Hi all, I've been a member on here for a little while now and thought it was about time to start a thread about my car. It has been a long time coming since I bought my first rx2 about 4 years ago, getting it sandblasted and finding out it needs a lot more work then first thought. So then this one come along...
The plan has always been to make it just a nice car to drive with a bit of power to boot and a really tidy interior.

I'll keep it brief and start with a few pics of when i first started work on it. The body was just painted in the original green before i bought it from a mate. I stripped & cleaned the underside of the car of everything and painted it with some chassis black, same with diff etc. and put new nolathanes throughout.

I trial fitted the engine and box a few times, its a 13b bp with a series 4 5 speed box. Using these mounts the shifter fits in the original location leaving the tunnel and shifter hole un-molested and original. Although it might sit a little further forward then ideal.

Skipping forward a year or so i removed the complete dash from a donor car which is uncracked and in great condition! (apart from a heap of dirt and dust) I've used lots of interior bits and pieces from the donor car to make my interior. Also had a set of carpets made from the originals instead of those shit moulded 2 pieces you can get. The original sound deadner had been removed so i layed down some superlight dynamat to help reduce road noise.

The interior may not be 100% correct and original as i've used bits and pieces from other cars that are different year models but who cares it still looks factory! The coupe steering wheel i purchased from DAZZ. I took it apart, sanded it, painted it black semi-gloss, cleaned up the springs and horn button and put it back together. It now looks a million dollars! (or $950 on ebay)

Anyway thats enough for now i'll upload some photos. Cheers, Mick.

When i first bought it cleaning the underside.

OK so it won't let me post anymore then 2 pics?

yeah best thing is to remote host pics on this forum

cheers matt,







Steering wheel before:



And after:




Interior after removal of old dash:



Donor:


Half done:



Gauges all cleaned up thanks to the old man.






Next i'll need to update with some current pics of interior...

Very Very Nice! Thats one of my Favorite Colors for the Capella

Nice car mate, I like the single square fronts on RX-2's, makes a nice change from the double rounds! And green looks mean! Super tidy underneath, an often neglected area..
I like how the rear ends on twos are done, I had always assumed they had leave springs like 808/RX-3's until another member on here showed me his set up!
Great looking car and I look forward to some more pics!

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Awesome car! Welcome and thanks for the pics!
I like that you have all the trims in tact around the front grille etc, good on you for adding the small details!
From memory your model has the "stag" capella badges in the centre of all the seats and on the rear pillars, oh and the "RE" on the front quaters. I think the early rx's had the best badging and chrome strips etc. With the detail you have already gone too I do hope these badges make it back onto or into your car.

My love started when as a young lad my second car was a s1 rx2 in this color, It received a shit backyard paint job in white prior to me purchasing it. I loved that model car, had big dreams for it to turn back to stock colour. That was until one day driving for work (yes my rx2 was a daily) I ran up the rear of a datsun 180b and wrote off both cars.. oops, but my skills and financial woes at 17 years old would have limited the progress anyhow!

keep up the good work!

awesome build-up - I much prefer the square front of the series 1 - def now a $950 wheel on ebay

Looks awesome so far! Any more pics of the interior?

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Thanks for all the positive comments guys, appreciate it.

I havn't got any current pics of the interior but i will try and get some on the weekend however the mint front door trims i have for it don't fit because of the position of the door lock pull up cap! Does anyone know when they changed from the lock being at the back of the door to centre/past half way? All of our other rx2's and capella's are in the centre of the door! Dad thought the very early models had the lock at the back of the door they then changed position as a theft prevention?

Unfortunately i don't have the seat badges, but the rest of the badges will go on, c pillar, front guards, grill etc. The colour has grown on me more now, it's a pity the underside of the car won't stay that way though

Couple more pics of the interior up to date. Came out really small for some reason.

I really like the spray job. Well Done!

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Nice and neat, not over the top ...i like it.

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Did you re-piant your dash black plastics? They look fantastic, also did you redo the plastic chrome trim around your radio/ temp controls? I've been looking into repainting all the plastics, and interior panels to freshen up the interior. But not sure on how to go about it.

I love your interior!! Like Restoremaz... not over the top.

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Hey thanks guys! It's defiantly not Restoremaz standard though, your cars are amazing.

Vintage - None of the dash has been re painted just cleaned with Dissol and Armour All.
On the radio/temp some of the chrome had worn off the surround and lettering so I touched that up with one of those silver metallic texta pens. It's not 110% but still looks good.

I have however painted the centre console because someone had sprayed it with silver paint!!
I used VHT vinyl dye on that and it came up pretty good. I've used the VHT vinyl dye a few times now and it always does a good job on the plastic trims but only if they don't come up well after a good clean.