Today I finished preparing the knuckles for welding on new coilovers.





Hopefully they will perform just as well as they look (I don't have pictures of the actual coils yet, but they do look good). I don't doubt they'll be anything but an improvement over 40 years old struts and springs...

 

I like that the new tubes fit over the old (cut down) ones. I always wondered how you kept them straight and aligned when installing/welding. Now I know, thanks.

 

Looking good!

I had my setup welded by Glease Manufacturing, a Canadian rotary/welding guru.

Also I learned a lesson. Do not paint the mating surfaces of the spindle and steering knuckle. Mine slowly lost their torque over time. Also your Mazda dealer can get you nice new OEM bolts for the spindle to knuckle.

 

Oversize tires in front back in the day rubbed the paint off the sway-bar. Good "to know" info though thanks!

 

Nothing as exotic as custom coilovers but my original oil sending unit finally died and had to be replaced.

 

Try to clean the small hole from the 36 years old oil mud and the sending unit will work again. Inject some brake cleaner or grill cleaner and let it do work for some hours.

 

Mine started leaking at the seam along the body.. Not sure brake cleaner would fix that!

 

i didn't answer a leaking problem, so not sure what you wanted to say!
Easy to open the sending unit and control the seals.

 

I was just joking :-) But now I want to try and repair the old one so I have a spare. Thanks for the tip.

 

Tried making a shift **** cover out of some scrap leather. I have more leather and a learned a lot from the first one, so I'll probably redo it better.

 

Looks great, I've turned a couple out of ipe wood. I just haven't done one that's really comfortable and aesthetically pleasing too.

 

That looks really good!

 

Seems you also making a steering wheel out of some scrap leather!👌🏼

 

Will be attempting that one again as well, I've improved my leather sewing skills since I did that, which was a kit from Amazon. It feels good but doesn't look as awesome as it could.

 

I have "always" liked the look and feel of a leather shift ****, twenty years ago I had my leather GSL-SE steering wheel re-wrapped and I sent my shift **** along with it to have it wrapped too. It's held-up well for twenty years, wish I could say the same for my stock steering wheel. I switched to a 330 mm walnut Nardi steering wheel about 15 years ago (easier to get in/out of the car as I got older) and my beautiful stock steering wheel was lost during


one of my military moves unfortunately.

 

so funny, I was watching this right before I jumped on here! anyway, check this guy out. he does free demos on basically everything to do with upholstery!
and I like the no vents and no radio! very sleek

 

Yep, I've watched a few if his videos, it's kind of mesmerizing isn't it

 

Had my GSL-SE door cards dyed. After it's first twenty-plus years in California and Florida the sun-bleached door cards had various shades of color and the leather pieces were looking a little tired. Even with tinted windows, windshield blockers and being garage kept the sun really did a number on them and it was especially noticeable where the door meets the side of the dashboard being much different then the rest of the door. I'm very happy with the way they turned out.

 

Red seems to be the worst about fading, even more so among the various materials. Those look great!

 

With the addition of the FPR the fuel lines are almost done. At least under the hood. The tank is a winter project. I have an intercooler from a Type 44 Audi. that is 80% mounted. Not ready to share pictures on this thread yet.

 

I did the rear brake shoes tonight. A retaining pin was "gone", so used a small nut and bolt and lock tight. The local police were interested in WTF was I doing working on my car at 2 am with a flash light in the apartment's parking lot? Also, replaced red brake shoes that has been on the car since 1996. They were from pep boys and had some kind of life time guarantee. Should I walk into my local Pep Boys with said red brake shoes?

I wonder what other rusty 37 year old parts are going to be "gone"?

 

Username checks out

And @SeniorChief, those doors almost look TOO good. Nice work.

 

Thanks Toruki, I wish I could take credit for the door card work. I had a guy from leathertechnicians.com dye them for me. I originally contacted him about my 2000 Acura RL. The bolster on the drivers seat was getting bad and a kick panel had some marks on it I couldn't get off. He did such a great job I had him come back to re-dye a leather headrest on a chair in my house. I also had a broken piece of plastic seat trim on the passenger seat of my RL that was the last little issue I wanted to fix. The RL interior is Quartz Gray and the only parts still available were Ivory so I ordered that one and he died it to match my interior, and you cannot tell the the difference. That's when I asked him to tackle the GSL-SE doors and well you can see the results were amazing (in my humble opinion.) The LeatherTechnicians is a franchise-type company and if you have a local franchise checkout their website they usually have before/after pictures of their work. I was very impressed with the young guy that did my work. In talking to him he said he gets a lot of work from auto dealers cleaning up cars they want to sell. I'm attaching a photo of the seat trim (that was Ivory) he dyed for my RL.

 

Did another one of those cechaflow style shift *****. 2 different leathers and thread to match my upholstery. I'm gonna do one with Charge livery stitching next - orange and green tied together with white.

 

Impressive job!