tow hooks removeable?
 

Are the tow hooks removable on an FB (Fronts)? There are two bolts, and I removed them thinking that would do it, but the one I tried would not budge after the bolts were out. I was wondering if the bolts were some elaborate ruse devised by mazda to make me believe they would come off, and they are really just tack welded in place?

yeah, they are spot welded. not sure about drilling the spot welds out but i don't see why you couldn't.

I wonder why the heck they did that?? Seems like two big bolts would be enough. The reason I wanted to remove one was because it is bent up pretty good, and I feel like I could get it straight again if I could put in the bench vice or something.
Looks tough to drill without taking the grill off. Maybe that's easy though? I haven't looked.

you will need to drill through the spot welds with a spot weld drill bit. you can also use a regular drill bit to remove them as well. i guess Mazda spot welded them for added strength.

I cant remember if you'd nee to pull the grill and bottom bumper piece or not. I could look for you in a few hours and post back. My 83 doesnt habe a frot end on it right now. Im pretty sure terr is a few on bottom of the frame rail

That would be great. I drove it today, so I might look myself as well.

That tow hook is driving me nuts all bent up. Maybe I can get some new steel ones made in a cool shape or something once I get these off.

Looking forward to getting my PS working as well... ;-)

You can get them drilled out by just removing the grille. You shouldnt have to remove anything else, but my 85 doesnt have ps or ac so im not sure if that would get in the way or not.

You could cut off the bent part and get yourself some rennenmetal tow hooks.i have them on my car. they just bolt up to the factory holes.

http://www.rennenmetal.com/proddetail.asp?prod=2110

http://www.rennenmetal.com/prodimages/2110_m.gif

http://i1066.photobucket.com/albums/...7/IMG_0845.jpg

Good god I love the offset there. ^^^^

I'm not usually a fan of big modern wheels on older cars, but yours does look right.

I think that cutting them off would be just as big a pain as drilling them out, so I might as will just drill the welds.

having ripped the tow hook out of and FC, i agree, the bolts aren't the strong part....

i notice mine get tweaked when i cross the straps on the trailer, but really its easy to straighten.

you need a big hammer, and a either another big hammer, or a chunk of iron or something heavy.

place your dolly on one side of tow hook, hit the other side with a hammer, and it'll straighten out

^^^
I tried this first, and was unsuccessful. My problem is that the hook is bent at a >90 angle, so I can't get a good downward strike at it. If I could just get to be <90 than I might have a chance as you suggested. That is the reason it makes me so nuts, because it's bent really out of wack! I don't even know how it got that way, really.