While I could get the front fenders (damaged), front spoiler (also damaged), and possibly the side skirt (one is missing), I don't know how I'd get the rear flares off without making a mess of things. I'm assuming these are bolted or riveted on and then glassed over, right? How the heck would I get these things off?

fm

 

i did contact the seller, and they are going to send me another set overnight. all i can say is i will be sitting at my front door on saturday waiting for the delivery :P

 

What wheels are those?

 

I did the polished lip by hand. It took me 4 hours each wheel to get the gauges out and polish them out.

Steps:
-Start out with 400 grit wet sanding till a uniform look (wash down wheel as you go every now and then)
-800 grit wet sand till a uniform look (wash down wheel as you go)
-let wheel dry
-Denim buffing wheel with brown compound
-wipe down with paint thinner
-cotton sown wheel with white compound (goes by different names)
-wipe down with paint thinner
-Mothers wheel polish
-enjoy the shine

I'm ordering more buffing wheels are an adapter for my grinder here in the next week so I can detail them out. (got a little scuffed at the shop)
The powder coating was not clear coated and it was originally going to cost me 500$ but after after I picked the one wheel up he offered to do the full set for 250$, so I took him up on the offer.
A polished wheel can be clear coated but the polished look will be dulled by the clear.

 

Fired le' Beastie up for the first time in a couple months last night. Fired right up, sounded happy.

I'll take her out tonight for a tank of gas and a little roll-around, before the Puente Hills meet on Saturday.

 

Thinking of posting mine on CL

 

Coolant leak? Really?! Time to investigate!

 

Got my NKG plugs and MazdaTrix wire set, installed them, thinking my problems might be ignition based, the old plugs were definately fouled, but I've still got idle issues, and I fear the oil seals in the rotor might be shot.

 

Pulled my (nearly brand new) water pump; leak was either the pump gland or the casket, couldn't be 100% sure either way - - so, new pump on the way. Better safe than smelly, messy, or sorry.

 

Probably so.
To do it cleanly, body filler and/or fiberglass has to be ground back and the rivets drilled out. Quick and dirty would be to kind of crack it off, and hope that it can be repaired. It kind of depends on how well it's installed, really.

 

The polishing I can do - did it already on the three wheels I've painted, and yes clear-coating the polished area does dull it a bit. Did one of mine as an experiment.
$500 seems a bit steep, but $250 is right on, to me, but I'll admit I've never had anything poweder coated, so what do I know?

 

^^ my two cents; dont clear coat polished alloy, it wont stick properly to a polished suface, and when the water and oxidisation inevitably gets under it it will look like a giant dog-poo. Just polish them and give them a wipe every once in a while to keep the mirror finnish. Also, polishing them yourself, especially with the sand paper method is a LOT of work and will never be as good as having them proffessionally polished, i got mine done for about $40 a wheel.
As for powder coating, if you can get a good price and the colour you want, go for it, but its easy to paint them your self. I did mine in 2k in the garage at home, if you dont have spray equipment, any auto-paint shop can make up a 2k rattle can in any colour you want. The hardest part is prepping, i used paint stripper and then sand blasted them, but if i was to do it again id shop around to get them proffessionally soda blasted.

[edit] the alloy was polished about 8y ago and the paint is about 2yo in this pic. I give the alloy a rub with some polish once a while. It looks cloudy in the photo cos i took the photo off my phone, but its a near perfect mirror finnish in real life.]

 

Took the GSL EV for a drive with no particular destination and ended up at the car wash. I guess it wanted a bath. 769 total EV miles as of today. 146915 chassis miles.

The 85 GSL-SE got the oil filter changed and I removed the long hose (bottom) to the oil cooler. What a messy job! Gonna let it drain until tomorrow and then pull the other hose and replace with the Mazdatrix kit. I can't see where it was actually leaking, does it just seep through the hose when they get old?

 

Went for a drive and then blew a u joint on the return trip. On the plus side she did run great.

 

Yeah, prices around here are kinda all in the same price range due to sandblasting and powder coating.
Spec wheel out in Forney gave me a very nice quote on my wheels but it was way too far for me.

 

Fitted the exhaust heat shields that i scored cheap and cleaned up. My car never had them for some reason. Had to cut around the panhard setup.
Welded up a couple pinholes in the welds the last bloke left in the exhaust.
Went for a thrash.

 

Finally got the water pump I was promised "before close of business Saturday" today at noon. pep Boys, living up to their rep.

New unit (not reman) from Bosch. Aluminum, of course. So now I want to polish it before I install it. Augh.

 

Yesterday I checked out the calipers from the donor GSL-SE rear axle. Definitely going to need new ones or at least a rebuild. The front ones are in a little better shape, but not by much. Rotors are thrashed as well, so new rotors as well. Oh, and ordered some Hawk HP+ brake pads all around.

Today I went back out to see the BAE/Pacific wide-body RX-7 at the junk yard. Someone had gotten the diff and axles (they were small axles anyway, so I wouldn't have used either anyway). I pulled the Euro-style mirrors off as well as the door panels. I think I have pretty much all I care to get off the car now.

fm

 

Installed a new seat.

 

Last time I drove the car I was stranded in front of McDonalds with my husband in rush hour. NICE. I just knew that the fuel filter was going to help since new wires did NOT really do much... Well, I dared to hope. So, today, we got her to start without having to recharge the battery! warm up. start again cool down. start cold again... it was great. We only drove away from town, but within a week or 2 should be reliable.....

 

Drove the old girl to the Texas Import Today meet and had a blast in it.
The meet itself was alright.

 

New pump installed; water tight and runnin' awright!

I resisted the urge to polish the pump, primarily due to time constraints, and secondarily due to it being virtually invisible when installed anyway.

 

Pressed in some new bearings in rotors. Now, ready for 13BT assembly.

 

Pretty much. The rubber hose inside the cloth braid deteriorates and leaks, which then seeps through the braid. My FC's upper hose did that, only it basically split inside and was pouring oil from apparently nowhere. The used emergency replacement hose began leaking, too, but I had time to order a replacement Corksport kit that has braided steel hoses but with factory-style crimped on banjo fittings. A lot cheaper than Mazdatrix's cobbled-up AN-style hoses. Mazdatrix used to sell the same style as Corksport once upon a time, but apparently not any more.
On the plus side, the Mazdatrix hoses are rebuildable without special tools, like all AN hoses. Like the factory hoses, the Corksport ones require a hydraulic crimper. Mind you, all you have to do is take them to any hose shop (a lot of NAPA auto parts can build hoses) and have them rebuild them. If I had time or a spare set of factory hoses, I would have done that instead of the Corksports. Would have been cheaper, yet better than the factory hoses.

 

Oh DD ya slacking lol j/k