Hi Bruce.

I love those old alfa's. They look stunning!! I know what you mean about alfa rust.
A number of years back a close friend bought an early Alfetta GTV. It had been "freshly restored" in its bright Ferrari red paint job.
Someone T boned him fairly lightly in it and the whole thing fell apart. Nearly every panel was bogged beyond belief! The whole right rear corner where the tail light sits had been fabbed from bog!!

What a shame. Loved the sound of the twin cam at full song though.

Yeah my poor mans hoist (20L drums) have done well. They seem to comfortably support 200 or so kilos each. Considering the car weighs under a tonne complete, it is probably only 5-600 kgs as is.
Hopefully it will be able to come off then soon, as soon as I paint the thing!!

Cheers,
Benn.

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Rockin' the 7 in a street near you.....

Looks like a good read Bruce, I look forward to reading all about your Alfa.

Minor updates.....still haven’t hi filled the shell......

Modified my RX4 air cleaner box by removing all the unwanted pipes from the bottom, and cut off the vent that usually has the hose that goes to the exhaust manifold for cold starts.
I welded a section in here, so the air cleaner box is simple and uncluttered. I have an older type Mazda Rotary decal to go back on the lid. Air box will be painted body colour.

Rims and air box prior to blasting



Air box etched


Another decal by “Letzgo” in Sydney. This guys wok is top notch. I have a stack of original style decals for the car all made by him. Very talented signwriter!!


Etch primed my rims


Black primed my rims


Painted my rims!!


I bought a double flare tool to do all my brake lines, but the flares are not quite perfect. Unfortunately I am now going to pay someone to flare them for me......properly.
Disappointed as I like to do EVERYTHING myself.......
I will use my flare tool to do my fuel lines. It seems to work well on bigger pipe.

Also got a lightened flywheel and a heavy duty clutch with a one tonne pressure plate. Better start my left leg excercises now!!!

Went to All Japan day on Sunday and came home from with more enthusiasm after seeing heaps of classic Japanese cars. My favourite of the event was this R100. I had ever seen it before, but absolutely loved it. I went back and looked at it 4 or 5 times!! It looks sensational!!






For more nice cars that were at AJD, have a look in the events section of this forum, I have posted a few up.
That’s about all for now. Hopefully next update will have the shell hi filled.

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For a real flaring tool look at fedhill website

http://www.fedhillusa.com/

That certainly looks impressive. I have had a look at a few, but cannot justify the $$$$ for just 14 flares.....

Would love one though!!

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Rockin' the 7 in a street near you.....

You could always get one and rent it out!

Not a bad idea... Benn's brake lines...
I like the sound of that!!

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Rockin' the 7 in a street near you.....

As long as it's OEM I just order it from inlinetube.com. They offer factory finish and stainless steel.

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-Cam
1980 Toyota Celica
1984 Porsche 911
1988 Mazda RX7

Any colour yet, your've had enough time !

Car still in primer, time and weather have not been my friends lately....
Have started Hi Filling panels one at a time, blocking back and checking for any imperfections.....repair if necessary and go again.

Yeah I need to pull my finger out and get this happening or it will have to sit through another winter in primer before its painted!!

Inside the car is painted - matt black - dash turned to shit, so in the process of redoing that at the minute.

Thanks for reminding me that I am a slack prick Gypsy!! Might have to crank some Hilltops and go hard in the shed on Sunday!!

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If you wait any longer your right mine may be painted first ! I'll be working through winter to ensure its ready for paint come next spring.

Out of interest was sort of guns are you using ?

I was using an el cheapo workequip gravity gun that came with 3 fluid sizes... 1.4, 1.8 and 2.5, pretty much everything that is needed from primer to paint. Ive always complained about the fan of the gun (not wide enough), really pathetic. I pulled it out to do some more priming the other day after cleaning it but misplaced the fluid nozzle seal (which I found yesterday). Out of desperation I used my old Star 2mm suction feed gun from 10+ years ago. The 2 guns are like chalk and cheese, the Star sh!ts all over the other, atomises alot better, its in a completely different league. I've got an Iwata that I'll use to spray the engine bay, I think its a model that they've been making for years... its got a pretty big fan, that'll have to wait until bodywork is complete.

Gypsy, using an el cheapo gravity feed from Repco to do all the priming. Must say I am surprisingly happy with the gun!!

I painted the back half of my Mums Rodeo with it previously. Yeah the fan is not the greatest, but so far so good.

Will paint the bay with it and see how we go. Painted the clear coat on my rims with it the other week, and the fan seemed to be awesome, maybe cos of all the extra thinners!! The clear on them came up great!!

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Cmon Ben get cracking mate, mine will prob be finished before yours and its not goin in to the beaters til next feb. Hahahaha just kidding mate luv your work cant wait for some SA rotor cruises. Regards Matt

Hey Matt, how's it going? Thanks to Gypsy giving me a bit of stick, I got all the hanging panels in Hi Fill today, and put a guide coat over them. Hopefully tomorrow I can Hi Fill the shell tomorrow morning.





Have painted the dash, did it matt black as I was concerned about glare. Didn't like the finish on it, so I hit it with clear, It came up REAL shiny and looked horrible!!

So rubbed it all back again and redid it again. Gave it a coat of primer, blocked it back, primed it again, blocked it back and hit it with 3 coats of matt black.

Happy with the finish and how it looks.



Fingers crossed I can lay down the rest of the hi fill tomorrow. Expecting some more repair work to be done on some minor imperfections, as I am in no way a pro panel beater.

Will hopefully paint the engine bay, door jambs and inside of panels before winter.....Will see how the SA weather holds out.

Already stockpiling winter projects.....Looks like I have a heap of polishing to do and hoping to save up some more cash to finish off the last few bits that I need to buy and get the engine assembled.

The plan is still to drive this thing to All Japan Day 2011.

Matt you should start up a thread on your JNC!

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I will start one up when something actually starts to happen, ive only stripped it at the moment and saving $$$. Bloody building my house is costing a packet i could have bought 2 mint R100s with the money that i have poured into it .

Yeah, doesn't it suck how general life expences come in front of your car
Mine could have been done ten times over, shouldn't complain though considering I am building the whole car ground up for a lot less than what I was quoted just for panel and paint work alone......

My son has also now taken a liking to first gen RX7's, so I will have to try to source one when this is finished so we can tidy one up for him. More cash......

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I have to spray the metal dash top as well, I was thinking of using a satin black. Its always funny (not at the time) when you put alot of time into something and screw it up. I would have liked to have seen your face after you sprayed the clear coat on the metal dash top

Yeah, you're right, sometimes it is a bit of a laugh
I'm sure the lokk on my face would have been "What the F&$K were you thinking..."

All is good now though. I should have said satin in my last post, not matt, that is what i have painted it in.

Also, thought I would let you know about something that I have found with my el cheapo spray guns. I have drilled out the breather hole in the cap as it was very small, and now my fan pattern has got a lot better and wider!! Lovely!!

Anyway, back to the shed - still rubbing down the engine bay, so that I can Hi fill the car today!! Not getting much done here in front of the computer. [/url]

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so what is the technical colour name/code for the Mazda metal dash sections? my 1300 metal dash section is in good condition, it has a slight gun/blue black colour to it, whereas the wagon dash is pitted with rust from being near the sea. It's lost a lot of colour and looks almost grey black in some light.

Not sure mate, maybe a question for Restoremaz......

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Rockin' the 7 in a street near you.....