Level7

So spent my 4 days of at easter sanding, painting and more sanding.. dawn till dusk every day..

On the up side finally got all the panels painted to match the car!

Dug my nose cone off my old car out from storage thats been wraped up for so many years i've lost count..

most of the panels hung in last stages of primer, sitting in my expensive drying room. (in between the rain..)

Finally hiting it all with some paint back in the same top end spray booth. aka driveway.

Finally all painted! now just the kit set to put back together, and to sort out an engine!

Discussion

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=22403

This is my 808 wagon project, have loved these little wagons for years.

sold my RA23 Celica back in 96 to buy one and build it up as an RX3 wagon, then stumbled across this one in 2002 that was a lot tider, so bought it...

Sat for years, didn't really have the money to do anything with it.. then sold my old orange 808 wagon, and finally started rebuilding it in 2006.

about 4 different flats, multiple storage units its been tailored all over Auckland.. lol

Its a pretty sweet model, import jap spec, has all the smoked Nippon glass etc.. same chassis as the RX3 wagons..

Unfortunately, some muppet had sprayed it in enamel paint at some stage.. was cracking all over the place.. so I ended up sending the shell off to have the enginebay and door jams sand blasted. Striped the roof and quarters by hand... Joy!

mostly paint striped and sandblasted to bare steel..

shell etch primed, then has had a couple coats of primer.. rear quarters where strait as, never been dinged.

all panels acid dipped, and no major scary things uncovered luckily

all my nuts and bolts and shit gold passivated and looking like brand new.

Finally got the shell in some paint late 2007..

Cheers!

Yeah always scary getting panels acid dipped, never quite know what is going to come back...

Just so much easier than spending half your life paint striping or sanding.. and gets every bit of rust out of there too.

Have had some epic fails with 808/RX3 parts in the past. Lol

Picked this little Mazda 1200 ute up from the South Island back in 2006, was starting to have a hard life and managed to save it in time...

1 of 200 special Govt order for the ministry of works back in 1977.

Back blocks of CHCH

Got it up to Auckland, gave it a machine polish.. didn't come up too bad but had had a hory enamel repaint at some stage.. was starting to crazy crack all over the place... having done a few bare metal jobs before, new the pain awaiting.. sigh..

And then the engine pretty much shat itself.. seemed to have more oil on the outside than the inside.. so out it came...

New engine in, slapped on some white walls and drove it!

Decided it would be fun to rebuild, never done a ute before.. so started pulling it to bits

(no springs.. lol)

Previous owner even left a present under seats

with the crappy ass paint all over the panels ended up getting ever panel acid dipped and striped the cab by hand.. Had no idea what would be under the paint.. and luckily it was really good! very solid tidy ute.

Suspension bits all striped reco'd and painted up shiny

Then the million hours of sanding beings... etch all the panels and get read for paint..

Bridget sanding the tray when it came back from the acid dippers

Painted in red anti rust primer...

Doors etc all primed up (we used white primer)

Ready for primer...

All blocked back and ready for top coat

inside is all done

Nuts and bolts back from being gold passivated back to original.

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Engine bay painted

Rest of the panels starting to get finished...

Start getting the chassis back together.. and get the cab back on...

Couldn't figure out what to do with the deck of the tray... had quite a few dents as you would imagine from life as a ute.

Bridget was keen to put a teak deck on it... her old man having done boats before was keen to give it ago.. so all came together..

finally back together.. and decided to take it to the nats

Back to where it was photographed just over a year ago, with a bit more shiny than before.

Judges at Galaxy of Cars show liked it, which is odd for a Japanese car!

Theres a chick getting round rotovegas in a car very similar to that, may even be the same car

its been for sale a couple of times since aaron sold it, each time it comes up for sale it looks a bit more fucked

Girl in Rotavegas bought it... was using it as a daily.

Yeah i've noticed a matt green one on trademe a few times, but pretty sure its a different car, has a 10a nose cone, and none of the RX3 bumper, window chrome etc.. on it so figured it was a different car.

I heard it got backed into by a milk tanker..

It needed to be rebuilt anyway, a one weekend coat of matt green was never going to last.. lol (something I made very clear!)

Off topic but have you got the paint code for that green paint?

Sorry no idea, just went into PPG shop and chose a green out of a book, they added matt additive to that...

I think people just havn't realised that there is other multi piece wheels you can buy..

Think the 15's and 16's might even be worth more than the 17's and 18" wheels, they just don't seem to suit the small cars, depends on the look you are after I guess.

I picked up a set of 15's I chucked on an 808 sedan I was selling they were on trademe for ages no body wanted them, offered the guy $1100 and he took it..

totally gutting... would be so pissed off!

Hopefully you can sell this thieves body parts to pay for a new car.

Keen as well. One of the cars even has a wof and rego and is running.. lol

tyre manufacturers can say what they want. the law in New Zealand has just changed, 255 is min width for a 10" rim in this country.

The Tyre manufacturers spend the millions manufacturing and testing the tyres, then write the specs for there customers on what tyres will fit what width rims safely. Just seems bizarre, but I'm not surprised either. Guess the monkey at a desk knows better.

Previous experience all the cert guys work to there own set rules aswell...

"except they have just changed the rules and now the minimum tyre width you can run on a 10" rim is 255."

Where did you hear about this?

Most of the manufactures state what size rim is save for each tyre size. ie Toyo T1R's I had on my RX7, ran a 225/35/18 on a 18x9 inch rim, Wof guy tried to fail me on a warrant, I ended up showing a printout from the Toyo the website, with the size rim they have tested the tyres on, and asked him how he could know more than the manufactures of the tires!

With a bit of a grumble he said something about if would never go through vining bla bla... and reluctantly gave me a Wof.. Total arse.

http://toyotires.com/tire/pattern/proxes-t1r

Might be tough finding anything that will legally fit a 10" rim under 255 though..

hmm, so guessing a 205/45/15 on a 10 " rim on my 808 is out of the question.. lol

Sweet, scored all the bits I need! Cheers shavenYak!

hey there's a 18r hiace camper at mangare pickapart with a side door you could use for your gullwing project

Am going there tomorro now!! haha

Level7 got your bits yet? Could grab them if ya want.

0273189339

Dude i'm walking out the door "runing" heading to pickapart now!

Work clients can wait! haha.

got rust under the dash but seen a few with it.

Yeah if its been living outside the drains in the corners of the firewall get blocked up, was very common with hatchies and early wagons.

Yep and 808's / Rx3's and just about every other mazda of the same generation.. one of the first places I check when looking at one of those cars.. even some of the minter examples around can be a bit scary under there...

Yea man just cant get steering wheel of.it as a rx2 wheel and boss kit

One trick is rather than pulling on the wheel, you sit in the drivers seat, take the nut off from the centre, then hit (resonably hard) with your hands one side of the wheel then the other directly from the front.

You do it quite fast, and the jolting/vibration just pops it off.. have done it many times, even the most stuborn of steering wheels will come off.

You got a mint wagon. Where did u get it from? I saw some pics of it getting rebuild a year or two ago. Hows it coming along?

My wagon came from wellington, bought it about 5+ years ago now. Is half rebuilt, shell is painted and reasembled with interior etc.. but still needs some finishing work done on some the panels before they are painted and it all goes back together...

I'm waiting for Thomas's wagon to be finished first.. haha

":k4p7yar5]I really like that Jap spec familia grille I had one of those which I gave to Level 7 but it it had a diifferent center badge which I kept of course.

yep, managed to score one off a US spec 808 on ebay for $5! sweet.

Was going to say the only one i know with one of those grill would be Thomas... haha

Nice wagon man, looks very tidy!

I have the same grill on mine,

Gator from the shore had the same grill also on his old orange 808 wagon? Or is that on your car now?

only photo i could find of it, was before he had the grill on it..

That comment's a bit harsh mate

Yeah was a bit harsh, Sorry no undue hate intended, was just a passing comment while having a coffee.

long live the daily drivers.

Just don't try to drift the silva, looks like a tidy S13!

you raped nana's car? killed it 5min later, then just moved on.. oldschool just a passing fad?

hey, might be keen for some bits off the 18r also for my van if you end up not using... let me know!

yeah, er your not really wanting to go attacking the car with sandblaster if its still together... its going to strip parts to bare steal that are going to be really hard to access to cover in primer and paint... mark glass, make a big massive mess, not to mention all the sand thats going to be in every cavity you can find... you want the whole car striped, no wires, interior nothing..

totally depends what you are trying to do, how old the car is and how rusty. 80% of the projects never seem to make it back together, so possibly worth waying up how much you can do yourself, and what you are going to have to spend to do the rest.

To be honest, from what you have said it sounds like you won't be able to do much yourself, so possibly best to get some quotes for panel paint before you touch anything to save you a heap of money time and heart ache...

on the the other hand, you will never learn unless you try.. if you have some basic skills, few tools, a space to work in and a compressor or access to one, no reason you couldn't do the whole thing yourself.. heaps of books and stuff on diy car painting, you can spray acrylic laquer in a drive way on the right day or a garage and get a mint show result, with a bit of practice.

hmm, sounds like you had a bum deal.

I just took my car back unpainted, as i had to paint strip the roof and quarters anyway. Glad i didn't get him to etch it..

guy in henderson? Henderson valley rd? next to that lumber yard thing? if so, most USELESS guy ever IMHO. Thats where i got mine and my dads done and pretty much ruined my dads car because of him lying and being a dick etc.

Yes sounds like the place, though there were a few people there, maybe I got someone different? also i waited while he did it.. didn't have any dramas, was happy with the work and the price (though he did seem in a hurry to help me get the shell on the trailor, as the cash went in his pocket.. lol) so maybe it was just a worker there?

Check my project thread for before/after pics

Had a look at your starlet, looks like it turned out ok? what was wrong with the sand blasting job?

Are you talking about just your shell sandblasted? or the whole car, panels etc...

All my rebuilds i've always had the panels acid diped (they clear etch prime them after) way better..

Current project the shell was covered in crapy enamil paint that was blistering and a bit of sturface rust starting here and there.. so had the shell sand blasted in the engine bay and inside of the door jams, paint striped the flat panels (can't sand blast them..)

not a big fan of acid diping a whole shell, unless its really really rusty, as its too hard to project the inside of all the chassis rails etc..again after its all been striped, and heaps of work... Depends how bad your car is though.

Few pics of my mazda shell before and after sandblasting.. got the sandblasting done by a guy out henderson, droped it off on a trailor and did a bit of a cash deal for $400

Striped ready for the sandblaster...

All shiny clean steel.. Main flat panels paint striped and doorjams engine bay sandblasted.