Adsy01

I'm using a custom mix of s2 upper and s4 lower shafts in the column. It's still colapsable and bolts straight in up top and has an a additional bracket that bolts to the pedal box.

The subframe is mounted about 20mm back from where it would just bolt up. I've fitted new bolts and crush tubes in the proper location. You can see those in the "paint" photos.
I did this as I'm running the large s4 tyre sizes and would of had issues with the front guards. The one pic of the crossmember posted shows it sitting in the further forward position, it was later changed.

I've got a stack of pics of the column I haven't posted if you're intrested.

Whizbang

my problem actually ended up work out well since i wanted the steering quickener. So instead of having to splice the column, i just put a spine adapter on the end of the column, then mounted the steering quickener.

that said, i envy austrailias abundance of old school cars. (although that "engineering" approval stuff ill pass on)

Adsy01

yes the "engineering" is a bit sucky. For pre '76 cars emmisions is pretty much free. '76-'86 you can do what i am with the LPG and remove all emmisions gear. Post '86 your screwed... most guys just modify the car and hope they don't get caught. im pushing 40YO and i just cant be stuffed with flirting with the law.


Here's a shot of the engine bay from today with a bit of sun on it. its a bit dusty, but you can see the change in shade fron the sun hitting mica.





I managed to get one of the rear arches done this afternoon......



I will get the other side done to this stage, then see where the wheels are going to rub and give them a slight pump/flare.
I'll then re do the inner arches and seal it all up. :-)

i'm hoping to get that all done tomorrow.

I still havent heard from RE-Speed regarding my axles... i'm getting nervous as i havent heard from Sam scince November. Anyway, I'm using one stud on the 4 stud axles (lug as you guys say), so i can test fit the 5 stud BBS rims. This is to work out the guard clearance. Im hoping the bolt up face of the moser axles is in the same position as the factory axles are.

Adsy01

ok I've welded the second side in.

I then mocked up how it will sit (one bolt holding the 5 stud wheels to the 4 stud axles) and took out the rear springs so i could work out where the tyres will sit.

i then "pumped put the guards about 20mm...please note i'm still old school at heart, no "stretched" tyres to fit stupidly wide rims just for looks here, its the real deal lol :-)












As you can see i've kept the stock curve and that they're only slightly further out than the front arches.

after these photos i smoothed out the gurads a bit more with the hammer and dolly. I then ground back the welds, painted the inner areas that were affected by the welding and applied some seam sealer of the whole inner side of the weld. I finished up late and didn't take any pics.

next it's onto repairing the inner arches and seal them up and apply some stone guard.

Percentage

iTrader: (7)

Could you send me a PM with a link? That sounds right up my alley.

Adsy01

There's not too much to update this week. I've tacked in the rh rear inner arch. I think it's going to turn out well. My arm got burnt about 50 times while trying weld though. There's around another 10-15 hours work in the arches, by the time I dress the welds, seam seal and paint everything.

I'm starting to get demotivated big time. There's so much work I wanted to get done before our third child arrives, but it's not going to happen. At least another child is more important than the car...

I've also managed to get hold of some custom number (license) plates " RXSVN " which I'm very happy about.

Adsy01

here's a few pics of the under body all sealed up and in body deadener.






here's the panhard rod mount and the floor replacing the old spare wheel well.






i also managed to weld up my struts and subframe (yet to be cleaned up and painted)



the subframe is a new one, it's stock other than those brackets. My trial subframe had been played with so much that i thought a clean one would be better to use.
There's less than three weeks until the due date of our third child, so i'm not expecting to make much if any progress for a little while.

Adsy01

Today i squeezed in an hour in the shed, so i prepared and painted the struts and top spring plates.









i used the 3m brand (K&H) subframe black to paint them...
next on the list is the front crossmember 8)

bad 83

iTrader: (3)

Wow. And I thought that I had alot of work in my car. Man, I can't wait to see this car finished. Definanlty keep up the good work.

dbragg

iTrader: (7)

Great build so far. Lately I have been intrigued with the idea of LPG. Keep up the great work.

Adsy01

yay finally an update!

firstly we had our third child, a boy named Samuel three weeks ago today :mrgreen:

after having him home two weeks and not breaking him or the wife, i was granted some car time... \/

firstly i got the car out of the shed... some of the front end is in for good now too


i then did most of my repairs work and got the chassis to the hifill stage... theres still a repair to be done that can been seen here looking really bad due to the shadow on it.







and the other side











i also got the doors into their sealer coat and sprayed a rubberised sound deadener onto them.








I plan on painting the colour on the door jambs and the inner doors tomorrow.... that will most likely be it paint wise until spring time.

JWteknix

iTrader: (2)

nice build

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

Congrats on Samuel. I absolutely love this build. The strut mods are really helpful as I was planning something similar. I wasn't sure how to keep the S2 uppers with the newer lowers, you give me hope. It's nice to see someone else's results before tearing in to mine.

Adsy01

Thanks Frank, glad to help further if need be :-)

Here's todays efforts from the iPhone... you can see some runs in the clead on the RH door jam. im pretty happy how its come out.
I still got a bit of orange peel, but it's a cheapo gun, i'll buy or borrow something decent to spray the body with.

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

That is going to be a very pretty color when the sun hits it. I've heard that noise restrictions there are pretty draconian too. The turbo setup should help with that.

Adsy01

not too bad for the noise, 96DB at 4500rpm.

It drops to 91db for late 83+ build cars... mines an early 83 :-)

i can't stop looking at the pics myself.....

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

I was in Perth and Townsville on port visits when i was deployed and loved it there (mostly because the people were so darn nice, Victoria Bitter was pretty good beer too). I didn't see any rotaries though, Darn.

Adsy01

just a small update...


i've got the rear end apart.... i've removed the rubber bushes from the control arms and painted them ready for the new bushes.
The Moser axles finally arrived from RE-Speed, so i'm getting the bearings done on them this week.

The front and rear FC calipers have been fully pulled apart, cleaned and reassemebled with genuine mazda kits from Mazdatrix.com.
The fronts are very easy to do, the rears are fiddely, to the point i still dont know if the handbrake part is right! The rears are also fitted with RE-Speed's "Big brake kit". I'm hoping to put the rear end for the very last time in the next couple of weekends.

I also picked up some cavity wax. im going to use that over the inner guards where the repairs have been done, in addition to the sealer all ready in there.

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

I have to do the same thing on brakes. Good to know on the rears, I'll be more careful now. Your db rating is better than mine . Mine is about 100db at 4500 rpm. I'm NA on headers though, I imagine the turbo would make a difference

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

congrats on the kid! car is starting to look good too

82transam

iTrader: (18)

This build is coming out nice, I'm really liking the color!

twinkletoes

iTrader: (17)

So, you didn't weld the FC subframe to the body in anyway? It's "bolted" in with the mounts you made for it using the old steering box and idler arm mounts and the forward stud mounts? I didn't see the way you mounted it in the car explained? Unless I missed it

I'm in the parts gathering/planning process of the FC subframe swap and could use all the advice possible if you don't mind?

Car looks great!

Adsy01

yup, the subframe is unboltable...

I ended up putting new studs in for the front to get the position i was after.

this is what was welded to the crossmember






and here you can see the new stud & spreader plate. I also fitted a crush tube inside the rail too. Its aprrox 25mm further back than the factory mounting stud was.

twinkletoes

iTrader: (17)

Thank you!! My plan right now is to do everything you did mounting wise for the rear of the subframe. I like the idea of mounting the subframe using the existing holes for the old idler/steering box mounts. I might use 82transams method though for the front. I hope to make mine completely "bolt in" if you can say that lol.. if I ever needed to take it out or whatever. Thanks!

82transam

iTrader: (18)

Yeah that's what I should have done for the rear mounting points on mine. Next time I have my engine out I'll probably go ahead and do it.