It's extremely useful!
But! Remember that you have to have the air compressor to back it up. I've got a 5 HP 60-gallon compressor making mine work. It also makes it so I'm able to paint without issue.
The cheap Harbor Freight cabinet will do the job, after some upgrades. Just google "Harbor Freight blasting cabinet upgrades". :D
Mine isn't HF. It appears to be a "Cyclone" brand, but the design is basically the same, heavier build quality aside, and I've done several of the upgrades, primarily on the media feed side.
If space is an issue, Harbor Freight makes a smaller cabinet designed to be on a tabletop, but I built a stand for the one I had before this one out of 2x4s. You can even just buy the blasting gun and hoses, and build a cabinet out of plywood. Though, I swear, anything made out of wood would cost a small fortune right now! I've even seen DIY budget cabinets made from storage totes on the web.

There's another system known as vapor blasting that uses pressurized water moving abrasive rather than air. I haven't looked into it much, but it seems like it might be cheaper? I'm assuming that it can be run with a pressure washer, but not entirely sure what all is involved. Presumably you'd have to dry and coat the parts almost immediately, at least on steel, given that you're spraying water on what ends up being naked metal. It would surface rust almost instantly.
Advantage would be that it doesn't create all the dust that air blasting does, and probably much less abrasive flying around, and thus easier on, say. the cabinet window.

Thanks for the info brother.....definitely something to look into....

This past weekend, I gathered up the bits to do the control arms for the RX-7.

Ball joints:
Attachment 744472

Getting ready to pop the first one:
Attachment 744473
Attachment 744474

I had to borrow a ball joint tool from O'Reilly's, because I didn't have the receiver/pusher cups. Didn't cost me anything, so no big, but annoying. And that kit still didn't have the right size to push these out, hence the 15mm deep socket.

Came out smoothly enough. Bit of rust.
Attachment 744475

Second one was also fine. I'm pretty sure the rusty one is original, and the other one is one I replaced many years ago.
Attachment 744476

Then the poly bushings had to come out:
Attachment 744477

But that was fairly easy because they just press into the original bushing shells, and have a collar on one end:
Attachment 744478
I could have removed them with just the pliers, probably, but a 12mm socket in the press pushed them out easily.

Markings on the old ball joints, non-greasable:
Attachment 744479
Made in Japan, and nothing. OK, then.

The new Beck Arnley ball joints are actually Three Fives, which I understand are good?
Attachment 744480

After a trip through the media blaster:
Attachment 744481
Attachment 744482

One arm had made a bit of ground contact at some point.
Attachment 744483
I ground that smooth just for aesthetics.

New ball joints pressed in, and prepped for paint:
Attachment 744463

And a couple coats of Rustoleum black Appliance Epoxy:
Attachment 744464

I'll let that cure for a couple days, then press the new bushings in.

It's so exciting to be making progress!

Yesterday, a little more plating action, so I can finally start bolting things back into the engine compartment. You know, brackets and things.

Start with a pile of fasteners and hardware. I ran all these through the ultrasonic cleaner earlier, then through the media blaster:
Attachment 744465

Then through the tumbler (stuff in the colander is as from the blaster, stuff on the towel is fresh out of the tumbler):
Attachment 744466
Definitely makes a difference.

I need to find some replacements for these turkeys:
Attachment 744467
But I'll go ahead and plate them for now.

And the second batch tumbled:
Attachment 744468
I learned something about batch size a bit later - more on that when I get to it.

First round of plating from the barrel:
Attachment 744469
One of the brake line clips (there on the far right) decided not to plate for whatever reason. I did that one by itself after running it through the wire wheel, and it worked that time.

First round of plating tumbled:
Attachment 744470

Shiny sparkles left in the tub I dumped the tumbler fluid into after tumbling.
Attachment 744471

I cannot believe I just found this thread. You are doing some awesome work here!
I absolutely love what you're doing with the plating - if I had found this earlier I would definitely have been trying to follow your lead.
:bigthumb:

Awesome work.... I just did the same for my 82 GSL...
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...7a5dcc11f7.jpg

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...b9296c2c9.jpeg

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...66b0d043d1.jpg

Thanks! I've painted bolts and fasteners before, and it just wasn't good enough. I found out about Caswell Plating years ago, and decided to investigate just how difficult it really was. Thanks to the Internet, I earned basic zinc plating wasn't all that hard, so...
Definitely cheaper than trying to source and buy a pile of metric fasteners, not to mention any special snowflake bolts, etc.

Hah, synchronicity! Mine should be going back in this weekend.

The hardware came out fantastic!! Where did you learn to zinc plate your hardware? I'd love to do that!!

YouTube. No, really! That, and a number of DIY websites.
Here's a really basic one - his solution is literally vinegar and salt:

I prefer using washing soda (sodium carbonate) to increase conductivity. It doesn't take much. You can also use Epsom Salts, but more than you would washing soda. Exact amount isn't terribly important - you just want the liquid more conductive. And a lot less vinegar. I mix with water, around 200 mL/4.5 L distilled water, by the recipe I typically use. Some recipes use zinc sulfate powder (typically sold for gardening) to get the zinc in the solution, but I use the method in the video above, connecting two electrodes at the same time to just deposit molecules.
The most dangerous stuff I use is muriatic acid (available at Home Depot, etc. for cleaning concrete, among other things) to make sure the parts are absolutely clean, and to remove any remaining zinc from previously-plated parts. It's weak enough acid that it won't burn you badly if you get a little on you and wash it off, but it *will* burn. Stings quite a bit. Wear gloves and eye protection!

The zinc I'm using is some zinc I bought from eBay - guy melts down boat anodes and casts them in a cornbread mould, of all things. I had to cut those into strips to make them work (otherwise they are cornbread-sized chunks!,) so I switched to .

I also use a lab-type power supply that can supply 30V @10A, and can regulate both the current and voltage, but again, that's mostly because I planned to do bulk jobs, and wanted more control and capacity. It's not necessary for smaller items.

My basic process was clean, media blast, wire wheel to polish a bit, acid, plate, wire wheel to polish again, plate again, wire wheel again, then dunk in the chromating solution (chromating hardens the zinc surface, increasing durability, and gives it that lovely iridescent gold finish. It can also be black, blue - really clear with a blue tinge - and black.)
If you don't have a blaster, you can just clean things thoroughly, and wire brush the hell out of them. I'd definitely recommend the acid step in that case to make sure all old plating and oils are gone. The parts need to be *clean* to plate properly.

I recently bought an ultrasonic cleaner and a jewelry tumbler, so now my current process is clean/degrease in the ultrasonic cleaner, tumble in the jewelry tumbler, media blast, tumbler again, plate, tumbler, plate, tumbler, then chromate. The tumbler replaces the wire brush/wire wheel step in polishing the parts.
If you don't care about smooth and shiny, that's unnecessary. Zinc plating is thin, so whatever surface you have to start with is going to basically be what you get after plating. The interim polishing step between rounds of plating was mentioned by some DIYers as improving the finish, so I do it. Some stuff you can get by with one round of plating. It depends on how thick, and therefore durable, you want the plating to be. It's only time, so I do it twice.
For the bulk stuff, I'm using a "plating barrel" which tumbles the parts in the solution, with an electrode dangling down into the mess of parts. Current lows form all the parts touching each other and at least one touching the dangling electrode. It's something you would have to build, but it makes doing a *lot* of small parts, like I am, much faster and easier. Larger parts can be done one at a time, hanging from wires, as in the video, and you can do a smaller amount of bolts and nuts that way, too. I did, initially, getting a feel for the process. My first rig was in a family-size peanut butter jar!
If you mess up, you just strip the parts and try again. Media blaster, wire wheel, and acid.

The chromating solution I got from Caswell Plating - they can sell you a whole plating kit if you want, and instructions.

If you search YT for "zinc plating", you're going to get a lot of hits, and a lot of them are good. You can at least see the range of what can be done.
This one is about the same as the above, but only zinc and with specific parts (motorcycle bits):
Here's a pretty good one:
and he has a follow-up on the durability:
There are lots of other. For the life of me, I couldn't find the one that actually got me started, though. It was more of a home science thing.

Websites I used:
Zinc Plating at home (gomog.com)
Zinc Plating (nonlintec.com)
Zinc Plating with Common Materials (southsandia.com)

and a thread from Caswell's forum on prepping for plating: Best Way To Prep & Plate Nuts & Bolts - Caswell Inc. Metal Finishing Forums (caswellplating.com)
Caswell's forum was handy for other questions as well.

This is the site I got the idea and design for the plating barrel from: Plating Barrel | zinc plating (nulltime.com)

I hope that you or someone else find this useful.

BTW - I installed the bushings in the control arms and mounted them, the sway bar, and the radius rods today. It all looks great with the like-new hardware! I'll post up the pics when I get them uploaded.

BTW, plating barrels are how industry plates huge amounts of small objects like bolts, nuts, screws, and chain. Their process is much more controlled, of course, and they have some additional chemicals called "brighteners" that make the zinc plating come out shiny from the get go.

edit: mine's a *whole* lot smaller!

That is pretty cool....never looked in to plating as DIY at home project.... it's pretty interesting....

Thanks for the link...

Edit: huh, apparently I composed this but never hit "submit"! Thank goodness the tab was still open and the forum autosaves.

Little schmutz I missed while blasting.
Attachment 744454
Cleaned that up with the wire wheel, then back into the tank it went.

And some oddness on one washer:
Attachment 744455
Again, brushed it, and that went into the tank by itself while the other bits were tumbling.

I tried tumbling the entire pile for the final polish, and that didn't look as good as previous small batches, so I divided out a pile and tried that smaller amount. Worked better (large batch results in back, small batch in front):
Attachment 744456

With the stainless steel shot in the tumbler (which is actually 3 or 4 different shapes, including wire segments) you do sometimes get stuff like this:
Attachment 744457
Just have to run a bolt in the pop it out.

Awwwwwwww, yeah:
Attachment 744458

Even utterly nasty stuff like this looks much better:
Attachment 744459

Divided out and polished another batch:
Attachment 744460
(original on the right, freshly tumbled on the left.)

I pulled one brake line clip from the original "too many" tumble and chromated it (the lower one). you can really see the difference compared to one tumbled in a smaller batch:
Attachment 744461

And everything tumbled and chromated:
Attachment 744462

Somewhere along the way one of the brake flex line clips disappeared, possibly the one I plated by itself? I don't know where it went. I'll have to dig around on the floor.

So this weekend will be bolting stuff onto the car!

Was feeling like doing something that wasn't work - or, atleast, my job - on Thursday, so:

Attachment 744450
Attachment 744451
Attachment 744452
Attachment 744453

It's so pretty!

Made myself do something on the RX-7 yesterday, will likely continue this weekend.
I started refurbishing the power steering box.
Attachment 744429
Attachment 744430
Attachment 744431
Attachment 744432
Attachment 744433
Attachment 744434
Attachment 744435
Attachment 744436

Reference pictures for reassembly - as you can see, there's a lot going on.
The GSL-SE power steering setup is speed sensitive, to a point. The ECU controls that attached valve to vary the assist pressure based on the VSS (reminder to self - transplant VSS... and also Cruise Control. The VSS is built in to the speedo, so I will probably need to transplant the mechanism.)

Disassembly (just all the ancillaries - the box seems to be in OK shape, just dirty):
Attachment 744437
Attachment 744438

All the external bits:
Attachment 744439

Cleaned the data plate:
Attachment 744417

Capped off all the ports in the valve and cleaned it up:
Attachment 744418
Attachment 744419
I'd really love to replate the can, but I'm not sure it's actually removable, and looks OK-ish after cleaning, so I think I'll let it be. maybe brush-plate the one slightly rusty spot.
Painted it:
Attachment 744420

All the other loose hardware, before cleaning:
Attachment 744421

After a pass through the ultrasonic, and the tumbler:
Attachment 744422
(along with the cinch bolts for my vice mount that need plating)
Still some cleaning to be done on some pieces, so they will go into the blaster, then back into the tumbler.

The fluid tee was clean enough, so I plated that up:
Attachment 744423

Then passivated it:
Attachment 744424

Probably could have polished it a bit more.

The big bracket after cleaning:
Attachment 744425
Attachment 744426
Will also need a good blasting.

Stripped the rotten insulation from the pressure hose:
Attachment 744427

Then stuck it in the ultrasonic cleaner.
Attachment 744428
Taped it off and plugged it tin prep for blasting the ends. Should be entertaining to plate just the ends...
I'm uncertain how it'll go with the tube nuts on there.

So I plated one of the smaller lines:
Attachment 744408
It seemed to work if I moved the tube nuts a few times.

I ran the plated line and the other two small lines through the tumbler:
Attachment 744409
(plated one on the far left.)

Minor problem:
Attachment 744410
Had to fish and/or poke those out of both ends of the two smaller lines. The larger one they just dumped out. Blew them all clear, of course.

It polished up nice:
Attachment 744411

...except:
Attachment 744412
and another spot at the tube nut on one end. Not sure what's going on there.

Tried passivating, and didn't get a lot of gold:
Attachment 744413
Attachment 744414

Hmmm. I wonder if I polished too long? Seemed like a good coat when it came out of the tank. I even accidentally left it far too long!

May strip it down (you just dunk it in the muriatic acid for a bit) and throw it in with the other hardware that I will be doing in the plating barrel.

I ran out of time for the day, but I did get the steering box masked up to blast it:
Attachment 744415
Attachment 744416
(I masked the data plate, too, after I took the picture.)

More after the weekend!

Nice!

There's a seal at the base of the gear box where I circled in red, you might want to pop off the pitman and mask the shaft and the rubber seal too. The shaft extends/retracts through that seal as you adjust the lash between the sector shaft gear and the ball nut. There are many threads on adjusting the box.

For these purposes though, *do not sand blast the exposed portion of the shaft*

There are, to my understanding, no such thing as seal/rebuild kits available anymore:


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...3512bf0fef.png

Thanks. I tried to be careful around there. I didn't need it shiny fresh cast iron - just the crud and rust removed, since I'm painting anyway. Hence taping over the other areas past the boots. I can just finish out those bits by hand. Hopefully Id din't screw anything up.
Honestly, if I did, it would be he final push to convert to rack and pinion... :P

Big old pile of posting incoming.
Not a huge update, just a lot of words. Mostly cleanup and plating, again, but a little actual progress.

Where was I?

Right - blastin'

Attachment 744389

Blasted:
Attachment 744390

Tumbler'd:
Attachment 744391

Plating the hose end was entertaining.
Attachment 744392

Plated the other bits in the barrel:
Attachment 744393

Passivating the hose end was unsatisfying
Attachment 744394
Something not working right, there. The plating didn't cover well - you can see the brazed joint.

So it got dunked in the muriatic acid and a second try in the big tank:
Attachment 744395

And the smaller stuff freshly tumbled:
Attachment 744396
You'll notice that the brake line retainer clip showed back up. It was hiding in the plating barrel!

The tubes came out a little weird:
Attachment 744397
Attachment 744398
Attachment 744399

Hmmm:
Attachment 744400
(rebar was a test strike to grab any impurities in the solution. And now I have shiny rust-resistant rebar.)

Second plate and passivate on the hose end looking a little better, but the passivate is dark and dull.
Attachment 744379

The tubes didn't work at all.
Attachment 744380

After that it occurred to me that the passivate had worn out. A fresh fill worked a lot better:
Attachment 744381
(the rebar and the angle bracket. I have a bunch of those angle brackets that are pre-plated from the factory, but just bright zinc, no passivate, so their easy to use as a test. The first dip in the old passivate solution barely colored it at all, which is what finally clued me in. The stuff above was with the old solution.

The big nut for the pitman arm caem out great:
Attachment 744382
(this stuff looks a lot better in person. My iPhone really doesn't pick up the color and the iridescence)

The rest of the stuff, meh:
Attachment 744383
I figured out what was going on there - more on that in a minute.

Meanwhile, I plated that big honking bracket. This is literally the largest thing I've attempted yet.
The inside corner was being annoying.
Attachment 744384

Not bad.
Attachment 744385
Attachment 744386
Attachment 744387
Attachment 744388

Hmmm. Left it in the passivate a bit too long. I got used to the worn solution taking longer. The fresh stuff only takes like 15 seconds.
Attachment 744367
Attachment 744368

Wait, what's that?
Attachment 744369
Dammit.

An eclectic collection. Stuff on the right is :thumbsup:
Attachment 744370

Still testing the plating and chromate solutions from time to time:
Attachment 744371
Prettiest piece of rebar ever.

Stripped and replated the big bracket. It played much better this time around. I fiddled with the current and positioning a bit. "Low and slow" tends to work better, but you still need to have *enough* current.
Attachment 744372
Attachment 744373

Polished:
Attachment 744374
Attachment 744375

Passivated:
Attachment 744376
Attachment 744377
Attachment 744378

​​​​​​​

Second attempt on one of the tubes - I did it by itself rather than in the barrel this time:
Attachment 744356
Attachment 744357
Attachment 744358
Attachment 744359
Better, but still some bare spots in the passivate. Not sure what's going on there.

I did figure out what was happening with the other hardware. The tumbler with the stainless shot in it is perfect for polishing after blasting, but was too aggressive for the plating, and was basically stripping it off in places. I stripped them down and threw them back in the plating barrel, along with four bolts from the front fenders that I replaced with already-plated ones.
Attachment 744360
Attachment 744360
Looks like a couple of the bolts still had some schmutz that needed addressing.

Polished the rest of the stuff while the bolts were re-plating. Nice!
Attachment 744362

I missed the vise mount pinch bolts from the bottom:
Attachment 744363
I'm pretty sure I plated those, but obviously not well enough, so they got stripped and replated, too.

I wasn't happy with that one hose end I'd done, so I buffed the passivate off with steel wool, but didn't strip it per se, and then dipped it back in the passivate. That worked!
Attachment 744364

The four pinch bolts late to the party got some bare spots in the passivate, too. They seem to be plated, but the passivate doesn't like it.
Attachment 744365

It took a second try of stripping, plating, and passivating on three of them. One took a couple more tries, including leaving it in the acid for 10 minutes(!) to kill any contamination, but eventually worked. The dirtiest of the bolts was similar. It fought me.
But eventually, all good, and I also did the other end of the power steering hose, which came out beautifully.
Attachment 744366

The hard lines are still giving me trouble. I think either there is some contamination, like the one pinch bolt, or they're some flavor of stainless, which doesn't zinc plate well. I'll mess with those a bit more, but in the meantime, I can start bolting the power steering back together.

While all that stuff was chooching, I did blast the steering gearbox:
Attachment 744348
Attachment 744349
Attachment 744350
Attachment 744351

One of the plugs wasn't very sealed, so a bit of a mess.
Attachment 744352

A little BrakeKleen took care of that, then a lick off appliance epoxy.
Attachment 744353
Attachment 744354

Unmasked the pressure valve, and it came out good:
Attachment 744355

I still need to blast and paint the idler arm and center link.

Somewhere along the way, I actually bolted some stuff back onto the car.
Attachment 744340

I also decided to paint the trans tunnel past the engine compartment matte black.
Before:
Attachment 744341

Masked:
Attachment 744342
Attachment 744343

After:
Attachment 744344
(Sorry, sun was in an akward location for the pic. I put the hood back on for the next one - also because it was starting to rain.)
Attachment 744345


One of my aluminum pie tins I use for washing parts gave up:
Attachment 744346
Attachment 744347

I guess I didn't rinse the acid out thoroughly. It started leaking, and when I investigated, those spots just tore like tissue. Whoops. Well, that's why they're disposable.

If I've been following correctly - you're using a vibratory cleaner with steel media for the polishing?
Have you considered using crushed corn (or walnut shells) as the media? I use that for cleaning brass and it does a good job without being too aggressive to the surface. Something you might want to consider...
Also - did you ever give us a good breakdown of your plating tumbler? I know you linked to one you used as inspiration (and that had a good description) but I'm curious to see your setup.

Keep up the awesome work!

Not quite. I've got an ultrasonic tank for degreasing and general cleaning, and a tumbler with stainless shot for polishing.
Attachment 744333
Attachment 744334

The stainless shot (actually an assortment of shapes) is clearly too aggressive. It's intended for polishing jewelry, and works *great* polishing the bare steel, so still worth it. I'm not really sure what else might work in the tumbler. If I were using a vibratory tumbler, yeah, I'd try walnut or some of the plastic media. That might work in the tumbler I have, without liquid perhaps. It certainly wouldn't hurt to try.

My plating barrel looks almost the same as the one I linked.
Attachment 744335
Attachment 744336

Here it is in action (test with no plating solution - you may need to click through to get it to play):
Attachment 744337

It's just a Rubbermaid bowl with a bunch of holes drilled in it.
Attachment 744338
Attachment 744339
And the center of the lid cut away.

The fingers sticking through are rubber mounting nubs for PC cooling fans. I also bought a bunch of nylon #4 bolts and nuts, just in case, but the rubber mounts were enough to keep everything tumbling.
I originally tried to use a colander, but without any sort of lip at the outer rim, stuff tended to fall out.
I did change the angle a bit after that test, to make it more horizontal. Basically so the angled side of the bowl was more or less horizontal at the bottom. So far, it's worked surprisingly well, once I got my process sorted.
The actual plating drums industry uses are made with a series of flats for the sides (kind of like who the jewelry tumbler is designed,) with one side being a hatch, and spun on a horizontal axis. The whole thing is lowered into a tank from above, and driven via a large plastic gear so the actual motor can stay out of the tank. The electrode goes into the tank via a hollow axle.
You can Google "plating" barrel for a lot of examples. All *way* more expensive than my rig, of course. :)

Not a lot of progress over the weekend. Went to the Parker County Peach Festival and got some peaches, among other things, visited the fam on Saturday, and had my brother-in-law and one of my nephews over for lunch on Sunday, so mainly didn't do, well, anything.
I did take a few minutes to bolt together what I had done of the power steering box:
Attachment 744321
Attachment 744322
Attachment 744323
Attachment 744324

Looking pretty dang good.
I want to take another stab at those 3 hard lines. If I can't get them any better, then that's just the way it will be.
I did order some brightener from Caswell (it was cheaper than I remembered) and will see how well that works. Not having to polish after plating would be a godsend.

You know what's going to happen, right? The brightened parts are going to look much nicer and closer to original, and I'll have to redo everything.


I also found a video for a DIY formula for the yellow (and blue) passivate. This guy has been plating carbs for years, and has a nice rig for it. I'd really like that pump and filter setup.
For yellow, he uses sodium dichromate and battery (sulphuric) acid, and says he's used the same solution for almost a decade, just adding a little acid every now and again. Blue is sodium dichromate and nitric acid.
Sodium dichromate is pretty cheap, as is battery acid (which is also available locally at NAPA.)

Which is exactly the reason I refuse to give this a try until after I'm done with mine -- I would feel compelled to go back and redo everything. Not going to happen, not, not, not... maybe? No - Not!

Keep up the inspiring work!

Really no different from getting better at anything - you're always going to look back on old work and think: "I could do that better now..."
Occupational hazard of learning. :P

Just for s&gs, here's a comparison of OEM plating versus mine:
Attachment 744307
Mazda bolts and nuts on the lower left, mine on the right. I think the major difference is they get theirs a lot more shiny before the passivate. I got pretty close with that pair of bolts on the wire in the middle - I put some extra polishing in on those. I'm still pretty happy with mine, particularly given how cruddy they were to start with.
I'll try tumbling with some walnut next time I have a batch of bolts to plate.

Anyway, took another stab at those hardlines.

First one before:
Attachment 744308
Obviously missed a spot last time.

Stripped and replated:
Attachment 744309

And passivated.
Attachment 744310

A lot of variation, but it appears to have plated OK. This was the third try, BTW. It took a bit of fiddling with the current and stringing it different ways to get it to take acceptably.

One of the other ones:
Attachment 744311
Again, acceptable.

And the third one polished:
Attachment 744312
and passivated:
Attachment 744313

Attachment 744314
I'll take it.

After 24 hours, I slapped it all back together:
http://i.imgur.com/DoUf5jxl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/BloxbYPl.jpg

As a reminder:
Attachment 744315
Attachment 744316

Definitely an improvement.

Saturday, I put it where it goes:
http://i.imgur.com/g26lj0Bl.jpg

And painted the bits that attach the column to the firewall:
http://i.imgur.com/yAHmNEAl.jpg

I didn't get a picture, but the coupler cleaned up nicely as it was.
At that point, I realized that I would need to do the firewall heat/sound insulation before I started bolting other stuff to the firewall. 3 more M6 nuts and a bit of wrestling got the heater core/HVAC selector box, the sole remaining thing on the firewall, out:
Attachment 744305

The insulation was already partly pulled away to deal with the hole for the EFI wiring.
http://i.imgur.com/QZJlbZel.jpg
The rubber backing is stiff and cracking, and I had to kind of mangle it on the driver's side modifying the firewall for the GSL-SE power steering column. It's also shrunk a bit, so I'm going to replace it. I'm thinking the Reflectix-style double layer mylar bubble wrap stuff. I'm not a fan of the jute padding particularly, but I may use a modern variant of that with mylar on it instead or as well. *Maybe* some strategic Dynamat-like product, at least down at the feet level. Any better suggestions for firewall insulation?
Attachment 744306
http://i.imgur.com/3VgzIgql.jpg
Still good for a pattern with some adjustments. I'll whip one up out of cardboard for test fitting.

Naked firewall:
http://i.imgur.com/mzqxjOtl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/MvyU1TPl.jpg

Little bit of surface rust down there at the joint between the firewall and floorboard (driver's side)http://i.imgur.com/Q3cntwBl.jpg

Since I was in there, I decided to pull the front carpeting, since the heater box was out. While the nap is actually in good shape, the backing is disintegrating, sadly. It had one piece torn already, and tore again getting it out.
http://i.imgur.com/ptZCYPvl.jpg

I'll get new from ACC Auto Carpets, I think. Not many vendors for this.

Jute padding on the passenger side is OK. I've already got it partially peeled back from when I added the ECU mounts.
http://i.imgur.com/Ovsvp2yl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/D20ZKl7l.jpg
Lot of junk found it's way in through the cracks...

Drivers-side doesn't look terrible either:
http://i.imgur.com/tjnCcjNl.jpg

but... wait. What is...
Pan left 40, zoom 2.
http://i.imgur.com/INqRDgBl.jpg
Pan left 55, zoom 4. Enhance.
[[url=https://imgur.com/fqKHQMU]http://i.imgur.com/fqKHQMUl.jpg
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF FFFFFFF...

I was able to pull this much asphalt out by hand, because it just wasn't stuck down any more.
http://i.imgur.com/mrp89Z4l.jpg

Rust around the drain hole, too.
http://i.imgur.com/SZB3qtTl.jpg
No idea what that access hatch or the threaded inserts next to it are for.
http://i.imgur.com/0ppkXg7l.jpg
It opens into the frame rail.

Bleah.
http://i.imgur.com/tXfblUXl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/iAfWRy5l.jpg

Shifting over to the passenger side, I decided to remove all of the asphalt on that side around the ECU area, since some of it didn't seem to be stuck down so well. No major issues, thankfully. A little surface rust.
http://i.imgur.com/W3QeiHUl.jpg

and one small area of pinholes.
http://i.imgur.com/CB2fxk1l.jpg
This is after wire brushing. IT *was* just one pinhole.

Cleaned:
http://i.imgur.com/3v2dr70l.jpg

I just welded the pinholes up, and went to town with zinc primer.
http://i.imgur.com/eK1BGFul.jpg

I'll top coat it with some Rustoleum "Cherry Red" before I'm done.

I also noted some rust up in the air inlet at the top of the dash:
http://i.imgur.com/hkY7Swdl.jpg
:argh:

Back on the driver's side, I wanted most of that shit up and gone:
http://i.imgur.com/Cw9YDewl.jpg

Another spot up where the firewall joins the floor:
http://i.imgur.com/IPmWqThl.jpg

The floor bit after poking it a bunch:
http://i.imgur.com/Z506j99l.jpg

Cleaned up with some acetone, and some wire brushing:
http://i.imgur.com/kP8olDLl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/N6gqzDsl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/byyO2ihl.jpg

The good news is that seems to be non-structural, and the steel inside/underneath appears to be fine. It's just this bit right here. As far as I can tell, the leaks form the rust in the cowl, plus the jute underlayment acting like a sponge and holding water there, caused this. I'd guess the car was leaning to the left a bit when it was parked around the side of the house.

Yay, more welding, this time with curves. I'll get that cut out at some point, and start replacing it soon.
I'm really uninterested in putting sponges back down under the carpet, so that will definitely be closed-cell foam or mylar bubble-stuff. The only reason I didn't throw them away in disgust is so I can use them as patterns. The layer on the trans tunnel is fine - water doesn't stay up there. Back carpet is going to have to come out to check that, too.

Meanwhile, outside, I removed the trash bag from the fuel and brake hard lines that was protecting them from paint:
http://i.imgur.com/c1Jo37al.jpg
They'll need a little cleanup, but not bad. I need to look at the fuel lines on the donor - I suspect the EFI lines are different, but I don't know for certain.

While I was under the car, I noted that I'll need to polish the slip joint a bit:
http://i.imgur.com/AUcHSSdl.jpg

It never ends, does it?

I must be getting serious. I made a list:
Attachment 744304
Yeah, I could have just used my note-taking app, but I like the immediacy and physicality of the Roadkill-style checklist.

Pffft. I didn't even put the floor rust on the list. D'oh.

Note that first thing on the list, the center link and tie rod ends? That's what I had actually set out to do Saturday, after installing the steering box. I get sidetracked easily. You should see me play open-world video games. I'm like a cat chasing a laser pointer.

Wait until your list is scribbled on the garage wall…

So, apparently, the forum owners, in their infinite wisdom have decided that we can't edit posts? Kinda sucks when your image hosting borks, eh?

OK, fine, I'll just repost all of it, again.

Just for s&gs, here's a comparison of OEM plating versus mine:
Attachment 744290
Mazda bolts and nuts on the lower left, mine on the right. I think the major difference is they get theirs a lot more shiny before the passivate. I got pretty close with that pair of bolts on the wire in the middle - I put some extra polishing in on those. I'm still pretty happy with mine, particularly given how cruddy they were to start with.
I'll try tumbling with some walnut next time I have a batch of bolts to plate.

Anyway, took another stab at those hardlines.

First one before:
Attachment 744291
Obviously missed a spot last time.

Stripped and replated:
Attachment 744292

And passivated.
Attachment 744293

A lot of variation, but it appears to have plated OK. This was the third try, BTW. It took a bit of fiddling with the current and stringing it different ways to get it to take acceptably.

One of the other ones:
Attachment 744294
Again, acceptable.

And the third one polished:
Attachment 744295
and passivated:
Attachment 744296

Attachment 744297
I'll take it.

After 24 hours, I slapped it all back together:
Attachment 744298
Attachment 744299

As a reminder:
Attachment 744300
Attachment 744301

Definitely an improvement.

Drivers-side doesn't look terrible either:
Attachment 744266

but... wait. What is...
Pan left 40, zoom 2.
Attachment 744267
Pan left 55, zoom 4. Enhance.
Attachment 744268
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF FFFFFFF...

I was able to pull this much asphalt out by hand, because it just wasn't stuck down any more.
Attachment 744269

Rust around the drain hole, too.
Attachment 744270
No idea what that access hatch or the threaded inserts next to it are for.
Attachment 744271
It opens into the frame rail.

Bleah.
Attachment 744272
Attachment 744273

Shifting over to the passenger side, I decided to remove all of the asphalt on that side around the ECU area, since some of it didn't seem to be stuck down so well. No major issues, thankfully. A little surface rust.
Attachment 744274

and one small area of pinholes.
Attachment 744275
This is after wire brushing. IT *was* just one pinhole.

Cleaned, and rust converter applied:
Attachment 744276

I just welded the pinholes up, and went to town with zinc primer.
Attachment 744277

I'll top coat it with some Rustoleum "Cherry Red" before I'm done.

I also noted some rust up in the air inlet at the top of the dash:
Attachment 744256
:argh:

Back on the driver's side, I wanted most of that shit up and gone:
Attachment 744257

Another spot up where the firewall joins the floor:
Attachment 744258

The floor bit after poking it a bunch:
Attachment 744259

Cleaned up with some acetone, and some wire brushing:
Attachment 744260
Attachment 744261
Attachment 744262

I went to town on it all with rust converter afterward.

The good news is that seems to be non-structural, and the steel inside/underneath appears to be fine. It's just this bit right here. As far as I can tell, the leaks form the rust in the cowl, plus the jute underlayment acting like a sponge and holding water there, caused this. I'd guess the car was leaning to the left a bit when it was parked around the side of the house.

Yay, more welding, this time with curves. I'll get that cut out at some point, and start replacing it soon.
I'm really uninterested in putting sponges back down under the carpet, so that will definitely be closed-cell foam or mylar bubble-stuff. The only reason I didn't throw them away in disgust is so I can use them as patterns. The layer on the trans tunnel is fine - water doesn't stay up there. Back carpet is going to have to come out to check that, too.

Meanwhile, outside, I removed the trash bag from the fuel and brake hard lines that was protecting them from paint:
Attachment 744263
They'll need a little cleanup, but not bad. I need to look at the fuel lines on the donor - I suspect the EFI lines are different, but I don't know for certain.

While I was under the car, I noted that I'll need to polish the slip joint a bit:
Attachment 744264

It never ends, does it?

I must be getting serious. I made a list:
Attachment 744265
Yeah, I could have just used my note-taking app, but I like the immediacy and physicality of the Roadkill-style checklist.

Pffft. I didn't even put the floor rust on the list. D'oh.
edit: I did put it, and a bunch of other stuff on the list. I took the picture when I was just getting started.

Note that first thing on the list, the center link and tie rod ends? That's what I had actually set out to do Saturday, after installing the steering box. I get sidetracked easily. You should see me play open-world video games. I'm like a cat chasing a laser pointer.

I *think* that once someone replies, the edit function might be unavailable.

For example I can edit this reply

But once you reply to my reply, I can't

While I was ripping out more of the interior, I grabbed some brackets and whatnot to refurbish.
These are the mounting brackets for the lower center dash plastics - the bit around the radio and AC controls, down to around the shifter.
Attachment 744246
Attachment 744247

Not bad, but they picked up some rust along the way.

Clean:
Attachment 744248
Attachment 744249

Polished:
Attachment 744250
Attachment 744251

Small one plated:
Attachment 744252
Attachment 744253
(I left it in too long and it over-plated, making the surface finish rougher, but, oh, well.)

I went with the "blue" passivate on these pieces:
Attachment 744254
Attachment 744255
It's a lot more obvious in person - the iridescence shows up nicely.

The bigger bracket took some fiddling to get the inside corners plated to my satisfaction.
Attachment 744234

All plated:
Attachment 744235
Attachment 744236

Polish:
Attachment 744237
Attachment 744238

And blue chromate:
Attachment 744239
Attachment 744240

I'm happy with that.


This is mainly a reference photo for me so I know where that bracket came from and how it was fitted:
Attachment 744241
I took it out to paint that area.

Speaking of, I pulled all the tape sealing the holes in the firewall from the inside (for when I painted the engine bay) and taped the from the *outside* to paint the firewall inside.
Attachment 744242

Then, to the priming of the firewall (and floor):
Attachment 744243
Attachment 744244

Made sure to get up in that air inlet as well:
Attachment 744245

The Rustoleum "Gloss Cherry" red I picked up isn't far off the Mazda Sunrise Red, or at least the version I got from AutoColor Library/TCP Global
Attachment 744223
(Mazda Sunrise red on bottom, Cherry Red on top)
Close enough for the interior, especially since most of it will be hidden. Honestly,most of this could be any color, but if I'm buying paint anyway, might as well get close as I can.

Partway through I realized I could actually do most of the driver's floor, too:
Attachment 744224
you can see I've already put down a light coat of red further up.

After a second coat:
Attachment 744225
Attachment 744226
Looks nice!

In between coats of paint and such, I also tackled the block-off plates for the holes in the floor:
Attachment 744227
Attachment 744228

Initially I just ran them through the wire wheel. That proved to be inadequate on the pitted one. The wire brush just couldn't get the rust out of the pits without a lot more work, so that one got a trip to the media blaster, and I blasted just those areas, then back to the wire wheel for smoothening.

So of course, I started plated the other one while doing all that.
It took a little jury-rigging, but it went OK:
Attachment 744229
Attachment 744230

I should have taken pictures of the little wire cradle I made to hold these, since they had no holes to hook into.

The pitted one came out OK, too:
Attachment 744231
Attachment 744232

All the plated pieces from this session:
Attachment 744233

I also worked on the shifter seal plate. Folks, never underestimate the power of a grinder with a wire wheel:
Attachment 744212
For reference, that's supposed to be mostly flat.
After a little hammer and dolly work, I got it back to where it should be:
Attachment 744213

I ran out of time (and energy) to plate that piece, but I'll get to it. For one thing, I need to get a larger shallow tray to use to dunk it in the chromate.

The funny thing is that I really had started the day with the intention of refurbishing the center link.
Attachment 744214
Attachment 744215
Ah, well, I'll get to it.

I'm gathering another pile of hardware to plate in the barrel, but it's coming from various areas, so some reference photos for what came from where, for myself:
Attachment 744216
Attachment 744217
Attachment 744218
Attachment 744219
Attachment 744220

For the stuff that was still in decent shape, I tried polishing them in the tumbler with walnut shell:
Attachment 744221
Not bad after 10 minutes:
Attachment 744222

I stuck them back in for another 20 minutes, but have yet to make my way back out to the garage to see how it went, but, of course, I will.

It's either that or time-limited. Probably what you suggest. I suppose I could have contacted a mod to edit or allow me to edit the posts, but it was easy enough to just post again, as messy as it looks. I was already editing the same posts on another forum, so just copy-pasted.

Here's the inside mirror mount done:
Attachment 744184
Attachment 744185
Attachment 744186

The lens is pretty crappy:
Attachment 744187
Attachment 744188
Not sure if anything can be done to "un-yellow" it.
You can see where the tabs broke of many years ago. Being a model builder, I just drilled little holes in the right place and super-glued in cut off ends of paper clips, bent just the right amount. The did and still does work great, other than the bit of rust, there.
Attachment 744189

Had to get t alittle targeted plating that relay bracket. It just did not want to plate in that inset.
Attachment 744190
Eventually, though, it came down to "turn it up." I wasn't using enough current for the part's size.

Attachment 744191
Attachment 744192
Attachment 744193
Attachment 744194
It came out nicely.
I added about 1/2 a bottle of corn syrup to the mix last week. It's in some of the recipes as a brightener, and I noted that the brightener that I bought from Caswell also made the mixture sweeter (don't ask - it was accidental.) It actually seems to be working. The parts still need polishing, but not as much. That could be confirmation bias, but I don't think so. In any case, doesn't seem to hurt, and was cheap.

Also, here's the dead pedal pad after sanding.
Attachment 744175
The little schmutz at the top left is a manufacturing error. I neglected to have the waterjet that cut it start the cut a little bit away from the part, and the initial penetration pitted the surface of the actual part. Fortunately, it's tough to see when it's down in the footwell.

And the dead pedal bracket and ignition trim ring after painting:
Attachment 744176

Dead pedal reassembled:
Attachment 744177


References for me. This is the rough size of the firewall pad:
Attachment 744178

And I need a couple more of these (grommet for the tabs on the cowl vent):
Attachment 744179
Attachment 744180
Attachment 744181
Attachment 744182
Attachment 744183

I think there are 3 of those tabs. May be 4. I may just put heatshrink on the tabs and be done with that. These are NLA, and I don't currently have a 3D printer.

Some progress, since I worked from home on Thursday, and slipped out into the garage for several hours from time to time when I had a break.

Turned out I bought some of the mylar-backed foam for the AE86, so I have extra of that if I need it.
Attachment 744137
I bought a roll from China last week, it just needs to get here.

Stuff that I pulled out to work on:
Attachment 744138
Attachment 744139
These are the panels that the radiator mounts to, and they attach to the engine side of the core support. The GSL-SE ones are different in that one has bolt holes for the third mount for the airbox, and a hole for said airbox to get cold air from inside of the nose of the car (basically, replacing the airbox is dumb, because it's factory cold air,) and the other has slightly different reliefs for the oil cooler hoses, due to a different oil cooler location.

Battery tray:
Attachment 744140
Attachment 744141
Bit of a rust through in one corner. The "AWE" is a marking from Awesome Auto Parts, a local you-pull-it yard. My original battery tray was swiss cheese, and I replaced it years ago with this one. I repainted the top (with Plastidip,) but the underside is OEM paint!

This is the third airbox mount I was talking about above, which also serves as an overflow bottle mount. The overflow bottle mount on the original radiator side piece is just welded to the panel.
Attachment 744142
Attachment 744143

ECU and mount:
Attachment 744144
Attachment 744145
For those that don't know, this goes under the carpet on the passenger side, so is victim to any moisture that gets under there. Fortunately just a little bit of rust. The plating did it's job for the most part.

The panel that goes over the ECU, same comments apply.
Attachment 744146
Attachment 744147

And here's the 3 plated parts after a trip through the blaster:
Attachment 744128
Attachment 744129
I basically only hit the areas that were rusty on the ECU parts, working on the theory that they aren't passivated. The airbox bracket I blasted wholesale, at least enough to remove the passivate layer.
Bit of pitting on the floor plate, but no throughs.

The floor plate didn't fit in my tank, but thankfully I only needed to get the edges, so...
Attachment 744130


Just to be thorough, I did all four edges:
Attachment 744131
Attachment 744132
I actually went back and blasted the pitting a second time after the first round of plating. There appeared to be some schmutz in the pits, which usually mean s I didn't get everything clean enough. Looks like the second time around was adequate.

Polished:
Attachment 744133
Attachment 744134

Passivated (blue. I wanted that extra durability the chromate provides):
Attachment 744135
Attachment 744136

Did the ECU bracket pretty much the same way, but it actually fit in the tank (barely,) so it got done in one go:
Attachment 744118
Attachment 744119

After polish and passivate:
Attachment 744120
Attachment 744121

I didn't get too involved as far as prettying them up, with either of those pieces, since they're both under the carpet. Just a good functional protective coating is all I'm looking for. They actually came out pretty nice anyway. I mean, I did knock down the dull grey finish they come out of the tank with. I have some professional amatuer pride.
On that note, I need some more "fine" steel wool.

The ECU bracket fresh out of the tank:
Attachment 744122
Attachment 744123
(It's a little polished from a mid-plate shine-up.)
That took a little creative positioning of the anodes to get inside the boxed section, and under the overhangs, but it seems to have done OK. This part is on full view in the engine bay, so got a little more car.

Polished up:
Attachment 744124
Attachment 744125

Aaaaaand:
Attachment 744126
Attachment 744127
Not bad!

This mother took forever to blast.
Attachment 744108
Attachment 744109
The paint came off easily enough, and even the rust wasn't really difficult, but the Plastidip, while not impossible, took at least twice as long as the paint, due to the media loving to just bounce off of it. The dip was compromised in places, so I was able to get under it, but it was still slower.
Discovered a few more pinholes:
Attachment 744110
Attachment 744111

Cut out the bad stuff.
Attachment 744112

Patch from a remaining piece of the HF tabletop blaster I modified.
Attachment 744113
Attachment 744114
I used a lot of that piece of steel in the rust repairs in the cowl, you may recall.

Let's glue it in!
Attachment 744115
Attachment 744116
Attachment 744117
Well, it's not terrible. I guess.