Project Resurrection: Running Log
09-20-10, 11:48 AM
#153
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it was really cool to see this car in person! i think its actually nicer than the pics
09-22-10, 10:38 AM
#156
Thank you, sir. I'm pretty thrilled - - I never really set out to build a "show" car. It just kind of got away from me, heh.
Next up; longevity and reliability maintenance. And I need to do something about making my rims easier to clean - - raw aluminum is near-impossible to keep looking good!
Next up; longevity and reliability maintenance. And I need to do something about making my rims easier to clean - - raw aluminum is near-impossible to keep looking good!
09-22-10, 11:07 AM
#157
Waffles - hmmm good
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The wheel metallic grey I used is an exact match for what they came with new.
Nice job on the car, and congrats on the award.
09-22-10, 12:10 PM
#158
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Thank you, sir. I'm pretty thrilled - - I never really set out to build a "show" car. It just kind of got away from me, heh.
Next up; longevity and reliability maintenance. And I need to do something about making my rims easier to clean - - raw aluminum is near-impossible to keep looking good!
Next up; longevity and reliability maintenance. And I need to do something about making my rims easier to clean - - raw aluminum is near-impossible to keep looking good!
05-08-11, 09:59 PM
#159
I love RX-7s
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Days Thirty-Two through Thirty-Six
1) Used Super Black Silicone to rebond my hood's internal frame to the skin. Although not quite as solid-sounding as the hood on my 350Z (which is mostly aluminum anyway), the "trash-can" sound is gone for the first time since I've had the car, and the hood feels considerably more rigid, which should help with eliminating high-speed flutter at the corners some, once I can actually get it to high speed again.
1) Used Super Black Silicone to rebond my hood's internal frame to the skin. Although not quite as solid-sounding as the hood on my 350Z (which is mostly aluminum anyway), the "trash-can" sound is gone for the first time since I've had the car, and the hood feels considerably more rigid, which should help with eliminating high-speed flutter at the corners some, once I can actually get it to high speed again.
Wanted to ask about how you used the silicon... My bonnet is rusted where the blobs of factory adhesive deteriorated and rusted - I've removed the rust as good as I can and now wondering what to do next... how did you prep the surface before using the silicone? And did you paint the body colour over the top of it? Did you silicone right the way around the frame to completely seal those areas? Some pics would be good
It will never be a show car like yours but I also like to do things properly
05-09-11, 12:10 AM
#160
I never really set out to make a show car out of it, Dave; it just kind of turned out that way: it got out of control, once I had made a clean spot.
I had previously (several years back) re-painted my hood to body color, and at that time had sanded the few rusty spots where the old adhesive had been by wrapping a putty knife in sandpaper & working it back and forth in the gap, before I re-primed & painted.
I just siliconed right over the paint, going most of the way around the openings, working to inject it in between the two parts. Then I cleaned off excess to make a clean and thin fillet. It's not under a lot of stress, it's just there to prevent metal-to-metal vibration.
Since my body color is a dark silver-greay, I used translucent black silicone. Hard to even see it unless you look for it.
Only downside is that the silicone is a dirt magnet for weeks even after it has cured; keeping it clean was a pain for quite a while.
I will try to take some close snaps next time I have the camera handy.
I had previously (several years back) re-painted my hood to body color, and at that time had sanded the few rusty spots where the old adhesive had been by wrapping a putty knife in sandpaper & working it back and forth in the gap, before I re-primed & painted.
I just siliconed right over the paint, going most of the way around the openings, working to inject it in between the two parts. Then I cleaned off excess to make a clean and thin fillet. It's not under a lot of stress, it's just there to prevent metal-to-metal vibration.
Since my body color is a dark silver-greay, I used translucent black silicone. Hard to even see it unless you look for it.
Only downside is that the silicone is a dirt magnet for weeks even after it has cured; keeping it clean was a pain for quite a while.
I will try to take some close snaps next time I have the camera handy.
05-09-11, 07:24 AM
#162
I love RX-7s
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Thanks, I'd appreciate that. I've yet to see a perfect condition bonnet. The rust also got under the seam at the bottom where Mazda didn't bother to put seam sealer under the bonnet brackets. I've noticed that on many other parts of the car actually - Mazda put the seam sealer on after bolting the car together, missing many seam sections which then, predictably, rusted.
05-22-11, 01:19 AM
#163
Junior Member
WOW....what a sweet ride. Dude, you paid close attention to detail on like everything. But now it's question time for young Skywalker.
First, you talked about the Mazda Carb Manual....I can't seem to find this. Is Barnes and Noble my best bet, or shall I lean on my buddy that works at Mazda North American Ops in Houston.
Second, my 1st gen sat idle for an undetermined amount of years and now has a disgusting thin 'pan of brownies' goo, settled on the bottom of the gas tank...any ideas? I've posted it:
https://www.rx7club.com/detailing-restoration-284/fuel-tank-problem-slug-955186/
Fourth, if Tyrone gets home at 5 o'clock in the morning, after robbing a health food store. If he can run 5 mpg, in front of a police car going 15 mph...how many years will he get in Attica? (thought it was better than the train that leaves Chicago problem).
First, you talked about the Mazda Carb Manual....I can't seem to find this. Is Barnes and Noble my best bet, or shall I lean on my buddy that works at Mazda North American Ops in Houston.
Second, my 1st gen sat idle for an undetermined amount of years and now has a disgusting thin 'pan of brownies' goo, settled on the bottom of the gas tank...any ideas? I've posted it:
https://www.rx7club.com/detailing-restoration-284/fuel-tank-problem-slug-955186/
Fourth, if Tyrone gets home at 5 o'clock in the morning, after robbing a health food store. If he can run 5 mpg, in front of a police car going 15 mph...how many years will he get in Attica? (thought it was better than the train that leaves Chicago problem).
05-22-11, 01:22 PM
#164
First one: Sgt. Fox's excellent reference site has the Mazda carb rebuild manual, downloadable for free. http://foxed.ca/foxed/index.php?page=rx7manual
Second one: the usual recommendation for treating that condition is to take the tank out, and find a radiator shop able to 'boil it out' for you. It can then be recoated inside with POR15. Numerous tutorial threads exist. I've been lucky in that I haven't had this problem yet.
Third one: the fish.
Fourth one: Tyrone will likely not be making it to Attica. But the , he wouldn't like the food, anyway.
Second one: the usual recommendation for treating that condition is to take the tank out, and find a radiator shop able to 'boil it out' for you. It can then be recoated inside with POR15. Numerous tutorial threads exist. I've been lucky in that I haven't had this problem yet.
Third one: the fish.
Fourth one: Tyrone will likely not be making it to Attica. But the , he wouldn't like the food, anyway.
07-21-11, 09:56 AM
#166
Day 1107:
So, three years and a few days into this latest resurrection. Wow.
Current projects include an interior refresh that had me restoring my center-console trim; New leather shift and e-brake boots from Redline, replacing the shift surround now that I'd moved my electric window switches to their proper position on the center arm rest, and restoring my stereo surround which had developed some stress cracks over the years. reinforced the back of the surround with carbon fiber inserts & epoxy, then sanded and repainted both surrounds. Looking sharp, there! Good pix to be posted next time the car's out in the sun.
I've also found a truly quality way to replace the plastic chrome trim unique to the 80 arm rests, which tend to lose their chrome with age. I have a write-up of that process on the back-burner.
The latest thing weighing on my mind is that I'm getting well and truly tired of cleaning rust stains off my wheels every time I wash the car, due to the factory chromed lug bolts having lost plating over time and wear, and now being vulnerable to rusting around the base of the bolt heads. Overall, their appearance is what you would expect after 31+ years and hundreds of thousands of road miles:
I looked into replacing them, but the available parts from Black Dragon are 1) not the correct factory head shape, and 2) are not long enough for the factory cast wheels; they are the shorter length required for the rarely-seen stamped steel wheels.
Lug bolts are important, and it's important that they not have any oddball coatings on the load-bearing surfaces so that they torque properly, so I decided against the obvious work-around of cleaning them up and clear coating the rust-prone areas.
I'm looking into getting them professionally re-plated. Initial quote sight-unseen over the phone was $3.50 each, or $56 for the full set. I'll be getting an eyeballs-on appraisal today at lunch, and will update with the results.
I'm also going to try to get a quote from Mazda for new ones, but I haven't much hope in that regard.
So, three years and a few days into this latest resurrection. Wow.
Current projects include an interior refresh that had me restoring my center-console trim; New leather shift and e-brake boots from Redline, replacing the shift surround now that I'd moved my electric window switches to their proper position on the center arm rest, and restoring my stereo surround which had developed some stress cracks over the years. reinforced the back of the surround with carbon fiber inserts & epoxy, then sanded and repainted both surrounds. Looking sharp, there! Good pix to be posted next time the car's out in the sun.
I've also found a truly quality way to replace the plastic chrome trim unique to the 80 arm rests, which tend to lose their chrome with age. I have a write-up of that process on the back-burner.
The latest thing weighing on my mind is that I'm getting well and truly tired of cleaning rust stains off my wheels every time I wash the car, due to the factory chromed lug bolts having lost plating over time and wear, and now being vulnerable to rusting around the base of the bolt heads. Overall, their appearance is what you would expect after 31+ years and hundreds of thousands of road miles:
I looked into replacing them, but the available parts from Black Dragon are 1) not the correct factory head shape, and 2) are not long enough for the factory cast wheels; they are the shorter length required for the rarely-seen stamped steel wheels.
Lug bolts are important, and it's important that they not have any oddball coatings on the load-bearing surfaces so that they torque properly, so I decided against the obvious work-around of cleaning them up and clear coating the rust-prone areas.
I'm looking into getting them professionally re-plated. Initial quote sight-unseen over the phone was $3.50 each, or $56 for the full set. I'll be getting an eyeballs-on appraisal today at lunch, and will update with the results.
I'm also going to try to get a quote from Mazda for new ones, but I haven't much hope in that regard.
Last edited by Sgt Fox; 07-24-11 at 12:28 PM.
07-21-11, 10:48 AM
#168
Waffles - hmmm good
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the shift boot surround.
On the lug nuts, I have some where the head will sometimes come off of the lug
nut. The chrome head is a pressed on piece over the lug body. Theres some
corrigation on the inside of the chrome heads that matches the tops of the nuts.
Its a press fit for sure. I just whack mine with a BFH when its does come off and that
fixes it pretty good so far.
07-21-11, 12:04 PM
#169
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07-21-11, 02:16 PM
#170
Confirmed available, at $17.40 each... looks like it's time to drive over to the chrome shop.
I'm guessing the two-part construction may have been to allow the caps to be chromed, and the load-bearing and/or threaded portions to not be. Or maybe that way the caps could be made of a less-expensive alloy that wouldn't require multiple layers of plating (some metals have to be copper and/or nickel-plated before you can chrome them). Or perhaps from something easier to form and polish than steel.
The actual 'bolt' portion doesn't look to have been chromed, but rather was zinc plated (galvanized) or given some other rust-inhibition. The neck and threads are definitely not nor have never been chromed; the white oxide that builds up on them sometimes makes me think of zinc galvanizing.
In which case, the plating shop may not be able to do anything; I'll need their input on whether or not chroming the threads would be undesirable, and if yes, if they can be masked during plating.
Will have to see what they say. Better rusty than wrecked, at $17+ each replacement cost. ($278 for a set!)
I'm guessing the two-part construction may have been to allow the caps to be chromed, and the load-bearing and/or threaded portions to not be. Or maybe that way the caps could be made of a less-expensive alloy that wouldn't require multiple layers of plating (some metals have to be copper and/or nickel-plated before you can chrome them). Or perhaps from something easier to form and polish than steel.
The actual 'bolt' portion doesn't look to have been chromed, but rather was zinc plated (galvanized) or given some other rust-inhibition. The neck and threads are definitely not nor have never been chromed; the white oxide that builds up on them sometimes makes me think of zinc galvanizing.
In which case, the plating shop may not be able to do anything; I'll need their input on whether or not chroming the threads would be undesirable, and if yes, if they can be masked during plating.
Will have to see what they say. Better rusty than wrecked, at $17+ each replacement cost. ($278 for a set!)
07-23-11, 03:22 AM
#172
DD I went for an after-market set for the SA at about $2 ea (5 yrs ago). Standing up "OK" but a high quality re-chrome of the originals would be my 1st choice too. Unfortunately you will not know just how "high quality" they are till time passes, but look forward to hearing the results!
Likewise on the chromed plastic inserts on the door pulls!!! Can they chrome the plastic "end cap" on the pull as well??
Keep us in the loop.
cheers
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska
Likewise on the chromed plastic inserts on the door pulls!!! Can they chrome the plastic "end cap" on the pull as well??
Keep us in the loop.
cheers
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska
07-23-11, 11:19 PM
#173
Day 1109
I don't know why the pix above are suddenly not stacked... Hopefully a mod can fix for me, as this is WWWWWAY to wide to read!
I'm still on the fence on the lug bolt rechroming. As it was explained to me, very few shops can do small job, walk-in "hard chrome plating" any more - it's too expensive, and is usually reserved for the aerospace industry.
The Original bolt caps were hard chromed, and the shafts were chromated, according to the folks there. Hard chrome is much more durable, and thicker; it will continue to hold as the metal is deformed (as with an impact wrench) but evidently it's a much more difficult process using hexavalent chromium (toxic as hell), and it requires a great deal more thickness and much more polishing to look bright; the expense puts it out of the decorative chrome market.
This shop I'm talking with does what is known as "Decorative chrome plate," which is much less expensive but less durable; Uses trivalent chromium, is thinner, but smoothes out surface imperfections in the plating process, so a lot less polishing is needed. Most stuff you see on bikes, wheels, etc,. is D-chrome.
They have warned me that the bolts will plate fine, but if they're not handled with care (like turning loose an impact wrench on them) the chrome surface can be fractured, then they might peel with time and moisture exposure.
I'm still thinking about it; I would never use an impact wrench on lug bolts, and I'm the only one who works on my car.
My options are:
Re-polish and hand clear-coat the troublesome edges that rust; cheap but won't last long, who't look as good. Easy to re-do, though.
Re-chrome for a cost of about $70, they'll chrome them to just above the threads. Will look excellent, may last much longer, but eventually may need re-work.
Buy new bolts; high cost but as durable as the originals - I hope. Not realy in my price range, though.
In the meantime, I spent the day moving forward restoration of a set of louvers I bought off of Kencumn some months back. Huge amount of work to strip and re-paint these things (sanding off the old finish was murder, and paint stripper wouldn't touch it) but I think they're looking pretty tight so far:
Original condition; black coating was sand-pitted all the way through to aluminum:
Starting to sand; this took about 20 minutes with a hand sander. Tough stuff!
Smooth enough to start painting
First coat: etching primer to cope with the bare aluminum:
Wet-sanded:
Next coat: Sandable primer to get things nice and smooth:
Wet-sanded (again):
Color coat, courtesy of Duplicolor Trim Black; silky, dries in minutes:
The situation so far:
There's the tiniest bit of banding visible; I think maybe it was getting too hot outside at the end (low 90's) and the paint was drying too fast, not quite spreading out. So I'm going to give it another coat tomorrow AM while it's fairly cool out.
Both sides took three cans of primer (one etching, two sandable) and so far two and a half cans of trim black. Plus the hoold-down hardware.
I've always wanted a set of louvers; I sure hope I like how they look, as these have taken HOURS.
I don't know why the pix above are suddenly not stacked... Hopefully a mod can fix for me, as this is WWWWWAY to wide to read!
I'm still on the fence on the lug bolt rechroming. As it was explained to me, very few shops can do small job, walk-in "hard chrome plating" any more - it's too expensive, and is usually reserved for the aerospace industry.
The Original bolt caps were hard chromed, and the shafts were chromated, according to the folks there. Hard chrome is much more durable, and thicker; it will continue to hold as the metal is deformed (as with an impact wrench) but evidently it's a much more difficult process using hexavalent chromium (toxic as hell), and it requires a great deal more thickness and much more polishing to look bright; the expense puts it out of the decorative chrome market.
This shop I'm talking with does what is known as "Decorative chrome plate," which is much less expensive but less durable; Uses trivalent chromium, is thinner, but smoothes out surface imperfections in the plating process, so a lot less polishing is needed. Most stuff you see on bikes, wheels, etc,. is D-chrome.
They have warned me that the bolts will plate fine, but if they're not handled with care (like turning loose an impact wrench on them) the chrome surface can be fractured, then they might peel with time and moisture exposure.
I'm still thinking about it; I would never use an impact wrench on lug bolts, and I'm the only one who works on my car.
My options are:
Re-polish and hand clear-coat the troublesome edges that rust; cheap but won't last long, who't look as good. Easy to re-do, though.
Re-chrome for a cost of about $70, they'll chrome them to just above the threads. Will look excellent, may last much longer, but eventually may need re-work.
Buy new bolts; high cost but as durable as the originals - I hope. Not realy in my price range, though.
In the meantime, I spent the day moving forward restoration of a set of louvers I bought off of Kencumn some months back. Huge amount of work to strip and re-paint these things (sanding off the old finish was murder, and paint stripper wouldn't touch it) but I think they're looking pretty tight so far:
Original condition; black coating was sand-pitted all the way through to aluminum:
Starting to sand; this took about 20 minutes with a hand sander. Tough stuff!
Smooth enough to start painting
First coat: etching primer to cope with the bare aluminum:
Wet-sanded:
Next coat: Sandable primer to get things nice and smooth:
Wet-sanded (again):
Color coat, courtesy of Duplicolor Trim Black; silky, dries in minutes:
The situation so far:
There's the tiniest bit of banding visible; I think maybe it was getting too hot outside at the end (low 90's) and the paint was drying too fast, not quite spreading out. So I'm going to give it another coat tomorrow AM while it's fairly cool out.
Both sides took three cans of primer (one etching, two sandable) and so far two and a half cans of trim black. Plus the hoold-down hardware.
I've always wanted a set of louvers; I sure hope I like how they look, as these have taken HOURS.
07-24-11, 12:02 PM
#174
Lurking on thread near U
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Props, I'm sure you will be happy with them--I've transferred mine from car to car to car--my 7 feels naked without them. Unfortunately you have given me the sudden urge to break out the sandpaper and spray gun....