MX-3.com

Ok, feel free to be annoyed with me...
There's a good possiblility of me buying an MX-3 here this weekend and me being clueless about car specific issues... I thought I would ask the pro's!
I'm familiar with cars, mainly Mitsubishi. I've stripped'em and built them... but Mazda is Greek to me.
Its a red GS with a manual, about 100K looks fairly taken care of.
Normal things I will look for, but I was wondering if there are any serious MX-3 specifics that I should be listening/looking for. Things I might not notice or pass off that are serious trouble?
I need a decent reliable car for about a year so I can do a full tear down and rebuild of the 2.4L turbo engine I'm currently mid build. Basically I need a car that runs when I want it to, not when it FEELS like it. AKA=Mitsubishi
I should have guessed the Mx-3 would have had a cult following as it is a sporty lil' car. I can see I'm going to end up with 2 projects now...
I noticed there is a BPT / turbocharged engine available for this car?
A platform to warm my heart, and familiar...
But the stock USDM 1.8L 6's out put was not mentioned..?
Is the 4 or 6 a better starting platform? (can of worms I'm sure)
I thank you in advance for tolerating my newbie questions.
I know its an irritation. But I promise I will be of use to your group in the long run.

If you already have in mind a GS model.. Dont do a 4cl swap. Youd go with a 2.5L v6(200 hp).

Ther is LOTS of info about this swap.

MX-3's are pretty depndable depending on the previous owner (as is with most cars).

my RS Ive had for 7 years.. 182,000 miles, still runs great.
My GS had 190,000 miles on it when I pulled the motor.. and it was still running fine.


Ive owned 3 of these cars so far and would probably keep the 2 I have for a long time. Just drives me crazy I put tons of $$ into the car to keep up with the Hp of the new cars and seems pointless. Its not about the $$, its the car. If you own it, u'll love it. If you sell it, you'll miss it. I know many people who sold their MX-3, and ended up getting another one.

I put tons of $$ into the car to keep up with the Hp of the new cars and seems pointless.

My friend got an SRT-4 and its a blast. Intake, short throw, and the blow off plate (not worth mentioning) and he's running 13.8's -13.854, 13.837, ...
He got it for $18K out the door...

Its not about the $$, its the car. If you own it, u'll love it.

I own one... it's called a Mitsubishi...
And it, like all, are a big, deep, black, money pit. And more addicting than heroin. I'm not trying to come off like this is my beater... I said I need a reliable car, lol! That way when the pig decides stationary is much more appealing. I can jump in this and get where I need to go. I'd imagine I won't be able to leave it alone. I'm just a little shocked the V-6's aren't quicker than I saw posted. I believe in honesty, however and give credit to ppl posting real times. I guess it is a 1.8L? I'm still snickering at a 6 cyl. that's .6L smaller than my 4cyl... And I honestly thought they would be lighter. My Galant is 2800lbs give or take 50... and with OZ's, A/C delete, CF hood, body kit w/o bumper supports, I've dropped almost 200lbs out of the car.
~Yes I said Galant~
Which looks like a lincoln town car next to an Mx3.

So is there anything I should really be wary of when looking at this car? He said is leaks a teensy bit of oil... (here we go) but it seems to come from the oil pan. I just hope it isn't the main crank seal or something...
Any dead giveaways? I saw the distributor's are prone to repeated failure. If not this car then I'll find another Mx3. I'm pretty determined, and believe I have enough experience to do it justice. I saw a few kits for the cars that clean them up quite nice! Oh ok, I'm excited and hopeful. Any insight would be extremely appreciated.

100k on the clock isn't anything to worry about if you are, that baby could have a lot of life left in her. I heard of a Miata with basically our engine with over 600k, and 300k isn't wildly unheard of. A lot of the exhausts on our cars are starting to rot as it's been over 10 years now depending on the car. As with most any Mazda, pay close attention to your CV axles, they're notorious for going out. I replaced one of mine at ~95k when I bought the car, knowing I could use it as a bargaining chip and that it probably would have gone soon anyway. Mechanically, that's all I can think of at the moment. Leaking oil is never good, get it checked out and know where it's coming from for sure. I also had to replace my valve cover gasket because it was seeping oil, another chip.

Aesthetically, check out your cargo cover if there is one, your sunroof if there is one, and your center console. All of these are notorious for wearing first on our car. Heck, if all 3 of these parts are in great condition, I'd be inclined to believe the previous owner cared enough about the car to keep the mechanics in top shape as well.

In regards to the V6...if you haven't been informed yet, under that hood is the smallest production V6 ever produced. Sadly, it performs like it (although it still slaps my I4). I'm too lazy to look, but I think it's got about 127-130hp as opposed to the 108hp of my DOHC I4. The 1.6 is definitely the better starting point of the two. After you're sick of the 1.6, you can bolt in a KLZE (the 200hp 2.5 Barry talked about) or a KLDE (150hp? not sure, info's around here somewhere) and boost it as it responds a lot better than the KLZE.

Also, I suspect you may have found the forum through a google search on MX-3 forums or something? If you didn't enter via mx-3.com, go check it out. Right after I got my car, I learned a LOT by reading all the interesting and needed information archived there. Check out the little button on the inside of the driver's door that says 'Touch'. Bet ya can't guess what it does!

Thank you. That was what I was looking for. Stuff I need to pay close attention to.
He mentioned a few things that he replaced, one of which was the rad, due to a small puncture. But not alot. He said it was a really great car and never needed much. It looks a little faded from sitting out in the picture... but its red and I plan on having that scuffed off and resprayed within the month. (Did I mention I HATE red?)
Hopefully I'll get up there this weekend for a thorough inspection.
Again, your insight is appreciated. Keep it coming.
Every car is a little different in what you really need to watch out for.

~And yes I'm clueless about the TOUCH button... I thought I saw it somewhere on here? Oh I KNOW... its for the factory installed nitrous system... ~ LOL!
Tell me!

funny you should mention mitsubishi b/c all of the stuff that fails on the MX3 GS are mitsubishi parts that mazda sourced.

First of all the distributors love to die for no apparent reason b/c the ignitor burns up. Mitsibushi made em for mazda

other thing is the rear brake calipers. Mine havea mitsu symbol on their body so i'm guessing they are mitsu built calipers. They like to seize up and work like s---. Their design IMO is pretty ghey b/c its hard to retract the piston when you change pads & the way the bracket is gives the inside pad more pressure than the outside at any given time.

Other things to look out for are typical s--- like worn axles, funky electrical wiring problems and other crap like that.

GS is good model to get, of course maintenance is required, usually stock rubber air intake cracks, disty might have problem, cv axles at about 60k, water pump/belt

The first "upgrade" you'll want is a grounding wire upgrade... make your own or buy it on ebay, it helps a lot. There's an idle issue with these cars, it likes to drop when you put any load on the electrical system, the grounding upgrade tends to fix this or lower the effects quite a bit.

The stock ground wires SUCK so much. there's only a couple of them in the engine bay, and they are super small. Remember to grind down the contact spots with a dremel or sand paper.

This is only the first upgrade as long as your intake tube is okay, it may be cracked, if that's the case just go buy a cheap intake on ebay, the one for the sohc. It will fit with some work on any mx-3. You could also get one of those integra ones and chop a bit off. MAKE SURE you connect the vaccum tubes back up to the intake pipe, they are important!

I'm jelous, you found a manual GS! Thats good luck man. The automatic suckkksssss.

Have fun, you'll fall in love with this car. I've only got the sohc I4, from 92-93, and THATS fun.