Labor of love
 

Here is what I hope is the humble beginnings of my restoration project, I have lots of work ahead and it will be a daunting task. I am hoping my chronicling the progress will keep me motivated as well as help me keep tabs on what I need and want to do with the car.

I bought my 89 TII from the second owner in late March 2005, with just over 116,000 miles. It came equipped with cold air intake, racing beat dual exhaust and I believe down pipe, Greddy BOV, racing beat FCD, some knock off "Mazdaspeed" seats, and and unknown sportier clutch/pressure plate. It ran pretty well at the time, had a bit of a coolant leak from what I discovered was a crack in a plastic coolant pipe going into the thermostat housing. I quickly replaced the bad pipe and the car served me well for a little over a year and a half. I had a blast with the car, I loved it to death.

The problem set in when the car began being difficult to start, and eventually struggled to maintain idle without giving it some throttle. A compression test quickly confirmed what I had feared, the engine was dieing! I decided to be aggressive and rather than wait until it was completely unresponsive, began tearing things apart in anticipation of a quick engine rebuild. However, it did not happen quickly; job loss occurred, re-employment with significant loss of salary, entering and graduating tech school, moving/purchasing a new home, all interfered heavily in my plans.

So, the car sits in my garage now some four years later, in pieces. I have reached the point of disgust, I determined that it must be returned to former glory and better or be sold as-is to someone who might do the same. Needless to say, I just couldn't let go of her, poor sap that I am. I flirted with a V8 swap, and came really close, but realized I would miss the rotary buzz and the sound of that turbo spooling. Plus, I think I knew deep down, without a rotary engine, the car looses some of it's personality. So without further adieu, I will post some pics of ground zero; the disaster I must now rebuild...enjoy!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_etecU0YXoO...0/IMG_1096.JPG

Generic nose shot, nothing special to see here really, just dust. :)
I did get my hands on some FTP lenses and OE fog lamps, which will do just fine thank you.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_etecU0YXoO...0/IMG_1098.JPG

Raised shot from the front, I did notice after purchasing unfortunately, the hood appears to have been repainted and swapped from another car, you can clearly see the red paint in this shot. I guess it is not as obvious in person at eye level. Fortunately, I did not see any signs of serious front end damage/work.

You can also see the "Mazdaspeed" seats it came with in this shot. The seats don't look so bad, but I found the fitment was poor, and the seating position never seemed quite right; it was hard to be completely comfortable in them. Luckily, the previous owner included the tattered old OE seats, which I hope to get reupholstered and reinstalled.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_etecU0YXoO...0/IMG_1107.JPG

Wee bit of rust there then.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_etecU0YXoO...0/IMG_1106.JPG

Can't tell this thing has been sitting neglected can you?

That's all for now, hopefully I'll have some more ammo this weekend.

Yeah that's the thing all the work we do on these cars is for us, because there is no way in hell we would ever get the money back if we sold it. Good luck with your project, it looks like a good base to start with!

Thanks for the encouragement Nismo, it is a horrible disease to have; dumping money into old ass cars! :)

There are much worse, you could blow it at the doggy track, or worse yet blow it on hookers and blow!

How is that bad?? :rofl:

I want to see an ass print in the shopfilm in the next set of prints ;)

LOL! I'll see what I can do, that sounds like the first critical component of my build.

** Sunday update - tiny bit of work done today **
 

I did not have much time for the car today (as is often the case), so I decided to get one little job done while I had the chance. I pulled the "Mazdaspeed" seats out of the car, along with the center console, to begin pulling up the interior. In the process I discovered the seat rails were beginning to rust at the mounting points. I figure this is less than ideal, so I set about grinding off the rust, priming and repainting. I also got some new shots of the engine bay with the engine already pulled, and some trouble spots I am concerned about.

Also, I have a little name that part quiz for you guys, if you scroll down through the pics, see if you can name the clutch and pressure plate that was pulled from the engine. It came with the car, so I have no idea what it is, does not look OE though.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_etecU0YXoO...y%2Bdriver.jpg

That's not me, that's Dusty.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_etecU0YXoO...avier+rust.jpg
Worst of the rusty seat rails

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_etecU0YXoO...d+prepped..jpg

Rust ground off and ready for paint.

Rust worries
 

Here is the rust I am particularly worried about. Anyone have any pointers, advice or words of warning as far as dealing with rust in these areas?

This is probably the worst spot, my ABS pump was dribbling brake fluid onto the body and probably had been for quite some time. V
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_etecU0YXoO...abs%2Bpump.jpg
This is right where the front support mounts up on the driver side. V
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_etecU0YXoO...ver%2Bside.jpg
Passenger side is about the same. V
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_etecU0YXoO...ass%2Bside.jpg

Name that clutch!
 

So what do you guys think, any expert eyes that can tell me what my mystery clutch is?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_etecU0YXoO...m%2Bengine.jpg

Doesn't ACT usually do yellow pressure plates? LOL at Dusty :lol:

EDITED BY MAX due to inaccuracy...

Lift the car in the air, remove subframe. Get an angle grinder with a twist knot wire wheel. Strip all rust and cover it with the shit in that article, then get the engine bay repainted.

Do the same to the subframe, but do some welding on it for extra reinforcement, and get it powdercoated for lifetime protection.

Clutch is 100% ACT. The logo is still on it, and it's trademark yellow.

Here:

http://www.kantuning.com/store/images/ZX3-HDSS-2.jpg

EDIT: I would also recommend to get a non abs master cylinder, and remove the ABS delete kit mess, then order and bend a new single hardline to the right front wheel.

Thanks for the answers guys, I kind of figured it was ACT.

Max777, getting rid of the ABS delete kit is on the agenda for sure. I have still been entertaining the thought of keeping ABS, but I still can't stomach the cost of the new pump. As to the rust, I guess it is not that bad, just looks bad. I am noticing some crushing at the jack points though under the runners, that has me a bit worried too. I do plan to do some serious grinding on the engine bay one of these weekends. :)

Sweet!

I know that after I repainted the bay on my vert, and had to put all the stock CRAP back in there, I was really wishing that I could afford a standalone. I also absolutely despise how even the non abs stock brake line is routed, it's rubbish! This spring I am getting it redone for sure. :D

Stand alone may also be in the works since I sold off my factory ECU...might as well upgrade.

If you just want to keep it from getting worse, I recommend POR-15. It is a little expensive, but it works well for stopping rust.

nevermind. :D

Did I miss something?
I clicked the link and read that blog thing, and it looks like POR-15 was the winner?


-Ted

No, that would be me that missed something, lol. There was another article, and it made a lot more sense, and had eastwood as the winner, but I cant find it.... THAT article found eastood to be a lot more resistant to UV and such.... I'm looking for it now.

http://www.opelgt.com/forums/general...ust-encap.html

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/p...ad.php?t=63136

quote from threads:

POR has problems with popping, shrinking, etc

the magazine that wrote it is not biased by any advertizing companies, it's kinda like consumer reports.

Thanks for the info Max, POR-15 was the one product I knew about, this is the first I have heard of Eastwood. Isn't the only sure fire way to deal with rust to grind it/sand it off completely, or would I still need to use a POR-15 type product?

IMO, trying to seal off rust to make it "rustproof" is next to impossible.
The FC is not a museum piece, so I'm not looking for the "ultimate" solution.

With that said, I only have direct experience with POR-15.
I can't comment on the long term durability, but all I know is DON'T GET POR-15 ON YOUR CLOTHES, OR ANYTHING YOU DON'T WANT STAINED!
Anything porous, POR-15 will soak in, and you will never get it out, period.
So wear gear that you're going to throw away or don't mind getting stained.

In most applications, you really don't need to worry about UV exposure.
I've used it mostly in the engine bay or in the interior or under the car.
If you're going to use it on exterior panels, those panels would most likely be painted over with a paint???
I don't think "glowing" hot items under the hood would emit that much UV?
It's mostly IR, right?

I've seen the Eastwood (I'm on their mailing list) Rust Encapsulator, but I'm skeptical of their promises.
The original link we were talking about basically confirms my suspicions that RE isn't that great; I think if the metal were *totally* sealed, then RE might be superior - can you always guarantee your metal surface is totally sealed?
I'm glad that they did do a scratch test which shows real world applications when the coating seal is compromised.

So for the ramble, but for the OP...
The pics shows a lot of rust, but it does look only surface rust.
I agree that a quick blast with the wire wheel should take most of it off.
As for the rust up front at the round crossover tube...that's typical of most FC's I've seen.
Luckily that tube is not a load bearing piece, and it's only there for some clips for the wire harness and the oil cooler; it's designed to crumple on a front end collision too.


-Ted

I've used POR 15 in most of my rust repairs( surface rust;)) Deep rust really needs to be removed and a patch panel made. For all my surface rust, I just did as Ted says. Take it down to bare metal with a wire wheel. Hit it with the POR 15 a couple times. Then primer and fill as needed prior to paint. I needed to fill a couple little pits that had formed from leaking acid.;)

I have not had any issues as of yet with the paint shrinking or popping. If you prepare the surface correctly, all the POR and filler should be sealed in with a final glaze to prevent any further absorbtion of paint materials.

And yeah POR stains everything. Takes a good month to wear off the skin.
Dave

Got my wire wheels and primer this weekend, still have to pick up some POR-15. Hoping to attack some rust this weekend.