Ceylon's 2002 Innocent Blue FD

[Ceylon]

Excuse the copy and paste from another forum .

Hello, my name is Tom and I have an FD problem. This is my third FD and I plan to be holding onto this one for a long time.

The car is a bone stock 2002 Type R Bathurst in 20P. She needs a bit of TLC to get her up to snuff, but all fairly minor things really :thumbsup:.

Plans are to keep it pretty stock (Yeah, I said that last time too ) and to restore it to as new condition. Late model 17" BBS wheels, RZ brakes & seats, that kind of thing :thumbsup:. I want to keep this one on the road to be enjoyed, not up on stands for a few years on end like my last one .

Here are some pics:

img_3180_31302278331_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3179_31416919225_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3176_30609921753_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3181_31272394542_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3184_31380971966_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3174_31416972225_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3185_31302215281_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3182_30595724934_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3183_31047654110_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

 

[Ceylon]

So I've had the car a week and a half & have found/fixed various issues with the car, typical of FD ownership really .

First was ignition breakup, plug lead had popped off. Got to love the easy fixes .

Now that was fixed I noticed that the car was not reliably hitting full secondary boost in first and second gear, but fine in higher gears. Turned out one of the vacuum pipes on the turbo control actuator had deteriorated, now fixed :thumbsup:.

Back box decided to slip off one of its mounts, making a nice clanging noise . While fixing it I had a good look at the underside of the car. It's in very good condition, my Audi looked worse when it was two years old, very happy .

Interior has been tidied up a bit. Replaced the generic rear fog switch with an oem euro spec rear fog switch and a few of the dash blanks that had been modified for alarm lights etc have been replaced by new pieces .

Passenger wheel arch liner has seen better days and the passenger brake duct is not there at all! So I've ordered up some genuine Mazda parts to tidy the car up a bit.

Oem parts on the way so far:
Handbrake
Gaiter
Gear knob
Passenger wheel arch liner
Passenger brake duct
Drivers knee rest
FPD
Injector diffusers & seals
Check valves
Fuel filter
Spoiler seals

Hopefully the weather will pick up soon so I can take some better pictures .

Loving the stock ECU, no plans to change that. I may, however, change the backbox. She's a little too quiet for my liking .

 

[Ceylon]

So, now that the car is working properly I thought I'd start taking it apart . Restoration has begun .

img_3270_30861757904_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Mainly just to address some minor surface rust in the usual places..

img_3271_31703237205_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3274_31666420166_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3275_30893293843_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3276_31666381076_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

All of the rust was surface and nearly all of it was removed back to good with an angle grinder and wire brush. For the parts I couldn't get into with an angle grinder (E.g. seams etc) I used some rust converter.

Amazing how much better things look after a bit of epoxy .

img_3272_31556859902_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3281_30893217913_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3282_31667861606_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3283_30861566594_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3285_31587587461_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3280_30861605104_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

I'll pull the front bumper & wings off soon, giving the front end a good going over and likely a respray of the support bar, front legs, inner wings etc after re-doing all the seam sealer.

 

[Ceylon]

So, boring stuff. I wanted some better/non orange headlights that you can actually see with at night. I've fitted Bi-Xenons to both my previous FD's, but as I'm trying to keep this one as close to stock as possible, changing the headlight housings was not an option. I also get pretty irritable when I get blinded by people who stick high intensity discharge lights into stock reflector housings, so that was also out.
So, what that leaves me with is Philips new Luxeon LED's that preserve the standard beam pattern while chucking out gargantuan amounts of light. Sounds good? Well it is.

Pics:

wp_20170113_17_52_45_pro_32293212872_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Fits like a glove with zero modifications to the car.

wp_20170113_18_02_22_pro_32444524805_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Colour temperature comparison (They're the 6000k version).

wp_20170113_17_49_20_pro_32404494806_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Low beam:

wp_20170114_00_07_33_pro_32444576285_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Blurry phone pic of high beam:

wp_20170114_00_07_41_pro_32404584176_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Been driving it around a fair bit, beam pattern is ace, I haven't been flashed once.

Now, this car hasn't ran right at all since I've owned it. Its got boost quirks.

A quick inspection revealed a check valve in two pieces, amazing the car drove super smooth and occasionally worked well-ish really.

wp_20170114_12_02_43_pro_32323380701_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

So, with that replaced the car was occasionally overboosing, time to get stuck in .

wp_20170121_10_20_44_pro_32404364566_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

So, being a 2002 model that's relatively low mileage you might think the vacuum lines "might" just be okay and the engine loom "might" just not be crispy plastic like other FD's? Well you'd be wrong, it all needs chopping out.

Black box:

wp_20170121_10_22_23_pro_32404362246_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

And out:

wp_20170121_10_57_33_pro_32404358076_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

And apart:

wp_20170121_15_36_47_pro_31632616023_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Now I'd love to say getting it apart and back together was an easy job and I don't know what people are complaining about. But I'd be lying, it's a bastard and if I wasn't keeping this car stock I'd be fitting an early style rack pronto!

Anyway, managed to get the bloody thing apart, all the valves tested with the mityvac hot and cold, then back together without buggering anything up too much. Also fitted some of Dale Clarke's viton check valves while I was there. If you're doing the same, you will need to trim them a little to make them fit, then I'd recommend adding ~5mm of 4mmID pipe over each end to make the centres a similar size to the stock valves, that'll keep them snug so they cannot move.

The solenoids all checked out fine, the turbo control solenoid held 35psi happily, so that'll do me fine! Only two of the solenoids had a leak when under pressure, although this isn't an issue as they're all vacuum solenoids & they all held vacuum no problem :thumbsup:.

Cheers Tom for lending me the mityvac, quality bit of kit :thumbsup:.

All back together:

img_3336_31601142624_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Tomorrows task is to get the car back together with new silicone hose and hopefully running super awesome :thumbsup:.

 

[Ceylon]

Couple of shots of the interior after replacing a few bits to tidy it up.

img_3319_32187164535_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3307_32149686676_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

 

[Ceylon]

Haven't updated this for a while as I've mainly been working on the house. When I've had a little spare time I've been ironing out the issues with the car, collecting spares for the future & doing some serious cleaning, the bay was pretty grimy! The ally still needs a good scrub, but the rest is nearly there .

wp_20170327_18_54_13_pro_33529097632_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170327_18_54_06_pro_33644781656_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Going to replace a few bits this weekend with new genuine Mazda parts:
OMP, OMP injectors and lines.
Injector seals.
FPD.
FPR.
Fuel hoses.
Fuel filter.
Black box.
Intake gaskets.
AST.
Coils.
HT leads.

Also picked up a bunch of spares, two low mileage black boxes and one new. Three sets of RZ calipers, Bathurst adjustable coilovers, very low mileage '99 twins and a bunch of other stuff I cant remember .

wp_20170327_16_34_57_pro_33644799456_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170327_16_35_05_pro_32872261973_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170327_16_52_21_pro_33644789226_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Hopefully will have some time spare to start on stripping and polishing the wheels this weekend .

 

[Ceylon]

I've been away visiting the Mrs's family in Massachusetts, so haven't got all the bits I planned to do done yet. The car is pretty close to running right now.

Gave the car a good service and the AST was swapped out for a new unit while changing the coolant. I managed to snap the radiator drain plug when removing it, putting the car off the road for a few days until I could get a replacement, just my luck! All sorted now, though.

wp_20170413_14_55_19_pro_34279710635_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170413_16_00_50_pro_34122578902_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

The RZ front brakes have been cleaned, stripped and sprayed, just waiting on Mazda for the new caliper pins, rebuild kits, spring kits and bleed nipples to arrive so they can go back together.

wp_20170414_11_16_29_pro_34279710425_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

The rears are all done, quite pleased with them. I swapped the pistons out for aftermarket stainless versions as they always seem to rust pretty good.

wp_20170421_18_26_22_pro_34239341606_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170422_17_04_17_pro_33895943350_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170422_17_04_58_pro_34239341526_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170423_20_57_17_pro_34122578822_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Hoping all my new bits will arrive soon so I can get to work in the engine bay.

 

[Ceylon]

Managed to get a few bits done on the FD this weekend. New OMP lines and OMP injectors. New injector seals and diffusers. New FPD & some general tidying and cleaning of the bay.

Quite glad I decided to swap out the OMP lines, the old set fell apart at the slightest touch when I removed the primary rail!

wp_20170520_12_14_23_pro_33961729724_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170520_18_54_44_pro_34764610606_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170520_14_14_25_pro_34804852075_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170520_14_25_42_pro_33961718604_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170520_14_40_53_pro_33995174893_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170520_17_03_46_pro_34642298022_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Also picked up a battery box lid from Mazda, makes a big difference to the bay I think .

wp_20170520_18_33_50_pro_34764623156_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170520_18_33_32_pro_33961779994_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Picked up a new left hand brake duct from Mazda as the car was missing it when I bought it. Swapped out all the undertray mounting hardware for aluminium rivnuts, stainless bolts and penny washers while I was there as this area is a hot spot for corrosion.

Rivnuts in:

img-20170521-wa0013_34642256572_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img-20170521-wa0015_34672303991_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Also attached the arch liners using rivnuts, should be better than the standard plastic fixings.

img-20170521-wa0019_34418717410_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img-20170521-wa0018_34642343952_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Really should have painted that splitter while it was off, maybe next weekend .

img-20170521-wa0006_34642260872_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

 

[Ceylon]

I spent a bit more time on the front end today, removing and painting the oil cooler brackets, horns, tie down hooks, power steering cooler, fog lights and brackets etc. Also swapped all hardware out for stainless while I was there and the fogs are now led.

wp_20170611_13_17_59_pro_35114430671_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170611_15_19_34_pro_35114420521_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170611_14_54_44_pro_35244290375_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170611_14_54_56_pro_35244289135_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170611_15_18_13_pro_35078993892_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170611_15_18_24_pro_35204087026_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170611_15_34_58_pro_34435306793_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170611_15_35_39_pro_35078983842_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Trying to do little bits like this in preparation for the respray. When putting it back together I played with the latch and bumper frame to get the panel gaps a bit better, they were pretty far out before, much better now .

img_3531_34435325033_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3533_34400278384_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

img_3529_35114447251_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Next step is to drop the fuel tank and rear subframe, replace all the bushes, strip the underside and arches back to bare and re-do the lot like I did on my last fd. That should extend the cars life a bit and get rid of the annoying knocking coming from the pillowball at the bottom of the rear right shock .

 

[Ceylon]

Fresh from Japan, arrived this morning .

For what I had to shell out for these, you'd think they would have washed them . They're filth, but I snapped a pic anyway .

wp_20170619_12_32_18_pro_35363970976_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Genuine Spirit R type A goodness, got some spacers to go on too. Now I can fit my brakes :thumbsup:.

 

[Mgharris2182]

I do love this car

 

[Ceylon]

Had the wings off over the weekend to check for any potential issues prior to paint. I painted the inside of the wings and the body behind the wing with epoxy mastic. I probably should have used a little more thinner as some of the brush strokes stayed, although I'm not overly concerned as they're all hidden when the wing is on and it's got a decent thick coat that'll protect it well . All the front cavities were also injected with Dinitrol 3125 while I was there. Also converted all the arch liner mounting points to rivnuts just because I can.

wp_20170701_15_26_42_pro_35686705795_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170701_15_27_11_pro_35686705735_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170701_15_27_23_pro_34845762864_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170701_15_27_02_pro_34845762964_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

I'll tackle re-finishing the arch itself when I do the bushes and brakes later this year .

I then got a little distracted and started pulling the interior. I was supposed to be removing a few bits at the edges so I could mask the door shuts for paint easy, ended up with this:

wp_20170702_15_52_58_pro_35686705665_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

I had to cut the alarm out as the wires went all over the place. I'll make nice looms with connectors this week so that if the dash has to come out again It'll be a more straightforward job.

More cavity injection, this car is in such good condition that doing this work now is easy and will protect it well .

wp_20170702_19_12_51_pro_35686705605_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170702_19_13_09_pro_35299614910_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170702_19_12_58_pro_34845762734_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

The main reason I pulled the dash and carpet was to sew up a cut someone had made in the passenger footwell which was really bugging me. As the late cars have a different carpet, I definitely wanted to fix it as sourcing another would not be easy. The repair is quite high and is very nearly invisible .

wp_20170702_17_44_42_pro_34845762784_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170702_18_18_06_pro_35299615230_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

I couldn't see any reason as to why someone would have pulled the carpet, so I can only assume it got wet at some point and was pulled to dry.


Next week the fun starts :thumbsup:.

WP_20170701_10_32_04_Pro by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

 

[Ceylon]

The floor and anywhere I was concerned about possibly trapping water has been painted with epoxy mastic before putting on the silent coat. I haven't finished the bins or rear of the car yet, will likely do this after the car is sprayed. Just needed to get the carpet and dash back in so I can drive it over to the garage where I'm spraying it.

tn_wp_20170703_17_41_42_pro_34922360083_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

tn_wp_20170703_17_41_30_pro_35731922625_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

tn_wp_20170704_17_39_47_pro_35692019396_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

tn_wp_20170704_17_39_34_pro_34922360173_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

The carpet repair is 100% invisible when fitted, very happy with that . Will take some pics of that later, hoping my connectors for the alarm loom will turn up today so I can pop the dash back in tonight.

I'm not sure what to do about sound deadening the doors as being a post September 2001 car, mine has the great big girders in the doors for side impact protection. I am tempted to sound deaden the door card itself, might do the job and make the card feel a bit more quality? Any thoughts?

tn_wp_20170703_17_52_23_pro_35731922765_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

 

[Ceylon]

Went to refit the dash when I got back from work today. But couldn't bring myself to fit that rusty dash support bar . So...Dash came apart, dash support bar was rust converted and then painted with epoxy. While that was drying I rewired the alarm and serviced the power windows (They're super quick & smooth now!). Dash is now back in the car and she runs, so all good, just needs the seats back in and it's ready for paint :thumbsup:

wp_20170705_19_06_38_pro_35703144096_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170705_21_17_55_pro_34902160054_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

 

[Ceylon]

So I'm still not done spraying the fd, but it's nearly there, just the bumpers left to paint.....Again, had a few minor issues. To get it done to the standard I wanted i.e. better than new is taking longer than I expected , probably as it is my first go at spraying a car.

Here the last pic taken of the old paint:

wp_20170708_10_18_00_pro_36321292056_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Then the destruction began...

wp_20170708_18_53_23_pro_36321291986_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170708_18_53_38_pro_36321291876_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

This was my first time removing a windscreen, so glad I didn't break either of them as sourcing the late spec glass is really costly, that is if you can find them for sale.

wp_20170708_18_53_52_pro_35557383873_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170713_20_13_19_pro_36321291636_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170713_20_13_08_pro_36321291696_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170713_17_39_11_pro_36321291746_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170714_14_07_26_pro_36229025541_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Loving this gun, lays the paint on nicer than anything I've used before. I think when I spray my next car I'll definitely invest in some kind of bag system, though, cleaning cups gets old fast..

wp_20170716_20_04_57_pro_36321291446_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Visibility got a bit interesting at times when laying on the clear...

wp_20170718_15_16_36_pro_36321291466_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170718_15_16_48_pro_36321291436_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Some bits look a bit dull, this is the reflection of the dust covered static sheeting I'm using :thumbsup:.

wp_20170718_17_32_01_pro_36229025391_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170718_17_32_08_pro_36321291276_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170718_18_21_09_pro_36321292436_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170718_18_14_33_pro_36321292526_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170718_17_32_18_pro_36229026111_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170723_11_09_44_pro_35530184844_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170803_17_58_56_pro_36321292186_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

I decided to keep the doors, wings and hatch on when spraying as metallic can look different colours when sprayed at different angles. All the shuts, underside of the bonnet etc have been done and the engine bay will be done when the engine comes out for a rebuild over the winter. There is no overspray as I spent literally a few days masking everything off, but my god, blue dust is everywhere! I'm going to be cleaning for weeks..Hoping to have her back on the road this weekend, then can start the wet sanding and polishing soon.

 

[Ceylon]

Loving this colour, looks so much better with a fresh coat of paint .

tn_wp_20170806_20_55_29_pro_36043732550_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

tn_wp_20170806_20_55_24_pro_35605592874_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Should get the car back together minus a few interior panels tonight, looking forward to driving it :thumbsup:.

Got a bunch of weddings coming up taking up all my weekends, hopefully will get the colour sanding and polishing done in the evenings .

 

[Ceylon]

So, wet sanding is done and I'm pretty pleased with her, she looks ace (If I may say so myself ). I haven't sorted out the panel gaps yet, will probably do that this weekend.

wp_20170827_13_22_08_pro_36773949552_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170827_13_22_43_pro_36805535781_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

New rimmage and tyres on. Brakes to follow shortly...

wp_20170831_19_56_20_pro_36945138005_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr


wp_20170831_20_18_52_pro_36773882202_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170831_19_56_29_pro_36773904272_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170831_19_56_39_pro_36757573196_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170901_17_36_10_pro_36824909331_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Popped out to fill up with v-power and test out the new AD08r's, gave her a little tickle on a local strait and in typical rx7 style, it broke, throwing one of the tail pipes off on boost .

Guess it's time for a new exhaust...

 

[Ceylon]

Couple of mirror shots for Roy :thumbsup:.

wp_20170904_19_11_07_pro_37028467645_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170904_19_22_55_pro_36887486341_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

wp_20170904_19_43_11_pro_37028474805_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

Ignore the dirty scuttle panel, needs a good rub down and dye before putting the screw caps back on .

wp_20170904_18_34_22_pro_36193053814_o by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

 

[Ceylon]

Pedal goodness (Links put below images to please Sir Lucky ):


WP_20170905_16_25_36_Pro by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr


WP_20170905_17_21_44_Pro by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr


WP_20170905_17_26_01_Pro by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr


IMG_3540 by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr


IMG_3547 by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr


WP_20170905_17_39_25_Pro by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr

 

[Ceylon]

WP_20170910_10_39_30_Pro1 by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr


WP_20170910_10_38_55_Pro1 by Tom Kinsman, on Flickr