Well yesterday afternoon I made the first baby steps on my project, so I thought I\'d get a thread started.
Firstly, I\'m Steve and over the past 6 months I fitted a 13b into my mx5, as some of you may have seen at rotorstock. Its turned out amazing and makes for a fantastic drivers car. Unfortunately in the time between the project starting and completing it I now need to do many more miles and I cannot afford to use the 13b mx5 as my daily driver.
After lots of thought I\'ve decided to sell the 13b mx5, but a normal mx5 for daily use and re-invest the money from the sale into restoring a 1st gen.
When I was looking for an engine and gearbox for my mx5 I spotted a bargain on ebay. A760 EPH was a gold s2 1st gen that hadn\'t moved in 10 years, and to the untrained eyes of my friends and I looked like it wasn\'t far off getting back on the road! ( I\'ve read since it was posted in the \'how many first gens running\' thread that it was probably just a breaker!) Not only did it look an interesting car project for my friend but it came with an s4 13b and gearbox as the previous owner had planned to do a conversion but never got that far.
The auction ended at £281, which was a total bargain really. Ever since we went to view the car before the auction ended I had a bit of a soft spot for it. There\'s something about it that has so much character, so when I\'m looking for a 1st gen project and Ross was loosing interest in it for various reasons it was the natural choice.
So picture time... Here\'s how she stood when we arrived at Ross\'s aunts where she was stored:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4386-1.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4385.jpg)
First thing to do was to loosely re-assemble the rear end so it can be pushed around, and onto a trailer to transport to mine soon. Ross had taken it to bits to start refurbing the suspension links but got not further than taking it to bits really.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4387-1.jpg)
He/we had already stripped the rear seats out to investigate the rust better, so we took it all out of the car and organised it. I\'ve brought it all home with me now to clean and store in a dry environment.
With all the stuff out of the car its fairly clean inside. Thought its very obvious how bad the rust on the upper suspension link mounts is.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4388-1.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4389.jpg)
Finally we got any remaining water out of the car, there\'s some rust holes round the lower edge of the rear hatch letting rain in, and put a car cover over her till I can come and collect her in a week or two.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4390.jpg)
Thats as far as we got yesterday. I\'ve gotta do some work on the garden to make room for her next then organise a trailer to transport her to her resting place for the next few months while I fix her up.
The plans once I\'ve get her here is to sort out the welding thats needed on the front wing, both upper suspension link mounts, both rear sills and the small holes round the rear hatch. Then it will need a complete set of bushes, and all new brake lines. That should get it through an MOT I should think.
After that I think I\'d like to fit some appropriate retro japanese wheels, quite possibly Watanabes. I\'d like to try and get hold of the re-speed \'coilover\' kit front and rear to improve the definitely aging standard stuff on this car. The interior is in prettygo condition really, but not sure whether it will stay or if its a weekend car it may get stripped for fixed back buckets and that race car feel. Engine wise its currently got a powerflow full system on it, but is otherwise standard. I\'m quite tempted by the idea of twin throttle bodies, in a webber IDA style design, with Megasquirt fuel injection and using 2nd gen CAs and coils for electronic ignition timing. On the other hand maybe a 13b would find its way in.
Finally from me today, about the name. Project cars have to be girls. They cant be boys, they need too much time and love and attention and are far to unpredictable and touchy :P Ross has generally called it \'the rex\', so my friend Ian suggested Rexanne, and then if any warning lights come on we could sing \'you don\'t have to put on your red light....\' with an appropriate era of music reference!:rollin
Wahey! Glad the name \'Rexanne\' stuck :D Look forward to the progress on this and also lending a hand from time to time :)
Ian.
Looking fairly typical for rust - nthing too difficult its just time consuming making up the panels.
Found any real horror stories?
:wave
Welcome to the fold Steve, I\'m glad this cars going to get the attention it deserves.... she was always too good to break but us seasoned 1st gen\'ers could see that she needed lots of tlc.
Looking forward to seeing your mods and improvements...
Let\'s hope every little thing she does is magic!.........sorry!
No real horror so far.
The section I photographed looks worse from the outside! The rear of both sills is pretty gone, wont know how badly till I get the outter sill cut back.
There\'s plenty of surface rust about, and as I said pretty much every bush on the car is perished to hell.
But the engine starts and runs great, Ross\'s aunt lives up a private lane so we\'ve run her up and down there through the gears and stuff and she felt fine. Aside from a little wear on the drivers seat the interior is fine all electrics work properly etc. All the trim is present and all orginal and in pretty good nick really. The paint comes up nicely where its not rotted away.
I think she\'ll be pretty nice when done :)
haha Ian. I can tell the theme of police lyrics is gonna have to run and run.....
Hiya Steve, good to see you settling in in the 1st gen section. It\'s great to see so many FB\'s recieving some TLC at the moment.
Hi Steve. \'Rexanne\' it is then. We\'ve got \'Gus\' and Tim\'s got \'Nev\', but you did say project cars so maybe we\'re OK.
Arn\'t all 1st gen\'s project cars! Sorry couldn\'t resist. Steve looks like you\'ve bagged a bargin. Looking at the work you did on the 5 im sure Rexanne will be back on the road in no time. Go on drop a 13BT in her you know you want to.
P.S how much you after for the 5?
Hi Steve - welcome to the RX7 1st Gen. As said by others this isn\'t just a hobby it\'s shear didication but definitely worth the experience.
My project is JAZ and after 6 months of very regular evening and weekend tlc I\'m nearly there, so soon I\'ll be able to say "I\'ve been driving in my car" and it isn\'t a jaguar.
You will come across a number of issues where \'this is the place to solve them\'. The wealth of experience, useful suggestions and leads cannot be surpassed anywhere else.
Remember - plenty of photos for the forum.
Cliff
:Thumbs-up
haha Tiddles, I guess they are!
I\'m struggling to value my mx5. I know stock mx5 of my condition (once I\'ve swapped drivers door), age, uk model, etc go for £1500ish. Turbo/supercharged version with similar mods to mine in terms of handling and interior seem to go for £2700-£4000 depending on how well those mods have been executed and how well written the add is! Nice clean turboed mx5s with 200+ hp can often go for more like £5,000. I\'d like ot think considering the rarety of the build, and the large amount of custom fabrication gone into it, along side the fact that its an easy swap to 13bt and biiiig power that £5k wont be unrealistic. Time will tell once I get in on the market. I don\'t think it will appeal to many, but those who like it will really like it and so I\'m hopeful!
Cheers Cliff, I shall be posting plenty of pictures. This thread will still for a few weeks now though while I help my mum re-locate her vegetable patch to make room for the rx7!
You\'ve got to admire the dedication of someone willing to move an entire vegetable patch!
Yes, I cannot say how much it means to me that my mum has given up her vegetable plot for me to take on this project. Realistically between work and a very tough time with my girlfriend having the car project this summer has really held me together. It, whether its just me whiling days away fettling things or saturdays with car type friends all mucking in together and having a laugh, has given me something to be happy about when I\'ve been struggling.
I think my parents see this, so even as I\'m 23 and looking to move out in the not so distant future my mums relocating things so I can have take on Rexanne. I\'m looking forward to many more happy hours with my socket set and the guys!
Hope to see this around malvern when its completed! Do you guys have another red mx5 by any chance? haha.
It\'ll be making loud noises around Malvern in a few months time I\'m sure!
Yes, I\'ve got my highly modified one and my mums got s totally standard one, both in classic red.
I\'ve not seen any 7s around Malvern, I\'ll keep an eye out for you!
Haha sweet, looking foward to it. I\'ve only seen 2 7\'s in malvern before, both of which seem to of been passing through.
Ah yes, I walk past them every day when I\'m walking to work!
Whoops! I should of said it before, but I don\'t actually have a 7 :( . I am trying to learn as much about them as I can before I hopefully get an FD one day! Although it would be cool to get an FB to learn in, depending on how much insurance is? (I\'m 20 and don\'t yet know how to drive :\'( )
I would have thought you would start with the FD and work up to the FB - 1st Gens are definitely the best!
Cliff
:Giggle
Quote from: Hobbawobba;720589Haha sweet, looking foward to it. I\'ve only seen 2 7\'s in malvern before, both of which seem to of been passing through.
Ah yes, I walk past them every day when I\'m walking to work!
Whoops! I should of said it before, but I don\'t actually have a 7 :( . I am trying to learn as much about them as I can before I hopefully get an FD one day! Although it would be cool to get an FB to learn in, depending on how much insurance is? (I\'m 20 and don\'t yet know how to drive :\'( )
Possible to learn in an FB but no power steering, fairly heavy transmission and manual choke. Plus the insurance Co would probably have a fit since DVLA rate them as 2,300cc.
It\'s not that they\'re fast; in comparison to a modern GTE/GTI they\'re not, but as I see it the insurance would be 20 years old = 2.3 litre sports car .................Niet, Non, No Way. :3gears-rh
Also you cannot display the \'L\' plates vertically on the bonnet...:Giggle...Put the lights up and stick one each side for the test.....NOOOOO. Joking.
There you go teasing again Dave - whats he supposed to do with the rear \'L\' plate, hang it off the dangly?
Quote from: CHC;720596I would have thought you would start with the FD and work up to the FB - 1st Gens are definitely the best!
Cliff
:Giggle
Haha, thats what I was meant to say.:p
QuotePossible to learn in an FB but no power steering, fairly heavy transmission and manual choke. Plus the insurance Co would probably have a fit since DVLA rate them as 2,300cc.
It\'s not that they\'re fast; in comparison to a modern GTE/GTI they\'re not, but as I see it the insurance would be 20 years old = 2.3 litre sports car .................Niet, Non, No Way.
Also you cannot display the \'L\' plates vertically on the bonnet......Put the lights up and stick one each side for the test.....NOOOOO. Joking.
Yeah, personally I think its pretty stupid that they are insured as 2.3. But I have been on the comparison websites and they seem to quote around the same as a 1.4 civic for me. Still no way I will pay that price though, around £2.5k-£3k, what a joke!
Anyways, saw the mx5 down retail today haha. Didnt hear it running though. :P
We\'d all agree with you on that one Steve, b****y red tape beaurocrats who didn\'t have a clue what they\'re talking about when they classified these engines and as for insurance companies, all they want is money. They are a necessary evil for drivers who have to pay top wack and when you try to claim they give as little back as possible - they are legalised thieves in my book.
Cliff
:2Mad:2Mad
Been a little quiet for a while, I\'ve been busy with work and sorting out the mx5 ready to sell (updated that thread too)
But progress in preparation for Rexannes arrival has been going on.
This is the space where she will live before and after.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4094-1.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4116-1.jpg)
Today I\'m hoping to level off the earth and start work on the fence, and I\'m pricing up some slabs.
With some luck I might be able to bring her home next weekend and get stuck in :)
I\'ve got all the interior in the house now, all dried out and given a quick clean, there was also the hints of mould starting under the rear seat foam from where water had got in, was only minor so treated it and the seat will be fine.
Nearly home then mate
Why not consider a pit before you lay flags, then erect temporary awning or even a garage too?
I had considered digging down, but not especially seriously. I\'ve never had the luxury of a pit and its never stopped me before. So think it might just be easier to stick some slabs down and get the car up in the air.
I will be erecting some sort of thing to keep the rain off. Some sort of awning or modified gazebo is most likely.
Never had a pit myself but always fancied one and yes it\'s quite easy to build upwards providing you have axle stands, ramps, enough sleepers or paving slabs - just takes time though.
I did all the work on my mx5 on axle stands so was happy to do it that way again.
We didn\'t get any further with the fence :( but all the guys and I have got a half day friday so we\'re gonna give it a go then, and theres still a chance she\'ll be in my care on sunday. :)
I cant do much buying of parts till my mx5 is sold, and i\'m waiting for DVLA to sort out change on engine number on my V5, but once Rexanne is in the garden I can make a start on welding as metal is cheap.
I had a pit at my parents house, was a very useful but the trouble was it broke the path of a natural spring so no matter what we did, after a week or so there\'d be a good foot of volvic in the bottom meaning it had to be pumped out every time we used it. Nearly lost my Mini down it once:eek:
Quote from: CHC;723022Never had a pit myself but always fancied one and yes it\'s quite easy to build upwards providing you have axle stands, ramps, enough sleepers or paving slabs - just takes time though.
Got a pit but prefer building upwards with trolley jack, sleepers and axle stands.
Less claustrophobic.
when I built my garage at my old house, I bought a Mechmate motor pit, one of those fibreglass things you see in the classic car mags.... cost me a grand and when I moved 2 yrs later, i had to leave it behind as you concrete them in. Plus you had to sit down in it on a sliding seat.... crap!
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/DSCF1413.jpg)
My current house had already got a proper brick built pit inside the garage, very deep and long... perfect for working on my RX7. Not as pretty as the fibreglass thing but 100 times better.
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/DSCF1048.jpg)
If I build a garage again, I\'ll forget the pits and make sure I\'ve got enough height for a 2 post lift. Proper job.
Fair play to your mom Steve for giving up her veg garden. Get one of those cheap plastic marquees off ebay, it\'ll keep the wind and rain out, that\'s all you need really.
Got myself a car ramp last week, well, when I say car ramp I mean forklift, but capable of lifting 4tonne so a car shouldnt be a problem.
It was free to a good home and I cant say no, so this is another project:D
(http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab97/myatt1972/odd%20stuff/BigBertha.jpg?t=1288034556)
Keith...
Quote from: myatt1972;723106Got myself a car ramp last week, well, when I say car ramp I mean forklift, but capable of lifting 4tonne so a car shouldnt be a problem.
It was free to a good home and I cant say no, so this is another project:D
(http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab97/myatt1972/odd%20stuff/BigBertha.jpg?t=1288034556)
Keith...
nice one! are you going to keep it standard or put the 13b in it?!
Standard will do fine I think :evillaugh
Its already mid engined so should handle well with a bit more air in the tyres.
I see it has the standard non reclining drivers seat.
Quote from: myatt1972;723106Got myself a car ramp last week, well, when I say car ramp I mean forklift, but capable of lifting 4tonne so a car shouldnt be a problem.
It was free to a good home and I cant say no, so this is another project:D
.
(http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab97/myatt1972/odd%20stuff/BigBertha.jpg?t=1288034556)
Keith...
Fitted Tow Bar too! Well done KeithMight benefit from a solid sun-roof - GOT ONE OF THEM.
Quote from: CHC;723125I see it has the standard non reclining drivers seat.
(http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab97/myatt1972/odd%20stuff/seat.jpg?t=1288039470)
Well worn!
Quote from: myatt1972;723127(http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab97/myatt1972/odd%20stuff/seat.jpg?t=1288039470)
Well worn!
Missing seat belt too!Shouldn\'t complain really being as it was a freebie - suppose you\'ll be looking for a hand book now?
Quote from: Ian65;723095when I built my garage at my old house, I bought a Mechmate motor pit, one of those fibreglass things you see in the classic car mags.... cost me a grand and when I moved 2 yrs later, i had to leave it behind as you concrete them in. Plus you had to sit down in it on a sliding seat.... crap!
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/DSCF1413.jpg)
My current house had already got a proper brick built pit inside the garage, very deep and long... perfect for working on my RX7. Not as pretty as the fibreglass thing but 100 times better.
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/DSCF1048.jpg)
If I build a garage again, I\'ll forget the pits and make sure I\'ve got enough height for a 2 post lift. Proper job.
Fair play to your mom Steve for giving up her veg garden. Get one of those cheap plastic marquees off ebay, it\'ll keep the wind and rain out, that\'s all you need really.
Fibre glass pit does look better even though a little cramped perhaps, so guys it looks as if \'size does matter\' after all.Think I\'d be happy with either or (pit or posts that is).
2 post ramp would be nice.....
But might be a little out of budget :P
Axel stands and cheap marquee is the way to go. More importantly I need to sort the fence and slabs situation asap.
I also found this picture, and fell in love with elements of it. Not so sure on the bonnet or rear wing but the wheels, arches, the colour etc its lovely. I\'ve added it to the inspiration folder!
(http://ekhatch.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/03hide_01.jpg)
(http://ekhatch.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/03hide_03.jpg)
Know what you mean Steve - be like me, make a wish list and it\'s surprising how much of it comes true.
Man if only these were 4 stud then i could easily get adapters made.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SSR-14-6-5J-10-5x-114-3-Alloy-Wheels-200sx-S13-180sx-/250709905350?pt=UK_CarParts_Acc_Wheels_tyres_Trims_Car_Rims_ET&hash=item3a5f798fc6 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SSR-14-6-5J-10-5x-114-3-Alloy-Wheels-200sx-S13-180sx-/250709905350?pt=UK_CarParts_Acc_Wheels_tyres_Trims_Car_Rims_ET&hash=item3a5f798fc6)
Though I think I\'m gonna try to keep my ears to the ground for some ssr mk3, hayashi street or some wide watanabes.
ssr mk3
(http://tailoutsx.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/hen_8354.jpg?w=399&h=600)
hayashi
(http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/Mike%20Garrett/The%20101/Wheels/IMG_8736.jpg)
watanabes
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Dr3MGdUlbag/StIv5y_AFOI/AAAAAAAAACE/PBXgqljnwoM/s400/wat3.jpg)
I remember around 1990,my 1st s3 fb,Compomotive did a nice set of rims,so i fitted them,looked g8.
Next was a red momo steering wheel & gear nob,an exhaust the diameter of eurostar tunnel,halfords brake lights i fitted on rear screen too.
I like those watanbes,look like minilites.
Quote from: Steve-A;723207Man if only these were 4 stud then i could easily get adapters made.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SSR-14-6-5J-10-5x-114-3-Alloy-Wheels-200sx-S13-180sx-/250709905350?pt=UK_CarParts_Acc_Wheels_tyres_Trims_Car_Rims_ET&hash=item3a5f798fc6 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SSR-14-6-5J-10-5x-114-3-Alloy-Wheels-200sx-S13-180sx-/250709905350?pt=UK_CarParts_Acc_Wheels_tyres_Trims_Car_Rims_ET&hash=item3a5f798fc6)
Though I think I\'m gonna try to keep my ears to the ground for some ssr mk3, hayashi street or some wide watanabes.
ssr mk3
(http://tailoutsx.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/hen_8354.jpg?w=399&h=600)
hayashi
(http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/Mike%20Garrett/The%20101/Wheels/IMG_8736.jpg)
watanabes
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Dr3MGdUlbag/StIv5y_AFOI/AAAAAAAAACE/PBXgqljnwoM/s400/wat3.jpg)
Best of luck! If you find any get two sets....
It\'s funny, that burgundy SA is in my inspiration folder too-like it a lot.
Quote from: syebba;723234I like those watanbes,look like minilites.
They are like minilites but better :P
Both are just copies of a 60s racing design, but a set of 15x7 minilites weigh around 20lbs per corner where as 15x7 Watanabes weigh 10lbs per corner.
If I hit a goldmine of rare classic japanese wheels I\'ll let you know Tim :P More likely I\'ll just keep my eye on ebay and other forums and then try to pick up a couple of unmatched pairs, in either 4x100 or 4x114.3, then get someone like BM motorsports to make adapters up for 4x110.
I\'ve got my set of 14x6.5 et30 Watanabes, which with 25mm 4x100 to 4x110 adapters should sit in the stock arches quite nice but due to the condition of Rexanne\'s rear arches i\'m almost certain over fenders will be the way to go, then I\'ll need much wider wheels.
This is my Watanabes on my mx5 with 25mm spacers. Gauging from pics on rx7club it seems the hub to arch size of the fb is pretty similar to that of mx, so they should sit pretty similarly.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4367.jpg)
Welcome to my pit
(http://i558.photobucket.com/albums/ss30/d_i_ball/A7RXYa.jpg)
Thought you lived in Liverpool when I first saw this photo then thought \'don\'t be silly - scousers don\'t use axle stands\' and certainly wouldn\'t leave the front wheels either!
:evillaugh:evillaugh
Quote from: Steve-A;722812Been a little quiet for a while, I\'ve been busy with work and sorting out the mx5 ready to sell (updated that thread too)
But progress in preparation for Rexannes arrival has been going on.
This is the space where she will live before and after.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4094-1.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4116-1.jpg)
Today I\'m hoping to level off the earth and start work on the fence, and I\'m pricing up some slabs.
With some luck I might be able to bring her home next weekend and get stuck in :)
I\'ve got all the interior in the house now, all dried out and given a quick clean, there was also the hints of mould starting under the rear seat foam from where water had got in, was only minor so treated it and the seat will be fine.
Any joy with the \'new home\' yet Steve? Waiting for an update mate :Snoring:Snoring
Sorry guys, I\'m useless at the moment.
Dad\'s work van has broken down which stopped us picking up the slabs and new fence posts this weekend. This is one time where my mx5 isn\'t really practical enough :P I\'ve also been still working on prepping my mx5 for sale and doing some general day to day maintenance on it.
Theres lots of little bits to get sorted yet before I can get stuck into this project in terms of little bits to finish in the mx5, organising all the spares and stuff in the garage, sorting out my scrap pile in the garden.
Ian and I spent a whole day digging on friday, we\'ve levelled the veg patch down now so its ready for a little sand then slabs and started to break up the concrete around the base of the middle fence post.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/photo-9.jpg)
Not much to see really, haha
Theres a slim chance Rexanne will get on the move this coming weekend and but much more likely to be next. Once she gets here I\'ll get my head down.
I\'m keen to get the mx5 gone so I\'ll have some budget for this project but I\'m waiting on the DVLA to send my v5 with new engine number back. :(
never mind Seve, from old veg patches do wonderful 1st gens grow! It\'ll be worth the wait! Only problem now with the clocks going back is the invisible sun!
It will be worth the wait. That is more than certain. I really cant wait to get her on the road.
To counter the lack of sunlight I shall make use of electric lighting as much as possible. I mean my cheapo marque on shoddily laid slabs wont compare to Tims shed for his 13bt swap, but it\'ll do me fine :P
While theres been little real progress I\'ve been thinking about the car lots, and what route to follow with it.
First up is the welding, and general rust protection of most components. I\'ll get whatever I can sand blasted, if not I\'ll get it wire brushed back and then I\'ll paint as much as i can of the underside of the car with a good rust prevention hard finish paint, need to looking to which brand/exact paint yet.
I think due to the rust on the inner arch, its going to be more effort than its worth resurrecting the rear wheel arch shape, so I think I\'ll be looking to get bolt on over fenders so I could just cut out most of the rot and replace with fresh metal without having to worry about the cosmetics. I shall wait and see what to do about arches till I\'ve got my wheels sorted. Buy the wheels and build the arches to suit is definitely the way to go.
I think once I free up some cash I\'ll make a pretty big re-speed order. I\'d like the tokico iluminata dampers, with their \'coilover\' kit front and rear. I\'ll need a complete set of bushes for the car so I\'m probably going to go full polly bush.
Not sure what to do about brakes yet, do any later model bigger brakes fit easily? or is it worth just getting some nice pads and fresh rotors for the stock brakes? I\'ll be running ned hard and soft lines throughout and probably look at doing calliper rebuild is possible.
Engine wise its fine for the short term, the stock fan will be off and I\'ll get MR2 electric fan instead. It will eventually be controlled as part of megasquirt but I may just have a manual switch to begin with.
The stock interior will be cleaned and installed. Theres some wear on the edge of the drivers seat, but its not bad and other than that the interior is very clean and complete.
Hopefully she\'ll be ready for MOT then, so can get her on the road and have a better shake down.
Then the next stage of the build can follow. I\'d like to keep the original colour, seeing as there are only two remaining. Most of the areas that need welding work aren\'t too conspicuous so I maybe just get the local body shop, who did an awesome colour match on my 20 year old red mx5 paint, to make me up some paint and I\'ll paint the repaired sections up myself, the other option would be to get said body shop to give the whole car a blow over in the same colour then it should be really fresh and shiny.
I\'m still torn on what to do with interior, part of me whats to keep it original, the other part of me is keen for stripping it right back, fitting a full cage and just two fixed back bucket seats. I think I\'ll have to see how it feels on the road in stock seats. Or I may end up with a hybrid option such as just replacing the drivers seat with something more bucketed, so I get the race car feel driving but have carpet and radio and stuff.
Engine wise, realistically my heart has decided there\'s one route to follow, it involved drilling sodding great 2" holes in the side of the rotor housing :Giggle:Giggle on megasquirt fuel injection and electronic ingnition.
One thing is set that I\'d quite like to create whats a more true interpretation of the japanese classic look and scene, rather than the american approach. This is the first \'cool\' car I\'ve ever had, the first one that I\'d like to look as fast as it goes. But fear not it will still be very much form derived of function.
I used POR15 on my suspension parts and underbody... powdercoat in a tin!
It bonds well to rust, sets hard as rock and uses moisture in the air to dry / cure rather than evaporating solvents, which means it\'s great to use in this damp weather.
I\'m very impressed with the finish.
http://www.tech-leisure.com/index_files/Page934.htm
.
Sounds good, might have to go buy a gallon or two!
You can get kits to run FC brakes Steve which would be more than adequate in a car the weight of an FB-I think respeed do these too. You will find them a pleasure to work with I have nothing but praise for the service that Billy offers. Don\'t be under any illusions about my shed though mate-it\'s proper ghetto style!
Ah good news about the FC brake kit, looks like I\'ll have an even bigger re-speed order to make then!
Ghetto cosy is what your shed looks to be :P
Forgot to add-if you need any brown interior bits then I have a-plenty.
ah cheers, I think I\'ve got a complete set but I\'ll bear that in mind :)
Quote from: captainbizzaro;724427Forgot to add-if you need any brown interior bits then I have a-plenty.
Ghetto cosy is probably accurate. Especially with the robin reliant front seat/easy chairs I\'ve got.
I\'ve never been on this re-speed site,think i\'ll have a nose.
ta stu..
Quote from: syebba;724469I\'ve never been on this re-speed site,think i\'ll have a nose.
ta stu..
if you go onto their forum as well you can ask Billy about their products before you buy and see what others have done with them....
http://re-speed.com/forums/index.php?showforum=10
Yeah he\'ll also reply to you on rx7club or direct email. Proper good.
Steve, can you please verify something for me mate.
I\'ve just acquired Goldie (another 1st Gen S2), haven\'t seen any interior as it was all ripped out and was wondering what colour is in Rexanne. Is it the brown with a red stripe down the middle of the seats?
Cliff
It certainly is Cliff-any bits you may need let me know I have a full complement of brown interior in the rotorshed.
Yeh the interior of Rexanne is brown with the red stripe. :)
We\'ll have quite a gold crew on the road soon! Will have to park on formation at rotorstock :P
Quote from: captainbizzaro;724928It certainly is Cliff-any bits you may need let me know I have a full complement of brown interior in the rotorshed.
Very kind gesture Tim, will keep this in mind too.As it happens I took and still have the full original interior from JAZ and guess what colour it is, yep Bright Green with Yelloe stripes ...... Noooooooooo ........ only joking mate, yeh brown with red stripe - thats what I call handy.The idea of a \'Rotorshed\' sounds brilliant mate, something I\'ll have to be seriously considering with spares starting to mount up.
Quote from: Steve-A;724954Yeh the interior of Rexanne is brown with the red stripe. :)
We\'ll have quite a gold crew on the road soon! Will have to park on formation at rotorstock :P
Now that sounds a good idea.
Whats mazda\'s name for this gold colour?
Mazda call their red sunrise.
Quote from: syebba;725046Whats mazda\'s name for this gold colour?
Mazda call their red sunrise.
I think it might have been Maya Gold (M5)
Yes its Maya m5 gold Ian.
Quote from: Ian65;725048I think it might have been Maya Gold (M5)
Not really the zing as \'red sunrise\' is it but as they say it\'s all in a colour.
Progress! :3gears-lh
Yesterday I went shopping...
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4127-1.jpg)
This morning I attacked things with a pick axe.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4131.jpg)
Then I went with Dad to get some sand that was going spare at his work. First time I\'e played with a forklift and I liked it far too much.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4134.jpg)
Then, with some help from mum, we laid the slabs and assembled the new removable fence.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4136.jpg)
I mean Alan Tichmarsh probably wouldn\'t be impressed, but its a basic floor to stand a car on thats gonna get covered in oil and paint probably. We ran out of light to do the edge row of half slabs, so thats gotta be done at some point. I should still be able to push Rexanne into place for now.
A quick test of the fence suggests it\'ll take around 5 mins to disassemble, and similar to put back together. So not a permanent solution to parking 5 cars a my house, but its fine for getting Rexanne in now and out again in the spring.
So tomorrow I\'m booking a trailer for next saturday and she\'s coming home !! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
You\'ve been working hard.
If u want an easy solution to gates..
The closeboard panels you\'ve got are sturdy,bolt a 4"x2" batten on house wall & other concrete post,put hinges on panels & cut panels to fit as gates,less than £40 for materials to do it.
ta stu..
Kudos on the landscaping front...:cool:cool:cool
Not long now mate.
Thats coming along really good Steve, tell your mum that she lays a great patio. Need our rear patio flagg..... no don\'t go there Cliff.
Hows about a temporary lean-to to the side of the house, then you can put sheeting across for roof and sides. Soon comes down when finished with.
Quote from: syebba;725489You\'ve been working hard.
If u want an easy solution to gates..
The closeboard panels you\'ve got are sturdy,bolt a 4"x2" batten on house wall & other concrete post,put hinges on panels & cut panels to fit as gates,less than £40 for materials to do it.
ta stu..
Sounds to me that you\'ve done this before Stu?
I think you must have the best parents ever. Mine would never have let me do this when I lived with them let alone helped with the process.
Quote from: CHC;725539Sounds to me that you\'ve done this before Stu?
Yes for 20 odd years!
Should\'nt of dug that centre post out,much easier to use disc cutter to sever reebar,then simply a few whacks with a sledge,job done:cool
ta..:wave
Cheers for gate info syebba, it sounds like a plan for the spring when the cars ready to start going on test runs and stuff. Got a few months of work to put into it yet though!
Cliff, I shall be sorting some sort of rain cover, but exactly what and how is yet to be decided.
I shall let my Mum know how much internet respect she\'s getting for giving up her garden :P Indeed I\'m very greatfull of how supportive my parents are of my hobbies. I couldn\'t do it without them :)
Looking really good.:Thumbsup!
Quote from: Steve-A;725462So tomorrow I\'m booking a trailer for next saturday and she\'s coming home !! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
Think ya should plan to have it home at around 10.30am or 7pm:yes, then I will be able to see it on the way to/from work haha!:p
Trailer is booked for tomorrow, she\'s coming home!
Good Luck...........
Progress! :D:D:D:D
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4158.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4160.jpg)
Here she is arriving at my house on the trailer.
And here she is safe inside the garden behind the fence ready to be transformed. This was about 2pm.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4163.jpg)
At her old home she\'d been living in a fairly sheltered spot for the last few months but it is outside and under trees, so was in need of a good clean. The rain rails above the doors, and the seams ropund by the rear hatch and sun roof were all full of leaf litter.
Here she is looking a little shinier after a damn good wash :)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4167.jpg)
Not much time left in the day but next up I cleared out the drain holes near the hatch and sun roof to try and stop any crud collecting and causing rust.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4171.jpg)
I was too late for the rear hatch. This spot of rust and the matching hole on the other side will be my first attack point, as once she\'s water tight I can store the trim and other spares inside the car once more.
That will probably be a tomorrow morning plan!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4173.jpg)
Then as the light faded Ian arrived to have a look around, and then we decided to just line up one of my Watanabes with the front end of the car to get an idea of how that might look, couldn\'t bolt it on because wrong PCD.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4176.jpg)
Looking really good in concept, though obviously just placed vaguely in the right place so not sitting right.. I think so nice wide classic japanese wheels in satin black, possibly chrome lips, would look so good on her.
Finally for today while I was cleaning on the car I noticed the windscreen surround looked a bit poorly painted. It looks like its had black painted over chrome. Should my car have a chrome windscreen surround? Or has someone replaced the original black one at some stage and painted a chrome one so it matches the rest of the trim?
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4174.jpg)
The windscreen trim should be all black,worn out paint is common.
Wheels look G8.
Ah thats fair enough, it really is shiny under the paint, which is what made me think some one might have painted a chrome surround! All good news though as I like the black surround and its way easier to repaint it black than it is to strip the black off and polish chrome :P
Welcome home Rexanne - now the fun and love affair can begin.
Why is it the first job we seem to do on a car is to wash it? :InLove
One thing that can be sure, it wont stay clean.
:D
I\'m looking forward to some arch flares on it,if he so decides.
Black or carbon fibre effect would look trick.
Quote from: syebba;726603The windscreen trim should be all black,worn out paint is common.
Wheels look G8.
Yep, I think it\'s the wiper blades which touch the trim and wear the black off?
Gonna be a nice machine this one.
Quote from: David Nock;726704Yep, I think it\'s the wiper blades which touch the trim and wear the black off?
Gonna be a nice machine this one.
Never thought of that Dave. I\'ll bet we have all suffered from this though.
Interesting stuff about it being the wipers causing the wear!
I\'ve been a brave boy and done the first baby steps of metalwork today! :Hammer I started with the rear hatch area, as its non structural and fairly hidden from view!
This is how she spent most of the daylight hours:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4185.jpg)
Rear hatch removed, covered in tools and with metal and paint dust everywhere, totally negating the cleaning I did yesterday!
First up I rubbed back a couple of surface rust spots that were hiding under the hatch seal near the hinges at the top, and put some rust killer on them.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4182.jpg)
Then a temporary coat of black paint to keep the elements off. When I\'ve finished all the metal work I\'ll make a judgement of what to do with colour. If I\'ve only got minimal gold to respray and mostly in fairly hidden areas such as sills, door corners, hatch rim, etc then I\'ll get a local body shop to mix me up some paint and do it myself. If there are bigger areas of gold to be done I think I\'ll hand it over to a professional. The main thing for now is that rust is stopped from making holes and the metal has a protective layre over it.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4186.jpg)
Next up I started on the smallest of the three rust holes on the lower edge of the rear hatch rim. The drains were totally blocked so silt had collected and it had eventually rotten through, not cool. Here I\'ve cut out the rust and made a plate to fit.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4181.jpg)
Here it is welded in with the welds ground back
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4184.jpg)
I also chucked some black on that to keep the metal fresh till it gets a skim of filler to smooth it off and some proper paint.
I then made a start on the next rust hole, but when I tried to weld the pannel in I just ended up blowing lots of holes :Grrr :( I think I might have feathered the edges of the pieces by accident when cleaning excess paint off as I used the grinder to remove paint rather than wire wheel, as it was faster. Lesson learnt! Next time I do some work on her (possibly tomorrow morning as I\'m free till noon) my first job it to cut the patch panel out and start again. Shouldn\'t be too bad as my third attempt :P That will just leave one more hole to do, though that one is in a corner so gonna test my (decidedly learner) welding to the limit!
I\'m currently using an old mx5 head lamp cover as donor steel, seems to be perfect. Once I fit my new door to my 5 I\'ll cut up the old one and have plenty of perfect metal for cannibalising for bodywork.
Looking good, presume it\'ll be on the road by Xmas then? :) :Giggle
Blimey I better get out to the shed and make some progress!
Told you it wouldn\'t stay clean Steve - nice work mate.
I used stainless steel with JAZ as I also intend doing for any welding required on Goldie but of cause need dissimilar welding wire for this too.
Once you have cut out the required area, try dressing with a small file as it is more controllable. I take it you are using a mig welder ? Remember you are in control of the weld pool so don\'t be afraid to release the trigger every now and then to allow the parent metal to cool sufficiently before you restart welding - a bit like spot welding.
Keep up the good work.
:yes
Cheers for the tips Cliff :)
Yeh I used wire wheels and files on the first section that welded in just lovely, then decided this was hard work and I could dress it quickly with angle grinder, big mistake it seems!
I am using a MIG. I\'ve only been attempting welding for a couple of months, and this car will be by far the most ambitious thing I\'ve ever tried to weld! Should have plenty of time to practice. :)
I would say -:
60% of the weld is down to good preparation (this includes removal of rusting metal) otherwise you will simply \'blow through\' the little amount of metal remaining
5% having a good earth
10% having your settings correct - amps and wire feed speed
and the remainder down to operators control
So don\'t be afraid to practice a lot first to get used to the equipment and balance of the mig torch. You don\'t have to squeeze the handle to death, it should just be a light touch on the trigger and make sure that you don\'t try and stretch the cable or have acute angles in it - the wire has trouble getting around corners. Just be comfortable with it.
Cheers again dude.
Yeh I think I got too excited and rushed the prep on the 2nd hole. Lesson learnt I had another shot at it this morning, much better. Pretty much as good as the first patch :) still need to grind the welds down smooth but I\'ve run out of time for today.
I\'ve been practicing with the welder lots in the couple of months leading up to now. I\'m loving slowly. Found a great website with beginner tutorials and things to practice which I\'ve followed and this has helped me lots. Im on my phone right now so can\'t be sure but I think it was //www.mig-welding.co.uk. Or something!
Quote from: David Nock;726704Yep, I think it\'s the wiper blades which touch the trim and wear the black off?
Need to think again about this. I\'ve been spouting a load of ......xs.
If it\'s wiper blades why is is both sides? - The wipers don\'t go near the pass side.
Lil ol\' Gus is affected both sides.
Must be weather/ice/snow wear then?? Anyone?
Quote from: David Nock;727034Need to think again about this. I\'ve been spouting a load of ......xs.
If it\'s wiper blades why is is both sides? - The wipers don\'t go near the pass side.
Lil ol\' Gus is affected both sides.
Must be weather/ice/snow wear then?? Anyone?
just down to old age I reckon..... that\'s the trims Dave, not you!!!
They all suffer from it these days.... another problem now that the cars are in their 20\'s... like leaking tanks and cracking radius arm mounts.....
Faults they didn\'t suffer from in the early years.
NEV\'s whole surround is pretty much devoid of black paint altogether.
JAZ & Goldie too come to that but I\'ll change that.
Today once the mist cleared the sun shone. And so once I\'d finished my mornings meeting I decided I\'d work through the evening and so I got to play with tools for the afternoon.
Not really much to see, but I did finish off sorting out the 2nd rust hole in the rear hatch sealing rim. Here you can see it where I\'ve ground the welds back and its ready for a quick blast of temporary paint.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4193.jpg)
Then I made a start on this the 3rd and final hole in the hatch rim.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4173.jpg)
Its gonna be much tougher than the other two as its on a bend. I decided to try and do it in 3 stages, meaning for easier metal shaping. By the time the light was fading tonight I\'d got this far....
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4195.jpg)
All the rust cut out and the first section of new metal welded in. I\'m going out to work for the rest of the week rather than working from home so I doubt Ill get any more done till the weekend. This weekend I\'ve set both days aside to work on her, an I intend to sort out so light and rain cover.
I got a battery charged, so ran her up to temp again as well today. Now I\'ve only really got my 13b to compare her to, but the engine feels great. She idles nicely now I\'ve tweaked the idle speed and mix, and starts nicely from hot or cold and revs up freely. Looking forward to how revvy she will feel once that big heavy fan is gone!
Ditch the fan Steve, wire the secondaries to manual and pack out the accellerator pump and you\'ll get some more power out of it.
Is it already running headers in place of the old reactor?? Best bang for your buck is to ditch the old reactor and exhaust... most cars seem to have been done these days.
Seconds for the manifold ditching exercise-you think she revs freely now just wait till she\'s flowing like a beauty. Flames a go-go.
She has indeed got un-branded mild steel headers then mid section back in stainless with Powerflow silencer. The stainless section is crush bent though :( Still the thermal reactor is gone, as is the air pump :)
The fan ditch is high on the list when I get round to the front of car, and I\'ll look into those carb mods, thanks Ian :) I have many more plans for more extreme power but for now making the most of what I\'ve got is never a bad idea!
Flames sounds good Tim :P As long as I get good over run pops and bangs I\'ll be a happy boy, haha.
I know its a bit unusual but I\'m also gonna invest in a wideband o2 sensor early on as I\'ll need it for when I go fuel injected, but for now it\'ll let me know how good the carb is set-up and I should be able to dial in things like accelerator pump perfectly. :)
I managed to talk a friend of mine into doing the same when he converted his VW polo to run on bike carbs (very popular placebo power mod in the VW scene), the sensor cost £160 and we saved a good £300+ worth of dyno time.
I\'m just very pleased that it looks like that the engine is plenty healthy enough to get out and enjoy the car once I\'ve done the chassis, suspension, brakes and body work! :P
When the time comes I shall have to consult you all with regards to whether I should go for wild n/a porting or turbo and whether to keep to 12a for originality or go for 13b. But thats a long way off. :( Shame really as I was sat in the garden revving it up and I so wanted to go for a drive! I cannot wait!
Bet the neighbours loved the revving :-) hows she sound in your garden? Louder than the 5?
Nice work Steve - coming on good.
:Thumbs-up
Another grim misty cold November day, another day of reasonable progress on Rexanne :)
I started the day by finishing off the rear hatch area. I ended up making the corner section out of 3 separate plates.
Here I\'ve welded the first one in, and just offering up the second one.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4201.jpg)
And all done....
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4206.jpg)
Then I needed to tack the brackets that keep the wires neat and help support the boot lining back on. And gave it all a blast of temporary paint to keep the elements at bay.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4211.jpg)
Aside from a skim of filler and proper paint, the rear hatch area and roof is now done :). A friend of mine used to work for a body shop, and is pretty good when it comes to filler and final smoothing and finishing stuff so he\'s gonna give me a hand when I comes round to that stage.
I decided its gonna be best to work my way round the car, so next up I moved towards the rear bumper. I took it all to bits to see what might be hiding in there.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4210.jpg)
The good news is all round the lights is perfect and on the main body itself there are only very early stages of surface rust coming through underneath the number plate and underneath the arial. So I\'ve knocked them back with wire wheel and put some rust killer on them, and covered them from the nights damp. Tomorrow I\'ll put some paint on them and that should have stopped that in its tracks.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4212.jpg)
Not so good is the rear valance. Its only rotten though on the one edge where it joins the main body structure, and the body itself is fine there, but theres plenty of surface rust.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4208.jpg)
By this time the light was fading, so tomorrow I\'ll get out with the wire wheel and rust killer early for the valance, and cut out the main rot there, and hopefully get some temporary paint on all that.
If I get time I\'ll start on the bumper itself. Again there\'s nothing major, but while its apart I might as well clean everything, grease every bolt, paint everything that I wont be able to get in and paint easily later etc etc.
What welder are you using Steve-I\'m considering getting one for jobs like random brackets I\'m gonna have to fit etc. Looking good by the way!
I\'m using one of these:
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/135te-turbo-mig-welder/path/diy-mig-welders (http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/135te-turbo-mig-welder/path/diy-mig-welders)
Seems to be up to the job so far :) Seems fine with bodywork thickness metal and was fine on the thickest gauge steel I\'ve tried to weld yet, which was 3mm mild steel. The spec says it goes upto 5mm thick steel, but judging from my practices that would need very careful edge preparation in order to get enough weld penetration.
Has been a pretty steep leaning curve, but I\'m finding my way with it more and more. This online tutorial helped me lots. (http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/)
Aside from the welder itself I bought some welding gauntlets and a head mounted welding mask. The mask was a must as having both hands free to hold stuff in place or steady the torch made life so much easier.
Very nice work Steve. See you have been lucky with the rear valance - Goldie hasn\'t faired to well and needs a new one.
Don\'t want to be party pooper mate but have you looked underneath yet to seen how she is down below? I\'m starting Goldie underneath and working upwards - did this with JAZ and worked well.
Good luck
:)
Ok cheers mate, it\'d be a handy bit of kit to have around.
Watch those fumes when welding.
http://www.brewracingframes.com/id75.htm
scary sh*t.
Keith...
I\'ve looked underneath.... theres work to do! haha. :P
I all honesty I don\'t think its too bad. The usual upper link mounting points are pretty gone, the rear arches and the rearmost 6" on the sills on both sides need some fairly major attention but other than that she is surprisingly solid. Most of the underside is pretty clean. Not much of it has ever been undesealed/wax oiled, which makes seeing whats metal and whats rust much easier.
I thought I\'d start with stuff thats non-structural and not especially cosmetically important, as a good way to get my eye in with car body metal work. Once I\'ve done the bumper and valance I\'ll be getting the back end up in the air, dropping all the mechanicals out and the fuel tank, then working across the floor pan from back to front.
I wanted a decent project to really get stuck into and I suspect Rexanne can be that! So in a way it doesn\'t matter how bad she is. It\'s more about the pleasure of fixing her up than anything else.
Ouch nasty story there bout those fumes. I\'ll be more careful of brake cleaner from now on thats for sure! Welding does seem generally pretty dangerous. I\'m glad its not my profession!
Good luck with it then.
Well done Steve you\'ve done a G8 job with welding in repairs to intricate areas around the rear hatch.
You should find welding on straight panels a doddle!
ta stu..
Cheers Stu.
Got some done yesterday but only little bits and pieces really.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/photo.jpg)
Got the ariel and lights and Mazda badge back on, which makes the rear end water tight once more which is quite nice.
I also got some sticker removing solvent and cleaned off all the bits of double sided tape that had held the number plate on as well as the sticky goo left from under then spoiler. Looks like someone had tried to glue it down at some point. Still not sure what to do about it. I think I prefer the look without it, but its a pretty big obvious area to be painting and lots of work to make it look good if I want to smooth the holes over to remove it.
I also got inside the back with a damp cloth and a hoover and cleaned out all the bits of metal dust from the grinding/welding, plugged the loom back into the lights, reassembled the rear screen wash pump and bag thing and finally got down and gave the rear valance a good wash so I could get a better impression of what was rust and what was dirt.
I found a second spot that will need patching, but hopefully the rest of it will be find with wire wheel and skim of filler and some paint.
While I waited for the valance to dry I fitted a new drivers door to my mx5 to replace the rusty one. This took faaar longer than I\'d hoped and took the rest of the day :( So looks like thursday is the next decent day of work on Rexanne. The plan for thursday will be to get the back end up in the air and start pulling out the mechanicals, inc fuel tank, so I can get a look at the chassis condition back there and start the proper welding work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARdOYXdO_7M (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARdOYXdO_7M)
Just found a quick video I shot last week on my phone while I was running the engine up to temp.
Always a gr8 feeling when you get her watertight, coming along good mate.
I was poking around the rear hatch area on Goldie yesterday and have finished up with a sunday area (holy) on the n/s which will be plated. Unfortunately it also runs through to the rear n/s window so have to ease this off first before I can survey the damage extent.
Ouch, thats a shame. I was very lucky that this stopped short of any windows. Taking glass in and out doesn\'t look like much fun to me!
Engine sounds sweet Steve - I take it she was running with choke?
Rexanne is a little lightweight on the rear end I see - doesn\'t look too serious though, nothing a bit of fabrication and welding can\'t resolve. :yes
It has been done by people but not by me. The rear triangle windows just splattered when I tried it on a scrapper.
Engine sounds good on \'the tube\' Steve. Rear arch outside looks superficial? Rear arch inside looks as expected.
Woops, post crossing with Cliff.
Yeh, I\'ve seen lots of smashed windows as people try to remove them. Hopefully I wont have to change Rexanne\'s windscreen, its got a couple of decent chips in it but no cracks.
That was running on kinda 1/4 choke or so I think. She idles pretty much as smoothly as that now I\'ve tweaked the carb too.
The rear outer arch is semi-superficial. Its rotted through on the bent over section of the lip, but only surface rust on the actual arch shape if that makes sense.
I\'ve found some money to spend on wheels, so I\'m gonna try to find some sooner, rather than later. It should work out much better aesthetically if I make the arches fit he wheels rather than trying to pick wheels and spacers to fit the arches. If the wheels are wide enough I plan to run over arches. If the wheels I end up with are not so wide I\'ll be resurrecting the stock arches, no point making that call till I\'ve found my set of wheels.
Wankel sounds good steve.
Would it not be better to fit arches 1st,then buy wheels to suit,so u get correct width wheels?
ta stu..
I\'m going the other way round.
I really fancy some proper classic jap wheels. I\'d like to go for wide, deep dish, low offset wheels and run over fenders.
Getting hold of them is pretty tough though so I doubt I can be too choosey about specific widths and offsets, wider and lower offset = more money and I\'ve got a budget to work to so that limits me further.
So I\'ll buy the best set of wheels I can, then treat the arches in the way that suits the wheels best.
Well another day working from home, so I took advantage of the sunshine for a couple hours and I\'ll get back to work in a minute.
I started by jacking up the back end. I ended up on 4 axel stands with safety wheels and wood for piece of mind.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-3901.jpg)
Then I spent until it got dark working to remove the rear axel so I can get into the rusty spots.-
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-3918.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-3912.jpg)
Now this is what I found.... (those of a nervous disposition may want to look away now):o
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-3906.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-3903.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-3910.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-3904.jpg)
As usual flash photography makes the underneath of cars look utterly terrible, even if they aren\'t too bad...
There\'s surface rust all over the place, but it is just the sills and the upper link mount that are rotten properly. The sills are pretty gone upto the seam level with the back edge of the door, the first 4" on inner wheel arch are pretty dead. The upper links are pretty well gone too.
Overall its similar to what I was expecting, maybe a bit worse on the sills.
Next time I work on it I\'ll continue stripping the under body. So suspension links to come off, the fuel tank to come out and various heat shields and stuff, to make sure there\'s no more hiding rust at this end of the car.
:Hammer:Hammer
All the usual typical places then Steve
Yeh nothing too unusual and aside from the 2 problem areas on each side I\'ve found nothing other than flakey paint. :)
Actually Steve, it looks worse than it is so don\'t dispair. Having the axle and ancillaries out definitely looks an easier job too. As you say, out with the petrol tank etc for a good survey - at this rate the body should be ready for painting for beginning of Dec, good luck.
ps - don\'t know what your profession is but sure wish I had time off like you to work on my projects.
:Thumbs-up
I\'m a freelance video editor and motion graphic artist. At the moment I\'m not getting 5 days a week work, more like 3-4, I am looking for more clients though so project time may suffer, but more work = more money to spend on the car. I\'m also very lucky that I get to work from home quite a bit and when I do that I can often take the afternoon to enjoy the sunshine and then work through the evening. Obviously those are the plus points, the downsides are it can mean days on end staring at a computer barely speaking to anyone whilst making constant creative decisions, which I find much harder mentally than logical decisions, with deadlines and budgets to meet. I\'ve done stuff for minor sky channels before, and if something\'s being broadcast next week there\'s no option to push the deadline back a few hours.... It can be pretty high intensity.
I think its fair to say I\'m also a pretty obsessive person, and once I get into something I\'ll spend every moment I have on it. I\'ve done little other than eat, sleep, work and put time into Rexanne for the last fortnight!
Actually sounds quite an interesting career Steve - I can understand the down side to having to work from home but another plus is no commuting (time or travel) and the mental anguish comes with that territory I\'m afraid.
I\'m a Quality Assurance/Control Manager for an Engineering/Fabrication company so don\'t have any choice of working from home and as a rule work 9/10 hr days in the works + travel time each way. So have little time for project work on weekday nights in the winter - horrible. I like yourself, am constantly making decisions so the practical work on project cars (this is only my 2nd by the way) and DIY are my relaxation time and I love it.
Keep earning the pennies then more work and pleasure on Rexanne.
Cliff
:cheers
Yeh I find the physical work on the car very relaxing. :)
Life\'s too short to be doing nothing while you\'re relaxing.:rollin
Looks like your getting thigns done at a good pace, which is always good! Haha:yes
Cant wait until I see it running around malvern, if im still around (trying to find somewhere to live by december 18, possibly going to worcester:()
Had a good days progress today :)
Firstly I\'ve got her a little makeshift home now
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-3987.jpg)
It isn\'t exactly double glazed, nither will it be super waterproof but it does make a good wind break which is making working out there much more comfortable and it should keep light to medium rain off fairly well. :)
So today I carried on stripping back the underside of the car. First up I ran the car upto temp for the last time and to use the last of the fuel from the tank. Then I dripped a little 2t oil in the ports and cranked her over by hand. Gonna keep cranking her by hand every week or so which should keep the seals free. Think I\'ll go pre-mixed when I get back on the road, as its been no problem for me in the mx5 and it means nice burning clean oil for the engine :)
After that the exhaust came off. Excuse the picture, I was in a bit of a rush to get on!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-3990.jpg)
Tempted to get a different back box a this one only has a fairly small silencer and with only a single resonator otherwise the system is pretty loud!
Next up the exhaust and tank shields. As with all my mx5\'s these thin shields were rotting away to nothing and it was pretty much 50/50 whether the bolts holding them on would shear off or break the bracket because they were so rusted. This is after having soaked them all in wd40 for days :Hammer Still I got them all off.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-3992.jpg)
I should be able to re-use them, after a clean up. Will need to tag a couple of brackets and corners back on to them though.
If anyone\'s got the tank shield section that protects the front edge of the tank (the left hand one in the photo) going spare in reasonable condition I\'d probably like to buy it as that panel is more gone that all the rest!
Next up the tank came out.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-3994.jpg)
Ouch. Looking pretty grim. I turned it upside down a few times and no fuel came out, and poked it a bit with a spanner and didn\'t go through, but it is pretty damn rusty.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-3995.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-3996.jpg)
What do you guys think? get another or just give it the rust killer and paint treatment? I\'m leaning towards getting a better one.
Next up I started to take the suspension links off. They look like with a bit of a clean up they are structurally fine.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4001.jpg)
I soon decided I needed a bigger spanner, so after those 2 I put it on hold till I\'ve gone an bought one.
This is the view under the back now.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-3998.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4000.jpg)
The boot floor and tunnel look really solid, which is good news.
Think I\'ve just got those other suspension links, the handbrake cable and the fuel pump/filter to deal with then i\'m ready to start on the serious metal work :)
Tank Steve....I\'d start looking for another now. You\'ve plenty of time \'cos a replacement tank can go on at the very end. Looking at pics I don\'t figure I\'d spend any time trying to save that one.
So I\'d guess it\'s S2 tank and tank shield from a scrapper.
I\'m binning my tank so if the heat shield is any good then you\'re welcome to it.
Kudos on the rotorbivouac by the way!
Good work up to now Steve, the underside we can see looks pretty good but tank - ooh does look in a pretty bad way. Me - (unless it was leaking) I\'d rub it down, treat it, prime & paint then at least you have an emergency tank for the future as spare. Gives you some time to find a replacement without panicing.
:Thumbs-up
Quote from: CHC;729947Good work up to now Steve, the underside we can see looks pretty good but tank - ooh does look in a pretty bad way. Me - (unless it was leaking) I\'d rub it down, treat it, prime & paint then at least you have an emergency tank for the future as spare. Gives you some time to find a replacement without panicing.
:Thumbs-up
this is good advice..... finding a sound 2nd hand tank is a very difficult quest!
It took me months and months and even then the one I managed to get my hands on had a pin hole leak that had to be fixed.
The best way to fix it is to lightly brush it to remove the loose flakes of rust and then coat the whole thing with POR15 rust preventative paint.
This stuff loves rust and bonds to it like you wouldn\'t believe.
It will seal pinholes and can be flooded into the seams of the tank forming a seal. It\'s not affected by unleaded and is the way to go.
See this thread...
http://mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65008
The deciding factor is whether or not the inside of the tank has loose rust in it. This is very difficult to treat and all this s**t will just go down your lines and clog the filters causing havoc.
Thanks for the info guys.
I\'ll have a look inside the tank sunday when I next put some time into the car. As far as I can tell its not leaking at the moment, its got a pint or two left in it and I turned it upside down and on all 4 sides with no leaks. The cars never had that leaking fuel tank smell, if that makes any sense.
I shan\'t do anything too hasty, as David says I can put the tank back on right at the end and I\'ve months of work to do yet so plenty of time to keep an eye out for one. If I can pick up a better one I think thats a good idea!
Ian, after reading your site and from your previous recommendations I\'ve got a bunch of POR15 rust prevention paint in the post already, and that is what I shall be painting anything thats vaguely rusty in :)
Tim, if you have got the tank shield I\'d be most grateful, drop me a message if it\'s ok when you remove it and we\'ll sort some money and stuff out :) the one end of mine seems to be mostly held together with waxoyl and is about and strong as light card board :s
Have you got a link to where you got the POR15 from?
googling suggested frost auto restoration to me. Which is where I\'ve ordered from, I\'ll let you know if it ever arrives :P
http://www.frost.co.uk/productList.asp?catID=24&frostCat=Painting&subcatID=37&frostSubCat=POR%2D15 (http://www.frost.co.uk/productList.asp?catID=24&frostCat=Painting&subcatID=37&frostSubCat=POR%2D15)
Going back to wheels a mo-these could be of interest.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1978-1985-mazda-rx7-Daihatsu-Hijet-4x110-wheel-adapters-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem2a0ba22e72QQitemZ180583804530QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories
Cheers Tim. I\'m pretty sure I\'ll be needing some adapters of some sort :)
Trying to get the wheels I want in 4x110 is a bit unrealistic, so I\'m gonna ignore bolt pattern then just get the right adapters.
Danny from DM Motorsport (advertiser on here) makes custom ones up and they are hubcentric too, so have the locating centre bore and matching lip on the other side to centre the wheel on the spacer. I\'m running a set in my mx5 from him and having done 8,000 miles or so on them with no problems I\'m keen to use him again. :)
Not getting too far on the wheel hunt yet. Keeping my ears to the ground though. Found lots and lots of awesome wheels for sale on american AE86 forums, but just pay a premium and need shipping to the UK. Keeping an eye on driftworks too. My Dad\'s emailed a guy in Japan he\'s done lots of business with. In the early 90s he came and stayed with us for a week or so and then Dad went and stayed in Japan on business, and he took him out in his 1jz Soarer, so he was certainly into cars then, and might have some contacts.
I want to get out and work on rexanne, but might hold back an hour or two till the suns done a bit more work.....
Ok mate-I\'m still on the hunt too, had the chance to buy a whole S2 GSL in Missouri which was uber cheap on a repo auction and it had gold meshies. A member on RX7club in Missouri offered to pick the car up and ship the meshies to me at his expense as long as he could keep the rest of the car. It only went for $525! I just couldn\'t stretch to any more buying for the project this month unfortunately.:2Rolleyes
Anyway-if you find a source of retro jap wheels let me know, and likewise I will do the same.
Ah shame about the s2.
I\'m currently keeping my eyes on:
http://retrowheels.wordpress.com/
http://tginferno.blogspot.com/
http://forums.club4ag.com/zeroforum?id=22
drift works
wheel-whores
ebay usa
But looking out for other places. I\'m trying to find a good UK AE86 forum, as they will have nice wheels I\'m sure.
Can anyone tell me the handbrake cable removal sequence off the top of their heads? Does it thread through the chassis from the lever side or the calliper side?
The nuts that lock it on to the caliper are stuck fast. :(
Been out there all morning, just having some lunch then I\'m back out there, will have pictures and update later.
All from memory here......
On the S3 ,first of all remove the trim plate on the handbrake (philips screw through plastic trim - don\'t drop it down the pass seat upholsery) then slacken the adjuster right off using a big screwdriver - this is usually free enough to move easily.
You then have to slacken the nut and lock nut behind rubber boot each side of the caliper bracket Then the cable drops through the slot in the bracket. This enables the clevis cross piece to be extracted from the caliper fork.
If the nuts are stuck/damaged and have to be cut off that will mean new cables since it\'s all one assembly (cable with nuts)??
Cold work eh? Brrr...
Quote from: Steve-A;730193Can anyone tell me the handbrake cable removal sequence off the top of their heads? Does it thread through the chassis from the lever side or the calliper side?
The nuts that lock it on to the caliper are stuck fast. :(
Been out there all morning, just having some lunch then I\'m back out there, will have pictures and update later.
That windbreak you have erected must be good - up here with the wind chill factor it must be around - 6 deg Celsius, even the wild life around here haven\'t been out today - too darn cold for my liking ..... brrrrrrr.
Quote from: CHC;730244That windbreak you have erected must be good - up here with the wind chill factor it must be around - 6 deg Celsius, even the wild life around here haven\'t been out today - too darn cold for my liking ..... brrrrrrr.
Down in the mediterranean south, near london,it\'s been a balmy -2c!
Funny gov bull keeps telling us large parts of UK will get a med climate,where i do a bit of work,south eastern europe it was 19c today,over 20 times warmer than here!
The UK\'s gonna need some major plate techtonics to get that sort of climate:Giggle
I\'m a wimp,my house is a steady 19c,but i still avoid going near a door or windows,max credit to you guys working outside on your Fb\'s!:spank
ta stu..
Quote from: Steve-A;730175Ah shame about the s2.
I\'m currently keeping my eyes on:
http://retrowheels.wordpress.com/
http://tginferno.blogspot.com/
http://forums.club4ag.com/zeroforum?id=22
drift works
wheel-whores
ebay usa
But looking out for other places. I\'m trying to find a good UK AE86 forum, as they will have nice wheels I\'m sure.
Wheel-whores!What a G8 name:Giggle
It was rather cold out... I\'ve been out there most of the day though. With 2 t shirts, a jumper, a hoodie (with hood up!), a scarf and gloves, sat 3 ft from the fan heater I was warm enough :)
I did wimp out from the cold yesterday as it looked like this:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4003.jpg)
I\'ve spent most of the day continuing to strip the rear end of the car. Thank you very much David, that was exactly what I needed to know for handbrake! :)
First up I used my new longer 21mm spanner, and a length of pole, to get enough leverage to remove the bolts holding the suspension links on. The links all came off and all look fine :)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4007.jpg)
Then I took the fuel pump and filter off. There are a few rust flakes inside the fuel filter visible, so not looking great for my tank. Not had chance to look inside it yet, so shall wait and see.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4009.jpg)
The main hard lines look in good condition, but that short section on the breather is well rusted, and all the soft lines will need replacing. No big deal.
Then, armed with fresh info from David, I managed to free the rear callipers, albeit still connected to the handbrake cable. The handbrake worked fine, acting well on both wheels, as did the brakes, so I know the callipers are at least serviceable. Again the hardline on the main chassis is fine, the hard lines on the axel are dead and all 3 soft lines are well dead (even more so now a I cut them!)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4017.jpg)
So the underside was looking pretty bare now.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4012.jpg)
There\'s one hanger I\'ve been un-able to remove as the bolts are well rusty, and are basically rusted round. Any ideas what its for? Is it just an alternative tow hook? I may just end up cleaning rust from round it and painting over it.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4013.jpg)
As you can see from the picture I had a test blast with the wire wheel on the drill to remove flakey rust. Worked well. I plan to do the whole underside like this then paint it.
So, danger time, I started on the upper suspension link. First off a quick blast over with the wire wheel to remove anything loose.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4020.jpg)
I then decided it would be best to drill out the spot welds that held the outer plate on (first one is done there), then re-plate the inner section and outer sections separately then weld it all back together. That way I get rid of every last mm of rot and end up with an OEM look.
This how it looked once I\'d got the outer plate off.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4022.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4023.jpg)
In that last picture you can see the edge of my retro green coffee mug, soon to die a death as i caught it by accident and smashed it and my coffee across the floor. :(
Out with the grinder and I cut back till I found good metal on the car.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4026.jpg)
All ready and waiting for a plate to be made up to fill the gaping hole!
As the coffee froze to the floor around my feet and the light faded I decided it was time to go inside and get warm!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4027.jpg)
So a good days progress!
Quote from: syebba;730250Wheel-whores!What a G8 name:Giggle
Yeah, good site for info on wheels too and a very active for sale section :) Very VW focused though :(
My repairer was a Triumph Body Resorer and he re-used those plates where you drilled out the spot welds Steve. I wasn\'t there but I think he welded in new 10 gauge flat metal plates, reusing the folded lips of the original. Would gas welding be right for that operation rather than MIG?
Pretty sure that odd hanger is just that - a tow hook if you want to use it.
I was planning to do similar. Weld in new thin sheet metal to replace whats rusted away from the layre that forms the bottom of the rear seats. Re-use the outer edge of the plate I cut off, keeping the lip, and replace the centre with fresh metal. Then use the drilled holes as entry points to weld all the plates together (may do some extra stitching where possible too). Should look like it was never rusty :P
I\'m using a proper gassed MIG, so it should be well upto the job :)
Good job there today mate and well done braving those topical conditions - looks as though the snow had melted overnight.
Having disposed of the rusty bits it looks quite any easy job now.
That extra hanger - hmmmm me, I wouldn\'t subject it to any load(s) as there is no reinforcement to take any stresses. Wouldn\'t have a clue what is was fitted for.
Probably just for strops on the boat over back in \'83.
Yeh... have to agree with you now Tim, Cliff. Doesn\'t appear to be anything solid behind that bracket. I\'ve washed that panel a thousand times on the outside, never thought much about that hanger.
Thanks for input on the hanger. I shan\'t bother trying to take it off the, just brush the rust back and paint over it!
As long as it doesn\'t fall through, I should be going to pick these up at the weekend :D
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/DSC_0653.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/30092010068-1.jpg)
They aren\'t the totally wild sizes and offsets I\'d dreamed off, but they are super cool original jap designs :) 15x7 +25 SSR mk2 and 15x6.5 +6 SSR longchamps
They are 4x114, so I\'ll be buying a set of hubcentric spacers/PCD adapters from DM Motorsport, advertiser on here.
With the 20mm depth of the PCD adapter they should fit in the standard arches just nicely. The arches may just need a subtle arch roll :)
So for now I\'ll be looking to make the stock arches look good again.
Niiiiiiiice
Think I prefer the second pair but .... you are collecting a set of 4 I take it? Or are you planning to have a different pair per axle?
:confused:
I will be collecting the 4 wheels pictured. 1 pair of each design, so different designs front to rear. :)
The mismatched pairs is a look I\'m quite fond of. I suppose its a kinda drift car inspired look, as much of the overall look will be.
Each to their own mate - I\'m all fore individuality. So which pair to which axle?
Not 100% sure yet, but I think the 6 spokes up front as they are fractionally narrower. :)
After last nights grinding pictures, I had the bit between my teeth this morning and I was keen to get on. This was the scene as I started work this morning....
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4048.jpg)
Todays task was to carry on with the upper suspension link welding. First up I had to pull some more interior so any stray sparks don\'t damage the carpet/seats.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4052.jpg)
I found some water under the passengers seat, hopefully it came in before I sealed up the hatch properly, gonna keep an eye on it. Only other spot I could imagine it coming from would be sunroof seal, but thats looks like its sealing well to me.
So I cut out a panel to replace the side of the rear seat bucket.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4054.jpg)
And welded it in.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4057.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4058.jpg)
Its in and solid, but not as pretty as I\'d hopped. I blew a couple of holes and had to try and cover that, and also the panel isn\'t quite as flat as I\'d hopped from when I shaped it.
I welded all the seams, which is more points that the car originally had but seemed a sensible idea to me.
Next time I\'m out there I\'ll be making up the side plate and welding that on too. :)
Tomorrow I\'m off to London to go pick up those wheels! :D:D:D:D
Coming on well Steve - told you it wasn\'t that difficult.
Just be careful of those stray sparks on the windows too!
8 Hours of driving and ~ 400 miles later I\'ve got the wheels :D
No point posting pictures now, but I\'ll be mocking them up on the car tomorrow, so I can work out what size adapters to order and will take a picture then!
a long day then.... that\'s dedication for you!
Been a busy day for me today. :)
Firstly I \'ve mocked up the wheels on the car, so I can work out what size adapters to get. The adapters can be between 20mm and 35mm, as far as I know, and because I\'ve got mixed pairs of wheels in slightly different sizes I thought I\'d try to measure out what depth would make each pair sit just right in the arches.
I think the wheels look awesome on the car, I\'m over the moon with them. I\'m still not sure which pair to have on which end of the car though. The mk2s (4 spoke) are 1/2 an inch wider than the longchamps, but the longchamps are a lower offset and the outter edge sits about 13mm wider than the mk2s.
Either I run the longchamps up front on 20mm adapters and the mk2s in the rear with 30mm adapters, so the the rim widths are staggered wider at the rear as you\'d normally do. (pic is with the mk2 spaced for 20mm adapters in the rear so imagine them sitting 1cm futher out)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4068.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4090-1.jpg)
OR
I run the lower offset longchamps in the rear, and forget about the 1/2 inch width difference and run 20mm adapters all round.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4072.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4095.jpg)
Either way the rear wheels are gonna sit around here:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4099-1.jpg)
So I think I\'m going to need arches, though only fairly subtle ones.
After messing around with that most of the morning, and still coming to no decision, I carried on with the suspension mount.
Started by marking out the rot and replacing the metal in the side plate I\'d previously drilled off.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4104-2.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4107-2.jpg)
Then drilled it so I could kinda spot weld it back into place. I then welded it on, and tagged on many more points that it originally would have had.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4109-2.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4110.jpg)
Whilst not especially pretty that whole rear corner feels more solid now than it felt before.
No work tomorrow, so cant decide whether to get on with the other side, or try attacking drivers side sill while I\'m on that side of the car. hmmm.....
Steve,
although the radius arm mount was spot welded at the factory I think ( and the others will correct me if I\'m wrong) that any welding repairs within 300mm of a mounting point must be seam welded, irrespective of whether it was originally spot welded or not.
I believe you may need to run the torch all the way around that radius arm plate to satisfy the mot man.
Good work there Steve - at this rate the welding should be done for Xmas eve but you\'ll need to take on board Ian\'s comments on continuous welding within specific area from mounting points.
Where to go next - me, I\'d stay on the same side and finish it off, saves toing and froing but then Rexanne isn\'t mine. Either way it looks as if she is in safe hands.
:Thumbs-up
Quote from: Ian65;731457Steve,
although the radius arm mount was spot welded at the factory I think ( and the others will correct me if I\'m wrong) that any welding repairs within 300mm of a mounting point must be seam welded, irrespective of whether it was originally spot welded or not.
I believe you may need to run the torch all the way around that radius arm plate to satisfy the mot man.
Ah interesting, thanks for the heads up Ian. I suppose it does no harm to run all the way round!
I think you\'re right Cliff, staying on this side of the car makes sense. :)
Mate those wheels look the nuts-think I prefer the mk2\'s on the back.
Quote from: Steve-A;731459Ah interesting, thanks for the heads up Ian. I suppose it does no harm to run all the way round!
I think you\'re right Cliff, staying on this side of the car makes sense. :)
When I was doing \'JAZ\' I stayed on one side. I took out all of the corroded areas at once, that way if an issue affected something else it could and was tackled simultaneously rather than having to re-do previous work etc; etc:As Tim - think the MK2\'s are better on the rear.You say you had a 400 mile trip for the alloys, where did you have to collect these from Steve?
Yeh that makes sense Cliff :) I\'ll start tomorrow by seam welding that plate then I\'ll work my way round towards the sill!
Yeh I\'ve had a bit of a think over dinner and I\'m gonna go mk2 on the back. I like the wheels equally on the back but I think the Longchamps look better up front than the mk2s do.
Was a little under 400 miles, maybe 380?, round trip, from south Worcestershire to about 4 o\'clock on the m25 and home via the centre of London. My girlfriend came along to keep me company, shared fuel cost and let us take her economy car (instead of the fuel guzzling mx7!) on the proviso she could stop and look in 1 shop, was a fair enough compromise! She spent £65 on a 2nd hand scarf :s , so has no way to comment on me throwing money at this car left right and centre :P
Today has not been so fruitful!
The day started hopeful, I\'d no work on so was gonna spend most of the daylight hours working on Rexanne.
Firstly I just needed to go and get some more 2 stroke oil for my mx7. Which decided today was the day its battery was gonna die. So I stole the one from Rexanne, which was the wrong size and spent a while making it fit. Then when I tried to start the mx7 for the 2nd time it flooded. :Grrr Looks like I need to spend more time on my cold start settings.....
So anyway it took most of the morning faffing to get the mx7 started, so thats half my day gone.
Have some lunch then I get out in the cold and start of Rexanne. First port of call is to seam weld that plate on. Started out well :), but then my welds started to go a bit dodgy. Turns out I was out of gas. :(
Now I changed the gas bottle yesterday, as it had run out. The last bottle lasted me 2 months, this one less than 24 hours. :rolleyes: I think the regulator is buggered.
Will head out to try and get another tomorrow, couldn\'t really be bothered battling my way through the school traffic this afternoon!
I did manage to get 75% of the way round the plate though, so I spent a bit more time with the grinder smoothing the welds off. With a smear of seam sealer and some paint it should be good a new.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4114.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4112.jpg)
Then I thought I\'d do further investigation on the sill. Bad times...
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4117.jpg)
An agressive wire brushing over some of the surrounding areas found more holes. Looks like most of the metal between the plate I\'ve just welded on and the sill is also shot, couple of holes showing through near where the inner arch meets the floor pan, few more further up the inner arch, and more of the lower sections of the sill is gone.
Tis not the end of the world, its just gonna mean more major reconstruction of that corner of the car than I originally though, and the other side looks just as bad. Ho hum.
Part of me feels I\'m making life hard for myself as prodding around from the outside it all seemed solid enough but I could see the seal sealer inside wasn\'t quite right, and having chipped that off the screwdriver went straight through the swiss cheese style metal below. But I know in my heart I\'ll sleep better as night when its one knowing I\'m not driving round a car made of seam sealer!
I also found a new picture on the american forums that inspires me, its kept me positive that it will all be worth it as I sit here covered in metal dust and desperately trying to warm up! I think its just nicely balanced as a car, the wheels sit nicely and have a nice dish without being extreme, it\'s nice and low but still driveably so and I\'m warming to those mazdatrix front lips/bumpers a lot.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Picture010.jpg)
Bit of a minor set back there Steve :Hammerbut still repairable, so don\'t get dis-heartened by what you\'ve found. This is what I was saying yesterday about digging out all the respective areas to make sure all corroded bits are found and removed before welding in - at least then you know you are back to sound metal and it\'s all downhill from then on in mate (ie having done the hard bit now it will be easier).
From what I\'m seeing, me - I\'d cut out the bottom plate and make a new one rather than trying to patch in here and there, may need to be knocked up in stages but having done this you\'ll feel a hell of a lot happier and sleep eay at night knowing it\'s right and most importantly SAFE. Then I\'d insert an inner bulkhead before making an d fitting outer sill piece.
There was a previous post earlier this year at the same spots (both nearside & offside) - I\'ll search for it and put up the link, this should give you some ideas and a bit of a moral booster.
Hang on in there mate.
Cliff
:)
Quote from: Steve-A;731599First port of call is to seam weld that plate on. Started out well :), but then my welds started to go a bit dodgy. Turns out I was out of gas. :(
Now I changed the gas bottle yesterday, as it had run out. The last bottle lasted me 2 months, this one less than 24 hours. :rolleyes: I think the regulator is buggered.
Will head out to try and get another tomorrow, couldn\'t really be bothered battling my way through the school traffic this afternoon!
These little gas bottles as sold by halfords etc are a crap and expensive way of getting your CO2, plus they always run out at the most inconvenient time.
Go and chat up your local pub landlord and beg a pub bottle off him. Stick a regulator on it and it\'ll last you a year even if you\'re restoring cars every weekend.
I\'ve used pub bottles for years.... !
The other thing is that once you\'ve got the pub landlord on side, he\'ll probably change it for you for a full one once it\'s empty...
it\'s a winner!
here\'s the regulator.... 30 quid ish....but it\'ll last you forever and you never need to buy gas again...
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/shop/co2-regulator.htm
Quote from: CHC;731606Bit of a minor set back there Steve :Hammerbut still repairable, so don\'t get dis-heartened by what you\'ve found. This is what I was saying yesterday about digging out all the respective areas to make sure all corroded bits are found and removed before welding in - at least then you know you are back to sound metal and it\'s all downhill from then on in mate (ie having done the hard bit now it will be easier).
From what I\'m seeing, me - I\'d cut out the bottom plate and make a new one rather than trying to patch in here and there, may need to be knocked up in stages but having done this you\'ll feel a hell of a lot happier and sleep eay at night knowing it\'s right and most importantly SAFE. Then I\'d insert an inner bulkhead before making an d fitting outer sill piece.
There was a previous post earlier this year at the same spots (both nearside & offside) - I\'ll search for it and put up the link, this should give you some ideas and a bit of a moral booster.
Hang on in there mate.
Cliff
:)
Here you go Steve - try this thread - post 22 I think http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63026
Cliff:Thumbs-up
Quote from: CHC;731606I\'d cut out the bottom plate and make a new one rather than trying to patch in here and there, may need to be knocked up in stages but having done this you\'ll feel a hell of a lot happier and sleep eay at night knowing it\'s right and most importantly SAFE. Then I\'d insert an inner bulkhead before making an d fitting outer sill piece.
This is exactly my plan. I\'ll try to disassemble the sections as best I can then rebuild the original structure. No point trying to patch bits better to just start again in fresh metal!
Thanks for the thread link too, thats pretty much what I had in my head for rebuilding. :)
I\'m not too down hearted, just needed to grumble a bit! Get it off my chest. I knew the sill was that bad, what I didn\'t know was that I was going to have to do the floor section between the lower suspension link and inner wheel arch, that was the slightly annoying bit.
Ian, interesting stuff about the pub gas, though I presume its straight co2? My first little gas bottle lasted me 2 months which for £13 didn\'t seem too bad to me, and was straight co2. The one I bought yesterday, for the little I got to use it, was a co2 and argon mix as suggested by various places as better for welding thinner sheet steel and I have to say to say in my very amateur opinion it did seem to result in a cleaner more controllable weld than the straight co2. Either way works been cancelled for tomorrow, so first thing I\'m gonna hot foot it to machine mart with my regulator and 12 month guarantee and see what I can sort out! I\'ll probably just get another small gas bottle and that will keep me going for a little while and mean I can get on and make use of the un-expected day to work on the car.
Thanks again for all your input and help guys, I couldn\'t do it without you :)
Got an hour or two in today, and made some nice progress.
I have to say though, looking through that thread you linked to Cliff, my progress seems pretty damn pedestrian!
I started off by running down to machine mart where they said there was nothing wrong with my regulator, then handed me the new one they were comparing it to and put mine down besides the packet the new one came from? Dunno if the bloke meant to do it or not but wasn\'t gonna argue!
Then I finished off going round the seams on the upper link, took a while as I had to cut back some of the crappy welds I\'d made while I was running out of gas and not realising.
Then I got busy with the grinder and started to cut out the rot on the sill.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/LastRoll-17.jpg)
I will need to go another 3" or 4" along the bottom though. Although the outer sill is now solid, some of the inner strengthening is rotten, I guess from water ingress due to the gaping hole near the back!
Im gonna have to do some careful disassembly again I think. In the picture below you can see the piece that creates the rear most section of inside of the sill (the bit that looks like swiss cheese!) is totally gone. The next piece of floor to sill metal (lowest section pictured) is solid and fine but because this overlaps the rotten section for a bit I think that gonna have to have a few inches cut out too.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4117.jpg)
I kept on scraping and chipping away at it, and cut out what needed cutting away from the floor next to the wheel arch, the new holes i found yesterday.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4133.jpg)
I decided thats where I\'d start, so made a plate up and welded it in. I was pleased with this as its probably my quickest and neatest plate welding to date :)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/LastRoll-31.jpg)
Fingers crossed I\'m working the rest of the week, so will carry on with the sill on the weekend.
If you read through the post Steve, the guy that did the job was/is a pro used to this kind of work and he was helped by the owner - so not suprisingly you are a little slower but \'the hare & the tortoise\' comes to mind. Nevertheless you are doing a sterling job here so keep it up.
I think you\'ll find the guy in the shop cleaned your regulator up and you are the one who is mistaken ;) - best not go back there for a while just to make sure.
:)
Got a little work done today :)
First I saw Ross and collected the other wing, which is now safely in my garage.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4160-1.jpg)
I then did a little more cutting away at the sill and its ready to start putting the fresh metal in. Ross got a great action shot, but then we got distracted by coffee and computer games, and didn\'t get shots of the finished cutting.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4158-1.jpg)
I had some bad news that the large project I was about to start for my main client, has been postponed till January so I\'ve very few days work till then :(:( Bad news for money but good news to time spent welding! Expect more updates monday :P
Shame about the work front but as you say more time to play - well okay do some graft where it is needed.
Wing looks very tidy Steve - nice one. Does this imply you have a resource for Gold body panels?
\'Fraid not Cliff.
That is her original wing, Ross had taken it off to start working on the rot at the bottom of the wing and I\'ve only just got round to collecting it from him.
On the whole the paint work and condition of Rexanne is really good where she\'s not rusty, very few paint chips and fading.
Yeh I\'m gonna get my head down and make the most of this time to get this welding done.
Got a couple of hours in today.
Finally found some real metal in the sill. Was left with this:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4172.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4176-1.jpg)
Then I rebuilt the first layre of structure for the inside of the sill.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4179.jpg)
Started on the 2nd inner layre.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4186-1.jpg)
Then my light broke :( So its game over for today. The welding itself seems to be going a little better, I guess thats just practice for you! But the prep work is still very slow and painstaking.
Because I\'ve had the work project cancelled and I\'ve got plenty of time, I\'m really going for \'measure twice, cut once\' which is slowing me down even more haha.
Steve,
I would seriously think about covering your old and new metal in weld-thru primer before welding it all up.
This stuff is zinc rich and will help protect all the hidden metalwork. As you know, one of the keys to mig welding is to get good clean shiney metal.... unfortunately this will start to rust up again the minute it comes into contact with the air so all your good work will start to undo itself before you\'ve even finished it.
U-Pol is about a tenner a tin from Halfords and is good for an aerosol....
http://www.classicsagogo.co.uk/acatalog/info_A32039.html
brush on weld-thru is cheaper though and allows you to get a good thick coat on before and after.
Your doing it right though.... no matter what a mare it is, all that rot has got to come out!
Fully agree with Ian on this one Steve - you must coat bare metal with a primer of some description otherwise all your hard work will rust away in a few years time.
When I did \'JAZ\' I always treated the bare steel first, then primed, then fitted in replacement metal and primer coated again when welded. Too be sure I\'ll be doing the same with \'Goldie\'.
Cliff
Thanks guys.
I was gonna ask about proecting the hidden metal/inside of the sills, but hadn\'t got round to it. I\'d read about weld through primser and it sounded like a good product, but I didn\'t know whether it would be one of these things that doesn\'t really work in the real world. I\'ll go buy some in the morning :)
Where would I be without you guys :) I owe you all a drink or three at brooklands/rotorstock :guinness
Today was good. :)
Over the past few weeks when I\'ve been doing this metal work on the car its just been torture if I\'m honest. It was such a steep learning curve, and nothing was ever easy.
Today it felt like I turned a corner a little. It\'s not like I\'m gonna claim to be any good but I did at least get through the day, and at a much faster rate of progress than before.
So pictures... I went and bought some weld through primer this morning, and covered everything in it.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4194.jpg)
Seems to do just what it says on the tin! Quite impressed :) Hopefully this will mean that all my hard work lasts.
So having painted stuff I made some card templates then put the 2nd layre of inner sill structure in.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4195-1.jpg)
That was fairly easy. Next up I made the more complex shape for the inside of the sill.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4197.jpg)
and welded in it, without drama !! :eek::eek:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4200.jpg)
At which point it got dark, so I was huddled in the corner next to my little heater.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4202.jpg)
But I stayed out there for a little longer as I really wanted to get more of the sill done. This is how far I got:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4204.jpg)
Wooo :):):)
I\'m not looking forward to getting a nice finish on the outer sill though! Got the outer sill to do and to box in the inside of the wheel arch.
A couple of thing you guys might be able to help me out with... how do I replicate the bumpy finish to the paint thats standard on the lower portion of the sill?
Also what do most people do about getting hold of paint? Do you guys goto a body shop and get them to mix you up some specially to match the aged paintwork or is there somewhere I can get hold of pre-mixed mazda maya gold?
This is coming along really good Steve - just take your time and don\'t try to rush it and it will all come together (as it is).
If you\'re using mild steel plate, it is a lot easier to fabricate an outer sill section in one piece. I have history with this type of thing so used stainless steel plate (which is somewhat harder to manipulate and weld) but the finished job is just the same.
The finish to the paint on the sills etc is achieved by using \'Stone Guard or Stone Chip\', then a top colour coat to finish off. It is a thicker protective layer that dries like \'orange peel\' and guards the bodywork with its\' rubberiesd like coating.
I have previously used a supplier in Chester (Brown Brothers Limited) who mix the paint to a specific mix from colour chip cards which are mainly based upon Ford/Mazda colour cards but due to changes in environmental requirements they no longer produce paint with oil based products. Nowadays as the oil based products are exhausted, they are replaced with water based products - the compositions are slightly different which can result in a noticable colour difference (well it was with JAZ) and you need to have the the paint overcoated with a clear lacquer to give it the gloss finish.
Obviously I haven\'t had the necessity to purchase Gold paint yet but will try Brown Borthers first before going to a body shop. I\'m interested to hear how you get on.
Thanks for the info Cliff :)
I wasn\'t sure whether to do the outer sill in 2 pieces to try and keep the original seam line that runs down from the bottom of the door corner? But if you say its better to do it as one I\'ll take your word for it!!
I shall have to pick up some stone chip at some stage then. There are so many paints/products to learn about as I\'m new to these old rusty cars :P
I have a local body shop who blew over the corner of my mx5 and did a damn good job of matching 14 year old faded red, so I\'m sure they could mix up the correct gold for me, but if an \'off the shelf\' rattle can option is available that would be easier. I\'ve reasonable experience with paining, did a panel on my mx5 and re-sprayed my motorbike so I\'m comparatively confident about that as long as I get the right colour paint!
Rexanne\'s never gonna be a concourse winner but I\'d like her to at least look respectable!
If I can get the metal work on this sill finished over the next couple of days that would be nice. Then I think I\'ll have a little light relief in the form of seam sealer, filler and paint!
One piece worked for me Steve but choose you own option - as long as you can manipulate it and are happy with the result and rigidity of the structure, go for it mate.
I too prefer rattle cans but never managed to achieve the finish of the spray shop without aging and polishing afterwards. As I have said in my thread on Goldie, if I need to I\'ll get a full respray but will take it as it comes.
You\'re doing a good job on the body Steve from what I can see - it\'s patience that counts and wanting to get it right rather than bodging it up.
Keep up the good work.
Cliff
:Thumbs-up
Thanks mate, as much as I\'m excited to try and get her on the road, I\'m also in no rush and as I hope to take Rexanne to track days and alike I\'m focused on strength over everything else. As I said in the other post its all a big learning curve for me on the restoration side of things and being able to ask you guys that have done it before is invaluable!
I\'m hoping that I can get away without needing a full respray as most of the paint on Rexanne is great, the only dodgy bits are in the rusty areas which are mostly in slightly more hidden areas, like sills. The wheel arches will be a bit of a make or break point though. I\'m still waiting to see what I do about brakes/PCD adapters and how the wheels sit before I make any moves on the arches though.
The key I found with getting an anywhere near decent finish with rattle cans for me was:
flat surface to be painted with 400 grit wet
prime lightly, just enough to be opaque nothing more
3 or 4 good coats of main colour
flat with 1200 grit wet
2 or 3 coats of lacquer
flat with 1500 grit
polish.
A right paint in the arse, but I was happy with how my bike and number plate panel on the mx5 turned out with that process, just using cheapo halfords paint.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4018.jpg)
I\'d be amazed if you ever got an off the shelf aerosol to match 27 year old paint.... I never have!
Even new cans of paint vary in shade from batch to batch.
If I\'m matching up to old paint, I usually take the petrol filler cap door off the car and drop it into my local auto paint specialists and they then mix the paint to the factory colour code and then tint it to match the car, which allows for the aging / fading of the colour.... they then put it into aerosols for me.
I\'ve used the same place for 20 years and they always get a perfect match. Their spray cans also have a better nozzle and spray better than the usual of the shelf stuff.Remember with stone chip that rust will bleed through it. You need a rust free, well primed surface first, underneath the stonechip.
The welding is coming on mate, good stuff!
Quote from: Ian65;732778I\'d be amazed if you ever got an off the shelf aerosol to match 27 year old paint.... I never have!
Even new cans of paint vary in shade from batch to batch.
If I\'m matching up to old paint, I usually take the petrol filler cap door off the car and drop it into my local auto paint specialists and they then mix the paint to the factory colour code and then tint it to match the car, which allows for the aging / fading of the colour.... they then put it into aerosols for me.
I\'ve used the same place for 20 years and they always get a perfect match. Their spray cans also have a better nozzle and spray better than the usual of the shelf stuff.Remember with stone chip that rust will bleed through it. You need a rust free, well primed surface first, underneath the stonechip.
The welding is coming on mate, good stuff!
I agree Ian - my paint is always mixed and put into aerosols too. Rattle cans are fine for smaller areas but then on in it really needs to be a body shop unless you are a very adept that is. I did it back in the 80\'s when I sprayed the bottom half on my previous RX7 - you need a clean area, well prepared body panel(s), equipment, sufficient paint/thinners, extraction/heating facilities and most of all - time - to do a good job.
I\'ll see who I can find to match me some paint and put it in an aerosol then :)
Thanks for the info on stone chip Ian.
Gotta do some work on my taxreturn this morning, boooooo. But then I\'ll get back on it!
Watching your progress every post Steve....coming on great. Just \'cos I say \'nowt doesn\'t mean I\'m not fascinated by seeing Rexanne coming good.
(Though it\'s not my area of expertise at all. I can fibreglass a dent but not fold/weld and do all that bodywork that you guys can).
Maya Gold paint is code M5 is it not? You will know by the sticker above the battery. Not that it\'s any good now, but you might find the code has some use somewhere?
haha thanks Dave, glad its keeping you entertained!
I\'m not expecting comments to all my posts necessarily either :P Half of it is just me documenting it for myself, to be able to look back on in time and enjoy. I\'ve read my mx5 thread through a few times over the months, quite nice to go back and relive the ups and downs.
If I do I write up at the end of each day working on the car I just find it kinda helps me organise the days progress and thoughts about where to go next in my head. :)
Any conversation/banter than results from my posts is purely a bonus :P:P haha
Steve, can you put a link up for your MX5 rebuild please .
Dibs
Question for ya Steve - with the current work and previous work you have done, how do you keep your stands so clean as they\'re just like new?
Here\'s the link to my mx5 thread http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63764 (http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63764). It was quite a journey! :)
haha Cliff, I don\'t know! The orange stands I\'m using on Rexanne were new for this project, so haven\'t seen much action yet. I\'ve certainly not cleaned them or anything!
That said you do make a good point a I\'ve been grinding and welding loads, the stands are shockingly clean compared to everything else. Maybe its some kinda of new paint technology halfords have come up with? :P or aliens! or ghosts! :P
Quote from: Steve-A;732881haha thanks Dave, glad its keeping you entertained!
I\'m not expecting comments to all my posts necessarily either :P Half of it is just me documenting it for myself, to be able to look back on in time and enjoy. I\'ve read my mx5 thread through a few times over the months, quite nice to go back and relive the ups and downs.
If I do I write up at the end of each day working on the car I just find it kinda helps me organise the days progress and thoughts about where to go next in my head. :)
Any conversation/banter than results from my posts is purely a bonus :P:P haha
Hi Steve.
Following on from Daves post, it has occurred to me that I should come clean and tell you that I too am hanging on your every post - I am in there with you in spirit! I am just impressed at the way you are setting about it. I have a car in the garage that would benefit from a bit of TLC but I have no useful skills in this area so I can\'t help - which is why you have not heard from me before - but your experiences are slowly winning me over into giving it a go. More power to your elbow - we are all cheering you on!
John
Thanks John :) I\'m always in Bromsgrove, as my girlfriend and most of my friends live up there so I\'ll keep an eye out for you on the road! If some guy in am mx5 waves madly at you in the Elford its me :P
After spending all of yesterday look at a years worth of receipts working out my tax I was quite ready to get out and make progress on Rexanne this morning. But my gazebo is only really shower proof and not really up to the down pours of sleet and hail we\'ve had here on an off today.
Still I made some progress. I managed to get the corner of the wheel arch and in inside edge of the sill sealed up. I thought I\'d managed to get it really neat, but in the end to get it to match up perfectly with the various different layres it was being welded to it required a good beating with the hammer. End result its perfectly functional if a little ripply!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4209.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4211-1.jpg)
Still need to trim the lower lefthand edge so the overhang matches up a little better with the original line.
I\'m quite pleased with hold solid the whole corner is starting to feel, and theres still the outer sill and its end plate to go in. Whether I trust it enough to use the original jacking point is yet to be decided :P
I think one of the reasons its starting to feel solid is because there\'s a surprising amount of metal in there. Gonna need to find a new source of steel soon, not much door left!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4212-1.jpg)
Dad can get me some from his work if I give him the thickness though, so its no problem, just kinda nice to recycle while I can :)
Good work there Steve - as you say, there is a surprising amount of metal gone back into it now and when you complete it with the end plate & outer sill it\'ll be just like a \'bought one\' only stronger. :Thumbsup! I had every confidence in you - well done.
You\'re on a roll now mate - nearside before Xmas? :Giggle
Think near side before christmas might be a bit optimistic!
Had a solid day attacking it today. First up was to make the first section of outer sill. I took quite a long time doing this as I really wanted it to be right.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4213.jpg)
After some thought I decided it was gonna be easier to do the outer sill in two pieces, so I tried to replicate the step the original had.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4218.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4216.jpg)
It welded in fairly well, but it buckled slight with the heat which was disappointing. Not big deal though as it buckled inwards so can just have a skim for filler on it. For this reason I didn\'t bother dressing the welded on the buckled section.
On to the second section of outer sill. I was very pleased with myself for the welding on this piece, and the way it lined up with the other piece and the line of the sill. In all the excitement I managed to loose track of the fact that it was meant to be curved :Grrr:Grrr Either way its strong and I think once blended in and painted up the slight missing curve wont be noticed.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4224.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4220.jpg)
As you can see I also had a minor disaster where I\'d not cut the paint back far enough from the weld line and it set fire to the paint :( Not the end of the world as most of the burnt area then got burnt from the other side when I did the next piece.
Then I started work on capping the end of the sill, the last piece!!! This didn\'t go too well. I made card templates and cut my shapes carefully but nothing was quite lining up and much fiddling was needed. I them found a little bit of rust I\'d missed on the arch lip, so had to cut that out, the upside of this was I had slightly better access to the end cap.
The end result is strong if a bit messy looking!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4225.jpg)
It just needs the one small section of arch lip now, then I\'ll get the seam sealer and filler out and get this side looking it best. Give me a bit of a break from the metal work!
And just got Cliff, the stands are getting dirty :P
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4222.jpg)
How are you getting on in the snow down there? We have got a good 8-10 inches in Tardebigge....
John
Well I\'m stuck in bromsgrove with the same 8-10 inches, so didn\'t get to work on the car today.
A very low mx5 on toyos with no weight over the rear wheels didnt get me far! Though I did feel like a d1 driver linking drifts at jogging pace as I attempted to just get out of the housing estate :p
Girlfriends fiat punto faired much better but with the motorway at standstill we gave up. Had to walk back from wychbold though as lorries were stuck on the hill into bromsgrove. Gonna have another shot at going home tomorrow!
Well having been stuck at my girlfriends for 3 days. The mx7 was gonig nowhere.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/2010-1334.jpg)
There was little/no snow in malvern and I knew could be getting on the with Rexanne. Having commandeered Emma\'s fiat punto I made it home today. I had barely got in, then it snowed.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/2010-1337.jpg)
And with it properly snowing and cold I decided against any more work on Rexanne for a day or two.
So turned my engineering skills towards another toy!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/skibike-7.jpg)
Kept me entertained in the snow last year!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/skibike-3.jpg)
Just needed a bit of maintenance. Gonna go play in the morning. :)
Was well psyched to get on with work on Rexanne today after a few days off doing the family thing with christmas.
The weather wasn\'t such a fan. Whilst it wasn\'t quite as cold it was raining. The combo of rain and melted snow created lots of water, which pretty much flodded the floor of my gazebo, so didn\'t really wanna bring mains electric and my welder out to sit in a puddle!
So I made a start on one of the little things that had been bugging me about the car since I got it, the alarm. It looks to have been fitted with an alarm many many years ago, professional (or not as the case may be!) job at great expense, but had been half unplugged by a previous owner.
It took a while but I did manage to get it out, no thanks to haynes instructions of how the dash came apart. I think haynes must have been relating to S1 not S2.
Here\'s what I removed:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/photo2.jpg)
The alarm was installed ok, but a bit basically, what was more worrying was the radio wiring which had been hacked together with bullet connectors of skotch locks all over the place. Including nasties such as this skotch lock used to extend a 12v power wire to the radio, floating around ready to short out under the dash!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/photo4.jpg)
This was the mess behind the centre console.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/photo3.jpg)
It had gone dark but the time I finished for tonight, but I had managed to clear the alarm out, which just leaves me with the dodgy after market front fog light wiring to rip out and to sort out the radio.
The radio currently gets its permiment 12v from the clock and its switched 12v from the rear heated screen switch. This it again done with skotch locks, so I presume not the standard sources for power?
Can anyone also tell me what the bottom right switch in these 4 is for?
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/photo-1.jpg)
The teop pair being the windows and the bottom left being rear screen wash, but I don\'t know what the 4th one does.
It appears to be again a bit of a home bodge, one side of the switch is connected to ground and when I traced it back the other is connected into the loom behind the clock area to a green wire? I clicked it a few times when the car had a battery in it, but couldn\'t work out what it did?
Felt nice ot be inside the car, kinda sat in the drivers side. I know its a long way off but I\'m very excited about getting the old girl on the road!
Electric Aerial
Ah-ha! Thanks Tim.
Seeing as rexanne has a manual aerial fitted, that would explain why nothing happened! It being to do with the radio would also match with the standard of wiring!
Yeah sorry the post was a bit short but I did it off my phone and my fingers were too cold to elaborate too much.
Haha no worries mate :) some times two words are all you need!
Anyone got any insight into radio wiring?
Had a good poke around under the carpet in the front too, no signs of rot there :)
Good news about the rot-what is it you are after regarding the wiring?
Mainly where it should take it\'s power from. The radio is currently drawing power from the clock and rear window heater switch. But it doesn\'t look original, it\'s been done with cheapo halfords connectors not Mazda style stuff.
It\'s not the end of the world, but nice to not draw power from the wrong places!
Wouldn\'t it be great if Haynes just had a set of diagrams that said \'Definitive diagrams for UK Series 2.
But they don\'t, just \'heres a sample of different diagrams for later models, poke about in that lot mateys\'
The radio isn\'t even shown in the \'S2\' typical diagrams, just an arrow off page to \'Audio\'.
BUT.....looking at S1 diagrams and also that fusebox pic that automatic18 was querying with Cliff before Christmas (remember), then I think the radio takes it\'s feed from the \'Radio/Antennae\' Fuse in the fuse box, through main connector X02 to the radio. I think that fuse is fed via the ignition switch so\'s you can\'t drain the battery by mistake.
There\'s also a separate illumination feed which seems to come from the positive side of the illumination control (ie radio light is not dimmed).
Sorry it\'s not that helpful but nothing to work with except generalised drawings and guesswork.
Thanks David :)
I\'m gonna have a go at finishing the radio wiring off tomorrow, I\'ll trace that 12v feed back from the fuse box.
Even if I use the same sources as the lat owner did, by actually soldering it together and insulating the connections it\'s gotta be a good start!
I\'m hoping to get some good progress over the next couple of days. I\'m done with family/christmas type things for a while, and its meant to be dry, so it\'s time to get back out there :)
Didn\'t get much done yesterday in the end, but got plenty done today :)
I got the radio and centre console back in yesterday, but didn\'t get any pictures because there\'s nothing to see now, just a normal s2 interior.
Today I dropped back onto the metal work. Having had a few days break from it with christmas I decided I\'d just keep focused on basic metal work for now, then when its all done I can go over the whole car with seam sealer and proper paint.
So first up was just finishing the drivers sill, by finishing off the end cap.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4291.jpg)
I\'d been indecisive about what to do about this corner.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4293.jpg)
It\'s the bottom of the rear edge of the drivers rear wheel arch, the rot is only minor and doesn\'t look like it would need to be structural. I was considering just filling the front edge to look pretty for paint etc, but figured while i was down here doing things properly I\'d do it properly!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4296.jpg)
Then I moved round the the corner of the rear valance thats rotten.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4299.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4301.jpg)
That went fairly smoothly, will just need a little filling as the thin metal of the valance buckled slightly with the heat. I was trying to do lots of tacks and spread the heat out, but its still not quite flat, the welds have sunk.
After that it was starting to drizzle and was getting dark, so I had a bit of a poke about to see just how bad the passengers sill is and packed up for the night.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4304.jpg)
The rot on the sill isn\'t quite as bad and doesn\'t extend quite as far down the sill as the other side which is good. More of the inner structure is stable :)
The floor near the lower suspension link mount is more rotten than the other side was and will need a slightly bigger plate, but not the end of the world.
All in all a good days progress and I\'m looking forward to bashing through the metal work on this side of the car!
I keep getting tempted to order my polly bushes from re-speed, so that once the metal work is done I\'ll be ready to put the rear suspension back on. But I still don\'t know how much I will be ordering from re-speed and it makes sense to wait and buy everything at once to save on shipping.
And similarly I\'m keen to order my PCD adapters for my wheels, so the car can sit on its proper wheels and I can decide what to do about the arches. But I don\'t want to get the spacers made up to fit stock PCD and centre bore if this might get changed in the process of upgrading the brakes.
Got another couple of hours in today, before I had to go out and do a little filming.
Started off by carrying on cutting out all the rot on the passengers side sill l area. This is what was left when I\'d finally got down to real metal.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/LastRoll-06.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/LastRoll-02.jpg)
I\'d not had to cut as far along the sill, but there\'s more inner arch gone and more floor gone.
For the other side I\'d been using a wire wheel and flap wheel on a drill to help clean up the surfaces, but knowing I had a large area of rusty paint and stuff to clean up under the car and heavy rust to remove from the axel I\'d caved in a bought a knotted wire wheel for my grinder. Nowe the packet went on about heavy duty rust removal so I was a bit cautious but damn I should have bought one before, twas amazing. Bit right through the paint and seam sealer and undercoats etc with no problem but then didn\'t seem to eat the metal at all.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/LastRoll-08.jpg)
I\'m sure as I clean the underside ready to coat it in por15 it will save me loft of time and effort :)
I was running out of time before I had to go film, so I just stuck some primer on the cleaned up metal and left it there for today.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/LastRoll-10.jpg)
I feel much more confident doing this side after the success of the other side, I can see it being a much much faster process :)
I think I will order the bushes tomorrow and the wheel spacers, as hopefully it wont be long till I\'d be ready to mock up the back of the car with wheels and sort out what to do with the arches.
Great progress there Steve, it\'s coming on great!
I use the same wire wheel on my grinder and it\'s the best thing for shifting that rust and crap.
Are you going for a full polybush kit from Billy at Respeed? I\'m thinking of ordering one as well this week... he does a smaller kit or the full kit... which are you going for?
I\'m thinking of the full kit...
I was gonna go for the full kit. Not a single bush on the rear end of the car doesn\'t show some signs of perishing, so I figured I\'d be silly not to get the full kit. Think it\'s worth seeing if anyone else is interested and maybe doing a group buy, could cut post costs down lots? I imagine the post wouldn\'t be cheap from the states.
I am intending to run the car considerably lower than stock height ( though still focused on performance so a little higher than my friends in VWs that hit cats eyes if they aren\'t careful!) and I\'ve read about the full polly kit causing the rear suspension to bind more than the stock bushes on lowered suspension. I\'ve read about people using normal bushes in strategic places to help stop this, so may yet not use the full kit. I\'m hoping to play about with some other ways to stop the binding though so again full kit makes sense to me.
I\'ve read that too about binding up but Shaun runs the full kit in his S3 and swears by it... I think he had his from Respeed
What sort of money are we talking for a full kit?
Quote from: myatt1972;735060What sort of money are we talking for a full kit?
$160 for the full kit ( about 100 quid??) plus shipping....
http://mrcmfg.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=112_41_91
Quote from: Ian65;735056I\'ve read that too about binding up but Shaun runs the full kit in his S3 and swears by it... I think he had his from Respeed
There\'s a huge discussion on the american forum about rear suspension and the binding problems. Seems it only really becomes a problem when you want to run the car much lower than standard.
Because the upper links are shorter than the lower links the diff tilts slightly as it moves upwards, and the watts link bushes aren\'t designed to take the tilt in that plane and bind up.
I always tend to take opinions on american forums and their approach to car handling with a pinch of salt, something I learnt from mx my5 days, but just something I\'ve become aware of.
If the binding is an issue for me, I\'ve got a couple of ideas. Rose jointing the watts link would allow it to twist in the multiple planes it need to not bind up. The other option would be adjustable length, or adjustable mounting point, upper links that re-set the diff to the right angle with the suspension more tucked up.
But as you can see right now anything other than basic \'is it made of metal or rust?\' type problems are wayyyy ahead of me!
Did a little more on the passengers sill yesterday. The wind had got up a bit so I had to modify my gazebo for a bit to act as a wind break.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4316.jpg)
With a little help from Ian, I started to build up the internal structure.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4318.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4320.jpg)
Still needs a bit more shaping and the bottom edge trimming level, but when its cold and windy out the metal work can feel a little anti social. So I took advantage of the extra pair of hands and we stripped back the front of the car on the hunt for more rust.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4322.jpg)
Whilst we found no more proper rust, we did find the drivers side front sill was slightly collapsed.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4324.jpg)
It was hard to photograph, but the sill line is curved and the bottom of the sill is pushed up slightly. Whether someone\'s been a bit brutal with a jack or whether theres some form of internal weakening I don\'t know. There\'s no other signs of damage to suggest a crash or anything.
It will need more investigation! Is this a usual rust point or anyone got any info on how much of a big deal this is?
Hard to say really Steve but it looks to me like the result you\'d get using the Mazda side jack on any car that\'s pushing 30 years old.
I only use a trolley jack on Gus, always on the front cross member/back axle; I never use the side jack. (Getting caught at the roadside might present a problem of course).
So if it\'s not rusting through I\'d not worry too much. However the MOT man tends to jack in the area of the front outriggers so they want to be sound. When he does that he\'s only got half the front car load on each side. With the Mazda side jack you might conceivably be above that?
Quote from: Steve-A;735323Did a little more on the passengers sill yesterday.
Hi Steve. Sorry to divert you, but a workmate of mine is considering buying a first gen MX5 for some fun alongside his company diesel Mondeo. Any tips you could give him? Similarly, could you recommend a good MX5 forum? (He is a proper middle aged boy racer by the way...).
John
I\'m sure I can offer a few tips John.
They are awesome little cars :)
First off //www.mx5nutz.com is one of the bigger and better uk mx5 forums. Its perfect for the \'middle age boy racer\'. The mx5 owners club are a bit too into their wood rim steering wheels and flat caps and get a bit upset about non factory extra modifications, if you get my drift...
There\'s also the miataturbo.net forum, which is an american forum with all the knowledge about turbo set-ups and clubroadster.net which is an american forum more interested in fashion than function.
Tips wise: Don\'t buy a UK spec 1.6 that was made between 95 and 98, they were detuned to 90hp from the 115hp that all other 1.6\'s were to make them cheaper to insure. UK cars hold a slightly better price and suffer from rot more, but are cheaper to insure than imports. The imports don\'t have such good rust protection, so if they were imported a long time ago they may well be just as bad/worse than a UK car.
Imports are normally specced right up with AC, PAS, CL, electric windows and often a LSD. UK cars are often poverty spec, to me not an issue as it\'s not really what the cars about!
The 1.8 has slighty better brakes and more chassis stiffening than the 1.6. There is little difference in the 0-60 times but the 1.8 has better midrange. Some say the 1.6 is more rev happy.
They rot at the back of the sills where the where the roof drain holes get blocked and it rots from the inside out. The rear wheel arches also go. If you\'re buying a UK spec mk1 the sills will have been done or need doing! Obviously they are old enough that they could be rotten all over the place but those are the two usual spots.
The soft top roofs are expensive to replace, so look for one in a reasonable condition, the rear windows can crack if folded too hard when cold, but are replaceable separately to the main hood.
Mechanically they are pretty bullet proof, and spares are very easy to come by and cheap on owners forums. I paid £15 for my 2nd hand mx5 gearbox....
Hope that helps :)
Quote from: myatt1972;735060What sort of money are we talking for a full kit?
Had a shipping quote from Respeed today of $50 ( approx £32) to send the full polybush kit over here from the US making a total of $210 or approx £135.
Dunno what to do now... is that still cheaper then buying a kit in the UK?
Well I\'m ready to order so we could at least halve that shipping cost?
£32 is pretty reasonable. I\'ve paid loads more than that for shipping of much smaller items from the states before!
Quote from: Ian65;736114Had a shipping quote from Respeed today of $50 ( approx £32) to send the full polybush kit over here from the US making a total of $210 or approx £135.
Dunno what to do now... is that still cheaper then buying a kit in the UK?
I think it is cheaper than buying in the UK but if someone knows different im all ears.
Not something Im doing in the near future but they dont go off so good to have in the shed.
Keith...
Quote from: Steve-A;736118Well I\'m ready to order so we could at least halve that shipping cost?
£32 is pretty reasonable. I\'ve paid loads more than that for shipping of much smaller items from the states before!
here\'s my message to Billy and the reply...
> Hi,
> could you please let me know a total price including shipping for this polybush kit?
>
> Polyurethane Complete Kit For SA and FB
> $160
I can fit that within a flat rate box that would run around $50.
Anything paid extra through our website when ordering will be refunded.
-billyI don\'t know if we could save anything by shipping them together...
a heavier bigger box may cost more to ship and then we\'ve got postage within the UK or petrol to fetch them from each other.
I\'m up for it though if it works out cheaper
Billy is really good, he should be able to get 2 kits in a box with the same shipping cost ive had a couple of \'shipping boxes\' from him and they are usually quite full!
Ian, shall I contact Billy today (probably phone) and see how much the shipping will be for two bush kits, then if it makes sense I\'ll order two, and if not I\'ll order one and let you know?
I\'m also gonna order my wheel spacers today (once I\'ve gone out and measured the centre bore!)
I did quite a lot more metal work on the passengers sill area yesterday :)
I\'d finally un out of door metal, but Dad had managed to get me a piece of similar gauge steel from his work. Its slightly thicker if anything, but only slightly, so won\'t hurt.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4331.jpg)
First off I put on the second piece of inner sill structure and the first piece of new metal to join the sill to floor plan.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4397.jpg)
Then I replaced the section of floor that was rotten. The floor section was definitely more rotten this side than the other, so I overlapped my new floor plate a little more.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4398.jpg)
Then once the one of the floor was in I could finish off the section that joins the sill to the floor. First piece here.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4399.jpg)
Then second.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4402.jpg)
And finally I put the first piece of outer sill on.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4401.jpg)
Slight .... up here, and I forgot to put the joggled edge on it to retain the seam line. I\'m not sure how easy it will be to do now on the car. I\'ll have to have a think about how to sort hat before I put the next piece on.
Quote from: Steve-A;736460Ian, shall I contact Billy today (probably phone) and see how much the shipping will be for two bush kits, then if it makes sense I\'ll order two, and if not I\'ll order one and let you know?
Thanks Steve,
sounds good to me... I assume you\'re going for the full bush kit, same as me? ( the $160 one).
Quote from: Steve-A;736460First off I put on the second piece of inner sill structure and the first piece of new metal to join the sill to floor plan.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4397.jpg)
Good stuff!
good to see you\'re doing it properly and repairing the inner sill strengthener.
I\'ve seen a few repairs on these cars where the repairer hasn\'t bothered and has just patched the outer sill ( bodged it in other words!)
I admire your dedication and perseverance mate....
I haven\'t been out working on my cars for ages.... brrrrrrr!
As I\'m getting older, I\'m turning into a fair weather restorer / enthusiast.
Yes I\'m after the $160 kit too. L
What I meant to put was ( damn phone typing) :
Yes I\'m after the $160 kit too. Lioks like I\'d be phoning tomorrow now, but I will ask about the shared postage :)
I really wanted to do a proper job of building the strength back into the sill, more for my piece of mind than anything else :p I\'m glad that approach is showing through via the pictures :)
I\'m a bit fair weather in terms that I won\'t work on it while it\'s raining, mostly because the gazebo is only showerproof and it\'s not much fun in the rain! Don\'t think the welder will like it either!
Think there\'s 2 more days of my pace fabrication in this corner, then the back of the passengers wheel arch needs a day or twos work, then that should be the rear rot dealt with and I can start to clean up and por15 the whole underbody. :) I can see it getting messy :p
Quote from: Steve-A;736565I can see it getting messy :p
don\'t get any POR15 on your skin.... else you have to wait till it wears off,
great stuff on the car but not on yourself!
I\'ve been doing the undeside of my car with it and it\'s tricky not to get covered in the stuff.
Happy New Year Steve - great job you are doing there.
With rgds the front driver side sill - On my previous rex in the 80\'s I was using the standard sissor jack when the car rolled foward (can\'t remeber what caused it now) and the result was as you have found. So perhaps this is what had happened.
From what I\'ve seen, a poly bush set on eBay is currently about £240 so the US set seems damn good.
Keep up the good work.
Cliff
Thats for that extra reassurance Cliff :) For now I\'m just gonna paint over the area and not worry :P
Well there\'s not been much progress on Rexanne over the last few days. :( Firstly we had high winds, and I came outside to find this:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4413.jpg)
Well it wasn\'t that neat and tidy, I had to stop the poles from flailing around wilding half attached to the cloth, so it didn\'t do any more damage to the paint work, before I took a photo!
No major damage to Rexanne, just a few light scratches, but the gazebo is gonna need major surgery if its ever gonna live again. Without shelter its been far too windy to try and carryon on with the welding work.
So I\'ve been putting my welding skills to use, and learning more, by helping my dad\'s company out by doing a few days fabricating. Making things like this:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4423.jpg)
Its much easier to be neat and tidy when its all nice clean fresh metal and I\'m not upside down in sub zero conditions trying to work on it :P
I\'ve also spent a fair amount of time doing this:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4415.jpg)
Helping my friend Ian (pictured) with his wrong wheel drive VW, trying to make the steering a little less like pudding by fitting a different front subframe with new geometry!
I\'ve ordered the re-speed bush kit (and a kit for Ian65 too) which Billy said would be ready to be posted in a couple of days, and I\'ve emailed Danny about the wheel spacers, so slow progress is still being made.
I\'ve also been having dirty motorbike thoughts this week. I\'ve been tempted by the idea of buying a more commutable bike, to run along side Rexanne, instead of buying a economical daily drive car. The maths says it will save me money and if I need to take a passenger or don\'t wanna get wet etc I\'ll still have Rexanne to drive.
The only tricky bit will be the swap over time between selling the rotary mx5 to get the money to finish Rexanne and buy the bike, and acutally finishing Rexanne, at which point I will be left with just a bike for transport! I was considering kinda rushing Rexanne onto the road, as once this weldings finished and the bushes are fitted, technically I think I could get her through an MOT with just brake lines. But then Ians thread reminded how much I really wanted to do a proper restoration and make her special. So hmmm, lots to think about.
One thing I don\'t have to think about is that if I do get a less race rep and more sports tourer bike I think I\'ll be once again drawn to the v twin rumble and dry clutch clatter of a Ducati. I miss my 748 at times! A monster 620 would do just fine....
(http://d3bzd59jg0tfcj.cloudfront.net/foto/N/cache/art_4823_2_Monster%2001_big.jpg)
Definitely a good idea to practise the welding skills but don\'t you find the extra thick metal off putting? It gives a false sense of security. I\'d prefer to practise with thin plate and multi positions - nevertheless very good idea.
Is that a new number plate you fabbed up? Surely must be for a bike with a central bolt hole? (he...he..). No seriously, is this something you have done? Is so it looks to be of a suitable standard, so it shows how much improvement you have made since striking your 1st arc.
This is kinda less welding practice for me and more helping Dad out! His company do all their fabrication in house, and have just enough to keep one full time welder/frabricator busy but over the last few weeks they\'ve been rushed off their feet and are after all the help they can get.
So while video work is slow, Im doing a day or two here and there moonlighting as a welder/fabricator. I made the piece pictured today, took a couple of hours from CAD drawing to what you see there. Its a small part of something like this:
(http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~comc/system2.jpg)
You\'re right, its not great practice for the welding skills for the car, as 10mm plate doesn\'t weld much like 1mm :P But its good fabrication practice and skills to learn, and machines to learn to use. Especially as I\'ve future plans for rack and pinion steering conversion that will require a new subframe and I want to do something about the rear suspension geometry! And it\'s working with and learning from Bill, who did the beautiful fabrication work for me on my rotary mx5, like the sump he made for me:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4090.jpg)
Mostly its a few quid to keep me going and really helps my Dad out!
sorry to see the demise of your workshop Steve!
Yes me too, but we have the technology, we can rebuild him/it.
Bit of bodge work and it\'ll be good as new. Already straightened out the bent poles and welded on re-enforcements. Just need to deal with the smashed corner sections and a few staples and a bit of glue will sort the ripped fabric
Maybe i need to join the gazeboclub.com forum and start a restoration thread :P
Quote from: Steve-A;737481Yes me too, but we have the technology, we can rebuild him/it.
Bit of bodge work and it\'ll be good as new. Already straightened out the bent poles and welded on re-enforcements. Just need to deal with the smashed corner sections and a few staples and a bit of glue will sort the ripped fabric
Maybe i need to join the gazeboclub.com forum and start a restoration thread :P
and WELD-IT.UK........ there\'s no stopping you now!
Proper aircooled Monster FTW :D, before they got all bloated and fat with a collector/cat like an oven ready turkey dangling from their gusset!. Probably about the only reliable Ducati ever, too. The 620 is a bit frustrating and gutless, though
....can\'t believe my first post on your thread is about a bike, sorry :o. Been lurking in the shadows for a long while, but I\'ve been too overwhelmed and embarassed by the talent/skill gap between you and me to say anything before. Great thread though, I\'ll go back to hiding in the background again
I have to say being able to basically glue metal together comparatively quickly and strongly, is so handy!
Haha, I think you over estimate my skills Nik:P I agree that modern bike exhausts are kinda lame, no longer so elegant. I\'ve not had the pleasure of trying a 620 yet. But I want something that I can ride day to day to keep fuel costs down, but also has some style and fun element. So to me the monster fits the bill well, and I figured the 620 would mean better fuel economy than the 80o or 900. I did used to get close to 60mpg from my 748 when I was commuting on her, rather than having fun, but thats fuel injection and water cooled....
My 784 was impeccably reliable for the year I owned her, daily ride too, before I learnt to drive. Went to that bike dealer on my 21st birthday, and made a dream come true when I bought that bike. But she didn\'t quite work out in the end. For a sports bike she wasn\'t nimble enough for my taste, drop dead gorgeous though....
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/PICT0020.jpg)
I took that picture just a week or two before I sold her, I always come back to it. The RGV stole my heart though, but she\'s just not a good commuter!
And the 748 was :3Confused!? Two strokes feed your soul though, I covet your RGV too :D. Last 2T I had was a 350 YPVS LC that tried to kill me on every possible occaision it could, but such a bike when it all went according to plan! Bit like a Rex, really :Giggle
The 748 was a better commuter than the RGV. I\'d say it was about as practical a daily as a silly loud mx5 that does 20mpg, needs premixing and has got lightweight barely padded seats :P
Quote from: Nik da Greek;737495. Last 2T I had was a 350 YPVS LC
Those were the days, tankslappers and engine rebuilds were a daily occurance :eek:
Keith...
Quote from: myatt1972;737504Those were the days, tankslappers and engine rebuilds were a daily occurance :eek:
Keith...
Lol. Frames made of pipecleaners, brakes that didn\'t, and an engine that would either spin the rear or lift the front when it hit the powerband...place your bets kids :Giggle All in a
de rigeur riding kit of jeans, baseball boots and paddock jacket :D
Quote from: Nik da Greek;737507an engine that would either spin the rear or lift the front when it hit the powerband.
Yep, and if you don\'t rev it hard enough it bogs and you go no-where. That\'s always a fun choice to make when exiting a salty wet winter roundabout!
Dammit I\'m trying to make the decision to sell the RGV to have a more sensible bike thats more usable, stop tempting me with rose tinted memories of 2 stroke fun :P
Quote from: Steve-A;737428This is kinda less welding practice for me and more helping Dad out! His company do all their fabrication in house, and have just enough to keep one full time welder/frabricator busy but over the last few weeks they\'ve been rushed off their feet and are after all the help they can get.
So while video work is slow, Im doing a day or two here and there moonlighting as a welder/fabricator. I made the piece pictured today, took a couple of hours from CAD drawing to what you see there. Its a small part of something like this:
(http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~comc/system2.jpg)
You\'re right, its not great practice for the welding skills for the car, as 10mm plate doesn\'t weld much like 1mm :P But its good fabrication practice and skills to learn, and machines to learn to use. Especially as I\'ve future plans for rack and pinion steering conversion that will require a new subframe and I want to do something about the rear suspension geometry! And it\'s working with and learning from Bill, who did the beautiful fabrication work for me on my rotary mx5, like the sump he made for me:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/Library-4090.jpg)
Mostly its a few quid to keep me going and really helps my Dad out!
Well if the skills you pick from Bill enable you to produce items with only 50% of his quality level you\'ll be fantastic and we\'ll all be queuing up outside your stapled/glued gazebo with cash in hand and drawings and templates a plenty - nice one and enjoy the experience mate.:cool
Just gone through almost the entire thread. You seem have so much patience. For me to do that amount I think would take me 5 years! :Thumbs-up
Keep it up :wave
Haha, tanks Ricco. Whether it will take me 5 years or not is yet to be decided :P
Made a good chunk of progress yesterday :)
Got a reasonably early start, and began to replace the metal around the upper suspension mount. Here\'s the inner piece tacked in.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/LastRoll-01.jpg)
I was pretty pleased with how the seam welds went, I guess the practice is paying off!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/LastRoll-03.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/LastRoll-04.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/LastRoll-09.jpg)
It\'s not wildly neat but much better than the other side!
Then I started to prep the outer piece. I think it was even ore rotten than the other side!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/LastRoll-07.jpg)
Unfortunately, as I was wire wheeling the outer piece, the wire wheel managed to catch an edge and drag itself into the hole in the middle of the piece, jamming the grinder and bending the piece :(:(:(:(
The result was a burnt out grinder and a pringle shaped suspension mount brace. The brace hammered flat easily enough, but the grander is dead :(
So I cut and welded a plate to rebuild the brace, and then welded the whole lot onto the car.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/LastRoll-08-1.jpg)
I and have just given it a quick blast of primer to keep it safe till I get chance to grind the lumpy welds back. These seams weren\'t as neat, becuase it was so awkward to get the torch into them. :Grrr
Ian had popped over to help, and with the welding on hold for a bit, I decided to steal some of his knowledge! Ian works part time at a garage, when not at uni, and so has tricks of the trade for some things :cool So we made a start on removing the bushes from the rear suspension arms.
First up we sawed the outer lips of rubber off the bush, so they would drive through easier. Here\'s me with a saw.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/LastRoll-16.jpg)
Then we used an old exhaust flange to press against the suspension link, and a socket to push the inner bush, and used the vice as a press to push the bush through.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/LastRoll-14.jpg)
Ian said this normally works first time, but the bushes on Rexanne are so perished they are infact crazy flexible, so we had to push them one way, then the other a couple of times before they popped. A couple of them popped right out then, one of them only the metal center popped through, but after that it was easy to saw through the rubber removing the tension, then knock that out.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/LastRoll-12.jpg)
Results:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/LastRoll-13.jpg)
Two lower links down, lots to go! I went out a bought a new grinder yesterday too, so can get on with more welding soon :)
I remember doing bushes on various Landrovers, not a job I\'m looking forward too at all.:2Mad
Yeh, its not much fun :(
In better news, my new V5 just arrived for my mx5! With correct engine number! So I\'ll get her MOTed next week and up for sale, then I can start buying shiny things for Rexanne!
Bushes are a pain, I did a lot of work on an old Land Rover when I was 16 and I hated doing bushes.
Yeah it\'s those front radius arms that I found the worst on an old Landrover 90 I had,
[ATTACH]50186[/ATTACH]
anyway I digress-look forward to seeing parcels with shiny goodies in. I too am waiting on some funds arriving next week then am going shopping. Good times.:Santa
You\'re weldings got better steve.
Amazing job you\'re doing along with cliff/ian/capitano/peters track fb,makes for interesting reading.
ta stu..
Cheers Stu :) I can see a noticeable improvement myself.
I also cut and shut Ian\'s sump earlier this week to clear his new subframe, and I was pleased with ow that came out. It\'s definitely becoming more natural.
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p186/flipkickbs/IMG_0573Large.jpg)
Not much chance to play this week, as I\'ve been working and got more boring crap to do. Any spare time I have has been ploughed into getting the mx5 ready for an MOT and looking her best to be sold. But I\'m hoping to get some progress over the weekend!
Quote from: Steve-A;739310Not much chance to play this week, as I\'ve been working and got more boring crap to do. Any spare time I have has been ploughed into getting the mx5 ready for an MOT and looking her best to be sold. But I\'m hoping to get some progress over the weekend!
No worries there Steve, get the MX sorted for sale and then you could purchase the S3 from Fife? - looks good for £650.Playing with Rexanne can wait a few days.
Quote from: Steve-A;738288Cheers Stu :) I can see a noticeable improvement myself.
I also cut and shut Ian\'s sump earlier this week to clear his new subframe, and I was pleased with ow that came out. It\'s definitely becoming more natural.
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p186/flipkickbs/IMG_0573Large.jpg)
Welding has come on a treat Steve - been practising?
Haha, not sure about the s3 from Fife, the price is right, and I do need to buy something to drive day to day while I finish Rexanne........but also kinda wanted something that did better mpg than the 13b does! :P
I have been practicing yes :) The sump does kinda flatter my skills though as its just that tiny bit thicker than the FB bodywork and so that bit easier to work with!
Worked hard on Rexanne today :)
Started by grinding back the welds, that I was unable to do last week because my grinder had broken.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4517.jpg)
The next up was to put the last piece in to finish rear seat area.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4518.jpg)
Next I decided to put the outer sill section on, so that it could hold the shape of the wing together while I cut out sections of the inner arch.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4519.jpg)
Got the curve this time :)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4522.jpg)
This side of the car has suffered worse further up the inner arch. This how it looked when I had wire brushed it back.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4524.jpg)
I gave it all a good prodding, and only found a couple of pin holes. I filled those with weld, and then started working on the template to cap that hole. You can also see that I had to cut some of the arch lip back to get access to this and because it was basically only make of rust.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4526.jpg)
Then made up the metal and welded it in.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4527.jpg)
Only got the lower end cap to do, which is gonna be awkward as hell, and then to rebuild the arch lip, then its onto the rear of this wheel arch, and then done with welding for a bit!
Think its gonna be 1 or 1.5 days of welding left on the rear of the car, and I\'m gonna get some more done tomorrow. Feels amazing to kinda see this basic metal work stage of the project nearing its finish.
Will be on to paint after that, my favourite :Hammer:Hammer
Bootiful, really bootiful mate. By the time you finish the car, it will weigh a bit heavier I think.
Exactly why it will need boost! ;-)
Very good job Steve
Quote from: CHC;739615Bootiful, really bootiful mate. By the time you finish the car, it will weigh a bit heavier I think.
Yeh :( They do say rust is lighter than carbon :rollin
QuoteExactly why it will need boost! ;-)
No boost yet Ross, not for a while. Ian\'s lent me a book all about Webers, with lots of IDA info in there. Bit of porting as well and that should equal out the power to weight!
Was working hard on Rexanne again today. There was this strange yellow thing in the sky, I have a vague memory of seeing it some time last year, but whatever it was it made it more pleasant to be outside!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4528.jpg)
I started the day by welding in the cap that covers the end of the sill. It was rather awkward but I got it done. I also thought to leave a kinda channel at the bottom corner so it doesn\'t collect water and crap, and went round and cut the same channel into the other side (not that you can see either in the photo)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4531.jpg)
Then I rebuild the section of arch lip I\'d had to cut off.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4533.jpg)
And Wooooooo!!!!:cool:cool Thats the metal work on that sill/suspension mount/floor done!
There was one area left to tackle, the rear of the wheel arch. The drivers side had taken me an hour or so and only needed one small patch. So I was confident....haha.
A good wire brushing revealed...
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4534.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4535.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4537.jpg)
A million holes. And it was all so thin, that when I cut out and tired to put a small patch over some of the holes the welder just blew through, even on the lowest setting.
So I got brutal.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4551.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4539.jpg)
I\'ve started making the card templates etc, but then decided I wanted to be inside and warm and with coffee seeing as it was getting dark, so left it there for today.
Bit of a bugger that I\'d not realised how knackered that corner was before. The arch lip the whole way round is pretty shot on this side, but it will either be rolled or covered in an over arch so I\'m not worried in that sense, but that lower section will need to be intact whatever I do with the arches.
Hopefully 1 or 2 more good solid days working on it and I can put the welder down for a bit.
So the glory was short lived - I think they call this "Murphy\'s Law" (or is it Sods Law), either way a real bummer :(. Are you sure you weren\'t getting withdrawal symptoms and dug in a bit too deep on purpose?
haha, I saw the first hole appearing as the wire wheel went over it and went as gentle as i could, but there was no denying it was well rotten! :P:P
Varioud parts of this car have been waxoyled at some stage. It seems where ever there is waxoyl, there\'s no metal just rust :(
Not the end of the world, and I\'d rather do this bit properly now and not have to re-patch it later as its right by the fuel tank. Much easier to do it now while its a bare shell at the back end.
Very helful thread showing the areas of repair.
Good repair jobs! Steve-A, looks as if i better brush up on my welding skills ready for my new arrival
Haha, hopefully seeing as your new arrival has plenty of MOT left, it should be fair solid down there. :)
I think between this thread an Cliffs Goldie thread we cover all the places they get rot.
Quote from: Steve-A;739744Haha, hopefully seeing as your new arrival has plenty of MOT left, it should be fair solid down there. :)
I think between this thread an Cliffs Goldie thread we cover all the places they get rot.
Your\'e probably not too far wrong with that statement Steve. Only glad I\'ve not got an issue with the front windscreen nor sunroof drains which cause no end of corrosion probs and are more difficult to resolve with no easy fix. Makes good reading though will plenty of graphics to visit lest we forget something later on.Keep up the good work.
Quote from: CHC;737348Happy New Year Steve - great job you are doing there.
With rgds the front driver side sill - On my previous rex in the 80\'s I was using the standard sissor jack when the car rolled foward (can\'t remeber what caused it now) and the result was as you have found. So perhaps this is what had happened.
From what I\'ve seen, a poly bush set on eBay is currently about £240 so the US set seems damn good.
Keep up the good work.
Cliff
Was looking at front end of Goldie yesterday and found similar problem to what we briefly discussed earlier this month.The lower sill section is bowed upwards (see photo) - is this what you were talking about? Having surveyed the area my thoughts are that somebody tried to jack up the car in the wrong area so being no support in this area, gravity played its part with the end result.
That is pretty much exactly what I was talking about yes.
But Rexanne is bowed up at the correct jacking point. Thats why I was a little bothered about the strength.
Yeh - I think it has been a similar scenario to mine originally, how much trouble in years to come? no idea.
(http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/Rod%20Chong/lm/LM81-wen_mazda-RX-7_n38_pitlane.jpg)
Steves car with a little imagination!
Quote from: syebba;740219(http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/Rod%20Chong/lm/LM81-wen_mazda-RX-7_n38_pitlane.jpg)
Steves car with a little imagination!
I wouldn\'t have thought Steve\'s car would need pushing though .... hehehe
Yes please!!!!!!
Not cool!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4563.jpg)
The strong winds last night managed to lift the gazebo remains out from under the stack of wheels , and in the process flip my box containing neatly organised trays of bolts and parts from the back end of the car upside down and spread the bolts across the garden!
Many many bad words have been said this morning :(
Havent done any more to her in a few days, been working and prepping the mx5 for sale, which is now is. Weather forecast isn\'t promising for getting more body work done this weekend, I might carry on with bushes and start prepping and painting the suspension links etc.
That\'s a ****ard mate :( - can\'t trust the english weather unfortunately. Just make sure you pick up all the bits (hope you haven\'t lost any).
Made a few good little steps of progress across yesterday and this morning. No more metal work progress and welding in these winds wouldn\'t work out too well, so I\'ve been focusing on other bits and bobs that need doing.
Yesterday I started by attacking the rest of the bushes for the rear end.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4566.jpg)
I did something a little different to before, I still put side load on the bushes using the exhaust flange/sockets but then instead of working it back and forth till it came free, I just cranked the vice down then used a blow torch to heat the end of the suspension link. The outside edge of the rubber bush melted a bit and it popped right out. Ended up taking less than 5 mins a bush that way :3gears-lh
I\'m going to take the links, along with anything else I can prep in time, with me on friday when I\'m working with Bill. I\'ll make use of the bead blasting cabinet at lunch time to clean them up :)
I then started to clean out the metal dust and rubbish from inside the car, seeing as there\'s no more metal work to do that will get the car full of crap.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4565.jpg)
This morning I started by spreading some panel seal over the welds visible from the inside.
Cliff - You may want to look away now.....
Now I figured I should put some top coat over the weld through primer and panel seal to protect it from absorbing any moisture etc. I had no paint at all here and haven\'t got round to having any of the correct gold mixed up. My first thought was to just grab some similar gold from Hellfrauds, after all its just gonna be hidden under the seats for a while.
But then I started thinking about it more. In the big scheme of things my plan is to loose the interior and replace it with just a pair of race seats, harnesses, roll cage, etc. I\'ve always liked it when people strip interiors out when they paint the internal metal a different colour than the main body colour, somehow it looks more like its still got an interior that way, less
skeletal.
I decided on painting the interior in a dark metallic grey, then I could have silver highlights in terms of the cage and bits of dash, I thought it would compliment the gold exterior well. So I bought a can of that to top coat the rear seat area. The rear seat area would at as a good test patch!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4575.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4576.jpg)
I put the filler cap in there to get a comparison to the body colour. I\'m really pleased with how the colours go together. I think the whole interior in that colour with the silver highlights would look really nice. And for the moment the main thing is the metal is properly protected from the inside.
I then continued the cleaning out of metal dust and rubbish from Rexanne, including wiping over the dash and roof lining with a foaming interior cleaning thing.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4580.jpg)
Next up I made a huge mess in the name of tidyness!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4577.jpg)
And now I\'ve got a small space to work on the axel in the warm/light/dry of the garage.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4579.jpg)
And here I am waiting for WD40 to do its work on the brake lines. I\'m hoping to strip the axel back tonight, so I can take smaller bits to be bead blasted friday and so I can wire wheel the main axel ready to paint.
Good progress mate-thats what I am gonna do with my insides I reckon-then get the dash flocked when funds allow.
Yeh, flocked dashes always give that race car feel :)
There is a company in Devon that doe\'s it for reasonable monies.
That Metallic Grey Interior\'s gonna look Goooooood.
Quote from: David Nock;741001That Metallic Grey Interior\'s gonna look Goooooood.
I actually agree with you on the colour Steve, it does look good - don\'t know why you didn\'t consider a brighter colour though - something in the green range perhaps hmmmm ...... well perhaps not hey. :D
:) Cheers guys. I\'m pleased with how the grey looks.
But for the stage 1 get the car on the road its gonna have the full original interior. The grey will surface again soon!
I got the axel to bits :)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4582.jpg)
Diff looks good and un-abused inside.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4584.jpg)
I\'ve read something somewhere about using an LSD from an mx5, so I might have to research that more before I put it back together!
Failed at my main task though, which was to get the brake disk guards removed so I could put them in the bead blasting pile. Looks like I\'d have to remove the wheel bearings from the driveshafts to do that, and that might not be much fun!
The grey looks good on the interior steve.
Yeah stripped interior,i like!
It\'ll be interesting to weigh all the interior you eventually junk?
Ah damn, looks like the mx5 diff only fits in the s3 axel :( I guess I\'ll just get it all back together and make LSD part of the second rolling improvements stage :)
Yes it will be interesting to see how much is lost. When I do loose the interior I\'d also probably do things like put in a lighter more basic stereo, pull the electric windows, and do what I can to save weight generally.
it\'s surprising how much just the door cards weigh...the easiest way to increase performance is to \'add\' lightness! Bin the lot!
Quote from: Ian65;741121it\'s surprising how much just the door cards weigh...the easiest way to increase performance is to \'add\' lightness! Bin the lot!
Less is more!
Door cards,headlining,sound proof material,leccy window motors,rear wiper & motor,carpet,rest of trim,gas hatch struts,leccy ariel motor,all seats.
Wonder how many kg\'s that would be 70kg?
:rollinYou would have to add ear plugs to the weight, with all the sound proofing gone you will not need a stereo ...................:rollin
Yeh, keeping music at a listen-able level in the mx7 (just single layer of carpet, no other sound deadening) at motor way speeds basically involves maxing out the stereo!!
Still I do want to have music as an option! I think you can get ear defenders with headphones built in....
Cheap solution (well free really) Just listen to music on your ipod with the standard ear buds...should be more than loud enough to cancel out road noise. Failing that enjoy the sound of the 12a
:-)
Quote from: Steve-A;741113Failed at my main task though, which was to get the brake disk guards removed so I could put them in the bead blasting pile. Looks like I\'d have to remove the wheel bearings from the driveshafts to do that, and that might not be much fun!
It\'ll be a workshop press job Steve, and new bearings will be required.
Best mask up bearings and wire brush the backplates?
Yeah, that\'ll be the plan. The wheel beatings themselves seem fine so no point messing them up.
Time for an update :)
I\'ve been working all week, which means money :) but little time to work on car :(. Today I was working for dad though, and all the other guys finish at lunch on a friday, so O took the opportunity to make use of the sand blaster!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4591.jpg)
The parts aren\'t perfect, but they will be painted in POR15 so the main thing was just to remove loose rust etc, and this was much faster and easier than doing it with a wire wheels/sandpaper at home!
I then got home and into the garden for about 4:30 and managed to make a start on this last section of welding.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4594.jpg)
I think this has to be the most awkward place I\'ve tried to weld this car yet, and it shows! There\'s still lots to do on that piece before I\'ll be happy with it. It\'s at this stage where a 2 post lift would be amazing, as I can\'t really sit under the arch to work on it easily, and if I sit outside the arch I cant see what I\'m doing, and if I try to kinda lie under the arch I\'m working at full reach and am constantly showered in weld spatter, ahhhh it\'s all fun this restoration lark :rollin
My spacers/PCD adapters arrived in the week too :)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4588.jpg)
The difference in adapter depth matches the differences in my mis matched wheels so they should \'poke\' equally, I\'m really excited to see how the wheels will look on the car.
I made a start on cleaning up the diff casing in the week, but didn\'t get very far really. I\'ve been doing some re-search and I\'ve decided I\'m going to use a eccentric bolt/cammed bolt system to give me adjustability of the lower link length on the diff, so I can adjust the diff tilt so it won\'t bind with my lowered suspension. After a bit of research it looks like some BMWs use the exact dimensions of eccentric bolt I need, so I need to order some next week then I (with a little help from Bill maybe!) will remake the lower link mounts on the diff casing with the slotted, repositioned holes.
Here\'s a pic of the sort of set-up I mean:
(http://www.e30m3project.com/e30m3performance/installs/installs-3/jl_sub/rtoeadj-4.jpg)
I\'ve got all of tomorrows daylight hours to work on the car, so if possibly I\'d really like to get this welding all finished for a while!
As you can see I\'m having a wild friday night in, seeing as I\'m posting about Rexanne rather than out partying :P
Though I have to admit I\'m mostly being distracted by looking at Alfa 105 coupe restoration projects..... one day, one day.
(http://chrisescars.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/alfa-Giulia-GTA.jpg)
Looks as though a \'left handed\' welder would be useful for this section - know what you mean about access issues. No real solution on this Steve except hang on in mate.
Suspension links have come up well though. The beauty of using sand media is that it mostly polishes the surface rather than digging in and leaving a very rough profile as does the chilled iron grit (steel shot tends to leave hammer marks). Don\'t leave then too long uncoated otherwise the cleaned steel will start to \'bloom\' (very light rusting will form) - it is recomended that any item sand blasted or the like should be coated within 4 hrs maximum (in high humidity areas even less time).
Well 4 hours has been and gone! But yeh I figured they\'d need painting soon, was gonna try to do it tomorrow.
And I\'m left handed so no problems there :P haha
Sweet Alfa.
Alfas.....Tempting, mmmmmm.
New ones and older ones, I think Alfa is the comeback king at the moment.
They are, I\'ve been so close to buying a 916 GTV many times, and the old Giulia coupe are just THE nicest coupes of their era.
If Alfa make the 4c, RWD sports coupe they are rumoured to be making at a more sensible price point than the 8c! that will be massively tempting!
13B PP Alfasud would be where it\'s at for me.
There\'s a red Alfa Junior in a tin shed garage down the road from me. N Reg I think. The younger daughter\'s partner (Alfa Trained) says that at around £1000 it\'s too much and too rusty.
Daughter says her partner also has a (rusty) Alfasud in his workshop too. Plus an FD in a container (MOT fail), plus an \'A\' Reg Merc Cruising machine that doesn\'t cruise.
I love random sheds like that-there is one down the road from me which is home to two Lancia Beta coupés, a Lancia Beta HPE, a Lancia twin cam engined Moggy Minor and two Alfa Suds. All waiting...
A freind of mine had a Lancia Beta coupé in a garage, he left it there for a couple of years, when he went back he had to shovel it out, the interesting thing is he bought my first RX7 off me to replace it , that was back in 82.
Haha yeah they have a habit of doing that. My Delta was in a dry garage and that still had to be dustpanned out again a couple of years later.
When I\'ve finished with Rexanne I might have to find out more about the Junior :P My parents had a Fulvia when I was small, I blame that on my taste for expensive to run/interesting/unusual cars ! haha
One thing at a time though..... I reached a meaningless milestone with Rexanne today! :Party:guinness:guinness:guinness I finished with the welding on the rear of the car :)
I\'ll let the pictures tell the story mostly. I was quite pleased with how the arch lip came out, it will look fine once its been smoothed a little more:)
2nd patch into the inner arch, and the inner arch welded to the outer arch.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4595.jpg)
Outer layer of rear quarter filled back in.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4597.jpg)
Inner layer then made to join the new outer layer
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4598.jpg)
And finally the arch lip rebuilt.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4600.jpg)
The last thing I did on Rexanne today was to give her a wash to get rid of 3 months of metal dust that had collected.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4602.jpg)
She looks much better for it, but there\'s still a fine layer of dust stuck to the paint work and windows :( I was pretty gentle washing her as I didn\'t wanna rub any metal into the paint causing scratches, but the bits that do remain are fairly stubborn.
A quick bit of internet searching brings up this:
http://www.clean-image.co.uk/articles/fallout.htm
Which makes for interesting reading. think I might have to try claying the car, in fact my friends who actually like to keep their cars clean often use clay so I\'m sure I can steal a little for a test patch!
Ah and just found this thread:
http://www.detailingworld.com/forum/showthread.php?p=901406
Hmmm, more research needed! It does sound like clay will basically work, though they seem to be debating it a little. I try not to listen to people who are into \'detailing\' too much as they;d have a heart attack if they saw the paintwork I\'m normally happy with :P
Aaah Fulvia\'s now we\'re talking. Good progress though mate-whats next, rebush and reconstruction?
Kinda, before I can reassemble I need to paint the underbody, to the half way point of the car and I need to paint all the suspension links and modify the diff casing and paint that.
Lots to do! I\'m gonna have a bit of a push monday, as i\'m not working, to make some progress with the painting :)
Very nice work Steve, that really has finished off the wing and the contour has been maintained - give that man a beer I say, he deserves it.
Are you still consider altering the upper wheel arches to compliment the new wheels?
Thanks Cliff :)
The top of the arches is yet to be decided. Once I\'ve painted the under body and got my suspension bushes installed I can mock up the ride height i\'m going for with the wheels and their adapters and find out what needs to be done. I\'m sure the arches will need some work, but I\'m not sure yet if they will need just the arch lip rolling and then a subtle pull or if they will really need over arches. But for that reason I\'ve kinda left them alone for now.
Clay should work fine Steve :wave
I wasn\'t a believer until I got converted a few years back!
Paint work looks good on your rex though :wave
Meant to say Steve - congratulations :Party, you\'ve had over 6,000 views on your thread and you aren\'t halfway through the project yet, must achieve well in excess of 10,000 by the time you finish.
Ah good to hear it Brett, I shall be interested to see how it goes when I buy some :)
haha Cliff, its crazy now many posts/pages this thread has got up to already considering I\'ve only been doing the metal work! There\'s a long old haul to go.... Maybe I need to stop updating it every half hour :P
Speaking of which, I\'ve been out working on her all morning/early afternoon. Today I wanted to have my first play with this POR15 paint.
I started by finishing cleaning the last remains of old bush from the inside of the suspension links. For most of them a quick blast through with a flap wheel on the end of a drill produced this;
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4605.jpg)
Good stuff :) Unfortunately the two lower links look much worse than that. It seems the rot has begun between the bush rubber and the inside of the link .
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4608.jpg)
That shows one where I\'ve removed all the rubber and spent quite a while trying to file/sand the rust back. I\'m worried that if I put them back on as is, they would rot through sooner or later, and if I sand back till the rust is gone then the new polly bushes will be sloppy in the enlarged hole.
So anyone got a pair of good condition lower links?
Undeterred I then broke out the wire wheel and cleaned back the first wheel arch. I just did the arch for today, so I could test out the paint, how to apply it etc, if it didn\'t work so great I\'ve not lost a much a if I\'d prepped and painted the whole of the rear of the car!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4610.jpg)
Then I sprayed the arch and the links with the POR Metal Ready spray that they seem to say is essential. I didn\'t take any pictures as there was nothing to see, no dramatic reaction etc, then I washed off the inside of the arch with a hose and the links too.
Then I broke out the paint. As a direct comparison to Hammerite ( being the only other straight to metal rust type paint I\'ve used) it seemed slightly thinner and more opaque. I was a bit concerned by how small the tins in the 6 pack were, but I needn\'t have worried. I used about 1/2 a mini can doing one coat on the links and the arch. It brushed on easily and leveled itself very well.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4612.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4615.jpg)
Frustratingly just about the time when I was due to do a second coat, the heavens opened :( Only for 10 mins but enough to make everything wet and it not really the best conditions to paint this stuff! I\'ve done the second coat on the links as they are safe in the garage, but the under arch will have to wait till another day.
I think I\'ll also refresh the panel seal that needs doing in the arch between the two coats. It will mean more waiting time as if you do the 2nd coat while the first is tacky you can just paint on, but if you wait till fully dry they recommend keying the surface with some wet and dry. But I think for the best finish its the way to go.
I\'m pleased with how its gone on, so next chance I get (tomorrow if the rain holds off) I\'ll wire wheel the rest of the rear under body and get busy with the painting!
Unrelated side note, though kinda relating to a few posts back. I went to the Haynes Motor Museum near Yeovil yesterday. If you guys haven\'t been, its a pretty good way to spend a wet sunday. I went with a female friend which did result in lots of \'i like the colour of this one\' haha but it was still good fun. I spotted someone we\'d been talking about here and got a picture:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4604.jpg)
Aaah you should\'ve said you were going there thats ten minutes from me you could\'ve popped in for a cuppa.
Unrelated side note, though kinda relating to a few posts back. I went to the Haynes Motor Museum near Yeovil yesterday. If you guys haven\'t been, its a pretty good way to spend a wet sunday. I went with a female friend which did result in lots of \'i like the colour of this one\' haha but it was still good fun. I spotted someone we\'d been talking about here and got a picture:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4604.jpg)[/quote]
Watch out Steve - there\'s a spider behind you. Is it a red back? :rollin
Quote from: CHC;743075Unrelated side note, though kinda relating to a few posts back. I went to the Haynes Motor Museum near Yeovil yesterday. If you guys haven\'t been, its a pretty good way to spend a wet sunday. I went with a female friend which did result in lots of \'i like the colour of this one\' haha but it was still good fun. I spotted someone we\'d been talking about here and got a picture:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4604.jpg)
Some real nice motoring legends there. Some may well have been lacking in their durability but what style and passion they had - but not as good as the RX7.
Those Alfa\'s do have wonderful style to them. They just have a presence to them, from the smallest detail to the overall lines and shape.
But I do think they look nicer on a poster than they do in real life, somehow the picture makes them look even more stylish, I feel the same about FDs. Somehow when one is right in front of my eyes it looks cool and all but not quite as awesome as some of the photos of them look.
FBs on the other hand somehow aren\'t that photogenic but, to me at least, they have something awesome about them when they are in front of my eyes.
I was feeling like I could go and buy a GT Junior in just about road worth condition with my Rexanne budget after that trip, but then getting home and seeing her sat in the garden soon put my mind back on track! (Might have to buy a 90\'s GTV as my car to run while I finish Rexanne though :d)
So yeh today I did a little more, its too damp/yuk outside to do any actual painting but I\'ve panel sealed the arch that\'s already had its first coat of POR15.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4362.jpg)
And I\'ve spent about 3 or 4 hours with the grinder and drill cleaning off the rest of the rear of the car, and just done the acid etching, so its ready for a splash of paint as soon as I get a warm and dry enough day! (friday afternoon maybe?)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4363.jpg)
I love the way you are being so thorough Steve. It really is nice to see. Well done so far.
Ade
Cheers mate :)
To be honest its standard 1st gen thoroughness :P haha I think Ian wins that competition by spending ages working out how to create the factory yellowy/goldy finish on some components and electro plating them himself!!!
True dat! But you make it look like I could do it too. Ian on the other hand makes it look like he should be working for Mazda.
Haha, so the deal is if I can do it anyone can :P (Which is the case btw, so go make it happen :P )
I just need someone to want to buy my poor mx7 and I\'ll be able to go suspension/brake shopping and make some real visible progress on the build.
Such a significant difference in Rexanne\'s appearance - what a change in just a few months. Looks like an entirely different car mate.
When I get old for this type of work, I\'ll come knocking on you door - least I\'ll know it would get done properly here.
:)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4371.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4372.jpg)
Blaaaaaaccck!
Coat one of the rear under body is now complete. If the weather is my friend, I\'ll seam seal it tomorrow then second coat it Sunday :)
I also did this....
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4370.jpg)
I\'ve not been able to find those cammed bolts in the sizes I needed, so Bill\'s going to make the original lower arms temporarily adjustable, so I can work out what length I need them to get the pinion angle right to reduce binding on my lowered suspension, then he/I will make up some new arms to the new length from scratch :)
DId you do anything about the Turbo in Bromyard? - I notice it has an Elford spoiler......
John
I\'m planning to phone him and ask about the spoiler this morning! Now that Cliff\'s phoned and found out more, the turbo itself isn\'t so interesting to me.
I just had a chat to the guy with the turbo in Bromyard on the phone, he said he\'d been in touch with you John and mentioned someone in Sussex as well had been in touch? dunno if its one of us?
Either way I let him know I was interested in the bumper if he wanted to split it from the car or more likely if the new owner wanted to sell it, etc. I know he said about breaking the car in his eBay add, but I\'d feel guilty if he sold parts to me outside of eBay and let someone else down, who might be bidding just for the bumper and turbo really. The car is literally a couple of miles up the road from me, so he\'s gonna phone me back and I\'m gonna go have a poke around it and see what I can see! I\'ll let you guys know what I find.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4375.jpg)
Done the seam sealing :) 2nd coat of paint on the next dry day when I\'m free!
I\'m looking forward to getting that done, because then I can put the fuel pump back on and feel like its going back together :)
Quote from: Steve-A;743887(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4375.jpg)
Done the seam sealing :) 2nd coat of paint on the next dry day when I\'m free!
I\'m looking forward to getting that done, because then I can put the fuel pump back on and feel like its going back together :)
Not wishing to appear totally stupid, but what the hell, if you don\'t ask you don\'t find out....
What is this seam sealing you have done? If its all been painted what is the point?
Stupid non mechanical John....
Basically it\'s belt and braces. :)
I wanted to get paint on the bare metal, but then the seam sealer will just be belt and braces that there are no points into which water could work its way between the panels or in between some of my lumpier welding in the awkward spots!
Again in a belt and braces fashion I went a bit wild with the seam sealer, and did every seam in sight, even if it looked 100% water tight :P
Once the 2nd coat of paint is on then you wouldn\'t know the seam sealer is there really and I\'ll just know its an extra layer of protection.
Woo the tracking code suggests the bushes have made it to the UK, just waiting on customs to sort their life out and post me a letter demanding money!
Nice, did you order anything else with them? I\'ve never shipped anything in from the US are you likely to be hit with a duties bill or is it pot luck?
I didn\'t order anything else with them. Just two sets of bushes, one for me and one for Ian.
Sooner or later the bushes would have held me up with putting the car back together, where as I\'ve got plenty more to do before the rest of the parts I could possibly order from Re-Speed would be needed.
Everything I\'ve ever bought new from the states has been picked up by customs and I\'ve had to pay the duty. The most annoying thing is when its only a low cost item, so its a £3 duty but on top of that an extra £20 of Parcel Force handling fee!!!!
this is good news... the sooner I get the bushes, the sooner I can get the suspension on the car which I need to do to roll it out of the garage so that I can drop the new engine in!...
Are they coming in through Royal Mail or someone like DHL?
I think they\'ll come by Royal Snail, seeing as they were sent by US Postal Service from Billy\'s end. As soon as they arrive I\'ll let you know Ian. :)
Quote from: Steve-A;743949Woo the tracking code suggests the bushes have made it to the UK, just waiting on customs to sort their life out and post me a letter demanding money!
Good to hear they are on terra-firma so to speak - now just red tape to get through before they are delivered. With a little luck you won\'t have to pay this time (fingers crossed).
The tracking says my parcel cleared customs today! Whether that means the post man will bring it tomorrow and I don\'t have to pay or whether it just means it\'s now in the hands of Royal Snail is anyones guess!
Either way while I haven\'t been painting, due to the crummy weather, I have been shopping!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4377.jpg)
I\'ve got some rubber fuel line, I went for fuel injection spec stuff with is way OTT, but makes things a bit more future proof. I\'ve also got a bunch of proper fuel clips, as whilst the jubilee clips worked fine on my mx7 (even on the turbo system running 110psi fuel pressure!), the little worries in the back of my head like using proper fuel clips. I\'ve also bought enough to go back over and replace all the jubilee clips on the mx7 with proper fuel clips for my peace of mind.
I\'ve got some low profile wheel bolts to use with my PCD adapters and also a pipe cutting and flaring tool in preparation for remaking the brake hardline for the rear axel, and any sections of fuel hard line I might have to make up if I go injection.
I\'ve also been reading lots.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4378.jpg)
So hopefully I\'m prepared with parts and understanding so that once I get a dry bright day I can make some progress! I\'m working from home for the rest of the week, so if the sun does decide to shine I might steal an hour here to there to carry on painting parts. :)
Parts have cleared customs,soon you\'ll get a note from parcelfarce demanding import duty!
When you say proper fuel line clips,do you mean the P shaped clips with rubber inserts?
ta stu..
Booo, damn parcel force :P
I mean clips like these:
(http://www.holden.co.uk/productImageslTitled/5-16_in_Fuel_Hose_Clip_12-14mm_015.916.jpg)
Rather than like these:
(http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/public/xfRTZRpv6xq4n_QL79Q0f-J90UVB1j_RwPa6qz5WLGPUTRx10ikhjX9-rW5_eV-8vYxTDK3qWbcLmK51ULSCELJYed6dDjPEkeP1IeLaqilHTrnPuMZMHhZGuOZfVpYd-SKzKEQtcGaG61UXP_vS1NXm54bljKRoYFWdUP4S_K8pPgHl_lqkTzVxrGC1m7nkIKGSokxGUhGyGgp_rwg0Qj79bDBWsXtqUmG3nJZwzYUbg60G1PpVmoJb_Zkn19Da-ak9o6FEl0ieH0JFhAtRT2S9_Q)
I ordered parts from mazdatrix in US & got charged import duty,can\'t remember how much now,but parcelfarce woul\'nt deliver till it had been paid.
Don\'t think on 2nd hand items import duty is payable,i got S1 rear lights & OZ spec door mirrors,import duty free,but i remember Ian got stung for his 2nd hand Oz spec door mirrors.
I\'m sure if there\'s no invoice enclosed,how can they charge you import duty,customs dose,nt know what it\'s worth?
I thought you were talking about fuel line carrier clips,not union connector clips.
All their concerned about is abrasion/chaffing on the fuel lines.
Stick at it steve your getting there.
Yeah, I\'ve paid duty on everything I\'ve had from the US including duty on the declared value of 2nd hand parts, so it\'s not a surprise if I have to pay.
Ah yeh, the comment about P clips make more sense now! Cheers dude :)
It gives me the hump paying import duty,what happened to a free market?
It\'s protectionism through taxation.
Speaking of which i saw 4 shocks for front & rear for approx £110 in US,very cheap,but with import duty & deliverey?You\'d have to work it out if worthwhile.
Full set of \'GAS\' on eBay uk for £138.95 delivered - Excel manufacturer.
Got a link there Cliff?
Quote from: CHC;744846Full set of \'GAS\' on eBay uk for £138.95 delivered - Excel manufacturer.
That\'s cheap Cliff,link plz.
Capitano is after new shocks.
ta stu..
Help!
As some/most of you will have spotted a new member joined up today and has stated that he\'s got a 12a bridge port with 48mm IDAs, matching exhaust system, intake manifold, coils etc for sale. Everything needed to drop easily into another car.
Seeing as the n/a route was one I was considering for Rexanne I dropped him an email right away figuring stuff like this doesn\'t hang about long and got some extra details.
Apparently it\'s a 12a that was in his 323 rally car, which he\'s now swapped out for piston power. He claims it was running around 200hp upto 11k RPM. He said the engine was starting to smoke a little so he took it out and had it stripped down to be inspected. Now I tried to ask more about the state of the engine post inspection, but he wasn\'t very clear. Either way it sounds like it would need a full set of seals, £1200 from MRP it appears. I\'ve asked for pictures of the housings and rotors and plates.
It needing a rebuild doesn\'t scare me as such, because if I put all fresh seals in it I know it should last me a while yet. So if the rotors, hosuings and plates look good then I\'m very keen to get hold of it...
But, he basically kept saying make him and offer, I guess he\'s not sure what its worth. And I\'ve really no ideas what it\'d be worth. I don\'t wanna low ball him and insult him but at the same time I don\'t want to pay double the market value!
So, anyone got any idea of a ball park price I\'d expect to pay for a 12a bp, that needs a rebuild, with 48mm IDA and bits and bobs??
I really hate that when you get \'price on application\' or \'make me an offer\'
I\'ve lost count of the number of times I\'ve just walked away as soon as I hear those words.
They\'re his parts... and it\'s up to him to name his price. He\'s the one who knows what they\'re worth to him... owe him... how much he wants for them.
Sounds to me that you are only buying the IDA\'s, plenty of 12a\'s about (ive got 4) if you are doing a rebuild you could port your own with a template.
If I remember correctly 10k max rpm on standard internals.
Keith...
True Keith.... I hadn\'t really thought about it like that. Though I thought the rotors needed some modification to spin past 8k?
if you\'re going to crack open a known strong engine just to port it, you can get away with a set of soft seals... a lot cheaper than £1200 .... I seem to remember I was quoted around £350 for a set???
You could well be right, you need to do some digging and find out exactly whats up for grabs.
Then bid him in the balls, its the only place to start if he wont give you a price :D.
Well I\'ve got a known perfectly good 12a in the from of the one in the front of Rexanne now...
So if it went for the right price I could could do a soft seal rebuild with the pre-ported plates, bolt on the IDA and enjoy the scream? hmmm...
Oh i hate poa!
It may be worth asking the guys on exil. site there\'s a couple of guys on there who have rebuilt engines,so i think you\'d get better advice.
Don\'t give away sellers details though!
ta stu..
Cheers Stu.
To be honest, I\'ve been having a crap day feeling tired and uncreative, working on a new tough project and was being distracted by engine thoughts, so kinda got a bit over excited at the thought of an easy to drop in bridge ported block!
I\'ll hold fire till I\'m ready for an engine to start worrying about it!
Quote from: captainbizzaro;744853Got a link there Cliff?
Try this for size, this is for the rears http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250684582620&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
& this is for the fronts http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250684245606&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
The deal is your buy one and pay for postage on the 1st item only and all other items are free delivery. So the full price I think is good.I bought a pair of the rear excels from a local supplier last year when I was fixing JAZ and paid about £80 (which at the time I thought was a pretty good price) but then found these on fleaBay and have kept them in my watch list - you never know when you might need some.Hope these are useful.
If I was looking to just replace my original worn out dampers with new I\'d be right on that link. Good find Cliff!
After a couple of weeks of lots of work and lots of wet and damp I made a bit of progress today :)
I spent all morning working on he mx5, just day to day maintenance stuff, but then dropped onto Rexanne right after lunch. I then spent all afternoon preparing parts for painting.
Firstly I keyed the underside of the car ready for its second coat of POR15. Then I put the diff back in and cleaned off the rear axel. Here you can see it being acid etched ready for the POR15.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4383.jpg)
Next up was the brake guards, here they are just wire wheeled back read yto be etched.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4384.jpg)
Next the tank straps
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4387.jpg)
And finally I made a start on the tank. I was a little more careful to not be too aggressive with the grinder in case of going through the really rusty bits, but touch wood it doesn\'t appear to leak! Its got half a gallon or so left in it, and sloshing it about, turning the tank over etc, I can\'t see any damp patches or smell any petrol :)
I got about three quarters of the way through the tank clean up before deciding enough was enough for today, and the neighbours deserved a break from constant angle grinding noise!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4390.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4392.jpg)
If the weather is nice to me I\'ll be breaking out the POR tomorrow :)
A good afternoons work there Steve :Thumbs-up
Try not turning the tank too much as it\'ll disturb the sediment at bottom of tank.
Have you set a deadline for MOT yet? Can\'t be tooooo far away?:cool:Party
Cliff,I was kinda hoping to flush the tank out to remove any old sediment, so wasn\'t worrying too much, but its a good call not to make extra work I suppose!
I\'ve not set a deadline Tim. I\'d quite like to make it to brooklands though.... It kinda depends when I sell the mx5, Rexanne won\'t be going on the road on the standard suspension and brakes. There\'s also the whole front of the car to worry about yet!
When you take it for the MOT they\'ll think it is a brand new car when they look underneath - the give away will be the registration plate. Are you hoping to MOT this year?
If the mx5 sells reasonably soon I\'d hope to MOT late spring :)
Well I just hope it sells soon, can\'t wait for the finished article. :Thumbs-up
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/bushes.jpg)
Bushes have arrived!! Need a bit more dry weather and some days not working to finish the painting then I can put some in!
Will have to be the weekend I fear, as I\'m crazy busy with work this week. Worked 9:30am till midnight yesterday, probably gonna be about the same today :Hammer
Excellent news there Steve - good to see they have arrived. Did you have to pay any additional taxes?
I had to pay £38 of import taxes on them. Worked out, including the shared taxes, to £140 each for Ian and I. So fairly cheap, but it has taken a few weeks to get here.
Nice project! Very thorough!
Where did you order your bushes from? I can\'t find any kits which give you the roll bar link hardware/droplinks like you have... :(
Also, before you por-15\'d the underside, whats that paste you are putting over the seams?
Looking great! Not too far now I bet :)
The bushes are from Re-Speed in the states. :)
The paste is \'seam sealer\'. Its a water and weather proof sealer that will fill any small gaps between panels/welds to weather proof the underside. It dries to kinda feel like pencil eraser! The factory did the car from new, but I wanted to go over all my new welded seams, to make sure no water could find its way in and rot out my new sections of metal from the inside. Whilst I was under there with it, I went over any bits of the original sealer that didn\'t look so good.
There\'s not much more chassis work to do on the rear end, but then I\'ve got the whole front end to do and the shocks and brakes to sort. So there\'s plenty to do!
O sweet, thanks for the info! Didn\'t realise his kits included the hardware lol.
Keep up the good work :)
I didn\'t realise it included the hardware either till it arrived!
I got these back from Bill today. He\'s put far too much effort into making them adjustable so I can work how how much shorter than original I need them to reduce the binding on my lowered suspension.
Once I\'ve worked out what length I need, he and I will make up some new links from scratch.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4386.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4387-1.jpg)
Quote from: Steve-A;746240I had to pay £38 of import taxes on them. Worked out, including the shared taxes, to £140 each for Ian and I. So fairly cheap, but it has taken a few weeks to get here.
Darn good price that despite the time factor.I also noticed that your got new stabiliser bolts/spacers/nuts with your anti-roll bar bushes - I had to buy new ones from the agent which ran to another £40 thereabouts. So my final cost was £255 inclusive of next day delivery service. :( Still I\'m very pleased with the quality of the new bushes :Thumbs-up.
Quote from: Steve-A;746621I didn\'t realise it included the hardware either till it arrived!
I got these back from Bill today. He\'s put far too much effort into making them adjustable so I can work how how much shorter than original I need them to reduce the binding on my lowered suspension.
Once I\'ve worked out what length I need, he and I will make up some new links from scratch.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4386.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4387-1.jpg)
Good to see Bill being as thorough as ever - hang on to him, he\'s worth his weight in gold.
Who\'s Bill? Have I missed him? He seems like a good guy.
Bill is the welder/fabricator/engineer who works with my dad, and who did all the fabrication on my rotary mx5. :) The quality of work he produces is astounding, the sort of stuff you only see from people who\'ve been making precision machinery for decades, which is exactly the situation!
He\'s also who I\'ve been working with and learning from when I did a couple of days casual work for my dad when they were mega busy.
Well a couple of guys from Autolink, an MX5 specialist breakers/restorers, drove the mx7 away this afternoon.
So I\'m gonna drop Billy at Re-Speed some emails shortly!!!!! Dampers, adjustable height springs, camber plates and stiffer roll bars, and maybe the FC brake conversion parts will be winging their way to me soon hopefully ! :3gears-lh
Done some painting yesterday, will upload pictures later, but it\'s been too cold and damp here today to do much more.
I have a few bits and bobs kybs, break stuff, threaded strut cases. 07957 225060 jon,
ThY stuff you have Jon may be re speed. You are a hoarder. Where did you get that from. Me thinks perhaps we need to put together a 1st gen for 1/4 mile work. You know, big brap brap engine and say wayhey look how good I am. There is more to.a car than horse power. Oops sorry there I go off topic.
Quote from: Steve-A;747139Well a couple of guys from Autolink, an MX5 specialist breakers/restorers, drove the mx7 away this afternoon.
So I\'m gonna drop Billy at Re-Speed some emails shortly!!!!! Dampers, adjustable height springs, camber plates and stiffer roll bars, and maybe the FC brake conversion parts will be winging their way to me soon hopefully ! :3gears-lh
Done some painting yesterday, will upload pictures later, but it\'s been too cold and damp here today to do much more.
Excellent news Steve - you\'ve sold the MX7 :Party Bet you\'re sorry to see it go really.So good times are a comin\'.
Quote from: jon newman;747142I have a few bits and bobs kybs, break stuff, threaded strut cases. 07957 225060 jon,
Ooh cool,
I\'ll drop you a call tomorrow afternoon :)
Find it buy it hord it, until the right project comes along, one part is never enough. I know of a car smothered in re speed components, leeder comp suspension, 13b 6 port weber ida, just needs finishing, even has full 5 stud kit, axles included. might be for sale, not mine.
Quote from: jon newman;747142I have a few bits and bobs kybs, break stuff, threaded strut cases. 07957 225060 jon,
Ooh cool,
I\'ll drop you a call tomorrow afternoon :)
Put a deposite down on this today!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/photo-1-4.jpg)
Wow, that is nice Steve.....As we said before, Alfa\'s are super motors.
Fair play, although when I saw the topic notification and I couldn\'t see the image I half expected a pic of a bridgey 13b!
Quote from: captainbizzaro;747296Fair play, although when I saw the topic notification and I couldn\'t see the image I half expected a pic of a bridgey 13b!
Hey, this is Steve, who knows whats under the bonnet :D
Hopefully a V6?
Sorry to disappoint guys but its a 2.0 Twin Spark. It does lack the power and sound of the v6, but fuel economy is better and the weight distribution is better too.
She\'s done plenty of miles, about 140k, but with full service history, 9 months MOT, 4 month tax, what looks like recent suspension bushes and fairly recent cam belt change and for £850, I think it was a good deal.
And at that price, less than 1/4 of what the mx7 sold for, it leaves me plenty of money for rotary goodness! :D
Bargain, nice score! I understand a cam belt change on a V6 is around six hours labour :eek:, so perhaps it\'s best this way anyway. Still a fine handling car even with the four-pot after all :Thumbs-up
Quotemaybe the FC brake conversion parts will be winging their way to me soon hopefully !
I\'ve a set of shiney TII front callipers for sale if you go this route.
Seem to be on a bit of a go slow with Rexanne at the moment.
The weathers not been helping! I need dry days to paint, but whenever its been dry its been really cold also which the paint doesn\'t like!
Still I\'m amassing a reasonable stack of parts (including Ade\'s callipers soon hopefully!) and if the weather plays the game and I can finish painting the axel and tank thursday/friday then over the weekend I can begin to put the back end together.
That said I imagine thursday and friday will probably be reasonably full of picking up the Alfa and giving it a service/fixing a few niggles.
I had an interesting phone call with Jon at the weekend which has given me some things to think about, and I\'m just doing some more research but I\'m hoping to order supension and brake parts soon!
Quote from: Steve-A;747249Put a deposite down on this today!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/photo-1-4.jpg)
1stly like the choice of transport mate - always liked the Alfa and although I\'d normally choose a light coloured vehicle, like this colour a lot (looks to me like an anthracite shade with a hint of blue).Didn\'t know what car you would choose as your \'run around\' but fair to say that you haven\'t disappointed us - a bit like myself, choosing something different from the norm.:cool :yes
It is a straight up gun metal grey, I think it was the blue sky (!!!) reflecting that gives it a bluey hue. If I\'m honest I\'ve have chosen pretty much any of the other colours over this, the midnight blue, the black or the classic red. Unfortunately when looking for cheap, comparatively rare cars that need to have been well looked after then colour comes at the bottom of the priorities list!
I blame my parents for my taste in cars, they carted me found in a Lancia Fulvia for the first part of my life :P
Been a busy old day today. :)
Started off with some painting, 2nd coats on the top side of the diff, rear brake guards and tank straps.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4395.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4394.jpg)
I did the 2nd and final coat on the rear under body the other day but never pictured it.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4387-2.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4388.jpg)
Next up I started prepping some of the more minor metal pieces, such as the little guard that covers the fuel pump.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4398-1.jpg)
I\'m just gonna give these a quick aerosol Hammerite smooth silver, nice to break up the colour under there a bit and not so structurally vital to be rust proofed.
Then this afternoon I went down and had a chat with Jon at Atomic Rex about brakes and suspension. I have to say the kit he had on offer looked utterly awesome, I just need to take some time to think about where I\'m best spending my budget and getting the best and where I can save a few quid.
Quote from: Steve-A;747978It is a straight up gun metal grey, I think it was the blue sky (!!!) reflecting that gives it a bluey hue. If I\'m honest I\'ve have chosen pretty much any of the other colours over this, the midnight blue, the black or the classic red. Unfortunately when looking for cheap, comparatively rare cars that need to have been well looked after then colour comes at the bottom of the priorities list!
I blame my parents for my taste in cars, they carted me found in a Lancia Fulvia for the first part of my life :P
No shame in the Lancia\'s Steve - yeah they may have been rot boxes but they were always different and something special (okay a few of them were).
Isn\'t it amazing how different it looks underneath with all the rust, c**p, filth out of the way and just to see smooth painted surfaces - I\'d call that pride. Well done mate.
Quote from: CHC;748241No shame in the Lancia\'s Steve - yeah they may have been rot boxes but they were always different and something special (okay a few of them were).
I meant that in a positive light! I\'d kill for an 037!
As in because my parents took me around in an idiosyncratic stylish italian sports coupe as a child I\'ve naturally taken to not following the trend to normal boring cars but lusted after the special ones, like our beloved rotary engine!
Quote from: Steve-A;748243I meant that in a positive light! I\'d kill for an 037!
As in because my parents took me around in an idiosyncratic stylish italian sports coupe as a child I\'ve naturally taken to not following the trend to normal boring cars but lusted after the special ones, like our beloved rotary engine!
Good old mum & dad - did a grand job rearing you with all the finer points in life.
:GrrrTodays been a bit up and down.
The day started well. Ian popped over to pick up his bushes this morning, was nice to meet him and to have a bit of chatter about cars :)
Just after Ian left though I got a call from the dealer who\'s got the Alfa, he\'s still not got all the docs :Grrr So basically if its not sorted by Sunday I\'ll be getting my deposit back and back on the hunt! I\'m very very lucky to have the old Punto to run me around in for a few days, even if I do end up feeling more like a kipper than a driver :Giggle
So anyway the sun shone, so I got on with finishing painting the axel and brake guards.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4400.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4401-1.jpg)
And I painted the fuel pump bracket silver, which looked nice.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4403.jpg)
Then I spent a good couple of hours finishing off cleaning off the tank. Up to this point I\'d left the old fuel hoses attached to the tank, but now I decided to take them off, so I could seal over the pipes just while I acid etched and washed it. On removing the hose from the fuel return point, this is what I found....
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4405.jpg)
Not good! :( :( :( Anyone got any repair ideas? If not its probably time to get a new tank!
Very frustrating after I\'d put some much time into trying to save this tank so far! In a way the return line carries no real pressure, and a new home made flare on that end would do, but I\'m fairly sure now I\'ll be going fuel injected which will mean a much higher flow on the return line, and seeing as I\'m doing this properly there\'s no point in cutting corners.
Not good mate. Can you source some steel tubing weld it to a plate. Cut the old tube off and weld the new plate and tube on?
On a side note I\'ve not had chance to pack up and send off those callipers yet mate. I\'ll do it in the morning for you mate.
Ade
Welding to old tanks is very very dodgy. But possibly cut out old tube and epoxy in a new one, tis a good thought!
That\'s cool about the calipers mate :)
I know of an S3 tank Steve, only downside is you have to alter the spare wheel well but I\'m plating that over anyway to mount my fuel pump and filter to. I tried unsuccessfully to source a solid S2 tank....
Quote from: Steve-A;747139Well a couple of guys from Autolink, an MX5 specialist breakers/restorers, drove the mx7 away this afternoon.
So I\'m gonna drop Billy at Re-Speed some emails shortly!!!!! Dampers, adjustable height springs, camber plates and stiffer roll bars, and maybe the FC brake conversion parts will be winging their way to me soon hopefully ! :3gears-lh
Done some painting yesterday, will upload pictures later, but it\'s been too cold and damp here today to do much more.
Do you know who at Autolink purchased the car ?
I use autolink as they are suppliers of mine, and am friendly with most of the guys there.
Have messaged you Tim for more info!
Steve, it was Andrew and the auto link mechanic, Julian I think it was, who came up and looked round it and took it away. They filled out the V5 in the name of Autolink itself. I think they quite fancied doing a few track days with it :)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4421.jpg)
Well I called off the deal on the grey Alfa as the dealer still hasn\'t got the v5, even though he was going to get it "tomorrow" last sunday, then again thursday, and friday, and today.
I\'d already paid half, and he\'d promised to give me the money back ( got that signed in writing!) if he didn\'t get it all sorted out. But he didn\'t seem best pleased when I called him today, so could be in for a long draw out fight on this one.....
But anyway I saw this red one for sale privately in Bedford, bit of a drive but overall a much more pleasant transaction experience!
So thats the daily driver stuff sorted now, hopefully I can get back to focussing my time on Rexanne. Whilst the GTV is very nice, and capable, it does lack the raw connection you feel driving something like the mx5 or rx7, so it\'s not gonna distract me from really wanting to get Rexanne on the road!
Quote from: Steve-A;748398Have messaged you Tim for more info!
Steve, it was Andrew and the auto link mechanic, Julian I think it was, who came up and looked round it and took it away. They filled out the V5 in the name of Autolink itself. I think they quite fancied doing a few track days with it :)
Cheers mate ill see if i can quiz them what they are intending for it when i next ring them :D
Im loving the restoration threads that are going on MRC atm, including this one :Thumbsup!
Yeh, you cant beat a good build thread :)
I\'ve spent the last couple of nights after work sorting out a few odds and ends.
Yesterday I dug out all the Mazda bolts I\'ve collected across the years, and looked to see if I could match up and nice clean ones from my spares piles with the rusty ones off Rexanne. I managed to match up quite a few :)
Here\'s the bolts to choose from.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4423-1.jpg)
And then an example of the matching up of Rexanne bolts on the right and spare mx5/rx7 bolts on the left.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4424.jpg)
Then out of the bolts I didn\'t have spares for I found the ones I could easily replace and gave them to Dad to get replacements from his factory for me :) Finally the non-easily replaced bolts, such as the unusual threads/step on the bolts that hold the radius arms on, I wire brushed up the heads and gave them a quite and thin spray of hammerite, just to keep the orange-ness at bay.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4433.jpg)
This evening first my Turbo II callipers arrived from Ade, they look pretty burly. I\'m still weighing up the best option for brakes, but good to have these in the bag.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4427.jpg)
Then I chased through all the threads on the axel.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4425.jpg)
And started on repairing the fuel tank. I cut the damaged pipe down flush and gently drilled through, leaving me with a 6mm hole to thread a new pipe through and then I will expoy it into place.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4435.jpg)
I\'ve ordered the brake hard line for the axel and the fuel hard line ot repair the tank with too. :)
I also had a look inside the tank, and it looks fairly clean, no obvious rust, or big flakes floating around.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4429.jpg)
I\'m now soaking the screws for the fuel level sender in WD40 ready to remove and check its operation.
Finally for tonight I tested out my newest impulse buy!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4440.jpg)
Ohhh sparkly! :D Now I must be sensible with what I paint in glitter!
if you can get your hand inside the tank then id be inclined to flair the end of the pipe your going to epoxy in and put it through from the inside so any force you give it via a hose wont pull it off.
Also after bonding it in id be tempted to try and support it so it wont crack.
With srtipping all the bits off the tank, I\'d be inclined to flush the tank out all together, give it a gas test for cleanliness then weld the tube on and also weld a bracket to the tank to support the nozzle - at least this way there is no potential leakage point for the future.
Quote from: Steve-A;748771(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4421.jpg)
Well I called off the deal on the grey Alfa as the dealer still hasn\'t got the v5, even though he was going to get it "tomorrow" last sunday, then again thursday, and friday, and today.
I\'d already paid half, and he\'d promised to give me the money back ( got that signed in writing!) if he didn\'t get it all sorted out. But he didn\'t seem best pleased when I called him today, so could be in for a long draw out fight on this one.....
But anyway I saw this red one for sale privately in Bedford, bit of a drive but overall a much more pleasant transaction experience!
So thats the daily driver stuff sorted now, hopefully I can get back to focussing my time on Rexanne. Whilst the GTV is very nice, and capable, it does lack the raw connection you feel driving something like the mx5 or rx7, so it\'s not gonna distract me from really wanting to get Rexanne on the road!
Think it looks better in Red Steve - better rims too. Nice choiceCliff
Yeh I like Red best too :)
Thanks for the tank input guys. With regards to welding it in, Cliff, the reading I\'ve done suggests that with old tanks even if you go through all the procedures to remove as much petrol as possible, some will have working its way into the metal, especially at the seams and the welding can still be dangerous.
I certainly intend to flush the tank out properly now, especially as there will be metal fillings from the drillings inside it.
My plan was/is to make up the new tube from copper, then braze a steel plate to the new tube that will sit flush against the top of the tank, and a bracket from this steel plate to help support the copper. Then I will bond the whole lot onto the tank, this should give a huge bonding area and make the tube nice and sturdy.
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4433.jpg
Wow, that\'s brill!!!!
Did your Dad\'s factory make that big Iron Block, with all the correct threaded holes in it to accept the different bolt you wanted to spray up? Marvellous.:rollin
Quote from: David Nock;749259http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4433.jpg
Wow, that\'s brill!!!!
Did your Dad\'s factory make that big Iron Block, with all the correct threaded holes in it to accept the different bolt you wanted to spray up? Marvellous.:rollin
Nah, I think he chopped all the heads off flush and then he\'ll weld them back on when the paints dry :rollin:rollin
Quote from: Steve-A;749218Yeh I like Red best too :)
Thanks for the tank input guys. With regards to welding it in, Cliff, the reading I\'ve done suggests that with old tanks even if you go through all the procedures to remove as much petrol as possible, some will have working its way into the metal, especially at the seams and the welding can still be dangerous.
I certainly intend to flush the tank out properly now, especially as there will be metal fillings from the drillings inside it.
My plan was/is to make up the new tube from copper, then braze a steel plate to the new tube that will sit flush against the top of the tank, and a bracket from this steel plate to help support the copper. Then I will bond the whole lot onto the tank, this should give a huge bonding area and make the tube nice and sturdy.
I hesitate to get involved with a technical issue as you guys are so much more skilled at restoration that me, but in my day, if you had a rusty tank you just filled the tank with water to welded it.... but your idea sounds fine to me....
John
Good luck getting those sender screws out mate, they\'re a pain in the ass. I drill the heads off in the end and extracted the threads out with grips.
Quote from: johnnyboy;749325I hesitate to get involved with a technical issue as you guys are so much more skilled at restoration that me, but in my day, if you had a rusty tank you just filled the tank with water to welded it.... but your idea sounds fine to me....
John
Never hesitate John :) Certainly I\'ve no idea what I\'m doing I\'m just kinda giving it all a go based on what I can read on the internet and the knowledge I can glean from you guys!
The water idea or fill tank with welding gas etc are the sort of things my dad said, maybe the stories I\'m reading on the net are just scare mongering.
But when I did some research pretty much every thread I found said don\'t weld old old rusty fuel tanks and that it was asking for trouble, that modern epoxies designed for fuel tank use were best. In a way I\'m making up a repair patch a couple on inches square, but then instead of cutting out old metal and welding in, I\'ll glue it over the top. Hopefully should do the job.
I was a bit worried it might come to that Tim :( I\'ve WD40ed them and will spray them and give them a knock with a hammer for a few days in a row then attack them, with the drill at the ready if needs be.
Had a day off today, and took full advantage of it :)
Ian popped over and we got some good progress made on this and the Megasquirt for his Polo, though thats not for this thread or forum! :P
Started the day by fighting the the fuel level sender screws.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4442.jpg)
4 came out nicely, 2 had to have their heads drilled off... ah well.
Then made lots of mess...
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4443.jpg)
All that mess and couple of hours later and the fuel tank was repaired! :d
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4446.jpg)
After that I acid etched the tank ready for a coat of POR 15 :)
I also got some more post, the most important item of which being the copper-nickle brake pipe for making up my new hard lines.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4441.jpg)
And Dad brought home a bunch of shiny new nuts and washers.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4448.jpg)
Once I\'ve painted the tank I\'ve got the exhuast hanger bracket, the ARB to chassis brackets and the under body heat shielding to paint then its time to put it back together!!!..... and then pull the front to bits ;)
What a lovely day its been!
Got quite a bit done too :)
Firstly I cleaned up and painted the last few little brackets and stuff.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4450.jpg)
Then I painted the top side of the tank, before running out of POR15. Need to get an order in with Frost ASAP!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4456.jpg)
I then turned my attention to the under body shielding. It was all pretty dead, and in a way not worth spending too much time trying to save. The metal tank guards were basically completely rotten through, so I\'ve just ditched them. The tank will have a good couple of layers of POR15 on it at least to protect it.
Thinking about adding extra protection to the tank, and inner arches, it it worth adding a layer of stone chip paint or similar over the top of the POR for extra protection, or is it not needed?
The exhaust heat shields I saved though, just giving them a quick brush down and blast over with high temp paint.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4457.jpg)
Now it was a very special moment, time to start re-assembly!!!!! :Party:Party
I didn\'t get too far though. I got the drive shafts back in the diff, and bolted down fine.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4460.jpg)
Then I started to make up the new brake hard lines for the axel, when I realised I\'d got the wrong fittings :( The ones I\'ve bought have a blank un-threaded section on the end of them, and the ones I\'ve taken off are threaded right to the end. The one\'s I\'ve bought only go a couple of turns into the brake line splitter block before bottoming out, which I cant imagine being a good idea.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4462.jpg)
So instead I drilled and tapped a few of the holes in the chassis where bolt had sheared, or threads that needed chasing after painting.
Then I made the most of the last of the nice day by getting my motorbike out :)
Feels like a real milestone to start putting it back together. I need to do a little more shopping, just silly little annoying things like a new clip to hold the filler neck onto the tank, then hopefully i\'ll all go back together next saturday morning and I can move my focus forward to the middle of the floor pan, and heading for the front end.
great progress there Steve.... wait till you put those polybushes in.... what a s*** job that is!
I\'d stone chip the bottom of the tank up to the seam as POR15 degrades in direct sunlight... I know the tank\'s basically under the car but better safe than sorry.... same goes for the rear arches.
Good to see assembly started at last - great feeling hey! I see while you\'ve been busy with welding and fabrication work your mum has been growing some new bits for the car in the green-house - are you taking orders by any chance?
You\'ve done really well to get so much painted with the 6 small tins and when we consider the quality of the protective coating and that you have applied two coats, you\'ll have a well protected under carriage there - even so, like Ian says, you\'ll be better off \'stone coating\' the underside of the petrol tank. As you have no protection shield for the tank, I\'d also be inclined to apply \'stone coat\' to the leading face of the tank top too - just as a precautionaery measure.
What a bummer having the wrong brake fittings - ***p happens mate but as you say, this can be overcome.
Keep up the good work.
:Thumbs-up
Cheers guys.
Your sentiments on the stone guard stuff mirrors my plans, but just thought I ought to run it by you guys first, incase you said \'oooh no, you wanna do this instead......\'
Managed to grab a few hours today to work on the project :)
I recieved my 2nd lots of POR15 in the post yesterday, so I set to work on finishing painting the tank.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4478.jpg)
Then I cleaned off more of the underbody, as far forward as I could go with the car in this position.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4474.jpg)
And acid etched it and chucked some POR on that too!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4483.jpg)
So really getting to the stage where next I get to start putting bits back together. Certainly I should be able to put the fuel tank and pump assembly in this weekend, and if the ebay supplier can get the brake pipe fittings to me on time then hopefully the rear axel with new hard lines too.
On a side note, whilst its been awesome to be comfy working outside in a t shirt, I may have made a bit of a mess....
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4484.jpg)
Oopps! Long sleeve shirt for me this week at work!
Weathers too nice for long sleve t\'s Steve :-) good progress tank looks better than new. look forward to see the rest of the car progress.
You\'re supposed to apply it with a paintbrush Steve, that might be the issue.:2Rolleyes
Might take longer than a week too - I had similar around my wrists for near 2 1/2 weeks (and that was with daily scrubbing with a nail brush). As I said previously, damn good stuff that POR 15.
my arms looked like that last night... got in the shower with a pumice stone and scrubbed it off.... bloody hurt but I can\'t walk around covered in that stuff for 2 weeks!
Petrol tank looks good Steve, a nice resto job on that...
Thanks Ian :) I was pleased with how the tank has come out too!
Thinking of the tank, Saturday morning I gave it a blast over with some stone guard stuff. I used basically a whole 500ml can on the tank to get 3 solid coats so hopefully it should do the trick. I also used most of another can on the underside of the wheel arches.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4508.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4509.jpg)
Next up I popped into Dads work with him and changed the chamfer on the back of my PCD adapters a little, so they fitted the rx7 brake disks better. I forgot to get a photo but the milling machine next to the lathe was a \'bridgeport\' which amused me :P
Started with this:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4493.jpg)
Then did some of this:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4497.jpg)
Ended with this, which now sits snugly against the disk as it should.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4495.jpg)
Seeing as I was on a roll, once I got home I started assembling the axel, putting the brake lines on, the ARB in its new bushings etc. Once that was done I pre-assebled as much of the fuel system as I could. This is where I\'d got to by dusk.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4510.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4513.jpg)
The only snag I ran into was that some of the metal clips on the axel for the brake lines didn\'t like being bent back round, after I\'d bent them open to get the old line out, and snapped off :( Shouldn\'t be too hard to get some sort of clip though.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4504.jpg)
I was thinking of going for the plastic type that push through a hole and clip into place, and where its not practical to drill a hole, to cut the back off them and Araldite them down? Unless anyones got better ideas?
This type:
(http://89.206.185.119/images/product/product/aut_pipe-cli-sin-5-16.jpg)
Anyway, it got dark, I went to the pub. Sunday came round too quickly, especially with the clocks changing, so I didn\'t get started till after 11.
First up I installed the fuel system. Went in fairly easily, had to fit the tank twice as I mixed up where the breather hoses went the first time!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4520.jpg)
It went in ok, but slowly. After that storm destroyed the gazebo and knocked over my carefully organised box of bolts, I\'m not even sure I have every bolt/nut/washer. I\'ve had to really slow down the assembly working out if I\'m using the right bolts or if they are needed elsewhere etc.
Anyway the fuel system was in, so now for the axel. With all family hands to the deck, seeing as no car type friends could be roused, we got it in place.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4524-1.jpg)
I have come across a small problem though. The latteral watts links don\'t seem to line up with the chassis quite as well as they should.
This is the drivers side link, sitting naturally about an inch forward of the bracket.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4522-1.jpg)
The passengers side sat a similar distance rearwards of the bracket. So I got the tape measure out to make sure the axel was in square and measuring from the wheel arch back, from the lower suspension link mount back and from the front wheels back it all seems square.
Then spent about 2 hours faffing with the watts link assembly, seeing if I\'d got something installed upside down etc, but could only make things worse.
So as dusk fell once more I pushed the links into place, and they went fine and don\'t appear to bind, but it just doesn\'t seem right that they are equally out of line, as if the whole watts assembly is twisted.
Either way a good weekends work, leaving me to sort out what length the lower links need to be and this watts link issue, then I can start on the front.
Excellent progress this weekend Steve - well done, and you family too.
Just a point - I take it you have purposely missed off the 2nd shield for the fuel filter underneath? It\'s just the filter is supposed to be protected.
As for the Watts Link - my thought was that perhaps you had refitted the lateral links the wrong way as there appears to be a slight difference with mine
Ta
Cliff
Nope! There was no cover over the fuel filter when Ross originally picked up the car, so I never knew anything was missing. Have you got a picture of what it looks like?
Superb work Steve.
I don\'t know how you\'d deal with the little clips. Blooxdy great tie wraps would work but so crude.
You could put self tappers into surfaces that aren\'t part of the oil carrying tube. I don\'t like that either.....hmmm. Araldited clips then.
New clips welded in place? Again not on the axle tube.
Quote from: Steve-A;752118Nope! There was no cover over the fuel filter when Ross originally picked up the car, so I never knew anything was missing. Have you got a picture of what it looks like?
Here\'s the one from Goldie .. .... and a picture fitted to JAZ (photo could be better though).
Looking nice, allmost like new. ;) Good job. :)
Quote from: CHC;752116As for the Watts Link - my thought was that perhaps you had refitted the lateral links the wrong way as there appears to be a slight difference with mine
Ta
Cliff
Missed this comment before. I\'ve tried every combination of lateral link arrangement I can think of, but I\'ll have it all apart again and go through it in a more logical manner I think, and see if I can get it to line up better.
Cheers for the picture of the filter guard too. Rexanne certainly never came with one. Anyone got a spare one kicking about?
Quote from: Steve-A;752158Missed this comment before. I\'ve tried every combination of lateral link arrangement I can think of, but I\'ll have it all apart again and go through it in a more logical manner I think, and see if I can get it to line up better.
Cheers for the picture of the filter guard too. Rexanne certainly never came with one. Anyone got a spare one kicking about?
I was a bit crafty when I stripped mine out, I marked the top surfaces with reference points so that they are reassembled in the right hole and then they should fit - I hope
A couple of more photos for yhou Steve:-
In position before removal & restoration
Others during re-assembly (quickly put together tonight to give you an idea how it should look.
Oh, I don\'t have a spare but will keep a look out for you.
Cliff
Quote from: David Nock;752121Superb work Steve.
I don\'t know how you\'d deal with the little clips. Blooxdy great tie wraps would work but so crude.
You could put self tappers into surfaces that aren\'t part of the oil carrying tube. I don\'t like that either.....hmmm. Araldited clips then.
New clips welded in place? Again not on the axle tube.
make some new tags and bond them on with POR15.... a good dollop of that stuff will stick anything!
Great work there Steve, that tank looks new... very nice...!
This cars going to be one nice RX7 when you\'ve finished it.
Yesterday I had a little more time to play with Rexanne\'s watts link and it refuses to line up properly.
Looking at the centre pivoting section of the link, the two studs that hold the upper and lower lateral links are both at different angles, and they are both in turn not lined up with the angle of the central pivot. This didn\'t seem quite right. I\'ve sent Cliff a message, as I know he\'s got Goldie\'s watts link in bits so easy to check, but I thought I\'d open it up to everyone else!
It just seems odd to me that they are at different angles, and I can see no reason for this. I\'m wondering if the back of Rexanne may have clonked a curb at some stage and bent some links, and the twist to the watts link wasn\'t spotted.....
Either way here\'s a photo looking along the link. You can just about see the two studs and the central pivot hole are all at three different angles. Its one of those things thats pretty easy to measure/see by eye and hard to photograph!
The question is, is this normal?? I\'m not sure it is looking at pictures and diagrams online, but its hard to see.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4529.jpg)
Quote from: Steve-A;752560Yesterday I had a little more time to play with Rexanne\'s watts link and it refuses to line up properly.
Looking at the centre pivoting section of the link, the two studs that hold the upper and lower lateral links are both at different angles, and they are both in turn not lined up with the angle of the central pivot. This didn\'t seem quite right. I\'ve sent Cliff a message, as I know he\'s got Goldie\'s watts link in bits so easy to check, but I thought I\'d open it up to everyone else!
It just seems odd to me that they are at different angles, and I can see no reason for this. I\'m wondering if the back of Rexanne may have clonked a curb at some stage and bent some links, and the twist to the watts link wasn\'t spotted.....
Either way here\'s a photo looking along the link. You can just about see the two studs and the central pivot hole are all at three different angles. Its one of those things thats pretty easy to measure/see by eye and hard to photograph!
The question is, is this normal?? I\'m not sure it is looking at pictures and diagrams online, but its hard to see.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4529.jpg)
that looks like it\'s had a smack at some point Steve.... it should look like this...
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/link.jpg)
both studs should be square off the body of the link... You need to find another one I reckon..... and scrutinise the other parts of the link ( arms etc) for distortion....
Thanks Ian.
I\'ve been over the rest of the arms and they look straight enough. Interestingly the lateral links and upper radius links were in noticeably better condition than the lower radius links, so possibly they were replaced after a bash and the distortion to the watts link wasn\'t noticed with the soft factory bushes.
Certainly there\'s no signs of any body repair, indicating a proper rear end shut or similar.
Anyone got one spare before I go round the breakers?
Quote from: Steve-A;752563Anyone got one spare before I go round the breakers?
not me, sorry
HI Steve, have sent you a reply PM.
Sorry to say but \'yes, they are bent\' and should be straight as Ian has demonstrated :Hammer.
I\'ve not got one but here is link for one on eBay @ £17.99
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Spares-Mazda-RX7-85B-FB1-rear-axle-mounting-/310249696211?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item483c52abd3
I don\'t think it\'s too bad a price for an \'off the shelf\' part but you might consider otherwise.
Only problem is you\'ll have to swap over the new bush and it would have to be this bush - the difficult one.
Tell Pete Markin (Seller) he\'s still on our \'Breakers List\' Free of Charge. And \'Dave says we\'re still willing to help him if we can\'.
You might then get a bit off for being MRC?
I\'ll attach the Breakers List here for you anyway.
If this damage was due to an rta or similar it was on the offside of the vehicle as it\'s the lower link stud which is bent most.
I\'ve put my suspension back on too but it seems to sit a bit high.... do you think I\'ve bent something as well?!!!
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/imagesCA82X5IF.jpg)
.
No, thats just fine :D
I am more in favour of the "low rider" look myself, but on the other hand, if we have another bad winter....
John
Quote from: Ian65;752738I\'ve put my suspension back on too but it seems to sit a bit high.... do you think I\'ve bent something as well?!!!
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/imagesCA82X5IF.jpg)
.
Ride hight is obviously a "personal preference" item and I prefer the "low rider" look myself, but I can see the advantages if we have another bad winter....
On a more serious note, I like the colour.... haven\'t seen one that colour before.
John
Here\'s a few photos of Goldies Watts Link ....
Quote from: Ian65;752738I\'ve put my suspension back on too but it seems to sit a bit high.... do you think I\'ve bent something as well?!!!
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/imagesCA82X5IF.jpg)
.
Makes life a lot easier at the toll booths :rollin This was the colour of my SA 2.6GT in the 80\'s - ooh HAPPY DAYS!
Yeh I\'m going low rather than high :P
Thanks for the photos Cliff, I\'ve got a link coming from RX Motors, thanks to Tim & Tim. :)
Still not got my quote from Jon at atomic rex, so I best call him tomorrow,stop this dragging out.
It\'s been a busy couple of days for me and the car.
First off, having roughly completed the rear end restoration work, I was in a position to mount my PCD adapters and the wheels for the first time to see how they\'d look.
To get an idea of what I\'d need to do the arches to fit the wheels in I also took a hack saw to the stock springs to replicate the approximate ride height I\'m after with the coilovers. In the end a good rolling and subtle pull will give plenty of tyre clearance.
I\'m soo pleased with how she sits on the wheels and really cannot wait to see the front sitting the same.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4465.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4467.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4471.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4473.jpg)
With lots of faffing with the springs and cutting down the studs to fit the spacers etc, thats about all I got done yesterday.
Today my new watts link arrived, thanks Tim! I was able to fit it and now the back end all lines up as I expected.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4478-1.jpg)
This gave me chance to play with my adjustable lower links.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4481.jpg)
I took a video clip, as its easier to see, showing how when the watts link maintains the pinion angle and the lower links are free to extend and contract to maintain that angle, just how much variation they naturally want over the suspension travel. EDIT: see next post as it took longer to upload than I thought!
Using my cut springs I was able to put the axel in the correct place for my desired ride height and then adjust the links so I should get a minimum of binding at that height. Has anyone got an overall length for a stock lower link? Just for comparison. I forgot to measure mine before Bill cut them up!:Hammer
So with the rear end gone as far as it could for now it was time to move on to the front.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4482.jpg)
Ross came over to help me today and between us we set about stripping the front end.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4486.jpg)
After my disaster with the nuts/bolts/small components for the rear end when that storm overturned my neat trays, this time I\'m bagging all the small components and tying them to the large parts they belong to. Hopefully this should make re-assembly easier!
The front suspension is pretty damn rusty, so I\'m giving it a few days of wd40 treatment before I try to move any of it.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4485.jpg)
Still we managed to strip plenty from the engine bay area....
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4488.jpg)
Before getting in there with the crane...
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4490.jpg)
And ending the day with a fairly empty engine bay and a rather full shed!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4496.jpg)
Hopefully over the next few days I can finish stripping the engine bay and front end properly before starting on the metal/paintwork required. :)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4492.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV1RJp-tJlo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV1RJp-tJlo)
You\'re shifting nicely on your project steve.
Car looks to have the right stance,you\'ll soon be ready for flares!
ta stu..
Hi Steve, How\'s that adjustable link gonna work again?
As the axle moves up the link draws out, I can see that. But don\'t you need the link rigid to hold the axle in it\'s front to back position?
Sorry for newbie question from an oldie.....I\'m strictly a street running dandy (well Paul Shane really from Hi Di Hi).
And watch that Ross guy.....He\'s come out as the sun\'s shining.....he\'ll claim his motor back soon, believe me.
Haha I know about ross. I\'m keeping my eyes on him :p
The links were only left free to do that clip to demo just how much they would need to change to keep perfect pinion angle. Im just using these links to measure up so I can get some new links made up. The new link will look just like stock, and be a fixed length, but will be a few mm shorter/longer than stock.
Got it thanks....you need a different length to standard but don\'t know what it is. Simples but good.
Steve - I\'ll get you that measurement tomorrow mate.
Great work, car looks really good on the backend.
Cliff
You got it Dave :)
Cheers Cliff, that\'d be awesome! Yeah I\'m so pleased with how it looks and it\'s really helping motivate me to get on with the front!
Quote from: Steve-A;753642You got it Dave :)
Cheers Cliff, that\'d be awesome! Yeah I\'m so pleased with how it looks and it\'s really helping motivate me to get on with the front!
You\'ve every right to be pleased with yourself with the work completed todate - especially with the quality of the work too. :cool
The overall dimension centreline of bolt to centreline of bolt is 500mm - see pic below.
Also the dimension between the two circular tubes i.e the length of the actual tube is 448mm - see pic below
Hope these are of use ....
Cheers Cliff, thats great :)
I\'ll have to go measure what i\'ve currently set mine to, and see how it compares!
Glad to hear that the new Watts Link resolved the alignment issue rather than the body twisting during the recent re-build.
Yeah, I was very glad of that too! I was a bit scared, as since I did all my cutting an welding work I have read people talking about needing to add temporary bracing to hold the suspension mounts steady while repairing the area. So they don\'t twist in the heat.
Grabbed an hour or two today to keep stripping back today. Despite there being many many more parts to clean and paint or replace on the front end, it seems much much less daunting having already been through the same experience with the rear end, and also not having so much welding ahead of me.
The engine bay is looking quite bare now.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4503.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4504-1.jpg)
Next time I get to work on the car I\'ll tackle the front suspension, before finally tackling the brake master cylinder and brake lines.
Once its all to bits I\'m gonna focus on the chassis first, then I can start bolting parts back on one by one as and when they are restored. I\'ve decided that I\'m going to carry on with the POR15 across the underside of the chassis, along the chassis legs and up into the wheel arches. The main engine bay I think I\'m going to paint satin black, rather than factory gold. I think that should both look good and be practical in terms of not snowing up the dirt as much as the gold would.
A quick question for you guys: Can I remove the steering box, without having to take the dash out? I\'d like to remove the box, and I presume that means steering rack too, to check for rust under it and paint around that area. But I\'m really running out of space to store stuff and I\'ve no other reason to remove the dashboard!
Quote from: Steve-A;753867A quick question for you guys: Can I remove the steering box, without having to take the dash out? I\'d like to remove the box, and I presume that means steering rack too, to check for rust under it and paint around that area. But I\'m really running out of space to store stuff and I\'ve no other reason to remove the dashboard!
you don\'t need to touch the dash Steve... the steering column bolts up underneath the dash and you can unbolt it. You\'ll need to remove the ignition lock / barrel housing and this is a bit awkward because they used shear bolts to fit it so the heads have snapped off. I drilled mine out.
Use a ball joint splitter to free the pitman arm from the steering links and draw the steering box and column out through the engine bay.
Be careful with the steering column though because it\'s collapsable and the pin that joins the two halves of the shaft is pretty fragile... don\'t go whacking it with anything!
Awesome :)
It\'s a good job everyones likely to be driving when I meet up with you guys, or the number of drinks I\'d have to buy would leave me very poor! :P
I think Ian will tell you its not about buying drinks, although nice of you to offer, its about keeping these cars on the road as there are a few of us getting on in years.
Dibs a very young 59
Quote from: A7RXY;753888I think Ian will tell you its not about buying drinks, although nice of you to offer, its about keeping these cars on the road as there are a few of us getting on in years.
Dibs a very young 59
Too true Dibs. CliffA younger 56 next week
Quote from: Steve-A;753867Grabbed an hour or two today to keep stripping back today. Despite there being many many more parts to clean and paint or replace on the front end, it seems much much less daunting having already been through the same experience with the rear end, and also not having so much welding ahead of me.
The engine bay is looking quite bare now.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4503.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4504-1.jpg)
Next time I get to work on the car I\'ll tackle the front suspension, before finally tackling the brake master cylinder and brake lines.
Once its all to bits I\'m gonna focus on the chassis first, then I can start bolting parts back on one by one as and when they are restored. I\'ve decided that I\'m going to carry on with the POR15 across the underside of the chassis, along the chassis legs and up into the wheel arches. The main engine bay I think I\'m going to paint satin black, rather than factory gold. I think that should both look good and be practical in terms of not snowing up the dirt as much as the gold would.
A quick question for you guys: Can I remove the steering box, without having to take the dash out? I\'d like to remove the box, and I presume that means steering rack too, to check for rust under it and paint around that area. But I\'m really running out of space to store stuff and I\'ve no other reason to remove the dashboard!
And this time last week it still looked like a car too! :eekNo reason to have to remove the dashboard and really you don\'t want to go that route - honestly. In saying that, if you did have to go this route just checkout my details on JAZ.Cliff
These last few sunny days have been so nice. I was lucky enough to finish work friday lunch time so could get out and work on the car :)
My friend Dan swung on down and we carried on stripping the bay. This was the pile of parts we stripped out.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4611.jpg)
Thanks for the tips on steering column removal Ian, it was very useful. In the process of removing the parts I found 3 areas that\'d need rust repairing.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4613.jpg)
The steering idler arm mount needs work, as does the bottom of the suspension turret where it meets the chassis rail and there\'s a small spot under where the battery try goes that needs work, but that\'s basically just cosmetic.
With a little help from Ross today (pictured!) we gave the bay a once over with a cloth to remove 28 years of oil and grime.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4616.jpg)
Then I got busy with the grinder.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4625.jpg)
And welded in some new metal into the suspension turret and inner arch.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4629.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4633.jpg)
Not the prettiest job, but the wind was causing me issues, the main thing is its strong. I\'ve cut out a template and my fathers sourcing me some suitably heavy gauge steel for the idler arm section of chassis rail early next week.
While I was on the rust hunt, I dared to look under the windscreen trim. And found this lovely spot on the top of the drivers side A pillar. :(:(
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4603.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4604-1.jpg)
It failed the screwdriver poke test, so I\'m sure it\'ll need cutting out and replacing. My windscreen has 4 chips in it already, so I figure I\'ll probably just have it out and fix the rust and have a new screen fitted.
Either way that can wait till the front end/engine bay is done, if I\'ve gotta pull the screen I\'d like to minimise the time with the screen out, so I don\'t have to try and weather proof it for long, and seems no point putting a fresh screen in now, only to have to be super careful covering it when doing welding/grinding/painting on the rest of the car :)
Well you might as well have taken this lot out too cause everything else came out for one reason or another - perhaps you should have bought a separate shell instead and a few boxes of bits :rollin:rollinjust like a meccano set.
The engine bay has come up really well after 28 years and I suppose it was inevitable that you would have found rust of some degree BUT it could have been a lot worse! Really good to see that you have got straight into it and Rexanne is coming back together already.
Real shame about the A frame :Hammerthough but having got to this point of the restoration you can\'t stop now - just think, by the time you have finished this;
a) you\'ll need a bloody long break to recover and get you social life back:rollin
b) you\'ll have virtually a car that I suppose should be classified as better than new
The project is coming on brilliant Steve - well done and thanks to Ross too.:Thumbs-up
Yes, and many thanks from me too. You\'re into areas I might have to visit in the future, so mighty interested in what you\'re finding.
As you know I caught the rear suspension points just as the first spider cracks started to appear....It\'s all about what to be looking out for as I\'m working on Gus.
Any Drinks should go the other way Steve.....You deserve \'em mate.
No work on Rexanne yesterday Steve? Don\'t tell me you\'re slacking mate? :rollin
:rollin:rollin
Sorry, I\'m trying to earn some money today! Don\'t think I\'ve got much on for the end of this week though, so could well have some decent updates then. My dad should have picked me up some thicker steel to repair the chassis near the idler arm mount too :)
Quote from: Steve-A;755438:rollin:rollin
Sorry, I\'m trying to earn some money today! Don\'t think I\'ve got much on for the end of this week though, so could well have some decent updates then. My dad should have picked me up some thicker steel to repair the chassis near the idler arm mount too :)
It\'ll give you a few days to re-charge your batteries then and plan your next steps.ps - I was only joking about you slacking mate as normally you have been working on Rexanne most weekends.. What condition was your Clutch Master Cylinder in when you took it out? - if they haven\'t been used for a long time they tend to cease up as does the Slave Cylinder too!.
I know you\'re only playing :)
Clutch master looked fine, same for slave. Certainly neither were leaking and the clutch was acting as it should and felt fine.
Brake servo looked a bit ropey though!
Quote from: Steve-A;755453I know you\'re only playing :)
Clutch master looked fine, same for slave. Certainly neither were leaking and the clutch was acting as it should and felt fine.
Brake servo looked a bit ropey though!
Good too hear Clutch Cylinders are behaving as I know to replace the master is quite expensive - £145 approx in UK and I think the Slave was about £110. Re-sealing would be the way to go as long as there isn\'t too much corrosion in the plungers and bores - but having no experience on this type of restoration I\'d be like a fish out of water (and no I don\'t mean a WHALE either) :rollin Never had an issue with Servos either - could you expand on \'ropey\', how do you know if it\'s acting up?
The gearbox is essentially a Mazda type2 / type m, same as used in the mx5.
By eye I see no reason why an mx5 clutch master cylinder couldn\'t be used. The slave is also very similar, just with the fitting for the soft line at a different angle, with the large amount of room available I should think an mx5 slave could even be used too. I\'ve got a spare one, so I\'ll offer it up just to see.
Certainly using an mx5 master with rx7 slave felt completely normal on my mx5, and the mx5 parts are cheap as chips.
The brake servo itself just looked fairly rusty externally, I\'d be worried it\'s not too far from rotting though in a couple of spots. Seemed to work fine when I was able to drive her up that farm track.
If you are stuck for a brake servo Steve, here is a link for one on eBay (Pete Marking in Nottingham) @ £45 delivered.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170466000361&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
Be good to hear on the interchangability (***t that\'s a big word for a Tuesday) of the master/slave cylinders - might save people money in the future?
I\'ll go out and get photos of the slave in a bit.
Cheers for the link to ebay :) And its Wednesday by the way :rollin
Quote from: Steve-A;755848I\'ll go out and get photos of the slave in a bit.
Steve you really should,nt publicise your kinks,it could jeopardise your future.:spank
ta stu.
My mistake guys.
An mx5 slave would fit and work just fine, but it fouls the oil filter. The internals certainly look the same, so a mx5 slave cylinder rebuild kit should work.
I\'ll look into master cylinders when i get chance to pop the bonnet on my mums car and have a look.
Quote from: Steve-A;755848I\'ll go out and get photos of the slave in a bit.
Cheers for the link to ebay :) And its Wednesday by the way :rollin
Just goes to show how quickly time flies then :rollin.You save that the MX5 would foul the oil filter - would that be for the S2 or S3 engine? Here is a pic of Goldie\'s S2 engine and there appears to be ample space around.
Quote from: Steve-A;755848I\'ll go out and get photos of the slave in a bit.
Cheers for the link to ebay :) And its Wednesday by the way :rollin
and as for the photos of the slave - just get them posted Steve! :rollin:)
Its definitely an s2 engine. The mx5 slave is identical, aside from the position of the two ports, for clutch line and bleed nipple.
(http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/images/adm53619.jpg)
The bleed nipple would be about 1/2" inside the oil filter.
EDIT: Scrap that bit about a mx5 mk3 slave fitting, different mounting spacing!
Quote from: Steve-A;755909Its definitely an s2 engine. The mx5 slave is identical, aside from the position of the two ports, for clutch line and bleed nipple.
(http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/images/adm53619.jpg)
The bleed nipple would be about 1/2" inside the oil filter.
EDIT: Scrap that bit about a mx5 mk3 slave fitting, different mounting spacing!
Ah - see what you mean, would make it slightly awkward to fit the clutch line and bleed nipple. What you need is to pick up a cheap slave cylinder, the one I bought today was from Delphi - Staffordshire.
I managed to grab 2 or 3 hours yesterday in the last of the daylight to do a little more work on Rexanne.
I started by getting on with the wire wheeling of the chassis, removing the last of the old paint, under seal and rust.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4703.jpg)
I\'ve still got the front section of transmission tunnel and the inner arches to do, its a slow loud thing to be doing, so I thought I\'d break it up a bit doing a little each time I work on the car.
Unfortunately removing the under seal revealed a number of small holes and areas where the metal was very thin.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4704.jpg)
The passengers side had most holes, though there is one on the frame rail on the drivers side. Boooo more welding time needed!
I decided to run away from it all and carry on with the rust areas I\'d already located. Seeing as it was much less windy I managed to clean up and re-weld a could of the points on the inner arch repair patch I did last week.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4705.jpg)
Having studied the other side of the car more closely, I decided to add a 2nd layre of metal to the strut tower to chassis rail repair patch I did last week. For peace of mind more than anything else.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4709.jpg)
Finally I cut up and welded in the repair section next to the steering idler arm. With the metal a little thicker this was much easier welding! Which is handy as it needed to be ground flush so the idler arm would mount properly.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4708.jpg)
Not sure how my weekend will pan out, but if all goes well I might be able to get to the bottom of the rust and start to paint the underside of the front or the engine bay. :)
1stly Steve you managed a few more hours than I did this weekend.
Considering the condition at the rear of Rexanne I think you have done really well at the front - very limited corrosion.
Yep it\'s no good getting the neighbours against you with constant grinding so good to do it in stages but nearly done for you now too.
Any more thoughts for the A frame(s).
Cliff
Yeah, the front is much better than the back. Just a little frustrating in the heat of the moment to think I\'m ready to start painting it, only to find more rust!
I\'ve got a free day today, so whilst its normal week day working hours I can go a bit wilder with the grinder, I still wont make as much noise as the industrial estate a few hundred yards away! :)
A frames? Bit lost on that one mate?
Quote from: Steve-A;756581Yeah, the front is much better than the back. Just a little frustrating in the heat of the moment to think I\'m ready to start painting it, only to find more rust!
I\'ve got a free day today, so whilst its normal week day working hours I can go a bit wilder with the grinder, I still wont make as much noise as the industrial estate a few hundred yards away! :)
A frames? Bit lost on that one mate?
Front windscreen A pillars?:cheers
Ah yes, only had 1 cup of coffee so far today, not really firing on all cylinders :rollin
I\'m basically going to try and forget about the A pillar for a while. I want to get the front end all sorted, engine back in and get the car back on 4 wheels. I\'ll leave the exterior paintwork and the interior to go in last and tackle the A pillar just before that.
I\'ll probably have a go at fixing it with the screen still in, and see how it goes, kinda go nothing to loose if the screen gets damaged.
Quote from: Steve-A;756585Ah yes, only had 1 cup of coffee so far today, not really firing on all cylinders :rollin
I\'m basically going to try and forget about the A pillar for a while. I want to get the front end all sorted, engine back in and get the car back on 4 wheels. I\'ll leave the exterior paintwork and the interior to go in last and tackle the A pillar just before that.
I\'ll probably have a go at fixing it with the screen still in, and see how it goes, kinda go nothing to loose if the screen gets damaged.
Seems fair enough - is it possibly worth treating initially with the POR15 to see if this solves the issue or perhaps does it need more than that?
I poked a hole through the rusty patch of the A pillar with a screw driver pretty easily, so I\'d rather not just paint over it and forget about it!
I think you might have jinxed me too Cliff :rollin
No work for me today and I was up pretty early, so I got straight out in the sunshine and set to work. First up was to finish cleaning up the chassis. By about lunchtime I\'d got it all sorted.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4710.jpg)
Having done the major rust holes I found on the passengers side, I moved over to the smaller ones on the drivers side. I found a couple of spots in the inner arch area.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4711.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4712.jpg)
and a section of chassis rail needed doing too.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4714.jpg)
Then I studied the passengers side a bit move having removed the stone guard and years of dirt....
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4715.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4720.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4728.jpg)
It\'s a bit like a sieve!
QuoteConsidering the condition at the rear of Rexanne I think you have done really well at the front - very limited corrosion.
Maybe not Cliff!
I think quite a substantial area of floor and inner sill will need replacing, whats not holed is paper thin. The good news is that the drivers side looks a million times better, so there are no more holes there.
The bad news is that to get the carpet out, so I didn\'t set fire to it working on the floor pan, I had to take the dash out. The one thing I couldn\'t be bothered with! :Hammer:Hammer:Hammer
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4716.jpg)
Ah well. If I ever feel like replicating the feeling of sitting in the 7, I\'ve now got the entire interior in my bedroom! :rollin:rollin
time to get it flocked whilst its out Steve! :-)
***t mate - what a bummer! :Hammer Really feel for you on this but nevertheless look on the bright side of things - you\'ll know every inch of the car and it\'s problems or what\'s left of them. I\'ve said it before already, by the time you will have finished this it SHALL be better than a new one.
I suppose this means the front screen will be coming out too?
Well you\'ve done the rear section in double quick time so I\'d say with your trusty friends and helpers you\'ll finish this for August/September?
If you ever think of selling - give me 1st option plse.:mmmm
Cliff
:)
The front screen will still come out at a later date further down the line :)
I\'m still aiming for June. With more day light and warmth, I\'m attacking the front rust much faster than the back. Once I\'ve got the front under body and engine bay painted I can start dropping small bits back in grabbing half an hour or two after work most days even, so things should ramp up a bit.
I\'m not sure you\'ll want it by the time I\'m finished mate :P Not sure my taste in colours and lack of interior matches yours :rollin
Stripped out interior.
You could always leave the dash out & fit an instruement binnacle instead,though you\'d have to buy gauges.
Door cards could be done in lookalike carbon fibre,that looks good!
I\'m thinking more cut down dash, flocked. :bandit
But whether thats now, or sometime after I get it on the road when I\'ve got some spare time is yet to be decided. :)
Quote from: Steve-A;756904The front screen will still come out at a later date further down the line :)
I\'m still aiming for June. With more day light and warmth, I\'m attacking the front rust much faster than the back. Once I\'ve got the front under body and engine bay painted I can start dropping small bits back in grabbing half an hour or two after work most days even, so things should ramp up a bit.
I\'m not sure you\'ll want it by the time I\'m finished mate :P Not sure my taste in colours and lack of interior matches yours :rollin
Just let me be the judge on that as and when the time ever comes but even so, I\'d still like 1st refusal Steve. :yes :Thumbs-up
Time for a bit of an update.
I\'ve grabbed an hour or two here and there throughout the last few days, if I\'m honest I\'ve not been enthused to be out welding and grinding when we\'ve had such lovely weather.
I started to cut back the rot around those few small holes in the passengers floor.....and kept cutting. I had to go quite a way to find metal!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4729.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4730.jpg)
Since then I\'ve put in the upper floor section and tacked in the lower floor section as seen here.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4745.jpg)
So need to seam that and tidy it up and rebuild the sill area.
Distracted by quieter more social things to do in the sun that weld, I had play with my glitter paint I\'d picked up. We tried a few different base colours and decided gunmetal looked best, but I was still not happy with how glittery it was coming out, I think I need to try a different brand of glitter paint.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4731.jpg)
Finally I made good use of my s2 struts as a hose holder while filling a paddling pool :rollin
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4736.jpg)
Aaaaggggh. What yah done Stevie?
The Blue Box, mark of the God Machine.....Gunmetal Glitter.....Get thee behind me ....:Nono!
You must get another Blue one now......:3gears-rh
:rollin
I was kinda planning on not running the carb for long, so soon there will be no need for a box of any type, be it blue or sparkly grey :p
Steve - what happened there mate? :Hammer All I\'ve done is taken a few days off and the whole world has turned upside down and you\'ve lost more of that bodywork! :flamed
Come on - knuckle down and get back to work - you\'ll have plenty of time to spare in a few weeks. The more you do now will mean more play later on.
Cliff
I\'ve been working when I\'ve been able to grab hours here and there between paid work! :p
I ran out of sheet metal tuesday, but picked up some more today and I\'m not working tomorrow so progress is likely. :)
Quote from: Steve-A;758630I\'ve been working when I\'ve been able to grab hours here and there between paid work! :p
I ran out of sheet metal tuesday, but picked up some more today and I\'m not working tomorrow so progress is likely. :)
Keep smiling then and don\'t get yourself down - soon as the body is completed then 80%+ of the job is done :)
Had a day with no work today, so thought I better get on with the car to get Cliff off my back :rollin Only playing mate!
Firstly I put the last couple of sections into the front sill. I\'ve been grabbing an hour or two here and there across the week to rebuild this corner.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4808.jpg)
Then I seam sealed and painted the inside.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4812.jpg)
For now the full interior will go back in as I\'ve got it taking up room in my bedroom right now, and it just means I can get it on the road faster while I think about seats etc for a stripped out interior at a later date. So now its painted the carpet can go back as soon as I\'ve cleaned the rest of the metal dust out.
About 1.30pm I broke out the metal ready and acid etched the front underbody and inner wings and by 4pm it was dry enough to start applying the POR15. Was such a big area it took 3.5 of the mini cans and 3.5 hours to do. It took so long, that the sections I painted first were ready for their second coat immediately I finished the first!
I\'m so pleased with the finish though :)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4818.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4814.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4821.jpg)
I should get some more time in over the coming long weekend. My first priority is to seam seal the inner wing areas. I\'m planning to run without the arch liners, as they would scrub lots with my intended wheel fitment and ride height, so I need to add a level of protection beyond what the factory put there. After the sealer I\'ll be stone guarding the inner arches and inner sills, then its time for engine bay paint!
It\'s looking good now Steve....
When do you reckon it\'ll be ready for the mot?
I\'m gonna say 6 weeks, but in reality who knows!
There\'s still so much to do. A rough to do list is:
- Stone gaurd chassis
- Paint engine bay
- Repair/replace front wing
- Clean + paint all engine bay covers (battery tray, rad gaurds etc)
- Clean/paint engine and gearbox.
- Clean/paint suspension arms and fit polly bushes
- Re-fit interior
- Wire in new gauges and re-position radio
- Sort out buying and fiting coilovers
- Sort out brake system
- A million other things I\'ve forgotten!
Tick two of those off the list!
Seam seal + stone guard the floor pan and inner arches, tick!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4825.jpg)
Rope in friend to help paint engine bay, tick!
We went over it with some wet and dry to smooth out any lumpy bits, then masked it up.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4826.jpg)
A couple of coats of high build primer later...
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4827.jpg)
And finally 3 coats of satin black after that...
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4833.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4835.jpg)
So give that 24 hours to harden off properly and I can start cleaning up and putting bits back in!
Looking down the body line to the back wheels.....It\'s nearly there Steve.....Rexanne\'s becoming a top class driving machine. That\'s spot on mate.
Now the fun.....worried about the lad with the jack handle though.
Is it......a)strapped round his waist to beat off any daylight pickeys?
b)......Concreted into the ground to tie him to the spot?
c) ......Dare not say.
Wow steve,good progress,fun part putting it back together is close.
David,this is a serious forum for fb enthusiasts,plz stick to the topic & stop messing about.!
Point C,i can think of a few scenario\'s there,but i\'ll refrain as this is a family forum,need i say anymore than that pole is in a precarious position!
Keep it up Steve.
ta stu..
Quote from: syebba;759076Keep it up Steve.
ta stu..
After Davids post, probably the wrong choice of words :eek
I\'ll go for option B David :P Friends some times don\'t stick around long once they realise they\'ve actually gotta get their nice hands dirty and help out, not just drink coffee and chat :rollin
Time for an update.
Been starting to put things back into the front of the car step by step when I\'ve found time over the past few days.
Started with the basic loom, just gave it a once over with carb cleaner then silicone spray and it looks good as new.
Next up was to clean up and paint the brake and clutch master cylinders. I was a bit worried about the brake servo when I pulled it off the car, but having cleaned it up, it was just surface rust caused by a bit a brake fluid killing the paint.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4842.jpg)
Here you can see the loom, master cylinders and brake lines in place.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4854.jpg)
Today I found some time to take a bunch of parts round and to shot blast them. I wasn\'t worried about the finish, they will be POR15ed, I just wanted to get ride of any flakey paint and other debris.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4856.jpg)
I had a right fight with the wishbones, the bolts were well rusted into the crush tubes for the bushes. Resulted to cutting them out, so will need new bolts!
In the last of the light this evening, with some help from Tom, I stuck some paint on the subframe then retired to the garage.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4858.jpg)
In the garage we set about giving the engine an initial inspection.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4861.jpg)
When Ross bought the car off eBay the owner claimed it was a runner, but it was only barely. It had no storage preparation, just one day he put it in the garage and didn\'t take it out for 10 years. The carb was very gummed up and the floats were well stuck, pouring fuel down constantly.
Last summer I gave the carb a once over for Ross. Once we\'d cleaned out the carb, emptied a pint of petrol of out the exhaust (!!!), put from fresh oil and fresh plugs in her she fired right up. Ross stored the car on a farm and had a 1/4 mile or so of farm track, so ran it up to temp plenty of times and took it through the rev range. It seemed to start fine hot and cold and pulled fine.
After I took the fuel system to bits last november I\'ve been periodically dripping a little 2 stroke oil in an turning the engine over by hand, to try and keep it all free and moving.
Stripping the intake off tonight revealed a rougher story.
Firstly the manifold appeared to have been sealed with bathroom sealer or similar, rather than proper RTV. The secondaries had a good 5mm deep layre of dirt, grit and coke in them, but the primaries looked like new. I presume the previous owner rarely opened it up!
There was also a large mismatch on the intake port size between the primaries on the intake manifold and the block. There are the port on the side of the block:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4863.jpg)
Here\'s the primaries on the intake manifold. The gasket matches the size and shape of the ports on the block.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4866.jpg)
Have I got the wrong intake manifold here? Or a non s2 block?
The secondary ports match very closely through the intake manifold, gasket and onto block.
The 2 stroke oil seemed to be doing it work though as lots of black gunk was working its way out of the plug holes and exhaust ports. Using a small torch all the apex seals looked good, they all sprung freely too when i pushed them. From what I can see of the housings via the exhaust ports they look good too.
Cranking it over by hand produced seemingly equal amounts of air to be blown out of the plug holes, an a similar amount of force needed to overcome the compression if the plugs were in.
So a mixed bag, but should clean up ok and do me a turn for a couple of months. :)
All the RX7 12a factory inlet manifolds I\'ve seen look the same as yours whether on a tall port engine or whatever.
Anyone else????
Same for me Ian.
Steve - what a fantastic job you have done to date, it\'s a credit to you!
Sorry to have kept on your back on this one but hasn\'t it been worth it :Giggle
Cliff
Haha, yes thanks for helpnig me keep focused Cliff :Giggle And thanks to you both for the info on the intake manifold. I\'ll match up the secondaries as best I can then, and maybe pull the primaries out just a fraction and call it a day.
Managed to grab an hour or two yesterday evening and some time today between the rains to make some progress.
Got a few more bits painted up in POR15, though have run out now and Frost are out of stock of black for 3 weeks! Might have to look at other suppliers.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4880.jpg)
Cleaned up, painted, adjusted and re-fitted my steering box. I did this friday, mostly because putting the rack back in filled a large hole in the firewall back up, and meant less chance of the car filling with water when the rain came!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4877.jpg)
I\'m not really attacking any of this with real order at the moment, I\'m just kinda doing whatever takes my fancy. So next up I disassembled, cleaned, painted, re-greased and assembled the wiper mechanism. They seemed to work fine, but after reading Ian\'s blog I thought it was worth an investigate and they were indeed rather stiff. Should wipe at warp speed now!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4870.jpg)
Finally this afternoon I started to re-fit the interior. The only things left to do which require possibly interior out is to fit the new rear dampers, and thats easy enough to pull the plastic off, and I\'ll have to do something about this A pillar at some point. For now I could really do with the bedroom space back, so it\'s all going to go back in.
This is as far as I got before the rain stopped play.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4881.jpg)
looking good Steve, you must have the patience of a saint.
Dibs
Haha Dibs, by the time I get to posting on MRC I\'ve usually had a couple of hours space from the car. I usually come inside swearing at it and just thinking \'I could just give up and buy one that\'s got an MOT\' :rollin
Hopefully it\'ll all be worth it in the end. :)
It will be more than worth it, when I put mine back on the road after 11 years, luckily I had no rust to deal with, just brakes and carb it felt great when it sailed through the MOT and driving it again.So keep it up it will not be long before you can do the same.
dibs
it\'s really taking shape now Steve, great work.
If you go for another supplier for the POR 15, be carefull and check which type of finish it is....
there aren\'t that many suppliers out there. I usually use Frost but a while back, they were out of stock and I used Holden but didn\'t realise that their POR15 was satin black ( or semi-gloss as they call it), not gloss black. I actually prefer the satin black finish as it\'s a bit more \'factory\' looking but it\'s no good if you\'ve already done half your suspension in gloss.
Worth checking when you order it.
Thanks for the heads-up Ian :)
I\'ve done the bulk of the the important parts, all the chassis, front sub frame. I\'ve only got the under side of the front wishbones, the front radius arms, the ARB and the radiator cowling left to do in that rust proof style paint, so I\'m half tempted to switch over to Hammerite or similar thats much more available, so I can push on and get the job done. Not sure if it would just come back to bite me long term though.
So this POR15 stuff. Is this the daddy for under the car too? Just thinking I might do the FC underside over the summer. It\'s waxoiled atm but it tends to flake off after a bit.
Seems to be pretty good. Recommended by quite a few of the serious auto restoration places.
Prep is everything though, you\'d need to remove all trace of the waxoyl. To make it work best it really needs to be back to basically bare metal, then acid etched, then painted in POR15. Anywhere that can see sunlight then needs to be over painted as POR15 can be degraded by UV.
So it takes a while and is fairly costly really, I\'ve just finished my 2nd pack of paint at ~£40 + the acid etch at ~£25.
But it is meant to be the ultimate protection when done right.
I\'ve put a good number of hours time into her today, with some nice visual results.
Firstly I Finished fitting the interior. It was worth it just for the extra bedroom and garage space its rendered!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4882.jpg)
Centre consol and associated bits still need to go in, but I can\'t do that till I\'ve got the gearbox in really.
Next up I fitted the subframe back in.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4885.jpg)
In my last post I mentioned about the POR15 and that I was considering just using Hammerite to get the job done. Well my hand was forced, some of the parts I had shot blasted were starting to surface rust from the damp atmosphere, so before I had to re-blast them all I got busy.
Here\'s the bottom of the wishbones. As the parts that will be Hammerited are the front ARB components and the radiator surrounds it should be easy enough to pull them out at a later date if its not upto the job and repaint, not like its the chassis.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4884.jpg)
Then thinking of the gearbox from earlier I split it from the engine and started to clean it up.
Before:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4888.jpg)
A fairly long space of time later after lots of frantic rubbing with a brilo pad.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4889.jpg)
That picture is rather flattering and what it doesn\'t show is that I haven\'t even started the other side! Part of me says I\'m wasting my time as it\'ll only get dirty again and its well hidden under the car, but another part of my will always know its clean and shiny and I did it properly :cool
Quick question for you guys... Is this a stock s2 flywheel?
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4886.jpg)
I only ask because I\'ve been reading about light weight flywheels and it seems they say its the same light flywheel whether its going on a n/a 13b or a 12a, and that flywheel is noticeably thinner than a standard 13b flywheel.
This flywheel is 285mm diameter, 17mm thick at the edge with a cut out section thats 9mm thick.
The 13b egi 6 port flywheel is 285mm diameter, 20mm thick at the edge with a thicker section thats 30mm deep.
I\'d be shocked if it was anything other than standard, just always asking those who know what they are talking about!
Was at Ians house last weekend and we were looking at the flywheels on the spare engines he has in the garage, seems to be different types but I dont think we got to the bottom of it, these were all 12a\'s but one seemed thinner than the other.
Keith...
Ooh thats interesting Keith.
Judging by the rest of the car I\'d be confident this is a stock flywheel, I was just intrigued to see that it was very different from the 13b one. Because they both use the same lightweight one I had presumed they\'d use the same original one.
Either way for now its staying on the engine and going back in the car!
OMG is this car coming on or wat? Bedroom SPACE - heaven ay mate?
Looking really good Steve and yes, I agree, clean all of the g/box - at least you\'ll know its\' been done properly, just like the rest of the car. 70 - 75% complete now I think?
To answer your earlier statement too - YES it will definitely have been worth it, bad language and all :rollin:rollin
Having a bit of a quiet time for work right now :( Does mean lots of time to work on Rexanne though. Got quite a lot done over the last few days, lots of fiddly bits that are time consuming.
I\'ve cleaned and painted lots of small brackets, things like coil mounts etc.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4891.jpg)
Cleaned and greased the head light motor assemblies. Heres a before and after shot. :)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4896.jpg)
The engine bay is starting to look a lot more full now.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4910.jpg)
I\'ve also refitted what I can of the front suspension with the polly bushes.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4906.jpg)
I\'m waiting for steering idler arm bushed before I can re-assemble the rest of the steering links. I\'ve found a good Mazda dealer in Leominster who was quite happy to search some out for me, unlike the less than enthusiastic Worcester dealer. The guys in Leominster will be getting my general Mazda custom from now on!
So with the engine bay coming together it was time to prep bits to go in it. First I finished off the gearbox.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4898.jpg)
Then with help from Ian today we started on the engine. Here\'s what it looked like after 27 years on the car.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4902.jpg)
A number of hours later, after much effort with degreaser and souring pads, this is what we got.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4903.jpg)
It\'s all prepped and ready for some paint now. I do have some work on now though, so that will have to wait till the weekend.
So its all coming along quite nicely :) I\'m hoping to have the engine in by the end of next week.
My biggest current hurdle is sorting out an oil cooler. My s2 one has basically corroded through where the oil lines join it. I\'ve never seen alu oxidisation so bad! I phoned Rx Motors but they didn\'t have any. I shall have to look into some that are being broken I guess, but I do wonder if they\'ll be any better than what I\'ve got.
Wow.... you\'ve spent some serious time on that Steve, it\'s looking great.... I\'ll have another look at those flywheels at the weekend and try to bottom them out ( even if you\'re running yours \'as is\', it\'ll be nice to know.
If you don\'t manage to get an air cooler oil cooler, I\'ve got a spare \'beehive\' off my S3 that I took off when I put the turbo on it. You can have it for free if it\'ll help get you on the road... it\'s easy to swap it back afterwards.
Well done mate..... it\'s coming on a treat.
Thankyou very much for the offer Ian. I may have to take you up on it, I\'ll have a good search around for and air to oil cooler first though :)
Wow you wouldn\'t think that was the same engine mate. Nice work.
Just spotted this on e-bay Steve.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mazda-RX7-1982-Radiator-Fan-Alternator-Airpump-Oil-Cool-/260781488489?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3cb7c9b969
Seems to be an oil cooler there but no pic, might be worth a punt !
Keith...
If someone spots this and could PM Steve that would be great. (must become a full member)
Cheers Keith for posting that up :)
I think I\'m set for now though, gonna try this beehive cooler route out with a bigger rad.
Glad your sorted Steve, now get to bed youve got work to do tomorrow :D
Well Keith, I didn\'t goto bed early, neither did I do any work on her yesterday.
But today, well I\'ll let the pictures do the talking! :D:D:D:D
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4974.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4971.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4973.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4979.jpg)
Mate that looks 100 times better than brand new out of the factory haha. Can\'t wait to see the finished project!
That looks fantastic Steve, will be a shame to put a bonnet on.
Keith...
Yeah, thats amazing looking. :) I really like how that engine looks. I cant wait too see that car ready either. :) Hmm, how much would cost if you buy a bonnet made of polycarbonate...? ;)
any work this week dude?
:InLoveThat is absolutely stunning. Remind me not to park the FB we (the RPM team) are putting back on the road next to yours at a show, we\'d be ashamed at the comparison :o
Superb workmanship - I look forward to seeing it in the flesh sometime soon :Thumbs-up
Cheers guys :) I think I\'ll stick to gold bonnet for now, it won\'t look so pretty once i\'ve driven it a bit :P
Don\'t worry Casey, I\'m sure it\'ll be covered in dirt by the time I get it to a show and won\'t look so shiny and yours will be all clean and fresh!
Well I\'m having a crap month for work still, but there plenty of weekdays to get on with the Rex. Here\'s a round up of the weeks progress.
I got the exhaust and intake manifolds cleaned up.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4981.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4982.jpg)
And then got them mounted up.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-4984.jpg)
On Tuesday I went to see Ian65, and picked up an oil cooler. Thanks mate :) Had a nice coffee and chat. Was nice to catch up :)
Then Wednesday I went down to RX Motors and met Tim. Again had a nice chat and picked up an s3 rad and some spare old struts to stand the car on while mine goto GAZ.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-5011.jpg)
On the way back my friend and I swung back via The Captains and saw how Nev was getting on. Tims done an awesome job :)
Then I got my steering idler bushes from Mazda and got the steering linkage assembled.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-5015.jpg)
Which meant that this afternoon I was able to make use of the temporary struts and mount up my proper front wheels for the first time.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-5003.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-5005.jpg)
I also temporarily hung the good wing on. Might need a little arch work!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-5008.jpg)
I think I need wider rear wheels and some over arches!
man id wish to have the space to do this. id rather would like to slap a "build not bought" sticker on mine but as i cant do work on mine at home have to send it out. i am indeed in awe how patient you are. looks great how its coming together. keep it up. i hope to see this one on a meet one day. :cool
Thank you Oveck :)
A number of people have mentioned the patience needed to do a project like this, I\'m not sure its that much. Having another car to drive that isn\'t terrible is part of the key for me. Another thing is that kinda once I\'d started the back end properly back in the depths of winter, each part I came to put back on, it just seemed a shame to put a dirty old part back on my clean fresh chassis, so I\'d take a little time cleaning and painting and sorting any issues with it. Every part I put back on like that makes it harder to just throw the next old rusty component back on and not care!
Shows are on my hit list for the summer. I\'m pushing to be ready for Beaulieu.
Got another bunch of things done yesterday, though now need to do some work and stuff for a few days.
Now I\'ve got the engine and gearbox in, I could finish installing the gear lever and centre console. Really nice to see the interior looking so clean and finished.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-5017.jpg)
After that I assembled the radiator surround that I painted the other day, along with the bonnet hinges.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-5019.jpg)
Next up was the headlight covers.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-5020.jpg)
Finally I gave the oil cooler I\'d got from Ian a quick once over with high temp paint and bolted it on. I need to sort out the right coolant hoses for it next.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/Library-5022.jpg)
Hopefully it\'ll do the job fine, especially as I\'ve decided not to use that s3 radiator and will be going straight for a large, deep core aluminium rad. In the process of cleaning the cooler ready for paint I ran some water through the coolant passages, and cleared 25+ years worth of silt out of them. I guess like an old radiator they will collect muck from the coolant over time and block up making them less efficient, especially as they are on a loop that can be easily bypassed. Certainly after spending a good 20 mins running water through it, and shaking and swirling, the water finally seemed to run clean and the flow was visibly much increased. :)
looking good Steve... that\'s a good point about the cooler silting up..... I wonder how many other owners have bothered to flush them out... not many I think... I certainly never have.
Considering how when i first poured some water into this one just a dirty tickle of water came out the other side and now if I pour water in a clear stream pours out as if it were just a straight bit of tube, I\'d say its worth the half hour of effort! Gotta be much more efficient now.
Hi Steve - WHAT CAN I SAY but WOWWWWWW!
Absolutely fantastic work there, even as she is, looks a worthy contender for "Car of the Year" to me.
Pimp My Ride has nothing on you!
Do you intend using Rexanne when you have finished or simply park her up in a showroom somewhere ...hehehe
Ta
Cliff
:Thumbs-up:Thumbs-up:Thumbs-up
hi
just joined, have an rx8, but love 1st gen rx7\'s. i find your project very interesting and enjoyable to follow. great work you are doing. i\'d love to be able to weld like that as my fathers merc failed on some holes in chassis and around the front lol.
keep the good work up, and keep the pics coming. it looks like these wee cars are straightforward to work on, but thats easy for me to say lol.
ronnie
Quote from: spoddy;764426hi
just joined, have an rx8, but love 1st gen rx7\'s........ it looks like these wee cars are straightforward to work on, but thats easy for me to say lol.
ronnie
Hi Ronnie, have a look over here; RX-7 1st Gen "Kimi" Link (http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69685)
Like you, I have an RX-8 and love 1st gens. Finally took the plunge a couple of months back, along with 3 other RX-8 owners, to share in the ownership of "Kimi" a 1983/85 1st Gen. They\'d better be easy to work on, or we are sunk :Giggle Having fun getting her sorted out for an MOT and hope to have her ready to show at Rotorstock8 in August. However, no way will she match the quality of workmanship of "Rexanne" :god
hi mate
thanks for the welcome. i have been looking through the 1st gen threads on here and i am enjoying seeing these wee cars put back on the road again, better than when they left the factory in cases.
sharing ownership, so how does that work, ie whose name is on the log book?
but great fun all the same getting her back on the road, MOT\'s are a pain but they ensure a car is checked out and safe etc.
love my winning blue rx8 6 speed, had fun being blown about the motorway driving home tonite, wild weather.
i live in n.ireland so not many fb\'s about, would love to get one myself.
i caught the bug a few years back, but its the rust which makes getting a half decent one difficult.
nice meeting you, looking forward to hearing about your adventures in fb land :)
ronnie
Hi Ronnie, welcome to the club. :) 1st gens are like mechano compared to anything as modern a an rx8. If you fancy giving welding a shot, just go for it. I\'d never tried before I bought this car and learnt as I went. If I can do it anyone can!
Thank you Cliff and Casey for the kind words. It\'s very flattering. The proof of the pudding will be what you guys think of her in real life, its rather easy to make things look pretty in photographs :P
Thanks Steve. I really enjoy following your fb project, how the heck do you remember where all the parts go you take off? do you work on them a few at a time, take photos keep notes?
yeah modern cars are all airbags and computers eh, the rx8 is fantastic to drive, sad to say i haven\'t driven an fb, but am in a club here at home and have a kiwi friend who is a rotary specialist and has all models of rx7. its handy having someone who can rebuild a 13b for you :) but thank god the renesis engine is strong, have just passed 86000 miles and she is strong as the 1st day.
i seen a gas welder in lidels for a few hundred, not bad to start on. being able to do stuff like that is really handy, you get through the project quicker and its still your own work etc.
one of my club mates bought an fb and had her up on axel stands when he heard a creaking, got out in time before chassis collapsed, scary stuff. a lift or pit is handy for doing a job like this, but your approach has worked very well, albeit being cold etc to work in lol.
i am interested in this por underbody stuff, never heard of it until reading about it on here, it sounds very good. my rx8 is starting to get rusty and wanna keep her good and my jap import mx3 (az3), so may get some.
for a beginner steve you are doing one hell of a job, but suppose when you put your mind to it, an fb is a good rebuild project and alot of fun to do.
as my kiwi mate says don\'t worry about the engine, its all rust, rust, rust with these cars, damm this damp and rainey weather we get lol.
Mostly I use photos and the odd video clip to keep track of where everything goes. The other trick thats has really helped is that whenever I\'ve removed bolts I\'ve bagged them and tied them to whatever component they came from.
I started by just organising the bolts in trays, but then one windy night it flipped my box of trays over and dashed the bolts all across the floor. Luckily I started with the back end which was much simpler than the front.
I paid about £250 for my welder from Machine Mart, and its been plenty up to the job.
Whilst this is my first proper ground up restoration, I have had other modified cars and done fairly intensive modifications such as the engine swap on my mx5. It\'s all a steep learning curve though and I would not be where I cam today without the help of all the guys on the MRC :)
I do enjoy building the car as much as driving it. :)
yeah thats a good idea, but as you\'ve experience in rebuilding cars you get used to common parts such as brakes, steering, suspension etc. i use masking tape to tape the bolts/nuts to parts. my experience to date is an oil change lol, but gonna free up my rear mx3 caliper as it seems to not be pushing the outside brake pad against the disk.
you can see bits of surface rust still on it after a days driving.
thats a good price for your welder, whats the acid etching you talk about, after spot welding do you grind the welds down smooth then etch?
sorry for all the questions, hell if its easier, email me your notes lol.
Yes things do become more familiar. Over the past 3 and a bit years I\'ve slowly taken on bigger and bigger challenges, each time feeling I\'d gone in over my head but just about clambered out the other side with a working car! Certainly I\'d have never been brave enough to take on Rexanne this time last year but having dipped my toe into the relm of metal work as part of fitting the 13b to my mx5 last year, it gave me the confidence to give it a shot. :)
The mx3 sounds like a sticking slider pin, I\'ve got this pleasure to look forward to on Rexanne\'s callipers. Not a difficult job, just time consuming and dirty!
The welder seemed sensibly priced. When I did some research before buying, it was suggested for car work to buy a gassed mig with as much power as I could afford, I went for 135 amps which has been fine, and to make sure I got one with a cooling fan which allows more continuous welding before the machine has to cool.
The acid etch was just a spray on chemical which then was rinsed off with water 20 mins later. Its part of the POR15 range and supposedly a vital part of the process to get proper adhesion of the POR15 rustproof paint. The POR15 kit all seems really good and certainly has good reviews from others on this forum. Its only downside is that it does requite good preparation and this can be time consuming. It can also work out quite costly by the time you have all the different products required for the prep work.
I\'ve not done any spot welding. I\'ve done mostly seem welding and a few bits of plug welding. A piece of advice given to me early on was that any repairs within 300mm of a structural point must be seem welded, so I\'ve basically seem welded all my repairs. After than I\'ve ground down some of the welds, most just for aesthetics, and so I\'ve left them proud where it will not be seen. Raised welds mean thicker metal and therefore strength, but obviously thats not really suitable for outer body work panels!
On recommendation of other forum users during and immediately after welding I\'ve used a weld through primer to add some protection to the bare metal. I would then wash the area of the car to be painted with POR15 with a strong washing up liquid solution and scouring pad, quite aggressively, before rinsing, acid etching, rinsing and then finally applying the paint.
thanks steve, you know your stuff alright.
you have to start somewhere i suppose and being able to weld etc yourself is very handy. finding someone to do some welding on my fathers 1992 merc is next to impossible as most mechanics don\'t do it now due to insurance etc.
you sound like you know your rotary engines too, a conversion of an mx5, bloomin heck that sounded like a job.
but after putting a rotary in, that thing must have shredded up the tarmac lol.
from reading on various mazda rx club sites, i now know the areas to look out for on an fb for dreaded rust and rot. they are old cars and most not oiled or waxed underneath every few years to protect them unfortunately for all of us. my mate advised me where to look for rust etc and there was a local fb for £2600 in the mint green colour, brown interior, owner wanted that for it as he had put alot into it. easier solution someone else done the work, but then you don\'t know what lies beneath lol.
anyway don\'t wanna throw you thread off course, thanks for the info and advice.
talk again, looking forward to more progress pics and news.
ronnie
Hi Ronnie. Welcome.
I\'ve picked up your name over the last couple of years in the 2 Ireland Forums. I think I read you had been researching for an FB with Glen. If I can help with anything this side of the water just let me know.
Dave
Hi Dave
Yeah, Glen is a good friend of mine, does all my work lol.
Yip member of the mrec-ni and irishrotary sites and had been like a kid in a sweet shop asking about fb\'s. I plan on clearing out the garage as supposedly can fit two cars in lol. I\'ll see how my savings are come the summer and see if I can find something original, 12a, no turboing etc as my rx8 is quick enough for me. Thanks for your offer though.
Time for a roundup for the week\'s action. :) I\'ve not had as much time to spend on Rexanne, but I\'d still done bits here and there.
First thing I did was to rust kill and then stone guard the inside of my good wing, so it can go back on soon.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1279.jpg)
Next up I made a start on stripping the carb.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1284.jpg)
Following the info on the \'steerling\' site, (http://www.sterlingmetalworks.com/the_sterling_nikki.htm (http://www.sterlingmetalworks.com/the_sterling_nikki.htm)) I\'m going to make a few small mods to help improve its flow. I\'m going to simplify the linkages where possible and file down some stops and tweak a few bits so that the throttle plates open to exactly 90 degrees and the bolt heads don\'t stick out etc.
Now the front end is on the floor I was able to lift the back of the car back up and fit the first section on handbrake cable, exhaust heat shield, exhaust and prop shaft.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1296.jpg)
Then I got a big box arrive for china! Within it I found...
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1293.jpg)
Its been a little twisted in transit, but that seems to be the norm for cheapo chinese ebay radiators. With no s3 rad on ebay at the moment, and no budget for a branded rad, I went for the ebay FC rad. This had the added bonus of being big enough if I want to use a 13bt at a later date. Buy it right buy it once and all!
Seeing as it is huge and needed to be mounted at an angle, I needed to fab up some new brackets. Starting with parts of my s2 rad cowling and bits of s3 rad I managed to get the measurements and rough brackets tacked up with the help of my friend Tom.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1297.jpg)
And here\'s the rad in the car with slightly more refined brackets.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1299.jpg)
And here\'s the final brackets. In this picture you can see the next problem with fitting this rad, the lower hose wont clear the engine mount.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1305.jpg)
Bills rushed of his feet, so I felt bad asking him to help out and got brave! I did some internet research then bought some 4035 aluminium welding wire and some argon gas and gave it a shot mig welding. After practicing for a couple of days on an old bike frame I gave it a shot tonight after work.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1307.jpg)
It ain\'t pretty but should be functional, and now I know I can do basic alu welding that\'s another feather in the restoration cap!
Now back in the car, it clears easily and an s3 lower hose slightly cut down will work.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1308.jpg)
Last night I had a bit of a wild time online shopping and with various hoses and connectors on their way to me and some time spent on the carb this weekend, hopefully I can start it soon! :):)
looks great steve, rexanne will feel like 1 million dollars after all this time and effort. :)
not long to go now till the engine is back in and all the wings/bonnet and bits put back together.
Quote from: Steve-A;765227Last night I had a bit of a wild time online shopping and with various hoses and connectors on their way to me
Steve, we are about to remove the radiator from Kimi this weekend for an inspection and thorough clean up. We have a Toyota MR2 dual electric fan on it\'s way as Will66 managed to locate one on the internet (for less than £30 delivered, result!). We will source a cheapish thermostatic controller, but would also like to change some of the manky hoses and connectors. May I ask where you sourced yours from?
I just searched on ebay, though I also got some vac hose and heater hose from //www.apmotorstore.co.uk :)
I didn\'t spot any s3 silicone rad hoses on ebay, but then I didn\'t look toooo hard as I\'ll need s5 hoses. I did end up going for blue rad hoses though which disapointed me, but I found various people doing s5 specific preformed silicone rad hoses in blue for £30, and the black ones started at £60. Maybe I can wrap them in something black!
Sourcing an e fan and thermoswitch is on my to do list! Though with the size of my rad and the stock 12a I think shouldn\'t have tooo many cooling issues :P
Nice work Steve and to Alu weld with MIG process so soon is brilliant news mate. Doesn\'t look that bad as long and as you say it is functional and reasonably presentable - and who is going to want to look all the way down there when it is done? Okay apart from us forum members who\'ll totally appreciate what a successful resto you will have done.
What he said. Although if we end up parking Kimi next to Rexanne at RS8 then I may be pointing out this weld to people just so Kimi doesn\'t look too average! :)
Hi Steve.
I know you have just rebuilt your idler arm, but how far did you get with investigating steering rack conversions?
Did you notice that the Ford V8 conversion in "how many still running" has a Nissan rack...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1985-MAZDA-RX7...ht_1338wt_1141 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1985-MAZDA-RX7-2-GREEN-/140546164874?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item20b934488a#ht_1338wt_1141)
John
Quote from: David Nock;764544Hi Ronnie. Welcome.
I\'ve picked up your name over the last couple of years in the 2 Ireland Forums. I think I read you had been researching for an FB with Glen. If I can help with anything this side of the water just let me know.
Dave
Message for Spoddy.....Sorry Steve, A quick off post, cannot PM him as he is not a full member.
Spoddy, check out \'How Many 1st gens Still Running\' in 1st Gen Forum.
Blue S3 appeared in Rugby.....could be a bit well travelled but priced to sell this time around.
hi mate, cheers i had a looksie, i might be getting a black series 3, off a club mate, in my part of the UK.
i don\'t wanna say too much out of respect for its owner and until i have something to \'talk\' about if you know what i mean, as not sure if he comes on here and its early days etc.
Quote from: johnnyboy;765924Hi Steve.
I know you have just rebuilt your idler arm, but how far did you get with investigating steering rack conversions?
Did you notice that the Ford V8 conversion in "how many still running" has a Nissan rack...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1985-MAZDA-RX7...ht_1338wt_1141 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1985-MAZDA-RX7-2-GREEN-/140546164874?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item20b934488a#ht_1338wt_1141)
John
Cheers for the heads up John :) I\'m still keen to do a rack and pinion conversion, but its on hold for a bit till I\'ve been able to get out and drive Rexanne a bit on the standard steering.
I\'ve seen a couple of builds using a Nissan Micra rack, including Tim from RX Motors, who\'s got one in his drag car. It\'s certainly worth considering. I\'m also keen to investigate my idea of an upside down LHD mx5 rack!
I\'ve not really spent much time on Rexanne over the past few days. I wanted to try and be a little more social this bank holiday. Between emergency computer repairs...
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1302.jpg)
and listing to loud noises...
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1311.jpg)
and a little hanging out with friends, I\'d not done anything on Rexanne till last night. It seemed a good time to continue to tackle the carb.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1317.jpg)
I put a couple of hours in last night, with the help of a nice bottle of cider, and then a couple more today.
I\'ve taken it to bits, given it a clean up, made sure the jets are all clear and re-set the floats to factory specs before reassembling. While I had it in bits I spent some time tweaking the throttle butterfly stops to make sure both primaries and secondaries stop at exactly 90 degrees. I also removed all the linkages I wouldn\'t be using e.g. OMP and parts for vacuum operated secondaries. The carb is now set for manual secondaries, with the help of a little tack weld, and I\'ve added an extra gasket to the accelerator pump, as was suggested by various internet sources. I\'m sure the whole carb will need tweaking and tuning once the cars up and running.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1328.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1329.jpg)
It\'s not as shiny as some of the other components on the car, but I was cautious of using some of the more aggressive cleaning techniques incase I caused problems with all the jets and small passageways inside the carb. Either way it\'s only gonna be on Rexanne for a month or two once she\'s on the road.
Today the postman brought me some radiator hoses.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1324.jpg)
And I assembled the various bits of heater and oil cooler hosing.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1326.jpg)
It seems there are a whole bunch of little tweaks the s3 must have for this oil cooler, such as different hard line sections for the heater hose, and slightly different fuel hard lines. So I\'ve managed to hook it all up, but it\'s not the most elegant. Again we will see how long it stays on the car.
Due to the practicalities of the hose routing I\'ve ended up with the heater matrix flowing backwards to its normal set-up, but I really cant see this being an issue.
So with that lot installed I dropped the carb on.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1332.jpg)
Here\'s a couple of photos of me actually doing things, rather than being behind the camera. Trust my lady friend to pick the most exiciting action shots possible :rollin
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0199.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0182.jpg)
I then carried on till the light faded too much hooking up the various cables for the carb and the detachable sections of loom.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1336.jpg)
Just need to hook up the starter motor loom, stick some fluids in her and turn the key now! .....
.... then start on bodywork and brakes.
that engine looks bloody impressive mate.... it should be in a showroom somewhere.
oooohhhhh shiney lol
coming along well mate, good idea to get out and away from it for a night too, oh some alcohol always helps, not a cider man myself though. cold bottle of carlsberg now, :)
Quote from: Ian65;766130that engine looks bloody impressive mate.... it should be in a showroom somewhere.
2 votes for that.....tremendous Steve......:god
That engine compartment sure does look nice - good job Steve.
Thanks guys :)
It\'s very flattering that you all seem to think its looking so good. I can assure you it wont look that good for long, as its gonna get driven, lots and lots!
Personally I was getting a little disappointed by how cluttered the engine bay was looking with the loom reinstalled and all the vac hoses and stuff running about the place. I think I just got used to seeing it without that lot! :P
One thing for sure Steve - she wont go far without them.
We\'ve already seen from previous threads that the best way to get rid of the \'rats nest\' is to go turbo charging - so unless you\'ve considering this path the best thing to do is just tidy up, clean up & paint up.
I wanna use something like this to remove whats left of the rats nest.....
(http://www.kpperformance.com.au/images/products/THIDA503.jpg)
:3gears-rh :Laugh
Nice piece of kit there Steve - is this one of the famous Webers\'s?
Close, but no cigar.
They are throttle bodies, that fit on to the Weber IDA manifold. So should get all the top end of the Webers, but with tune-ability for cruise, cold starts and idle that fuel injection offers :)
Throttle Bodies will be coooooool. They make such a good raspy noise!
Quote from: Steve-A;766216Thanks guys :)
It\'s very flattering that you all seem to think its looking so good. I can assure you it wont look that good for long, as its gonna get driven, lots and lots!
Personally I was getting a little disappointed by how cluttered the engine bay was looking with the loom reinstalled and all the vac hoses and stuff running about the place. I think I just got used to seeing it without that lot! :P
once you drop the nikki carb, you\'ll lose most of it... I cut all the redundant wires out of my loom and only had 5 or 6 left, plus a couple of crankcase breathers....
looks much better and less to go wrong
Sounds more like it Ian :) There\'s plenty of wires I can cut out already, but I\'m leaving them in till I\'ve seen it run, easier to cut afterwards than put wires back in!
Quote from: Steve-A;766327Sounds more like it Ian :) There\'s plenty of wires I can cut out already, but I\'m leaving them in till I\'ve seen it run, easier to cut afterwards than put wires back in!
Quite right, you really need to strip the binding off the loom and trace each individual wire as some link together out of sight inside the binding and what seems obvious can be misleading.
Best thing to do is get a spare series 2 engine loom and strip that..... you can then just swap it for your standard loom when you are happy with it.
You only need oil pressure, sump oil level, water temp no.1, water temp no2. and the alternator. When I did mine, I ran the wiring for the ignition retard system for the turbo as well plus another spare wire in case I needed it in the future.. even so, the loom was really minimal and neat...... well worth doing just to lose all the old solenoid feeds that went to the rats nest and the carb.
here\'s my new loom... now fitted and working fine...
http://www.rx7fb.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=93&start=10
.
Ah that looks much more like it :)
While I\'m in here and thinking of loom, can anyone tell me where exactly the main engine earth attaches to the block? I\'ve forgotten! I figure its on one of the starter motor bolts?
Quote from: Steve-A;766276Close, but no cigar.
They are throttle bodies, that fit on to the Weber IDA manifold. So should get all the top end of the Webers, but with tune-ability for cruise, cold starts and idle that fuel injection offers :)
I\'ve never really been into changing carb bits but I\'m learning slowly with you experts in this field - so maybe just a butt end? :rollin
Quote from: Ian65;766338Quite right, you really need to strip the binding off the loom and trace each individual wire as some link together out of sight inside the binding and what seems obvious can be misleading.
Best thing to do is get a spare series 2 engine loom and strip that..... you can then just swap it for your standard loom when you are happy with it.
You only need oil pressure, sump oil level, water temp no.1, water temp no2. and the alternator. When I did mine, I ran the wiring for the ignition retard system for the turbo as well plus another spare wire in case I needed it in the future.. even so, the loom was really minimal and neat...... well worth doing just to lose all the old solenoid feeds that went to the rats nest and the carb.
.
I might be in a position to help you out with the wiring loom Steve - I\'ve just bought a load of electric parts on eBay tonight and who knows ... there might be something in this lot.
Mazda RX7 1982
Most of the electrical Parts
Lights (front & rear)
Heater
Windscreen Wiper
Wiring Loom
Other odd trim parts
Hopefully collecting next weekend so I\'ll let you know what I find.[/COLOR][/FONT]
Cliff
If theres an ignition switch in that lot, I\'ll bite your hand off for it! I stood on mine by accident a couple of days ago, and I cant get it to work right since
:Hammer:Hammer:Hammer
Hi Steve.
Did I gather that you have an S2 Radiator and Oil cooler going spare? I am a bit worried about mine so I would be most interested in taking them off your hands.
drop me a line at: john at jaccltd dot co dot uk (or 01865 383800) with a price?
Also, I shall be driving through Malvern this afternoon. If you see Miss January give me a wave!
john
Hi John
I\'ve only got the radiator, my s2 oil cooler was dead. The radiator is free to a good home. :) In fact I\'ll swap it for a passenger ride in the Elford :P
I\'m working in Leamington today, I\'ll be back in Malvern for about 7:30 tonight if you\'re still about t pick it up?
Quote from: Steve-A;766456Hi John
I\'ve only got the radiator, my s2 oil cooler was dead. The radiator is free to a good home. :) In fact I\'ll swap it for a passenger ride in the Elford :P
I\'m working in Leamington today, I\'ll be back in Malvern for about 7:30 tonight if you\'re still about t pick it up?
Thanks Steve. That would be great.
A ride in Miss January? Anytime....
However. I hope to be coming back through Malvern at nearer 5pm than 7:30, but you never know... Drop me an e-mail with your contact details? (I am not a "real" member so you can\'t PM me...) or give me a ring.
Apart from that I could come over pretty much anytime (apart from tomorrow morning when I have a meeting at Birmingham Business Park, yawn).
John
Quote from: Steve-A;766446If theres an ignition switch in that lot, I\'ll bite your hand off for it! I stood on mine by accident a couple of days ago, and I cant get it to work right since
:Hammer:Hammer:Hammer
If there\'s one in it Steve - your name will be written all over it (no worries). Finally got a nickname for you too mate - BIGFOOT:rollin or perhaps RESTO MAN is more apt.
Quote from: johnnyboy;766455Hi Steve.
Did I gather that you have an S2 Radiator and Oil cooler going spare? I am a bit worried about mine so I would be most interested in taking them off your hands.
drop me a line at: john at jaccltd dot co dot uk (or 01865 383800) with a price?
Also, I shall be driving through Malvern this afternoon. If you see Miss January give me a wave!
john
Hi John - see you\'re on the look out for a rad & oil cooler.I just missed out on both of these (as a pair) last night on eBay However there was a set which didn\'t sell a few days earlier, try this link as the seller might re-list it (Bristol. Avon area) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170644986856&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT Cliff
Quote from: Steve-A;766340Ah that looks much more like it :)
While I\'m in here and thinking of loom, can anyone tell me where exactly the main engine earth attaches to the block? I\'ve forgotten! I figure its on one of the starter motor bolts?
On an S3 it goes on one of the bellhousing bolts if thats any help.
Cheers Tim :)
I\'ve got it on the bell housing bolt thats long and goes through the starter too for now. Seems to be ok.
Will do a proper update later/tomorrow but tried to start her yesterday, and she\'s not running right. Its to be expected, I\'ve got a few gremlins to chase, I think I\'ve got a bad earth somewhere as the left headlight motor works fine but the right headlight will go up, but wont go down. I\'ve also got all the warning lights on the dash, e.g. water and oil level, even though I\'ve checked them loads of time and both are full.
All the warning lights? Might be the \'Choke and Check\' Relay stuck Steve. That\'s the bright metal \'U\' shaped can relay on the Nearside inner wing, fastened on together with another relay or two.
Can be opened and contacts cleaned if you\'re careful. Just a standard relay inside.
Cheers David,Yes it is all the warning lights. I\'ll check that out :)
so have you got her all put back together?
be interesting to see and hear her running, get some vids made :)
has the project been expensive, after seeing that elford turbo for under a grand and she is on the road etc you wonder how much you should invest in these little cars.
can you also tell me how wide your fb is in feet? i was measuring the width of the garage today with me feet, trying to plan out space for two cars if i can fit them in as my garage is aout 16 feet wide.
cheers
that Elford was only so cheap because it was so far off the beaten track...
it would have made that money for a n/a car if it had been more accessible.
you can\'t really put a price on Steves car that would account for the amount of time and effort he\'s put into it but it isn\'t about money.... it\'s about Steve ending up with the car he wants and having seen it for myself and the work he\'s done to it, it\'s going to be a really special FB by the time it\'s finally finished....
Restoring cars is pricey... but the satisfaction of knowing it\'s done right is priceless
Wouldn\'t say edinburgh is off the beaten track as where I am they are quite rare and would command more money and not be as good as that one. I doubt the location should affect prices. (looking forward to hearing more about this car\'s condition etc to get an idea of why that price.)
I know its not about the money for Steve\'s car, just asking him how much it would likely cost to restore one of these cars (depending on work needed of course) but there are areas where rust affects these cars, mostly underneath and the electrical and engine work etc. All the areas where you need to look and costs of repairing the areas.
I have been told a car for £2000 will be one to go for as it would cost alot to restore them, and lately I have seen MOT on the road examples going for around the £800-£1000 price. So I am wondering has the interest dropped in fb\'s lately for them to be dropping in price?
Quote from: spoddy;766962Wouldn\'t say edinburgh is off the beaten track as where I am they are quite rare and would command more money and not be as good as that one. I doubt the location should affect prices.
So I am wondering has the interest dropped in fb\'s lately for them to be dropping in price?
Location does have an affect on the price.
Prices have been stable for ages, I got a rotten S1 with a rebuilt engine on e-bay 3 years ago for £200, it would probably do the same money today. Taxed and MOT\'d cars have been available for less than a grand for a good while. My car was £1600 4years ago, another e-bay moment.
Keith...
I know a couple of guys who were interested in this car but wouldn\'t go all the way to Scotland... in the south this car would have made plenty more.
Same with that white Elford turbo I bought from Truro... that would have made double what I paid for it if it hadn\'t been at the end of the world. Loads wanted it and they all said.. Truro?... s*d that!
Prices haven\'t moved for a long time... Sub 1000 cars will need work although remember that silver s3 last month that made £2500 and was a bit rusty and the red Elford that he wanted £2500 and needed a new door...
Price isn\'t neccessarily a good indication of condition.
Quote from: Ian65;766946Restoring cars is pricey... but the satisfaction of knowing it\'s done right is priceless
This is the truth. There\'s nothing like knowing you\'d had every single nut and bolt off the car and accessed whether you\'re happy to put it back on, or if it needs replacing.
To put rough figures on it Spoddy, Rexanne was £280 from ebay this time last year when my friend Ross bought her. After he\'d bought a bunch of service items and put some time into her I paid £350 for her at the start of this project. I then set myself a budget of around £3,000 to get her on the road, restored with upgraded brakes and suspension.
I\'ve not added it up properly, just seen the dent in my savings account. I daren\'t work out how many hundreds I\'ve spent at places like Halfords on small things like how I\'ve been through quite a few rolls of masking tape, sand paper, wire brushes, grinding discs, cans of paint, cleaning products etc etc. Each item is only £5 or so, but I\'ve probably spent £30 a week on small items like that since I started in October.
So going over my initial budget will be all the costs incurred in body work and a new windscreen.
And to top that all off, this is only meant to be the first stage!
Quoteso have you got her all put back together?
be interesting to see and hear her running, get some vids made
She\'s no more together than in the last bunch of pics. I\'ll write up properly in the morning whats gone on with trying to start her, and I\'ll post videos when I\'m happy she\'s running right :P
ok, so when you all say location does have an affect on price, is it down to the number of these cars per location? ie maybe not as big a interest in scotland, smaller number of cars and they sold them more england, larger number? you\'d think exculsive cars would make more though but maybe its the interest in them.
when you say you know guys who wouldn\'t travel to scotland to buy the car, was it the transport costs in getting it back to where they lived which put them off, as i am talking more about the value of the car itself.
this isn\'t the correct thread to talk about fb prices i suppose, as there is the one about fb\'s still running which lists fb\'s that are for sale, so i\'ll not continue in here and disrupt steve\'s posts, sorry steve :)
i am new to fb\'s and get various opinions on how much to spend on one, but your knowledge of fb\'s is great to have and a good guide as to how much you should pay and have in reserve to restore the car to the way you want it.
my grandfather said you\'ll never have money in your pocket when you have a car, that was a good 30 or more years ago and it hasn\'t changed today. the good thing is that you\'ll have put her back with new parts which will last you years and years, just like having a new car again.
can\'t wait for the vids to hear her and see you smoke up those rear tyres lol.
So to write up whats happened this weekend....
On friday I spent some time in the morning preparing to start the engine. I connected up the last sections of loom, I filled the gearbox with oil, I filled the engine with oil, I filled the cooling system with coolant and finally put some petrol in the tank!
Seeing as my ignition switch was broken, I knocked up a quick switch board just so I can test the engine and electrics in the garden. p.s. anyone got an s2 ignition switch? The key and lock are fine, just the actual electrical section that it turns is broken. Whilst my bodge-up works, its not great for security!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1347.jpg)
Turning the ignition on for the first time produced a few problems:
• Fuel gauge isn\'t working - its did before I took the car to bits
• Radios working but tape player isn\'t - again it worked before
• All the warning lights were on the dash and wouldn\'t go out when turning car over.
• The left headlight goes up and down, the right will only go up. If I manually wind it down, it will go up again, but not down, again it worked before!
All of which will be fixable and I guess are usual niggles. The warning lights did in fact seem to fix them selves, after I\'d turned it on and off a few times, maybe as David suggested, the relay was a bit sticky. The handbrake switch isn\'t working still though.
I cranked it with the ignition off, till I saw oil pressure, all was looking good. A quick check under the bonnet showed I\'d forgotten to do up one of the oil cooler lines more than finger tight, so after a quick wipe up and oil top up we were looking good once more. :)
So ignition on, fuel pump on and fuel started pouring straight through the carb, as if both floats were stuck. :(
At this point John turned up with his Elford and my friend Dan and I went off for a ride in it and to chat cars for a couple of hours. Which was nice :)
When we got back we switched the fuel pump back on and all was well! No fuel pouring! I\'ve had that problem before with filling empty float bowls on my motorbike, I wonder if with the floats hanging down so low the valve is wide open and the fuel pours in so fast it overpowers them, and they can\'t close, but then switching off the pump allows them to close then they operate normally. Any ideas on this one?
So with the carb appearing to be working, Dan grabbed the camera and I hit the button!
:( It didn\'t wanna go, it really struggled to start then ran very poorly, but ran much better when revved up a bit. Dan and I spent a while messing with the carb, after the earlier float problem we guessed it was the root of the problem. As time was getting on a bit, and we felt it was time to stop revving a rotary engine with a straight through exhaust for the sake of the neighbours, we came to the conclusion that it wasn\'t the carb but the timing. Tweaking the dizzy on its adjustment towards being more retarded seemed to offer an improvement but still not right.
Saturday morning I had 1/2 an hour spare, so re-stabbed the dizzy a tooth more retarded and adjusted on its slider back to where the marks were from before.
She fired right up! :D:D See video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4lz3gecTew
I wasn\'t expecting it as such, so wasn\'t prepped with camera, so the first clip is on part choke and the 2nd when warmed up. She fired right up and ran pretty much normally, which is a really good sign.
The idle is slightly loopy, which whilst sounding quite nice shouldn\'t be the case on a stock port! My task when I get to work on her next is to get the timing light out and dial the timing in properly, adjust the throttle pump (you can hear it stumble away from idle a bit in the video), and adjust the idle. I tried playing with the idle air and mixture a little on saturday but it didn\'t seem todo much. Possibly the primary throttle stop needs adjusting, so its idling on the main circuit or maybe there\'s an air leak somewhere.
Finally I have a bit of a confession to make. When I was cleaning up the intake manifold I went over it with a grinding bit on my drill, just taking off casting marks, lumps, etc. It seemed to do my s4 6 port intake quite a lot of good, so I figured it would make sense. I also port matched the secondaries and figured it couldn\'t hurt to open up the primaries a bit……:o:o:Hammer:Hammer
I\'ve since read people saying that if you port match the primaries, which are about 1/2 the size of the ports on the block standard, then you\'ll kill the idle and cruise performance. I didn\'t fully match them, but I did pretty much split the difference between their stock size and the block. I thought it would allow them to flow better up top and by not going wild it hopefully wouldn\'t hurt the low end too much.
So that could well be the root of my idle issue, time will tell! :)
Fantastic news mate. First start-up is always a milestone and a big incentive for project completion. Keep up the great work!
Well done Steve. Nice to see the old girl running again even if it is with a few little niggles. Im sure you\'ll have them sorted soon enough anyway.
Ade
great stuff steve, she looks fantastic without the wings :)
love the black against the gold in the engine bay, that was a good shout to keep it black.
this car is gonna be the dogs allright. you\'ll get your reward for all your hard work you have put in.
makes you think what you can do if you put your mind to it and how great these wee cars are to work on. why can\'t mazda bring the fb back as the new rx7 with a modern version of the lines. they look so beautiful, i\'d be happy keeping that original shape.
Cheers guys :)
This afternoon/evening I got a fair few on those niggles from yesterday worked out.
First up, I checked out the fuel gauge, earthing the connector at the tank, it seems the gauge works, so either my senders stopped working in the 9 months since it last had a decent amount of petrol in it, or the 10L I put in isn\'t enough to register! Time will tell.
Next up I fiddled with the handbrake and radio, the handbrake just had a dirty switch and the cassette player must have got a bit confused! I wound the tape back and forwards a bit and it jumped into life!
The headlight problem turned out to be a fractured wire somewhere in the loom, so I just split off the feed for the left hand light and hey presto, working lights! Was a bit fiddly but nice to get sorted.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0243.jpg)
Next up I put the air box on, I decided the grey and glitter wasn\'t working how I\'d like so just gave it a quick coat of black, which actually sits in the engine bay quite nicely.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0245.jpg)
In this photo you can also see the timing light in the foreground, that was my next move. My by ear timing adjustment yesterday was about 5 degrees retarded from where the manual suggests it should be. At some stage I will take a little time to mark up the pully so I can accurately check out the timing at 4k when the mechanical advance has maxed out, but for now this timing adjustment has made quite a difference to how she\'s running.
With the timing set right and the air box on the idle mixture and speed screws seemed to respond more how I expected them to, and I got a nice settled 750rpm idle sorted. :)
Here\'s a quick clip of how it\'s sounding now. Much smoother idle and revving from idle more cleanly. There\'s a little steam in the video, which is water i\'d split on the rad while topping up the expansion tank just boiling away. The stat, which is new, had only just opened so engine temps were fine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpvy8TDxUYs
With pretty much all of yesterdays niggles fixed, I got round to finally fitting the good wing.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0248.jpg)
I think I might need some arch work!!!!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0249.jpg)
I\'m gonna push on and get the other wing welded up asap, I\'ll be interested to see how that wheel sits, as my temporary strut on the drivers side is an s1 and it looks like the stub axel might be slightly different to the s2 as I appear to have more positive camber on the drivers side right now.
I may end up holding off on the arch work till I\'ve got my proper struts back from GAZ.
yeah dirty switches and old wiring, typical.
but you could get your fb to wink at people when they give it admiring glances lol.
she looks like she rolled off the production line, think you need more gold in the engine though ;)
Good job :)
Pop pop pop pop :-) always puts a smile on my face
Got a bit done last night / today between the showers. :)
My basic list before MOT is:
• Front bodywork metalwork & assembly
• Brakes refurb
• Fit coilovers when they come back from GAZ
• Windscreen / A pillar
• Paintwork
That said paintwork is kinda optional!
So I thought I\'d start at the top of the list, and attack the rotten front wing. This is where I started....
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0259.jpg)
So I got busy with the grinder and cut the rot out.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0261.jpg)
First up I make up a section to weld in for the front corner, as it was easier! I welded it in from behind so I could leave the welds proud and not have some much grinding to d from the front side to clean it up.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0262.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0264.jpg)
The rear section of wing would be much trickier. I really need more proper metal working tools. With the help of a vice, a couple of blocks of wood and a pair of hammers I roughed out the shape I needed to fit. Here it is about halfway through the shaping.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0266.jpg)
Then I put the wing on the car and tacked it on while in place, to make sure it went on straight.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0288.jpg)
Then I took the wing off the car and seam welded it from the inside, as with the front corner.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0293.jpg)
It\'s a little lumpy, but once skimmed with filler and painted it will be at least close and should stand up to the \'looks good from 6ft away\' test :P
Finally I put some stone chip on the inside of the wing, and it\'s now drying till I next get to fit it!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0297.jpg)
road worthiness is getting closer now Steve... looking ( and sounding) good!
It\'s getting there isn\'t it :)
Should be close to my target of getting to Beaulieu.
Quote from: Steve-A;767623It\'s getting there isn\'t it :)
Should be close to my target of getting to Beaulieu.
I hope you make it to Beaulieu! I\'ll be ready with my camera taking a few hundred pictures to keep up the inspiration to get "Kimi" into something half as presentable as yours is looking, hopefully for Rotorstock!
Keep up that fantastic quality of work.
Cheers Casey :) I look forward to meeting you there then! If Rexanne isn\'t ready, I\'m gonna take my mums mx5 down.
Spent some time on her this afternoon. The main bit of progress was to assemble her face!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0310.jpg)
Took a surprising amount of time to get it all lined up right, I think someones had a gentle shunt at some stage. The metal work inside the front bumper is a little bent and there\'s a few bits of gold overspray about the place.
I decided not to refit the front fog lights that were on her when I got her, they aren\'t really in keeping with the rest of the car or the look I\'m going for. Likewise I\'ve removed the headlight washers and all associated cables/hoses.
I\'ve never had head light washers, and never felt the need, so can save a little weight there.
I also didn\'t put any of the under carpet sound deadening and insulation back in when I did the interior. I\'ll probably remove the rear window wiper and washer system at some stage too, but it can stay for now. It\'ll probably go when the interior goes.
While I was working on the body I gave the under tray a quick once over, wire brushing the worst of the rust off and then a few coats of hammerite to keep it functional for a bit.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0314.jpg)
Finally for now I\'ve made a start on re-furbing the brakes.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0305.jpg)
They are pretty full of dirt and crap, there was plenty of scum and debris in the brake fluid that came out of them. The good news is that all 4 pistons looks in pretty good condition really, so a quick clean up and polish and they\'ll be good to go. The callipers themselves will be cleaned, painted and have new seals fitted, probably during the evenings this coming week.
Dad\'s taken the rear discs to work to have one of their machinists have a look at them and a go at skimming them. :) I did start to have a go myself, but my lack of lathe experience started to show and before I messed anything up I thought I\'d get someone who knows what they are doing to sort it out!
Along the same lines, of letting professionals sort some bits out, I was hoping to make up my own lower rear radius arms with the help of Bill, but he\'s so busy with work right now I feel quite mean asking him to do more metal work and machining in his own time! So today I bit the bullet and ordered the re-speed lower arms (pictured), along with a double alternator pulley. I had been put off the rose joints for a road car by what I\'ve read on the net, but having been in a car with a couple of rose joined links in the front suspension it really didn\'t seem too bad.
(http://mrcmfg.com/catalog/images/reararms.jpg)
steve, looking really good.
did you respray the panels before putting back on, as in the pics they look very tidy?
are you going to sell your light washers on, if you don\'t need them.
i haven\'t an fb yet and not sure if the one i have been offered has them, its a series 3 so dunno if they all had them fitted.
i kinda like wee features such as light washers, i have them on my rx8. but to be honest they\'re just a gimmick as in the 8 they work when you pull the stalk (for more than 2 secs) for the windscreen if you have the head lights switched on.
but she looks like a car again which is great. gold looks really nice in the fb and keeping the fog lights off sounds a good idea.
not long to go now then for its MOT and your back on the road :)
great progress now Steve.... shaping up well.
If you use a brake kit from Biggred, make sure you keep the rubber part circled in this pic from the front calipers as it\'s not included and you need to reuse your own... I presume for the back as well.
I just ripped mine out to clean up and paint the caliper and then realised afterwards ( when the kit came) that I should had kept them... luckily the rotashed boasted some spares!
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/gsxrmovistar1/cal.jpg)
How do the radius arms work with the polys? or don\'t they?
Cheers for the heads up Ian! I almost pulled one of those out earlier, but then thought \'nah don\'t get stuck into that now\' and left it. Good job!
Those lower arms require no bushes. The spherical bearings allow the movement. Being bearings they mean a more free movement, and will twist by 30+ degrees before binding at all. It\'s the \'race car\' option, as there is zero flex in the system, which hold the geometry more accurately. The down side is they need greasing, and will wear and deform slightly with impact which can lead to them being quite rattly after a few thousand miles. I guess I\'ll just see how it goes.
Quote from: spoddy;768329steve, looking really good.
did you respray the panels before putting back on, as in the pics they look very tidy?
are you going to sell your light washers on, if you don\'t need them.
i haven\'t an fb yet and not sure if the one i have been offered has them, its a series 3 so dunno if they all had them fitted.
i kinda like wee features such as light washers, i have them on my rx8. but to be honest they\'re just a gimmick as in the 8 they work when you pull the stalk (for more than 2 secs) for the windscreen if you have the head lights switched on.
but she looks like a car again which is great. gold looks really nice in the fb and keeping the fog lights off sounds a good idea.
not long to go now then for its MOT and your back on the road :)
Sorry mate, missed this comment before.
I\'ve resprayed nothing yet. I\'ve just chucked some grey/white primer on the fresh metal. On the whole the paint work is good, just a few corners here and there where its rotted through from the inside. So I\'m hoping to just respray small sections.
I think I\'m a bit broken sometimes, as I get kinda attached to the ratty used and abused look. I almost prefer the back of the cars looks with the bumper missing :P
I believe headlight washers were standard on all s1, s2 and s3 rx7s, so you\'ll have them :)
Headlight washers on series 2 & series 3 cars.... and 99% break when removing them
Mine didn\'t break :) so if anyone needs head light washers, or washer motor, or washer reservoir or some 90\'s style frot fog lights youre welcome to them!
Quote from: Steve-A;768424Mine didn\'t break :) so if anyone needs head light washers, or washer motor, or washer reservoir or some 90\'s style frot fog lights youre welcome to them!
I\'ll take the headlamp washer jets off you Steve please... I\'ll PM you
Hi Steve - just catching up with you.
Really pleased for you with the way Rexanne is developing and turning out. Those niggles you had with initial starting of engine are typical but as ever you have managed to ovvercome them - no surprise there then.
I like the way you have managed to adapt the ignition wiring but somehow i don\'t think this is going to catch on.
Here I might have the answer you are looking for, I\'m looking for a good home for the item in the following pics - let me know what you think mate?
That looks like just the man for the job Cliff! I\'ll PM you :)
Sorted mate - you\'ll have this asap.
Cliff
:cheers
Missed out on your washer jets so I\'ve just done a deal with pete markin on his.
Posted Steve - I\'ve sent you a PM.
Thank you Cliff :)
looking good Steve but you are making me look lazy!
Haha cheers mate :P
Hopefully in a few weeks I\'ll be too busy driving it to do any work on it and will slow the pace a bit :3gears-rh:3gears-rh:3gears-rh
i wanna an fb to fix up lol :(
she looks great in gold, it\'ll be nice to sit back and put your feet up, with the satisfaction job well done!
lucky duck :Laugh
There are plenty around Spoddy - get lookin & bite the bullet mate. Check other thread for cars available.
Yes Steve - keeping fingers crossed that you\'ll be enjoying the fruits of your labour very soon. Does this mean the 2nd car will be up for sale or perhaps another engine transfer on the cards ??? :Hammer
ps - received - ta
The Alfa will be up for sale within days of getting the FB on the road. She\'s been a good work horse, but I can\'t afford to insure two cars. As soon as the FB is on the road the Alfa will be un-insured so will just sit on the drive till its bought.
Selling the Alfa should fund a sensible motorbike, so I\'ll have mode of transport with good fuel economy. That said I keep looking at my poor old RGV, and knowing what I\'ve been through with Rexanne it looks like it\'d take about a week for fully restore that. Not many bits to do on a bike!
I have in fact got little done on Rexanne today because I spent all evening working on the RGV giving her some much needed TLC. (and playing with some nigh time photography!)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/IMG_0343.jpg)
I\'ll get another Alfa one day, it\'s on my to do list, just want one about 25 years older than than my current one :P
The bike resto sounds a good option there Steve - nothing too much to cause you any major long term issues and less likely to break the bank too.
As for the Alfa .... hmmmmm, I think the question here might be \'how much do you like this particular model?\', does it tweek your buttons sufficiently to want to keep it for the next 25 years in dry or dryish storage so that you can simply roll it out in a quarter century with an instant classic car to adorn with lots of tlc and a bucket load of dosh? If not, just sell it on and splash the cash elsewhere and enjoy life - we\'re only young once afterall!:rollin
This Alfas going for sure. :)
A 60s alfa is on the \'cars I must own in my life\' list, but I\'ve done the 90s Alfa thing now, and ready to move on!
Good for you mate! :Thumbs-up
Steve - I\'ve sent you a PM & I have the piece ready & waiting, just let me know.
:cheers
I\'ve grabbed a few hours here and there this week to get the brake callipers rebuilt. Here\'s what I started with.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0299.jpg)
One disassembled it was clear just how dirty they were under the seals too.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0318.jpg)
So time for a clean up, here I\'ve wire brushed the calliper bodies and polished the pistons.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0321.jpg)
Before painting in brake calliper paint, that shouldn\'t melt with brake fluid....
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0327.jpg)
Unfortunately, it wasn\'t as good as it said on the tin... quite a bit of paint came off where it got covered in brake fluid during the re-assembly process. After a couple of hours fiddling with the new seals they are all back together.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0366.jpg)
Cliff has very kindly sent me an ignition switch to replace my smashed one. As ever it wasn\'t plug and play though. The spring mechanism between the IGN and START positions on my s2 was contained within the electrical switch. In the switch Cliff sent there\'s no spring, nor any place for one to go, so in my car the key could flop about and keep hitting the starter. I guess if I left it like that it\'d have died the first time it fired the starter solenoid when the engines at 6k!
So I\'ve modified the switch so it can only go as far as IGN and wired my starter button in and mounted it where the un-used electric mirrors switch goes. I\'m quite pleased as it looks fairly OEM.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0371.jpg)
Finally, in not very exciting news, I\'ve mounted some cheap-ish replacement speakers, as the original ones had died.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0375.jpg)
The front 10cm speakers dropped right in. The rears were a little bit of a faff as ever because to fit a standard size 17cm speaker I had to do a little cutting and drill some new holes.
I\'ve spoken withGAZ and I\'m expecting my coilovers at the end of the month/early july. So getting to Beaulieu is gonna be tight!
nice work steve, i was going to say to you when you were setting up your temp starting button, to put one of those push button starter buttons on the dash, as although not original, looks cool.
as long as she starts and keeps going, hopefully you\'ll get her finshed and MOT\'d soon so you can still make it, lucky you boys can go to a garage for an MOT I have to book in weeks in advance at one of our government centres.
Once again progress has been a little slow these last few days. It feels like the chances of getting her to Beaulieu on the 10th are slowly slipping away.:( Ah well, I\'d rather not rush the end of 8 months hard work and make a mess of it. In the big scheme of things if it takes another couple of weeks to get it on the road it\'s not the end of the world.
At the moment there seem to be lots of little jobs that take a long time to fix that need doing. A good example was that my reversing lights weren\'t working, I traced it to a dodgy connection where the gearbox sensor joins the wiring loom, but it took me a good couple of hours by the time i\'d jacked the car up and worked through the other options.
I\'ve now cleaned and painted the brake calliper carriers, so the brakes are ready to be assembled onto the car. While I was at it I cut off the rusted away remains of the dust shields from the front brake brackets and painted them too.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0408.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0411.jpg)
Something I noticed was that theres a small gap between the dust shield and bracket, which had filled with mud and was retaining moisture. The dust shields themselves were rotten through in many places and the rot was starting to swell the bracket themselves in a couple of places. In the big scheme of things once I\'d wire wheeled the rot off, the brackets were fine. Maybe one to watch out for the future though, on cars that are getting a bit rotten. Brake callipers rotting off would be pretty unsafe!
I\'ve had my rear discs skimmed and my front brake disks and set of new pads all round have arrived. I\'m just waiting on my brake lines now then I can assemble the complete brake system.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0421.jpg)
I spent quite a lot of time over the weekend building this:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1368.jpg)
I do like being able to weld! It still needs a little refinement but its working, £0 and a few hours of spare time is much nicer than paying £250+ for an arch roller from a shop.
I gave the rear drivers arch a bit of a test roll. The paint is already destroyed so if I got it a bit wrong and it needed some paint/filling it wouldn\'t matter. It gave me about another 2" of suspension travel on these tyres before hitting the arch. It doesn\'t look like it in the photo but the wheel still span freely here, without scrubbing!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0427.jpg)
Either way I\'m glad to have some fractionally narrower, lower profile tyres winging their way to me. Frustratingly I didn\'t spot that when I ordered my new tyres online that they\'d take a week to deliver. This is gonna hold me up a bit as there\'s little point properly rolling the arches till I\'ve got the proper tyres to check for clearance. Would be soul destroying to do all the filler and paint only to find I\'ve gotta start again as it still scrubs!
The weather looks a bit iffy and not very paint suitable for the next few days, so when I\'ve got a little time I\'m gonna make a start on the A pillar. Then I\'ve got the joy of finding a new windscreen!
Do you figure on not replacing the dust shields Steve?
Will the MOT man comment? I always thought that one day (faraway yet) I\'d have to get some new shields or get some fabbed up.
The guy Dave, near Cliff, who bought the Devon Silver S2 a few months back has this problem now and he was trying to seek out a fab shop to deal with it.
I have no plan to replace the dust shields. The big brake kits companies like hi-spec make, and the re-speed FC kit both often do away with the dust shields, so I figured it wasn\'t a problem.
It has been pointed out to me that the dust shields also channel cold air to the brakes, so I will need to fit some ducting to do this.
If it came to it I could soon knock something up to satisfy the MOT man :)
I could be wrong but I\'m sure you can get them from Mazda for not mega money.
Cheers for the heads up mate, I\'ll check with Mazda before buying any from anywhere else. :)
I\'ve had a good couple of days to work on the FB this week, no major progress but some time consuming tasks done!
Following on from my last post, I was feeling brave so attacked the A pillar.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0433.jpg)
Here I\'ve cut out the rot. It appears to have been rotting from the outside in, and was only really perilously thin exactly where I poked the screw driver!
I made up a new piece and welded it in. In order to not melt the window seal I had to weld a spot, then quickly cool it, then do the next spot. It was very time consuming, but I\'m glad I\'ve managed to repair it without damaging the glass or window seal.
Where I\'ve cleaned up the welds, I have cut away at the some of the excess window sealant a little, but I can\'t see it having any impact on the sealing of the glass at all or it\'s strength.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0434.jpg)
After that I put some paint on the bare metal, and some sealer on it.
While I\'m waiting for parts to arrive there was little else mechanical I could do, so I stated on the paint. One of my mistakes early on was to not protect my paint from metal dust. The metal dust has stuck to the paint and made it feel very rough, and is rusting leaving orange patches.
According to the internet and friends who actually enjoy cleaning their cars, clay is the right product. So I went out and bought some and I\'m impressed. On the left of this photo is the paintwork as clean as I could get it with car shampoo and a sponge. On the right of the photo is a section I\'ve clayed.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0435.jpg)
After a couple of hours the rear quarter was looking very shiny!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0436.jpg)
Over the course of thursday evening and friday morning I did the whole car, I think it took over 8 hours all in :s
On friday the post man brought me these!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0443.jpg)
So I got them fitted up and them got to work with the arch roller. Three of the arches rolled fine, besides some paint flaking. The paint that flaked was already shot to be fair. Here\'s the drivers rear arch.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0450.jpg)
The rear axel will now tuck up till the watts link hits the body. I\'ve rolled the lips and pulled the rear arches by about 10mm. On the fronts I\'ve rolled the lips and pulled them by more like 15mm and it\'s still very close, but I\'m sure it\'ll be fine once I\'ve got a little more camber going on.
Unfortunately the passengers rear arch didn\'t fair so well. This was the most rotten of the arches, and I\'d already replaced much of the arch lip. When I started trying to pull it, it tried to split and wouldn\'t go very smooth. Some work with hammers later and it\'s gonna be ok, will need much more time shaping and smoothing than the other though.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0451.jpg)
With the arches, pulled and the tyres fitted and the paint clean, she\'s looking really good for herself.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0447.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0454.jpg)
In a way its a shame the rest of the paint is so good as I quite like a bit of patina and would happily rock the \'rat\' look, but aside from the areas in primer the rest of the paint is really good! There\'s nothing worse than fake patina, so I guess I\'ll have to try and make her look good :P
The post man had even more things for me this morning, so could be a busy weekend.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0458.jpg)
Looking good Steve, I like the look of the ride height.
Dibs
Cheers Dibs :)
One thing I forgot to put in that post is that the rear should be staying about that high, and the front will come down fractionally when the coilovers are fitted, just to get the rake right.
that\'s looking superb Steve.... when you think back to what the car was like this time last year, what you\'ve done to it is sensational..... it\'s a credit to you!
Gob Smacked.....Great Stuff Steve. My Hero.
Niiiiice work! Look forward to seeing this beast on the road!
its been worth all those nights, freezing to bits, welding etc.
so who is gonna respray her for you? you gonna try it yourself or book her into a body shop?
Quote from: Steve-A;771561According to the internet and friends who actually enjoy cleaning their cars, clay is the right product. So I went out and bought some and I\'m impressed. On the left of this photo is the paintwork as clean as I could get it with car shampoo and a sponge. On the right of the photo is a section I\'ve clayed.
At the risk of looking a complete idiot..... whaddayamean "clay"???
Clay is what I have in the garden.... people make bricks and pottery out of it....
To make cars shiny I am used to words like "wet and dry" or "t-cut" or "Polish" or "elbow grease".... so where does "clay" come in?
John. (henceforward known as "out-of-date-and-behind-the-times-john")
Hi "out-of-date-and-behind-the-times-john". As someone else from the "T-Cit" era, and both showing our age....
I had never heard of this stuff either, until someone on the RX8 Owners Club introduced the Meguiars (Megs) range of cleaning products to me about 7 years ago. I\'m sure many other companies offer a "clay" product, but I\'ve used the Megs one for the past 7 years and it\'s really fantastic. Basically, the "clay" is a small bar of "Blu-tac" like stuff you rub over the paintwork in conjunction with a spray lubricant (a sophisticated soapy water solution). It is truely unbelievable to witness the paint "contaminents" that the process lifts off, sticking to the clay. The entire car can be done in about 30 minutes, if done regularly (I do mine 2-3 times a year), and it leaves a glassy smooth paint finish, ready for waxing. It can literally transform tired old paintwork. Megs also due some other "pre-treatments" that help to restore really bad paintwork.
I\'m sure the "Surf City" stuff that MRP sell can do an equally good job.
Highly recommended!
Posh blue tack and soapy water is a pretty good description I\'d say. :)
I was pretty dubious myself, but it was what friends and the internet said was the right man for the job. My paint surface felt like a piece of sand paper before I clayed it, there was so much metal dust stuck to it. After I\'d clayed it, it really did feel like glass. I\'m very impressed, and you can even use it on glass too!
I used a Mer kit, as it was available locally and was recommended by a friend.
It was a long tedious, time consuming job though, so next time I\'ll just protect my paint work before I do any metal work :P
Following on from the last photo in my previous update, I\'ve fitted the brake lines and callipers to the rear of the car.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0461.jpg)
Also pictured was a DIY windscreen chip repair kit. This is the worst of the chips I had to deal with
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0463.jpg)
And the results...
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0489.jpg)
This chip is the one, out of four, that repaired the least perfectly. Using the kit was a bit of a faff. It required both shade and direct sunlight for specific time frames, but with some help from a parasol I was able to follow the instructions exactly and it does seem to have worked. Either way time will tell what the MOT man says....
Ross came over to give me a hand. He\'s often joked about wanting to polish things, so I set him to work on my wheels. Here\'s a before an after.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0469.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0472.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0475.jpg)
While Ross was polishing I started on filling my front wing ready to paint.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0476.jpg)
I\'ve put a good few evening hours into it this week and the arch and front sections are starting to get pretty close, but the sill need some work!!!!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0491.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0493.jpg)
Actually trying to get paint to look nice is something new to me! I\'ve been painting things like my bmx and various car bits for years, but I\'ve not had to deal with smoothing out lumps and bumps. It\'s a long old learning curve, but hopefully starting with this wing off the car will make the panels on the car easier as I\'ve be practiced.
I\'ve been lucky enough to have all of today to work on the car, and what a lovely day it\'s been. First up I was bored with sanding filler, so I made up the brackets to mount my electric fan.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0487.jpg)
They are now painted black. The fan looks pretty small there, but its the same fan as I ran on a much smaller rad with my 13b 6 port, and had no cooling issues, so should be up to the job.
Still feeling apathetic about spending more time on the wing, I thought i\'d try out the paint i\'ve had mixed up. Here she is prepped and ready to go.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0494.jpg)
And with the paint on, it\'s a really good match, I\'m very pleased :)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0496.jpg)
It\'s ready for a wet sand and some lacquer now :)
It looks like the dream of getting to Beaulieu on the 10th is slipping away, as not only have I not heard back from GAZ yet but also the Canadian postal force have been on strike and some the parts I ordered from re-speed have been sat in their depot for over a fortnight now :Hammer
good work and a nice job with the chipped windscreen Gavin, er Steve!
haha, I imagine that repair was about a 10th the price of getting Gavin in :P Damn those adverts are annoying! It\'s all well and good saying \'its free if you\'ve got comprehensive insurance\' but I\'ve got no insurance on this right now, and even if I did take out a policy I can\'t see them being too pleased when I mysteriously chip my windscreen in 4 places hours after taking the policy out, hahaha.
very good steve, the chip looks so much better and if thats the worst of them, it really looks good. i doubt if those windscreen chip fixing professional methods would do much better. until nano technology is available then no way to rearrange moleculs lol to repair scratches etc.
one thing i wanted to ask, what air intake are you using, is it stock?
i was on ebay tonite looking at the K&N typhoon for my rx8, but alot of reviews say that the stock is better as the K&N one sucks in hot air, so you loose power as apposed to the stock as the air pipe goes into the air box from the bumper and so colder air gets in. the K&N sounds cool noise wise, but does not give you a significant difference in hp. i have been using the K&N stock replacement air filter, now i did notice an improvement over the stock, so are you using a stock air filter or an aftermarket one for your airbox which i think look cool in the blue :)
Cheers mate :)
I\'m running a stock intake for now. I\'m lead to believe that if you do want power from your air filter, then a replacement filter element that fits inside the original air box is best. It will draw cold air from the stock location, but flow more than the stock one. Either way I don\'t plan to have stock carb for long so its not a bit deal :P
Been a while since I updated on my progress. The reason for this is that there hasn\'t been thats much really :( A combination of working, weather and still waiting for parts to arrive in the post, has meant I can\'t actually do much.
Since last time, I got the fan controller all set-up, and checked that it cut in and out correctly. My mx5 fan had no problems keeping the coolant at a sensible temperature when I left it idling for half an hour.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0497.jpg)
Next up I painted up my windscreen trim.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0500.jpg)
And installed it. Here you can also see that the painting I did at the base of the windscreen has come out really well. I\'m very pleased.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0505.jpg)
After a week of sanding and filling and re-sanding I\'d finally got a shape I was happy with for the front wing.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0508.jpg)
So on with the colour coat.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0663.jpg)
Then the lacquer. Unfortunately for some, unknown to me, reason it reacted slightly with the colour on one section of the wing, leaving this striping.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0664.jpg)
I know it\'s only subtle, but after spending forever preping it, it was just disappointing. I have to admit I then got quite angry with it and the threw the lacquer can at the wing which left a dent :o I regained some control and started by back the top layre of lacquer, but the striping remained, so it must be how the lacquer took to the colour :(
So for now I\'ve got a slightly stripy wing, though to be fair it\'s not very noticeable on the car.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0693.jpg)
I never planned to build a show car, but I just want to be proud of what I\'ve done, and I\'m not happy with the zebra look!
Either way I\'ve now made a start on the shaping and filling round the boot hatch.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_0695.jpg)
I\'m hoping I can get hold of my suspension parts soon and get her on the road! I\'ve still got both rear arches and the valance to start on with cosmetics, and in a couple of weeks time I\'ll be able to properly polish up my painted sections and get them looking as shiny as the rest of the car.
Spraying is an art Steve, I once sprayed an old Austin A40 Hot Mustard. I panicked when it went stripey and ran out to hire some proper spray gear. Even then I think I still had to brush paint some of it.
It did another 20,000 miles or so afterwards as a runabout for me so in the end I was well pleased. Didn\'t go in for long haul runs in those days (no motorways). codge ramble, codge ramble....
Im scared I may jizz my pants when I see this around malvern! :P
Yeah, its a real art to paint stuff right. Every time I\'ve tried it I\'ve found another mistake I was making. If I can manage 20k in Rexanne on my home spray job I\'ll be quite happy :P
I\'ll have to make sure I don\'t drive past you then Hobbawobba or things might get embarrassing :rollin
So what have I been upto this past week? The answer is not that much on Rexanne. I had a weekend of days out and have been working some more in the week, so only grabbed moments here and there. Today I\'ve had most of the day to work on her and this is what I\'ve achieved...
I started by jumping in at the deep end with my dodgy rear wheel arch. First step was to strip the old paint back till I get to metal, instead of rust.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1406.jpg)
With the rust killer needing a number hours to do its work, I set about painting the area near the lower edge of the hatch.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1408.jpg)
This time I managed to get the lacquer right :) I think before I went on too heavy with the first coat of lacquer, instead of doing a \'fog\' coat. I borrowed a copy of the Haynes guide to bodywork a while ago, from a friend, but had only really skimmed it. It was there it suggested the super light coat, then give it just a couple of minutes before going in with a proper coat. Seemed to work.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1413.jpg)
You\'ll notice by the time I\'d taken the picture I\'d got the spoiler back on, and that I\'ve ditched the rear wiper. My Alfa hasn\'t got a rear wiper, and TBH I never wish I had one. So by removing the wiper and washer assembly thats saved me a little weight. It also means the old gas struts are strong enough to hold the hatch open now 8)
With the rust killer now dry I made a start on smoothing the wheel arch out.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1416.jpg)
So far so good, and hopefully this isn\'t going to take me as long as the front arch did.
Finally the postman came!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1411.jpg)
Woooo! Finally. Just waiting on my coilovers now, and I got an email from GAZ this morning saying they should be just a couple of days away.
Lastly for today I got the dual alternator pulley on. I\'m going to wait till I\'ve finished the arch work before I fit the lower arms.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1412.jpg)
Those 6 spoke rims, i really like them. What are they?
And that engine looks simply stunning! 8)
Cheers mate. :)
The 6 spoke wheels are SSR Longchamp XR4. As far as retro/vintage japanese wheels go they seem one of the more common designs, for good reason! I think they look great. :)
Hi, Im Ross and i approve of this thread update!...
Looking good now mate, cant wait for the weekend so i can pop by :-)
mate what awesome work you have done to the s2 well done!!
i wish i had the time and space to do something similar to mine!!
Cheer mates :)
Exciting times are afoot! :D
Yesterday evening I carried on smoothing out my rear passengers arch. It\'s by no means perfect, but it\'ll do for now. It\'s primed and ready to be wet sanded and have colour applied. :)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1431.jpg)
And then much more excitingly a big box was delivered today containing these....
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1434.jpg)
They look awesome and were well worth the wait. The fronts dropped in just fine, as I thought they would. The only issue is that the adjustable top mounts don\'t offer any castor adjustment, and are set slightly less than standard, so I guess I\'ll have to have a think about that.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2631.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2632.jpg)
The rears were always going to be 50/50 whether they\'d fit. GAZ said I\'d need a 3.5" diameter turret to fit the shocks into, and that last 4" of turret on the s2 is 4.5" x 3". To try and help this problem David at GAZ put an extension at the top of the shock as long as he dared, to try and bring it out to sit under the turret. As it stands now the extension has helped but the upper spring perch and last 1/2" inch of spring sits in the turret and rubs.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2633.jpg)
It does \'fit\' but rubbing against the chassis wont be good for the shock and will make a terrible noise! So the first thing I did was stretch the inner arch side of the turret out a little. It\'s only thin and basically cosmetic.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2635.jpg)
But its still rubbing on the other side, closer to the centre of the car.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2637.jpg)
Tim mentioned to me before that someone else with these shocks had to box out the shock turrets to get them to fit, and that is one option. On the other hand with the small stretch to the inner arch I\'ve made if I were to move the lower shock mount, on the axel, back and outwards by 10mm or so each way then it should clear the turret just fine.
Modifying the axel is way way way easier than boxing out that shock tower, and while I\'m at it I can make the damper mount a little more substantial now its taking the weight of the car.
I\'ve got some steel box section thats perfect for the job and some time tomorrow so watch this space!
Update time. This is whats I got upto over the weekend and a little from today.
As I said before the plan was to reposition the lower rear shock mount, just by a few mm to gain the clearance I needed at the top. In the end I went 10mm outwards and 25mm backwards. Here\'s my new mounts just tacked up.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2640.jpg)
It\'s made from some 3mm wall 40mm box section, so pretty damn burly and I added some more material to the general area.
After that photo I rechecked my measurements,seam welded it and gave it a splash of paint.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2647.jpg)
While the paint dried I got the front brakes on and hooked up.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2644.jpg)
That kinda took a whole day. With fresh light I got the axel back in place, and we have clearance, just! There\'s more than it seems in that photo but hard place to get a camera upto!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2652.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2654.jpg)
With the axel back in I could bleed the brakes and then drop the car on its wheels...
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2660.jpg)
She\'s sitting a bit high! :confused: Right now the coilovers are set to the spring it just under a fraction of tension at full extension, so as low as they safely go. That said they are brand new coilovers and spring so should settle in quite a bit. If they don\'t settle as I\'d like then I guess I\'ll have to look into helper springs, so I can safely wind the collars down without the spring becoming loose at full extension.
Going to try and book an MOT for friday! :D I best get back to the cosmetics now :(
Brilliant....
great work Steve... that mot is so close now... awesome!
wow fab project looking good ;)
Quote from: Steve-A;776760Going to try and book an MOT for friday! :D I best get back to the cosmetics now :(
Nice work Steve. Fingers crossed for the MOT! A gang of us in RX\'s are doing a trackday at Oulton on Friday, so will have all our fingers crossed. We are hoping to get Kimi booked in for MOT very soon (in next fortnight hopefully), but she doesn\'t look anywhere near as tidy as Rexanne!
Thanks guys :) I\'m far too excited about MOT!
Nice work Steve. Man that seems to be said every 2 or 3 posts over this entire thread! Fingers crossed for the MOT on friday. Can\'t wait to see you and the car at rotorstock.
Ade
amazing! so good to see it back on all 4 wheels after the amount of work done to her. She will fly through MOT and be on the road friday! :P
cant wait to here it roar down the road :P
Best of luck with the MOT. Can\'t wait to see her in the flesh :-)
She passed! :3gears-lh:3gears-lh:3gears-lh:3gears-lh:3gears-lh:3gears-lh:3gears-lh
Done 130 or so miles today, no problems :) So far the fuel gauge and cigarette lighter are the only things I can see not working.
The suspension feels good. I\'ve had a bit of a mess with the damper settings across the day and its just getting better and better. She feels balanced and is holding some really good corner speed.
The steering is a bit of an experience to begin with! :wink: but I feel quite used to it now. Likewise the manual secondaries took me a while to get used to.
I\'m very happy and looking forward to many any more miles!
I also got my helper springs today so after the MOT and before going for a drive I wound her down a bit! Here she is out and about with my friends Corrado.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/IMG_2694.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/IMG_2728.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/IMG_2736.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/IMG_2696.jpg)
Congratulations!! :driving :3gears-rh :god
Great stuff Steve, well done mate.
We all knew it would pass!
Keith.
Congrats! Good work. :)
Ya, why woudnt she pass, she´s better that new! ;)
great stuff Steve, well done... enjoy it...!
Here\'s a calendar picture if ever I saw one...!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/IMG_2736.jpg)
.
great stuff!! always a great feeling when a older car passes ;)
Well done mate. Must feel so good to be you right now!
Ade
Cheers guys.
I am lovin\' driving her :) The dampers seem to be bedding in a little, and becoming more supple :)
I\'m becoming much more used to the steering too :P The central vagueness just seems normal now!
steve took me out for a spin yesterday along some nice country roads.
WOW!! i was amazed at how she handeled even as a passenger you could feel how tight the car is now. keeping flat like crazy through the corners. the bumps... (what bumps?)
little bumps you dont even feel and hard ones get smoothed over by the top end suspension.
Impressed! cant wait to see what this car does around the timed track at rotorstock.
Steve will be looking for more power now then, the standard 1st gen is a bit pedestrian...
she looks lovely. i\'m having fb with drawal symptoms today :(
after going to see a white series 3, but she didn\'t work out.
i do like them in a maroon interior and in white, very flashy.
better stop now lol before i get too depressed lol.
Quote from: Ian65;777938Steve will be looking for more power now then, the standard 1st gen is a bit pedestrian...
With the mechanical secondaries and free flowing exhaust she\'s entertaining enough to be getting on with for a little bit. :)
The chassis is now too good to be unsettled by the power though, so yeah more power is on the list! Still time to save a bit of cash and just do some miles for now :)
I feel a bit lost now, like when you finish school and go out into the big bad world for the first time. What do I do with myself now the car works!
I sorted the fuel gauge and cigarette lighter this evening. Think I\'ve done 27mpg so far, with the buzzer going off a plenty so thats good!
I suppose I\'ll give my Alfa some TLC before I sell her, but what then!
steve you can find me an fb lol.
seriously, just enjoy the car and sit back and relax for a few days.
but i know what you mean, all you can do now is look into getting a bit more power out of her :)
27mpg is very good. i got that today going to work, seems more miles go on a rotary the more fuel efficient it becomes.
Quote from: Steve-A;778244I feel a bit lost now, like when you finish school and go out into the big bad world for the first time. What do I do with myself now the car works!
I sorted the fuel gauge and cigarette lighter this evening. Think I\'ve done 27mpg so far, with the buzzer going off a plenty so thats good!
I suppose I\'ll give my Alfa some TLC before I sell her, but what then!
I\'ve never seen 27mpg in a 1st gen of any description! with mechanical secondaries, I\'d have thought 17mpg would be a result.
what next? porting/boost :P
strip,flocked dash, racing seats, cage..
loads left mate! haha. When your done ill give you a race in my k10 :P
Quote from: Ian65;778249I\'ve never seen 27mpg in a 1st gen of any description! with mechanical secondaries, I\'d have thought 17mpg would be a result.
I was pretty shocked too!
While the fuel gauge wasn\'t working I was filling the tank up as if I was doing 15 mpg, putting 30L then doing 100 miles, then putting another 30L in. On the third fill I couldn\'t put 30L in.
I filled: 10L, 30L, 30L then could only fit 20L in. So thats 90L. According to Haynes its a 55L tank, so if the tank was full I\'d have used 35L, lets call it 40 to take up a little margin for error. 40L is 8.8 gallons.
I\'d done 250 miles since the MOT, thats 28 mpg :S
Since that full tank I\'ve got the gauge working and I\'ve done 220 miles and I\'ve got between 1/2 and 1/3 of a tank left!
I thought it had a 14 gallon tank?
Haynes says its 55l so thats 12.2 imperial gallons and 14.5 US gallons.
That 27 mpg was based on imperial gallons, would be 24mpg in US gallons. I presumed being in good old England we\'d be talking in real gallons :P
Well Done Steve!
An absolute credit to your mastery of the black art of Resto and your determination to always see things through. Those winter pics last year were fantastic.
Great Man.....:god
Quote from: spoddy;777972she looks lovely. i\'m having fb with drawal symptoms today :(
after going to see a white series 3, but she didn\'t work out.
Don\'t forget to watch for any Reg Numbers for me. Ta...
Cheers David. It was when I took these pictures Sunday night that it really all fell into place and I practically got a lump in my throat.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2792-1.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2799-1.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2842-1.jpg)
Thats the end of the photo whoring for me :P
Any news on that GT Junior David? :Hammer
Lovely Lovely Photos.
Pretty sure it\'s still decomposing in its garage down the road Steve.
Not sure what the asking price is now but it wasn\'t cheap before.
Haha I know, only playing. :P
If the guy goes mad and gives it away let me know :Giggle
Quote from: David Nock;778292Well Done Steve!
An absolute credit to your mastery of the black art of Resto
Not to mention the black art of rotary fuel consumption.... Something that Mazdas best engineers were unable to crack!
wow steve lovely pics, she looks amazing!
i\'m really envious lol. thats great mileage you are getting, what ever improvements you have made have certainly helped. i blew my wheels up a few psi more on the mx3 and get about another 10 miles per fuel mark, which is 10 Litres. normally i get 120km per 10 Litres now i get 130-150 km depending on driving lol.
i also flushed the oil out and added this amtech oil additive into the new oil, which basically seals up markes/scratches inside the cylinder walls, making it like new again.
so compression is restored and you get back to nearly how the engine was to start off with and it does work.
they say its safe to add to a rotary engine, but i\'d only try it out on an fb not the rx8, if i got an fb which has a high mileage engine.
Quote from: Ian65;778315Not to mention the black art of rotary fuel consumption.... Something that Mazdas best engineers were unable to crack!
28mpg (imperial) again tonight! 285 miles down and it took 44.5 liters to brim it again.
I can think of a few things that might be helping my consumption out. I\'ve not been doing many short trips to the shops and back. Plenty of 50 mile round trips to pickup the girlfriend and 30-40 miles excursions into the B roads of herefordshire for fun.
Unless out for fun (see 30 miles excursions on herefordshire b roads!) then I\'ve generally stayed on primaries only, only using secondaries when accelerating to motorway speeds really. That said a good half of that 285 miles was spent just driving for fun with plenty of buzzer action with the secondaries wide open.
I did get inside the intake manifold and smooth out lots of lumps and bumps and port match it as best I could, including bringing the primaries out much closer to the size of the ports in the block, i wonder if this has had any influence.
Finally maybe just the general condition of the engine is helping. Nice fresh cooling system keeping things good and cold, no viscous fan to waste energy, pre-mixing means cleaner burn and less carbon build up.
Either way I quite like this 28mpg lark, I was quite prepared for 18. It makes me re-consider my ideas about porting, and think more that a turbo would let me keep that 28mpg for the daily driving aspect, whilst offering a decent power increase for larking about. Would also bring my exhaust volume down a little. Hmmmm!
Quote from: Steve-A;778477I can think of a few things that might be helping my consumption out. I\'ve not been doing many short trips to the shops and back. Plenty of 50 mile round trips to pickup the girlfriend and 30-40 miles excursions into the B roads of herefordshire for fun.
Unless out for fun (see 30 miles excursions on herefordshire b roads!) then I\'ve generally stayed on primaries only, only using secondaries when accelerating to motorway speeds really. That said a good half of that 285 miles was spent just driving for fun with plenty of buzzer action with the secondaries wide open.
I did get inside the intake manifold and smooth out lots of lumps and bumps and port match it as best I could, including bringing the primaries out much closer to the size of the ports in the block, i wonder if this has had any influence.
Finally maybe just the general condition of the engine is helping. Nice fresh cooling system keeping things good and cold, no viscous fan to waste energy, pre-mixing means cleaner burn and less carbon build up.
or perhaps your speedo needs recalibrating!!
GPS says its 7-9% over reading, so make that 28mpg into 25mpg?
Is there a simple way to re-calibrate the speedo? I might have the clocks out anyway for a bit soon to adjust when the buzzer comes on. It seems to be coming on the the tach is reading 6.5k for now, I kinda don\'t want it to sound till 7.2 or something.
14 to 18 mpg for me with mechanical secondaries.
steve, you want it buzzing @ 12k :P
Hi Steve - CONGRATULATIONS mate! :god
As if there was any doubt about the roadworthiness when Rexanne was finished.
You\'ve got an awesome looking motor there now (oh what a stunner) and the knowledge that everything is either refurbished, new or a very good original.
May you have many happy trouble free miles ahead of you.
Cliff
:Thumbs-up
Damn she\'s a sweet ride! Glad you\'re having so much fun with her. The RPM have got to get Kimi back on the road so we have some idea of what you\'re going through!
Cheers Cliff :) Nice to see you\'re back.
Will, you\'ll love it when you get her on the road. Its such a difference experience to a modern car, but it rather result in a lot of smiles!
So I\'ve been on the road a week now, and driving the rx7 is feeling a little more \'normal\'. That said the novelty hasn\'t really worn off yet.
I\'ve not had anything come loose or stop working yet and I\'ve done about 600 miles, so hopefully I\'m past the biggest chance of it falling to bits or blowing up! I\'ve checked the oil and water and stuff, and its not used any so thats good.
As I said a few days ago, I did have the back of the car to bits to sort the fuel sender.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2896.jpg)
Turns out the earch connection was broken within the sender itself. My fix involved earth the whole top of the sender, which in turn required insulating the screws so the didn\'t earth the whole tank and fuel. The end result is functional if not pretty.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2898.jpg)
And lo, there was fuel!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2900.jpg)
I also decided I\'d like to take a little boom off the exhaust, so cut the old boy racer chrome tip off.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2903.jpg)
And welded on a simple tip the same diameter as the main exhaust, just as a temporary measure to see if it worked.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_2906.jpg)
It has taken some of the drone off at low revs and around town which is good. I\'ll have to re-do it in a more cosmetically pleasing way at some stage.
Whilst I was under the car I decided that I\'d look into winding the rear coilovers down 5-10mm, purely for cosmetics. When I did it didn\'t look much lower, so I measured it and it hadn\'t gone down :S So I jacked it back up and wound it down right to the bottom, another 10-15 mm. It still wasn\'t any lower, so I knew something was up.
After a bit of investigating I decided it was this watts link binding that\'s been pointed out as a flaw in the design many times. So I shortened my low radius arms about 8mm, till they felt under no tension when the suspension was at my ride height, and the car instantly sat lower. Whilst I was underneath I decided that lowering it even by that initial 10mm would compromise my suspension travel so I wound it back to where I started.
Out for a test drive the result is a much more compliant rear end, thats smoother over lumps and bumps, overall a success! :) I guess even a couple of mm difference in the lower arms makes quite a difference to that bind, so I\'ll have to keep experimenting with it.
I\'ve been temped a couple of times to start stripping the interior out and painting it, as I get a bit more ready for some speed, but I\'m being sensible and holding back. I\'ve no money for engine mods right now, or for bucket seats.
I dont imagine much will happen to Rexanne for a few months, just day to day maintenance.
In the mean time I can give some TLC to my Alfa and motorbike. :)
You\'ve done a gr8 job on Rexanne mate and it does look really good :3gears-rh.
Okay so you want to remove the interior and paint - your choice but please don\'t paint it Kermit Green! Anything but that!
How was the Watts Link affecting the ride height - can\'t get my head around that one but can understand if there was a difference with the lower radius arms.
By the way, just because you have nothing or little else to do on Rexanne don\'t justify stripping her down again at the weekends :Giggle you\'re supposed to keep her driving.
Any idea what your performance is like (mpg)?
Oops almost forgot - if I\'ve missed the answer to the next question I\'ll apologise now, what did you do to the front windscreen pillars (re the rust issue)?
Good work dude, the car looks mega :)
fix up the rear paint work above the exhaust maybe, i see a rust patch?
Haha, don\'t worry Cliff, I\'ll not be pairing it green. I was still thinking of painting it that gun metal grey that I tested on the inside of the rear arches. It\'s tempting to paint some green on there and take a photo before I paint it grey, just to see your reaction. :p
The watts link thing is something they talk about on the American forums lots. The upper radius arms are much shorter than the lowers. This means the pinion angle of the axel changes considerably through it\'s travel. The bushes on the watts link, especially when Pollybushed, only move freely in a vertical plane, so as the pinion angle changes the watts links motion twists away from vertical. This twisting causes the bushes to bind, which basically causes the whole rear suspension unit to bind.
This is only normally a problem at the very extremes of travel, so not noticeable, but when you lower the car like I have then effectively the rear suspension is constantly at one extreme of travel and the binding became quite noticeable. By adjusting the lower link length I was able to adjust the pinion angle of the diff till it\'s neutral point was at my desired ride height, hopefully freeing the suspension.
Hopefully I made at laest some sense there!
I\'m getting a rather pleasant 27-25 Mpg right now :) thats with a mix of Eco driving and foot to the floor fun. It\'s much better than I expected, which is nice!
The A pillar rot didt extend under the screen itself, so I was able to cut out a small section and weld a new piece in without damaging the window or it\'s seal. :). I think there are some pictures a few pages back.
Cheers Rico. Only just noticed you\'re in worcestershire, where abouts? If it\'s malvern, Worcester, droitwich or bromsgrove keep any eye out for me as I\'m always driving around there.
Spoddy, I know I know. There\'s still some cosmetic bits to deal with, I\'m just bored of cosmetics for now :p I\'ll get them sorted one day. A few rust spots never hurt anyone :p haha.
Another week goes by and I had a little time to toy with Rexanne today.Having found a suitable bucket seat for myself, which I\'m picking up in a few days, I decided the interior would be stage 2 of this project and power would have to wait till stage 3.
I made the first steps today by removing the rear seats and some of the interior.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/IMG_2929.jpg)
I\'m gonna run around like this for a few days and see what I think of the change in volume, while I try to decide if I can live with a stripped out daily driver! The first impressions are that it\'s really not much different, there\'s a little more whine from the diff, but also without the rear seats in the way the rear speakers are louder, so it\'s more than cancelling itself out.
Money is tight so I\'m in no rush but I\'m quietly on the look out for a suitable passengers seat and I\'m investigating harness mounting options.
I also decided it was time to flat and polish the panel I repainted now the lacquer was fully dry. Here\'s the front wing flatted.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/IMG_2930.jpg)
Unfortunately an accident with a petrol pump and the fact that I forgot to use petrol resistant lacquer round the filler cap has caused this:
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/IMG_2928.jpg)
I was hoping to sand the lacquer back and just re-coat, but it looks like I\'d need to go back to primer to get rid of the marking so that can wait for another day. I\'m stupid as I buoght petrol resistant lacquer especially, but forgot about it!
With the wing and rear quarter flatted I went wild with the cutting compound, then waxed it and even got out the back to black, the end result was a very shiny car.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/IMG_2949.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/IMG_2961.jpg)
Far too shiny for me so I decided to got for a drive up some lanes! It\'s now suitably dusty. :)
looking good, pity about the petrol cap etc, can\'t t-cut it out?
i\'ve been looking at locking tyre valve caps as came out to my rx8 from work, stopped at burger king on the way home and on returning to the car noticed my silver dust caps were all gone :(
they were the cheap plastic 99p ones, but done the job. not sure if kids kicking about the work car park had been snooping round the 8. thank god thats all that happened as have a car show coming up on the 15th.
i have seen some nice rotor shaped caps in the states, going to get some mazda badge ones for about a fiver with an allen key lock on them. i hadn\'t tightened the hex shaped 99p ones up super tight as had trouble getting one off one day.
some people have no respect or thought for peoples safety, if they\'d had damaged the valve the tyre could have deflated while i was on the motor way and god only knows what would have happened.
so invest in some nice caps for those wheels and locking nuts!
I\'ve tried sanding back the lacquer, so way more aggressive than T-cut, but it\'s gone right through. Ah well, I don\'t care really :P
I\'ve got some nice SSR dustcaps on my SSR wheels, though again I\'d not loose sleep if they went missing. I am considering getting some locking wheel nuts though....
yeah it bugs you at first a little, like cheeky wee, so and so\'s but then you kinda get a bit concerned about if they come back and key the car or something you know.
but some cool dust caps out there and il caps all rotor shaped, from the USA and the uk pound/us dollar exchange rate quite good.
i would use that petrol resistant lacquer over the other areas you repainted, incase any petrolium products get onto the paint? polishes and cleaners etc.
Bottom Pic for the 2011 calendar Steve......Yeh.....Spot on mate!
really like the motor you have mate - awesome work!!
Thought the interior colour you trialled was quite nice actually and harmonised well with the exterior gold and as for a GREEN primer layer :Grrr:Grrr:Grrr:Grrrbut as long as it goes that\'ll be cool.
Your explanation of the suspension and Watts Link movement is spot on mate - now I understand, never to old to learn something new I say.
Isn\'t it simply amazing how the entire car is enriched by a dam good \'T cut\' wax & polish - I bought a circular polisher from **di when I was working on JAZ, so much simplier and fast too.
Rexanne looks mega mate and as Dave says is a very worthy contender for the portfolio & calendar.
:cheers
Cheers Cliff :)
The only problem is I cleaned her a couple of weeks early, and I\'m gonna have to do it all again before rotorstock!
As for interior painting, after 2-300 miles of daily driver use with no interior I decided it was just too loud. Around town it was fine and on b roads but when sat on the motorway it was so loud and in traffic so much heat came through from the exhaust, its just a step too far for me.
I\'m getting a bucket seat for me from Brian on Tuesday, and I\'ll be constructing a harness bar, but aside from that the interior will stay untouched for as long as she\'s a daily drive I think. I even had 4 adults in the car the other day, I\'m not gonna pretend it was comfy but we all got to our destination without having to resort to public transport :)
In other news the clutch is slipping worse now :( Can feel it slip in 3rd if really thrashed, so I\'m gonna go easy on her for this week and change it after rotorstock.
Good to see you yesterday Steve. The car looks fab and sits very well. You\'ve got me thinking now:driving
Cheers Brian :)
This is what I picked up from Brian, after I\'d given it a quick hoover and once over with upholstery cleaner.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3032.jpg)
I dropped it roughly into the car at lunchtime and it sort of fits :P In terms of general width and size it fits fine, which is good. I know these don\'t fit in mx5s due to the shoulder \'wings\' so was pleased to see it drop cleanly into the rx7.
That said I am going to have a bit of an interesting time making up some mounts for it. The drivers floor in Rexanne is far from flat, and extra lump on the side of the transmission tunnel to make room for the exhaust is a right pain. To get the seat in the correct position front to back and side to side for me, it\'s currently got to sit quite high, far too high for my taste. So I think its time to go back to the drawing board and do some research into how I can get the seat nice and low.
Come on Steve, I need a new Work In Progress fix....
How are things going?
Sorry mate, I have rather neglected the internet for a few weeks.
I\'m still daily driver her, put about 5,000 miles on it now. About time for an oil change I guess. :) Problems have been few and far between aside from the clutch.
After the rotorstock abuse the clutch had started to slip more, so I purchased a secondhand silly paddle clutch and light weight flywheel.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/IMG_3158.jpg)
Fitting it meant engine out.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/IMG_3161.jpg)
And some monstrous tools to get the flywheel off!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/IMG_1537.jpg)
It\'s so nice to have a clutch that locks up right like it should. Has taken a few weeks to get used to it though, especially with the light flywheel.
Aside from that I\'ve just driven her lots and enjoyed it :) I\'ve played with my suspension settings a bit, as the \'sticktion\' in the dampers seemed to reduce some over the past 1,000miles, so it feels better than ever.
I need to change the bulb behind the heater controls. lol. Thats about it!
I\'ve got no further towards any more power for fitting my bucket seat. TBH I\'ve been having second thoughts about fitting the bucket seat. I\'m gonna hold fire and think a while.
I have to admit I\'ve been mostly distracted by hunting down and buying a new motorbike. It\'s rather fun and does 60 mpg which I\'m hoping will take some of the pressure off Rexanne and I can therefore go for a wilder engine set-up in the future!
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/ccm.jpg)
My God Steve, I\'d have taken a couple of years to rest up, but not you.....
Flywheel tools are awesome....last one I took off a spare engine I was given, I just drilled & split the nut. Would have meant getting a new one but then I just left the engine in bits.....rear rotor housing had chattered itself to death.
Only time I have done this we ended up putting rawlbolds into the garage floor and using spare engine moutings to bolt the engine downn Then we used a 4 foot length of scaffolding pipe as an extension bar and still had to put a trolley jack under the end of it....
Good fun isn\'t it...
I look forward to hearing how to do this - my heater control bulb has gone as well...
John
easy to change pull all the heater controls off remove the top gearstick surround and you will see two screws for the centre panel, there are another 2 located just above the heater controls, under the little dash ledge, you should be able to pull the whole centre panel out and the bulb is on the top left
Quote from: johnnyboy;789987I look forward to hearing how to do this - my heater control bulb has gone as well...
John
Any new year updates on the old girl Steve?
Ade
Quite a few actually mate. I have rather neglected this corner of the internet, sorry! Cutting a long story short his is whats happened since september....
My clutch slave died, but I managed to bodge one up using a piston from a spare mx5 one I have. They appear to be the same internally.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3323.jpg)
I had a second shot at skimming my rear discs to remove a little pedal vibration, which was successful :)
As much as I liked having the original stereo I was getting frustrated that it was knackered and wasn\'t loud enough to be heard over the exhaust on the motorway, so it went in the bin and a modern one got hidden in the glove box.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3449.jpg)
While I was ebaying I bought these too.....
(http://www.maxsalvage.com/media/09/a20792a12c8863562e3986_m.JPG)
At the end of November my exhaust decided to fall to bits, so I fired up the welder and replaced the knackered slip joint section. I also welded up a rather large crack in my headers.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3521.jpg)
I was starting to build quite a collection of parts up to go with the motorcycle throttle bodies, an IDA manifold, FC CAS, FD trailing coils, injection fuel pump and a Megasquirt kit.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3627.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3518.jpg)
Over christmas the Megasquirt got built.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3647.jpg)
I\'ve got a Megaview to go with my Megasquirt to go in the old radio space in the dash. This give me live readouts of all the engine data, AFRS, injector duty cycles, spark advance etc and allows basic modifications to the tune without a laptop.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/IMG_3775.jpg)
And I started work on making adapters to mount the Suzuki 52mm bodies to the manifold, eventually port matching them to the manifold and welding them to the bodies.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3663.jpg)
A couple of weeks ago I bought a boring Nissan Micra for cheap and pulled Rexanne back into the garden to start the conversion proper :)
Next up was to make a 13b to 12a adapter plate, as I wasn\'t able to source a 12a IDA manifold. I was happy enough to do this as I means I\'m all set for a 13b swap in the future....
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3812.jpg)
This lot came out of the engine bay.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3769.jpg)
followed by the interior....
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3778.jpg)
So I could tackle the re-looming for fuel injection.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3787.jpg)
And that brings us up to this week :bandit
Finally this week I\'ve been able to get the throttle bodies mounted up on the block for the first time.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3814.jpg)
Then I got wild with the soldering iron and wired them in.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1102.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1103.jpg)
Most of the interior is back and I\'m now wiring up a new fuse and relay board with fresh wires from the battery to supply all my new electronic with nice clean 12v and earth.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_1104.jpg)
So thats my plan for the weekend. Once that\'s done I need to mount my swirl pot and new pumps then I\'ll be ready to try turning the key!!!! :3gears-rh
I\'m hoping to have her back on the road by the end of February. If I get time I\'m hoping to have a second shot at my suspension mounts on the axel, I want to lower them an inch or so to give myself some more negative travel in the back :)
Well, not much has been happening then Steve :Laugh:Laugh:god
haha I guess not. Better get my act together and make some more progress :Giggle
I all honesty it looks like a lot there, but that is spread over a number of months. It\'s been all go since christmas really. I\'m on a bit of a deadline to get it sorted as my insurance company said \'we don\'t do Micras\' after I\'d bought it, but they\'d swap my insurance over for free as long as it was short term, I said a month so I\'ve got a month do get the conversion done!
Awesome :)
Yep not much to see here. Oh well I check back in a couple of months then!
It lives! Engine bay is fairly tidy now with all the wiring wrapped up.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3925.jpg)
Had some issues with my FD coils, so I\'m running 4 FB coils, and so far so good.
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3926.jpg)
Here\'s some clips of how she sounds :D
http://youtu.be/hZM-oQ7p9Bg
And how she was looking in tonights sunset :)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3914.jpg)
(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa196/steve-nc30/rexanne/IMG_3904.jpg)
Damn, i think im in love... ;) Awesome sound. Good work! :)
wow some good progress there! think mine has moved once or twice in the last few months!
Nice one Steve. Good work :)
That engine bay looks awesome, so does the rest of the car to be honest! You\'ve done a great job here mate. Love it.
Steve that sounds and looks great........... when are you taking orders ....:mmmm
Dibs
Um, what is that under oilfilter? Little cooler?
Looks interesting. Where can i found one? :)
Cheers guys :) It certainly has been a long old haul, but it\'s starting to feel worth it now!
Under the oil filter is just a sandwich plate so I had a place to mount my oil temp sensor. :)
Love the new mods, the sound from the ITB\'s are sweet :)
Well with a bit of a heavy heart, the time has come to put the rx7 up for sale. I\'ve really enjoyed both restoring her and owning her. In many ways its through Rexanne that I\'ve seen how much fun older cars can be. I might be insane buy I\'ve got my heart set on some 70s Italian steel and I can\'t afford to run two cars.
So Rexanne is up for sale. I hope she sells to someone in the community and keeps being enjoyed like she should :)
http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?p=836253#post836253