I'm sorry if this has already been discussed and I missed it, but I've noticed that a bunch of the images formerly found in the Second Gen Sticky section have disappeared. This included the scans of the original Mazda dealer brochures that listed the features of each model and year of car. Also gone are some of the photos in the FAQ such as OEM wheels, etc.

I assume this has happened because these images were hosted on the personal website owned by moderator Mark Mildice (Icemark) who died this spring. I noticed his site (www.mazdamark.com) also disappeared a few weeks ago. Mark had generously placed a lot of helpful technical information on his site, especially on the rebuilding of headlight and wiper switches. It would be a shame for all this information to be lost to the FC community.

Are any efforts currently underway to restore any of this lost stuff? We might need to contact his family to get copies of his original writings about switches and such. Unfortunately I have no idea how to do that. As to the lost images, replacing them would be as easy as finding quality scans of the source material and finding a suitable place to host the images.

I can volunteer quality scans of the 1988 and 1990 Mazda brochures since I have the originals. I also made a copy of Mark's wiper switch writeup for my own personal use, but I think we'd need to have his family's permission before we put it back on the Internet for public use.

I think the best way to honor Mark's memory and contribution to our community would be to allow his knowledge and work to live on for all to enjoy.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

I think that is a great idea, however it will have to be undertaken by someone who had a personal relationship with Mark, not just some internet friends from across the US.

 

Agreed that it would be best if someone who knew him personally could ask permission of his family to post his technical articles.

However, restoring the scans of brochures and photos of wheels should be something within the power of the community to do. As it stands now, when a newbie asks whether their '89 GXL came with an LSD, we can't direct them to the Sticky on the subject anymore. The Sticky still has Icemark's name on it; it seems a little disrespectful for us to allow it to stay there in its current broken condition without trying to fix it if we can.

I'll admit that I'm ignorant about the technology of this site. For example, I don't know whether a moderator could edit the links in the Sticky so they point to a new URL if we got some new scanned images, or whether the entire Sticky would just have to be re-written. Even if it's the latter, we should re-do them with working photos, crediting Icemark as the original writer of them.

 

Quite a few people have read this thread, but there have been almost no comments. I'm wondering if this is because people don't think repairing the FAQ section is important, or they don't know how to go about getting it done.

I guess I could PM some of the moderators, though I'm not sure they'd respond to a low-post-count nobody like myself...

 

talk to funkspectrum, he is a mod here and also knew mark and family personally. he might be able to get you some of the lost info.

 

I don't see why there would be a problem getting this stuff back on. I'm sure his family didn't pay to keep his site up, it's not that they're being selfish with the information.

I don't know if we could ever get it all back though

 

I am trying to find info on rebuilding the light switch for a 99 RX7 myself. I had bought a rebuilt wiper switch from Mark a tear or so ago and was looking to do the same with the light switch. Does anyone have the info on rebuilding these switches available? I will miss Mark and his advice to a Noob.

 

http://www.fc3spro.com/TECH/HOWTO/WIPER/wiper.html

 

In a PM, Funkspectrum let me know that he is already working on getting this information restored, which I'm very happy to hear. Thanks to everyone who expressed interest in this thread.

 

Weren't the brochures located elsewhere as well? I know iluvmyrx7.com is long gone as well.

1986 Brochure is available here:
http://www.turborx7.com/brochures.htm

Surely Icemark wasn't the sole owner of these resources.

Wiper switch rebuild has already been posted two posts up, and I can try and help anyone who needs advice. Aaron Cake has soldering instructions on his site as well.


I've taken up some wiper switch rebuilding, as I'm an electronics tech by trade. I've got temperature controlled soldering irons and rework equipment.


I'm pretty sure as a community, we can replicate the information he had. True, we lost a great person, but information lives on.


EDIT:
Also, here are older copies of his web site:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://mazdamark.com

 

No, of course he wasn't. For example, you could go on eBay pretty much any day of the week and buy original copies of all the old brochures for about $10 each. I'm sure scans of them do exist elsewhere on the web like the '86 brochure you posted. However, its was an asset to have all this stuff at our fingertips in the FAQ rather than having to search for them anytime you need them.

Also, granted Icemark's tech articles were not necessarily the very last word on the subject of wiper or headlight switch rebuilding, but they definitely were worthwhile. It's often nice to read multiple takes on a project so you can decide what approach works best for you.

I think when a site like this one stops having the resources it used to have and forces you to go elsewhere for them, it starts to die a little and becomes a little less relevant. I just don't think that's the direction we should want this site to go.

 

Sorry I didn't see this topic sooner.

If someone has the images I can host them, no problem.

The brochure that turborx7.com has is simply a copy of my scans. Would have been nice if they asked me first, though.

 

Working on it...

 

Aaron, as I mentioned in a PM to Funkspectrum, I have the '88 and '90 Mazda brochures as well as the '88 Finish Line catalog. I have them scanned and ready to go if they are needed.

 

I don't get why you don't just attach them to the sticky posts and then, in the post itself, link the images to their location in the attachments. I know there are limits to the number of attachments per post, but you could just add an extra post in the thread with more attachments. In this way the images would only be lost if the forum itself goes down.

it kind of like this. I attach an image at the bottom like so. The location of the image is: https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1248462733 I can get the location of the image by opening the attachment. In IE, I right click to bring up a little menu, click, properties and then copy the location. In firefox I just right click and click "copy image location."

so I use my IMG tags like this: IMG https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1248462733 /IMG (add brackets to make it work)

final result is:

 

No reason that wouldn't work, but in order for something to be made a "sticky," it has to be so designated by a moderator, right?

 

yes, Aaron would have to do that in the sticky thread after you send him the images. I'm just suggesting that method to avoid the hassle of somebody's personal website hosting images used in a forum sticky.

 

Unless I die, my website will always be up. It has been running since 1994 and has been at aaroncake.net since 1998. I don't think there is any danger of it going away anytime soon. Even if I do die, instructions have been left on how to keep the servers going and keep the site functional.

 

^ thats dedication right there...

 

it's definitely got the vintage 90s look going

 

I have the 87-91 spec pages that Icemark had up. Just let me upload them to photobucket and I'll post them here and also pm you Aaron.

 

87 SPEC PAGE



88 SPEC PAGE


89 SPEC PAGE

 

90 SPEC PAGE



91 SPEC PAGE



Now I think i'm missing a few pages and all of 86 so some one else would have to add them.

 

You mean efficient and easy to navigate?

Thank you. I'll take care of this sometime soon.

 

NP just wished I still had all of them.