I now drive the Pirate Mazda.
All the maintenance done. Some external tweaks. Fabricated my own caliper covers.
Fin.
Now I just need to get some video of the wheels and caliper covers at highway speeds, to see if the Jolly Roger is visible.
Its nice to have a ride I'm proud of again.
Bone stock:
Wheels done:
I was going to paint my brake calipers at first, but that is a messy pain in the ass kind of job. I then found links to various caliper covers, except those run anywhere from $200 to $500 for a set of 4 for decent metal ones that aren't glued on, and most of them are 'universal', and might not even fit. I looked at how the good ones were made and said to myself, "Damn, those are simple. I could make them". While not as simple a process to make as I thought, mostly because of some engineering and fitment challenges, they weren't difficult to actually make.
After thinking about it, I realized that all I needed was a 'wedge' of something cylindrical...like a pot. I looked at a few stores to find exactly what I could use, and ended up using this large high sided pot.
After making a few templates and figuring out exactly how much material I needed, I started cutting out the rough shapes with a dremel + cutoff wheel and skil handheld jigsaw, to be smoothed out on a belt sander.
Front caliper cover just rough cut out:
Rear:
Just barely enough of the pot for 2 fronts and 2 rears:
Finished fronts
Front installed
Fin.
Now I just need to get some video of the wheels and caliper covers at highway speeds, to see if the Jolly Roger is visible.
Its nice to have a ride I'm proud of again.
Bone stock:
Wheels done:
I was going to paint my brake calipers at first, but that is a messy pain in the ass kind of job. I then found links to various caliper covers, except those run anywhere from $200 to $500 for a set of 4 for decent metal ones that aren't glued on, and most of them are 'universal', and might not even fit. I looked at how the good ones were made and said to myself, "Damn, those are simple. I could make them". While not as simple a process to make as I thought, mostly because of some engineering and fitment challenges, they weren't difficult to actually make.
After thinking about it, I realized that all I needed was a 'wedge' of something cylindrical...like a pot. I looked at a few stores to find exactly what I could use, and ended up using this large high sided pot.
After making a few templates and figuring out exactly how much material I needed, I started cutting out the rough shapes with a dremel + cutoff wheel and skil handheld jigsaw, to be smoothed out on a belt sander.
Front caliper cover just rough cut out:
Rear:
Just barely enough of the pot for 2 fronts and 2 rears:
Finished fronts
Front installed
