MX-3.com

MrMazda92 wrote:I'm getting awfully tired of walking past this car every single day without being able to drive it.

Try putting a car away for the winter..

I wouldd vastly prefer that to having wrecked it and being unable to fix it expediently... I could have had it on the road in a month, but I decided to use the "down time" to make some other repairs/upgrades.

Meh, I guess it'll be worth it in the long run...

Today was a junkyard run kind of day!

Picked up a new rear subframe, and some matching Energy suspension bushings to begin the replacement process. This subframe will be powerwashed, wirebrushed, painted(3 coats), and be bolted together with cleaned up hardware and anti-seize all around. The spindles will be modified 1st gen Probe units, with full hardware and reconditioned brakes attached.

I picked up a second steering rack, so that I can de-power my other black car without taking it off the road for more than a day...

The "big ticket" purchases for the day were 2003 Toyota Celica front seats(for the black '93), and 2010 Mazda3 front seats for this car.

The Mazda3 seats are 95% mint, and should be perfect after a thorough cleaning. The Celica seats are about 90% perfect, but need a little touch up on one of the seams.

Looks like my interior will be properly updated, and very soon! All I need now are matching fabric panels for the doors, rear seats, and armrests...

The new subframe I picked up has very solid stock bushings all around. They look/feel new, or very close to it...

I have enough Energy bushings to do the full set of TTL bushings, but am now reconsidering because of the condition of the stock setup. The Energy bushings are not a bolt-on setup, and do require some modification to fit well. I worry that I will compromise the AWS effect of the TTLs if I modify the setup to work on this car...

Are any active members currently running the Energy bushings in the TTLs? I would love to see pictures of exactly how others have cut/modified the bushings for exact fitment. Getting the sleeve that the spindle bolts travel through into the bushing isn't a problem, but cutting the bushings for exact fitment seems to be. The difference in the width between the MX-3 and Probe spindles does give me a little wiggle room(Typically, installing the Energy bushings would slightly reduce the distance between the forward and real links on each side, however the Probe spindle is ~3/4" wider to begin with).

If my measurements are correct, and I've triple checked them, then the Energy bushings will actually work better with the Probe spindle than the MX-3 spindle. The one point that would be a potential loss is the little stub on the rear of each spindle... Where the bushing is longer and sticks out towards the front of the car. This is not replaceable using the Energy bushings, unless I cut an extra bushing to length and stack them side by side...

These images show that the bushings are pretty close in diameter to the stock setup, but will definitely need modification to work properly.

For the "stubby" bushing, 3 Energy bushings stacked together could be made to match the same dimensions with a little cutting. The problem I see with that is stacking 3 bushings into a space previously occupied by 1... The potential for flex/compression of the bushings is already changed considerably by the differences in composition, and I'm worried that the Energy bushings might make the car handle oddly.

I may end up leaving the bushings stock at this rate, especially with them being in nice shape and all... I do have enough bushings in my possession to do both inners, both outers, or one complete side of the TTL setup.

At this rate, maybe replacing only the inner bushings would be prudent... They will fit with far less modification, and are less vital in regards to the AWS effect.

I sold my blue '93 GS w/ ZE today, she went to a good home and will see many more miles on the road.

Most of the money went to paying bills, but the rest should be enough to get my '92 back on the road.
I still need to find the right set of wheels/tires in 5x114, but I have plenty of time to keep looking while I drive the Camry around...

I completely finished the A/C, PowerSteering, and other unused accessory removal today. I am re-routing the vacuum lines and organizing things while I wait for my brake parts to arrive in the mail... The car should be pushing about 160 HP with the K8 by the time I have it back on the road...

Did I mention that power steering is one of the most difficult things to remove with the engine in the car? Damn...

A/C removal? Uh oh, that reminds me I gotta get mine working. I have to install condenser, vacuum it and recharge it with R134a. Summers are hot here and having a black leather interior...gets very hot.

I fully removed both the A/C and the power steering recently, and I'm considering modifying my alternator bracket so that I can run a single belt for both the alternator and the water pump.

That, and the addition of a UDP should free up a little power.

I did finally find a set of seats that I like enough to install in my car... They're definitely not MX-3 originals though. I'll post some pictures after I figure out the mounting fiasco... That's kind of an understatement, the driver's side is going to be troublesome to say the least.

Stock passenger seat next to Mazda3 passenger seat:


The new seat is MINT, but it could benefit from a vacuum and some cleanup. I pulled the matching set from a car with under 12,000 miles on the road.

Fitment for the passenger seat isn't too tough, but the driver's side poses a few problems...

Still no luck getting my hands on a clean set of FD wheels, so the 5 lug swap is on the back burner again... I have everything for the rears, and have modified the Probe handbrake cables to bolt directly onto my MX-3.
Truth be told I only need front pads/rotors, FD wheels and the right tires to make this happen. The funds are there, but the right set of wheels hasn't popped up yet. Until it does, I see no point in spending $200 on pads and rotors.

The car will be on the road in a week or so, with factory 4 lugs and some old tires I had laying around... Better than the two I destroyed in my accident, but not quite as nice as I was hoping for.

oh wow those mazda3 seats are very plush. I like em they have a "luxury" look to em compared to the "sporty" mx seats. I bet they are comfy!!

They are very comfortable to me, but my roommate, best friend, and every woman that has come by in the past 2 weeks has said they are too wide in the shoulders.

Despite being short and lean, I'm fairly broad-shouldered, and they feel amazing. The headrests make the seats look funny to me, but the important thing is that they work for my body, and they do.

As it turns out, mounting the passenger seat will be surprisingly easy... The width of the rails is slightly different between the Mazda3 and stock seats, but only very slightly. The biggest hindrance is the fact that the Mazda3 rails are held together almost exclusively by rivets, instead of bolts. I'll likely use stainless rivets myself after getting the fit perfect...

I bolted my header primaries on today, as well as the SRD rear tie-bar. I will put the SRD crossmember on after I get the depowered steering rack and header y-pipe installed. Pictures, as always, will come after completion... The rear end is good to go, minus the driver's side spindle. The damned bolt is stuck so badly I will need to drill it out, as no amount of banging with a sledge/punch was effective. I can't find my torch either, so progress halted at around 5 PM on that front...

Plans for tomorrow:
- Install KLDE Intake/Throttle-body
- Install UDP
- Initial mock-up of modified alternator bracketry(consolidating to 1 accessory belt)
- Pull the old steering rack & Tie-rods
If I manage to finish all of that in time, I will start re-connecting the engine bay harness to the engine. Leak free high mileage K(L/8) here I come...

I need to buy TunerStudio, and figure out the VRIS tuning so I can set the onset/duration for the DE manifold...

Wow the Mazda 3 seat looks so similiar in design to the 94-96 seat design of the mx-3 lol

That they do, but they are way more supportive than 20 year old sagging foam!

So today I put my subwoofer back in the car, completely removed the ABS from the rear end, and swapped my black Altezzas off for stock tails. One too many people asked what year my "Integra" was...

I need to redo the wiring for the rear speakers, the 20 year old stock stuff is just a resistance nightmare. Granted, my speakers don't demand a ton of power, it's one more thing out of the way early.

My rear subframe is entirely pieced together and installed, but I am still struggling to get the outer TTL bolt out of the driver's side rear spindle... If I could get my hands on 16-17" 5 lug wheels, I would just skip over the spindle and use my modified Probe setup.