Restoration Questions.
 

I'm in the process of restoring a 1984 GSL-SE. My Thread I'm restoring the car to its original for except some Re-Speed suspension and exhaust. I will ad questions as I come up with them. I want to get everything right.

Right now I have a few engine bay questions.

1. What is the stock finish on the bolts, brackets, etc? Are they yellow CAD or yellow Zinc?

2. Are all the black painted parts satin?

3. I'm missing the stickers for under the hood (I think my car was repainted at some point). I've found pics of the GSL-SE under hood. I know the placement of everything and I know I can get new stickers through Black Dragon. My problem is, what is the yellow sticker by the airbox?

4. Can I get the above yellow sticker? If not, can someone send my a high res picture and dimensions of the sticker?

Interior question:

5. Is the brown carpet color in an 81-83 the same as the 84-85?

6. Anyone ever tried to redye a brown carpet? What dye should I use?

More to come

If I recall correctly, original black-painted underhood parts (pulleys, brackets, water pump housing, etc) are gloss black, not satin, excepting those that are body-color.

Not sure on the cad/zinc question. I suspect cadmium because they had that kind of distinct 'golden peacock' hue, but not 100% sure.

Many bolts (especially body bolts) are painted, not plated.

I've never seen the "yelllow sticker by the airbox." Might be an FB thing. Only yellow sticker I recall is on the brake booster.

the plated parts are cadmium plated. more of a goldish plating. i have many new hardware components and can post pics for reference. i've never seen a yellow sticker by the air box on an SE..

the black is more of a semi gloss and i have new painted parts i can post pics of as well for reference. the brown caprets are different between the S2 and the S3

if the yellow sticker is on the airbox side, it COULD be the one for the coolant. its got some warnings about 50/50 mixture and such.

the 12A cars have it on the coolant overflow, i'm not sure off the top where the GSL-SE had it.

i probably have new ones....

j9fd3s I bet you're right about the yellow sticker. I attached a pic of the under side of the hood I got off ebay. I have a couple other GSL-SE under hood pics and they all have it.

Any reference pics would be great. Thanks for the help all.

here are a couple underhood pics from my 85 that will show the correct hardware plating and painted bracket color. all are new oem mazda parts. as soon as photobucket stops acting up i will post more pics of some stuff i took pics of for you:

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/DSC00356.jpg

http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/r...b/DSC08289.jpg

http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/r...b/DSC08439.jpg

thanks for the pics.

Where did you get the stock style hose clamps?

here are a couple more pics and i can get pics of anything on the car you want as the car is in my garage here at the house. all hardware and parts are bought at the dealer. i have a vendor account and get parts at 10% over list. the hose clamps are still over $3 per clamp though..

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC01018.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC01019.jpg

Another question I have is about positive battery cable. They don't sell the GSL-SE cable any more. What is the difference between the 12A and 13B positive cables?

the difference is a split from one into two wires in the power wire going to the fusible link block. i have pics but am at work and will post the pics when i get home from work.

i checked a couple weeks ago, mazda has plenty of those clamps.

i can look at my cable too, peepers ended up with a gsl-se one, i think since there are two underhood fuse boxes, there is a Y. or maybe its more of a W?

in the pics you can see that the power wire splits into two at the fusible link block secions. wheni converted the car from a 12A to 13B i found that the positve cable was NLA..so i used teh 12A cable but soldered in a section from a junk SE cable i had. the 12A cable is still available and can be easially converted for use on the SE:

dual power wire connecting to the fusible link blocks:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC01024.jpg

location where i soldered the two cables together:

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/DSC01027.jpg

Both Cadium and Zinc can appear different depending on the solution and process used. Tanks needs cleaning in time and the solutions get changed. Chemical strengths vary depending cleaniness and the amount (percentages) of chemicals used in the reciep. Both can appear dull or glossy or vary in both hue and texture.

I've been using gold zinc. A local plating shop charges me $35 for a batch. This can be a whole box of small parts and hardware. If they can run it all in a tumbler it's $35. If I have another bulky item that has to be run by hand, it's an additional $35-for that one item. Or, if I have something done in clear zinc (silver in appearance) it's the same, another $35 charge. Nothing finishes off a nice engine bay like new hardware. :icon_tup:

Damn Banzai, that looks good. Any under hood pics?

Mazdadave- thanks for those pics. I will do exactly that since I already have the SE cables to get the y section from. My cable are just getting old and are needing replaced.

Banzai- thanks for the plating info.

I will get some pics of the engine on my car this weekend since I've cleaned things up.

Funny how things change as I age. I bought my Galaxie as a car to hotrod. Even went as far as painting it flat black with flames, red painted wheels, and dual exhaust out the side with glasspacks. I now want to restore it.

I bought my first RX-7 to be the fun modify car. Now I get this car and I want to restore it. The only reason I'm doing suspention upgrades is because I plan to autocross it now and again. I know I can do this with stock parts but I want to make it a little more fun. I plan to keep all the stock parts so I can always change that back.

I found this link about identifying different plating: http://429mustangcougarinfo.50megs.com/new_page_26.htm

This also had great info on plating at home: http://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series...d-plating.html

It does seem like most everything is yellow zinc and not yellow cad.

Here are some pictures of my engine:
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/m...E/IMG_1104.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/m...E/IMG_1103.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/m...E/IMG_1105.jpg

Your bay looks nice RX Chris. Most guys are more into a modified, clean (sparse) look now a days. I lean to the original look like yours. Here's some shots of three cars I have. Two 79's and an 80. Once you start cleaning, it only makes the not so nice things stand out like a sore thumb. Just keep polishing the rough spots down finer and finer untill it all shines...

Those are very clean engines Banzai.

I figured having things like bolts, brackets, and even the long metal vac line would be easy to have plated. What about the charcole canister, valves, etc? How would I plate things like that?

Well you may not be able to do some things unless the component can be disasembled into the basic part you want to plate. When I do the relay covers, they are removed from the actual mechanism because there's no way the relay itself would survive. You can't Zinc non ferrious metals, aluminium brass, copper and such. The chemicals will eat those materials. Different process's are used on these like anodize for aluminium. So, depending on what you want to do and if it can be broken down, it may or may not be doable or worth the effort and work.

question about this cleaning.......

Bought my '85 last september and now busy to get it back to stock. I also want to clean the enginebay because there is 25 years of dust and other stuff. It does not have to look shiny and new, just clean.

I hesitate of cleaning it with water on high pressure (don't know the exact word but i think you know what i mean) but what would be the best way and what product do you use?

Marc

for cleaning, i use a diluted simple green and i hand clean every component. it literally takes hours. but its worth the time and effort.

I use mainly low-pressure water and a brush, but that only works once you've got it initially clean, to keep it that way.

First time cleaning, you can use low-pressure steam (like from a clothing steamer) to good effect on caked grease and such. But to get it really clean requires disassembly and reassembly of a lot of parts.

I did most of the cleaning of my car with simple green and it worked great.
If you look at post 8 in my other thread you can see what simple grean did with only a spray on and wipe off: https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=924632

Since spme of that parts would be near imposible to take apart, I may just try the Eastwood gold cad system.

I actually tried that and was disapointed. More like paint, less like plating. As far as cleaning, you probably want to begin with a degreaser if it's been years or never done before. Several products like simple green and others are out there. A good scrubbing and/or high presure wash help remove years of buildup.

Removing components from the fenders, firewall and engine give you additional access to work on the painted surfaces and a chance to detail the components themselves. This can all be a lot more than an afternoon or weakend project. In fact, owning, working on and maintaining any old vehicle is an on going and never ending project. :nod:

It was because of the difficulty involved in finding a convenient place to do plating that I first started with the anodized-look paint that I've used. Once started down that path, I found myself unwilling to undo all my work & switch over to plating

It's not 'stock' look, but it's quite pretty and gets a lot of compliments. Also the only paint Ive found that stands up to fuel, oil, and heat well. Most people think it's actual anodizing even when looking up close.

It does scratch sort of easy, though.

I don't believe there are any real right or wrong solutions. In the end, its our own money and vehicles. The only ones who we should make happy is ourselves.

like j9fd3s said, the yellow sticker is a coolant 50/50 caution sticker :nod:

branca thanks

Absolutely :nod: (except for people ruining perfectly good SA's, heheh)

Had I known before my last rebuild all I know now, I likely would have got the re-plate route. But I'm totally satisfied with how what I've done has turned out.

Finally winning a couple show trophies has radically changed my wife's opinion of the car - - from "Why don't you get rid of it? It uses up space!" to "Are you going to any shows later this year?" - - which in turn greatly improved my quality of life.

She's even ridden along to meets on occasion. :icon_tup: So count me as "Satisfied with results."

thats always a good change. My wife is fine with me fixing up the car and keeping it but I can't get her to come to meets.

Banzai, I'm thinking of trying the Eastwood gold cad system even though you said it looked like paint. I did a bunch of searching and the people that had the most luck used a silver cad paint before the gold cad system and than finished it off with diamond clear for depth.

I still plan to have most everything plated. I just need the paint for the BAC valve, charcoal canister, etc.

That was just my opinion on my exprience. There is always more than one way to accomplish a task. You might just find a twist that works better or is just what you want. I'm always experimenting with different things. You should see all the polishes, wax's and cleaning products on my detail cart.

Do you have any other solution for the BAC valve since I can't just pull it apart and finding one with perfect plating is probably imposible?

Sorry, no real subsutute for plating that I know of. Not that I like anyway. Doesn't mean you can't try or experiment or might be satisfied with.

Very true.

Maybe I will see if there is a way of taking the BAC valve apart without destroying it. I had access to one for cheap in the junk yard a while back, now I wish I would have picked it up. I was looking through my parts yesterday and I do have extra relays that I can have plated.

A bit more tricky if this is your daily driver as well.

it is my DD so it is very tricky.

A few new questions about the Buzzer/chime.

What do you think could cause them not to work?

Could something just be disconected?

Where are they actually located?

When I first got my car the door open buzzer worked but sounded like it was dieing. Once the car I got the car to run it quit working. The car had a few electrical gremlins when I first got it which was why it didn't run. Everything else in the interior works just fine including the dome light and the ignition light.

I saw this thread: https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ghlight=buzzer

Is the GSL-SE similar?

i would remove each doow switch and clean each switch and make sure the contact points on the switches are good. when reinstalling the switches, be careful not to overtighten the screws as they strip easily.

Do you think that could be the problem even though the dome light works still?

I'm going to mess with this a little today.

The buzzer is fixed. It was the switch attached to the ignition. I had to pull it apart and resolder the wires. I also pulled and cleaned the door switches.

thanks for the update Chris! were the solder joints corroded, detatched or cold?

They were mostly detached. When I pulled the column cover, I could mess with the wires and get it to work. I had to do the soldering with the switch in the car. I just poped the switch off the ignition and let it hang.

What would be the best way to clean up the fan shroud and other black plastic parts under the hood?

Mine are in good shape just a little grungy looking. I wanted to give it that nice factory shine without making it a dirt magnet.

scrub with simple green and then anything you'd use on the dash, or tires would be ok, less probably attracts less dirt.