2002 Arizona Rebuild

[blackyb]

I have an air powered grinder that takes 2" slitting discs. (had it for ages - dont know where I got it from)

It's ok for certain tight areas but being air driven the dammed couplings often get in the way.

As for what your tackling, respect!

[Lumphammer]

Thought about it and I think the best way is going to be just to cut the inner sill a bit higher up, the outer has to come off anyway and the inner looks to have an inch of rust on the bottom. Dunno, probably take way too long and overcomplicate it anyway

Did a bit today, made up the piece next to the sill and plate, welded it in

01.jpg (433.22 KiB) Viewed 5457 times

Made the little return piece in, butt welded the edge and did one plug weld then hammered it over and did the other plug weld

02.jpg (442.91 KiB) Viewed 5457 times

Then the plate above. Welding isn't the neatest, i was having a right job joining it to the inner arch

Filled some of the spot weld drill holes that'd gone through too

03.jpg (377.22 KiB) Viewed 5457 times

[Mazda Mender]

M-m

[graymattor]

great work as always Lumphammer.. keep the updates coming

PS how do you take such great pics lol!! they are always so clear and show so much detail

[Lumphammer]

Thanks! It's just a phone - not an expensive one either

[Lumphammer]

Got the new arch and repaired battery section in today. I shot blasted them and painted with a zinc epoxy in the week, ground back the paint on the plug weld holes and put some weld trough primer on it

Didn't get any pictures of getting the arch in but this was the battery section

01_clamp_battery.jpg (374.04 KiB) Viewed 5411 times

And the finished lot - glad this is over.. on this side..

02_arch_etc.jpg (345.26 KiB) Viewed 5411 times

After much thinking worked out how and where to cut the outer sill

03_outer_sill.jpg (353.01 KiB) Viewed 5411 times

This is where I expect the cut line to go for the new outer sill

04_outer_sill_marked.jpg (418.72 KiB) Viewed 5411 times

For the front I needed to take it high to get access to this bit which goes up about 5" beyond the normal cut line people seem to use

08_hole.jpg (446.57 KiB) Viewed 5411 times

So I've cut part of the outer piece that wraps the a-pillar and back of the rear arch - this will either be a good idea or a bad idea.. dunno which yet!

05_front.jpg (408.43 KiB) Viewed 5411 times

When the old outer sill is removed it should give good access, i'll likely remove the reinforcement plate as the rot is slightly behind it

I was extremely careful to not distort the removed piece as it'll be reused (shotblasted / zinc epoxy etc)

07_piece.jpg (372.5 KiB) Viewed 5411 times

There was much carefulling around the a pillar for obvious reasons. I kissed it in two places but barely feelable. Decided to go straight through the return lip because i couldn't think of much alternative when trying to preserve the removed part. Easy to weld up from inside the car

06_a_pillar.jpg (404.78 KiB) Viewed 5411 times

Need to take up this side of the carpet and move the loom over as i'll be welding onto the floor

[blackyb]

Loving the updates. Keep up the good work

[Lumphammer]

Thanks BB

Did some more today. Removed the outer sill from the front to get access to the rotten part

01_outer_sill_removed.jpg (448.25 KiB) Viewed 5384 times

Unfortunately at this point I found out there was a considerable amount of rot behind the lower part of the a pillar. I needed to take the bottom section off to get to it and I didn't feel comfortable with the car un braced as this part must be adding considerable strength. Didn't want to have to brace it as it makes access difficult on top

02_bracing.jpg (465.89 KiB) Viewed 5384 times

Removed the small reinforcement piece above the part needing repair to get access. Cut line was chosen to be convienient as it's a bit tight in there

03_rotten_in.jpg (402.75 KiB) Viewed 5384 times

Cut out the rotten part as cleanly as possible, it's got a quite complex shape up the front

04_rotten_removed.jpg (460.71 KiB) Viewed 5384 times

And then removed the lower part of the a pillar to get acess to the custy area behind

05_lower_apillar_removed.jpg (444.01 KiB) Viewed 5384 times

06_lower_apillar_removed.jpg (437.08 KiB) Viewed 5384 times

Will remove the reinforcement piece which is left in with one spot weld and that should make repairing it OK

[drumtochty]

The rusty part you have taken off at the bottom of the door piller that comes out from the body, according to the guys at the MX5 restorer is not available to purchase. They either repair it and put back on if possible if it needs to come off. Or they make a new one but say repair if possibe as it is difficult to remake.

I will probably be cutting and welding in around 10 days or so.

[Lumphammer]

Not surprised you can't buy it, I think a lot of the internal structure bits are like that.

I removed it carefully and to be fair it's not in too bad condition rust wise but does need some areas patching. Need to work out how to do the floor to sill, I'd imagined it'd be a single piece but it looks to be made of 3(..?) sections with lap joints / spot welds between. The steel looks thinner than I'd expected too

Hope your project goes well, what are you doing?

[blackyb]

It's not till you follow threads like this that you realise the complexity of the unseen internal metal work and bracing that's been required to give the MX its strength.

It's also not till you follow and read these threads that you also realise, where there's a will there's a way.

Thanks to people like you and drumtochty who take the time to catalogue your builds for the rest of us to follow and admire also gives us hope that if needs be maybe we could do the same.

[Lumphammer]

Removed all the cutter and obstructions to the floor to sill replacement

01_reinf_removed.jpg (398.77 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

This shows the layup of the floor to sill panels, there are three - one each end and one in the middle on top. This is the rear lap

02_floor_sill_struct.jpg (420.99 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

And the front which is similar

03_floor_sill_struct.jpg (448.97 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

Decided that when the rottem section was removed I'd have no reference for where the lips should go, so i created a removeable build to reference. It's connected to the front and rear hubs where the caliper yokes go

04_build_to_ref.jpg (463.61 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

It gives a straight reasonably rigid reference to work to - just dont move the steering

05_build_to_ref.jpg (433.8 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

The first part to be rebuilt is the front part which is under the reinforcement panel

06_front_reinf_panel.jpg (540.98 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

I've got two replacements from autolink but for now i just cut out what i needed

07_front_reinf_cut.jpg (502.04 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

I made the replacement sitting on top of the existing which helps with getting it right

071_piece.jpg (406.88 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

and then cut the old bit out to sink it back

08_piece.jpg (384.87 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

and welded it in, havent dressed anything yet but will do

09_piece.jpg (385.4 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

as the floor to sill panels are layed up on top of each other i cut the middle one a bit higher up - carefull not to go through the ones underneath

10_rear_cut.jpg (381.09 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

the water really likes to wick up these...

Then cut the underlapping one about 1/2" further down so i can get a neat but weld on the replacment panel

11_front_cut.jpg (416.65 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

Cut the front replacement piece to fit

12_floor_sill_panel.jpg (426.84 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

Unfortunately there is a 4mm gap to the build to reference

13_floor_sill_panel_gap.jpg (335.66 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

I thought it was me doing something wrong but it looks like the panel is off bugger...

14_measure_1.jpg (391.5 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

15_measure_2.jpg (461.25 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

This will be a bit of a delay, I asked the manufacturer about it so hopefully they'll come back with a solution

Need to work out how to do the jack points in the floor to sill section, i'm not really sure i need them as i haven't jacked it up on the sills for years but if possible i'd like to remake them. They look like this just a bit less rusty and crumpled

16_jack_point.jpg (654.18 KiB) Viewed 5282 times

[Mazda Mender]

The "that small job expands" springs to mind.
M-m

[Lumphammer]

Yeah.. it's a rust onion..

To be fair I'm taking it further than the minimum I could get away with but if I don't fix all the stuff I find then it'll be back where it was in a couple of years time.

[Mazda Mender]

Yeah.. it's a rust onion..

To be fair I'm taking it further than the minimum I could get away with but if I don't fix all the stuff I find then it'll be back where it was in a couple of years time.

100% agree, you knew deep down it was going to end up this route...they always do , simply because right is right and fulfilled and know it's done.
I feel your pain with ever build I do.
The worst hurdle is starting ,once your over that line you grit teeth and deep in the zone and focused until finished, when you step back and yeah .
M-m