstanding result :D
Shaun
That is stunning :D
Cheers gents, going to be flitting, polishing and rebuilding it during Xmas so I\'ll update as I get along :)
That\'s pretty.
Looks awesome man! Keep it up!
Well time for an update seen as iv spent a few days over Christmas on the car.
After painting it was time for flatting and polishing, so equipped with some 1500 and 2000 wet and dry and a bucket of soapy water i started to hand flat the car.
This picture of the roof is what i needed to do to the whole car.
And this is the roof after 1.5 hrs worth of work, i have to say thatch anti-scratch House Of Color lacquer is hard stuff after a few days of sitting.
After flatting the panel it was now on with the buffer and some G3 cutting compound.
In this pic you can see the whole roof is flatted and i have buffed the center line to a nice glossy finish.
This stripe alone took me 45mins so the whole car is going to take a while.
second pic is the roof all shinny again :)
All together the roof took me half a day as its a big area and needs to be as good as i can get it.
It will keep getting harder Steve. Get it done as if you leave it too long it will take you longer. I think I did mine none stop for 3 days solid. Flatting buffing polishing and waxing. Next time I\'m painting it matte blue out of a rattle can
Looking good steve:Thumbs-up
Yep it did grant but i did expect it :)
Good thing about it being hard is that the buffing takes better and you dont get the flatting lines coming back through :)
Cheers Lee :Thumbsup!
This is the shine i got after another day of work and the front end all flatted and polished.
Next up was assembling a few bits on the front.
In between flatting and polishing panels i cleaned and added some exterior trim so i didnt loose interest :D
As you can see all the trim is original and all i have done is clean them and put them back on, not quite as easy as it sounds but still unrestored.
Front grill started off like this but after cleaning and a lick of paint its came up good :)
next is a bunch of picts in various states of added trim :)
Some more ............
Today i managed the rest of the flatting, attaching the door mirror and the windscreen surround that was a pain to do.
and this is how she sits by the end of today :D
Well Steve my hat is off to you. Going to be brapping the streets on Yorkshire long before my cars ready to roll.
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;846056Well Steve my hat is off to you. Going to be brapping the streets on Yorkshire long before my cars ready to roll.
hopeing to be on the road in a few weeks grant :)
Just amazing !!! Wish I had in door space for the FD !
Shaun
Hats off to you Steve that is one nice bit of work and a credit to you.:Thumbs-up
Thanks gents. Im sure it\'s going to be worth all the hard work :)
That\'s very pretty.
A job well done Steve :)
Will it be coming to Brooklands? :D
Quote from: Brett;846094A job well done Steve :)
Will it be coming to Brooklands? :D
Yep that\'s the 1st show we are aiming for :)
Wow Steve, that sure looks a lot different from when I last saw it !!
Well done.
I\'ll be in touch early January for a hand with some mods.
Hopefully we can travel down together for Brooklands.
Chris
Wow! That is just simply stunning Steve!
Steve, that looks just fantastic :InLove
I hope to see it at Brooklands!
That colour is awesome :)
Thanks all, more has been done since and lots of pictures to post by the end of the week :D
Looks good well done :D
Adam
Come on - pics!!!! :D
All gone quiet in here..... I have this feeling in my stomach that it is running?? Well it\'s either that or something completely the opposite:(
I saw this personally this week. The colour looks epic under flourescent lighting, so should look better in the sun.
Some nice little touches on this car, so have a good look round when you get the chance.
Chris
I have seen it in the flesh. Was just expecting Steve to have got it running now at the rate he has been going:D
I think he has too many paying jobs to do first he he. :rollin
He needs to sort his priorities out :giggle :evillaugh
Cheers Chris, glad you like the colour, as you said on the day, pictures dont do it justice :)
Yep Its still underway Grant, and still steaming ahead :)
Just all jobs that dont warrant pictures.
Problem is i keep finding jobs to do.
I was going to use the original wiring to get her running, but after eliminating the ballast resistors and putting a later ignition system on it i decided to redo the whole wiring.
I was also always planing on hiding and rerouting as much wiring as poss so i guess i better do that at the same time.
While the wiring was out i also decided to remove the alternator regulator as its ugly and not required if a later alternator is fitted, but the later alternator is also ugly so iv yet to take that apart, blast, paint and mount it.
The list just keeps getting bigger haha.
The new banded steel wheels now have new rubber and are fitted (only thing worthy of a picture)
I found the fuel tank has a hole so out came the tank, a repair was made and back in it went, but im my hast i must have missed a small leak as the tank bottom is a tiny bit wet, so out it has to come again.
im still trying to get some new rubber seals for the doors as the old ones are usable but as most items that eventually perish they are a little worse for wear.
Iv also just found today that the starter motor is very slow, so i have to strip it down and see if i can clean it up to make it run faster. If not ill have to find another.
As you can see the tick list is going up not down haha
But i am enjoying myself :D
Not the best picture but the only one i have at the mo with new wheels and rubber.
And before anyone mentions it, yes she will be lowered by about 30mm all round :)
Looks lovely Steve. :Thumbs-up Look forward to seeing it at events.
Quote from: steve garbutt;852673Not the best picture but the only one i have at the mo with new wheels and rubber.
And before anyone mentions it, yes she will be lowered by about 30mm all round :)
It needs lowering Steve :Giggle:Giggle:spank:spank
Excellent Job, well done :Thumbsup!
So are you driving it down on Sunday the 17th? :Giggle
Great work Steve, I very much look forward to seeing it!
Cheers all, its much appreciated :Thumbsup!
Quote from: Brett;852688So are you driving it down on Sunday the 17th? :Giggle
Nope dont think its going to be ready Brett, as im finding jobs daily :| but its all good fun :)
Must Thank Clive and Lisa for getting me some plugs and leads for it as short notice, Thank you :Thumbsup!
She is alive :)
This is the second time starting up :)
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CV4RlEfuUy8
dont take this the wrong way steve, but i hate you right now!! well jealous.
sounds great. got a little brap too.
now you need to rip the engine out before it blows and monster port it!! hahahaha
:Thumbs-up:InLove:mmmm Brilliant news Steve, sounds great!
I\'ve embedded the video in your post, as your link didn\'t work on my browser for some reason :Hammer
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;854753dont take this the wrong way steve, but i hate you right now!! well jealous.
sounds great. got a little brap too.
now you need to rip the engine out before it blows and monster port it!! hahahaha
Cheers Grant the hate is taken as a compliment :)
Quote from: Casey;854761:Thumbs-up:InLove:mmmm Brilliant news Steve, sounds great!
I\'ve embedded the video in your post, as your link didn\'t work on my browser for some reason :Hammer
Thanks Malc, I did try to embed it but I was doing it on my iPhone haha
By the way Grant I had a little play and it braps more now haha.
this is the engine I got from you grant, I haven\'t even opened it up, it\'s as I got it from you :)
Should have a nice bit of power. Glad the engine is good too. Shame to elford turbo wouldn\'t fit in there with the engine.
Yer I may still modify it to fit yet, just means me making a new manifold.
I like that idea very much
Would be a nice old school sleeper then haha
That is just... beautiful. :)
Quote from: re japi;854809That is just... beautiful. :)
Thank you :)
I managed to drive the old girl around the car park today :)
Awesome news :)
Quote from: Brett;854865Awesome news :)
Cheers Brett :Thumbsup!
Happy I was at yours when you had this running. Sounds great and should sound even better when you sort those little jobs out !!
Almost the finished article.
Well done.
Chris
Cheers Chris much appreciated :)
Well a big leap forward for the RX3 in the last few weeks.
She is now all up running, Taxed and MOT so all road legal :D
Iv managed about 30 miles in the last few days and she is lovely to drive :)
Still lots of little things to do till the old girl is completely sorted, like sorting the jetting and the throttle pump on the Ida\'s, but nothing major.
Still sorting the engine bay wiring and need to connect the interior heater matrix but nothing that\'s going to stop me from driving.
Have to say I\'m well chuffed with the power level and the way she handles as she ain\'t a slouch for an old girl :D, the porting and only 41k on the clock may have something to do with that haha ;)
After a drive today this is prolly the 1st rain she has seen since december 1976 :rollin
Porting??!!!!!!
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;856545Porting??!!!!!!
Haha knew you was going to spot that Grant ;)
But then again you did almost spot it in the vid when ya said its got a nice brap :)
Porting interests me so I\'m going to pick those things up. So what\'s the choice of flavour?
Nothing too elaborate. Just something to help the flow of the Ida\'s and make her brap a little :)
QuoteAfter a drive today this is prolly the 1st rain she has seen since december 1976
Old girl is all wet then? ;)
Come on Steve, pictures. You used my thread is motivation, now give me done;):)
What a lovely project. You\'ve done a wonderful job! Hoping I might be able to hunt one down to start working on one day, you never know! Used to have one in that blue many moons ago... :)
Thanks gixergirl777 :)
2 picks of the engine bay a little nicer and slowly getting there Grant :)
And 2 pictures of the old girl with lowering springs on the front and blocks on the back.
Looks loads better i think :)
Also on a side note i may end up with another RX3 by tomorrow :rolleyes:
Im a glutton for punishment :Thumbsup!
Soooooo Nice !! Looks awesome, proper oldskool rotor :D
Shaun
Timeless beauty :mmmm - excellent job there Steve :god
Cheers Gents :)
guess im a glutton for punishment, just taken delivery of another 1972 RX3 coupe delux today. :o
I feel another build thread coming on :)
20B turbo!!!!!
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;86006920B turbo!!!!!
need a 20b 1st :)
Quote from: steve garbutt;860070need a 20b 1st :)
well your not having mine ;)
Steve,, Car looks great well done Sir,,
Quote from: steve garbutt;860070need a 20b 1st :)
I know some1 who has a 20B pp lying on the floor on workshop floor
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;860075I know some1 who has a 20B pp lying on the floor on workshop floor
that used to be me 8 months ago haha
I wish I could say it was me with the 20B on the floor as I would rather have that in my rx4 than the 13B turbo!! Lol.
Come on then Steve start a new thread. Pics of this beauty:)
Luv the Rx-3 Steve, great colour choice and plenty of character:
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-WGOcatCLKyE/Ug_UOzezeOI/AAAAAAAAFHE/weZRRyouV0s/s800/DSC03126.JPG)
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-sa00J7tqxhk/Ug_UcwyV5nI/AAAAAAAAFHM/nBMjCIZGJq0/s800/DSC03127.JPG)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-qasRPwdKEug/Ug_Uh_-GRiI/AAAAAAAAFHU/foI1Y1fXsho/s800/DSC03128.JPG)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-d6ZikZ5VjJU/Ug_U3snH7tI/AAAAAAAAFHc/GuVUJPtbCZo/s800/DSC03129.JPG)
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Pr8fs5fvBzM/Ug_VD3I9hqI/AAAAAAAAFHk/q96w1rUCzgM/s800/DSC03130.JPG)
Cheers Kevin :) it makes all the effort worth while :)
Today\'s feedback of the RX3 was fantastic :)
Yeah, she really looks beautiful. :-)
Glorious in the flesh too :D
Shaun
Great restoration Steve you earned the trophy and it was nice to meet you as well.
Cheers everyone it\'s much appreciated :)
Was also good to get to know some new faces.
The RX3 looks beautiful! Well done on all your hard work. Wish I could have been there to see it. Another time tho!
Well done for getting her completed in time for RS10 Steve - it looks a magnificent job you\'ve done there! Shame I couldn\'t make it this year to see her, but the photos show you\'ve shown a lot of attention to detail :Thumbs-up
Just had a quick flick through and the change from when you started was un-believable!
I like the \'it wasnt as bad as i though\' that kept popping up.
Looked pretty bad too me lol
Just had another look through your thread, you\'ve done an amazing job, brilliant work. I\'m going to draw on this for motivation for when I inevitably lose the will to live with mine hehe :)
Cheers everyone. Comments are much appreciated.
Makes it worth all the hard work :Thumbsup!
Quote from: gixergirl777;865200Just had another look through your thread, you\'ve done an amazing job, brilliant work. I\'m going to draw on this for motivation for when I inevitably lose the will to live with mine hehe :)
I lost it a few times and almost sold up :)
Quote from: RandomDan;863690Just had a quick flick through and the change from when you started was un-believable!
I like the \'it wasnt as bad as i though\' that kept popping up.
Looked pretty bad too me lol
I was expecting worse :Giggle
Well as some of you will know i took the RX3 to Japfest
It generated a lot of interest and had some fantastic feedback, not bad for a 1973 Mazda :D
Well chuffed with how it all went including the 4hr 45 min drive home that was very uneventful, thankfully :D
But that said, even though it looked like a nice neat RX3 i have never been happy with the paint finish, a few imperfections spoiled it for me.
So today we started Rubbing it down for another coat of paint :)
This is how it looked before and after we started rubbing it down today :)
You did what??? I thought that paint job was good, I didnt see nothing bad in it :)
Quote from: re japi;878937You did what??? I thought that paint job was good, I didnt see nothing bad in it :)
Paint job was good thank you Jarno :Thumbsup!, but i knew it could be better and the car deserved it :)
After the fantastic day we had at Japshow it spurred me on to redo the paint and finish restoring the interior.
so i have lots of goodies on the way from Aus :driving
"After the fantastic day we had at Japshow it spurred me on to redo the paint and finish restoring the interior.
so i have lots of goodies on the way from Aus :driving"
I think your just bored....the car looked great !!! :god
I guess when you\'ve finished you\'ll be entering concourse events !! :cool :King
Chris
Well hopefully it will be good enough Chris, but i dont have the patience to clean it well enough to enter it haha
It\'s not original colour so can\'t do concorse?
Roll the into the sunlight when you re paint, you can see where the paint had fallen better, and patchyness
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;878949It\'s not original colour so can\'t do concorse?
Roll the into the sunlight when you re paint, you can see where the paint had fallen better, and patchyness
As i say Grant, i haven\'t got the cleaning skills to go concorse anyway haha
bit hard to roll it outside between coats when its raining and bits blowing about, but by the time the paint is on and hardened its too late.
Just need to use the correct nozzle and put it on heavier :)
It would be easier with a dark colour:) does the paint use a base coat then tpo coat??
Ok Steve, if I dont see your car in RS11, I will be :censored::censored::censored::censored:ed ;)
I´m with Chris, you must be bored. Car didnt need new paint :)
Car needs more powwwwaaaaahhhh and more brap brap.:burnout:Thumbsup!
will be good to see it back to original factory color and will be worth more jus sayin :)
Quote from: 12at;878986will be good to see it back to original factory color and will be worth more jus sayin :)
Nah didn\'t like the original blue, also I don\'t intend selling so not really bothered about it being worth more :wiggle
Don\'t be spending too long painting it you\'ve another to do.
Quote from: kev-yorks;878995Don\'t be spending too long painting it you\'ve another to do.
Don\'t worry Kev its not interfering with regular work, just us doing an hour and half after we finish our working day ;)
Ok, sorry I doubted your decision to paint her again. ;) Car really is stunning, paint is even better than before
Thank you Jarno :D
Ill update this thread in a few days :)
More finished pics! Great job Steve...
A truly beautiful job its come a long way and another rotary back on the road :bravo_2: looking forward to seeing this well done
Hey Steve, did I see your smiling face in Retro Cars Magazine and an article on the RX ??
You've kept that quiet. Well done. :13:
Chris
Well done Steve, be great to have some more pics :-)
cheers Guys :)
yep The September edition on Retro Cars :)
Was a fantastic day and there has been some interest in getting it in other magazines as well :)
Well chuffed with the outcome :) i just need another project now haha :)