Engine has been sitting, car has been sitting. Let's do it!!

[rccardude04]

Yeah. I drive an '02 Ranger with 130,000 miles that's had nothing other than scheduled maintenance done to it, and ball joints. No complaints there.

Old fords were garbage... My friend has like a 93 mustang and an old Bronco 2, either of which may or may not run that day, and the Mustang has lit itself on fire. They're getting their crap together.

Don't forget, our Mazdas are basically Fords.

I may leave the ford valve cover gasket on there just to be annoying. It will confuse people if anyone looks. We'll see how I feel on the day I do the gaskets.

Around here, all the tow truck companies use F650s it seems like, and I don't know how many toyota, chevy, honda, etc. vehicles I've seen being towed by a Ford of some sort. A friend of mine is infinitely brand loyal to GM, and if you even mention that your ford runs well, he goes off on a tangent about how his chevy has 275,000 miles and just runs all the time and bla bla bla ... so I do it to drive him nuts any more.

-Eric

[Nd4SpdSe]

Yeah. I drive an '02 Ranger with 130,000 miles that's had nothing other than scheduled maintenance done to it, and ball joints. No complaints there.

Don't forget, our Mazdas are basically Fords.

Lol, not even close. A Probe is basically an Mx-6 with a Ford shell and interior.

Even the Ranger started it's live as a rebadged Mazda pickup, but it's pretty much a colaboration between Mazda and Ford since the get-go.

My parents have an '02 Escape, it's great, they love it, and I do too. I would of gotten on, but I'd break that in a week, lol.

[96mx-3]

header b4 is a good idea.. i didnt have to modd mine at all just move my cat back ....and for mounts i decided to buy from awr racing.. like 220 can. shipped...

[bbox]

if the motor isnt in, then your $$$ should be in the motor. I would do EVERYTHING possible while its out and go ahead and get it goin good now. I agree with the wanting to have a play toy, but do most of the engine work while itll be easy.

[rccardude04]

Yeah, that's what I'm really planning to do now. I was hoping to keep the $$ a little lower but I have some r/c airplane and car stuff I could probably pull a few hundred bucks from. Normally that funding goes back into my little toys, but I'm going to sprinkle it on this Mazda this time around. Besides, I have too much crap taking up room in the basement anyway.

-Eric

[mitmaks]

Don't forget, our Mazdas are basically Fords.

-Eric

Except mx-3's were build in Japan. That's how my mx-3 is still on the road, and of course cause I maintain it so well.

[bbox]

Yeah, i hear ya on the keeping the money down part, too. My everyday driver is my 97 eclipse, and it needs some work now. (EXPENSIVE!!!) On top of this mazda... But im planning on just keeping the k8 in it for a while until i really NEED to or can afford to but the ZE. But im gonna go ahead and do upgrades where i can so that the ZE swap will be straight into a complete set! hahahahaha

But the headers at least while its off, thats where i would go. the rest of the exhaust can wait. But my suggestions are all in my opinion. Im still considered a noob myself as compared to all my cousins.

[rccardude04]

Haha. I hear ya.

The original plan was for my brother to drive this thing, but he broke it. Honestly, I had a bit of a feeling he would. But I thought it would still at least be drivable. I didn't figure he would submerge the car and blow up the clutch. It's really cheaper for me, at this point, to have bought my friend's KL-DE than to do what all this K8 needs to run how I want it to. (O2s, clutch, etc.) plus the tranny leaks and I don't want to fiddle with it, so we drop in the KL-DE.

This thing isn't going to be a street racer or any of that crap. I'm sure I'll screw with a civic from time to time getting up to 60 on the highway, but that'd be it. The main idea is to go autocrossing, so the suspension/brakes are priority 1. Just, I want to make it run before I go doing all that jazz.

Also, this is the first car I've really taken anything apart on by myself. I'll have a friend over to help me on occasion but not 100% of the time like I have in the past. It's a great learning experience.

Good luck with your project also! It's really relaxing to work on when you don't have to worry about it being done tomorrow to get you to work/school.

-Eric

[rccardude04]

Holy cow! The Passenger-side CV shaft is quite stuck.

Any ideas? I can reach it with a prybar but only with a ratio of about 2:1 (8" shaft to pivot, 16" pivot to where I can push).

I need more leverage ... or another place to pry from that I can't see. Ideas?

-Eric