Wytbishop - Black 94 GS

wytbishop · Post by **wytbishop** » November 3rd, 2007, 2:43 am

Background wise...I'm a Mechanical Engineer. More accurately, I'm a "Mobile Equipment Technical Advisor" for a global oilfield technology supplier. This means that along with a group of Technicians, Engineers and various tradesmen, I help to design, maintain and repair a fleet of service rigs from welding rigs to transport trailers, to full scale oilwell service rigs.

All that and a $ will not even get you a coffee. I just have a knack for technical writing.

I am on my second MX-3 now. My first, a 95' RS, was written off by a nice (oblivious) lady in a Dodge Duramax while in reverse in a turning lane. Figure that one out. My new 94' GS is in a little bit rougher shape, but it's a GS and it has all the power options but A/C so I bought it. I did so knowing that I would be performing a complete nut and bolt restoration of the car. I plan to spend the money I would have spent on a new car making my GS like new again. So for the next couple of years or so, I will be researching and collecting parts. When the time is right, I will completely dismantle and reconstruct this car making as close as possible to brand new.

Some things needed immendiate attention.

First step was the interior...cuz it was ugly. I took care of most of that pretty quickly. I didn't think at that point to get pics, but the previous owner had painted the dash, console and accent pieces silver...but not well. That all cost less than $100. It's not exactly restored, but it looks stock and the condition is good.

Then the brakes became an issue. I realized that the pads needed to be replaced and then found that the rotors were toast and the rear calipers were so rusted that I could not get the pads out. New rotors and pads all around and new calipers in the rear. The brakes cost around $400 with the new calipers.

The exhuast was a Ractive piece. The most obnoxious thing I've ever heard. So for now I just went back to stock. $113 installed.

Now I'm on the suspension. The car came to me with DropZone coilovers on KYB (I think) struts. These are the worst riding springs I've ever experienced. The struts are not too bad, but I wanted a set up that had some synergy going for it rather than putting a different spring on the old KYB's. I ordered ZX2 struts and springs from oemfordparts.com and expect their arrival any day now. Rather than go with new small parts for the struts, for the time being I got a complete set of everything from a 98' Escort in the local self serve junk yard for <$20. Dust boots, bumpstops, strut mounts, everything. My next post will be a very thorough write up of the strut install.

My plan is to make the car road worthy for the winter for now. In spring, I plan to swap in a DE and start looking for the ZE that will eventually take it's place. The K8 is burning oil and a DE swap is no more money than another used K8. When the ZE goes in it will be fresh as a daisy. Brand new from tits to toes.

In my head I have budgeted $15,000 for the total restoration of my MX3. Even if I go over budget, it's not an issue as it will still be less than a new car and I plan to own this car forever.

Kirk95gs · Post by **Kirk95gs** » November 3rd, 2007, 9:22 am

15000.00

wow... that will be one sick car... good luck and post some pic's..

wytbishop · Post by **wytbishop** » November 3rd, 2007, 3:11 pm

Kirk95gs wrote:15000.00 wow... that will be one sick car... good luck and post some pic's..

Once my struts arrive I'll write that up and post some general pics as well.

Kirk95gs · Post by **Kirk95gs** » November 3rd, 2007, 3:18 pm

I did the zx2 sturts with H&R springs... was perfect .. nice drop perfect handling for what I was looking for... Untill I blew all the struts out about a month ago ... had to take a bunch of s***y back roads while they were building new highway for work.. but for another 200$ I can get another set of sturts and put them in..

Good luck and sorry for the Hi-jack of the tread...

Post by **Mooneggs** » November 3rd, 2007, 4:27 pm

wow this sounds like an ambitious project - someting I would like to do... *sigh*

good luck on it and I will be following your worklog! post some pics!

wytbishop · Post by **wytbishop** » November 3rd, 2007, 8:19 pm

Ya know it started earlier this year when we were looking of a new car for the wife. We wound up with a Mazda 3 GT Sport. It's a really nice car...but I just don't love it like my MX. So I decided why buy a new car that's ok, when I can spend less money making my MX the new car I really want? It'll probably be 18 months before the real resto-build starts. In the meantime I'll be doing research and buying parts and fixing stuff that needs immediate attention.

I've never resto'd a Japanese car, only American muscle, so it's going to be a great experience for me. I'm totally looking forward to it. I will document the build very thoroughly.

matt753 · Post by **matt753** » November 4th, 2007, 1:28 am

Good luck!

wytbishop · Post by **wytbishop** » November 12th, 2007, 4:56 pm

Waiting almost 3 weeks now for my ZX2 struts and Eibach springs to arrive from oemfordparts.com. I'm trying to find out where they are and what the hold up is. The international order desk guy at Southern Ford is awesome. He's calling customs to find out what's up. You can't put a price on good customer service.

I know that there are no pics of this install in the old write up, so I'll post a write up on my install if they ever arrive.

wytbishop · Post by **wytbishop** » November 19th, 2007, 2:42 am

I got the struts on last week. They are sooooo much better than the Dropzone crap that was on there. I forgot to take my camera along, but tomorrow I'm replaceing ball joints and outer tie rods, so I'll take a bunch of pictures and post them tomorrow night. Booked in for a 4 wheel alignment Tuesday. It will be nice to have the car handling nice again.

wytbishop · Post by **wytbishop** » November 22nd, 2007, 2:35 pm

Suspension is done. I got the car back the day before yesterday from the alignment shop. The suspension is very nice and the steering is tight, but there is still a little something going on down there. Might be something rubbing, or something bent...not sure. I'm looking into it in depth this weekend.

X3RCKT · Post by **X3RCKT** » November 27th, 2007, 11:31 am

By using these springs was it still lower than stock? I want to go with the same struts and still trying to decide what kind of springs. You ordered the springs from Ford also?

Would love to see what the wheel well gap is if you get a chance to post a picture.

wytbishop · Post by **wytbishop** » November 27th, 2007, 2:19 pm

Gap is good. Car is about an inch lower than stock. The winter wheels are slightly under stock size, so they look a little smaller than a full size 15" but the car is perfectly level.

So recapping the work so far...

Lots of bits in the interior had to be replaced due to really poorly painted custom interior.

Replaced passenger door because it was broken into and virtually destroyed.

Removed the hideously loud Ractive muffler and replaced with delightfully quiet stock unit (also restoring my midrange power in the process).

Brakes - new rear calipers and new pads all around as well as swapping out the propotioning valve (super nasty job, hated every second of it).

Struts - ZX2 Tokicos with Eibach Escort springs. Very happy with the ride.

In the next few weeks I will be removing the distributor for the HEI setup.

Clutch in the spring (if it lasts that long, if not...well...sooner).

X3RCKT · Post by **X3RCKT** » November 27th, 2007, 2:26 pm

Yeah man that looks nice! It is about how I want it, even though I am ordering 17s for mine, but in the end it will be about the same diameter as 15 with stock size tires.

Do you happen to have the part numbers you ordered?

Could you shoot me an email with where you ordered it all from and the part numbers? At least for the springs, I found the part numbers for the shocks and all the other stuff to make the switch to the Escort struts.

mattbasaraba@charter.net

Thanks for the responce. I really appreciate it!

se7en · Post by **se7en** » November 27th, 2007, 8:13 pm

brrrrrr, that mx-3 looks cold ;)

you must be from the same area in canada as me, because it looks like that ouside my front door ;)

(I'm from alberta of course )

you?

wytbishop · Post by **wytbishop** » November 27th, 2007, 11:57 pm

Edmonton. I'm not a big fan of winter.

Dude, post some picks of the Fairlady.