MX-3.com

Well I just spent an hour making this all nice and organizied and accidentally closed the tab and erased all of it so now im frustrated. I will redo it later or tomarrow

I H8 that! I would write long, thought out "How-tos", and the connection would fail when I go to send it.

It was really in depth. Im sore from surgery so im gonna rewrite it by hand then type it all in the morning. Got a bunch of pics uploaded too.

can't wait to read and view the progress.

Allright i'm starting this over again. This is a forecast of whats to come for my new acquisition 1993 Mazda MX-3 GS SE. The car has some nasty damage up front but its really fixable. Its super clean and only 84K on the clock. First heres some pics of the current exterior state. I had a chance to remove a bit of the damage, but had surgery 2 days later so its going to be a bit before I make any progress.

the only rust is in a tiny spot and a bubble:


some of its finer features:

the drivers side is perfect, no pics yet
Now for the Nasty:



Not pictured but wrecked were the headlights, bumper, lip, and turn signals
after a quick strip:




Exteriorwise this is what I have to work with. From what I can see it looks like I need the following:
-Headlights $45 each, j/y
-Bumper w/lip $75, j/y
-Hood $75 j/y
-RF fender $75 j/y(hope I can find this cheaper)
-core support parts~$50 to $60, j/y
-signals:gettin smoked ones off ebay$?
-Radiator: if I find a good j/y one~$50 if not online/work $150 to $200
Once the car is straight again I plan on finding:
-Smoked tail lights
-M/S half sideskirts
-Canadian GS spoiler(this is tentative. I am considering also a RS garnish and shaving the rear wiper) Not a big wing fan but the garnish might look strange with the gs rear wiper
-rear mudgaurds
-all black wheels (leaning towards 17" trac-lites but rims always come along)
The car will be color-changed to Rx-8 or Mazda 6 black custom mixed by me
This seems ambitious but this will be my dream mx-3. Im assuming a tentative finish time for the exterior of spring 09 paint unless I can get my body shop buddys to get it in this winter. I am only collecting the panels and pieces this winter since my garage is too full for prep work(or any work for that matter) I have found that winter is good for collecting parts cause not a lot of people are ver motivated during this season. This will be my exterior post thread...

Here's a few interior shots so you can all be jealous of my super clean SE interior. Unfortunately there are a few issues i'd like to address:
my steering wheel is all peely (is that a word?)

and im missing one OEM floor mat for the driver side. Heres the passenger one. The rears are there as well and mint!

Also the combo switch is messed up I think it turns on and off the signals as I turn the wheel. I hope its the switch and not the column.
A few more interior shots:




Other than the minor issues the only thing im changing is the radio(prolly a molded 12 in the trunk nothing too fancy), painting the upper interior trim and headliner, and of core adding a shifter and clutch pedal when I do the ATX/MTX swap.

Happy droolling...

Update:
I have gotten 2 headlights for a measley $36 and also a used radiator for $40 and a radiator support for $3. I am still nervous about the core support removal. I found a good candidate for a replacement at the j/y I just need to get a battery opperated sawzall to cut it out. As far as the car itself most of the radiator is detatched(except the trans lines) and it ready to come out. But its STUCK! I have to cut out the core support to remove the radiator/fans b/c they are pushed to close to the motor. This is madness, but i'm loving every second. On a sad note the gs bumper I stashed at a j/y the day before I bought this car, was gone yesterday when I went to pick it up. FYI if you stash stuff at a j/y put in the back of a stationwagon or something, not under a 91 Grand Marquis...someone will find it I guess

Here's some more damage pics that I hadn't uploaded and this is about where it stands right now. I also got the mx-3 some presents for early x-mas gifts. A nice cover and a set of 17" rims.

Ouch!!!

double ouch!

Tripple OUCH. Look how bad the radiator is bent. Also found out that the a/c is doomed. Don't care enough to replace it so its goin bye-bye


All tucked in nice and warm(man I wish I had a garage that wasn't full of crap)

These were mad cheap and I couldn't pass em up (250!) They are off brand "ns racing" or some crap but they are quite a bit lighter than other 17's i've owned. 17x7 40mm offset 225/45/17 bridgestone protenza's(about 50%/ 30% tread left) Color is black charcoal metallic. I know they weigh a lot but i'm planning a turbo de swap so no biggie!

My shed is full so I have to start storing parts where i can

I am prolly grabbin a hood for 75 locally and am waiting for a member here to ship a set of turnsignals. Its coming together. I can't wait till I get the balls to cut out the core support!

nice rims...

thanks! I like em' They are a bit out dated, but I loved my mr7's on my last mx3 and these are pretty close

Yay a shiny new hood: 75 bux and an uncomfortable ride home in my festiva was all it took. Oh yeah plus i had to clear the 2 feet of snow off the donor car an undo 4 bolts
The journey pics are here:
http://www.mx-3.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=68087" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and the hood in my shed:

very nice. its comeing together nicely

I scored a RS hatch garnish with only one broken clip! Also a RS bumper(its scraped to crap on the bottom and the paint is peeling but once I get a lip and paint it won't matter. The only thing thats left in the collision repair to buy is the core support. I got me a spot weld driller so all I need is a cordless drill for the junkyard or I may try to locate a new one from Mazda if they exsist. Anyway a few pics:




The bumper also has a small crack but nothing a bit of plastic weld and some icing cant fix. Desperate times call for desperate measures

fowljesse wrote:I H8 that! I would write long, thought out "How-tos", and the connection would fail when I go to send it.

Ya, same. I've gotten the habbit of doing a select-all than copy before i post anything, especially if it's long.

Just a simple CTRL+A (Select All) than CTRL+C (copy), and i know that if it doesn't post, just paste on a new thread with no loss.

LOL. me too. works great