Hopefully this is a new question ... I have searched !

Where are the spot welds that hold the reinforcing plate to the rear wheel well located ? I have some rot (as do most 1st gens) in this area and want to remove the plates to sort the problem out properly then plug weld the plates back on

I've borrowed someone else piccy so you can all see what I'm getting at



thanks in advance,
Mike

 

Hate to tell you this but if your car looks anywhere near that it's shot. Part it out and get a new one with out rust. I know thats not what you wanted to hear but if it's that bad you have nothing to work with as far as making new mounts for the rear end. My car wasn't anywhere near that bad and I regreted fixing it. My mounts were still intact but right above/behind the plate it was rotted so I cut out all the rust I could find and welded in a patch that I took from my parts car (that came from the south but was rolled over ). I posted pic's a long time ago (probably about a year) on how I did it from start fo finish. If you can't find them shoot me a PM and I will try to find them and repost If you are intrested.

 

errrrr no it looks no where near that bad its just the centre part of the plate thats started to rot ... this is the ONLY rust in the car ... just need to know where the spot welds are to take it off to do a good as new repair (read invisible)

we've rebuilt cars with much more rust than that .... the MIG is our best freind !!

this is the egine bay of my car ... it gives a good idea of how good a condition its in ...

I'd like to see the pics of your rebuild, i did search but failed to find exactly what i was looking for.

thanks,
Mike

 

found it ... all I had to do was search for you name and rust at the same time !

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...highlight=rust

Mines no where near that bad ... I should dig out some photos of our rally car re-build hehehehe

it had -

an engine rebuild (done by me)
2 new sills
50% of the floor pan replaced
rear valance cut out and repaired
2 new doors (O not new but less rusty!!!)
sun roof plated over
new bonnet + 2 new front wings
2 inner sills
+ various other "patches" and bits i've forgotten
and then a respray and rebuild ... all in 2 weeks of evenings before a rally !

not to mention that we were doing this after doing an identical rebuild on the other team car ! talk about tiring work 7:30 - 3:45 regular jon then 19:30 22:30 on the car !

 

Its not shot, my car had the same condition, if not worse, when i got it from a junkyard. Basiclly you have to do a little surgery on your car. I didn't have acess to a welder, so this is how i did it. I first bought a ton of dremmel bits, and cut out all the rust, trying to avoid any of the main structural points. Then all you do it get some strong stainless steel, or aluminum, and make a layer or two that covers the hole. Then you drill a ton of holes for the rivets(or you could weld). After its all patched, coat it with fiberglass, then slap rubberized undercoating on both sides to water proof it.. Make sure to use the plate that bolts on over it again, or make a replacement just for structual stability.

P.S
Don't give up on your car untill it gives up on you.

 

Not sure on the exact weld points, but I would add many more on re-assembly anyway. If I wasn't avoiding your path altogether and doing what I am: simply replacing the unibody, that is.
Have fun, and keep us posted!

 

Other than a parts car, is there a source to get new wheel wells?

 

I think Mazda sold out of inner wheel arches long ago

 

I beleive that is correct.

-Error402

 

Did they sell out of the ones for the front also?

 

Dude, if you need fronts then it's definitely a lost cause. Even the 220,000 Michigan miles parts heap I'm picking over (worse than the red one pictured above!) still has operational front wells.

 

My car is almost rust free. The inner well was takin out with the old fender by the last owner. Thats why I don't have one.

 

Hate to tell you this, but you're wrong. It's not shot. Most of them have this problem and there are many ways to fix it. Unfortunately, a patch won't hold up that well. You need to take care of all the "cancerous" metal, especially that which is structural. I had good wheel wells restored and reinstalled with rebuilt control arm brackets. Looks like new.

 

My bad.

Yeah, you need a parts car unless you can form sheetmetal by concentrating real hard on The Force.

 

You'd have to buy the whole quarter from Mazda for a rediculous price. I know where you can get a pair, but it's probably way more than you'd want to spend.

 

MikeLMR good to hear that your car hasn't progressed to that stage yet


So your saying that red car at the top of the page is still worth it to fix?? If the rear end mount is totaly rusted off like pictured the rest of the car isn't too far behind. i bet if you were to take a screwdriver to where the steering box and the pitman arm mount to the "frame" you could poke a hole through on that car. I'm not saying it can't be fixed, your just better off with a rust free one.

I didn't have much choice with my car (live in Minnesota) when it came to rust free. They either wanted wayyy to much for one or they were rusted to hell close to that red one so I had to settle for my 83 that had a little rust. What I did was cut out all of the rust I could find then I welded in that patch from the donor car. To add strength I welded in a piece of angle iron (can see it in one of my pic's ) and also welded the rear end mounts to the car.

 

MikeLMR good to hear that your car hasn't progressed to that stage yet


So your saying that red car at the top of the page is still worth it to fix?? If the rear end mount is totaly rusted off like pictured the rest of the car isn't too far behind. i bet if you were to take a screwdriver to where the steering box and the pitman arm mount to the "frame" you could poke a hole through on that car. I'm not saying it can't be fixed, your just better off with a rust free one.

I didn't have much choice with my car (live in Minnesota) when it came to rust free. They either wanted wayyy to much for one or they were rusted to hell close to that red one so I had to settle for my 83 that had a little rust. What I did was cut out all of the rust I could find then I welded in that patch from the donor car. To add strength I welded in a piece of angle iron (can see it in one of my pic's ) and also welded the rear end mounts to the car.

 

I wouldn't waste my time with that red car either. My 83 Limited is rusted like that, which is the primary reason its my parts car. Once the car gets to that point its shot.