83Limited

Well, has been a little over a month since I delved into the 83 LE...as some know, this is the car I had in high school and i rebought it after 20+ years from the guy I sold it to way back in 88....anyways, the poor car had been sitting mostly for the last several years, and when I found it, it was running like krap, did all my investigating and research (here of course) then delved into the world of a Nikki rebuild. After working on it a couple of evenings, I finally had it rebuilt, got it on the car, got everything hooked back up (did i mention I had to take the carb off 2 more times to make all this happen) and got it running (victory #1)....now on to my second problem...a blown exhaust gasket in front of the front cat (anybody ever heard a rotary pulpwood truck? They sound like krap). Anyways, knew there was no way I was gonna get under the car to work on 30 year old rusted together studs, so i took it to a friend of mines shop and put it on the lift....installed a bonez test pipe in place of the cats (fit great) and now the car sounds like it should...took her back home, nursing a radiator leak....got home, pulled the radiator (leak was at the top fan shroud bracket in the top tank, it had broken loose and torn a 1/4" round hole in the top tank...next stop, radiator shop to get it rebuilt...guy said it looked good inside, he worked on a few spots in the top tank, and 2 days later i had a "new" radiator ready....back to the car, with new hoses and thermostat....anybody ever broken off a thermostat housing bolt? Let me tell ya, its no fun to fix...finally drilled the remains of the original bolt out, managed to save the threads, and got radiator put back in and all hoses reconnected. That was 2 weeks ago, since then I have been stripping the interior panels out in preparation for restoration of interior and paint and body. Whats up with Mazda plastic interior pieces? Talk about brittle.... On to tonight, finally got the motivation to crawl under the car and drain the block of the water in it, reconnect the lower radiator sensor, and add antifreeze/water to the radiator. Hooked the battery back up, and fired her off, ran great, except a small water leak at the thermostat gasket a good tightening fixed, let her come up to temperature, topped off the radiator and decided I needed to go get some gas in her, since I had drained the tank back when i did the carb rebuild and only put a couple of gallons in out of a can then. Plus, this would give me a chance to drive the car. So, I reinstalled the driver and passenger door windows, put the sunroof crank back on so I could install the sunroof, and off we went on a short road trip for gas, at night, in a car that hasnt been driven for squat in years....and guess what happened? She ran perfect! 10 mile trip, me smiling ear to ear the whole time....she is back alive and headed towards being like new again....will start bodywork in a few weeks, plan is to get all of the bodywork and priming done done over the winter, as well as getting seats/etc ready to go back in......then this spring shoot some new chateau silver color on her,replace the pinstripes, reinstall the interior, and drive!!! Would like to thank many of you on this forum for all the knowledge you have shared over the years, many of you have helped me and didnt even know it, by posting a tip/trick/etc. Several of you (Ray Green especially) have been great about assisting me to get this thing running again. I appreciate it! Thanks again! Will keep updates going here and there....

rwatson5651

iTrader: (5)

It is a special joy to go on that first drive after a repair and get the results you were looking for instead of finding out that something is still wrong. I know the feeling, driving down the road in the middle of the night grinning like an idiot. Jees, I love my car......