1972 Mazda Rx3 Coupe

Pilot bearing had seen better days so this was replaced. 


I removed the flywheel at this stage as the flywheel bolts I'd used were within spec for the original engine, but made me a little nervous as this engine will be revving considerably higher than intended by Mazda so I replaced them with ARP bolts which have a far higher ultimate tensile strength and better fatigue resistance. 


Hidden away behind the flywheel is the rear counterweight, which compensates for the eccentricity of the rear rotor. On the original engine, this counterweight is built into the flywheel, but because I fitted a lightweight flywheel, a separate counterweight is needed. The rear counterweight comes from an automatic transmission version of the car.


A very pink Exedy sports clutch was then fitted.


The drill holes on the perimeter of the clutch cover are balancing holes drilled during the dynamic balancing of the rotating assembly. 

Really enjoying the 10A content in here! thanks for sharing all of this

Rear drum brakes got a full overhaul and were treated to some asbestos free shoes.






Gave the alternator a clean up.






Horns were looking a bit tired to they got a going over.

I'd been looking for an Rx3 specific lip spoiler and finally tracked one down in America. It's currently living with the car's former keeper in Florida who no doubt will try to use it as collateral for making me sell the car back to him

Coming together nicely. Did you clean/treat the horn casings yourself or ship them out? Toying with a passivating kit to sort some of the Celica bits that need some tlc.

At this stage it was around September 2015 and I had the engine running and the car moving under its own power. What I should have done is get it on the road and put some miles on the engine but instead I decided that the car needed a respray so got in touch with a local company. Little did I know I was going to burn an absurd amount of money for a sub standard paint job and some rust repairs to the doors that rendered them as scrap. The car would later need taking back to bare metal to fix the various bodges. For a car that was extremely straight and had minimal rust, this was the worst possible outcome and I was completely gutted.

The only job they did well was the roof repair which involved removing the original roof which had an aftermarket sunroof cutout, and replacing it with a good complete roof I had hoarded away.

From a few feet away, the car looked great.







But on closer inspection....... door fitment was terrible where the door bottoms had had new metal due to a couple of small rust patches that I think could definitely have been spot treated rather than the whole bottom 2" of the door replaced.







The rear windscreen gutter panel was replaced due to rust in this area. The new section wasn't even close to being a smooth curve and would have left whopping great gaps between the body and trim surrounds.




The fitment between the front fenders and the doors was rubbish. No idea how they managed to screw this up as there was a perfect fit beforehand. 



Rust coming though on the sills almost immediately!



Large paint run on the driver side rear haunch. Very prominent position.




But worst of all, the bottom of the doors had completely lost their shape. 

The bottom of the doors are supposed to have a concave shape to them that flows into the front wings and rear quarters.

Concave shape to lower door section



Now convex due to the poor metal repair which they had tried to hide with filler.



Very visible in this photo where you can see the convex sections in the front wing and rear quarter do not blend into the lower door.



I contacted the bodyshop and outlined the problems and they reluctantly offered to take the car back and sort some (not all) of the issues, but by this stage I didn't want them to lay their hands on the car again. These are all rookie mistakes and the likelihood is that their "repairs" to the existing "repairs" would not be much better. 

I was gutted as the outfit seemed pretty professional when I initially went to check it out, but I expect the cars I'd seen that day all had similar issues hiding beneath piles of filler.

The decision was made to call it a life lesson (a rather expensive one) and get the car taken back to bare metal and repainted properly. 

The car was sent up to DC Customs in Birmingham. I'd seen their work before and it's top notch. When they started work stripping the paint, a further problem with the previous paint job was discovered! A major incompatibility problem with the paint and primer. Most of the paint could simply be peeled off. At this point I felt even more angry with the previous bodyshop, but it also helped justify my decision to get the paint done again properly. 

I've paid for body and paint twice and both times were substandard.

One place even painted classics and modern supercar yet couldn't paint two arches properly.

Hope the next body shop corrected all the first ones damage for you.

Ahhh yes. I was gutted as when you sent me those pictures and mentioned the poor standard of work being done aye. I know how much you were looking forward to it bro!

There's nothing worse is there. 

Yes, DC Customs put everything straight. Photos to follow. Can't recommend them enough and although it was an expensive lesson, at least I now have a reliable bodyshop I can go to for future projects without having to worry.