Rexanne - Gold s2 restoration project

[Ian65]

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

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.

[Steve-A]

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

[captainbizzaro]

Have you got a link to where you got the POR15 from?

[Steve-A]

googling suggested frost auto restoration to me. Which is where I\'ve ordered from, I\'ll let you know if it ever arrives

http://www.frost.co.uk/productList.asp?catID=24&frostCat=Painting&subcatID=37&frostSubCat=POR%2D15

[captainbizzaro]

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

[Steve-A]

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.....

[captainbizzaro]

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.

[Steve-A]

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.

[Steve-A]

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.

[David Nock (RIP)]

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...

[CHC (RIP)]

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.

 
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.

[syebba]

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.

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..

[syebba]

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.

Wheel-whores!What a G8 name:Giggle

[Steve-A]

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:



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



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.



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!)





So the underside was looking pretty bare now.



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.



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.



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.




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.



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!



So a good days progress!

[Steve-A]

Wheel-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