Josh's 94' GS - Updated 08/11/13

[Surgeonasst222]

this IS a tough one. Now that i seen the colors you have on hand I like em all lol.

+1

LET'S DO RAINBOW RIMS!!!

[Whisper]

So I saw a GS driving around recently, and I thought "Heh, some teen riced out his hatch with a wing, good thing mine looked stock", but then the car felt kind of familiar and I was like "Wait a minute", so I came to check this thread, and I was like "Oh..."

Gotta say it, the wing aesthetics bug me. Was never a fan of it. It is the only square shape on the entire car. Mazda's styling lines are curvy, smooth, and flow organically, but then you arrive at the boxy shape at the end, and it clashes. It's probably the designer in me being nit-picky, but whenever I saw those wings on MX-3 they always felt like they were from the wrong car, I'd prefer a wing that follows the curve of the lip, instead of being a rectangle. And it's tarnished further by being on top of the lip, which gives it that over-stacked double-decker one-wing-is-not-enough look, common among certain ricers. I think you know the wings I'm talking about. Does it actually serve any function other than styling?

But honestly, the wing would probably be the only thing I'd chuckle at if I saw it on a car. Everything else looks pretty decent and tasteful, and you're mostly just adding little touches, so good for you for keeping a stock-ish appearance. It's so rare to see a proper clean MX-3 that's traditional and hasn't been molested with silly "styling mods".

Are your new headlights any good for visibility and beam pattern? I liked the projectors because they offered good visibility while having a controlled, focused beam, without bleeding into the eyes of oncoming traffic (as a courtesy to other drivers), which is why I went with projectors instead of HID conversion.

On a separate note, one thing about dropping it too low and part of the reason I kept it close to stock ride height is I've had issues with axle bind (in the CV joint) during hard cornering when it was too low. I had to go through quite a few axles before I found one short enough to avoid binding at the height I had it. I don't know if you had that happen, hope not, but just something to keep in mind.

Other than that, keep it up. I'm gonna go back to fixing my RX-7, maybe I'll come to another Mazda meet sometime, when I figure the damn thing out.

[Josh]

Wow.. not sure how I should handle this...

So the white GS you saw driving around was probably the one that just sold with the really gawdy rear spoiler, as I only use factory optioned parts. lol

This wing produced by MazdaSpeed is the only wing sold for the car that is wind tunnel and track tested to be functional. I do agree from certain angles it does look odd, but it is that JDM kind of rare thing going on. IMO it looks better being over the lip vs just a garnish as it gives it the appearance that it is not quite so big. You will like my winter look better I grantee it. I am going to swap it out here in probably November when the snow starts to hit.

I agree, I am trying to keep only factory optioned items, though some of those items do come off of other Mazdas


The headlights are SOOO much better. The ebay projectors are only good if you put HID's in them. they are a very low quality projector, though they are an improvement over OE USA plastic lenses. I have a set of S2000 projectors somewhere that I would have changed them with but my wife packed them up in the move and can't seem to locate them, the s2k projectors are some of the best projectors money can buy. Either way I was not really fond of the LED's in the ebay lights or the halo's. I have EU glass lams with leveling motors, I have modified the internals and am using a proper H4 conversion HID 5K bulbs. H4's are a huge improvement, the Ebay lights were so dim that I could not see going through the pass at night in the rain. made for some scarry situations. And having a 55' Ford on a 6v system I am a custom to driving with little to no lights at night. I have them adjusted all the way down and I very rarely get high beamed. If, and I mean the hand full of times that I have, it has been on a very dark country road with no street lights whatsoever. It has been a great upgrade.

I remember you telling me about the axles you went through. I don't drive the car as hard as you probably did so I have not had issues with axle binding. Then again I am going to be adding RX7 lower ball joints later this month so that will resolve any issue that there may have been with binding.

Other than that just general maintenance things. Upgraded the alternator when it went out, quieted the exhaust a little bit with the MS rear box, replaced the brakes and upgraded to Miata big brakes in the rear. Almost done with my conversion for Rx& fronts, and had to replace the rod bearings as they were making a bit of noise, I will be doing a complete rebuild this winter as she burns quite a bit of oil. Though not as much as I was now that I have moved up to 10w40 instead of 10w30. Also I did change the ECU out to a KL36 and re-adjusted and tuned the car a bit and managed to get almost another 10WHP out of it. Not too shabby.

Well if you are interested we started a FB group "PNW Mazda Enthusiasts" https://www.facebook.com/groups/NWMAZDAS/ We have a nice drive set up for this Saturday down to Mt St Helen's.

[kulluminati777]

yeah i laugh when people say "the MS wing is so square and ugly" well duh it looks like that because it wasnt made for looks its main creation was for function. I took my wing off a few weeks ago and thought the car looked crazy without it lol.


I cant wait till you get that RX7 brake kit done. I been SLOWLY collecting miata rear conversion parts as well. Thats cool you have gone that route. Have you thought of a color on the wheels? whats the deal with your badges?

[Josh]

External coil swap DONE! link here http://mx-3.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=81338