Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,338 
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Jun 27, 2020 17:53:27 GMT
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Another car! Some of you may have seen this for sale on the forum recently for the princely sum of £0, it was I that managed to secure it and have it picked up and brought home during lock down. The reason I wanted this despite needing no more cars is that my brother is slowly breaking his rusty Mazda Demio which uses a 16V EFI version of the engine in the 121. So, that seeming pretty obvious where this is going, lets dive in with the few photos I have.. These are the pics James sent me of my potential 'purchse', check out that upholstery. Super retro. Love it.     As you can see, she is pretty battle scarred and a bit tired around the edges. But it has got it's original cassette deck which works, and the suntop is all working too so that's the 2 important bits at least. Sadly it was seized. I wasn't hugely surprised, I figured someone had just driven it til it's little heart gave up after falling into the category of 'car that is working CURRENTLY but when it breaks I am not fixing it again', sometime in about 2008, when it's last MOT was up. So that's over 10 years off the road. I wasn't expecting that.  It did not fail to deliver, it wouldn't turn over or even roll in gear. Until a really hot day happened and all of a sudden it decided it wasn't seized any more. I had no idea. I just knew I was going to see if it would run, as moving it around my storage would be easier. Ended up having to rebuild the ignition switch with parts from the Demio due to the electric not going the right way, and eventually we coaxed it into life.  It does however sound quite awful so I suspect it won't last long. not a problem. I knew I needed to finds some rare parts though, and having no joy finding the side marker lenses on ebay I started exploring options and looked for Kia pride ones, in the hope they could be modified to fit. I tracked down a pair for sensible cashola and to my SHOCK HORROR when they arrived they were not for a Kia at all, they were for a 121 all along! No idea why they were listed the way they were, but hey, benefits me alright. I also managed to track down a RHD headlight as the O/S had a HUGE chip in, I COULD repair the chip but I'll stash that lamp as a spare now. But now it looks less like a scrap car and more like a.. car.  So we are nearly up to date. I have bought some wheels but they are currently at the wrong end of the country but that'll get sorted when it gets sorted, and I have removed the Demio engine and loom ready for some work. The Demio engine is a total unknown milage, being an import and having had at least 2 replacement odometers, we figured it was worth opening it up and doing some surgery, it was a good runner but did leak lightly everywhere and burned oil on overrun. Sketchy engine hoist to the rescue!  And on the floor. I've opened it up and it's going to need a hone and rings as it's a bit glazed and i'm getting the head done as a 'because', I may as well invest the money in it somewhere, free car, free engine, something has to cost money at some point right!  More as it happens  |
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Last Edit: Aug 16, 2021 21:23:22 GMT by Rich
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,960
Club RR Member Number: 174
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Jun 27, 2020 18:31:12 GMT
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Never noticed it was a this shape one in your other pics just assumed it was a blob one. Should go well with the Demio engine.
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,338
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Jun 27, 2020 18:35:33 GMT
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Never noticed it was a this shape one in your other pics just assumed it was a blob one. Should go well with the Demio engine. The blob ones are growing on me, even though they look like someone asked a child to draw the car a telly tubby might drive. Interestingly the Front shock towers Back to behind the front seats is the same floor pan /bulkhead as the Demio. I could have bolted Demio seats straight in. But I won’t because that Stripy upholstery is excellent. Means I could have easily swapped it to 4x100 with the Demio hubs, rear beam is also identical but I’ve got some Alleycat Ralleys in 14” which will look pretty prefect. |
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,338
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Head and block are back from machine shop and have been tarted up a bit. I got them to clean the years of gloop out of the breather system in the valve cover too. Only needed valve stem seals, and hone and rings. They have cleaned it all, light head skim, relapped the valves and it’s getting new bearings.   Blew all the last of the ‘mud’ out of the coolant jacket, blew through the oilways and cleaned it all up and plopped the crank back in with fresh bearings  Then refitted the pistons and rods, again fresh bearings and rings.  Torqued to spec. Might put a bit more on tonight.  |
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I hired one of these (tin top though) for a week in 1991 on honeymoon with my first wife. Was impressed with how well it went and handled. I'm sure yours will go even harder with the engine upgrade. Will be following this thread with much interest.
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,338
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Jul 18, 2020 19:29:00 GMT
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Getting closer..   |
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,338
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Jul 25, 2020 20:57:21 GMT
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Onward.. Fitting the water outlet from the water pump to radiator found me this gem, the gasket had missed and the bolt hadn't even gone through it, how it wasn't leaking is a total mystery. Hardy old sods these motors. Rectified with a good cleanup and new gasket.  At this point, it was time to make the move with the little white nugget to home. Trade plates on, and away we go. It's only about a mile but even on an empty tank of 12 year old petrol fumes the little white dogpoop yomped the journey home. Still starts first time, every time on the button. Makes me kinda not want to swap motors, for about 2 seconds, then I remember the basically brand new 16V on the work bench   Obviously I should be removing the engine. So naturally got distracted and took the bumper and trashed valance off to try the full-length front bumper. Just need to find a P/N for a new rear now.  Hit a small snag though. The pre-drilled and blanked hole in the 16V head is slightly over size to the sensor in the 8V head. I'd have to take the hole out and use an adaptor to fit the 8V sensor, and I do not fancy the idea of drilling oversize and tapping holes. (yea, I know, wuss) Instead, I graphed the resistance of the 16V sensor against the 8V one, and found that although at low temps it isn't going to be right, at operating temperature it should be close enough to be a good warning of overheat. So that should do the trick!   Tomorrow, hopefully should see the engine lifted out the 'ole. |
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,338
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Jul 27, 2020 15:25:29 GMT
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Engine hoist out again, and started to lift..   Cleaned the engine bay as much as I could be bothered, scrubbed with a stiff brush and some Flash and it's come up reet well.  Engine is now nearly ready to go in.  Waiting on a few more parts now, as predicted, clutch and flywheel are different between the DA and DW and the ring gear isn't that nice on the DA flywheel so I've found a Kia Pride one on ebay and I'm hoping its the same part. If not I'll have to just use the one I have and hope. Also waiting on a clutch, and a radiator as it turns out the front of the DA shell is slightly less tall than a DW and the rad I have won't fit and the DA one is beyond redemption. |
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shin2chin
Part of things
Making curse word cars slightly better
Posts: 820
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Jul 27, 2020 16:01:23 GMT
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Good project. I love that interior, seat fabric reminds me of wallpaper I had in the 80's
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1977 PORSCHE 2.0na 924
1974 VW Beetle 1600
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,338
Club RR Member Number: 160
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So me and father hoisted the new mill into the hole and did up some bolts.    Made up a rough idea of the new intake tract. The stock placca pipe is pretty restrictive looking, having some sharp bends, size reductions and corrugated sections so we made this up with scraps from the garage.  On to the wiring. Bulkhead 'ole.  Lots of wire..  Through the 'ole...  And that done, we had a look at the engine in profile and thought that was no way the bonnet would fit now, that manifold is tall. However. It does. With space to spare. Madness.  Few more hours tidying the wiring, fitting a Kia Pride fuel sender assembly (bolt in HP tank pump- cheatings!) and we had life! BUT.Problem. Literally as I gave the thumbs up in the video, that noise, that horrible noise, is when the diff failed, and pushed a gear down the side of the casing, pushing the shift rod over and cracking the case. I'd literally SHOWN the stock gearbox the 16V and it wen't NAH FAM NO WAY. Brill. Options. Get another DA box. Only where from. 2 sellers on the whole of eBay, one in Spain and one in Latvia. Hm. Or. Fit the DW gearbox I had. It had an 18month old clutch, new output seals, and was known quiet and working. Also the DW clutch is bigger. Well, that was that. In it went, and not without it's share of problem. The CV joints on the DW shafts were too 'long', so had to be swapped, the gearbox support beam was totally different and needed swapping out, as well as the gear lever and the starter, which is in a totally different place. But in all a good days work, which we motored though and forgot to take any pics. But the upshoot is it drives. As you can tell I am VERY happy. I have a HUGE snagging list to work through but this is a big step in the right direction. Feels like it's going to be proper nippy. More soon! |
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,338
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Sept 9, 2020 18:06:39 GMT
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Last Edit: Sept 9, 2020 18:08:19 GMT by Rich
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,338
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Sept 28, 2020 19:11:38 GMT
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Been working on the car, doing little wins and chipping away at the boring stuff. Wins like installing my Part-Ex gold Meos flip-up DVD headunit, because lets be fair, why not- it was free.   This obviously means a speaker upgrade was in order to replace the dash speakers. I swear I have headphones with bigger drivers in but hey ho. Rear wiring is factory installed, but the locations are also tiny-speakers(tm) so I have a plan to adapt it to take slightly bigger ones. Not that it'll make much difference with El Cheapo HU..  I've also been playing with coilovers.   It looks a little rear heavy because the rear arch is tiny. Rears are as high as they will go. Will wait until I have my wheels back and shod before I decide on anything else height wise.   And last little thing, I made a start on having locks. The car has no working door locks, they have been forced, presumably because someone lost their key as the ignition barrel is 'new' to the car. Will have a different set of keys for the door and ignition but that's better than no keys for the doors. Cheap Kia Pride lockset is what is going in. I assumed it would be the same, but the Pride uses later Mazda style locks. No drama though. Before:  And after with a squirt of primer to protect for now:  More soon! |
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craig1010cc
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,998
Club RR Member Number: 35
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Sept 28, 2020 21:47:57 GMT
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Looking good Rich, what coilies did you use in the end, golf ones?
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,338
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Sept 28, 2020 22:09:01 GMT
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Looking good Rich, what coilies did you use in the end, golf ones? At the moment it’s seat Ibiza ones, they came off Brothers white Demio, he went back to lowering springs on the new Demio as the ride was nicer and that is a much nicer car. Although he was using longer rear damper bodies. I have those to play with too but I need wheels back off ‘the man’ first. Once it’s on the road I’ll probably do some spring swappage As I suspect coil overs meant for a 1300kg+ car are Not going to be ideal on a 780kg car. |
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Last Edit: Sept 28, 2020 22:09:37 GMT by Rich
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,338
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Oct 21, 2020 21:05:46 GMT
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,338
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Oct 31, 2020 16:46:25 GMT
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,960
Club RR Member Number: 174
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Duuuuuuude that looks epic. What's the finish like? Looks pretty shiny already.
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Mark
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,825
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Love this. Nostalgia overload for me as I worked for Mazda UK back in 1988/89 and ran about in a brand new 'sun top' occasionally. In fact, I looked after the press fleet and my best ever memory was being given £200 for fuel and the keys to a brand new RX7 Turbo2 FC, as I had to run it in prior to it being loaned out. There was I as a 22 year old, the day G reg' came out, in a convertible with the hood down. I was (am) such a tart. I always liked the 121 though and they were rare even then. Those and the 323 turbo 4x4 were my fave' Mazda, although my 1978 bright metallic green FB (like the one below) is the one I wish I had today. I'd have a turbo on it by now! Anyway, sorry for rambling but love your colour choice and the wheels look great.  |
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Last Edit: Nov 1, 2020 10:06:48 GMT by Mark
E36 BMW 318is saloon (rare as a hens false tooth)
VW Caddy Maxi 2010 (usually full of Labradors)
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,338
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Duuuuuuude that looks epic. What's the finish like? Looks pretty shiny already. Finish is great. Few defects in it but nothing I’m worried about. It would have been better to paint panels at a time with the adjacent panel masked off because the blends are harsh but they may polish up, but it looks amazing straight from the can. It’s unreal. |
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,338
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Love this. Nostalgia overload for me as I worked for Mazda UK back in 1988/89 and ran about in a brand new 'sun top' occasionally. In fact, I looked after the press fleet and my best ever memory was being given £200 for fuel and the keys to a brand new RX7 Turbo2 FC, as I had to run it in prior to it being loaned out. There was I as a 22 year old, the day G reg' came out, in a convertible with the hood down. I was (am) such a tart. I always liked the 121 though and they were rare even then. Those and the 323 turbo 4x4 were my fave' Mazda, although my 1978 bright metallic green FB (like the one below) is the one I wish I had today. I'd have a turbo on it by now! Anyway, sorry for rambling but love your colour choice and the wheels look great. Awesome! I can believe the 121 has always been a rare car. They seemed expensive, the 121 LX Suntop was equivalent to £20000 when new.  Was a pretty strange car really, ‘computer’ designed and had a carb/manifold setup with variable intake port tech which is like 20 years ahead of its time, and boasted ridiculous MPG. But it still had a choke. Strange wee beasty. |
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