4. DILLIGAF?: Project Ratty

DILLIGAF?: Project Ratty

  • R

    "Been there done that and regretted it"

    That's the story of my previous cars in a very short sentence.

    Well, I picked the car up on October 24th from a small garage in Whitley Bay. I knew it needed some work to get it looking reasonable but I felt it was well worth the price of £375.

    The car had been through the wars and the front passenger headlight was smashed along with the lower front spot light. There were a few scuffs and scrapes on the bumper and the wheels have dents and BAD scrapes on them.

    I'll start with the bad points and then post what I have done thus far.

    So obviosly with the dark nights closing in the headlight was a major issue and was the first thing to be solved.

    The difference in cleanliness of the two front lights is very obvious! So I may take apart the other one and polish it up properly.

    The next issue was the scuff on the bumper, easy to solve and cost me nothing. Amazing what a bit of T-Cut can do.

    Next was to give a hint of colour to the engine.

    BORING!


    Now bare with me on the engine, this is just for the time being until I can afford some silicone hoses.

    Now one of the wheels has a small dent in it, not too bad but it is letting air out.

    I like the wheels (remember "clean and simple") so they are getting refurbed and powder coated either this weekend or next. I was toying with Black powder coat but in the end I've decided to go subtle with anthracite.

    Now here's the car








    So there it is so far.

    The plans are easy:

    Wheels refurbed
    Get new spot light
    Tidy up the bodywork
    Smarten up the engine bay (hoses, induction kit, powder coated cam cover)
    Coilovers
    Induction kit (and remap)
    Exhaust system
    New interior ( I like the leather one I've seen) or retrim seats

    Well that's it for now, keep your eyes peeled there will be more to come.

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  • B

    nice plans and hope all goes well

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  • M

    Welcome to the forum, good first post very impressed. :D

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  • R

    @cd98aaa6a6=Mechanic:

    Welcome to the forum, good first post very impressed. :D

    Thanks, as I said I've lived and learned with a couple of cars and I am no longer going to toy with drastic conversions and body modifications. I had a civic which I destroyed through stupid ideas and bodykits and ended up selling it for parts (un finished) and also a ratty fiesta which just ended up rotting in the scrapyard also, with an impressive stereo system (should have taken it all out thinking back :cry: ).

    Then I moved on to my GF's pug 206 and have kept it simple so far (splitter, colour coding) and it's doing fine. So following suit with the 3. The OEM look can look just as impressive as a car with one off modifications and tonnes of filler ;)

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  • M

    @2de4e07436=nightstalker:

    The OEM look can look just as impressive as a car with one off modifications and tonnes of filler ;)

    Best quote of the year i would say :D

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  • G

    yeah im all for the OEM look, Madza must have spent £££££s designing the mx so why spend a couple of hundred thinking it can be inmproved.
    The Only mod im very keen on is the mazdaspeed front bumper, and thats it.
    Nice looking project, never seen an mx with rust on bonnet?
    Welcome to the silver Mx club! :D

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  • R

    @972870a7ba=Garfy1981:

    yeah im all for the OEM look, Madza must have spent £££££s designing the mx so why spend a couple of hundred thinking it can be inmproved.
    The Only mod im very keen on is the mazdaspeed front bumper, and thats it.
    Nice looking project, never seen an mx with rust on bonnet?
    Welcome to the silver Mx club! :D

    Cheers

    I think the bonnet was damaged when the lights and wheels were and I don't know how long the car was sat exposed to the elements before I got it. There are little signs of rust around the rear arches but nothing too serious, just the bonnet, but I'm getting it looked at soon or getting a new bonnet (preferably with no rust :lol: ).

    I can't help but buy silver cars, it's my third! And I've just realised!

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  • Keep it up! I like to see an mx brought from the dead :)

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  • R

    "the smallest things can make a great difference"

    Just in from work and stepped across some surprises from the post man, just small things that will make a big difference.


    Cheap easy and subtle, I bought these off ebay for £3.67 posted.

    They aren't going on until I get the wheels sorted out though.


    bought from ROCspares. This HAD to go on!


    Next for the engine is to clean the rocker up and take it to get powder coated metallic blue (hence the silver oil cap to break up the colour).

    Now I sit back and await the Registration documents so I can Tax it and drive it again, had it for 2 weeks before the tax ran out last sunday.

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  • B

    very nice, however i would suggest doing it something other than blue, something that will go with blue. Only reason is everyone has blue, red or mirror polish. maybe a purple or black. up to you though.

    i was gonna do mine with all blue leads and gold rocker, like tutankhamun

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  • R

    @ab53b37742=barrywhite21:

    very nice, however i would suggest doing it something other than blue, something that will go with blue. Only reason is everyone has blue, red or mirror polish. maybe a purple or black. up to you though.

    i was gonna do mine with all blue leads and gold rocker, like tutankhamun

    Hmm, it's a good thought, I do actually want all the hoses and the HT leads in blue as well so might be worth flicking through the colour chart at the power coaters.

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  • R

    Finally got my documents today! Just need to tax it now :(

    Last night I was looking through all my spare parts left over from my Civic and found some JVC speakers.



    And a test showed me they are the right size to go in the door pods, lovely.

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  • M

    Please tell me you put your speakers on your pet bear whilst taking them :lol:

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  • R

    @94fb42213e=Mechanic:

    Please tell me you put your speakers on your pet bear whilst taking them :lol:

    Lol, no, that's just my back!

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  • R

    It's all falling into place.

    The car is now taxed so finally I can get it to the powder coaters to have the wheels sorted out next weekend.

    The issue with the rotting bonnet could soon be a thing of the past as well too with a new bonnet, I am just waiting to hear the details of the condition of the bonnet but it looks quite good from the pictures I have seen. Hopefully within 2 weeks this car will be looking fresh and free from rot and scrapes and dents.

    With all that out of the way I can turn my attention towards the engine and chassis.

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  • R

    So with the car finally documented as mine and now taxed (just waiting on the disk to arrive), I've managed to commit to booking the car in for the weekend to get the wheels sorted out.

    In the meantime I've replaced the boring gear knob.

    It's nothing spectacular but is better than the standard one.

    I've found a cure for the rotting bonnet in the form of, erm, a new bonnet, so just waiting for that to arrive to fit it, even managed to get one in black so it won't look so daft until I respray it (if I decide to :ninja eyes m: ).

    It's all coming into place quicker than I had planned really, I expected everything to be nearly there in about a years time so I've shifted my focus onto the less needy…...

    Here's a quick list:

    Blue LED dash conversion.
    K sport Coilovers
    Whiteline rear ARB
    Remus dual exit exhaust
    ROC Spares CAI
    New interior carpets

    Sit back and revel in a job well done before thinking of spending more money. This time next year I hope to have the car with all the bits above fitted.

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  • R

    Well it now looks like I'll be having to find another bonnet or get the rust looked at due to the guy on ebay not letting me know the details of if the bonnet he is selling has any rust on it!

    I hate it when people can't be arsed to communicate even when the question is simple! I think he's scared that he may have to send the bonnet all the way up from sussex for £45 (£35 for bonnet and £10 postage).

    Ah well, I've wax oiled it for now to delay anymore rot.

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  • R

    Finally! Two days delay on getting the car back with the refurbed and powder coated wheels and it's finally back in my hands and I must say, it has definately been worth the wait.

    The guy scared me a little when he told me how bad they were and that he wasn't sure if he could get them to the quality he usually does, so I went up this afternoon expecting the worst after hearing the horror story of having to re weld one of the wheels!

    And this was the offending wheel with it's huge dent in it before

    And now!

    :D

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  • M

    Nice! How much did wheel refurb cost if you don't mind telling??

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  • H

    wheels look great :D :)

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  • R

    @f580a298eb=mx3gulf:

    Nice! How much did wheel refurb cost if you don't mind telling??

    Not at all, it cost £140 in total and that included taking the tyres off, taking ALL the marks out and powder coating them, I'm taking the car to them next year to have the cam cover done and and the rest.

    @f580a298eb=jay:

    wheels look great :D :)

    Cheers, I'm well chuffed

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