My 10th Anniversary Restoration
 

Today I decided to buy another 10AE project car. I restored one that I bought back in 06 and reluctantly sold it back in 2013. Ever since I've been longing for another. I found this one and it met the criteria. I have documentation back to the original owner, the car is accident free, mostly rust free, has a clear title, and is mostly complete. What's missing I have most in boxes that came with the car. The car was repainted years back due to flaking paint. Unfortunately it was sprayed black. Luckily nothing was cut in. The then owner did that to save the car from rusting due to flaking paint. Better than nothing if I'm being optimistic. The plan is a full restoration back to near complete stock and original form. The engine seems to turn well by hand and I can hear good compression pulses. I started reassembling the interior tonight and while I have my work cut out for me, I'm really looking forward to this one. Here are a few pics to start:

One the way home:

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My oldest son is very fond of the car:

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Safe and sound at home:

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Looks like a really solid project great find! Good luck, very keen to see where this goes!

Going to start putting the car back together this week and hoping to have most of it done by the weekend. This way I can figure out exactly what I need to make it complete.

Made a small amount of progress last night. I was able to get the windows clean and you'd be surprised at how much grime cam off of them. I got the dash all bolted in and mostly together, got the driver's seat bolted down, started repairing the original MOMO shift knob/boot, and I laid out the engine harness in preparation to run them in their correct locations. Was nice that the previous owner did label some of the wiring. I need to get some pics of another TII sans the radiator and see where how wiring runs Here are a couple pics:

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Nice project!

I was able to get most of the wiring harness routed in the engine bay and will likely finish that up in the next couple days. I did repair the original shift knob/boot combo and installed that as well. Its slowly coming together.

I love it!

Sometimes I hate when people don't do these cars proper justice, then I see someone un-molesting (is that a thing) and a 10th AE.

I prefer these cars to be all original or as original and unmodified as possible. They are special cars to me and I do my best to give them the care they deserve.

A small amount of progress has been made this week. I tossed on some good tires and hot tanked the wheels. I was able to get most of the engine bay wiring placed where it goes and get the ecu plugged in. Most of the interior is back together now as well. Still have a long way to go of course but the journey thus far has been great!!

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Fantastic stuff man. Glad to see another 10AE getting some love. I'll be following your progress.

Jealous of your 10AE shifter. That is the one original piece that was not with the car when I got mine. Keep up the good work!

I was lucky enough to get two of the original shift knob/boots with the car. The one that is on the car is in pretty good shape. The other is hardened from the sun and the seams are splitting. I do have new in the bag original 10AE floor mats from 1988 and a brand new in the bag shift knob/boot. Both were bought for my last car to be used after it was painted and the car was finished. But I ended up selling the car before that point. So, I'll use them on this car once its completely finished.

Took a couple pictures the other day and wanted to share them. It has been a slow process as I am missing so many small parts, but I do what I can with what I have. The exterior is mostly unchanged aside from lining the fenders up and bolting them down properly.

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The interior is really coming together. Once I get a wiper harness I can install the cluster surround that holds the wiper and turn signal controls. I ordered a new clock/warning light bezel and I have to decide whether I',m going to replace or repair the metal dash finishing piece that hold the defrost vents. There's some rust on it and the black vinyl is peeling up. But, here's where I'm at on the interior currently:

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Got some parts in from a private seller and some should come in this week at the Mazda dealer. Should start coming together quickly once I get more parts in. I now have most of the brackets I need courtesy of Joe Maddox which will be a huge help in getting things sorted in the engine bay.

scammer joe?

Yes. He contacted me and asked me if I wanted some parts for the car. He didn't charge me a dime though I offered to pay him multiple times. I know he got a bad rap here over some engine deal but he's always been a good person towards me and I have no ill feelings towards the guy.

Spent some time in the garage yesterday afternoon and was able to get most of the wiring situated and got most of my brackets bolted in place. I finally powered the car up for the first time and it felt good to see the lights on and the cluster and warning lights come to life. Logicon is dead though. Bad solder joints I would guess. One thing at a time. Need to figure out how to route the engine harness around the emissions rack. The rack seems to make contact with the harness hold down by the oil filler neck and I am unable to bolt the rack down. This could be an issue, lol.Took a couple pics to share:

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man I really wish I never sold mine,, had 23k original miles. Good luck with the restore you should have fun getting her back to original.

Thank you very much. And honestly that's what happened to me. I sold mine and didn't really initially feel much emotion because the guy paid me the "I don't want to sell it price" and I put the money to good use. After seeing a couple in person and seeing some on the board here and then one on Facebook in a local group, I was feeling the regret and decided to keep my eye out for another. A coworker found this one and sent me a link to it and it took a month for the seller to message me back and after that several more weeks for him to get a clear title. I just feel like it was meant to be that I ended up with the car.

Why would they paint a 10AE black. Some people.

The previous owner told me that his uncle had painted the car black because the paint was flaking off. Why he didn't paint it white is beyond me. The paint on the car was done poorly with nearly nothing masked off and overspray everywhere. I've been hand buffing the ovespray off of the door jambs and engine bay. Plus, since it wasn't prepped correctly or even sanded for that matter, the black paint is flaking off with the white underneath. I do keep the car in the garage however. I decided to buy the car because I figured any 10AE project that I was going to buy was going to need paint anyways and this car was straight and mostly rust free.

As soon as I get the car running and driving well, I'm going to paint it. I just want to make sure its mechanically sound first. The part that's going to give me the most trouble finding for the car is another dashboard. This one has shrunken at the top of the dash hood by the gauges. This is something I may have to live with until I can find another replacement 10AE dash.

The interior is very near complete. I was able to power the car up and test the lights, horn, radio, and find that the logicon is not working at all. The lights aren't even working. I'll have to look into that today. I'll be sure to post more pictures today of the progress!!

Stopped by the dealer yesterday and picked up a few parts that I had ordered in and after a couple hours of working on the car, its really finally starting to look like a complete car once again! Wanted to share a few pics of the car's progress:

The parts I picked up:

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Coming together nicely:

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Maybe you can straighten out the dash above the gauge cluster? I wonder if you carefully used a heat gun and some wood working clamps or something...

That's something that I would love to do. I'm considering my options. What happened was the dash top has shrunken and is pulling away from the hood. there are a few tabs so to speak on the dash cover that rest in the female portion on the dash frame. Those tabs are now on top of the dash so some serious shrinkage has happened. I have been weighing my options with the dash. Attempt to fix or replace. I thought about using some heat to get it pliable and stretching it back over the frame and gluing it down like it was originally. The car has been really sun baked unfortunately. The good news is that its not a rust bucket.

I managed to get the headlamp lighting squared away last night. I had one dim light and one bright light. This was due to corrosion. now the headlights are evenly bright. The front marker lights/turn signals are another story. They are hit and miss. I cleaned the bulb's contacts and cleaned the sockets themselves and they went from not working at all to working intermittently. I feel as though the issue still lies in the sockets themselves. Time to take them apart once again and see if there's anything I can do before buying another set.