aragami78

iTrader: (3)

OK well since I cant seem to find a driver-side taillight with no fog and no cracks in it that isn't over $250 I decided to try something Ive never been a fan of, smoked taillights.

I really like the way the stock taillights look on the FB and plan on putting a clean non smoked set back on as soon as I can find a driver-side one in good condition, but since it really bothers me when OTHER peoples lights are off, uneven, 1 lighter or brighter than other, when its my car it seriously drives me insane.

Before I found this spray light tint, I was pondering taking the perfect condition pass light and popping the clear lens off and fogging it up on purpose just to match the other side lol, luckily I was able to find shitty condition taillights all day long and decided to pull the mint one out and store it put on the crap one and spray tint/smoke em black.

I am prepared for flaming but keep in mind I did do this to already permanently fogged taillights (tried to buff out to no avail) so no ruined Good taillights . They came out way better than I was expecting them to and in 30 degree weather to boot, of course I only painted outside after letting paint and lights sit inside in warmer temps then dried inside after painting.

Since I pulled lights out of car only thing I taped was the little red reflector in the clear lens just to let more brake light thru, honestly wasn't expecting it to shine thru as much as it did when all was finished but still came out looking pretty good with the little red squares in the black, kinda goes with the red and yellow lights in the side molding.

If anyone is interested in doing this here's a few tips,
1) clean the lights with grease/wax remover and wipe down good with a clean lint free towel
2) Wear a pair of rubber gloves when I did this to keep finger prints off.
3) Pull them out to paint, makes it sooooo much easier, no taping and youll be able to get a more even coat/tint on both lights this way.
4) When you spray the lights, line them up L and R and paint them as one peice, kinda hard to judge by eye doing them seperatly if ones darker than the other, just do together and use long even sprays and just be carefull not to over do it. You can always add another coat if after it dries you want it darker, bit harder to strip and redo.

Well onto the pics lol, threw in couple engine shots, ill get some better ones, but its cleaned up pretty nicely with all the emissions removed, running pretty good too.

[off topic]

I have a small stumble/hesitation/bog right off idle but after 1000-1500 its real strong through all gears and a bat outta hell when I dip into the mech secondaries slowly narrowing it down, ap giving a good squirt, no vac leaks, float bowls half full, idles at a steady 750-800 rpm. I think I have it narrowed down to the transition circuit in the carb (not sure if right term) when it switches from the idle circuit around 900-1000, maybe something is blocking it that got missed when i rebuilt it or just got dislodged from a line or something, a timeing issue from removing rats nest and just need to retime or I just need to adjust the settings on the carb itself. Waiting untill I cross out all other possibilites before I adjust the settings tho, got called in tommorow because someones sick/hungover whatever lol so will try to cross off a few of these tommorow at work If anyone has any other thoughts please pass em along, I dont get my problem anywhere in the rpm range except 1000-1500, and as long as I rev to 1000 before I put a load on the engine its good but on ice coverd roads makes for not so easy driving to say the least lol.

[\off topic]

Thanks guys and sorry heres the pics lol later.


Randy

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

since you asked for it, I got a set of clean FB tail lights for $250 shippped

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Really? Ill take em if theres no fog on the outer lenses. It will have to wait untill next month I wont ask ya to hold on to em tho first come first serve, got carried away with x-mas for the family and my rx7, can you guess who I spent more on lol . And ill pay 300 maybe more if it includes the center section in good shape, mines been glued back on what looks like 5 times (5 diff colors of glue under it lol AND double sided tape.

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Boooo totaly new issue, or issue being brought to surface because of cold weather? This morning my car wants to die when I come to a stop, if I leave it in gear and down shift I can stop it but If I ust put in neutral and start breaking it will die. I havent messed with anything at all yet, only thing I can think of is today is the coldest day since ive had the car could this just be cold weather related? or do I have other issues? Car has never done this before, normally its just when I go from a stop. Just got to work and havent had a chance to search yet. Any ideas guys?

edit= will post in own thread with symptoms and what mods car has, later today just trying to get a few ideas real quick.

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Heres some pics of the taillights when it dark outside, both are just reg lights no one in car holding brake. Also found a couple b4 tint pics

ztfdrake61

Aragami78, i see you upgraded to SS brake lines when you redid the front, what brand/where did you get a set from. I have had issues with a set of Autozone stock lines not matching threads twice now and am ready to just get a set of SS lines, but haven't found anyone that sells them as stock replacement besides ebay.

RX-7 Chris

iTrader: (19)

Mazdatrix

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

respeed sells them, I got the 4 wheel disc set and im just going to use the fronts untill I swap out the gs (drums) rearend for the gsl (disc/lsd) one I picked up. what year is your car? I think theres a thread change either in the early models or the later gsl-se's not sure which tho, I wanna say the 79-80 have a diff one but you might wanna check withsomeone that knows more about this. Hope it works out for ya.

rxtasy3

iTrader: (2)

thread pitch on 79-80 is different than 81-on.

ztfdrake61

Mine's an 84 GS, and i thought there was a thread change, which explains why i was having issues with the lines i got, looks like mazdatrix only sells the full kit, but with the info you gave me Racing beat has a set for the drums for cheaper

Thanks for the help guys!

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Nice, yeah the drum brake kit has 1 less line I think, 2 up front and 1 in back so should be a little cheaper. Glad you got it worked out, just a side not use new crush washers, lines should come with them. And enjoy your gonna love how the brakes feel with those lines.

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Sorry typo edit---- "just a side note use new crush washers"

Mr_Miles

iTrader: (1)

my god, if my drivers side lens didn't have the crack in it, I'd totally offer to trade both of them for your smoked lenses. those are god damn sexy. kinda wish the lenses at pick n pull didn't break on me when i was pulling them....someone glued the entire mount in....

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for the compliment Mr_Miles, and yeah I kept finding glued in ones to. Im liking them more and more but I still want a set of factory ones. Which duffman was kind enough to help me out for a pretty damn good price to, and since hes somewhat local no shipping. Thanks duffman you rock.

duffman692002

iTrader: (5)

NP, just lemme know when ya wanna meet up.

Mr_Miles

iTrader: (1)

ironically, i nabbed a set of tail lights and the center piece today that are in almost new condition from a scrap yard, i might smoke them. Got lucky. Just finished washing them, they cleaned up real nice.

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Find some fogged up or not so good ones to smoke and keep the clean ones clean, its up to you of course but good clean ones are getting hard to find, at the very least id practise on some old ones first. Good luck and post some pics of how they turn out.

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Got my seals that sit on the window sill ( where you lay your arm out the window) in the mail a couple days ago. Old ones were awfull, cracked, split and chipping and worst of all leaked water into my rust free doors.

Old ones popped out lickitty split and new ones went in smoothly with a little windex to lube it up a bit and evaporate when done. Did find a little bit of rust in the channel it pops in, pulled out some tape and a wire brush and got to work. Used the tape to cover the paint so I dont scratch it up and grabbed some pb blaster to break up the rust and hit it with the wire brush. So 10 min later both sills are done and car looks alot better with that much less rust on her lol.

Orderd the seals from atkins, were kinda pricy at $40 +s/h but well worth it. They were a perfect fit, brand new and in mazda factory packaging. Looks like they should last as long as the originals did. Now I just need to find a driver side manual window regulator, my window crank sheard off at the pin a couple days ago. After I get my hands on one of them my doors will be ready for the panels from patmac yay. And on to the pics

Mr_Miles

iTrader: (1)

I was planning on taking my cracked one and doing it to that one for practice, i can paint good but i wasn't sure if this stuff would act differently. the lens needs to be re-rubber cemented to it anyhow, so when i put the perfect one in I'll do a total clean and tear down and smoke it.

the more I look at the two really good ones, the more i want to sell them or put them in a box, they look to damn good. I'm going to check out a parts fb in a few days that may have another set for me to pickup, we'll see.

ztfdrake61

Any tips on removal and installation on the window seals? I have a set ready to go but am unsure of the process.

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

If there the ones shown in the pic on my car they are supper easy to put in, but can be a pain in the azz to get out depending on what kind of condition your old ones are in. There just pressed in to a groove at the top of the door, if your old ones are pretty bad off they might not come out in one peice. If that happens you might have to use a screw driver or pick (like a dentist has) to get the old seal bits out. If you have to pry stick something under the screwdriver for leverage, mine on rx7 came out easy but on my camaro I had to pry on it to get it out. Use something kinda soft in between the screwdriver and body of car, I used a hacky sack under it as to not dent the body or mess up the paint. With the new ones going in, I sprayed a little windex on the channel in squeezes in to help it out. All in all it was about a 10 min process and that included getting rid of the rust in the channel. Hope that helps, feel free to send a shout if you need some more info, good luck and dont rush it.

Edit: dont use oil, dont know if it will mess with seal but some rubber and petroleum products just dont mix well and might deteriorate the seal prematurely. Windex should do the job and evaporate after its job is done.

Randy

ztfdrake61

Thanks for the tips, i got them from black dragon, inside and outside for both doors (page 101 of their catalog), it looks like you only changed the outside ones, and yea, mine are pretty far gone lol

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Hey guys not to much to update, kinda ust have a quick question. Does a 1983 rx7 gs have a low fuel light? And if not whats this by fuel gauge (arrow)

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Hey guys, not to much to update. The RX-7 has been running great, even on the ice coverd roads on regular tires, downhill was a bit tricky but very managable. It was kinda funny watching cars try to get moving and nothing happens, of course they probably didnt have a turbo400 trans straped down in there trunk lol. But that seriously seemed to make a huge differance, it more or less handled just like my old civic did on ice, I was very pleased after expecting to not even make it out of the drivway lol.

As for the tease, ive been gathering up parts for the RX-7. Got some really good deals from some fellow forum members on here, a big thanks to patmac6075, RX-7Chris and lx_machado, all stand up guys check out there for sale threads when you get the time lots of good stuffs for real good prices.

Got some door panels from patmac (black) so redid my interior to match. Decided to leave the dashboard alone since its in perfect 10 out of 10 condition, not one crack, peal or faded spot on the thing and didnt know how the heat and sun contact would react to the material and paint(seems kinda soft and not a reg plastic like back plastic peices). And since the tops of the door panels need to be redone anyway and it lines up with the dash I was thinking about trying to find some brown vinyl/leather that matches the dash to just do the tops of the doors and maybe follow that line to the back, the lines on the dog leg side peice that curve down before the wheel well. It looks good in my head but still not sure about it, what do yall think?

Got lots more parts and pics coming soon, heres a few pics of a couple parts I just got. The wheels are some old Enkei 92's that im about to sandblast and have powdercoated and the rearend is an 85 GSL yay disc brakes and LSD that trans was straped in the back of the RX-7, it came out of my Camaro. Later guys

Jibaro 12A

iTrader: (8)

looking real good. I love the taillights