Finished off the bumper bar side of things today. Welded the ends, then welded the 'paddles' to the bar.
I'm pretty proud of this one. Turns out, getting welding practice makes your welding better.
All welded up, with a couple coats of paint.
On to the next. Probably going to finish up...
You're going to need to bleed it again when you replace the hydraulics. The car's almost 20 years old, might as well replace the master slave cylinders then bleed it once.
IMO and all that :)
I got the ends of the frame rails where I cut out the bumper bar boxed back in, for both strength and safety working around that area.
MIG welding thin, old sheet metal with .030 wire is a pain in the ass but I made it work. I need to get a bigger piece of copper to use as a heat sink for stuff...
It never ends. Mazdaspeed finally did me wrong (only took them 15 years lol)
They sent upper ball joint boots instead of the lowers I need. The lower joint, since it takes more load, is a good bit bigger than the upper
It's the 1 thing preventing me from bolting the suspension back onto the car...
Of course, no matter how careful I am and how nice of a tool I use, I always manage to booger up at least 1 of the ball joint boots on removal.
I've got a new boot coming, but they're a real pain in the ass to put on without punching a hole through them. And of course, I don't have a 'correct'...
Engine's out:
And the new subframe in. I had to pat my head and rub my tummy and figure out which order the bolts wanted to go in so that all the holes lined up (thanks V8R!!! :diaf:) but once I figured out which hole was the furthest out and started there, it all bolted in.
Next I get to...
That's quite an update, I hope that actually corrects the issue.
Imagine how much easier all that would be if you cut the whole front out of the car though! (rlaugh)
I also may have started hacking away at it like a maniac with an angle grinder and sawzall affliction....
I figure the engine will likely be in and out a bunch with the upcoming project, so I might as well make it easier on myself and be able to pull the engine and trans straight out the...
Project "Bolt-on bumper bar" is underway
I figure the engine will likely be in and out a bunch with the upcoming project, so I might as well make it easier on myself and be able to pull the engine and trans straight out the front as a package.
I cut as much of the upper rad 'support' as I could...
Ran the Lucky Number 13th running of the Chasing the Dragon Hill Climb in North Carolina this weekend and exceeded even my wildest hopes for what I and the car would be able to do.
We rolled it off the trailer and on a shakedown / recon lap, it was 2 seconds off class-record pace (127 sec), and...