Restoring The Instrument Cluster, Speedometer and Tachometer #1

Restoring the instruments Part 1

The instrument cluster on the Zephyr are in a very poor state.

They do work but cosmetically they are pretty ugly with rust on the chromed metal parts and pitting on the chromed plastic covers. The dials themselves although unmarked are faded and need refreshing.

The easiest option would be to replace them as they are not particularly expensive and used ones are freely available but that is not the point of this rebuild.

So the challenges are

1. Rust on the chromed metal parts
2. Pitting of the chromed plastic parts
3. Fading of the dial faces
4. Fading of the plastic warning light cluster

And I am sure there will be some more things to tackle as I get deeper into the job and I want to try and do all this without spending any money but still get an acceptable result.

Here is a quick video of me dismantling the instrument cluster ready to begin the restoration.

As you can see that to be able to do something with these without spending any money on expensive specialist products is going to be quite a challenge and I am going to have to go back to some of the unusual products and techniques that I have not used in many many years.

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Car Crash Damage To Mazda 6 - I Dont Think I Will Be Repairing That

My Plans To Restore My Mazda 6 To Something Like New Condition Have Had A Bit Of A Setback Today!

A bit of a dent

You may have seen in my previous posts how I had decided to do some work on my wife's Mazda 6 hatchback.

The idea was to spend a little time but not much money on generally servicing and cleaning it up so it was looked more appealing and by fixing a few minor faults it would last another few years without her complaining that she needed a new car.

Well as you can see in the picture it has had a bit of a bump. Somebody ran into the back of it when we were waiting to turn right at a junction, A crash has happened at least once a week in the same spot for years ( not to me ) so I don't know what it is about that junction but this type of accident is very common there so there must be a reason although the road surface is not the best so that could be a factor.

Anyway the nice lady at the insurance company says im sure it can be fixed, you would be surprised what the body shop can do. I'm sure that anything can be fixed if you throw enough money at it but with my semi expert eye the damage to the back panel, hatch back, both rear wings and boot floor I would guess the damage to cost twice what the car is worth so we will see what happens.

2013 Korean F1 GP - Dont tell me the result I haven't watched it yet

How hard can it be to NOT HEAR THE RESULT of an F1 race?

I missed the race live this morning and am just sitting down to watch the replay at 1pm UK time.

Now obviously I dont want to know the result but as always happens with any sport when you want to find out the result you ask around and no one knows, you watch the news and the only result not shown is the one you want to know, you cant find out however hard you try.

But try and avoid finding out, its nearly impossible, The result is EVERYWHERE. Its the headline on every news program, Your neighbors have the TV on so loud you can hear it, Your friends tell you, Random people in the shop start talking about it.

So today I have stayed indoors and not turned the TV on until the program started so up till now I have managed to avoid hearing the result so maybe this will be a first, we will see!

Review Of My 2005 Mazda 6 2.0L TS2

A review of my Mazda 6 2.0L TS2.

File pictures

I was talking to a friend about his Audi that has got major engine problems again and how he has spent quite a lot of money on the car over the 70,000 miles he has had it.

This got me thinking about my Mazda 6 and how I had not really thought about its reliability over the years.

I then realized why I had not thought about the reliability of my Mazda, its because it has been totally reliable and has only ever let me down once and that was just a weak battery that just needed replacing.

So I just thought I would give you a brief story of my Mazda ownership and what I thought of the car and the problems I have had.

• The Car is a Mazda 6 TS2 with the 2000cc petrol engine.
• Owned since new in 2005
• Has now done 125,000 miles, mostly start stop town driving with occasional long trips.

Now I will list the problems I have had in that time

1. New battery at 50,000 miles - the only time it hasn't started first time
2. New front discs needed at 75,000 miles
3. New clutch needed at approximately 85,000 miles
4. Throttle body and MAF sensor cleaned due to rough idle

Now looking at that list I would consider that to be totally acceptable reliability and you could even consider those items on the list as consumable service items that have a certain service life anyway.

So If you take into account my experience of Mazda ownership then I would rate it as incredibly reliable and have been very pleased with the reliability so far.

Now it is not perfect so to balance this frankly excellent reliability I will briefly list what I consider to be some of the good and bad points of this particular model.

GOOD POINTS

• Reliability
• Looks good
• Sporty handling
• Fantastic Bose sound system
• Comfortable
• No rust

BAD POINTS

• Fuel consumption not the best, 30 mpg in my case
• Uses a lot of oil even when new, they all do that evidently!
• Ride a little firm
• Not the most powerful engine in its class
• Paint finish slightly "orange peel" from new but it is durable, no rust

So That is briefly my review of my Mazda and from the lists above I think I would be able to recommend it to anyone as a good reliable and stylish family car.

I would be interested to know if my experience is typical of Mazda ownership or have I just been lucky ?

Moto GP Motorcycle Qualifying 28 August 2013 On Sky TV From The Aragon Circuit Near Alcaniz In Spain

 Moto GP Qualifying On SKY TV

What a fantastic performance by Bradley Smith to qualify in 8th place on the grid.

Just watched the Moto GP qualifying at the Aragon circuit near Alcaniz in Spain.
Predictably for a circuit located between Barcelona, Valencia and Zaragoza in northern Spain the weather was hot and sunny with increasing cloud as the day wore on.

The dry weather has made the qualifying fairly predictable in that the top 6 are pretty much as you would expect but I must admit I thought Rossi would struggle to get in the top 6.

But the outstanding performance for me was Bradley Smith in 8th place on the grid. The weather was good and no one appeared to have any problems with the bike or tires so that 8th is a genuine qualifying place and a fantastic effort.

So with the weather set to be similar tomorrow my opinion is that there will be few surprises and the race finish positions will be very similar to the qualifying results with people only swapping one or two places up or down from the qualifying.

Then again someone could always crash out and cause mayhem so as usual with Moto GP and motorcycle racing in general anything could happen and that is what makes it so exciting.

But keep an eye on Smith and hopefully he will keep that 8th place or maybe even improve !

2013 Arogon Moto GP Qualifying Results

1. Marques     1:47.804
2. Lorenzo
3. Pedrosa
4. Rossi
5. Bradle
6. Bautista
7. Crutchlow
8. Smith
9. Dovizioso
10. Espargaro

Cant wait til the race tomorrow and my top ten forecast is

1. Marques
2. Pedrosa
3. Lorenzo
4. Bradle
5. Rossi
6. Bautista
7. Smith
8. Dovizioso
9. Crutchlow
10. Hayden

We will see how close my prodiction was after tomorrows race !

Fixing Car Problems, Cleaning The Throttle Body And MAF Sensor On My Mazda 6 2.0L To Stop Surging, Stalling And Excessive Fuel Consumption

17 MPG from a 2 litre Mazda 6 saloon is not normal !

We have had the Mazda 6 5 door from new and it is now 8 years old and has done over 120,000 miles.

It has been very reliable and apart from normal service items it had needed a new clutch and new front discs at about 75,000 miles and that has been it.

I would highly recommend one to anyone as a sporty comfortable and for me very reliable car.

Now about a month ago my wife who normally drives the car said it had recently stalled a couple of times and was also using a lot of fuel.

It was about due for a service so I changed the oil and oil filter and also the spark plugs and air filter hoping this would sort the problems but it made no difference it still stalled occasional and was still only doing about 17 MPG.

So my next steps were

• Check for air leaks in the induction side of the engine
• Clean the throttle body
• Clean the MAF sensor

I hope this will sort the problem without spending any money on what is now quite an old car!

To see how I did it and find out if it worked check out my video below

Another appliance fire video ( not mine ) on Youtube

Found this one on Youtube

Watch it here  -  http://youtu.be/VyaPuPsge74

Could have been worse but see the comments from the video owner about the response from the manufacturer

The manufacturers indifference and denial of the problem is why I am so determined to let as many people know about this problem.