The first task after getting all the parts from the Mazda back to my tiny garage was to de-rust, clean, and paint the bits I will need to attach to the kit. The menu included the differential, gearbox, hubs and brackets, and brake calipers. Prop and drive shafts need to be shortened so will be addressed when I have the chassis. I'm probably going to just clean the remains of the dirt and oil off the engine and scrub the rocker cover to make it look a little nicer. I have no desire at this stage to strip the engine down and rebuild it.
The differential was the worst affected by corrosion (see the picture on the previous post). I tried the usual wire brush and wire wheel attack but it was only really polishing the rust layer. Some rust remover chemicals were employed which were, and I'll be completely honest here, USELESS. Probably not designed for such serious corrosion. The purchase of a wire 'cup' for the angle grinder was the most effective. If I added up all the hours spent working on the diff it would run in to days of work, probably more, however it's now mostly done and looking good. I need to remove the mounting lugs and paint it.
Next up - Gearbox. Being made of alloy there was no rust but there was a bit of surface corrosion and a lot of dirt and oil to clean off. The most effective tools here were cellulose thinners and synthetic wire wool. One new tool this month was a bench grinder with a large wire wheel attachment. I removed most of the bolts in the gearbox one at a time and cleaned them on the wire wheel. The result made the finished article look almost new. I am almost impressed with what I have achieved with this, however I must give most of the credit to my brother who kindly gave up a weekend to help push the project along in return for curry and beer.
There are a few hard to reach corners that haven't cleaned completely but I have to draw a line somewhere as I seem to have been cleaning the diff and box forever. Yet to be painted, the gearbox has come up well overall.
I've mentioned previously that the underside of the Mazda had suffered badly from rust. This included the wheel hubs and brake calipers. Having spent enough time on the differential, I had no intention of trying to clean up the hubs with a wire brush - however mechanically assisted - so it looked like the best option was to remove the bearings and shot blast the parts. What I should have done at this point was find a local shotblasting place and taken everything to them. What I actually did was use this as an excuse to buy myself an air compressor and shotblasting cabinet, and clean the parts myself.
Don't get me wrong, I am pleased with my purchase. It has got the rust off the parts, provided a talking point at work, and most of all I have some cool new tools. But, and I don't say this lightly, I actually wish I hadn't bothered. Although the cabinet is sealed with filters to let the air out and keep the grit inside, the seals can't quite cope with the pressure of the air compressor at full blast, particularly if the filters are a little blocked, and a certain amount of very fine dust is forced through. With some of the parts taking several hours to fully clean (there was a lot of rust and I am a bit of a perfectionist), and a lot of parts to do, I would end a session covered in dust, and a layer of the stuff gathering over everything in the garage. It also used so much air that the compressor was on nearly all the time. Not only was it dusty and noisy, I had to do it all with the garage door shut so not to upset the neighbors, so it was also very hot work.
If I had known all this before, I probably wouldn't have bought it. Having said that, the parts have been cleaned really well and now have a primer on them ready to to be painted which I shall do in the next week or so.
Talking of painting, The gearbox is now primed and awaiting its final coat.
And finally... I have just heard that my kit is now ready to pick up from the factory. I shall be hiring a van and driving to the East Midlands on Tuesday.
