Rexanne - Gold s2 restoration project

Steve-A · May 15, 2011, 08:38:12 PM

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

rossonza · May 15, 2011, 09:52:49 PM

Mate that looks 100 times better than brand new out of the factory haha. Can\'t wait to see the finished project!

myatt1972 · May 15, 2011, 10:09:27 PM

That looks fantastic Steve, will be a shame to put a bonnet on.
Keith...

re japi · May 16, 2011, 05:16:29 AM

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...?

rossonza · May 17, 2011, 04:56:45 PM

any work this week dude?

Casey · May 19, 2011, 08:16:41 PM

: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

Steve-A · May 20, 2011, 08:53:10 PM

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

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.

And then got them mounted up.

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.

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.

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.

I also temporarily hung the good wing on. Might need a little arch work!

I think I need wider rear wheels and some over arches!

oveck4 · May 21, 2011, 11:31:04 AM

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

Steve-A · May 22, 2011, 09:30:57 AM

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.

After that I assembled the radiator surround that I painted the other day, along with the bonnet hinges.

Next up was the headlight covers.

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.

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.

Ian65 · May 22, 2011, 11:07:57 AM

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.

Steve-A · May 22, 2011, 11:11:41 AM

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.

CHC (RIP) · May 23, 2011, 01:48:33 PM

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

spoddy · May 23, 2011, 09:08:43 PM

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

Casey · May 23, 2011, 10:15:00 PM

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

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

spoddy · May 23, 2011, 10:29:31 PM

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