JDM Familia Interplay BG5P Restoration

[Scrummatron]

oh ****!!! i've never seen those brackets as such. thats pretty nifty

Yes as I mentioned I am very happy to have these,..they could prob be made up easily enough or somthing similar,..but these will save me hassle and it could take an age to find them for sale again,......esp if you haven't seen before!!,..
They are currently in an ever growing box of bits and brackets that il be sending to be sand blasted,will paint small bits like this myself then when I'm ready....
Was going to hit them with a load of normal paint,..but after seeing permin over there painting all up the front of his gtr with a "similar" paint to por15,I'm thinking that I might paint the front and rear panels with the por,and a **** load of other bits underneath unless someone can give me a good reason not to??,...lower rad brackets,suspension components and the like.
If anyone thinks this is a bad idea,...you must know what to do by now!?,.."D,...O,...I"....

Also,..take note-the brackets are not the same in almost all dimensions,strange.

[FE3-323]

Personally, I prefer powdercoat over that of POR-15. the surface of items you paint with por-15 has to be just right in order to get a meaningful bond. not so much in the case of powdercoat.
that & well powdercoat is bonded through a heat process, which jives better with me.

[Cloud_Strife]

Yeah, it's not necessarily a bad idea, it's just that, at least for me, I use POR15 when I'm rustproofing on the chassis itself. If it's something that is removable and won't be destroyed by the heat process, I would powder coat. Honestly, If I could powdercoat everything I would, it is such a nice cure and like FE3 said with the piece of mind that it won't really wear.

Also, that stuff is toxic as hell, like we discussed before. I try to not only limit my exposure, but also my being around it, even after it's cured.

Again, wouldn't be bad, and no sound reason why you shouldn't use it, just me personally when I powdercoat I can. Especially since you seem to have a guy for everything sham

[Scrummatron]

It hear yee both there lads,...I'm not long using the por15,but have done a number of experiments with it already,and have already figured out its fatal flaw-regardless of prep,it was designed to 'paint-over-rust',....and while it is brilliant at this,and locks on to rust with serious vigor,... ..anything that isn't particularly 'rusty',even with maximum prep effort,doesn't hold onto it as good.
Im aware of powder coatings superior adhesion and wear benefits,they do look classy,suppose if I'm honest I'm just trying to cut costs,and time to pay said costs,as I'm anxious to get to the engine,...but may just have to slow things down a bit,get the rear axle and components done at least.
Will continue to por15 the underbody,will have a muse about the front and rear panels.

Oh ya,have a buck for the powder coating too,...
And after chatting to him there,....
Prices have come down a lot in the past 5 years,...hmmmmmmmmmm.

[Scrummatron]

So work was progressing with the blending of welds all round,..which was going well but tedious as expected,..(lots of pics to come,but posting continuous pictures of this process would be crap)
And since I have a lot of other bits n bobs posts to get through,and nobody seems to mind,I will do a few more.

I'm sure anyone who's had more than one of these has experienced what can only be described as "gearstick droppage",..the process that ends with the rubber mounting holding the gearstick,rotting away and the gearstick continuously falling down,maybe this is an Irish climate thing but it happens to most of these eventually here.
As can be seen in pic-1,mz1 has suffered this in the past,and has a couple of screws holding its "short shifter" in place.
I'm pretty sure that mz3's whole gear linkage assembly is the same,and since its unsurprisingly in perfect/new looking condition,.(minus the paint peel,but a lot of paint still there,the rust on the bars is the lightest of surface rust) I will be useing all of it,as I need a new gear lever anyway.
I want the car to look and feel completely standard,and want the gearstick at the manufacturers original height,so it makes sense to have this all completely rebuilt,repainted and ready to go on the car while engine and gearbox change is taking place.
Pic-2 shows just how this car-mz3-just keeps on giving,note the immaculate condition of the bushing and insert already attached to this assembly,it literally looks new!!,...
pic-3 shows the mint rubber grommet thing that holds the gearstick in place,again,...like new,apart from some dusty bits,will post a pic of this whole gear linkage unit painted and ready to install.
Note-this is one thing I will try the por15 on,a good rough rub down of this rust and a bit of light prep will make it a perfect candidate for this....I think.

[Scrummatron]

While I was mooching around with this anyway,I said I'd give the DIY short shifter ago myself,..(have never done personally but have fitted aftermarket versions in the past),as the principal is pretty straight forward.
I mentioned in the last post and several times before that I want the car to look and feel very standard when complete,so this may not work first time but what harm.
The original gearstick in mz1 had a piece cut out of it so sat very low in the driving position(pic-1),but the travel between gears seems the same as factory.the gearstick boot was crumpled downward when the gearknob is attached,so all round it's not good.
Not realy going for a massive difference from the factory throw,but a small decrease in travel couldn't realy hurt.
I only moved the ball about 6/8's of an inch,(pic-2 shows its new position,and the mark in the paint shows where it was originally)and will fashion a spacer,or use one of the ball surround spacers from mz1,to raise the gearstick to its original,or very close to its original height.hopefully just below the rim of the piece that holds the gearstick in place,which would leave me still able to use the original big Spring,or part of it,to keep it in place.
This may take some adjusting to get right so will come back to it when fitting.but a guy in another post said that 1 inch is the amount he moved his ball,and encountered some exhaust issues,so I'm hoping to get very close to perfect first time.
If anyone thinks this won't work,or some other issue will come into play,then please,...DOI.

[FE3-323]

that'll work just fine.. just make sure you clear the exhaust

[Scrummatron]

Good stuff sham cheers

So here's a few more pics of the interior wheel well blend,..
Again,4-5 hours of sanding,scraping and grinding.
Have the wheel well completely perfect now,all except the concave bits which I will come back to when I source a couple of precise tools I have in mind for these.
Sprayed it up with a bit of primer and will give it a quick sand again while I'm at the bits I can't get to now down the road.i suppose il have to get the whole boot interior area sprayed while getting the car sprayed so not too much more I can do with it ATM.
I may also fit mint new sound deadening material into the boot in the future,(after resprayed)...the stuff there is sound,but I have a vision of an immaculate boot in my head I just can't get rid off,.....
Note-last pic shows the welds I will come back too,5 groves there and 2 near the boot.
Also,few runs in primer,no biggy.

[Scrummatron]

I know "self praise is no praise" but I was a bit of an expert at blending body kits and what not back in the day,and it's all flooding back to me.
Moved onto the underside and ploughed on...same story.
Grind,sand,rub...fill,sand,rub....fill,sand,rub,.. ..rub,rub,rub,...
Spray sand rub,,,and so on.
Everyone knows the drill.
While I was under there I spent sore finger time scraping off the factory underseal from the mz3 wheel well piece,and as expected,it was very,very good,...however,I want to post a pic of the reason anyone should do this to their madzee after 20 years r so,..the last pic is a large,I dunno what to call it,..some kind of "impact" that occurred and loosened a large piece of the underseal,which formed a kind of pocket for holding water and eating through the steel underneath.
I'm sure everyone's seen smaller versions of this,but this is as big as they get I reckon...the last pic.

[Scrummatron]

Right that's enough of that for a while,sorry for all them pics of nothin realy,but trying to get the amount of time and effort accross,...next pics will be of the finished article before repainting underneath.
Few pics here of somthing else I got from mz3 that seems quite "rare",...to me at least.
Can't find factory shots in the familia brochure of these(the pre-facelift one,still waiting on the newer one)or very many pics of them anywhere,..you see them on the odd car,..and most cars have the holes for them,...but they're usually missing.
The rear wheel arch "pre" mud-flaps,..someone DOI with the correct term,...anyway,here's 2 in perfect condition.
Will be refitting all mudflaps and these after respray.
And will post better pics again....maybe.

[Scrummatron]

Eventually got the bottom of the new wheel well totally cleaned up and ready for underbody paint again,scraped off as much of the old seal as possible with some Stanley blades and a curved purdy tool,then sprayed it with tar and adhesive remover to remove the bits and residue,before wire brushing the remaining bare metal and "olive green" original underbody primer.
Payed extra attention to the small impact marks and the huge one with the wire brush due to some tiny amounts of pitting,hit it all with etch again to find any tiny imperfections,and filled again.quick rub next time and the correct prep and it will be sealed up.
Done a lot of other sanding and filling inc the door frame,dents and scrapes in doors,boot gully,roof dents,and a few others during down times,took pics of this but most were terrible due to no light(dark at 4.30 here now),will post pics of these again when I get some in good daylight.
Prob took another 8-10 hours,so 20+ overall on these bits.
Note-second last pic shows the poor quality of the other 20 pics I took,so no point adding them yet.
Last pic is the spray I used to remove the residue,great stuff.

[Scrummatron]

As I mentioned earlier I got the brackets and switch for the front fogs from mz2,I was going to sell the switch initially but it had a broken connection pin,also didn't realise right away that it is slightly different from the rear fog switch I got from mz3,..as the beam lines are pointing downward.(duh)
Since I then decided to go front and back fogs,and fashioned a custom garnish to suit,I had to get a working front fog switch to suit.
Don't see these too often for handy money so chanced my arm and asked another polish friend to give fixing it a go,it cost €25,but got it back today and it's like new,apart from the white plastic,.....nice.
This will be the new dash underplastic set up for mz1 as I will be moving the electric mirror switch to beside the fog switches.
Note-the mirror switch in pics is not the interplay switch as it doesn't have the mirror folding button,I just stuck it in for the pics.

[Scrummatron]

Few more pics of work ongoing,some of the small inside boot rear arch patches after a bit of work also,these will never be seen again once the boot plastics are reinstalled,but I just had to tidy them up anyway,and better pics of the boot rain gully,...
Down both sides are the marks of a jealousy,...ie.big deep key scratch marks,and a bad'ish dent in the passenger door,...
Other pics were crap so didn't upload.
After a few spot fills the boot floor is now seamless.pics to follow.

Note-to any BG lovers who may be reading,mz4 is looking likely at the minute,it's a red hatchback interplay,good chance I will break either it or mz2,if I get, as in if its financially viable. ie. If enough people are looking for bits,...
so I'm just putting the feelers out to see if anyone would be intrested in any bits off it,...ie.bumpers,spoiler,"gt" manual belts,kph gauges,interior parts and any other little bits.
If anyone is "genuinely" intrested in anything off it in the near future,please pm me,cheers.

[Scrummatron]

Couple of photos of the overworked spare room.
This is the entire interior going into mz1(minus carpet,headliner,front seats and door cards-all currently undergoing some form of repair/cleaning).

[Scrummatron]

Here is the pedal box pre-refurb,every bit of this is in pretty mint condition,and since il be changing virtually everything else on the inside to a near perfect,better condition duplicate,it makes sense to clean this up and have it ready to go in aswell,..also there are drilled holes in the mz1 pedals.
No paint peel whatsoever,and only the tiniest hint of rust on the non painted metal frame bit,....no surprise here.
Note-since it came from mz3,the only real wear on the rubber pedals,is unsurprisingly on the brake pedal.