hey aaron, i bought the pineapple racing rebuild kit. thoughts on the oil pan gasket vs no gasket? looked through your vid again to see what you did and found out you didnt get to that part. haha

 

I'm disappointed...it took 20 minutes before any twisted, over-the-top and inappropriate comparions were said....

You're slacking Aaron

 

I forgot to paint the oil pan when I did the rest of the engine stuff, so that's why it wasn't included. I've always used the gasket with a skim coat of RTV and never had any leaks. Chase the holes out with a tap or thread chaser, blow them out with air and make sure both the oil pan flange and engine flange are perfectly clean. For years I used Permatex Ultra Copper but lately I've been using Ultra Gray since it is supposed to be better for flanges with lots of bolt holes. It dries stiffer. Put a skim coat over each side of the gasket and install the pan with the bolts finger tight. Then torque to about 10 FT-lbs after the stuff has set for half an hour or so. If your pan flange is warped, straighten it. Often I'll also use big washers on the bolts to spread the load.

Really? Hm, looks like I need to work harder. What sort of happened is that I only ran the camera for a few minutes each task, so I tended to just explain what I was doing. Sheet metal just sucks the energy from the room.

 

Part 22 of my '76 Mazda RX-7 Cosmo restoration finishes up the passenger side front sheet metal. In this episode I reconstruct the passenger front inner and outer sill, floor and kick panel. And the great thing is that as promised, this is the last sheet metal episode for a long, long time! While I have the same set of repairs to do on the driver side, that will all be done off camera so that the next episode gets to the good stuff. Included in this episode: making templates, fabricating patch panels, POR-15, cutting, grinding, welding, floor pan repair.

 

I love how when you're grinding the first panel on the bench, you're absolutely showering that acetone bottle in sparks (4:22 - 4:30)

I will say that these sheet metal episodes have given me a whole new respect for the hell that body shops have to go through to make our cars "new" again. Remind me to doubly-thank Joe again next time I'm down at ClassicAuto.

You're doing the world a service by restoring the Cosmo Aaron, keep up the good work. I look forward to ep 23!

Jon

 

Someone on YouTube pointed out the acetone bottle as well. I didn't even notice that I was blasting it with sparks. It's a shame it didn't catch fire because that would have been some great footage. Yet oddly, no one has mentioned what was just to the left of the acetone bottle. Always pays off to look at the background of my videos because I try to slip some stuff in there every so often.

While out on Saturday night someone was telling me about their restoration project, a late '70s Thunderbird. They were complaining so much about how hard it is to find parts. I just didn't have the heart to elaborate on exactly what "hard to find" parts really means. I'm sure he can buy every bit of sheet metal for that car from the dealer or an aftermarket supplier. Doing the work has also made me appreciate what it really takes to restore a car and I now see how those restored muscle cars are selling at $100,000+. Though I also do question those prices when I realize that they too can buy any sheet metal needed on the aftermarket...

 

The real wonder is why the hell anyone is restoring a late 70's T-bird at all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Th...2.80.931979.29

What is your interesting bit in the background on that bench, anyway? I can see it's a metal "naked woman" similar to those seen on trucker's mudflaps, except as a naked demon or nymph with the pitchfork - but it almost looks like it might be a weather vane or something - which isn't likely.

 

"7 and a half cenimeters by 6 inches"

Stick to a unit of measurement dammit! lol

What do you like about an actual Dremal over the generic brands?

 

No idea. To each their own though. Maybe it was a family car or something. I had kind of lost interest at that point because on the other side of the table they started talking about weird antique items...of which I know a thing or two.

Naked metal devil chick, cut out on a CNC plasma. There's a booth every year at AutoRama selling tons (literally) of this kind of stuff. I think they must run things like this on the cutter between jobs or to use otherwise wasted metal when cutting out other pieces. Thing is, the booth is always busy and I wouldn't be surprised if they clear $30K - $40K over the weekend. Everything from logos to erotic art for $10/pound.

I do that at the metal store too and it drives them crazy.

Oh, where to begin...

Keep in mind that the 4000 is the top of the line Dremel. Lower priced models may or may not have the features I am about to swoon over.

http://www.dremel.com/en-us/Tools/Pa....aspx?pid=4000

-Tool-less chuck. The little gripping collar is the tool. Unscrew it, then lock it onto the chuck and you can loosen it. Plus, the chuck locking button has something like 8 teeth that lock onto the shaft, instead of just a stupid pin (that slips and breaks)

-POWER! It has a 1.6A motor which seems to make a huge difference.

-Much better speed regulation. The cheap off-brand tools are all a simple open loop chopper circuit, like a light dimmer. I know because I've repaired several of them. This Dremel appears to have a closed loop control which keeps the motor within a narrow RPM range, even under load.

-Soft start. OK, it's not a huge deal, but it's neat hearing the tool spin up gradually instead of just being clunked on. Doesn't torque the hand as much either.

 

Update please!!
Video or no video; inquiring minds want to know.

 

I am officially not excited when this thread is bumped now....too many false alarms haha

 

I'm working on an update video to be released within a week or two. On the car, work continues on the driver side sheet metal but since it's been an unusually busy summer, I'm only now getting to the shop on a consistent basis. I would love to have the driver sheet metal done by the end of October, which I think is realistic. Then the fun stuff can begin.

 

The woman is keeping you busy, huh?

 

Oh yeah, right.

 

Hey Aaron, can you do me a favor, since the car is in pieces?

Measure between the frame rails in the engine bay. Or the distance between the mounting holes on the front subframe

Please?

 

I'll see what I can do.

 

Good stuff. Thanks!

 

Never mind.

I have mine in the garage now, so I can measure it myself.

 

man you keep bumpin this thread getting my hopes all up for a new video, only to shatter them

 

Don't blame me. Blame it on your Canadian friend. He's obviously not working on it too hard if he couldn't measure something simple in the span of a month.

 

June, July, August, September, October and November; Hey, I wasn't kidding when I said in episode 22 that it would be a bit of a wait for the next one! In that time I've been as hard at work on the Cosmo as I could manage, which unfortunately is not as much as I would have liked. It's been a busy summer with plenty taking me out of the shop. Even still, I've been working as much as I can and have picked up the pace over the last two months to the point where the driver side sheet metal is almost done. So what's in this episode, strangely titled as "Part 22.5"? Well, with the help of my special guest Rose Cora Perry, I answer some of the most common questions about the project. And along the way, there are a few tips and tricks thrown in, as well as a little bit of why the driver side repairs have taken so long. This episode is a little different, so I hope you enjoy...


Oh, and I apologize to djmtsu for not getting the measurements. I've been so focused on getting the sheet metal done that I kept slipping my mind. I have people pulling me in all directions these last few months and indeed, this is even the first time I've visited the forum in 3 weeks.

 

Just throwing this out there for you. My name is Christopher Lloyd.... Muise. No kidding.

I like the new Q+A format. However your next project should be tightening and oiling that squeaky stool your sitting on.

 

That's wild! Well if I get some footage of you in the car, I can legitimately claim that "Christopher Lloyd" has been in my vehicle.

Funny thing you should mention the stool because it was the first thing Rose mentioned as well. She thought it would be distracting. I figured it wouldn't matter considering the environment. I tried to keep the heater off too but by the 3rd segment it was getting damn cold.

On another note, it seems YouTube embedding is broken on this forum since it turned my videos into botched links.

 

okay you proved she's not a figment of your imagination, but since you're Aaron Cake and you didnt work on the cosmo that much this summer, Im not ruling out a robot..........

 

If I was going to build a fembot I wouldn't waste resources on trivial aspects such as "speech".