Crashing and fixing Mazda RX7 FD (non-shite)

[fordperv]

Good going the condition of that inner panel is fantastic, I do love an fd

[Station]

One year to the day I crashed this beast I fixed everything! Hurrah!! Not a single dent or chip on the body (apart from the bonnet but I'll get that done by a pro).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extremely pleased with it and shows what you can do if you just work at it.

[SiC]

Looks awesome.

 

 

(Just don't break it again)

[Lord Sterling]

IMG_4078.JPG

Extremely pleased with it and shows what you can do if you just work at it.

Yo! Those floor mats look mega man.

 

Glad you got it repaired man, you've certainly got more skillz than me, I couldn't even repair my Merc when that got crashed.

[Dick Longbridge]

RX7 is looking good again. I spy your white MR2 hiding at the back of one of the shots - did you ever have a fred for it? I vaguely remember it being up for sale.

[Skizzer]

Brilliant job, fantastic skills not to mention patience.

 

These are properly weapon-looking machines, plus rotary engine = quadruple shite points. 100% win.

[cort16]

looks great

[overrun]

Excellent work, mate. These things are awesome!

[dome]

Good work. I love these.

[Jim Bell]

Good fixing man.  Did you use hammers and whatnot or whole new panels?

[captain_70s]

Sweeeeeeeeeeet.

 

Back to racing AE86s down the tÅge again.

[Station]

ETA: Does the interior smell slightly of vanilla? I've had 3 Japanese imports before and all of them smelt slightly of vanilla, long after I'd gone through a number of my own air fresheners. Never worked out why - just presume all Japanese people smell of a 99.

 

Haha, it really does smell vanilla-esque, no joke!

 

I welded a new panel from a salvage RX7, I had to flatten out the dents on that one, and then clench my buttocks everynight for a week while I tack welded it in place several times to make sure the door closed properly as the shutter was on the panel I welded in. It's not perfect but I'm an amateur and I think I saved quite a bit of money and at least I know everything was done to a decent enough standard. It does need a few bits cleaning up in the door shut, but I'll do that before I drive it again in the Spring.

 

The three dents on the rear wing annoyed me the most so I spent a couple of weeks most nights after work pulling them out and filling them.

Respect to people who do this professionally, you really have to be a perfectionist and have a lot of patience - no wonder it costs a lot.

[Station]

Here's some pics yo! I don't claim to be a pro at this at all, so this was a learning process for me and if I do something like this again, there's things I will and won't do.

 

 

 

I cut across the narrowest part of the door shut panel as I thought it would be easier to weld and to avoid cracking of filler from the impact, it meant cutting through undamaged metal, but it was a risk I thought I'd take.

 

 

I just put the panel onto the overlap of the cut out part, clamped it all down, and then cut straight through it. I had to tack weld it several times to get everything lined up correctly, really stressful that bit.

 

 

I think this was as straight as I was going to get it:

 

 

 

There was dust everywhere:

 

 

I painted it literally straight after and you can see the dents in the rear wing.

 

[Jim Bell]

Thats fucking impressive man. No two ways about it.

 

Amateur, my arse.

[Station]

I used a nifty weld and puller tool, but it couldn't get it flat so had to fill it.

 

 

I was determined to get it flat!!

This is not flat

 

 

 

 

Dats flat:

 

 

 

[Ghosty]

Back to looking super smooth, and super slick. 

 

Triple rear lights and the early front end is the perfect look for these IMO. No spoiler, black, and the darker than standard wheels just makes it better.

[tooSavvy]

V Nice m8

 

TS

[mitsisigma01]

This has just appeared on an email prompting me to open it via Tapatalk ..... what a crock of crap , my phone or Tapatalk not sure which , only a year + late . How did the Mazda end up , looks like you tried gift wrapping it round something .

Eventually the updates to the original post appeared , why does tapatalk only give the original post and nothing else ???

[Hertz]

That's a very impressive fix Station well done.

 

Great looking car as well, in the few comparison tests when new and against the Alpine A610 these always came out on top in the looks department. 

[inconsistant]

Wow, just caught up with this thread, I think you're mad, drifty, lucky, brave and I'm totally in awe of your skillz. Hope the car rewards you with long term fun.

[trigger]

You done really well there! Very impressive for a home repairer.

[oldcars]

That's cracking work, looks like new. Fantastic job.

[Station]

I haven't even driven the car since the last repair, and the door shut just wasn't cutting it. I attached the new panel and it was 2 to 3 mm out. Every time I looked at it, I knew I had to do something about it.

That involved removing all the spotwelds again, and pulling the panel and rewelding. Of course it never goes like that. I started using my crap SIP welder (I found out stands for "Shit! It's Poo!") which immediately blew a great big funking hole in an edge which is going to be a bastard to repair.

 

Here is my ghetto panel puller.

 

 

After no success welding something onto the body I had to drill into the panel and attach a slide hammer to it. It's not pretty!

 

 

This is nearly my original shutline which would get me a job in Austin Rover Pressed Steel factory in the 70's.

 

 

This is a two person job, one person to pull the stick wedged in a wheel with the door shut to line it up, and then the other to open the door and weld it on. Fortunately I stand on the wheel with my cock 'n' bawls straddling the slide hammer, pulling it out with my back, while doing the work of three hands with my two.

 

 

I devised a plan to mount a handle onto the wall, and then use a ratchet strap to pull my puller and then do it easily, but my straps have gone missing. BAWLS

[Sigmund Fraud]

You, sir, are a bodywork HERO !

 

If it was me, the car would be back in use with a door that barely latches, BL-spec panel gaps and the shittiest paintwork imaginable... Which would have definitely not done justice to such a beautiful car !

[Station]

LOL, it's been hard!

 

I finished this recently.

 

Li'l* bit o' filler

 

 

Welded the door shut properly - it had started to crack.

 

 

Using this bastard:

 

 

Getting the door shut lined up perfect like:

 

 

 

[Station]

 

 

[Station]

Suddenly a misfire appears.

When this happens to these cars, it is bad news.

 

It was overfuelling horribly so I flipping disconnected the battery and never touched it until I put a new O2 sensor in. O2 sensor did the job, but a previous misfire developed into something that sounded like it was running on 3 cylinders. Completely undrivable and missed MOT because of it.

 

New spark plugs are £60, I'll get the wires as well. Ignition coils are £1000 EACH from Mazda - I think I'll try and find aftermarket ones. The heat in the engine bay kills everything.

 

 

Lifted the UIM to access the 'rat's nest' below and coils etc. Two of the eight solenoids broke instantly.

 

 

 

I'm going to strip down the whole engine and replace rat's nest and check every single sensor. 

Look how meaningless and dark this whole thing is once you get to the heat soaked electronics.

 

 

The problem is:

I have to run the car as the coolant can eat through the irons if it sits

I can't run the car as it's running lumpy and unburnt fuel with cause bore wash which is really bad

I can't switch the car off after a short period of time as this floods the engine - I've only done this once (after ten seconds) and it was a pain in the arse to unflood it - if it's overfuelling I can't run the car for long.

I can't run the car inside the garage as it fucking stinks of fuel, and I can't put it outside because I can't push it into the garage unpowered.

To unflood it, you have to take the spark plugs out, and spin the engine over. The spark plugs are only accessible under the car in a small cavity. The clearance underneath is about two inches.

 

FUCK!

[overrun]

Man, no wonder Dominic Torretto left his in that car park.

 

You'll get it sorted, mate. At least you know they are a labour of love!

[LessThanEqual]

TDI/XUD swap.

[Rod/b]

I'm thinking of starting a business. The only thing i'll do is replace RX7 engines. Rip the old rotary pile of Wankel out and replace it with a used Rover K series out of a scrapyard. Should improve reliability by about 16000.3%