My 1991 Mazda 323F

[public]

So yeah, I found the old (2000ish) Pioneer stereo that had originally been in the Coupé, and decided that I would like it to replace the radio in the Mazda.



Frankiess put on his shades and got into installing.



Here he's sticking his nose into the wiring (feel free to hum the MacGyver theme here).

And.. no sound. There's power, but the speakers don't even crackle. Frank has to get to his train, so the installation is delayed to today.

I message my electronics expert friend, who looks like a Viking clad in flaming Kiss leather (he's a huge fan of the band, yeah). He gets out his multimeter and sherlocks with the wiring, which apparently isn't even close to the wiring diagram that we got from the interwebs. The stereo comes alive.

I install the stereo's cradle and tape the wiring up later this evening. The stereo is mute. WTF? I drive back to the Kiss Viking and explain the problem. We find out the dome light fuse's blown, which means the stereo wiring's been changed to go with the dome light's wiring. That would explain the wiring oddities, and it probably means somebody's repaired the wiring very creatively when the car's been broken into in 2000 and the original stereo stolen.



Well, now I have a working CD player in the car, and everything's fine except the dashboard clock's dimming and brightening by itself. That's a symptom of something being wrong, but if that's the only problem in the car at the moment, it's really a tiny annoyance. I will report if the car starts to drain its battery by itself.

[frankiess]

Oh the eternal shame..

[C3Vette]

Nice hoodie you got there frankiess

Clean looking mazda, public. I've always liked the styling of the 323f. Pop-Up-Headlights, Coupes & 80-90's FTW!

[public]

Testing the wheel again, this time I fitted it under the car.

I checked the footwells from under the carpets yesterday, and they're clean and dry with no signs of rust inside the car.
Seems like every day I'm finding something new on the car that's good news.

[frankiess]

Originally Posted by public

Testing the wheel again, this time I fitted it under the car.

I checked the footwells from under the carpets yesterday, and they're clean and dry with no signs of rust inside the car.
Seems like every day I'm finding something new on the car that's good news.

Niceish. Drop it 30mm and you're cruising.

[public]

I took off the wind deflectors in the door glasses. They're hilariously vintage, but I guess I can do without them.

[public]

I got the panel back today. It's really good, you can see a slight error in the curvature to the right, but otherwise it's fine. The guy smoothed the badge holes, treated all the rust, and generally did a good job. I have the badge in the glove box.

I'm not sure when it's going to be on the car, since I'll be doing a trip on the weekend and it might be best if I can do that with the old panel, so not to get stone chips or scratches or anything nasty on the new panel too soon.

[public]

Did the swap. It's a lot better; not perfect and I got some scratches on it on the inside structures, but it's way better than the old one.
It'll probably get better still if I get the fender corner and the bumper done.

[public]

Also, better pictures tomorrow when I'm less tired and less shaky.

[public]

The F at the inspection. I rock at taking pics that suck, but you can possibly make out the condition of the underside of the car. The exhaust looks particularly good.

[public]

Photo update with the new front panel and the car washed.

I need to find a better carwash, the closest one to me sucks.

[sifu]

why not wash by hand?

[public]

No water outlet in the wall, so I can't hose the car down. Lame excuse, yeah.

[sifu]

a bit

[public]

Old wheels, old tires, new nuts, newly balanced.

[public]

Up until now, my engine compartment has been really grimey, so I took a couple of toothbrushes, some light cleaning liquids, some toothpicks and scrubbed away.



The result is alright; the valve cover now looks like it should and some of the other bits and pieces brightened up as well. I should probably get the whole underbonnet steam cleaned, but this will do for now.



It was also time for this month's wash and wax on the outside.

[Posmo]

You're right, it's insanely clean. Next time you run the steelies though, leave the wheeltrims off, ride on your steelies with pride

[public]

I'm thinking of getting some winter alloys anyway (in the price region of 100-200 euro), so the wheel covers won't really be an issue

Also, I'm still wondering how the hell I'm going to get the sports seats from Kuhmo.

[Posmo]

Originally Posted by public

I'm thinking of getting some winter alloys anyway (in the price region of 100-200 euro), so the wheel covers won't really be an issue

Also, I'm still wondering how the hell I'm going to get the sports seats from Kuhmo.

Matkahuolto? It'll cost maybe 50-60€ tops? Sure it's a lot for 80€ seats, but driving there would be even more expensive. Also, If you get alloys for the winter, paint them white.

[public]

I haven't got a clue how much it would cost to have them Matkahuolto'd over here, but transporting two front seats, the entire rear seat and four door cards (don't know if they have electric window switches, that might cause issues/installments) might not be cheap.

http://www.nettivaraosa.com/viewPart...id_part=830057

And here are the wheels I currently have in mind I'm just wondering if the studless winter tyres are any good.