1985 Series 3 restomod with s5 13BT on LPG, R&P steering

[spirit r]

Show the last picture the white KYB Sport damper? Some big change on your car interessted how it's going on. I drive with a Audi A4 breakdown emergency Kit in the car, never tested if it will work with streched tires No risk no fun.

[KYPREO]

Show the last picture the white KYB Sport damper? Some big change on your car interessted how it's going on. I drive with a Audi A4 breakdown emergency Kit in the car, never tested if it will work with streched tires No risk no fun.

Hi Thomas. The shocks are Pedders Comfort Gas shocks (Australian brand shock absorber). They provide a very nice firm ride but still not too stiff for ordinary street driving. I'll be replacing these with height adjustable ACBron Ultimate coilovers to match the front.

Thanks for the tip on the Audi kit by the way. I just looked and found a number of breakdown kits from German car makers for non-run flat tyres. There's a nice BMW one that even comes with gloves

[TOOL]

Have you asked multirotor? That’s the sort of thing he would have.

No I haven't. I haven't been suggested to contact him before and didn't receive a response last time. Do you know the best way to contact him by any chance?

I’ve sent him a message.

[Hobbawobba]

Nice progress lately aye! What's happening with the spare wheel well? Going to a fuel cell? I've debated this for my EFI conversion as it's be easy to make an aluminium tank without the spare wheel there . Can't decide if I'd want to risk not having a spare wheel though?!

Close! Spare wheel is being replaced with flat floor to provide extra clearance for the LPG tank.

Doh! My mind completely slipped that somehow when I posted . I might use that same idea though and create a flat section along with one of these inflator thingys . Will see over the next few months ha. Will keep an eye out for what you end up with

[KYPREO]

Looks like I may have just gotten extremely lucky. Found by a contact of mine with a load of spare parts that had been sitting in storage in Sydney.

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[A7RXY]

Now that's the luck you need to get you back on track, if you ever needed it ......
Good luck
Dibs

[TOOL]

Have you asked multirotor? That’s the sort of thing he would have.

No I haven't. I haven't been suggested to contact him before and didn't receive a response last time. Do you know the best way to contact him by any chance?

I’ve sent him a message.

He said he responded to you saying he sold the 2 he had last year.

[KYPREO]

No I haven't. I haven't been suggested to contact him before and didn't receive a response last time. Do you know the best way to contact him by any chance?

I’ve sent him a message.

He said he responded to you saying he sold the 2 he had last year.

Thanks for this. He did get back to me between our posts to say that. Very luckily for me, I've found 1 in Australia!

[KYPREO]

I've begun work on restoring all the exterior lenses that aren't being replaced with new ones..

My LHS tail lamp assembly was replaced around 15 years ago after a minor bingle (not my fault) back when these were plentiful and inexpensive to replace as a unit. It looks clean internally but the outside of the lens has a bit of oxidisation. I hit it with some plastic polish and elbow grease only and it is looking great but i need to go over it with 2000grit first to remove some of the roughness. I only did the reverse light and a bit of the stop light section so you can see the difference. I won't even need to take this one apart to bring it back to new. I have a NOS assembly to replace the old RHS one shown:

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I'll post up pics once finished. I'll also fit new tail light rubber seals, as the old ones are cracking.

I went to do my front combination lenses and remembered that the LHS was cracked But I also noticed that the amber lens was noticeably darker compared to the RHS (which was replaced with a new genuine one about 7-8 years ago). You could easily tell by looking at the car that 1 side had been replaced. This meant i would need to find a matching pair.

New genuine lenses in this style are NLA unfortunately. This is because Japan and the US used the all amber style lenses and Mazda produced less stock of the clear+amber type (being for Aus and Europe+UK only). Frustrating when they were only $30 each when last available.

About 5 years ago a certain person who shall remain nameless bought up all the remaining Australian stock and has been drip feeding them on eBay and Gumtree for 500% of the original price. I refused to buy at that price and they're all sold out now. I didn't want to buy reproduction lenses from Phils either. You can tell genuine from reproduction because OEM are branded STANLEY.

Anyway I managed to find a new pair a few weeks ago for a much more reasonable price #winning. They have Ford logos so would've been sold by the dealer 15 years ago or so. They're still a lighter amber. I reckon the OEM supplier changed tint colours somewhere along the line. This can help you tell how original the front is!

Here are the newies:

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And (from left to right) here is a NOS replacement (15 years old?), used replacement (10 years old?) and used original factory fitted:

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I've already restored the side indicators (NLA new) and the results are great. Australian delivered side indicators are the same as Japan. US are in the same spot but use a different lens. These are both obviously different to UK and continental Europe which got FC style lamps fitted further back on the guards (or "wings" as you call them - I'm learning! ) I'll post up some before and afters...

[spirit r]

I'll post up pics once finished. I'll also fit new tail light rubber seals, as the old ones are cracking.

Can you post a link where I can get new tail light rubber seals Greg?
Your post let me have to work on my taillights spare parts making some mods.