Im loving this unique build, Can't wait to see when it's done. Im def gonna want you in my vid if possible.

 

Went to Anaheim C&C. Met some nice people and saw some cool rides.

Finished the RC car. It was cool to try and paint it. Had all the normal rookie painter issues. I still like it though; it's got character. Overall cool experience. Kyosho makes a high quality kit. I don't think it's quite as fast as our traxxas bigfoot. Might try a hotter battery, but it would be a shame to tear it up. These old kits are more fragile than modern stuff. Would like to build more for the family, so we can squad. Totally get how people get immersed in this hobby.

 

Wow so cool. I hope I get a chance to see this RX7 Wagon in person sometime. I wonder how it would look with a GT wing. Would it even work. Someone photoshopped that. Lol.

 

Thanks! I've seen someone try it with the GT Wing. It would have to be really tall to sit above the hatch. I can't wrap my mind around it. Then again, the hatch is already pretty strange.

 

I was looking backwards through wagon content and realized I never shared that I found the original ads after ordering a few old GReddy/Trust catalogues.

 

It looks way better with the wing you have on it ... looks weird with the GT wing. Lol.

 

I see you got the one from YAJ that was up a month or so ago. I was wondering where that would pop up. I was watching that auction closely to see current values on the bumpers. Still toying with the idea of selling my genuine one. It's in about the same type of shape that one was in.

 

Busy restoring these things. Recreating bracket, resourcing hardware and lost parts. Pretty much all the way there except for paint and fiber work.



And, it's rebuild o'clock over here. Pretty positive I've broken a coolant seal.
Trying to figure out what to do. A big single or a short crank pport 20b.
The turbo would make more power, but the weird car deserves a weird motor and it seems like a cool challenge.
But, the 20b route would probably shut me down for a whole year for budget and fab work. And, maybe bankrupt me.
What you guys think?

 

Regarding approach on rebuild, you have a really cool car to just put back together and drive. I like what I'm tinkering around with but sometimes doing a unionize project takes a lot longer than planned if any other life situations pop up (kids, house remodel, etc) and take you from being a year down without a car to 5. It all comes down to priorities though, so it is something you can control most of.

If it was me, I'd do a simple rebuild, and if you are hooked on a 20b, get everything build and ready to go, then take your car down and install it. That really minimizes downtime.

 

i think you say that the 20B is too expensive, but then there is a picture of THREE Mazdaspeed bumping devices that had to be shipped from Japan...

i would just rebuild it as well, its cool right now. the focus of the car is the weird and rare goodies, which is fun.

 

Thanks, guys. Just taking a break to think it through and work on other stuff. Need to sell a couple of these A-Spec bumpers to clear out some budget, and I'd like to restore them before selling. I tried calling some body shops, but I'm leaning towards doing the fiberglass myself. Also, A good chance to do all the suspension bushings (and probably brakes and coilovers) and get my cluster (flakey tach) fixed, while the car is shut down.

Had the under tray brackets reproduced in stainless steel, and waiting on some CAD of the other brackets before getting them fabbed up. A couple shots of the GReddy strut bar while I was messing around. Need some more titanium hardware for the front struts (they look ugly now) and some m4 screws to mount the parcel tray clips to the rear bar.

 

Get the GReddy rear bar on. I like the it because it keeps the stock parcel tray clips.
If I ever find the perfect MS rear bar, I might swap to those. But, whoever stamped those things with the part numbers on the MS tag was drunk.

Slowly gathering suspension stuffs....

 

Haha. I feel the same way. Mazdaspeed strutbar numbers are not even legible on mine.

 

No real updates for now. I had ordered some shifter parts a long time ago, but Nengun eventually had to refund credit since Ikeya won't make a new run. So I spent the credits on the FEED luggage box, which I always thought was super cool. I cut a replacement trunk carpet to fit around it. It's pretty OK for now. Need some clips or to cut holes in the carpet for the luggage strap. It's clipped into the plastic underneath for now.

 

Still kickin'. Just been busy with other stuff. Been slowly working on restoring the bumpers. Had no idea how deep the fiberglass rabbit hole could go! Almost good at fiberglass now. Picked up a 15th anniversary bumper too, so I've got 4 bumpers to restore. Aye yi yi.

 

lol fixing fiberglass... sounds miserable. makes me think of this guy: https://www.youtube.com/@soupclassicmotoring

 

It's got up's and downs. I bought the bumpers because they were complete with lenses etc. But, they all need varying levels of work. If I were more experienced or less OCD it probably wouldn't be such an adventure.

Ended up learning about mold making to re-create the turn signal shrouds for the A-spec bumpers (old brittle plastic). Had under-tray brackets fabricated. Bought some extra A-spec fog lights which are apparently very specific and medium-difficult to source. Needed some specific rubber grommets for the fog light bulbs inside the driving light. I can't figure out where to get the actual orange turn signal lenses (I'm sure it's something simple but I have looked high and low with no luck), but I've got all of them. Half a mind to learn to resin cast them, just to learn and help out anyone looking.

Trying to get one of the bumpers ready to take a mold off of, but that means involves a lot of finish work. I ought to post some pictures, but I'm tired of looking at them. The MS-15th had like 3 different styles of amateur repair work (sloppy mud and globbed fiber-bondo).

 

Why bother with a mold?

 

One is damaged around the one of the brake ducts and another has a "wide" section missing/damaged in the bottom-center. A lower section mold will make sure my repairs are shape accurate. It's probably overkill...I feel like I could shape it well, by now. But, I'm interested in mold making and now I'm committed to the notion.

I guess if I were foolish enough to buy another one I could use the mold to splice any damaged bottom sections? That's usually where they're busted.

 

Here's a picture of the turn signal shrouds I copied. They're two-layers of 1.5oz woven fiberglass at +45 offset, hand laid in epoxy resin. I need to prime and paint them in wrinkle black (or rubber undercoat might even give the right texture).

I got extras in case anyone needs new ones or is missing.

I had to make a plug and then take a mold from the plug. Making new molds and might do some infusion. Could make some in CF or Kevlar fabric. Not a lot of reason to get fancy with these for weight savings or strength. They're better as flexible. Just for practice. Hand laid actually gives a good top finish (a little hard to tell because they're transparent).

 

This MS15th needed/needs a lot of work. It took a pretty decent hit on the lip, and one side must be covered in 1/4" of bondo and 1/8" of faring compound (unnecessarily so, I might add). I've reinforced the back side, and now I'll grind down the front and build it back up with new glass. This will be a shaping challenge since I don't a nice one to mold, but shouldn't be too difficult. The back side of the floor had piled of bondo hair on both sides so bad that I had to cut out floor sections and re-glass. Not too tough, since the floor is flat.

Must have been a different person using bondo hair and body filler? There was body filler stuffed into an inner corner, which I could grind out and backed the sections with CSM and Vinylester Resin. Vinylester is supposed to be a superior resin. It works with gel coat and is stronger than polyester resin. It does have a shelf life, but I go through plenty with 4 bumpers and the molds to mess with.

Anyways I got it further than you see, but wanted to show how much bondo someone slapped on.



I didn't want to post this because it doesn't look pretty yet, but this is a very nice A-spec bumper. And, this is the correct way to repair these old bumpers. Any gelcoat cracks needs to be ground down to glass, or the new paint will crack the same as before. Any micro cracks in the glass should be ground out and filled. The reason some of the glass looks darker is because of black paint overspray on the back side.

I'll be using some reinforced resin (better than bondo hair) to fill micro cracks. The only real issue with this bumper is someone had cut the backs of the fog light areas and fog lights to use LEDs in the housings. I repaired the holes, and have reinforced any issues on the back side. After I fix the front side details, I will spray new gelcoat and take a mold. Not sure if I'll sell or keep this one. (I have two more but this is probably the nicest one).

 

Some updates on the MS15th bumper. Managed to get allllll the mud off of the right side and get down to fiberglass. I had previous reinforced the backside of the bumper. Scarfed out the front side of all the cracks and laid chop strand mat with vinylester resin, and sanded...
and sanded
and sanded
and sanded

Very strong two sided repairs and very happy with shaping. The vinyester resin should be stronger than the polyester it was made with. That right side had 3 major cracks/splits and a few rotted areas to scarf out and lay new glass. You can see where I had cut and replaced the floors on both sides. There was so much fiber hair, it was easier to lay new floors.









You can see most of my next repairs. These ledges on the mouth of the bumper are rotted and cracked from whatever impacts cracked the other areas. I think this will be a little more challenging to get the ledges just right. Feeling more confident with the glass. I think I can safely call myself an amateur now.

It's too cold to glass outside (<70*F). I need to set up a tent. Stinking up the garage for now.

I got some nice gelcoat to spray, it's also vinylester which I got because (again) it's superior to polyester. But, it's off-white. Probably another few weeks or a month of repairs on the 15th before I worry about it. Sanding out the oil cooler ducts and headlight buckets it going to give me arthritis.