What to replace when re-painting?
 

I'm in the planning stages of a repaint. I vaguely remember someone posting a list of parts to replace when re-painting / re-spraying the car. Things like exterior trim pieces etc. Can't find the thread though...

Anyone have a list? Would like to add it to the FAQ and order some parts from Ray Crowe.

Thanks.

I don’t have a list but the first thing that came to mind is the belt-line molding…at the bottom of the door windows. IIRC they’re kind of a pita to get off without breaking those fragile clips.And I think windshield and hatch glass trim moldings are getting tough to source.

The belt line moldings are meant to be removed from inside the door. You have to roll the window all the way down, reach in the door frame and release each of those white clips and kind of walk the thing out. Each clip has 3 prongs. It's incredibly tedious but necessary if you want to reuse them.

Nothing necessarily HAS to be replaced. A good body shop can successfully mask around the glass moldings without making the end product look like they masked around the glass moldings. Everything else can be removed and reused as it is.

Doing full body paint like that would be a good time to shave rhe antenna hole. Those "hidden" antennas work very well and are a much cleaner solution if you just have to have am/fm.

If the rear antenna piece hasn't been replaced, I'm pretty sure it will break upon removal during paint...

How deep are we getting?

At a minimum with fresh paint-

• FDY2-51-SH2 headlight lid
• FDY2-51-SH1 headlight lid
• Windshield seal w/ dam and corner pieces
• L & R Belt line molding
• L& R Drip rail moldings (around the top of the door)
• Hatch glass seal
• Sunroof Seal (If equipped. Only the metal panel seal is still available)
• Windshield washer sprayers (Late model fan style)

If you want to go above and beyond-

• L & R Door opening body welts (Body at pinch weld)
• L & R Door top finishers/window seat (Wraps around the top of the window frame)
• L & R Door weather strips (All around on the doors)
• L & R Door - lower trim panel weather strips (Along the bottom of the door on the inside face, the door panel touches it)
• L & R Exterior sails by the mirrors
• Antenna base or antenna assembly
• New windshield cowl with screws and caps
• New front and rear badges (USDM, Efini, "RX-7", etc.)
• New door handle assemblies (Bare are fine, swap your stuff onto them, if you do this consider replacing the lock shutters and polishing the trim ring)
• New headlight bezels
• New rear bumper valence
• New front bumper lip spoiler
• New door jamb switches
• Reproduction VIN sticker and OEM or Repro other Jamb area stickers (Recall, Tire)
• Under hood Stickers - OEM or repro
• New hood pad
• New hood prop rod clip
• New front bumper mounting brackets if yours get damaged
• New rear bumper mounting brackets if your get damaged (The lower bolts at the valence like to break)

Mirror base gaskets are NLA, otherwise they would be on the list. Just be careful removing the mirrors.
OEM Windshields are NLA
L & R Hood protectors pieces are NLA (On the hood behind the headlights)
It's also a good idea to clean and slick lube your window slide seals and service your wiper linkage if the cowl does come off.

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A bit off topic, but from personal experience, I strongly disagree with the bold/italics statement above. Your AM/FM reception will vary greatly depending on your local terrain, where you drive and how far away you are from your favorite AM/FM stations. My antenna is shaved (previous owner had the car painted), and I tried about a half dozen different internal/hidden antennas, including an RF amplified one, and NONE of them worked worth a damn where I live. I live roughly 40 miles south of Philly and 50 miles north of Baltimore, which is where the majority of FM stations are in my area, and the terrain around here isn't mountainous but it is hilly. So unless you live in an area with flat line-of-sight terrain a short (<10~20 miles, depending on transmitter power) distance away from your favorite radio stations, those hidden antennas are a waste of time & money.

Thats unfortunate... here in Florida and in North Carolina and all down the east coast, it works great. The stations come in nice and clear and the powered/amplified feature adds a nice level of calirty over the factory antenna. Sucks you weren't able to have a good experience for what is a great product.

Good list. Thanks fellas!

Definitely replacing the belt line molding and windshield molding. Maybe rear window too. Need to look at that one more closely.

Antenna hole is definitely getting filled. Rant On/ I'd rather listen to silence than radio where they seem to play more ads than music. I will actually be removing the radio soon and installing a bluetooth module so I can stream from my phone. /Rant Off

Given that so many items are NLA, and the ones still available OE are Porsche-level pricey, do yourself a favor and remove as much of it as you can before sending the car to the shop. Body shop people aren't as good as they once were, unfortunately. If your belt line molding, door welts, weatherstrip, etc. is good, better to take the time to do it yourself to ensure nothing gets broken.
Eventually, I'll have my car repainted. At that point, I'll even take the glass out before sending it to a paint shop. Just the suspension, so they can roll it around, but absolutely nothing otherwise. I learned this lesson the hard way. Many shops, these days, don't even want to paint whole vehicles, so the ones that do may not be the pick of the litter. That's the way it was for me, back in 2015.

Surely, you mean, like this.
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I think you missed a spot :lol2:

I would never get my car back together if I ever did that...

I just bought the windshield moulding and stick on clip pieces last week, so that is still available

I can get the list together this week/weekend. I just dropped mine for paint and have been ordering the parts from Mazda.


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...869e7dee1.jpeg

It’s taking a while! I’m amazed at how important refinishing and cleaning things I didn’t otherwise care about matters now.
I’ve been holding myself up on blasting and painting a few brackets for a couple months now.

That would be great. I am in the process of getting the car painted as well.

Almost. I took all the wiring harnesses out of the car before I dropped it for paint.

Roof / Quarter

Right Drip Rail -

FD01-50-510E

Left Drip Rail -

FD01-50-530E

Door

Right outer door trim -

FD01-50-640E

left outer door trim -

FD01-50-650E

Right door lower body seal -

FD01-58-76XA

Left door lower body seal -

FD01-59-76XA

Right side door seal -

FD01-58-760E

Left side door seal -

FD01-59-760E

Windshield Moulding (4 pieces)

lower windshield trim moulding (trim piece between the cowl and the bottom of the windshield)

FD01-50-794A

top windshield trim -

FD01-50-6AXC

protector, moulding front

NA01-50-6B1

Engine Bay / Cowl

grille, cowl

FD01-50-790A

Hatch

hatch glass moulding -

FD01-50-6G0B

hatch seal -

FD01-62-761

rear hatch window trim clip cover -

FD01-50-615

Rear Bumper


rear bumper valence (the black trim above the exhaust tip that melts)

FD01-50-231A

right backup light assembly (red cover and bulb, harness)

F100-51-240B

left backup light assembly (red cover, bulb, harness)

F100-51-250B

left rear side marker

F138-51-5J0

right rear side marker

F138-51-5H0

Will update this as I go further...

the thing to keep in mind is that Mazda assembled the body, painted it, and then put everything else on. so you, ideally; need to take enough stuff off to not have overspray in the wrong places.
second, the headlight lids are wear items, and come in primer (hoods, bumpers and fenders do too)

its kind of procedural, but since bad body work doesn't follow how Mazda did it, i'm actually looking for that stuff first, and can't un-see it
the alternate ending is that if you have any hope of being invited to show at Pebble Beach, it needs to be correct!