adam73bgt
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Been a couple weeks since I updated on the 7 and I've got a fair little bit to update on it Made a start on tidying up the second hand exhaust and was really impressed with how well the backboxes came up with a clean and a polish Little before/after on this shot Then I turned my attention to the presilencer with its broken stud I made a start on cleaning up the ends with a wire brush and some rust remover stuff I had kicking about (Quick fast forward to today where MrSpeedy very helpfully drilled out the old stud and brazed a new one in for me, this can also serve as a note to myself that I owe him a drink at the Gathering!) I also chucked some high temp paint on the mid section hanger thingy The downpipe was in alright nick so didn't take too much cleaning up, although I'm thinking I'd like to get an AFR gauge in the car so I'd like to get another bung welded into it for a wideband sensor while its off the car. The big Y-piece is the last bit I really need to tackle to remove rust and paint before I can begin to think about fitting the system. Back to general update stuff, I got some carpet mats off ebay which are supposedly for an FC, they're not a great fit and move around a lot but they were cheap and fit better than the old halfords mat I had on the drivers side. Plus they also protect the carpet on the passenger side as there was no mat at all there before lol Rafftank then helped me out with giving the car a good wash, clay, polish and wax. It took an age but the results were pretty impressive! I just need to get out to clean the car more regularly to keep up the shine.. Which was just as well as it ended up parked in some expensive company as the Bicester Heritage Sunday Scramble the next day Speaking of which, its been attracting some vaguely interesting company of late.. A 911 and a Boxster in the works car park (it took me a good couple of moments to tell the two apart ) And on a trip to Bristol recently, A Chimaera and a 944 showed up nearby The RX has been my daily driver full time lately as the BMW gets its rust repaired and its been doing really well still so I thought I'd get it a present A nice Momo steering wheel to replace the slightly embarassing Ripspeed one in there at the moment. No Halfords wheels here thank you very much! haha And I made a start on the pair of wheels I got a while back. Heres a couple of 'before' shots to show the sort of condition they were in Now these were only meant to be temp wheels so I could get the BBS off and refurbed. But as I don't really want to do that until the BMW is back, I figured I might as well give them a bit of a spruce up while they're sat in the flat The lips got the usual stages of wet and dry paper followed by autosol thats worked for me in the past JDM Stickeru! I googled the English text bits of this and they appear to relate to Toyota Hiace chassis codes of all things :S If any Japanese readers are watching and can give me a translation, feel free I have a feeling its some sort of warning about the maximum weight each wheel can take or something I then masked up and gave the centre a quick blast of etch primer Before a topcoat of Halfords 'steel' colour wheel paint, which really appears to just be a subtly darker 'standard wheel silver' Looking better than it did, just got to sort the centre and I'll crack on with the other one. By the time I've done them I'll hopefully have the BMW back so I can start refurbing the Mazda's BBS' but time will tell Things are also coming together on getting the exhaust sorted and ready to fit, just got a little more research to do as I still want to avoid using a Fuel Cut Defender on its own
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,869
Club RR Member Number: 58
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A mini update Got the steering wheels swapped over Before: After: Was a pretty straightforward swap as the Ripspeed wheel had the same PCD as the MOMO, the only delays were me being a pussy cos electricity always makes me a bit funny and also a bit of faffing around with the horn pushes as they were slightly different. The Ripspeed one had a dedicated earth wire, while the one with the MOMO just contacted directly with the metal mounting ring. Just took a bit of looking at them to see how they worked to get my head around it! The bonuses of the new wheel are that its slightly thinner rimmed and bigger in diameter than the old one so I can see the indicator telltales, and the tops of the gauges from my normal seating position as opposed to having to lean forward In exhaust news, this happened.. Hmm maybe the current exhaust is in worst condition than I thought... Plans to put the Racing Beat one on are now being accelerated
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,869
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May 14, 2016 20:06:35 GMT
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Another little update as things are starting to happen on the 7 Started off by finishing off one of the wheels Masked up for a couple coats of lacquer Then finished off with the centre plate and nut Not the most thorough refurb job I've ever done but it'll do, just gotta give the other one the same treatment and I can start on the BBS' Aside from that, I've started sanding the rust off the Y pipe section of the exhaust and have been continuing the search for exhaust hangers that aren't extortionately priced :/ The best method at the moment seems to be just measuring up the various hangers and buying universal ones off ebay, which is ok except I don't have a couple of the hangers to measure (not without measuring the ones currently on the car of course..) It was while I was sanding the exhaust that I realised that the MOT is due in about a months time! So preparations to fit the exhaust and everything else have stepped up another gear I bought this Fuel Cut 'Defencer' Which will allow me to run the exhaust without hitting fuel cut as per the name.. Also got these Which I'm really looking forward to fitting and will give me a better idea of what the engine is doing. I've got a single DIN gauge holder coming so my old head unit from the BMW will be going in above or below the gauges I also need to look into Air Pump removal and a possible double pulley for the alternator Hopefully the next update will see some of these plans being put into action!
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ChasR
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motivation
Posts: 10,195
Club RR Member Number: 170
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May 15, 2016 18:55:20 GMT
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Good to see the progress commencing . Some lovely treats there! The new wheels are looking great. I wonder if you will want to take them off once you put them on . How pricey are your exhaust mounts? 3 on the M3 set me back £85! You can get E36s ones to fit for a fraction of the money but even on lighter stainless system they seem to fail after a few months, so on my stock system they probably barely do a month! Anyway, I believe you still owe me a pint or two. Let me know if you want to meet up etc. .
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adam73bgt
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May 15, 2016 19:19:32 GMT
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Cheers mate, I've since spotted an FC thats breaking with a few other odds and ends so there might be even more treats heading for this... Theres a couple of slight issues with the wheels, for a start theres only two of them which would make the overall look a bit drift yo! for me but the other issue is keeping the centre caps on They use a little threaded plastic insert like so Which is missing on one of the wheels so going to need a bit of lateral thinking there I think Well Racing Beat UK want to charge £150 for a full set which I think is a bit steep, I need to nip into Mazda to see if they can do something for a reasonable price as they came in alright for the oil filter when I went in there last Yes of course! I see theres a few meets and things going on locally now so I should make an effort to catch you at one
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Last Edit: May 15, 2016 19:19:55 GMT by adam73bgt
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ChasR
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Club RR Member Number: 170
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May 15, 2016 21:38:32 GMT
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
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May 15, 2016 23:07:09 GMT
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Nothing particularly special that I can see 2 of each of the first two 1 of the third one then 6 of the doughnuts All in all, not worth £150 in my eyes So either Mazda surprise me with a good price for hangers or I'll measure up and get universal jobs off ebay
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May 15, 2016 23:56:25 GMT
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What about drilling/tapping and using a couple of grub screws to keep the cap on?
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From looking at the picture I'm assuming the thread is gone? Could double sided foam mounting tape not hold the centre cap in place? It's worked well enough on the MX5 wheels and the BBS reps on the BMW
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1995 BMW E34 525i Sport - Avus Blue on the outside, brown and crusty on the inside! 1998 BMW E36 328i Sport - Daily Commuter
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adam73bgt
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Thats a pretty good idea joem83 I've been looking for an excuse to buy a tap and die set.. Nah thats the ok one Rafftank I nearly couldn't get the centre nut off after I screwed it down tight yesterday haha. The other wheel is missing the black plastic bit which is wrapped around the centre spigot, I should get another photo of it on its own to make it a bit more clear
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vanpeebles
Part of things
I am eastbound in pursuit of a white Lamborghini, this is not a recording.
Posts: 978
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May 16, 2016 10:03:32 GMT
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Those gauges look lovely and the momo suits the car too. Ryosuke would be proud
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adam73bgt
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May 21, 2016 22:17:56 GMT
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Been buying things! Got a DIN sized 3 gauge holder but encountered a slight issue... I'll be trying to slot the outer two gauge holes to allow them to all fit, should be fun.. I've also been raiding all the local Halfords for these As they seem to be about the right size for the 7, got all the 6 of them that I needed now. The other hangers are a bit trickier to find generic replacements for, annoyingly I got to the Mazda dealer after the parts desk had shut.. So thats a job for Monday again Now on to the more interesting bits bought This involved a little trip down to Surrey and a nose round a very cool Japanese car breakers, there were so many bits from so many various cars, I probably could have ended up buying a load more if I wasn't trying to be restrained haha First up, coilovers! Fronts are Mazdaspeed dampers with Buddy Club springs and adjustable top mount doodahs, rears are Ohlins dampers with generic springs as far as I can see. They came off a low mileage FC which was imported for breaking so should be a very nice addition to mine once I've given them a quick clean! The next thing I've got is a JDM front lip This was standard fitment on some/all? Japanese FC models, as opposed to the small black plastic rubbing strip currently fitted to mine. Its got a fairly sizable crack on it which should be easily sorted with glue and a bit of fibreglass to reinforce I reckon, then it'll need painting but will be a nice addition once sorted Finally, I got some OEM Mazda carpet mats!! I know its a bit sad, but I'm so sick of the cheapy ebay reps in the car moving around, plus these feel so much more plush Hard to tell the difference but below is a pic after a vac and shampoo They'll get slung in the car tomorrow. Theres lots of little odds and sods to sort on the car now with the MOT and Cov Motofest both looming as well.. Thankfully the BMW should be back this week so I can give the Mazda a brief break from daily use to get the stuff done!
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Davey
Posted a lot
Resident Tyre Nerd.
Posts: 2,230
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May 21, 2016 22:21:18 GMT
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So many jdm shines, very jealous. So so much want for anything rotary especially a 7.
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K11 Micra x3 - Mk3 astra - Seat Marbella - Mk6 Escort estate - B5 Passat - Alfa 156 estate - E36 compact Mk2 MR2 T-bar - E46 328i - Skoda Superb - Fiat seicento - 6n2 Polo - 6n polo 1.6 - Mk1 GS300 EU8 civic type S - MG ZT cdti - R56 MINI Cooper S - Audi A3 8p - Jaguar XF (X250) - FN2 Civic Type R - Mk2 2.0i Ford Focus
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vanpeebles
Part of things
I am eastbound in pursuit of a white Lamborghini, this is not a recording.
Posts: 978
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For the gauges could you just sand a groove into them with a dremel type thing?
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sb
Part of things
Posts: 725
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May 22, 2016 13:32:21 GMT
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That lip! I didn't realise it was JDM only, that would be why I struggled to find pictures of it. The one on mine was missing about 50% that I've had to rebuild.
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adam73bgt
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May 22, 2016 14:46:05 GMT
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I think they were Japan only although I am often wrong...
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adam73bgt to try and get some more staining out of the carpets, if you cover them in that AutoGlym Interior Shampoo and rub them gently with a brush/sponge until they foam up, you can wipe the foam away with a mibrofibre and it should pull a lot of it out? S'what I did to mine: Are you going to trim down the outer bezels of the gauges? If done neatly it could look really cool, it would *kind of* remind me of how RX8 gauges are stacked: Hurry up and get the lip on
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1995 BMW E34 525i Sport - Avus Blue on the outside, brown and crusty on the inside! 1998 BMW E36 328i Sport - Daily Commuter
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
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Rafftank Aye, the mats did come up not too badly in the end, I think I'll be putting an extra mat over the drivers one to protect it though as theres no heel pad Interesting idea on the gauges, I seriously doubt my skills with a dremel to be able to do it neatly unfortunately! My current plan is to open out the two outer holes in the gauge pod in the X direction, this should allow the gauges to fit side by side neatly As of last night I've already glued and fibreglassed the crack on the front lip If its strong enough then I'll be looking to get it on as soon as possible, not gonna bother painting it red at this point
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Curtis
Part of things
Posts: 622
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Halfords Satin black rattle can, instant oem plastic finish!
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Driving: Shitbox Honda S-MX
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adam73bgt what if you put some tipex or similar on the centre gauge bezel and pushed the others up to it to work out how much material needs taking off, then just gently sand away until they fit, then tidy it up with some finer paper? a quick lick with some satin black and you'd never know...
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1995 BMW E34 525i Sport - Avus Blue on the outside, brown and crusty on the inside! 1998 BMW E36 328i Sport - Daily Commuter
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