Duffman's 79 Spark Yellow Restoration Project
 

Had a thread over on the Evil Forum but I wanna bring it here for those who don't frequent that froum to enjoy as well. Plus I figure it'll be easir to find the 79 specific parts i need if there are more eyes watching/reading, enjoy. :)

For around 5 years now I've been looking for a 1979 Spark Yellow to restore and over these years I've come across only a handful. They were either too far gone, overpriced, or beat within an inch of their lives.

The first one I found I happened to spot in a field as I was driving by, I didn't know it was a Spark Yellow at the time cause the elements had definitely taken their toll on the poor thing. Well it turns out that particular one was a 3/78 car, there's a thread floating around here somewhere with the pics of that one. The second was an original owner/daily driven car, the owner was a nice enough fella but the car had seen better days and he wouldn't budge on the price so I had to pass. The third was almost the same story but it had be molested over the years and I felt that it was a lil more than I could handle.

Fast forward to Tuesday of last week. A buddy of mine posted up a link to one of those scam FDs, you know the ones with the $2,500 price tag and already in a container ready to ship to you in Albuquerque, NM. Yea, those are great deals. Anyway, he had been looking for an FB so I though I'd have a look at his choices. About halfway down the page one post caught my eye, it said '1979 MAZDA RX7 - $250' so I clicked to see what it was...and when it opened I involuntarily let out an 'Oh SH*T!'. :lol:

The posting was from early September and I prayed that the car was still available so I sent the poster an email. There was a phone number too but no area code and I didn't realize till a couple hours later that 1) I have the internet, 2) the internet has numerous internet phone books, and 3) that those have area codes. Dialed up the number...1 ring...4 rings...7 rings...robot voice... Crap.. I got an answering machine and to tell the truth, I was a lil discouraged but I left my name and number hoping for the best. A few hours later I had a call from a 505 area code, YES!! The owner and I spoke for awhile, I asked him a few questions about the car, condition, if the price was right, etc and 20 minuets later it was mine. I told him I'd be coming from Dallas and that I'd be on his doorstep come Saturday afternoon, he just laughed and said 'alright'.

Here's what I was greeted with:

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...0Project/2.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...0Project/1.jpg

Loaded up and ready to go: (pardon the blur, I think my camera is on its way out)http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3501.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3502.jpg

PIT STOP!
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3504.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3506.jpg

Some 1400 miles later and she was home:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3507.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3509.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3508.jpg

10-18-10
 

It's an 11/78 car and VIN reads 27085 so while it's not a super early production car that rotarydude and a few other have that I've been looking for, I'm more than happy to have it.

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...Project/12.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3532.jpg

The interior definitely shows its age and that it had sat in the desert for years:

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3519.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3523.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3512.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3516.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3521.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...0Project/9.jpg

10-18-10
 

A couple engine bay pics:

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...0Project/6.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3534.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3540.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3543.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3536.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3537.jpg

Now the owner told me that it didn't have it's original engine but one that had come out of an 80 model he had had some years back. It only had compression on the the front rotor, and that was just one lil puff, so it's gettin' the ATF treatment to see if it can be used.

10-18-10
 

I hope these are original but I doubt it, carfax won't accept the vin.
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3515.jpg

Even found the owners manual in the glove box.
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSCN3522.jpg

10-24-10
 

Update time:

I got quite a bit done this weekend despite 47 inches of rain and 3 tornadoes Saturday, and the 20 inches of rain, dime size hail, and 1 tornado today.

I got all my carpets removed:

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_0966.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_0999.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_0998.jpg

And good God did those things stink like rotten coffee and 33 years of dirt. Took me 6 bucks to finally get nothing but clear water dripping from them. The middle section cleaned up pretty good but needs more scrubbing. The rear did alright but it's white in spots from the sun, may end up replacing it.

Got all the front and rear plastics out, got the fender well covers sanded, waxed, and polished as per Glazed's method:

Before:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_0940.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_0942.jpg

After:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_0961.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_0962.jpg

Found a couple of things after getting the carpets out, one strip of surface rust along the driver side floor pan, and the source of most of the stench. Whatever had been spilled there had rotted away the sound deadening and it was a nasty tar-like goop. It was bad enough that my shop vac was able to suck up a piece of it so out came the putty knife.

About that time my helper came along and apparenty objected to the way I was goin' about cleaning it up, :lol:.
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_0976.jpg

The rust:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_0969.jpg

The goop:

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_0973.jpg

Scrapped out and cleaned up:

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_0980.jpg

Somebody tried to jack the car up righ next to that body plugs and bent it, a hammer will fix that. What would y'all suggest for sealing it back in place?

10-24-10
 

Stared in on the dash too, what a clusterphuck of wires that was. Somebody put 3 toggle swicthes in the coin holders and every one of them was hooked to the radio in some way. The wiring was just a mess and almost every 'connection' (one wire losely twisted around another) was wraped in duct tape. :facepalm:


I have no idea what they were trying to do here:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_0981.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_0983.jpg

My butchered surround:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_0985.jpg
They even cut up the steel in the dash to get that piece of crap in there. :wallbash:

Got all of the lower section of the dash off:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_0992.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_0989.jpg

And thats about it, I've got the rest of the hatch trim, windshield trim, and scuff guards here with me so I've got something to do this week. Prolly throw some pics up when they're done if I don't get blown away between now and then.[/

10-31-10
 

Weekend Update. ( No Tina Fey unfortuately)

Well the car has no interior left in it now, everything either getting re-upholstered or repaired. The inside of the car has been halfway cleaned up with simple green and where its been done is a night and day difference, car doesn't smell so much like stale coffee and dirt anymore. The carpets have been pressure washed and dried, looking pretty good so they'll be re used except for the hatch carpet. Looks mangy and is faded pretty badly.

Started work on the rest of th dash harness and it actually wasn't as badly mangled as it appeared. The aftermarket cruise control unit was installed about as professionally as the stereo, duct taped wires and all. :lol:

Before:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_1008.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_1009.jpg

After:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_1010.jpg

Center section of carpet after a good cleaning and vacuum:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_1011.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_1012.jpg

Got the rest of the plastics outta the car too, they're all getting wet sanded and polished. Only got a couple pieces done so far.
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_1003.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_1007.jpg

Got the door panels off, didn't do anything with them yet. Gonna have a local upholstery shop look at 'em and tell me what they can do.
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/100_1016.jpg

And that's it, running outta things to do with the interior. I forgot about that dash Stu posted up till a couple hours ago and missed out on it. :wallbash: Hopefully another will pop up eventually. Next weekend I think I'll start in the engine bay, gotta get a FSM first though. Just about every plastic connector is ruined too, most of them fall apart as soon as they're touched. If someone could post up that link to the site that sells the factory style connectors I'd appreciate it, I can't think of the name for the life of me.

11-06-10
 

Not much accomplished this weekend, only had a couple hours Sunday to fool with it. That being said, the interior has been completely stripped aside from the dash and headliner. There was so much dust under those lil panels that cover where the storage bins would be, I think it's still stuck in my teeth. :lol: Got all that vacuumed up then scrubbed the whole thing down and rinsed with simple green, now it's ready to go back together. Next step for the interior is upholstry, maybe next weekend I'll get a start on that. Need to get it up on the lift and see what's going on down there too, I dunno, I really need to make a list of things to do at this point.

So I figure its time for an update for those of you who still remember this, lol.

The reason I haven't been updating is simple, I haven't touched the car. My FB decided it didn't wanna keep the coolant in the coolant passages and started filling the front housing. Here are a few pics and a vid to show ya what I've been up to. :)

You'll have to excuse the poor quality, kept forgetting my camera so the phone was all I had.

What killed the old motor:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w.../Photo0006.jpg
What replaced it:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w.../Photo0010.jpg
Assembled:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w.../Photo0115.jpg
And in the car:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w.../Photo0120.jpg

Short vid of the first 5 min of its life:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w..._Video0011.jpg

Sweet, wheres my sunroof :)

Since you're my best friend and all, I've taken it upon myself to search high and low for 79 specific parts for your car to help you out and this is what I've found.



http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...ocktail200.jpg

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...96/grenade.jpg

and

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...800px-Eod2.jpg

I'll find more for you as soon as I can. :001_005:

am i the only one that finds hilarity in a photo of manicured hands setting plastic explosives?

on a serious note, i'd love to have a '79 someday. all i can say it you have your work cut out for you, but in the end, i'm sure it will all be worth it.

Yea, I had noticed that and wondered to myself, "just wtf is the military doing letting womerns get all prim and prissy for active duty?"

EasternBeaver I believe is the name of the company.... but why not rock the hell outta some Detusch connectors?

Nice... nice indeed... I see you followed a wise man in his route of color choices ;)

My only question is.... when is sparky making her way to CT for TTT? That being of course The Treffeisenizing Treatment :rofl: