Every one in a while fate smiles on you. I'm a sucker for MazdaSpeed parts. So when a friend offered to sell me a MS steering wheel that had been collecting dust in his garage for quite a few years I couldn't resist. It was a pretty "tired" example although the leather didn't have any nicks, which is good. I gently stripped off the old faded anodizing (believe it or not the center was supposed to be black!) and treated the leather as best I could. A bit of pitting in the center but it cleaned up ok. And it came with a MS hub too. Hard to believe the wheel is worth almost as much as what I paid for the car! Anyone interested in two nice OEM wheels? LOL

 

Great write up. I actually saw this car for sale on craigslist in Washington DC last January and was interested in it but you got to it ahead of me. And then I coincidentally saw you driving it on a trailer up interstate 270 after you picked it. I knew it was the same car because of the damaged drivers side mirror. Glad to see it get rescued.
I ended up getting a red 88 convertible out of Philadelphia later

 

HA! That's pretty cool you actually saw me driving it up 270!
where are you located?
regards,
crispy

 

I am in Rockville, MD

 

Very nice work as always @CrispyRX7
Are you still racing the FC?

 

Alas no. My racing days are over...at least until I retire. 3 kids in college hits the wallet pretty hard. LOL.

Regards,
Crispy

 

Perhaps it's time for an update. Since putting the front end back together and cleaning up the interior and starting on the rear brakes I've done a bit of work. Let's set the stage - before and the process to pull the entire rear end out of the car. Definitely a lot of rusty bolts in there but I managed to get it all out without breaking anything! And I'm sure my neighbors love me. LOL

 

Lets start cleaning and bringing some parts back to life! BUt first some of the ugly bits that challenged me a little:
Wheel bearings will need to be replaced - the snap rings are massive and could break a finger for sure. Getting the inner bearing half off the stub axle was a pain. Pressing out bushings - lower control arm forward bushings were a bit stubborn. Had to cut the dogbone bolts - they were bonded to the dogbones. And of course the DTSS bushing bolts I had to cut the sleeve of with a dremel to save the bolts. WARNING: PICTURE HEAVY!

 

Cleaned up the axles. Shot them with a little paint too.

 

Heat shields cleanup: Brakes, Mufflers, and the stone guard for the fuel tank.

 

Got to work with the wire wheel and my "bucket of doom" aluminum brightener to clean up parts ready for paint and reassembly.

 

Cleaning, stripping, and refinishing the lower control arms and the read subframe.

 

I even hit the rear tiedowns with some new paint as they were rusty hunks of metal. Blech!

 

Differential refinishing. Drained the old oil out. Looked great so no need to crack the case to inspect the gears. Noe leaks at the stub axles so they can stay. And the bushings looked solid - good to go.Too bad it's an open diff. Maybe someday I'll upgrade it to a 4:30 and LSD but for now...being on a budget, this will have to do.

 

Time for new bushings and bearings. New wheel bearings were going to test my skill with the press. They are massive. I bought some 1x1" iron bars for my press to help with part positioning - they were a godsend! And turns out the weight for my pilot bearing puller is the perfect size for the rear wheel bearings! New Timken bearings and OEM seals. I decided to go with spherical bearings for the forward lower control arms where they fit to the subframe as I had heard using poly bushings will bind in that location. I hope they don't rattle my fillings out. Installed delrin DTSS eliminator bushings, and solid lower control arm bushings at the hub carrier interface, All went surprisingly smooth although the multi-piece spherical bearings were a bit tricky.

 

But wait there's still more cleanup! Need to get under the car and take car of the hard lines, all the clips and hangers and brackets, shoot the underbody with a fresh coat of rubberized protection and clean up the wheel arches.

 

One more small thing - need to clean up the parking brake cables. LOL

 

Imma just let these speak for themselves. 3 months of work and ready for installation

 

I bought rubber boots for the spherical ends on the camber link. For a race car leaving them bare is fine...but for a street car, Nope. Need covers - filled them with grease to keep the water out.

 

Installation day: Just me and my 2 trusty jacks to maneuver these big chunks of metal into place....WITHOUT DAMAGING ANY PAINT!!! That diff bushing is the original BTW. Looks pretty good eh?
The subframe and diff was like trying to dock the space station! LOL

 

Subframe and diff in place, next is suspension links and hub carriers. And sway bar. And Dampers. A rotors and calipers...and lines.

 

Final before-N-After shots

 

As an original owner of an 88 vert, I am amazed at your patience and detail! It was a great trip from start to now. Thanks for showing all the hours and dedication! Keep the pictures and information coming.

 

I just finished reading the entire thread, this is most definitely a labor of love with the time investment you have. The amount of detail down to cleaning the hold down straps and going as far as to making a new jack cover. Just Awesome!

 

that turned out really really nice!