Been a while since I chimed in but your work never ceases to amaze me. You'll have built a brand new car when this is done!

_________________

Your doing a real nice job overthere, but would'nt you made it yourself a lot easyer, when you had cut out the whole quarterpanels?
The inner quarterpanels and the inner sills would be much better accessible for repairs.

_________________
1994 mazda 626 1.8L 16V hatchback
1977 mazda 818 1.3L 8V coupe
1992 mazda MX-6 2,5L 24V

Thanks Ben, should look good when all done.

Mazda 818, you ask some good questions. Here is a basic run down of the why bit !

The RHS is very good and no one would pull off that quarter panel. There is not much damage there, only rust at the bottom. The LHS could have been replaced in hindsight but raises additional problems around alignment of the panel. If this is wrong your door and front guard wont fit right. The way it has been cut gives no better access to the inner quarter than removing the entire panel (I only need access to small bottom part, upper part is perfect). To access the inner sill requires removing the entire outer sill which a very big job, bigger than anything else I have done ! People I have spoken too would only replace sections of the sill given that most of it is in good condition. But yes your right removing the LHS is a valid option, I had already invested alot of time straightening it and repairing a couple of spots which made me reluctant to undo my work.

By doing what your suggesting would mean first off, Mazda need to sell new panels. Every used quarter panel I have seen has the exact same problems so its a pointless exercise unless you can find new ones. Since Mazda havent sold them for 10+ years then you are at the mercy of private sellers. The panels you talk of are very rare for Rx3 coupes Last I checked people wanted $1500 - 2000 per panel. Thats around $4000 for 2 panels IF you manage to find them ! There is a person here that can hand craft them from flat steel but you are looking at approx $6000 per side. I have made a set of sill panels but would rather replace sections than the entire panel for reasons already mentioned. If you read my posts you'll realise that I had to use sedan parts and make modifications for them to fit, that will give you an idea how hard and expensive some coupe parts are to find. Generally speaking 90% of parts are easily obtainable. Building the car for me is about having fun, and keeping it affordable with a nice car as an end result. Im not chasing the best Rx3 title in the universe like others. Its too easy to over capitalise on things that you love doing !

Once this car is finished I would like to have a go at handcrafting some smaller panels then eventually larger ones. You can rest assured that there'll be another basket case after this one is completed

edit: Im after a new genuine LHS outer sill panel, let me know if you have one.

Its been slow going at the moment, Ive been working on various parts but haven't completed anything significant as I've been busy with other things. Here is the latest to keep the momentum going. The last remaining big challenge for this project is to sort out the LHS sill and rear quarter panel... the rest of the car is straight forward.

I've spent the day working on the left side and in my opinion coupes are rust traps compared with their sedan counter parts. I see lots of problem areas in coupes which are not problem areas in sedans. For people restoring sedans you really have no excuse not to get things right. My own experience with my project raises several points in regards to people building rx3/808 coupes.

1. Some coupe parts are scarce... its near impossible to find new or good genuine sill panels and rear quarter inner skirt to make changing a rear quarter panel a breeze. Quarter panels are around but I cant justify spending 1500 - 2000 per side when I cant get the other parts I want.
2. I believe by now that a significant number of coupes suffer from rust in these areas which raises the question... if parts aren't available what the hell is everyone else doing.... from the 4 or so quarter panels I have I can answer that question... fibreglass and bog and arc welding
3. Because of all the work I've been doing Im of the opinion that the best cars around are the lucky ones that have survived unscathed for 35+ years without having had any of the integrated panels replaced.... very few cars fit this category...

Enough of my worthless opinions and on to the build.....

LHS sill repair which will be covered over several updates. Pic 1, a spare quarter panel I have that I'll be using to repair the sill. I havent exactly worked out how Im going to go about it yet.... I have several thoughts. Pic 2, I managed to find a good sill end cap on this quarter which will replace the rusty one from the car.... pretty amazing really if your saw the rest of the spare sill. Needs to be blasted clean but its rust free.


Lots of bog and glass which I imagine is a standard level of repair given that it would be an expensive repair to have carried out properly. Pic 2, I want the rear part of the sill due to its unique shape which would be complex to fabricate.


Lots of bog folks.... The sill section will be blasted clean.


The critical sections I want are blasted clean. The part I really want is where the sill changes shape and sits under the quarter panel, the rest will be discarded. The part will be blasted to white metal when everything is finalised.


Unpicking the outer quarter skins. There are 3 skins in parts which entrap water... rust is inevitable if your car sees lots of water.


Cutting a little more of the sill from the car as I can feel scaly metal. The inner sill is clean. It baffles me why the opposite side is clean including surface rust. Lots of dirt and broken glass as you can see.


Last of this for now.... Im thinking rather than use the fabricated sill section that I'll use a complete sedan sill and modify the rear of it with part of the blasted section. Alot of work to sort this out but should ensure that I wont have any problems during my lifetime at least.



Here I decided to do something easier and less involved... repairing the drivers door from dents and creases. The passenger side was done some time ago.


Pic 1, most of the damage is fixed now to weld up the non factory mirror holes. Pic 2.... Im happy with the result. The doors had no holes which made things easier.


Pic 1, Stripping the shell. Pic 2, all done and treated with deoxidine until Im ready to prime both doors.



Right quarter repair... this side is pretty rust free especially around the sill area. I have unpicked the remnants of the quarter to dummy fit the replacement skin.


Pic 1, fit is really good. Pic 2, just like the opposite side the profile is a little different on sedans and the inner skirt will need adjusting. The skirts are no longer available BTW. I may have 2 good ones in storage but they will require lots of hours unpicking from the quarters. This method is alot easier and faster.


Repairing some minor rust and modifying the profile to fit the new skin.


Fabricating the new section so it all looks factory.


Marking and cutting the new part to shape.


Cleaning the inner quarter skirt (will be blasted)and bolting together a 5 speed gearbox shell to relocate the gearbox mounts for use with the 10a. Its common practice to bolt a modified gearbox cross member directly to the floor..... not for me though.

More to follow on this when its finished...


The following will interest some of you. I roughly aligned the passenger door and sat a genuine Mazda guard to the car. The guard is not bolted but sits nicely in position. It wouldnt take to much to align the guard and door. I have others guards that have a similar fit.


Pic 1, a bit had to tell due to the white epoxy primer but follow the top door line to the equivalent guard line... perfect match. Pic 2, a repro guard as you can see the line is all wrong. I had to bolt the guard down and wrestle with it to get a decent door gap. The top of the repro guard will need cutting and welding.


But wait... that's not all ! For your money you also get an incorrect guard to door profile There's not much more Im going to say other that my curiosity was satisfied. Im not curious enough to buy a right repro guard though There are other problems but I wont go into them. Save your money and pay a good panel beater to repair your rusty guards. I think the the QA guys at the repro factory must have been high on maybe pot, cocaine, speed or probably all of the above that day FYI I gave a detailed report to the Vic supplier and got no reply. The guards are over priced for the quality of fit. The guard will make an expensive rust patch for one of my rusted genuine guards.


As Mazda say

A part from Mazda, trust nothing else ..... what a fitting parts slogaan

As usual, truly inspiring work

Aren't some repro panels a joke!! I used some repro's to repair a CC lancer that I hit a kangaroo in....trying to get them to look right was a joke, the gaps were terrible and the body crease line was miles out!!

As you said, better to repair damaged originals. I have a rough pair of RX2 guards that I was originally going to chuck, but have stored them for safe keeping....

Keep up the great work!!

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

Yep never again Benn.... having said that I have see some decent repros but they are from years ago and NLA.

I dropped by a place a few weeks ago and the owner was kind enough to let us look through everything in case he missed it. My mate picked up some perfect repro bonnets for his Mark 1 Ford Escort that fit like OEM but no Rx3 stuff :(

I'm picking up my sedan sill from storage this week to get stuck into the left sill repair. I want the car ready for paint come spring time if possible. You never know if mine and yours are both ready I'll meet you at the state border :)

By Looking at your pics you've placed some of you parts on boxes which say "new old car company" . The guy that actually gets them made is in Brissy and I must say if you have purchased parts from him your butt must be very sore! lol Thats not the first time we've seen his efforts up here. You should see the fibreglass repos of rx3 nose cones nearly as good as your front panels.

_________________
round and round and now up and down!

I've only bought one part from that "new old car company" and it was a front left guard more out of curiosity than anything. It is the first and last part I buy from that place........ they sell nothing but repro junk, yes I've seen some of their other stuff, an absolute joke. I bought the panel from one of the dealers in Melbourne who told me he fitted it to his brothers Rx3 and looked good The dealer is also a panel shop Anything to do with that place is nothing but trouble.. they're all crooks as far as Im concerned selling rubbish to people who dont know what's good or bad. The panels do look good though which is what sucked me in.. a pity they dont fit a Mazda They are having rear quarter panels and nosecones made as well which I wont bother with after this effort. I'd rather spend 1000 hours and fix the spare panels I have, at least I know they will fit.

The panels are made by Dynacorn, according to some of the American Classic car sites I browse they dont think much of the Dynacorn quality either..... The dealer only had 2 guards and I bet he couldnt get rid of them fast enough if he really tried to fit them to a car. No panel shop can be that stupid.

Some of the repo parts are just okay. Some of it just rubbish. I bought one set rubber seal for my SA22C from that company. Can’t complain so much. 2 set of rubber seal for a price of 1. Buy one free one.
Rubber quality is okay from my old rubber seal. Guess for now is okay for you to. Better then the old set. Good luck on your restoration. I know it would look fantastic.

_________________

My Parts

Affa... I refuse to deal with that company full stop after being blatantly lied too. There are several other local companys in Victoria and NSW who sell rubber kits where I will source the bits that I cant get.

Minor update, I didnt want too but Ive decided to replace the left sill panel. I wasnt happy having to patch the front and the back section leaving the centre untouched. I hate patching the patch. Its for the better but and will take a few weeks where time allows. This will allow me to thoroughly clean up the inner sills, blast them clean including under the rear quarter panel and recoat with a modern water proof primer. Only the left side is affected. The right sill is quite good as well as where it runs under the rear quarter panel.

Pic 1, Ive been unable to find a rust free coupe sill so I sourced a good sedan sill. It will need a little modification but should be pretty simple. Pic 2, I've unpicked all the spot welds leaving the section I want. I saved the front corner as they come in handy for replacing rusted corner door pillars which is very common in Mazda's of this age.


The outside of the sill panel, you can see where Mazda spot welded the centre pillar for the rear doors. I'm hoping to work the little indentations flat where the centre pillar once was... should be very simple. Pic 2, The sill before I attacked it with the grinder and drill. Its a pity I spent time repairing the front section (which you can see)... not all is lost, it was good practice for the opposite side which turned out excellent.


Pic 1, chopping out the sill... You'll notice I left the top section as I want to take measurements between the sill top and the bottom of the door so I can align the replacement properly. You can see that the inner panel is very good, there was lots of dirt and mud in here. Pic 2, the outer skin that has been chopped... its really not too bad but my decision was justified as the sill area just where it goes behind the quarter is quite scaly. You could have treated it and left it, but what's a little more effort when you consider everything I'll done to date. With the exception of the rear of the sill what you see is mostly dirt.


Close up shot.... the biggest job in the replacement to to carefully remove the old for the new. Same goes for the replacement I will use.


I hope to have the sill replacement modified for the coupe and the inner sill panel blasted and primed next weekend. The weekend after if Im not working will be spent fitting it up. When done this will allow me to repair the remaining section of the LHS quarter panel which will need some fabrication. From there I want to dummy fit the 10a and 5 speed for something different, then finish up the RHS quarter then onto the beaver. From there it'll be up on the rotisserie... the moral of this update is if you dont want to fix rust dont go looking for it... if you look you will find

Any updates?

Sorry no update until I finish the current section which is reasonably involved. The only update I really have is that I'm at mascot airport with every single oem part stashed in my luggage to rebuild front struts and brakes, most of it ex Japan. Need to strip and paint struts before new parts are installed. Next update is about a month away unfortunately.

Looking forward to next update

nice haul of loot by the sounds of it.
your work is outstanding.

Looks fantastic.

Cash for clunkers is what comes to mind at the moment with my epic battle with this build. I think Im now really on top of the worst of it but have been wrong before. Cash for clunkers (not available in Oz) would be a way to be relieved of the pain and get my sanity back.... imagine all the spare time I'd win back ! Sounds like a win win to me. The hardest part of a restoring an old mazda is lack of any quality aftermarket (or genuine) panels. I wont even contemplate dealing with the QLD twit for his repro junk. Imagine taking off a rusty part and not having to compromise on quality because Mazda still sold new panels. It would save hundreds of hours in having to repair old parts. Well I suppose that is what the restoration game is all about. If I ever go through this again with a 12a model, I'd definitely use a different approach.... probably buy one already done

Minor update to save me uploading 200 photos in one update....

Cut the quarter panel to get better access to repair the sill panel. Pic 2, wire wheeled the sill edge to clearly reveal the remaining spot welds that will be drilled out.


Unpicked the remainder of the sill panel. Pretty good shape, I found some minor surface rust towards the back of the inner sill, but pretty good overall. Pic 2, dummy fitting the replacement that will be modified.


Making my own sill panel, I had no luck finding a genuine Mazda sill. All the used ones I saw were rusty as well..... rust buckets ! The old bit I saved was blasted, will need to be rust treated again from constantly handling it.


More fabricating... turning a sedan sill to into a coupe sill.


I ran out of ideas on how to fix this all up. If I couldnt find NOS Mazda parts I'd like to know how others fix their coupes as this is a common problem area.


Getting there, lots of hours going into this....


Blasting the inner sill and priming.


Primed the sill panel and blasted the front corner that fits over the sill.


Welding up a couple of minor holes with the oxy. Pic 2 dummy fitting part and sill panel.


Some cleanup and sealing some repairs (not all mine !) to prevent moisture causing trouble in the future.


Sealing the welding with brushable sealer on the sill panel. Pic 2 fitting door to check sill -> door gap. I scribbled measurements on the door before I removed the old sill.


Pic 1, checking gaps before any welding takes place. Pic 2, trail fitting scuff panel to make sure everything fits right. I got a good pair of scuff panels from Japan, was very lucky as they are both look close to new.


Pic 1, getting ready to weld corner section. Pic 2, removed primer where plug welds will go through sill panel. Corner welded on, still need to plug weld around corner which will be done when sill panel is attached.


Dummy fitting sill again getting ready for attaching sill panel..... lots of plugs required here.


Im reasonably happy with the repair, I (hopefully) wont be doing this ever again. I really wanted a new sill panel which never eventuated.... restoration is sometimes about compromise when new parts arent available. A lot of effort and time has gone into the sill otherwise I'd still be looking at it in 5 years time. Hmmm, this car belongs in the rusty relics junk section

Fantastic.
I've said it before, but this thread really should be a sticky on the front page.

You know that you'll have basically built an RX-3 from scratch when you're done, right?

_________________

we want to encourage old car restoration not scare people away..... do u think I would of done this if I honestly knew what was involved! It's better to keep it where it is

....... yep and loving it


Minor update, sill almost finished.

Refitted door for again just before I started plug welding to ensure sill is installed straight. Pic 2, no turning back now, welding has begun.


Lots of plug welds top and bottom of sill panel, its not going anywhere. The MIG was on its last legs and couldnt finish the job off that day. SIP Migmate 150 is a piece of Sh!t !! One day it welds beautifully, the next day without touching any settings it plays up. I had enough of it and should have replaced it long ago. I replaced the unit with a reputable American brand, and cant believe the difference. Its like comparing a Bugatti Veyron to a Fiat Bambino 500.... there is just no comparison, I just love the new unit. For people looking at MIGs stick to the reputable big names like Kempi, Lincoln, Miller etc. From the word go I noticed a better cleaner arc, and the gun is miles ahead of the old unit. For people with a keen eye you'll notice that Im placing my plugs inbetween the factory welds. I achieved this by unpicking the sill from the inside to try and keep it looking factory.... well thats the theory.


More clamping welding....


Inside view and dressing the welds.


Doesnt take too long to dress the welds..... still need to do dress the underside.


Next step will be to clean the sill end cap and weld into place. Once that's complete I'll clean up the sill, left A Pillar and door jam and spray a sealer coat to water proof the areas. Once the patch in pic 2 goes on I really cant spray inside the quarter very well. Pic 2, this is the patch that I'll be using to finish off the quarter panel. Unfortunately they all rust at the bottom so you're going to see some fabrication work when Im ready.


I counted 10 layers before I hit the factory white paint. I'm going to fabricate the lower section and the wheel arch curve/ flange as its bogged up and pitted. This will all be done off the car prior to fitting.


The bottom of the sill should be dressed up and finished tomorrow, I'll need to make a start on the sill end cap and just for something different I've also started cleaning up the insides of the door shells. They are pretty good but there is some minor surface rust that needs to be cleaned up before I prime then. I dont wont the rust converter affecting the primer and then possibly the paint work so needs to be done before priming is done. Its a crap job but unfortunately I have no apprentice to off load this particular task too




Another small update.... I've got my blinkers on, and can see the goal line in regards to the shell. It's only taken 4 years ! I thought I'd work on something different and finish off the right side of the shell while Im waiting on a couple of things to complete the left side.

Some trimming and clean up of the inner panel, this has been previously repaired when one of the previous owners made a lower patch skin. A little bit of repair work going on. Ive lost count on the amount of rusty metal that Ive removed.


I need to work on the outer skin while repairing the inner panels simultaneously to ensure all fits. Pic 1, repairing a scrape. Pic 2, I beat out the dent over a bag of rags using a concave hammer on the inside.


Smoothed out the crease over a post dolly, there is a small section that will need to be done once the panel is fitted to the car. Apart from that its 90% gone aside from a minor section just below where the reflector mounts towards the very rear. Pic 2, welding on some replacement metal where the skin will partially mount over. I cut off the old metal because it was rusty metal welded to the replacement patch.


Early stages of the repair.... unfortunately I forgot to take a pic of the finished repair !


Dummy fitting the skin so I can adjust the inards accordingly


Repairing and reshaping part of the inner wheel arch. The bottom part was rusty which has now been fixed. The previous repairer just welded right over the top of the bad bits when they replaced the lower skin. If I took this approach I would have been finished years ago. Pic 2, screwing the arch so I can adjust it to the sedan skin, there are very minor differences between coupe and sedan skins that 99% of people wouldnt notice. Fixing little bits and pieces even though you'll never see them consumes lots of extra hours. When Im using offcuts I notice that its quite common to not remove the rusty metal. Ive seen this time and time again. When someone says its all been metal plated up, that means nothing to me after what Ive seen. Photos of a repair mean everything.


Repairing and adjusting the wheel arch before it all goes back together.


Pic 1, the repaired arch, lower section is partially new. Pic 2, getting ready to tack into place for minor adjustments, very fiddly work. I could have left it but thought better of it.


Trimming the skin, I think the neighbours hated me while I was carefully trimming the skin..... about 30minutes worth of noise that couldnt be helped.


Getting there, inner skin almost done. Will sandblast and prime tomorrow prior to finishing off the inner section as wheel arch over laps with the inner quarter panel. Bare metal in between the joints = future rust. Pic 2, readjusting and taking again. Hopefully I get the position right this time.


Panel clamps used to hold skin in place while I check alignment of inner wheel arch....


More to follow, sandblasting and priming tomorrow. If there is time the skin will hopefully be welding into place. Ahh Im really tired, been rolling around on the floor most of the day.

Hi gypsy, ive been looking into how to's for awhile for my restoration when i found your posts, what a goldmine of tips and tricks, thanks alot, took quite awhile to go through all 12 pages taking notes lol.
Just wondering what sand blaster you use, also do you use a air fed full face mask for all your painting? Do you have issues with neighbours\pets with your 2k painting?