Just got some parts back from the powdercoater, and im happy to say they turned out pretty good. All parts are going to be assembled onto a 'new' subframe as I continue to collect fresh competition parts for my ongoing project car.

Lower control arms (minus new bushings) in red wrinkle finish




Dust shields in generic black gloss


Spindle/knuckles done in red wrinkle finish




Spindles and dust shields put back together






Brackets on the left are for the LCA's, Brackets on the right are for my manual steering rack (the big bracket is common to all the racks, but the smaller one is different between manual and power steering)

 

Looks Awesome.

 

That's gonna look cleaaan!

 

Yeah, I hope it does turn out better after I get the subframe redone. I already painted the calipers earlier this year, though maybe sometime next year ill disassemble them to be powdercoated as well.



But for now they look decent, just have to get a more aggressive pad, slotted rotors, and a laundry list of other corner carving goodies to bely the rough exterior.

 

 

wow, i really like that red wrinkle finish specially on the spindles and lower control arms.
when i fab my lca's i think im gunna do that red wrinkle.

Lloyd

 

very nice indeed

 

wow, looks like that cost a pretty penny.

I wouldn't recommend powder-coating the calipers, as I'm under the impression they'd have to media blast them. Sounds like a foreshadowing of something to me.

 

Calipers are routinely powder coated with no ill effects at all.

What does "Sounds like a foreshadowing of something to me" even mean?

 

That looks good to me. I'm going to powder coat my suspension parts a signal red once they come in.

 

See this is something Ive wondered. Why build a beautiful car and neglect to redo the suspension bits? The LCA's are cast aluminum with machining for the bushings, they polish up nice sure, but they end up looking crappy after some months of real road time. Most spindles are absolutely groady, the set I had done was quite nasty really, but now they look quite pimp.With the cost to me to have all those done, including: Removal of old LCA bushings, media blasting everything, and powdercoating, cost me 80 bucks, and I didnt have to ship them out and I only had about 30 bucks into the parts themselves from my local pull-a-part. So with what ive done, ive already set myself up to have a nicer suspension than I do body/paint.

I do intend on rebuilding my calipers, so when that time comes they too will be disassembled and powder'd in the same wrinkle finish as the LCA's and the spindles. Those might cost me a bit more to do in addition to having to rebuild all four corners.

I still have a bunch more parts that need done, but I cant do anything more until I either:
A) park the car indefinitely to work on it proper
B) snag an entire rear subframe from teh junkyard and have it and the front subframe both redone by a different person/company (guy im using cant fit subframes in his oven)

But its going to be a slow process, but I can honestly say, if I ever total the body out I am so going to keep these parts for another FC, OR...eventually swap them all onto a T2 platform when I get back into boosted rotaries.

 

nice. what bushing kit are you going with?

 

Im currently leaning towards compiling a set of Delrin bushings with mazda's competition engine/tranny/diff mounts. By the time I scrape up the coin for the entire suspension it wont be finished until next season, but with the parts being in the garage and not on the car, progress can happen when I can afford to purchase the individual bits for the parts that need them. But Ill have the front subframe ready to rock by december I figure, since having to replace the engine in my Conquest sucked up the money for tie rod ends, sway bar end links, new ball joints, and the LCA bushings.

 

everything looks good, but I would not go too much more with the red, what color is the car anyhow? Gray or blue?

 

Car is technically coded as Brilliant black, but due to previous owners the only parts still original paint code are door jambs and the engine bay, its currently been rattle canned in satin black krylon just so its not looking like a dishevled old man from the previous crap primer job. It will probably stay a non gloss black even after I get the body work done.

 

nice nice
i rebuilt and powdercoated a set of t2 brake calipers for a friend on here "RX710thAE", they came out real nice and the rebuild kit was like 12$, it was 150 total on his side to have them done
so, there is nothing wrong with powdercoating the calipers as long as you dont seperate the two halfs, good luck getting that o-ring to seal properly. and yes, you have to media-blast them, but nothing a relatively small sand-blasting rig cant take care of, just be sure not to hit the bore with anything and mask off all the holes.

Lloyd

 

if you're going to go all out, don't forget about wire brushing the bolts and nuts.

 

Yeah, I have a dremel tool that I just need to buy a few new abrasive bits and brushes for before I go back at it to clean up bolts. I had enough problems when i replaced my rear calipers due to siezed bolt threads to know Im so cleaning things back out when the time comes to do it all again.

 

How easy is it to paint up your calipers? That's my next project I want to do. Any suggestions would be awesome. Good luck too Man on the setup.

 

Well I think doing mine was easy. But I was painting a set of calipers that were off the car that I was intending to put on. Theres a couple ways to do it really, theres the way I did it which involved the autozone caliper paint which had to be brushed on. Then theres the option of masking everything off and using high temp header paint, which is the way I would have done it.

I cleaned my calipers using first a can of brake parts cleaner (one can per caliper mind you), and once that had its chance I took my dremel and some abrasive bits and 'polished' up the caliper a bit to clean it further. I then hit them again in the parts cleaner, then began brushing on the paint. The brushed on stuff sucks...I had to do 3 coats to get it to stay red with no alumium peeking through and it just sucked to work with as they only supply one brush. I trashed the brush after my fronts were done, but then I pulled out a set of rear's I had ready to go and did them using a cheap sponge brush found at typical craft stores, that worked much better in applying the paint.

But if I ever do these again im definitely powdercoating front and back just to safe myself the headache of spending several hours of my day to clean/prep and paint them all myself.

 

Be sure to use anti-seize on the threads.
Make it a habit to use it every time you remove hardware and down the road you- or someone else- will be thankful.

Having done two sets of calipers last week, I have a few suggestions.
All this is predicated on actually rebuilding the calipers- not just painting them- and having intact dust boots.

With caliper in hand- you'll want the hard line still attached or even better, a sacrificial one from the junkyard...at any rate, something screwed into the intake port- use your fingers (if you're lucky) or a c-clamp to compress the pistons.
Fluid will spurt out, so be prepared.

Now, put a hose on the bleed screw, crack it open and blow through the hardline- compressed air would be good- you're trying to evacuate as much of the old brake fluid as possible but you don't want to pop the pistons out yet.

Close the bleed screw but keep the hose in place, cover the open end with tape or plug it with a screw. Do the same for the hardline.

Scrub the caliper with hot soapy water and a stiff brush. You want to get it as clean as possible, every nook and cranny, even the inside.

In a perfect world you are now ready to media blast the caliper body...fine sand, glass beads,etc.
This may not be an option but is highly desirable if at all possible.

If you're not going to blast the caliper, now is the time to break out the heavy duty chemicals (brake/carb cleaner, etc) to get as much of the gunk gone as possible. When finished- or just sick of cleaning- rewash in fresh soapy water followed with clean straight water to remove any residue.

With the caliper now prepped, paint it.
Use high temp paint and use normal procedures...many light, even coats are better than heavy ones.

Allow to thoroughly dry...I gave them two days.
You want the paint as cured as possible, just "touch dry" won't cut it, as there is the distinct possibility that during the next steps a bit of old fluid will be present and that **** eats new paint for breakfast.
Curing in a low temp (say 150° or so) oven will be a good idea- but kinda stinks up the place, so use discretion.

Now you're ready to remove the old piston boots and pop the pistons.
Put a piece of wood between the opposing pistons and apply compressed air to the hard line...the pistons should pop most of the way out with the wood keeping them from flying across the room.
Keep a damp rag handy to get any dribbles of old brake fluid from trashing your new paint (this is why we tried to evacuate as much of the fluid as possible in the beginning).

Remove pistons and the old seals.
Replace with new seals, reinstall pistons- wet the seals with a dab of new fluid first, they should slide in easily- and install dust boots and retaining clips.

If you want to tart up the calipers a bit, take a small, fine file and carefully run it over the Mazda logo being careful not to hit the casting hump that's right below.
A few minutes work and the logo will now be a crisp clean aluminum color, a nice contrast to the paint. You have to keep at it till the edges of the letters are straight and clear but since it's a casting, there might be a few places that won't work out.
Sigh and stop, knowing you did your best.

You're done!

All told, figure about an hour and a half per caliper, not counting drying times.

 

How low is the car going to be? It might be rough to dial out camber in the rear with delrin bushings.

 

I havent decided how low its going yet. Right now as it sits, I have 4 inches of wheel gap (top of tire to bottom of rear fender) using a set of stock BBS meshies with 205/50 hoosiers mounted to them, so in theory i'm wanting to drop it at least 2~3 inches. I do want delrin in just about everything else, though more than likely going to use the mazda competition engine/transmission/ and rear diff mounts.

 

I'm sorry, I meant rear suspension bushings. Delrin bushings tend to bind the suspension when you use individual camber adjusters. The remedy is to use the spherical bushings or stock because they will flex.

Your suspension looks great btw.

 

Looks nice Derrick. Not to jack your thread.. but if you still have that other manual rack let me know.. I'm interested in it. Anyway let me know next time you are going to PAP again. There is a new rx7 on the lot.