a little history:
ive always thought mx3's were awesome and a little over a year ago it was time to buy my first car. not knowing anything about cars i went and bought the first mx3 i saw in my price range ($1000). the car was a complete mess when i bought it, the interior was absolutely disgusting. the carpet was covered in candy and mold, the sunroof was leaking, the headliner was falling off and the drivers seat had a big rip in it. but the body/paint was in pretty good condition. soon after i bought it i realized it was in worse shape then i thought. the exhaust was completely rotted out, the tie rods, ball joints and end links were about to fall off, the rear breaks were seized, one of the tires was completely bald and the radiator sprung a leak within a couple months. to make things worse the compression wasnt that great and it was only firing on 5 cylinders. i also managed to get 5 nails in 3 tires and the only one that made it unscaved was the bald tire
in september i moved down to vancouver and got into a small front end collision and destroyed my hood, put a nice crack in my front bumper, and mashed my rad support pretty well. it also managed to break the mounting brackets for the passenger side headlight so its all pushed in at a weird angle.
by november the bad compression and dead cylinder were getting so bad i was getting just over 200km to a tank of gas. with the help of solo_ryder and others on the forum i was able to pull off a motor/clutch swap. i was in a hurry to get it done and just replaced it with a k8, now i kick myself every time i get in my car as i see de's on craigslist all the time.
since then ive replaced a couple things to get the car into a more solid condition such as egr, coolant temp sensor, 2.25" magnaflow exhaust. to bring the look of the car back to life ive started repainted some panals. so far ive done the small strip under the hatch (paint was peeling) above the bumper, the spoiler (clear coat was peeling) and the mirrors (faded). today i finally smoked the tail lights and marker lights, and i start repainting my rims gunmetal. ill post pics of those tomorrow.
customizing:
my first custom mod was a 3 plug + usb power outlet i inset into the dash above the ashtray. shortly after that i painted the vents/accents blue, and installed el gauge covers to customize the car more to my style.
i also finally got around to getting a new headliner/customizing it to fit my aftermarket sunroof + covering it in vinyl
i also made a custom floor for the trunk out of plywood covered in vinyl
got my hands on a set of rear mud guards, painted them and installed on the car
heres the car all polished up while i was painting the mirrors + freshly painted panel above rear bumper.
there not even as bright as my 18year old factory bulbs, im very disappointed and hoping to get a refund. crossing my fingers that the other bulbs i ordered are brighter.