Popular Post dabuzz Posted December 21, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 21, 2022 In the last few months It's been a roller coaster of a mission trying to get ahead with the car. Gearbox issue was an inspection cover bolt 5mm too long blocking the selector, easy fix luckily. Had many issues trying to get it to run right, no point going into details but finally got it sorted, it's pulsing its head off now. Still some fine tuning to do, but it really needs a dyno and I need to put money elsewhere atm. Bought a bonnet thats at choppers getting repaired, won't be painted till end of Jan. Also the seats will be getting retrimmed early next year. Fully installed the interior, cars pretty much complete apart from the above, but the biggest thing that's happened is its now fully complied Wof'd and Reg'd- couldn't be happier First reg in 25 years! 46 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted February 22, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 22, 2023 I fucked up, when carrying out some epoxy primer work in the shed, my seats were up on a shelf uncovered, and the overspray settled into the grain, unable to be cleaned out - thankfully insurance came to the party and I've now got some fresh trim for the coupe, from Waikumete auto upholstery. 28 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted March 15, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 15, 2023 Bonnet finally done, so apart from a good tune she's finally finished! Quality pics to come soon, as Classic Car Magazine is about to do a feature on it shortly, so of course I'm going to steal those. Really happy with the final result though. 37 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted April 4, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 4, 2023 If you have FB, this link might work. Classic car mag walk around, will be in next issue. https://fb.watch/jIjCvxtS6H/ 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted April 17, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 17, 2023 Trumped by an Imp to main cover car , issue out next Monday. 22 5 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted April 19, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 19, 2023 Some of the unedited pics from the shoot. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted April 19, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 19, 2023 36 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted April 25, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 25, 2023 Headed off to a local V8 car show, managed to pick up a trophy, which was nice, but unexpected. 26 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dabuzz Posted May 21, 2023 Author Share Posted May 21, 2023 5 1 1 4 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted June 11, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 11, 2023 Introducing the new addition to the garage - 1974 Mazda RX4 coupe I figured as this is not going to be a big build, ill just carry on with this thread here So after selling the 2, I paid down some debt, and searched for a cheaper car that was supposed to be more family friendly after looking at a bunch of Rx4 sedans with various degrees of rust I remembered a coupe that was for sale last year, and I didnt think it sold, so I found the owner and turned out he de-listed it as CBF with all the Trademe and Facebook "experts" chiming in with their 2c Car was in Tauranga, went down had a look and agreed on a price. 4s are much bigger inside, so the kids fit in nicely, but the 2005 spec tan interior isn't exactly friendly to 4 and 6 year old boys who really just don't give a shite. Overall the car was a good buy though, has been professionally painted about 2 years ago, and has been well looked after. there are a few issues both mechanically, and visually that need attention, and ill get to those as soon as I can I have no idea what to do about the interior, might just black out the body coloured dash parts, fit new black carpet and leave the rest, it isnt quite so offensive in person. I hate black wheels - so those will be going asap Rest of the specs 13b Bridgeport rebuilt 1500km ago s4 gear box Hilux LSD s6 rx7 front, and primera rear disc brakes coil over suspension All fully certed etc 33 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted June 13, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 13, 2023 Couple of changes straight up, fitted rear seat belts for the kids, changed tail lights to full red, as well as fitted red rear reflectors, and 1/4 'Mazda rx4' badges. Biggest thing was ditching the ugly black wheels, im not really even a Simmons fan, but these 3 piece FR18s popped up and I knew they were just right for the car. There's a bunch of other things I need to do, including having to rebuild the coil overs as they are not great, and get a custom rear boiler for the back as its obnoxiously loud. But she's looking much better already. 49 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted June 20, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 20, 2023 its begun - going from a near perfect car to someone else's build I knew I'd find things not up to my standard - but jeez Ripped out the coil overs as I knew about a bent strut, and that the coil overs were constructed in an unusual way. but F-me, this is rough_ all certed by the way haha First thing I noticed was almost zero grease in the hub bearings, right wound up tight, and were rough as, then pulled apart the coil overs to find- Top hat for the camber plates jammed against the top of coil over (no spacer)so they didn't turn at all - instead spun the whole spring/shock assembly Struts have collars welded to them , with a slip over threaded tube grub screwed to the strut tube, all completely on the piss, and top of shock just angle grinded to suit. so have bought another set of struts and am having them done properly and safely, plus fitting new wheel bearings etc 12 2 1 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted June 20, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 20, 2023 Question- Where is the best place to run your main battery earth cable? Answer- not your boot lock........ 8 2 11 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted June 21, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 21, 2023 Oh - look what ive found now! Easy fix once again, but just showing how lazy they were Some of the reason is that they fitted a s4 rx7 box, but retained the rx4 bellhousing, I guess so they didn't have to buy a new clutch and flywheel. Stupid thing is that this puts the box on an angle so pushes the lever over, hence they had to make a dog leg gear stick, then fully fab a new gearbox crossmember, so much extra work. This iin itself isn't an issue, it works perfectly fine, just looks ugly! but still no reason to hack so much out if it, and not put any steel back 12 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted June 30, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 30, 2023 Coilovers are back from remanufacture, had to supply another set of struts, and he has rebuilt to 2023 specs, with new shocks, reused the old springs and camber plates, but all machined correctly and the proper spacers added so the top actually pivots now. After finding the wheel bearings nearly void of grease, and cranked up waaay too tight, I bought a new set of bearings, greased and fitted up the hubs in anticipation for the struts to come home. Once they arrived I attempted to fit the hubs to find that somewhere in production mazda upped the inner stub axle from 25 to 28mm (new struts must be 2nd gen), meaning the brand new inner bearings were now useless, which also meant buying 2 more at a price 3x as much for an uncommon size ffs! Anyway, all sorted now 28 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted August 18, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 18, 2023 Bang! Crack! Bang! Thump! Smash! After refitting the front suspension she's far better on the, road but God damn there's some nasty noises from the rear, first port of call was the replace the leaf spring eye bushes, the leaves aren't pinging and cracking now, but was still finding that over big bumps there was still banging in the rear, easy to see why, check the state of the bump stops . Found replacement bumps, and bought new spring pad rubbers while I was at it, I did shave 15mm off the standard bumps just to give a little more travel, and had to buy new U- bolts as of course the threads were stripped. That's all the rear suspension upgraded now too. 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted August 21, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 21, 2023 This is not a rant, and I suppose at the end of the day I will have far more confidence in the car, and more importantly confidence with taking my kids in it, once I’ve finished going over everything. I thought it would be good to put up a current list of what I’ve had to fix here so I can look back and go WTF bro…. Still cant really believe how much I have had to do even though the car was; A. Sellers quote “not some slapped up banger” B. Halfway through a 6 month WOF C. Pricey 1. Fitted 18 inch 3 piece Simmons wheels. 2. Full Red taillights. 3. Fitted rear ¼ Mazda RX4 badges. 4. Fitted new Red ¼ reflectors. 5. Fitted Rear seat belts. 6. Replaced Leaking water-pump. 7. Replaced front wheel bearings after having no grease, damaged and worn. 8. Replaced bent strut and remanufactured Coil-overs, they were a major safety issue. 9. Made new trans tunnel gear stick cover for massive hacked up hole, and fitted new shifter rubber to seal it off. 10. Fitted large new custom rear mild steel boiler muffler because it sounded awful in stainless – still loud though. 11. Replaced gearbox mount, and modified crossmember so it didn’t foul on the mount as it was before and banging. 12. Replaced worn leaf spring and hanger eye bushes. 13. Fitted new rear bump stops, to stop driveshaft hitting tunnel. 14. Replaced leaf spring pad bushes. 15. New U bolts as threads damaged. 16. Adjusted non-working handbrake. 17. Replaced Missing number plate light and bracket – rewire so it works. 18. Replaced missing window washer system with an under dash hanging bag – wire up as original system butchered and non-existent. 19. Repaired dash indicator lights, because of the Autometer dash setup they had to hack the back of the gauge cluster but failed to properly modify the wiring and bulb holders and their badly soldered joints just fell apart. Fitted new LED bulbs and wiring, and secured correctly so it all works now. 20. Fitted the correct Steering wheel boss as the indicator cancelling part in the one fitted was incorrect and the indicators didn’t turn off after completing a turn. 21. Reconnected horn as was just left unplugged, due to previous boss kit not reaching the contacts. 22. Thermostat was missing and thermo housing by-passed for full flow, coupled with rad fans on full time as soon as key on, meant on a cold day the engine wouldn’t get over 60deg and would run like shit. So I have un-modified housing, fitted new thermostat and a thermo switch to the housing (still yet to wire in with a relay) to be able to let motor warm up properly before fans kick in. Things to do: Calibrate speedo gauge. Calibrate fuel level gauge – even though seller promised me he did this. Deal with terrible wiring around car. Get reverse lights working. Fit radiator overflow. Re make throttle cable setup. Get a WOF Then “maybe” I can start on the actual fun stuff…… 9 3 2 1 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted August 24, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 24, 2023 Fresh WOF!!!!! Veeeeerrrrrrryyyyy happy 29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dabuzz Posted August 28, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 28, 2023 My sparky mate came over today to start on tidying up the looms, they pretty much just grabbed everything from in the bay, and jammed it under the guards. Lots of redundant parts, and mixed matched wiring etc,we wondered if @Roman has worked on this in the past The car has had issues with starting and charging, so with fresh wiring for those and rad fans, fuel pump etc will definitely help, we will retain all the rest of the loom for lights, horn wipers etc as those work just fine. 10 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Roman Posted August 28, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted August 28, 2023 Hey look so I might have done some bad wiring ages ago, but I'm better now! Just putting finishing touches on this new loom. 7 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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