At long last, after literally YEARS of searching, I received a PM in a forum COMPLETELY unrelated to Mazdas, referencing a RWD MX-3.
After a few emails back and forth, I acquired a photo library and typed modlist, as well as an all too basic outline for the conversion.
It's not quite as refined as I would have liked, but the information is sufficient and accurate enough for me to undertake this project. WAAAAY less costly than alternative ideas I have considered.
This one I am keeping to myself, until I get my hands on the 3 cars I will be needing to make it work.
I may be crazy, but I finally found what I was looking for!
My advice for those planning outside the box builds:
Don't let anybody else tell you what is or isn't possible!
Oh my..that's love and craziness.which of the 2 more^^?
I would be worth to live there in US just to see with my eyes that sort of amazing
efforts (and thinking out of the box is so marvellously "italian" lol) ,
i feel so lonely here with my mx-3 "CarLotta" ,nobody knows it .
On the other side sometime i see people looking at it , thinking is a sort of "NEWER" car ,
sort of Emblem of this underrated car .
Bro , tell me where i can find pictures of your babies , forum does not handle USER/thread search ,
it does just User/post search .
Even stateside, the MX-3 is extremely uncommon, and increasingly so with each passing year. I love the styling, the handling, and the fact that people always ask me what kind of car it is.
I just wish the damn thing was RWD, and had a more reliable transmission... That's what pushed me to search so extensively for this.
wow , sure it's a long thread , a lotof things happen on yours.
Had brief reading , gonna read it through on Sunday.
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Yesterday i took from a garage a lot of mx-3 pieces for 100$ .
For most , i dont even know what i got (but it's even more rare here, so i took what i could).
No Disty and not MAf sadly .
Then , i asked about the coil/disty mod i found on the net to apair of technician.They did look at me as i was stupid .(nowadays they change parts , dont fix things anymore).
I see you modded (i did read "coilpack" on your first post )
I'm so curious about a billion things.
For example , i got a 4 spare original Enkei Rims (like mines and i see you had too from a photo), and i found they are not heavy at all .
I wonder how much they weight , i thought to switch to "Oz ultraleggera" but i wonder if they differ in weight so much.
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Keep it up ,
i'm with you with the "people asking which car it is ^"
..i answer is Unique ..it's CarLotta (sorry it's a joke with my surnale)
It's pretty long, but the majority of the work is in the last 10 pages or so. I was slow to get moving on projects!
Well, the coilpacks require either standalone EMS(Such as Haltec or MegaSquirt), or an OBDII conversion to be used. FowlJesse was working on a work-around to use the distributor base for cam triggering, but I am not sure if he ever tested it.
If you are looking to prevent distributor failure, the HEI mod and external coil are probably a more viable option. You can find the information for those here: http://mx-3.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=53706
The factory wheels aren't ridiculously heavy, but there are definitely lighter wheels available, if you know where to look.
Do you have '94-'96 MX-3s in Italy? The 5 spoke wheels they came standard with are considerably lighter, here's a picture:
The oz ultraleggera wheels ARE lighter than the wheels you currently have, but only in the 15x7, 16x7, and 17x7 sizes. The 15x7 would be a suitable replacement, and keep weight down considerably! They are a nice looking wheel, too.
yeah i did look at HEI mod .A guy here is also selling the mod i think , contacted to know about it.
It was the HEi mod that the techs looked at me with a "?" on their face.(Disty already died /replaced with another new NOT-Oem , dunno if it's reliable).*EDIT* I will continue on my thread , im Hijacking yours too much.
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Anyway post some SPOILERS on the conversion i'm DAMN curious !!!
I have been working on this, slowly but surely; I found a local fabricator willing to build me a prototype front subframe and or engine cradle for the conversion.
That leaves the decision of a powerplant... The location of the brake booster makes it tough to squeeze anything wide in there. The MX-6 booster is likely in order, and I am thinking about moving it a few inches towards the driver's wheel-well.
I will share one tidbit of information, and that is my consideration of the SHO V6. I have had a hard time finding accurate measurements of the external dimensions, but I found one locally(w/ trans) that I will be measuring myself in the next week or so.
At this point, I don't care if I have to modify the hood to clear a taller intake, but I am trying very hard to minimize the amount of cutting required to clear the firewall. It's inevitable, but with patience and careful planning, I can keep it to a minimum.
I've already seen signs of what I had expected in regards to this post, and it's honestly quite sad. This community is all but dead, and the general fear of trying anything different plays a large role in the decline.
Just think: If we all focused more on innovative projects, and less on chest-beating and pontificating, comparing who's spent more money or any other idiotic measure of "quality" that people associate with their personal projects, we could actually move FORWARD with these cars.
I would appreciate it if people avoided any negative criticism, at least in THIS thread, in regards to this project. Ideas, small or large are all welcome!
I honestly cannot wait to see this in person! Such a great idea, have you started fabrication yet? I can't believe I did not see this before!! Nice work Blake, you will not be disappointed with the SHO! It is such a great engine, like a better more modern version of the KL.
Nd4SpdSe,
It is indeed from the Taurus, which keeps costs significantly lower than other alternatives. They are a dime a dozen, and pop up from time to time on Craigslist, even.
Josh,
I'm not sinking a red cent into the project at this time, only taking preliminary measurements, and putting together an outline for costs. If I am able to stuff an SHO+trans into the bay with minimal firewall cutting, then I will be willing to set money aside each month for the project.
Relocation of the steering rack is almost guaranteed to be necessary, and that is a system that I am hesitant to mess with. My initial thinking was to swap the driver's and passenger side spindles, and relocate the stock rack farther forward... After VERY little research, this already looks to be the largest complication I will be facing... I may end up getting lucky, and having it fall into my lap as a viable option; the odds are heavily against that, however. :/
Honestly, I wish that more members were in my area, because this is quite the undertaking. I have a few local friends that are into the car scene, but they're apprehensive about taking on a project of this size. They are more fond of repairing and flipping cars for a profit; This is more for the experience and the unique factor!
I will be taking bay measurements from a junkyard MX-3 this weekend, and am trying to find an SHO V6 that is already free of the Taurus engine bay. My local yards may overcharge for engines, but for once I am grateful that they yank each and every one upon arrival!
I am happy to see some positive feedback for this project, even if people are hesitant that it will come to fruition. That hesitation is well-founded, especially given the fact that so few attempt this, and only 2(that I know of) have completed the conversion. Hopefully I can contribute something major to the community, and make RWD more easily attainable for everybody on here!
Truth is, the easiest way would be to do what the Subi and Evo guys do. Find an AWD trans pull the front axles and weld the center diff to the rear so its full time RWD. The most challenging of this is really the front cross member. That thing is in the way, and another way of chopping mounting and resupporting needs to happen in order to maintain its rigidity. This was the sole reason I went AWD instead of RWD, once I got down to the nuts and bolts of it, it just made more sense.
If the trans doesn't fit with relatively little floorpan and firewall modification, It's not really worth it for me. I don't mind blowing time and money on a subframe and cradle setup to mount it all up, but the entire point is to keep the MX-3 as stock looking as possible.
If all I wanted was RWD and roughly MX-3 shaped, I'd be driving an RX-7 FC. As it is, I've been damned tempted to pick one up locally... I have the money for it, and it's already prepped for an LS conversion. I'd need a few grand to pick up a junk donor car, otherwise I would already be doing it!
The SHO motor is pretty big I bet its 2x bigger than a KL easily, you tilt it sideways your guaranteed to have to chop up that fire wall, hood, and floorpan for even a small transmission and drive shaft to fit.....or maybe you can try a GT-R approach and put the tranny in the back. This thread is very interesting. Such innovation I cant wait for this to take off. I would of gone the route dan[sac] did and chopped up a miata and meshed it to a MX3. It would be easier than his RWD probe i bet.
Well back in the early 00's there was a RWD MX3 that was street driven. He actually cut the body off of an FC at the crimp line. Then the same to the MX3, and welded and reinforced the MX body onto the RX7 floor pan. IMO that is a lot easier than going through modding all the parts the way the RWD probe was done (though it turned out nicely).
The B series trans are weak, the best bet is to swap in FC TT internals onto the B series center shaft and into the B series transmission. It is a direct swap just cumbersome.
There was a kid a few years back that did a full SHO RWD by dropping it straight into the rear of the car. He had it running, though I dont think he ever got it drivable.
WAAAAY less costly than alternative ideas I have considered.
!!!
As it is, I've been damned tempted to pick one up locally... I have the money for it, and it's already prepped for an LS conversion. I'd need a few grand to pick up a junk donor car, otherwise I would already be doing it!
