I started at the first of the year with a few goals that I wanted to accomplish this year. My 83 GSL has always been a descent looking car, but there were a few "UPGRADES" that I thought the old girl needed. I began with the interior. Redoing the inside was first. I recoverd the seats with a new seat kit from Racing Beat. I installed the white face gauges which I purchased from a forum member. Thanks Scott! I also added the extra tach because I am 6'2" and the smaller APC steering wheel was limiting my view of the stock tach. I have started on the exterior. I haved removed the body kit, and began prepping the car for paint. I found out the right side molding was being held on with sheet metal screws!!!! I had to weld 13 holes shut!!! I also have a 80 GS that I am using for mocking up my 12AT project. I hope to have it done in a couple of months. So far the 83 has had a few performance mods knocked out allready. 2GDFIS, works awsome!! Thank you Kent (gsl-le addict). One off cald air intake. Thank you Robert (robs7). Racing Beat header with 2.5" straight through exhaust. 84 GSL-LE rear end. TII alternator. Ford Taurus electric fan. Thank you Junkyard, for the last few parts. I know this sounds like a big thread, but I just wanted to share, and thank, with you guys, for all the help and support with this project thus far.

Oh yea, you guys probably want some pics.
This first pic is of the car at the first of the year.



These are the "Progress Pics"

 

really nice


what turbo are you running with you gonna make your own turbo manifold

 

sweet car man. you did a great Job.

 

very nice. i nice custom guages and love the hood. more pics please?

 

Seats look good, didn't know the covers were availible. How much did they set you back? Progress on the body looks like it is coming along nicely, keeping the same color I hope.

If you want to spruce up the rusty interior parts, PM me about getting them powdercoated. You would be quite pleased with the results and low maintinence.

I can't believe how many Scott's are on this forum.

Scott.

 

Thanks guys. The turbo that I am running is a S4 from a 88 TII. I used a 1.125" spacer between the block and the turbo manifold. I just slotted the holes a little bit. I took a stock SA intake and milled off the casting for the EGR valve. It really frees up a lot of space around the intake. The pics of the turbo and intercooler are on my SA beater. The engine is locked up, so I decided to use it for mocking up the turbo. The seat covers are still available from Racing Beat for $269. http://www.racingbeat.com/FRmazda1.htm . The Scott that I purchased the white faces from, I can't remember his user name. He had a thread where he is making the kits. The hood is a stock piece that I made the reverse scoop in. I took the hood and cut the metal. the pushed it down one inch in the front. I took 3/16 cold rolled steel too make the "fake" body lines.

I plan on keeping the Gray color, but I haved toyed with the idea of putting a Carbon Fiber wrap on it. I am happy with the car so far, but I had hoped to have more done at this piont. But most of us first gen guys know all about that!

 

Pics of that gauge pod!

 

This is some pics of the dash. Man what a nightmare!!!!


After a hot day of prepwork and Viola!!!


Before


After

 

WoW big improvement on the dash. Is that a hard cover or the vinly that you glue on?

 

This "cover" is a premolded dash cap that you have to glue on. The caps can be ordered about what ever color you want. It's been a few years since I did the dash, but I am pretty sure that I got this one from JC Whitney. I think they still carry them. Some more pics.

 

Nice!! It looks good so far. show us more pics when you finish the project.

 

Well, I said in a few months I would let you guys know how the FBTII is coming along. I can tell you guys that I love the boost. I have revived the GSL with a fire breathing snail on the side of the engine. The only question now is, how have I lived this far without it? I am still waiting on my BP Nikki from Rotary Shack ( almost 4 months Robert!), but I quick prepped my stock Nikki. So far, she really likes the 7 pounds of boost getting crammed down her throat. I know, " Put up some pics! ". Well here you go guys!!!!! Enjoy!!!!!












Well there you go. Boost'n, and I'm love'n it! I hope to get the body work done over the winter, but there are possibly a few more body mods that I may do. Hopefully, she will have a new shiny coat for spring!!! Thats the updates so far. Later!!!!

 

that looks really nice good job

 

bad 83 ,

Wow, that hood is really nice! How hard would it be to (or why didn't you) raise the scoop (or cut out the hole) and allow air in verses just dropping it?

Were the seats hard to recover (hog nose pliers/rings, stretching etc) and did you need to replace the foam?

I like the steering wheel too!

Really nice job!!!

DD

 

Sweet!! I really like what you've done with the hood. Very well done and subtle, looks like it belongs with the rest of the hood lines. Much better than a scoop imho. Engine bay looks much better with the rust gone too. Keep up the good work.

 

Looks great. Keep it up

 

i love what you're doing with the car. i'm particularly impressed with the seats and dash, however, i love everything that you've done.

 

Thank you guys so much. Now to answer a couple of questions. The first hood pics are when I first completed it. Since then I have cut the hole out. I came up with this design from alittle bit of trial and error. I have seen some of the scoops out there, and in my opinion, they just don't flow with the body. Most just look like an eye sore.



The seats took me two days. I had some foam that had to be reparied. The most common place is the left side of the drivers seat. I used an old trick to save the foam, and pull it back into shape. Where the foam was split at the left upper seat frame, I used spray glue and duct tape ( Yes Duct Tape ) to get the shape back. Since the turbo intall, I was concerned about overheating issues that I hear alot of people haveing problems with. After crunching the numbers, and doing my homework, I think I have got a reliable package set up here. So far, the water temp is staying between 150 to 160 degrees. I am not knocking any of the other setups out there, but I can't see moving the turbo out and up almost to the radiator, and having almost three feet of exhaust pipe running beside the engine before going under the car, without heat issues. I even went a step further to try and keep things cool. I used the coolant jackets on the turbo, and made an aluminum heat shield to keep heat off the intake.

 

Sam,

Well its about time i get to ride in the car. WOW, words cant explain the difference it made from the first time we took it out. The first time you took me for a ride it was a little rough between gears with the hesiatation, but now you cant hardly tell except you get thrown back every so often, must be the shifting. Hell the car is actually quieter then before. I just cant believe how much different everything is after just a few months. well once my SA is running good, (or at all) we will have to get them both a go just for the heck of it. Well congrats on all the work and hope the adapters and intake we worked on hold up. and when work gets slow well make that exhaust spacer out of somthing alittle more substantial.

P.S now we got to wire my car and get some life in it.

 

Well guys, its been a couple of months getting the 7 tuned and running good. Still afraid to push past 10 pounds of boost. I shared this vid in the AV section a while back, but I don't know if everyone has seen it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNG6JRoqXu8 I have been putting off repainting the car for about two years now, and it has been making me sick here lately. With all the nice weather we have had. So, I talked with a local painter a couple of weeks ago, and we came to a good price providing I helped get the car ready i.e. taking the bumpers off, molding, trim, mirrors, sunroof, rear hatch, and misc. stuff. Well, with that being said, I have spent the last two weeks doing that. I also decided to weld all the holes shut from the emblems, and fix all the holes from where someone had used sheet metal screws to hold the molding on the passenger side. All together I welded 25 holes shut! I am also srtipping all the paint off the metal trim, and polishing the stainless. This morning I loaded the old girl on the trailer, and took her to the painter. I took a few pics of the car before left. I feel sad being without my baby for a couple of weeks, but happy that when I get her back I can put this part of the project to bed. I promise to get pics when I pick her up. What color? I have decided to put the stock color back on. Paint code K8. So excited I can't stand it!











I hope here in a couple of weeks I will have my engine and trans in the SA sitting in the backgound. I know I have alot of work ahead of me, but its always worth it in the end!

 

Nice!!! Keep up the great work!

 

I decided to stop by the body shop today and check up on the progress so far. The body is looking great. The stock hood looks like crap. The body shop manager says the hood looks like it was in a hail storm. The rest of the car is fine.????????? I don't get it. But he assures me it will be ok. Anyway, I took some pics of where they are at right now. The manager says they will have it in primer this weekend. I asked him to call me and let me know so I could get some more pics!

 

vary nice it looks like it is coming along. i like your rims on it befor. but i bet they are on there so you dont dirty your other ones. cant wait intill it is done.

Edit: where did you get the rpm and speed and all the other odomer.

 

I know I promised to have some pics of the car in primer, but I only had my camera phone with me last week when I checked on the progress. Well.......I have new shiny paint!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry about that. I am soooooooooo excited right now. The shop is supposed to have all the small parts done by tomorrow. I snapped some pics of the car right after thay washed it. Looks so slick now with all the emblems gone, and all the holes gone! Woohoo! I'm so glad I decided to go back with the stock color. I got a chance to talk with the guy who did the paint. He said it is 8 coats of base, and 2 coats of clear. The paint is so deep looking, it looks like it is still wet. Anyway, here's some pics from today. I think the 7 makes the Vette in the background look pityfull!

 

very very VERY NICE!!
i think i know what color i want to paint my car now