About two years ago I purchased a rolling shell. It had been wrecked, parted out and somewhere in the past someone had tried to repair the damage. It was a decent repair, however the front end is still a little tweaked. When I bought it, it was pretty much just a big mess of parts that I had to sort through.

 

My first goal was to source an engine and transmission to get the engine bay back together.

 

Interior and some body work. I had to remove about an inch of bondo that was cracking and starting to chip out behind the passenger door. It still needs some smoothing out and leveling. I also filled in the spoiler mounting holes.

 

More pictures.

 

Quite a mess you got there, looks fun! Interior looks like it has seen better days!

What are your plans? Do you plan on repainting?

 

The interior has slowly been coming together the past couple of days. I'm waiting on a few parts from Mazda before I can proceed further on the interior. I have all of the interior pieces that I need except for a black driver's door panel.

The exterior I've been working on here and there. It hasn't been my priority since I wanted to get the engine installed and have an operable car first. Sometime this Winter I'm hoping to have it painted brilliant black. I'd also like to go over the suspension really well, undercoat the wheel wells, replace bushings, rebuild and paint the brake calipers, install new rotors and pads and get stainless steel brake lines.

As for performance it has a downpipe, intake and Power FC. It still has the stock cat back exhaust for now. Also, the differential was rebuilt by Defined Autoworks recently. I'm not really planning to do a lot other than the reliability mods for now. I've thought about converting to a 3 rotor someday, so I just want to have a solid platform to work with first.

 

An inch of bondo? Yikes.
Looks like it is coming along nicely. Keep up the good work.

 

If you need any help lmk I would gladly drive out to turn some wrenches

 

Nice project, was working on a geo metro with a crushed rear quarter panel, cut it out with a plasma cutter and welded in a new one; surprised how well it worked out considering i'm not a pro. Then again you have nothing to loose cutting on a $400 car...

 

nice

 

sweet thread.cant wait to see the end result.
i remember my first restoration.oh wait im still working on mine.lol

 

Looking good, keep it up

 

The interior is almost complete now. I am waiting to install the door panels and seats until the paint job is done. Other than that I don't have a lot to update with right now.

The front crossmember has been removed so I can weld a new one on properly. When it was repaired last the welds were pop corned on so I had to grind them flush then drill through them. I probably spent about two hours removing the passenger side mount. I still have the other side to remove when I find the time.

 

I found a picture of the damage from the wreck. It was straightened before I bought it.

 

Another RX resto coming from OH.

 

Any updates on this? looks pretty interesting!

 

nice save indeed, that car looked like it was halfway to the scrapyard when you picked it up!

 

I've been working on it when I can. The brakes have been causing some issues and I just recently swapped out the front calipers. The interior is also a little bit better now. Other than that I've had to put the project on hold due to getting a new job. From what I can tell I will need to have a new nose section welded on and a bit of frame alignment. Gaps around the hood and headlights really bother me and I want it to look good. I've been in touch with a few salvage yards for a nose cut, but haven't really had much luck.

Due to the new job the project is on hold until the end of May after I get through job training and move. I don't even know exactly where I am moving yet! Possibly Roanoke, VA, Harrisburg, PA or Charlotte, NC. I was recently hired at an airline as a first officer (co-pilot).

I'll get a few pictures within a couple days. Right now the bumper has been mounted at the fenders. It's starting to come together, but the bumper can't be fully secured and aligned properly until the nose cut is welded on.

 

Hey congrats on the new job! its getting pretty tough out there so I can understand taking a break to take care of business. As far as the nose would you ever consider picking up a front clip or maybe a roller that might have what you need?

 

Thanks! Yeah in hindsight I wish I would have purchased a front clip from the start. I'm still considering purchasing one for the spare parts now. Honestly the front end isn't that bad and I could just weld in a new core support from Mazda after the frame alignment and be done, but I want it to look good without any wrinkles in the frame.

Here is an old picture just testing the alignment of things. You'll notice the gaps between the hood and headlights are bigger than usual. This was the best alignment I could get. The front frame rails are actually about 1/2" wider than they should be, which adds approximately 1/4" extra to the gap around the headlights.

 

Yeah those gaps would bug the heck out of me too! I know very little on correcting things like this but from what I can tell it isn't too bad and definitely in the fixable realm of things! I see you have an 8, just sold mine looking to get a roller my self. How do you like it?

 

The 8 has been a good daily. I bought it wrecked about 3 years ago and repaired it. I had to replace the hood and front bumper along with the rear subframe. It's an '04 6 speed with a couple of mods. Still running strong at 85,000 miles.




Here is the current condition of the FD. I've decided to skip getting a front clip due to costs and dealing with shipping. Instead I'll just have the frame straightened and weld on a new core support. The core support from Mazda is about $200.

 

Seems like you're quite the handy man! good stuff man!

 

What kind of lip is that on the plateless '99 bumper?

 

The bumper is a fiberglass knockoff with the lip molded on. I'm not sure who made it. I'm undecided if I'm really going to use it, but for now it's better than having nothing on there.