The editing of part 17 has caught up to the actual work being done, so I promise, as soon as the work is done, the video will be posted. Just been slow going lately...

 

No worries Aaron. Just like every other part, I'm 1000% sure it'll be epic and full of win.

On a side note, how do you manage to get any work done with such long hair? Mine's about the same length and I HAVE TO have it back in a ponytail to keep it out of my eyes.

 

Episode 17 of my '76 Mazda RX-5 Cosmo restoration moves from the destruction of the last episode to construction as I focus mainly on one task: repairing the floor in the rear passenger seat area. This was some of the surprise damage I found while sand blasting way back in part 6. I've been neglecting the floor for more interesting tasks and because rust is depressing but after uncovering far more tin-worm damage in part 16, I decided it was time to do a little more sheet metal work. This turned out to take longer than I thought and was a rather tedious area to work in. Included in this episode: cutting out rusty sheet metal, cleaning up rust, prepping the areas for repair, fabricating patch panels, media blasting, hand forming patch panels, welding in new metal patch panels, recreating factory beads without a bead roller, corpse removal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm8zur_iWJY

 

It gets in the way once and a while but in general, no real issues. The only time I've ever tied it back was when cleaning engine parts.

 

After you finish all the welding, you might spray some kind of corrosion inhibitor like Waxoyl Professional 120-4 in all the crevices and inside the frame rails.

 

Thanks for keeping the videos coming, they are always entertaining.

I can't wait to learn how to weld. Being stuck in the "bolt-ons only, and rust is permanent" world is annoying.

 

+ 1 on that...I just bought a mig though, so I'll be setting some **** on fire reeeeeel sooooon! lol!

Aaron, I have to say....the fact that you even tried to recreate that fold in the metal when it is going to be covered by the carpet is a true testament to your dedication to "do it right". I, however, am a much lesser man, and would have been ok with knowing that my patch panel was done and that area will not rust again. Seriously...nice work!

 

Yep, that's exactly what I'm going to do. I just have not decided yet whether I will make an enormous mess by doing it myself, or just take it to be oil treated and hand over the $100. All the areas that I can coat will be painted with POR-15. Such as the floor pan, wheel wells, etc. But some areas I have to settle for weld through primer because you can't really weld through POR-15.

I've come to the conclusion that it was an enormous waste of time. It's going to be covered by sound deadener and a seat, plus I'm not doing a numbers matching restoration here....

 

Oh no. not a waste of time at all perfection is key!

 

Aaron I have to do some welding on some factory beads as well but in the engine compartment area,, do you think I can get away with some skipped factory beads,, I really dont want to do it plus if i do it is going to look like shhhhtt so i was just thinking of making it flush flat, I dont think no one will tell. what you think ?

 

Yeah, but the amount of time it took because I could not spend time consistently in the shop over the last few weeks was a bit ridiculous. At least it's done now and I can move on...to the other side. Thankfully the repair there is minimal and mainly cosmetic.

At this point I need to decide what to do next. Blast the front end and begin repairs? Or just fill all the firewall holes for the hell of it...

I'm not sure what you're referring to. Are you talking about welding all the seams? For aesthetic purposes or to strengthen the chassis?

 

Aaron - please read.

Break Cleaner and welding = death

Its best to just keep it away from anything thats gonna be welded.

http://www.brewracingframes.com/id75.htm

 

Aaron, time to get or make a bead roller, or use an expasion joint in a sidewalk, just not your sidewalk Awesome vids man, keep em comming.

 

I'm glad someone mentioned this. It looks like in the video I just hose things down with brake cleaner and then weld, but keep in mind that there are hours or days between the time something has brake cleaner on it and it is welded. Plus the brake cleaner is fully dried with air prior to painting.

It's less of an issue with MIG welding because your face isn't right up in the weld, and I do my MIG welding using C25 for mild steel. However when TIG welding, I won't touch anything if it was cleaned with brake cleaner. I insist on acetone only followed up by the stainless brush.

That guy's story sounds horrible and not something I'm anxious to repeat.

I never thought of using a sidewalk crack. One of the things I plan to do soon is router some grooves into a hard block of wood, and get a pointy hammer. That should help with making beads. For the money though, I don't think a bead roller would be a good investment. I have only a few panels to repair that have beads and can just have those rolled at the local metal shop.

 

Recreating that bead took dedication. Even I'm not that intense.

I watched this episode while a friend was over and we were preparing to work on my RX-7. We laughed and almost woke up my son during the corpse removal.

 

I will get you a picture when i get car home , So I can show you,,

Thanks

 

um.. your assignment is past due..

you will be docked 10% +5% for every day past today that it is not delivered. the latest i will accept it is aug 23rd.

 

I picked up the Harbor Frieght Bead roller for $10. They listed it at $99 on sale, so I went down to the local HF and asked to buy one. They told me it was discontinued. I asked to by the demo model in the showroom. They said OK but didnt know if all the dies were there. I found all the parts and went to the checkout, I was thrilled when they said, "that will be $10." You might try your local HF to see if you can get this great deal. Keep up the good work.

 

Lol. 10$ thats dope

 

I'm working on it. Trying to make sheet metal work un-boring is a challenge. Sheet metal repairs are also pretty tedious. Lots of waiting for weld primer to dry, lots of grinding, etc. The thing is, right now I'm sort of stuck on the sheet metal because I can't proceed with the engine bay until all the rot in the front end is fixed. Though I may take a break on the sheet metal soon and order in some Vintage Air stuff...

We don't have Harbor Freight, but we do have Princess Auto. Same difference, basically. If I find a bead roller on sale I'll get one but really, I don't have more than a few beads to roll so it's not a huge issue. If I have something that needs to be beaded, I'll just take it down to the metal shop down the street.

 

September is here! Any updates?

 

This being a long weekend, I'm hoping to be able to spend 2 days in the shop, and the remaining day finishing up the editing of part 18.

Summer turned out to be busier than I thought. And the weather has been awesome, so I'm less likely to spend my weekends totally cooped up in the shop.

 

It's time finally for part 18 of my Mazda RX-5 Cosmo restoration. In episode 19 I continue repairing the rear floor pan, this time dealing with the drivers rear seat area as well as some of the bulkhead and frame below it. Once tired of messing about with floor pans, I move onto some easy sheet metal work involving filling some of the unnecessary holes in the firewall. Included in this episode: cutting out rusty sheet metal, cleaning up rust, prepping the areas for repair, fabricating patch panels, hand forming patch panels, welding in new metal patch panels, smoothing a firewall, fixing sheet metal weld distortion, a tornado.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYNJQm8gIUg

 

"the colors, the colors" all we needed was "the wall" playing in the background! Hahahahaha! On a serious note only major/odd body work repairs vice all the repetitive cut, weld grind in my opinion.

 

The "grinding spiral" will now become a standard feature whenever the grinder is shown.

The feedback on YouTube has been the same. While most people still watched the repetitive, boring sheet metal repairs (and I say that, being the guy that did and filmed them ), most also agree that by now, they see where I'm going with the sheet metal. So I think what I'll do is only cover the most interesting of sheet metal.

For example, the passenger front frame rail around the idler arm area needs to be repaired. Since this is a common problem for all older RX cars, then it's worth putting on camera...then again, since I won't be reinstalling the idler arm, maybe not. Well, for that matter, probably covering the frame repair on video is worthwhile anyway.

But yeah, I'm glad to hear that everyone is just as bored with sheet metal as I am. It will save me the trouble of filming it all and editing it together, only to end up with 20 minutes of yawn.

What sucks is that I'll be working on sheet metal for the time being. Though there are a few things I can mess with in the mean time.

If I can throw together an empty mockup engine block (I'll have to check what GSL-SE parts I have), I can do a little manifold and related work, which will be far more interesting.