Minor update...

Nose cone has been pulled out to get more attention, you might recall that I've repaired the lower cowl some time ago. Pic 2 the underside of the bonnet has been cleaned up, epoxy primed and then 2K primed. Here Im seam sealing the joins with 3M Dripcheck. I mask up to get clean lines.


Roof has been epoxy primed, will spray in 2K primer once the everything up front is complete. That is dust on the roof from all the blocking. Garage needs a good cleanup and hosing down, so does the interior of the car. Pic 2, topside of bonnet finally done, its been sprayed in Hi Fill primer and guide coat ready for blocking and finally paint ! Will block with 600 before it gets painted. I may test spray the underside to ensure the colour is what I expect it to be.


Both wheel arches now complete and ready for stone guard. Right side still needs seam sealer when I get the time. Once stone guard is sprayed will spray paint over the top, wet on wet to reduce prep time. Stone guard is white so stone chips wont show up if paint chips. Method is approved on stone guard product sheet.


And finally the little 10a engine will be dummy fitted to ensure 5 speed fits OK as dont want to be drilling and welding once car is painted. Need call Mazda up for some new engine and gearbox mount before proceeding.


As far as the shell repairs go, I only have the rear quarters to finish off. I hope I get there.... I've been hard at it lately and have run out of puff and my arms and shoulders are arching from all the blocking. I think Ive tracked down a good rust free left guard that I'll inspect in the next few weeks. Will make for a easier and nicer repair. Will keep the others as spares....

How good does it look with the nosecone on!! Love the 10A front on RX3's - they look awesome!!

Some nice work happening here gypsy!! I reckon your's will be done before mine......

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

Some pics of my first ever attempt painting. I really wanted to see what the colour would look like. Im very happy with the results and the colour. Alot of friken hard work went into this bonnet to make it look decent. Lesson learnt, save yourself alot of hassle and start with a good panel to being with !

The bonnet is sprayed in Sikkens Single Stage Aurora White (code WN) which is the original colour of my Rx3. The gloss is amazing, will leave it for a while before I rub it back with some wet and dry and then give it a buff. Im almost too scared to rub it back and buff it in case I stuff it up !

A couple of priming shots



Paint at last, well on the bonnet at least !





The biggest headache on this bonnet was trying to get the wavy lines on one side straight. I was a bit worried that it would show in the paint but all those prep hours paid off until I got it right. I couldn't tell you how many times I had to redo it.

Now that I have this out of my system I can concentrate on dummy fitting engine and box and finish off the rear quarters. I've just had a surge in enthusiasm

Nice one gypsy Bonnet has come up a treat!! Looks very flat and glossy in the pic. Well done.

I can't wait to paint something on mine, even if it is just the air cleaner!!

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

Ive been putting off the following repair forever, anyway Ive run out of excuses not doing it. Its actually turned out to be pretty simple to do, not finished yet but the inner rear left is now almost done, another day should be enough to complete the inner structure.

I had planned replacing the wheel tub but I think that was overkill + that would require removing the quarter panel. Some of the parts I was chasing didnt surface or were more trouble that the ones on the car so I decided to continue with the original fabrication plan rather that wait for more coupe parts to appear in my garage !

I think only hardcore Mazda aficionado's will appreciate this update..



I began this repair many months ago, first job was to clean the area using deoxidine which dissolved the surface rust from my previous fabrication work. Pic 2, Im using sedan parts for the repair as I couldnt source good coupe parts. I've trimmed the end to enlarge a section as coupes have a different shape that sedans. I dont know what you;d even call this part.




Next I've clamped similar gauge steel to make the sedan part fit my coupe. Pic 2 tacking into place.


Increasing the weld run, pic 2 cleanup stage.



Trail fitting the section (hope it makes a little more sense now) and Pic 2 I have dummy fitted the outside quarter skin so I can align the inner panel. Mazda nuts will notice that Ive cut part of the flange that mates the outer skin to the inner skin using spot welds. The reason it was cut is that the sedan flange is substantially larger and will not fit a coupe.


Once happy with alignment I use a self tapper to hold the parts in place so I have the same reference point each time I remove and refit. Pic 2 you can see the piece that was welded needs to be trimmed down.


Next Ive cut down the sedan flange and temporary tacked it while I align the outer skin. Pic 2 Im finally happy the flange now meets up with the outer skin. These 2 parts will eventually be plug welded together.


The patch is now removed and the modified flange and patch will now be welded together.


The tacks turn into nice weld beads... lots of fun here, yes really !


You can now clearly see what Ive done, nice


You can see the weld penetration along the inner wheel arch edge. The quarter skin will be tapped down (obviously) prior to welding. Pic 2, patch removed for trimming and final fitment.


Trimmed and primed ready for fitment.


Held into place using panel clamps, pic 2 welding into place...


Fixing a wheel arch hole created by previous owners.


More to follow.............

Hey Gypsy,

Not sure if your aware of this, but theres 3 x RX3/808's @ andys autos in cambelfield. The coupe is fair-fucked and their all pretty stripped, but theres a few bits and pieces on the sedans like the rear quarters.

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[F3ARED] 76 Isuzu Gemini Coupe - forged G180z, EFI, 525hp Turbo, 6years and still building...

Daily 78 Isuzu Gemini Sedan, stock G161z, Rodeo EFI, 500hp roller, 157rwkw. Fun

Thanks for tip... will check them out but pretty much have everything I need at last !

Truely inspiring work!!!

I enjoyed every page of this thread!

yeah but the cocklords that run Andy's now want fricken gold for everything.

ps. awesome write up Gypsy.

Another Update....

A little bit of everything...

Lining things up for weld bead and repairing rust on the outer skin


Marking the patch and clamping in place.


Almost finished the inner panel and test fitting skin with inner panel.


Finishing off the lower section of the inner panel and pic 2 finally done... yay Needs to be trimmed along red line.


Pic 1, nice fit, Pic 2 bottom edge trimmed... still needs to be primed.


Pic 1, while panel was fitted traced around the cut line so I know how much I have to work with. Pic 2, marked out the size of the patch, there is over lap between the patrch and car skin that will be trimmed.


Patch trimmed and ends are being straightened over a dolly. The patch will be trimmed down further and cut when fitted to car.


Patch skin adjusted and then screwed to car to keep everything 100% still while cutting. I will cut through both the car quarter skin and patch skin where they overlap so that I have a perfect matching constant edge between both panels for welding. This will make welding a joy and will give a really good finish. This will leave me with a perfect welding gap of around 0.6mm right across the cut.


Last of the quarter sking for now, I've started cutting through both panels. You can see the section inside the boot that will eventually be discarded. Once cutting is complete I will blast the lower edge outer skin where there was surface rust, strip it and then give it a good coat of water prrof primer before I start welding.


I fabricated the following that holds the quarter window sealing rubber. This will all sit under the stainless brightwork. Rx3 coupes suffer from water collecting in this area. I could leave it because no one will see it, but it will bug me until fixed right. You can see in Pic 2 the section that I chopped out.


Test fitting the OEM seal, will be primed then fitted. Pic 2, stuffing around with the nosecone !


Cleaning up the remainder of the boot tar that someone carelessly brushed everywhere. Back breaking work but got it done.


More boot shots, cleaned up with stripper, blasting and thinners... UHH !


All done and treated with deoxidine... will tidy up bits and pieces with the sander but done.


Moving to the right rear quarter skin next... looked OK and more than pass-able but my better judgement and destructive mood told me to start a chopping ! Couldn't help myself but to remove a good looking patch.


What a perfect way to remove the blast grit... chop up your car !


Whats the point of a good patch if you dont address the underside ? Better than the opposite side, wont take much to clean this up, will also let me recreate the lines on the right side between rear quarter skin and beaver panel. More to follow on this one as well....


Got sick of the shell so thought would finish off right door + tryiing to keep noise down. Left door was finished some time ago and is ready for primer so got started on right door. All the bolt on panels going on this car are rust free with no patches. Pic 1, looks like a door... Pic 2 started sanding, filing and tapping the lower part of the door.


Took some care and a couple of hours and metal finished the lower section. Will need nothing more that high fill on this part. I had to file it regardless due to some twit stripping the door with 1 grit paper and excessively marking the panel. Its pretty good now, lower section at least. Pic 2, along way to go with the upper part of the skin, it seems I can find straight rusty panels or damaged rust free panels but not straight and rust free None the less, the doors that came with the car are good rust free and repairable with some love.


As you can see I've been a busy boy, Ive placed another order of Rx3 bits with Mazda that are coming Ex Japan, started reco'ing front struts/ brakes and preping some stuff to fit engine and box. The shells repairs are starting to come to an end

Senasational work as always Progressing nicely Gypsy!!

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

Awesome work.

Getting a little jealous seeing the quality of some newer restos... anyway More updates

More work to the rear left quarter panel, always alot more work and time required than initially thought ! Pic 1, finished cutting through both skins. Pic 2, skin is trimmed and is now being prepared for fitment. Here I've used stripper to remove the original paint.


Next photos... panel cleaned up with thinner then treated with deoxidine to kill off any remaining rust. Pic 2, the panel was then blasted clean. I thought it was all finished but blasting revealed 3 more tiny pin holes where there was pitting in the metal. These were welded up easily enough, Ive now got all the rust


Next I prep the underside, strip, deoxidine, thinner with scotchbrite and finally coated in white primer as this will may be seen through the boot.


Pic 1, another photo of the same thing. As an extra precaution the welds were coated in rubber seam sealer to ensure moisture is kept out. Pic 2, the inside of the skin is primed.


You can see the seam sealler in these 2 photos, call it overkill but I think its better than having rust return. In pic 2 Ive applied a thick coat of seam sealer around the arch to stop the quarter skin rubbing against the inner structure and causing more rust... well this is how the factory did it in these areas. I've also cleaned up where the plug welds will go.


Panel aligned and clamped into place for the welding job at hand.


Started welding, a big, time consuming job. To put it into perspective I'll spend roughly 8 hours welding and panel beating the weld seam, cleaning the welds and straightening the surrounding area from both inside the boot and the exterior part of the panel. The time doesnt include, fixing the inner panels, blasting, stripping, treating and priming stages. Thats an additional 2 -> 3 days work !! Pic 2, you can see where the plug welds will go around the wheel arch. Sedans appear to have lots more welds in this area that coupes. In pic 2 you can see some of my custom fabrication work... very happy with the result (surrounding wing area where you see 2 holes)


Weld shots from inside the boot, I hope to dress these so you cant see them from inside the boot. Time will tell but the welds are pretty nice and clean. There is one area that needs a little pulling but as luck has it the area is right behind the lower part of the boot upright so couldnt get the timber block in there May need to use a stud gun instead... (welding is 70% done)... The inside of the quarter panel is looking super clean as well


Last quarter panel shot, the reason behind this repair was several aside from the obvious rust issue. For starters I wanted the factory rear reflector recess (see above pics) which are normally beated out because of accident damage. The other reason is that I wanted clean beaver to rear quarter lines. In the Pic below this will be achieved by welding in some fresh sheet metal and cutting the desired line. There are alot of 808's and Rx3's getting around without lines here because of cheap repairs where the 2 panels are either welded together or brushed with rust converter and then bogged over. Interestingly enough the quarter skin I used off a sedan never had side badges so I will need to mark out and drill the appropriate holes. Welding the skin isnt difficult just time consuming. The difficult part was fixing the inner panels. I tried unsuccessfully to obtain either good used or preferably new replacements. Its all too late to change anything now as its mostly done. The result should be good and will need to be partially repeated on the opposite side (RHS is alot cleaner).


Some miscellaneous shots... Contrary to what some of you may believe the quarter skin repair is not the biggest remaining repair. It is the rear end of the sill panel. Havent settled on how Im going to do it but Im hoping it'll come to me in my sleep before the time comes for me to carry out the repair. The quarter skin repairs are pretty straight forward in comparison. I feel lucky that I only have to do this on one side as the other side is 100% clean. The bottom of the pictured sill 100% clean believe it or not, only the side has rusted out due to filling up with rubbish and rusting out the sill and surrounding quarter skin due to poor design. (Very last of the rust that needs to be fixed)


I also started to pull down one of the 10a's due to the container filling up with water ! Thankfully all is OK, the engine was seized but I managed to free it up and now freely turns over. There is compression in front chamber but rear rotor is carboned up with stuck seals. The inside condition is pretty good and will need very little to rebuild. it also looks like its been mildly ported.



Thats it for the update !

More updates...

I finished off welding the LHS quarter panel repair as well as repairing the quarter window weather seal area which is something I started long ago. Over all the quarter repair is progressing really well. I've also worked out my plan of attack on repairing the rear LHS sill and quarter panel area. Shouldnt be too hard. The solution came to me in a dream

On to the pics..

Pic 1, after I finished welding there was only minor area that needed pushing out. This was done using a porta power, it took no more than 10 minutes to rectify. The weld line has been cleaned up from both inside and outside the boot ready for filling. Pic 2 I fabricated the top part which is part of the quarter panel (rear LHS quarter window area). The lower of the 2 parts was deemed usable, cleaned up and primed. I fabricated both parts for the opposite side. The shallow S bend is achieved by hitting the appropriate area over a solid piece of metal. The hammer blows stretch the metal and forms a curve. Pretty simple really... no more than 15 minutes is required.


You've seen the following procedure several times in my thread. Plug welding... I have lots of practice and can do it with my eyes shut !


Plug welding complete, turned out nice. Parts were then primed again and then dummy fitted for welding to the car. If your looking for an Rx3 coupe ensure you check out this area as they are known to rust here. Most people wont pickup on it because the panel is hidden by bright work and a rubber seal. If your looking at an old clapped out car its not uncommon for the parts to separate leaving nothing to hold the weather seal in place. When you see silicon glue used to hold bits on an old Mazda you can almost guarantee that its rust related.


Welds are primed and the part is then clamped into place after cleaning the surrounding area. The area has been previously repaired with brazing rod and filler which looked messy and bugged me more than anything.


Welding the parts together....


Welding is done, turned out good. Will clean up the area in pic 2, brush some primer then coat with seam sealer.


All that work and it wont be seen, the area is covered by a piece of stainless brightwork. Pic 2, measured and marked out holes for the my new Rx3 badge. It felt good mounting that badge even if it's only temporary.


Some general shots, Im one happy camper ! Will need to strip the blue paint and eventually prep for primer. I was playing around with panel gaps over the weekend so mounted the repaired door to the car. There is dust everywhere, will need to vacuum and hose out the garage and clean out the car. I had a bit of a cleanup as well, threw out lots of metal off cuts that are no longer needed.


It now looks like Im going to use my fabricated number plate holder to replace the wobbly one on the car. Removing the old one will also make repairing the lower beaver panel section that much easier. Try finding a new one of these at your local Mazda dealer !


Well, before you know it the left quarter panel will be done leaving the beaver panel and the right quarter panel to finish off the shell. I'll be travelling to my secret parts stash shortly to get the wheel arch patch for the left quarter and ship a few other things so I can send them off to the mechanic.

Checklist to complete left quarter panel
1. repair inner sill using my fabricated sill panel
2. fabricate the lower section of the LHS 1/4 panel.. worked out and under control
3. Weld on the wheel arch patch
4. plug weld LHS quarter sking to wheel arch and rear inner quarter panel

More updates soon

Holy smokes!

Love ya work as always. Was it unavoidable to cut the rear quarter right across the middle? Is it unusual for that area under the rear quarter window to be double skinned like that in other cars? (I would have thought the panel would just have a return there and the chrome strip and rubber strip would just clip on).

Also...what are these nifty things called that are holding the panels butted together?

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Sheet metal butt welding clamps:

Harbor Freight, Eastwood and various other stores sell them

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/PanelCla ... 0433261677

http://www.eastwood.com/metal-fabricati ... -of-4.html

Thanks Kev, I couldnt have cut it much higher otherwise I'd run into other problems. For starters I'd have to cut out the fuel filler (may result is alignment issues with the fuel tank) and if I cut any higher at the rear of the car then I'd have problems with the tail light recess. From the outside of the car I've cut probably 75% up the top of the quarter panel. It would have been nice to cut higher to make it easier to hide the weld but I couldnt go much higher given that I've used a sedan quarter instead of a coupe quarter. Both sedan and coupe skins are identical where I cut. If you cut higher at the back near the tail lights then the skin wouldnt have matched as the sedans are completely different. This hole excercise to cut that high was so that I could have my factory reflector recesses back, I dont think anyone else would have bothered. Before you ask I used sedan quarters as they are easy to find, coupe quarter panels are challenging to find at the best of times let alone finding good ones. I have 2 good ones but I dont want to chop them up, they will be going on a 12a coupe that I have in mind. New coupe quarters come up occasionally but will set you back $1500 - 2000 each, thats $3000 - 4000 in 2 panels, then you need the matching inner quarters which are even harder to find. I've spent $400 to fix both sides which is a big difference ! Too many people over spend on old cars, I like to keep it real and affordable + Im having lots of fun. I should be able to hide the welds as they are pretty clean and flat, time will tell.

Also the panel is as you say it is, it is not double skinned. The quarter folds over and then there is a metal strip spot welded on the inside to hold the weather seal and chrome work in place. See the previous page for more photos. If you need more to clear things up let me know !




$119 for panel clamps , I paid roughly $2 each off ebay ! I ground down the plate that is wedged between the 2 panels to have a smaller welding gap as I think they're a little to thick standard for Japanese tin.

Mega mega thumbs up. I think this build up should be on the main page.

Ah, gotcha.

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OK, I've stopped procrastinating and almost onto the home stretch with the shell work. There is one remaining semi major repair + handful of smaller easy jobs before I declare the shell rust free ! I recall some time ago stating that the shell was relatively free from corrosion but how wrong was I. Grey water proof putty goes along way in disguising problem areas. Anyway, Im pretty sure I've identified and addressing the remaining areas. Most of the panel work is complete as well, the only panels that need a bit of time to get them right is the nosecone and drivers door, all other panels need minor work to get them ready for primer.

Pic 1, where I left off last update. Before I do my filler work the panel still needs plug welding around the wheel arch as well as completing the sill repair. I have a bit of blasting to do on the opposite side so wont be welding around the wheel arch until that is done. Not welding the edges of the quarter at this stage makes it easier ridding the back end of blast grit. Pic 2, cut out the front of the sill.


Pic 1, fibre glass around the flange. Pic 2, Ive removed the sill end cap by drilling the spot welds out.


Pic 1, the inner sill/rocker panel is badly pitted to the point where Im not going to bother blasting it clean. Pic 2, the sill end cap isnt much better !


Pic 1, you can see where the spot welds were removed to remove the end cap. Pic 2, Another Rx3 rust prone area. Mazda's solution was to place a drain hole on the rear with rubber flap and wasnt concerned with water collecting in between the skins which is inevitable and has no where to go. Someone has had a go repairing this with fibreglass, at least is wasnt going to rust again


A couple of shots of the sill end cap. I tried getting a replacement from Mazda hoping a dealer would have one sitting on the for 30+ years, no luck. None available ex Japan either so its either the fabrication route or sourcing a used item. I cut up one of my coupe quarters that I have up in Sydney to repair the front of the quarter as well as the sill. Time will tell if the used parts are usable or rubbish.


Marked out what was to be cut off. Above the line is 100% clean, below is junk ! Pic 2, saved me alot of trouble removing the fibre glass as well. Disgraceful, is a word that comes to mind


Replacing inner section made up and welded onto clean metal. The repair addressed 2 problems... 1. rust 2. a damaged lower sill edge from not jacking the car correctly.


The last of the inner sill/rocker repair for now. No more rust pits, holes or wavy bottom edge. This is a rear shot of the repair, still more to do. The sill end cap will be welded on to this area. I will remove a little more of the sill near the passenger door then blast back the remaining surface rust to white metal then prime the inside before fitting the outer sill/ rocker panel area. Repairs like this are always slow going especially when new parts arent available. You can spend alot of time stripping back old parts and sometimes its for nothing. I have it all planned out, nothing too hard.


Next section is where blasting needs to occur to get a clean repair. Im always critical of people that repair cars with no rear quarter to beaver panel lines. The followings show why. BTW this side is pretty good overall. The previous repairer failed to address the minor rust on the inner quarter panel, I suppose out of site out of mind for most people. Filler and cardboard directly over rusted metal, a textbook Mazda Rx3 repair


Its not even worth putting in the recycling bin


Pic 1, area will be blasted, patched and primed. Looks alot worse than what it really is. Most of it is dirt. Pic 2, preparing the RHS skin repair.


The replacement area is very clean with only a tiny bit of surface rust. Will be trimmed down and welded into place once the sill on the LHS is repaired. The inner quarter panel needs some minor adjustment for it to all go together nicely.


There will be a few more updates completing the bodywork before the fun part of owning a project is over