Winter ready

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Qster8
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Winter ready

Post by Qster8 »

Hi this is my first post as I bought a Kuro with 39k and a pretty full service history in late April and have been enjoying it ever since!

It has been a while since I've had a sporty enthusiasts car and I am a beginner with the spanners. So I've been through all of the very useful guidance on the forum and have created a list of the main jobs.... oil change, plugs, leads, coils etc.

I guess the point of this post is to ask if there is anything specific I should look at doing to prepare the car for autumn/winter?

I don't have access to a garage to store it, so it will be kept under a car cover (any recommendations?). To complicate matters I live in the Isle of Man where there are no Mazda dealerships or rotary specialist garages!

Any guidance would be much appreciated and at some point I hope to get over to the UK for one of the shows/gatherings.

Cheers
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Re: Winter ready

Post by 350matt »

Waxoyl, lots and lots of Waxoyl
Like a lot Japanese cars these cars tend to rust and it starts from the rear arches, then marches forwards rotting out the rear of the sills
so its well worth removing the sill plastic guards , wire brushing everything then pumping loads of waxoyl etc into the sill cavities and then a load of something heavier on top like back waxoyl or another heavy undercoat treament before refitting the sill covers
do teh same for the rear arches, remove the trim, wire brush and lots of underseal and then refit trim ( if you want to, it keeps noise down but reatains water)
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Michael73 (Tue Jul 05, 2022 9:44 pm)
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Re: Winter ready

Post by Qster8 »

Sounds like good advice, is it easy to do? Would it be aerosol or manual pump? And lastly how much would I need?
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Re: Winter ready

Post by JeradRx8 »

Hello, welcome :D

I remember with my first RX8 I had back in 2015 I made a couple of mistakes I have learnt from and applied to my PZ. My first RX8 did loads of miles in winter, on heavily salted roads and even doing my best to keep the car clean my lack of preparation meant that in the 8-10k winter miles the salt was attacking my sills and arches.

My first job on my PZ, although I won't be doing anywhere near as many miles was to protect the areas where my first one was showing the signs.

So the sills I spent a long time dealing with any signs of corrosion no matter how minor starting by using a wire brush and Vactan Rust Converter, even chasing surface rust even behind the factory sealer (peeling it off the inner pinch rail area). I then injected vactan using a plastic syringe into the inner and outer sill panels until it was dripping out the pinch rails. Then painting the treated areas in body colour and coating in Hammerite Underbody Seal. I then filled the cavities with Dinitrol 1000.

Feeling much more confident now that on the odd day in winter I can confidently use the car without worrying too much.

Sorry for the long winded reply :lol: there's a few details I missed as well, but it's something that could potentially keep the car nice when it emerges from the saltiness next spring!
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Qster8 (Sun Jul 03, 2022 8:09 pm) • Michael73 (Tue Jul 05, 2022 9:44 pm)
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Re: Winter ready

Post by JeradRx8 »

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122473698488 - Vactan Rust Converter

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333698799665 - Hammerite Underbody Seal

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323302284700 - Dinitrol 1000 Cavity Wax
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Qster8 (Sun Jul 03, 2022 8:08 pm) • Michael73 (Tue Jul 05, 2022 9:43 pm)
2006 Galaxy Grey PZ (#328)
RRP MK3 coils & leads.

Daily : 2014 Midnight Black MINI R55 Clubman Cooper SD (JCW Trim) Engine Comprehensively Reconditioned by me in 2023.

Gone : 2006 Velocity Red 192
Rebuilt and street ported by Rotary Revs in March 2016.
BHR coils MSD leads, JPerformance Cat-back & Dyno'd at 175hp at the wheels. (Sold)
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Winter ready

Post by GreySilver Beast »

Hi & :welcome: to the RX-8OC :thumleft:

:arrow2: :arrow2: :arrow2: :arrow2: Please place your location in your profile, so as we are then able to help you, if need be =D>

Please check out the EVENTS SECTION's for anything coming up soon in your area :thumleft:

Events Team
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Qster8 (Sun Jul 03, 2022 9:00 pm)
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Re: Winter ready

Post by goodeggbob »

checking anti freeze would be a good idea.
Rob :thumright:
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Re: Winter ready

Post by Qster8 »

Coolant flush is on the list but the service history says it was done 5k but 2yrs ago. Dont suppose there is a guide on the forum on how to do it for a first timer? Cheers
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Re: Winter ready

Post by New Duke »

Qster8 wrote:
Sun Jul 03, 2022 9:31 pm
Coolant flush is on the list but the service history says it was done 5k but 2yrs ago. Dont suppose there is a guide on the forum on how to do it for a first timer? Cheers
Here you go. Ignore the instruction to run the heater. There's no need to touch the climate controls.

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=31742
Michael73
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Re: Winter ready

Post by Michael73 »

JeradRx8 wrote:
Sun Jul 03, 2022 8:04 pm
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122473698488 - Vactan Rust Converter

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333698799665 - Hammerite Underbody Seal

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323302284700 - Dinitrol 1000 Cavity Wax
Thats very helpful, thanks.
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Re: Winter ready

Post by Michael73 »

Hi,

So I've found this thread really useful and I've been trying to follow the advice very closely as it seems like hard won experience I can benefit from.

I've now treated all the wheel arches. It went really well. The wheel arch liners came off really easily, I found some light rusting (just enough to feel like it was worthwhile, not enough to feel worried), treated the whole area with Vactan, painted everything with the Hammerite and put everything back replacing missing clips along the way. For a small moment I felt proud of myself.

The sills however are a challenge. I have an R3. How do you get access to the sills? I'm assuming you have to take the side skirt off, if so, how? The bugger has loads of clips. The internet seems to suggest that you remove the clips in the front wheel arch and then just hammer the whole side skirt forward. It doesn't seem to want to budge and I'm at that awkward stage where I either trust in the theory and whack it really hard, or I have to find another way. Is there another way to get into the sills? Or is there another way to get the side skirts off?

Any help would be appreciated. My thanks in advance for any advice that you can give.

Thanks,

Michael
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HarSc
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Re: Winter ready

Post by HarSc »

Michael73 wrote:
Sat Jul 30, 2022 3:52 pm
How do you get access to the sills? I'm assuming you have to take the side skirt off, if so, how? The bugger has loads of clips. The internet seems to suggest that you remove the clips in the front wheel arch and then just hammer the whole side skirt forward. It doesn't seem to want to budge and I'm at that awkward stage where I either trust in the theory and whack it really hard, or I have to find another way. Is there another way to get into the sills? Or is there another way to get the side skirts off?
The R3 side skirts are a bit of a pain. I've had to take them off 4 times now in my time on different cars, and I don't exactly like doing it :lol: :lol:

You do have to tap them forwards to get them off, that is correct. See this thread here.

Also, a previous explanation I have done on another user's thread - see here & here

I would highly advise that you not use a hammer. It works well with just gently tapping the heel of your hand against the rear edge of the skirt. You will have to bend this out slightly to get it round the front of the rear arch, but it does bend a bit, and straightens back out easily enough.

You can run into broken mounts/brackets and clips, but you can get spares at vehicleclips.co.uk (only of clips B & D as per the first link. Clips C can only be bought from Mazda as far as I know. The skirts will likely hold on alright without these at the front though, so up to you ;)), and the mounts/brackets can be glued back onto the skirts using super glue quite easily, although these are all different sizes, so make note of where they were positioned/oriented. Mine have stood the test of time and two extra removals after glueing them the first time.

I really ought to make a DIY video next time I take them off :^o :lol: :lol:
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Michael73 (Mon Aug 01, 2022 8:47 pm)
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Re: Winter ready

Post by Michael73 »

Hi,

That really helped. Your description and the extract from the workshop manual gave me the confidence to go for it. I've got it off now. As I took it off it became apparent why it was all so tricky: someone else must have taken it off before and they'd broken some B clips by the rear wheel arch and glued it all back in ... that's why nothing was sliding forward. Still, the side skirt is undamaged and I can now access to do the rust proofing.

Hopefully the photos will help. This is before cleaning up.

- Michael
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HarSc (Mon Aug 01, 2022 9:09 pm)
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Re: Winter ready

Post by HarSc »

Awesome stuff :D yeah - that skirt looks in decent condition - only one bracket at the front edge is broken so not too hard to glue back into place :yeah: Those clips are reasonably cheap here, so you should have no issues getting that skirt back on and looking good again after your rustproofing! (Which, from a quick look at those photos - at least in the rear arch edge - is looking pretty good! :thumleft:)


You can just remove all those clips from the car and place them back in the skirt ready for reinstallation and spray your vactan and whatever fluids of your choice inside those holes to get to the sills and inner gubbins :p when I did mine I just used B&H S50, but it's all similar stuff to a good end goal of keeping all that brown rot at bay :lol:
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Michael73 (Tue Aug 02, 2022 6:40 pm)
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- My Main RX-8 R3 [MHZ 3800] thread here
- My Project Banana [GL04 MXU] thread here
- My Mazda 2 DE daily thread here
- My engine disassembly shenanigans here