Project Mazda needs a lot of help

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bondo - 05 Apr 2007 20:23 GMT

I have a little 86 mazda truck 4cyl, 5spd. i'm planning on pimping it out but
the body is in rough shape. There are huge rust holes in the bed and a
crushed rear bumper. I'm going to get a new bumper, but I need help with the
bed. A whole new or salvaged truck bed is very spendy for my budget, i was
just wondering if you think its a good idea just to grind the rusty metal off
and weld in some thick sheetmetal, grind down the welds and paint it. Or do
you think it might be a hopeless case. I also need to replace valve stem
guides and seals because it burns oil on startup. Would I need to replace or
machine the head or is it a simple installation? everything else is fine
except the interior needs a bit of work... ok, a lot of work. One last
question, in order to repaint it (I have my own pneumatic painter) would I
need to just peel off the factory decal, or would I need to sand down the
whole truck. Thanks for the help

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HLS@nospam.nix - 05 Apr 2007 22:47 GMT

> I have a little 86 mazda truck 4cyl, 5spd. i'm planning on pimping it out but
> the body is in rough shape. There are huge rust holes in the bed and a
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> need to just peel off the factory decal, or would I need to sand down the
> whole truck. Thanks for the help

Depending on the condition of the engine, you may be able to get by with
valve
stem seals only. That is a lot easier job than a valve regrind and head
service.

In thisase, you dont have to remove the head. You WILL have to have a
valve
spring tool to remove and replace the valve spring. You will have to be
very careful
that you do not drop a valve down into the cylinder when you remove the
spring.
There are several ways to hold the valve into place, but you have to plan
how you
are going to do it.

As far as body work....rust is a bitch...If you dont fix it properly, it is
like cancer...
It will come back and eat you alive. You cant just paint or Bondo over it.

You will have to sand or blast the bad areas down to white metal to get rid
of the rust.
If it is too "lacy", you will have to cut out the rotten spots and weld (or
rivet, or screw)
in patch panels. When you have all the bodywork done, then clean, prime and
paint.

You dont have to take the whole car down to white metal...only those rusted
spots. If you
have good metal and ugly (but sound) paint, just sand it down with several
stages of fine
sandpaper, prime over the old paint, and paint your creation.

You'll learn a lot on this project.

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bondo - 07 Apr 2007 21:10 GMT

>> I have a little 86 mazda truck 4cyl, 5spd. i'm planning on pimping it out but
>> the body is in rough shape. There are huge rust holes in the bed and a
[quoted text clipped - 35 lines]
>
>You'll learn a lot on this project.

Thanks for the reply. I will learn a lot since this is gonna be my first
project truck. Do you have any suggestions on what will look cool as well as
help me out. Something that isnt hard on the wallet is prefered. I would love
to drop the truck a little lower since it is 2 wheel drive. If it was 4x4, I
would lift it and stuff big tires underneath it, but to drop it should I get
new front drop spindles, or would just a new spring be better?

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j bondo

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Nate Nagel - 07 Apr 2007 21:19 GMT

>>>I have a little 86 mazda truck 4cyl, 5spd. i'm planning on pimping it out but
>>>the body is in rough shape. There are huge rust holes in the bed and a
[quoted text clipped - 44 lines]
> would lift it and stuff big tires underneath it, but to drop it should I get
> new front drop spindles, or would just a new spring be better?

IMHO you probably should go ahead and start on the bodywork before you
even worry about how you're going to drop it. You may decide that
bodywork is not for you and start looking for another truck to be your
project. To add to the previous poster's comments, when patching rusted
metal, the patch must be sealed on BOTH SIDES or the rust will come
back. NEVER leave filler unpainted; it draws in moisture and actually
promotes rust. PRimer does not count as a paint; if you need to "hold"
a patch until you're ready to shoot the whole car, paint over the repair
with cheap spray paint rather than leave it primed. The only exception
to this is if you're using a primer/sealer like DP-90; that can be left
uncoated but also generally requires a primer/surfacer over it before
final paint.

That said, I'd prefer drop spindles to keep the factory geometry for
anything more than the mildest of drops. Shorter springs will make the
suspension work in ways that it wasn't exactly intended to from the
factory, and unless you really know what you're doing, you won't know if
that is important or not until you drive it.

nate

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