Restoration Update: Stage 8 *PICS*
 

Hey fellas,

Decided to share some pics of the project with everyone since its been a while. I'm getting really close to having this thing done. I've got to finish up the interior, which shouldn't take too long. Then all I have left is to paint the doors, fenders, hood, etc, and put them all back on. I'm very close to being done and I can't wait.

The engine is up and running and is unbelievable. I have tried to squeeze as much power out of it as I can through bolt ons, and I must say I am quite pleased. I've got the RB exhaust, Light steel flywheel, removed all emissions, removed air conditioning, Carb by Sterling, removed intake butterfly, Accel plug wires, MSD Blaster 2 Coils, Ford Taurus Electric Fan, New Radiator, chopped up aircleaner, Carter fuel pump, Holley 1-5 psi regulator, Auto to 5 Spd swap, CP Racing strut bar, and probably some other little stuff that I forgot.

But here is what I've got so far. Stay tuned and you should see the finished product in the next couple of months (knock on wood). Hope you guys like it!

Jamie

Here are some more various pictures of the 7....

Finally the carb rebuilt by Sterling. I honestly can't say enough about his work. The thing is absolutely top notch. When I pulled it out of the box I shed a single tear. :D He stripped off all the emissions for me, and the car is much better now, and looks more attractive. Here are a couple shots of his unparalelled craftsmanship.

Nice, keep up the good work :bigthumb:

Good Job Jamie :)

Nice to see it all come together.

Did you paint/dye your interior? It looks better black.

And was that car always white? I thought it was brown and patchy?

It sure has come a long way!

Jon

Painted the interior, replaced the carpet, and painted the car white. It was splotchy and bad for a long time. Then I finally broke down and painted it. I did it all myself, and I must say it turned out fairly nice...

Looks real nice. :bigthumb: You sure have came a long way with your restoration. Keep up the good work.

Looks good!

I hated that cheap carpet hanging down from the rear lid. I threw that shyt out. What do you plan on doing there.? I threw away my bins too. Hated those also! Now I have more room

By the way, I'm have your emission's hose from the right rear of the engine, and the omp lines too.

Haha.. That's hilarious. Very small world huh? :D As far as the carpet in the back, I think the reason it looks like @#% from the factory is because they don't fasten it to the plastic trim piece well enough. It only has a few places where the carpet is hooked on, and it tends to sag in places. Also, I think they cut the carpet kinda small for that piece. It has a tendency to leave gaps in between itself and the other pieces it is supposed to connect to. I plan to cut a larger piece of carpet and attach it very securely to the plastic trim piece. Then I'm going to tuck it behind all of the surrounding interior pieces to make it look better than it did before. This is the best solution I've come up with so far....

Looks really good Jamie. :bigthumb:

How did you do the horn emblem? I need to do that for my Grant wheel.

the dash looks awesome... how does the vinyl dye hold up? i was thinking of doing the same to my red monstrosity

Awesome!

question: Is the front strut bar easy to install, because i'm thinking about getting one when i buy a 7?

-Matt

That is a craz lookin' car

Yeah they're pretty easy to install, especially the 2 point one like I have.

Kudos!! Very clean engine bay. I like the quality of the detail you are putting into the car. Keep up the fine work. :bigthumb:

what white is that? i'm repainting my car white again, but i'm looking for a paint code off a really bright white colour. :)

Carl,

I originally bought this item off of ebay hoping that it would work with my Grant steering wheel.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=33704

Turns out that it did not. However, I ended up discovering that once I took the "mazda" horn button apart that it was some type of do it yourself kit that the guy was selling. Turns out the Mazda emblem inside the horn button was just a sticker he made somehow. I took it out, pulled the backing off and put it in the middle of the wheel. It is the perfect size to cover up the stock GRANT sticker. I feel kind of dumb paying for just the sticker, but the horn button idea didn't work so I improvised by taking it apart. :D

The paint is actually farm implement paint that I got from a local Tractor Supply store. It is called, "Gloss White." You can get it for $20.00 a gallon. It works very well, and I honestly can't see any reason to pay more than that unless you are building a show car or something. I want my car to look good, but paint is only so important. It's probably gonna end up getting chipped or cracked at some point, so that is why I ended up doing the paint myself.

DON'T USE VINYL DYE!!! If you're talking about the "Interior Paint" that a lot of manufacturer's sell, I can't stand that stuff. It is an absolute joke. About a year ago I repainted the entire inside of the car with burgundy interior paint. Once it gets a dramatic temperature change, or spends a little time in the sun it flakes off like crazy. You can pull giant pieces of it right off the interior panels. That paint is absolute trash.

If you are going to change your interior let me suggest that you first recover anything that is made of fabric, carpet or vinyl. Painting doesn't really work that well. Just go to your local fabric or craft store and you can buy lots of colors of vinyl. Carpet stores should have the carpet you need for various spots. As far as painting goes I recommend just using plain old Rustoleum. It is a very tough paint and from what I have encountered, it takes a lot of abuse without chipping off or cracking. I used black semi-gloss rustoleum on the entire interior so far, and haven't had it flake off anywhere yet.

Just some tips from someone who has learned the hard way too many times... :D

awesome job! How long have you been at it?

thats nice!!

so, did you spray it? if so, what did you use? just your basic fan gun deal and a compressor? i have a friend that does paint and body work, but if i can do it myself then hell yes! :D

Yeah, I did it myself in my garage at home. Covered up everything in the garage I didn't want overspray on. White wasn't too bad for overspray really. Make sure you buy a professional quality respirator to protect you from the fumes. Most of the paints now have some chemical in them that is terrible for your lungs. It has been too long since I painted, or I could tell you the exact names. Most enamel based paints have this chemical in them now, so you need a VERY GOOD respirator to protect you from it. Don't go cheap on this. You need a respirator with charcoal cans and then the little foam activators that go over the charcoal. Just go to your most trustworthy local paint and body supply store. I have one that I prefer here and they hooked me up with a mask and everything for about $40.

Even though I had my mask on the entire time, I still felt pretty awful the next couple of days because I didn't have enough ventilation. Make sure you ventilate as well as you possibly can. The paint fumes will make you absolutely nauscious for the next day or two if you don't...

As far as actually painting the car, I bought a decent quality spray gun ($40-$50) and used my trusty craftsman air compressor. Just be careful that you don't burn up the motor on your compressor if it is a small one. I did this once accidentally by disregarding the air flow requirements of the tools. I was using a sander that was really a little too much for my air compressor to keep up with. It was running at 100% for close to an hour, the whole time I was sanding. Ruined the motor, so I bought a larger compressor and motor off of ebay and put them on the tank. It pumps up a lot faster now, so all is well. :D But I basically got a spray gun, my compressor, paint, hardener, epoxy primer, thinner, solvent, degreaser, sandpaper, a respirator, and some old junk clothes to wear while painting. I'm not really looking forward to doing the rest of the body work, but I'm so close to being done... :)

I hate painting and sanding. I'd much rather be turning a wrench.

Jamie

well then what kind of prep work did you do for the parts u painted? did u sand them a little bit, primer, then paint? and as for the dash, i'm not sure how durable rustoleum could be... cause the dash isn't super hard, so pushing on it i'd think could upset the paint causeing cracking... maybe i'm wrong tho, let me know