matts 94 mx-3 gs build. MOARRRRR GOODIES

[mx3matt]

so i was hoping it would've been a bit warmer today but regardless heres a few snaps of the wheels i picked up. got lucky on these and they are only replicas but they are straight and never been rashed, just in real need of a decent respray.

gonna go with a two tone with a similar blue to the above picture, with a flat black accent.
if it doesnt hold up well then i'll be getting them powdercoated an awesome purple that was offered as a special color from volk/rays.

[IMACHU2]

Lookin' good I like the wheels and the seats. I may be a child of the 90's and I owned a Swift GTI, but i think the seats are kool.....as is. LOL

[mx3matt]

Lookin' good I like the wheels and the seats. I may be a child of the 90's and I owned a Swift GTI, but i think the seats are kool.....as is. LOL

couldnt agree with you more. i love the old school look i come from a domestic world my other toy that me and my dad are sharing as a project is a 64' ford galaxie 500xl.
i'm actually still waiting to pick the seats up as the guys been apparently out of the country for almost a month.

so i did forget to mention i've changed my tire plans a bit...in a good way. i've been trying to squeeze 225/45r17 g force sports on, bfg tires run quite a bit more square and aggressive on the sidewalls making them feel more like a 235-245. well a bit over a month ago i jumped ship at mazda and went to ford..... on thursday i was going thru our physical tire inventory and found a brand spankin new set of 215/45zr17 falken fk452's

gonna be a lot easier to fit this in and due to the stickier compound(300 treadwear compared to the g forces 340) they'll grab just as nice if not better then the original plan.

so now this saturday i'll be painting the calipers and installing the new wheels/tires at et37 offset so it should squat pretty nicely me thinks.

[mx3matt]

ohhhhai fk452's





all thats left is paint, then balance.
Gotta choose my lugnut color and go buy them, and pick up some hub centric rings as well.

[mx3matt]

so i decided i wanted to use paint stripper to my life a bit easier, found something interesting underneath

[mx3matt]

perfect weekend for some brakes.

picked up a bunch of goodies from a local member.

[wagZE]

Seats would probably look good with the rainbow spackled interior. I like the battery hold down bracket, do you happen to have another?? Pics of those wheels when you get them mounted!

[mx3matt]

Seats would probably look good with the rainbow spackled interior. I like the battery hold down bracket, do you happen to have another?? Pics of those wheels when you get them mounted!

got the battery tie down from an old local mx3 guy along with 5 sets of mudguards lol.

as for the wheels i havent been able to make up my mind on paint scheme, plus weather hasnt been very painter friendly so i havent really done anything other then throw my msd wires in. did pick up so open ended purple lugs i just wanna stand out from the crowd a bit tired of every ride looking the same.

having one hell of a time finding a decently priced AVAILABLE 323 manual rack, may just get stuck depowering my stock rack.

i've got so much on my plate the last couple years and to be honest its really burning me out of the modifying scene,
my mom is a amputee(diabetes), my pops is losing his sight, and i'm a "single" dad trying to be a family man.(baby mama drama ). all these on top of a almost 20 y/o car has beat the s--- out of me mentally and physically.
i will finish all the swap and upgrade items i had planned. but this is gonna be my last serious project for a long time. i'm ready to settle down and buy a house and sit on my fat a-- watching the world go by lol.

[mx3matt]

so i swapped out my driver side cv axle, went really smoothly on the hoist at work. 20 minutes and it was done. immediately noticed vibrations under load and its gotten 100x times worse in 20km's of driving. under load (ie. 1st,2nd and 3rd gear pulls) from about 10km/h and gets the whole car shaking violently until around 50-70km/h where it subsides quite a bit but is definetly still present.

got a warranty replacement shaft that i'll be installing at 5pm this afternoon, gonna install my front brakes too.

got my new lugnuts too. hopefully i'll have time to finish up and mount the wheels to test for fitment issues and set the new ride height.

[mx3matt]

so its been a hell of a week but things are feeling a bit better after putting a couple hundred km's on the car tonight. so got the car in about 5pm this afternoon..... pulled the car in the shop and yanked the cv axle out, installed the replacement and tossed everything back together for a test drive( about 6pm).

New axle felt good with no noticable vibration but didnt like the way the brakes felt but decided to get unlazy and throw the fronts on at least.......bad idea. Driver side was seized and i decided i was gonna bit the bullet and replace both front calipers with rebuilts, did a shitty eyeball alignment tossed my gs wheels back on with the new lugs. i love partially restoring my faith in the old girl lol.

new calipers and cross drilled's


lugs


pretty bloody happy with the end result. i'll be painting the calipers when i replace the rears, and hopefully finally tossing on the wheels and figuring out ride height.

[mx3matt]

so update time...but a bit disappointed.

finally installed my oem cf hood and not very happy about my purchase anymore, fitment is absolutely terrible as you'll all see.















pretty pissed off at this point but i'll play with the fit a bit more tomorrow at work. thought i was getting a good deal.

[kulluminati777]

oh bro there is no such as a good deal i also found out the hard way, and in the first pic you look pretty happy or is that you laughing at the hood but i would play with it a little, most aftermarket things fit weird, especially if there produced in huge mass but im sure you make it work

[mx3matt]

thats not me in the pics, just one of the part timers at the dealership i work for.

[mx3matt]

ok so i need some advice and KL wisdom.

so my motor build has been altered a half dozen times, and at this point it'll be a soft rebuild.
i have had the motor sitting for a lot longer then i intiallty thought i was( almost a year now)

this weekend i'll be putting it on the stand if my pops is around, and i'm wondering what things i should be looking for in regards to maintanance. here's my parts list of things i've purchased for replacement.

1. timing belt and water pump.
2. friction gear washers and nuts.
3. polished v/c's and new gaskets.
4. new oil pan.
5. new tensioner and pulleys.

when i purchased the motor last year, i did have the chance to hear it running in the mx6 it was pulled from and when it was pulled the oil was left in it so i'm really hoping its not gonna be seized or anything like that.
i'm great when it comes to heavy mechanical, but honestly when it comes to the more technical items like motor internals i'm a lil overwhelmed lol.

and just as a side note, i really dont plan on yanking the heads unless i have to.

[mx3matt]

update time!

a couple more pics of the hood. still havent bothered fitting it properly. but i'll be throwing my aerocatch hood pins on it. then i'll figure out the fitment.







more pics in a few, picked up all more goodies i had in storage.