Hi, everyone, just wanted to introduce myself.

[kozzman555]

ah. super troopers FTMFW!!! damn, that german chick in the movie was damn hawt

[bidi]

Here are those rusty, crusty upper radiator brackets...



Got them ready for electrolysis...



Took a lot longer then I thought...



It's turned out pretty well...



But a good ol' wire wheel is still my favorite...



And here they are primed, painted and clearcoated. Also picked up some new nuts...



And here it is all reassembled...



Next on the to do list under the hood are:
-more scrubbing,
-replacing a few other rusty nuts and bolts,
-new battery cables, and
-a drop in K&N air filter.

That's all I can think off for now.

I'll also be hitting the junk yards this weekend to find the replacement doors

[ArdaPro]

HI Welcome to the CP and good luck finding the doors. I see you are making a real good progress on cleaning and stuff. My friend has 1999 LX with the same color and i have a 2000 ES silver so my driveway kinda looks like yours. good luck

[riverrunnernky]

Welcome Bidi.....

Damned clean under th hood now.

Great job of redoing your stuff. What a nice daily beater!

I am working on a BF 1988 hatch as my daily beater for outstanding fuel economy.

My 1st gen Pro LX is down for new brakes, calps., rotors, and pads.

David
Ky

[bidi]

Nice, good luck on your projects

Did a few other minor reppairs.
Here is the busted turn signal...


And here is the replacement from 323F...




Since it's recomended to do maintenance when you first pick up a car, I got a new air filter too. K&N wasn't that much more than a regular filter, so I went with it...


Will be ordering new lateral links from Mazda tomorrow.
If the weather stays this nice the whole week, I'll do the oil change on the weekend too.

[bidi]

$4.19 a f**king gallon today. That mans it went up some $0.70 in one week

I watched the news, and they said that it'll go up, way up when they switch to the "summer" gas.

This is way past ridiculous, and I'm doing something.
I used to drive 3K miles a month, now I'm downt to less than 500. Public transportation isn't that bad, even though it's less than reliable and takes longer.

I suppose the good thing is, I'm moving downtown in eight months, so I can say F the gass prices 'cause I'll be driving 0 miles then
I'm sure the prices of the 4-bangers will go up, too, 'cause most people will be ditching those suv's that get 10-15mpg. So I guess if I do decide to sell my cars, which I more than likely will since I'm moving to a different state, I'll be able to get more for it.
I might still keep one though, just for emergencies.

I just had to vent a little because this is getting way out of control.

[bidi]

Just bought a 2000 ES gague cluster to replace my tach-less DX, but some say it might not work do to different wiring

Then again, others say it will, so I guess I'll find out when it comes in

[bidi]

Just picked up an 02 ES gauge cluster (made in late '99), but some people are saying that it won't work because of different wiring.
I guess I'll find out this weekend.

[bidi]

Still haven't had time to play with the cluster, but I picked up a few other things.

A factory MazdaSpeed upgrade muffler...


and a set of DelSol rims that I resprayed in graphite color...

[bidi]

here it is with the rims on...

[bidi]

My latest progress:

First I did a bit more cleaning,
replaced all battery cables,
got some quick-disconect battery terminals,
and new platnum NGK spark plugs...


Then I went to work on the fog-lights...


I wanted them to be mounted in stock location,
so I decided to take the bumper off and remove the foglight delete plates.
This way they're resessed in the bumper, instead of sticking out like frog-eyes...




Since the bumper was off, I repainted the chrome part of the grill too...


This is how it all turned out...

[ArdaPro]

Man you are making a really good progress on it. How did you paint the wheels like that? Is it possible to paint my stock ES wheels like that?
keep workin on it bro!
Happy zoomin around!

[bidi]

I got those wheels really cheap because they were sprayed black and paint was pealing... I dont' like black wheels.

First thig I had to do was clean off the old paint (in you're case rough up the clear coat).



I first washed them using some wheel cleaner and steel wool.
Then used some sand paper to get the paint chips off and remove some of the paint run-off from previous owners paint work.



Then I put note-cards all the way around the tire, so not to paint the tire itself (sorry, don't have a picture of that step), primed it, used graphite wheel paint, and clearcoated it. One can of paint was enough to paint all for wheels... 4 or 5 coats per wheel.

[bidi]

I pulled out the fender too, so the tire is no longer exposed, but I can't go any further untill I find replacement doors.
Most junk yards want $50-150 per door, depending on if it's complete or not, and what day you show up (some have half-off days in the middle of the week).

Unfortunatelly the ones that have the right color doors want $250-400. I'd be hesitant to pay $150, unless it was in mint condition and a perfect match, but even a dollar over, they can stick them where the sun don't shine.

Oh, I also picked up some MSP springs. They're pretty much the same exact ride hight but stiffer. I put the rear ones in, but might leave the front ones stock for now. I personally thing stiffer rear, looser front makes for a better cornering on FWD.

I'm taking a little road trip right now, but when I get back, I'll get to work on the short shifter, removing the pin-striping, and swapping in the ES gauge cluster... not having a tach kind of sucks.

[ArdaPro]

Hey Bidi thanks for the response and going for the trouble of explaining all that stuff. Looks like a lot of time is needed for that , now i just wish i lived in a house with garage, heck even a driveway. Did you find the doors ?