Duddley

Surprise surprise.. Rust holes in the wheel well Crappy welding/brazing here n there Aaaaand bogged up seams that were supposed to be welded! (Gif is me turning light on/off where gap is between floor and behind drivers side wheel arch panel) I'm thinking the floor has been replaced at some stage.. Badly. Time to clean this shit up

Tank out and cleaned up Dents underneath and dumbness Not sure what to do about that dent. Other than getting professional help.. What else have I done.. I've polished up the front bumper and some other stuff. Taken the headlights apart and have cleaned and painted the housings matty black. Taken some other bits apart.. About to get stuck into the boot

YEAH NOW WE'RE TALKIN Have been thinkin of replacing all the running gear with something jap. Like not just the engine, but the entire running gear too and try make it all work. Sounds like too much work. Thomas you do it

$7k!! I probably could get an S14 for that easy. Plus that don't even come with cup holders. What a rip

I would, but I hate it when vtec just kicked in. Yo.

If money/kidneys/arms/legs wern't a problem then S14 or M12 would be my ultimate preference. I know exactly where to get em too.. At only 27,500 euros, that's the cheaper of three engines on that site. SO TEMPTING Another reason I'm keen on the M20 2.5 is that performance parts and spares look like they're easy to come by. Anything from stroker kits to bolt on turbs packages etc. Pretty keen on keeping it N/A to begin with.. Possibly with ITB and a link to keep that shit in check. Same with M42/44s I guess I'll just get all the engines. Problem solved

I'd have to spend millions on apex seals puhuhu HONESTLY.. I've thought about it.. I am from Whakatane after all

Haha I wouldn't say I know my shit, but I know my research! It shouldn't have to go too far back at all.. People have put m20s in without touching the firewall. However they've had to cut the nose/radiator assembly up to bring the radiator forward.. Which I'm not too keen to do. But yeah, m20s weigh roughly 40 or 50kgs more than the original m10s they came with so weight shouldn't be too much of a problem.. I hope. Nothing a set of new springs or coil overs can't fix!

Boring progress update Finished cleaning up the floor and fixing the small rust problems.. You'll see there's a fair bit more paint I could've continued to grind off, but the bare metal and problem parts were already starting to get some surface rust going on.. So gotta do something about that quick.. Boom! POR-15 all up in there. That should hold up nice till I'm ready to spend up on sound deadening stuff and carpets. Oh yeah, decided to go carpets instead of the clean cabin (like in the porsche shots above) as some of you fine OSer's pointed out that it usually looks like shit in no time and it'll just look like it's unfinished. Anyway, update over. However! I keep changing my damn mind on what to do on the engine side of things.. My latest idea is to do the M20 swap from an e30 325i. The swaps been well documented by lots of '02 peeps and it looks as though it'd be easier than the M42. The M20B25 is roughly 40kg heavier than the original M10 engines and won't take much effort to fit. The gearbox tunnel is already in a bit of a state so bashing/cutting that up to fit engine and box ain't no thang. All I'll need is a doner e30 325i manual and I should be set. The tricky bit will be fitting a larger radiator in the front and moving it forward. No doubt I'll change my mind again.. but for now.. That's it! Next up: rust holes all up in the badunkadunk

Holy shit yes. Everything you're doing is right. Keep it up!

Carpet is easy to get and not too spendy. So will take your guys lush wisdom into account and ponder further. Ahh that reminds me.. An old mate had an 808 made to look like an rx3 with bare floors. They looked choooice when he got it back, but they did indeed look ghetto after a few months of fat laps at the mount etc. Although the floors were unmolested bare floors and not smoothed off or anything. I think I'll concentrate on fixing the sills and shit before worrying about the floor. Cheers

Stripped all the black underseal stuff from out of the passenger footwell to find that a patch plates been welded in there to accommodate the mazda gearbox: Keen eyes will also note that the gear shifter hole has also been moved forward too. I'm taking this as good news, cause when I get new engine (still thinking it'll be a 318ti manual) it wouldn't matter if it fits or not as I can't make it any uglier than it already is! Woo!

Long over due update. It feels like bugger all has been done, but I have been messing with it a few nights every week so I guess somethings getting done! I've stripped the engine bay along with the interior a bit more, but have done nothing to the subframe as all our axel stands are still being used on Cazz's Dad's mk3 Cortina. Shouldn't be too much longer till that's back on the road. Anyway.. I went on a rust hunt and found it in the sills, doors and the bottom of the front nose panel. Got the wire wheel out and went on the attack expecting to find shit loads of rust. Was surprised that there's bugger all rust! What you see is what you get. I could just fibreglass and bog the sills, but I'm thinking i'll not be a dodgy bugger and I'll get 'em cut out and replaced as I wana take a peek at the inner sills are looking like. Passenger front sill Passenger back sill Drivers front sill Passenger back sill - Worst of the lot All is pretty good.. However, here's the passenger door: Pretty bad.. I've found a guy in auckland/northland that has a heap of spares and has some rust free doors. The drivers door only has a spot or two of rust. So will grab a passenger side (or both) when I'm allowed to spend money. Other than the rust, I've been continuing to fix and polish the trim. Next up: strip it inside and out and do some panel work.

Plug a duck call on the BOV OOOOORRRR a dog whisle. then dogs will go nuts and annoy their owners and they will be super annoyed and the world will be a better place

This is soo lush and awesome that you're in Napier also. Will look forward to seeing this around!

I'd like to imagine that there wouldn't be too many 2002s out there with mazda engines.. So maybe this is the same one?! If this had a 12a turbo in it, I woulda at least got it going again and had a hoon with some laughs. Any idea what a 2ltr mazda engine's worth?

Dry ice worked a treat on the floor! Managed to lift out all of this shits worth of floor stuff The floor is all awesome and rust free so I stopped clearing this stuff out after I'd done the foot wells. The stuff under the back seats and the tunnel looks like it's just been laid in there. So I thought why mess it up, just leave it as is. However, this thing was cramping my style.. Get outta there turkey Thaaaaat's better Now I'll be stripping the engine bay, sandblasting and refurbishing the brake boosters/master and taking the subframe out as well as continuing to do the trim and the interior. Mean.

Cheers Wookie, I was thinking about it.. but will only do that if the bogging is starting to crumble away and replace with nutech/fibreglass. Haven't seen any so far though! yay!

Oh no, the carpet and seats fell off.. Where have they gone Here they are This is how I spent some of my weekend. Stripping like the any good lady of the night. It's surprisingly pretty good under the carpets and seats. Haven't found any rust inside there yet! Plan is to continue removing everything from inside, have a good perv at it all and work out whats able to be cleaned up and reused. So far - all the seats are in awesome nick and the vinyl of the door cards, parcel tray and dash are pretty good (some minimal cracks/splits here n there).. But all the funny plasticy chrome stuff they used in the dash and door cards is all flaking off and looks horrid. So will either try find replacements or find some sticky chrome shit to replace with. But that can come later. Tail lights are super good. Should come up sweet with a decent wash and polish. Not this though. Someones put the dick all over this thing. This is the result of an hour and a half of pissing about with it trying to straighten it all out and get rid of the dings. It might be ok if I give it more time, but it'll never be back to its former glory (without professional help at least). So this might be one of those things I might just buy new. So yeah! Next plan is to ice ice baby the shit out of the sticky sound dampening crap on the floor and firewall behind the dash and try find any rust. If not, then I'll continue to strip the outside and then get into cleaning up the rust in the bonnet and the sills. I'm also gona try and get the engine/gearbox out this weekend and see what part of the undercarriage is good. Cazz's dad and I are gona set up a spot in the shed to do some sandblasting so will clean up some of the worst offending parts. Seeing as I'm a good dirty lil stripper - been thinking about stripping everything including the paint and changing up the colour.. BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT?! What ya recon?

I hope the radio is set to only ever play loud euro-trash techno

The first thought I had was to give it flares and the works like them ones in the photies you posted.. but the guards are still in really good nick! Seems a shame to chop em up. I might leave em as is for now and possibly get some down the track when I have more time/money to add them. I'm thinkin of making it look similar to this in terms of airdam + bumper and with a nice set of watanebes/superlites: I saw a shot of a 2002 like the one above that had the airdam with bumper but didn't have the rubber mount things and spotlights. Looked real clean. Hells yeah that sounding real neat. Can't wait till I can look at engines knowing I can buy! Ahh well. Thanks Richo! Might give this a crack this weekend

geeeeeeeough she's a bit of a go-er! Also, you can handle my wheel any day.. if, ya know what I mean..

I've been doing stuff to this without making mention of it here on this mistreated thread! For shame Cazz n' I are in hardcore super savings mode (with furious results) for our impending wedding that's slated for end of next year, so I was in the mind set that I better not touch this until after then.. However I realised I can still work on it, just without any finances involved! Soo.. yay?! First up, I made some space in the shed and got it in out of the rain I took the front grill(s) off to have a look at rust etc. It's pretty rusty/bad towards the black bottom there and would think it'd be a mish to fix.. But instead of fixing it, I'm thinking I'll fit an airdam and cut the rusty blah stuff off. The mazda engine is still in it and probably will be until after the wedding. The engine swap of choice at the mo' is still an m42 or m44 as it should be an easy-ish swap and is roughly the same weight as the original m10 engines these came with. Will be able to tickle it up a bit and get it nice n punchy and use it as a zippy daily runner as well as a track car now and again. In other words: getting too sensible compared to the days of cressida. I've been working on taking all the dents and bends out of the chrome belt trim every second night. It's a bit of a mish, but it's something I can do without spending money (yet).. Chuck a modified/grinded flat head bolt up into a drill press and you have yourself a pretty nifty dent squasher Here's a before shot followed with an after shot.. Damn, with all the shiny it's a bit hard to tell what's dented and what isn't.. The first shot shows a deep dent right at the end/top of the trim. The second shows it mostly flat and level. Unfortunately this is chrome and not polished stainless so I'll prolly have to get them redone at some stage. But yeah, that's what I've been doing and will continue to be doing on this thing for the next aaaaaaages. After I've made the chrome trim better (or worse) I'll move onto working on the panels and stripping all the interior so I know what I'm working with a bit better. That'll happen once we have Cazz's dads Cortina GXL road going again after it's new bushes are in. Here's a shot of the passenger foot well with the carpet lifted out. It's pretty good under there! Just a spot of light surface rust here n there. What's the best way of getting that super hard shitty factory insulation off? How does that dry ice method work? Engage conversation here

Cazz and I will be there for a lurk and a geeze. Would love to have a car there but I'm dumb and can't get shit together. Story of my oldschoollife

Hell yeah I'm gona do a roughie slam! I'm thinking of doing it properly and getting some coilovers all round. Interior is indeed pretty tidy! I haven't vacuumed or done anything with the interior other than sit in it and make vroom vroom noises.. But I hope to give it a good clean this weekend and see what's missing or needs replacing. I've only noticed that a peice of trim or two is gone.. Otherwise the vinyl and dash is awesome! I've done a fair bit of research and people have stuck inline sixes in em, but I think they've done a fair bit of modding to the firewall etc. Like I said, I'd love a 2.5ltr inline 6 under the hood.. But am thinking it could be huuuuge mish. I've seen a 2002 with a 2jz. But that was built to be a drift missile. What you recon would suit the car more?