MRWEST

Shit yeah was awesome getting it out and about! yes that would be good, problem would be the brakes i put on the front id imagine but do like that look for sure.

Few pics of it out and about at Chrome on the weekend popping up

Well we made it to Chrome... Tune by Mark Haynes at Revolution Engine Services on Thursday morning which went well. Car was happy as with some revs in her! Wheel alignment Friday morning on the way to the track. Got out for a solid 40min session on Friday afternoon and car run mint, Had it out all day on Saturday on and off till Roll racing. Went to give Billy in his TRATA RX3 a race and had no clutch. Limped back to apartment and the boys pulled it out in the dark in the driveway on Sat night. Managed to find a clutch in Auckland and another mate shot up to grab it on Sat night. We chucked it back in Sunday morning and was back on the track by 10! Apart from that car run awesome and got heaps of good comments which was cool!

Well here it is ! After working away since picking this up in December last year in a bit of a state here's my version 1 of the Mazda. Car was a mess when I got it so we've been busy in the shed with the deadline of Chrome Expression Session this weekend. Couldn't have done it without a heap of mates an legendary business's! Steve at The Shed Rust Repairs for the rust work Tony for the panel and paint Hayden at Jokers Wild Kustoms for hijacking the car and getting it running while i was away at MCM Marc at RE- Wires NZ for fitting it in for coil repairs ASAP after dyno V1 Mark at Revolution Engine Services for locking me in a last minute dyno tune tomorrow Toby for polishing the wheels and trim Andy Duffin at 3 Rotor Racing for sorting a new spoiler last minute before paint Grant at Cooper Tyres Waihi Beach for heaps of tyre fitment swaps and a last minute pre chrome alignment Jimmy T for painting the dash topper and gauge surrounds @64valiant at Midnight Upholstery for retrimming the dash topper Gav at Precision Workz for redrilling the wheels and fab work Super stoked on the finished result

Busy week on it this week, Went for a tune, didnt go great, had some coil/spark issues, The coils and ignitors were mounted up in the guard and the wiring wasnt the best anyway so probably should of sorted that first. Getting it sorted by Rewires NZ tomorrow and then will get back on the dyno this week. Got the flares on this week, all the trim and badges etc as well as getting the wheels reassembled for tyres to go on. Finally got the eyebrow chrome for the front that mine was broken, as well as a grill badge so that finishes the front end off nicely. Busy week ahead pre chrome this coming weekend, Interior to be finished putting back together Coil wiring sort Tune Wheel alignment Clean/polish Tyres fitted Then we will be good to go!

Haha good question, I have no idea, it came on the car when i bought it!

Had a big night in the shed last night working on it. Got bumpers and lights and bezels etc back in starting to look real good. Got the cluster all back together and sorted. Ended up having a rejig of it all and starting again with a new non wrinkle painted cluster. Repainted gauge surrounds as well and pretty happy with how it come together considering. Got a custom cable made to run the autometer box and seems to work fine on the test drive this morn! Needs a good clean as sanding dust everywhere! Car just got taken off for a tune so fingers crossed that all goes to plan this arvo and ill pick it up tonight to finish assembly this weekend.

Cheers lads, Set myself the deadline of Chrome and dont like things sitting round for yonks with no progress haha. Get it done so i can enjoy it for summer and a few events.

Body is all painted again, Big improvement from what it was, Just flares and spoiler to be painted and refitted later in the week. All booked in for a tune on Thursday so got to get shit sorted and get it back together. Its all running again now so not much to do before it can go to tune.

Refitted the dash topper and dash top into the car and got the glove box etc back together on Thurs night. Loaded it up and took it over to Tauranga on Friday morning for a bit of a paint up. Got the new parcel shelf painted up and looking good again, like it should! Progress is good on the exterior, Tunes booked in for Thursday so need to get it back and get it back together in time for that haha, No pressure or anything, still on track for Chrome Expression session.

Awesome thanks man, ill check when i get the car back in the next day or 2.

Yep i am, I know Steve through the Impala for years so might as well use someone i know was the theory, 2.5 hour tow each way though bit of a mish haha

Yeah he does good work and a good bugger as well! Only started up on his own in the last 12 months or so.

Iv got something that was in there but need to check it actually fits properly or not. Yes boooyyy haha

Well picked up the coupe from Steve at The Shed Rust Repairs this week. Hes fixed the minor rust in the bottom of both quarters from the rear windscreen rust leaking water in, fixed the rear screen, replaced the hacked up parcel shelf with the cut from Riggs RX in Canada and then filled all the holes in the front lip that had been put into it. Also refit the new rear flares Did a real good job of it all and its alot better now than when i got it! Got it home and did a dummy fit of the 15x10s minus rear tyres and looks like itll be bang on hopefully. Will fill the guards out nice. @64valiant and the mate Jimmy T smashed out the upholstery and the painting of the dash topper so looking massively better than the wrinkle painted mess that was on there. And finally started stripping the exterior for a bit of paint to go down this weekend so looking forward to that!

Rust repairs have progressed well, Waiting on parcel shelf to turn up so can finish that and windscreen rust off. In the meantime Toby at BOP Polishers has been hard at it getting the outter lips and centre caps of the BBS's polished up and looking mint. Stoked with the result, just got to clean the centres and rears and assemble them now!

Well got the new wheels and tyres on the truck. Mate painted them up in our make shift booth Test fitted the hub caps and trim ring Looks good against the truck. Got the 560/15 Cokers fitted and then got it on to the truck. Real stoked how its turned out, Needs a bit more low but apart from that its turned out primo as!

Bit of progress this week, Wheels have been split and lips dropped to Toby at BOP Polishers to give them a once over and get them 100% again. Steve at The Shed Rust Repairs has got into the car this week, Windscreen rust was worse than we could see which was probably to be expected. Nothing that cant be fixed though! Parcel shelf is out and awaiting the new one to turn up so can get that back in as well.

Yeah dont think itll work with the flares, was more for the shelf for a rainy day post flares plan i think.

Mind blowing ay haha. Its heading in the right direction thankfully. Looking forward to being able to enjoy it soon.

Few missions sorted on this this weekend. Firstly acquired a set of 17" ROH ZS's for a rainy day. The car used to have them on in a previous life and im a fan so grabbed these when they popped up just in case. Also dropped the car off to Steve at The Shed Rust Repairs to get the rear screen rust sorted, lower quarter on same side (presumably from water going through corner of windscreen rust), tidy up the front valance/lip from a heap holes been drilled in it for a big lip, and also fit a new parcel shelf. Someone in a previous life had literally hacked up the parcel shelf horrendously for speakers. Thankfully Riggs Mazda parts in Canada was able to sort me a non hacked cut for a reasonable price and drilled out the factory spot welds to make it easier to remove and fit the new one. Thatll tidy the rust and that mess up nicely!

Got the visor fitted up and mounted properly yesterday. Looks so much better with it on. Set up a temporary booth in part of the shed for a mate to prime and paint the artilleries yesterday. Turned out mint as so hopefully get tyres sorted ASAP and they can go on the truck. Colour will be shown soon ha.

I put a VP 700R4 behind my LS1 and it bolted up, Just need to make sure you g et a v8 one as believe the V8/V6 Bellhousings arent the same (what i was told anyway)

yeah so im told, they dont look like theyve been on a car, missing some of the hardware so have ordered some of what i think is right from auz so see when it turns up. Looking forward to getting it sorted for version 1 thats for sure.

Few bits and pieces sorted in the last week, Scored a set of louvers for it, got sent a photo of it previously when it had them before flares, looked good so grabbed them for a rainy day( will see if i run them with the flares or not yet) Also had a mate repaint the gauge surrounds as i sanded off the black to find the factory silver had been sanded off so didnt have much choice but to repaint it so it was tidy. While he was there got him to repaint the dash topper black. @64valiant has the dash topper for retrimming at the moment, soon as i have that it can go back together. Booked in to go to rust repairs this weekend, I also booked it into Chrome Expression Session so time to get shit moving and get it there haha. Next 4 or 5 weeks going to be all go!!