MX-3.com

Condenser took a solid hit but the A/C is not charged anyway.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, we reformed the crossmember back to its original position, installed a new radiator and rebuilt the fans, got some pretty cruddy headlights from someone NOT on the forums (seals are compromised and each light is has cracked plastic so each are exposed to the elements to the rear of the headlight assembly - we'll see how long the bulbs last - ergh) added fresh coolant and all is - uh - ok.

Hood was removed and rebent. Definitely still looks like it was in a fender bender but the hood does latch again - sort of. The primary a latch works on a sort of cam that snaps into another cam that is connected to the hood latch cable. It will not snap in because the cams are grossly misaligned because the latch assembly itself took the bulk of the impact. The Mazda emblem is gone too

Another hoodlatch is on the way, but for local driving the car is back on the road dependent on the secondary latch. No speeds > 40 mph and we are good to go. So....car is alive again - no drive-ability issues and engine and trans are completely unscathed - thankfully!!!

Here is the "revised" car:


Untitled by ganue, on Flickr

And repeating the pic from the previous work-log page... - the "before" picture:


Untitled by ganue, on Flickr

Just a heads up, my KL overheated a lot and I drove with the hood only on the first latch a fair amount. The only time I wince is when I pass semi's at highway speed.

Pretty remarkable recovery I'd say

Ryan - thanks - that actually adds confidence to the secondary latch!!

But to be clear, it has to be fixed. No doubt. My daughter just basically runs the car to school and back so, very low miles and fairly low speed.

I would say a lucky hit that was moderately easy to "correct" rather than remarkable....but I'll take it.

Oh - note the winter tires just happen to now be on the car!!!

About 157,000 miles on the original clock. The car is back reliably on the road - just with a bit of extra gaps in the front end and now with functional (really - had too) hood pins!!) Pics from an usually warm and sunny winter day....


IMG_2607[1] by ganue, on Flickr


IMG_2608[1] by ganue, on Flickr


IMG_2609[1] by ganue, on Flickr

And yes, that's a high school cheer sticker above the KLZE license plate surround....

Nicely done! Post a picture of the fixed up hood please

Just catching up on the forum and ... OUCH is all I have to say.

Glad your daughter and the car are OK.

We should get together sometime this summer. Dad is still driving the one we got from you.
Mine needs a few parts to be road-ready again (deer took out pass headlight & fender)

Poor SE Glad you're fixing her up properly, I can't wait to see it finished!

I have that license plate cover too, but I don't rock a Cheer sticker.

OK - quick update - 160,600 miles on the clock - meaning 25,000 nearly flawless miles on the KLZE swap. My daughter is now down at the University of Kentucky, so I get to drive it while I park the GTi.

Replaced the crappy eBay Taiwanese ball joints (sorry if you are Taiwanese or in Taiwan at the moment) with good old TRW ones. The others were toast after about 10,000 miles. Drives great again!! Even detailed the interior two weekends ago.

For you Subaru aficionados, take a look at what my son and I created this summer (thumb through the pics and the videos quickly):

http://www.rs25.com/forums/f145/t164980 ... -swap.html

YES!!!!! i love this thread. i love how alot of "rebuild it not scrap it" builds are popping up here and there. To many people just give up and get another car. Also im sure you want to donated the rest of the A/C lines to the kulluminati charity?

@kulluminati777 - nope - we'll leave them on there. One of these days I might put the proper 1.8 compressor back on and recharge the system. Seems like by the time a really hot day comes PLUS when I have time to get to it, its the fall and irrelevant for one more year - at least in Michigan.

Wow I never saw this worklog. Hoarding SE's lol. At this point I wonder how many SEs are even left in north america.

Quick story - owned the first one, found the second one, BUILT the second one, sold the first one to the dad of a fellow forumer (forum-er??) who had one also. So - for that moment, there were three in one place. Had to snag that shot - never saw THAT on the forum.

So, technically not hoarding. Let's call it rehabilitation and re-entry into the wild.

Update:

1) New ball joints to replace crap
2) LF brake caliper starting sticking so instead of screwing around we now have new LF and RF calipers, pads, and rotors!!
3) Elsewhere there is my post about fairly extreme inside tire wear. Fixed!!! [tighten the darn ball joint pinch bolts properly instead of waiting 5,000 miles to do it!!!]
4) Drove it issue free to Dayton twice and once to Saginaw and a couple times to Kalamazoo!!

Now - 166,100 miles on the original clock and 31,000 on KLZE transplant making the low 70,000's on the engine and trans. But....time and winter salt is taking its toll:

RF


LF



LR



RR

Need to meet up with you some time man!

Looks like your about shorter distance then Savin only by a bit thoe. I go to Detroit somthing a for work thoe so maybe I could stop by and see the rides!

Live in allegan, but work in k-zoo! My mx-3 will be summer only no salt

Nice log man, keep up the work!

More pictures of the reality of winter in Michigan (yes the hood pins are, unfortunately, functional, not just for decoration):