802mx3 - 1996 RS

[802mx3]

Ok so I've decided to make a work log of this car.

History : Car is a 1996 RS that I bought on 4.17.09. I'm the second owner. This car is canadian spec and a 5-speed. No air bags, no AC, no power windows, no cruise control, no sun roof. I absolutely love it!! The previous owner took pretty good care of the car, but has started to show signs of neglect. Its got 160,000 km and the interior looks like no one has ever driven it. All around a great buy for $1,900 usd. Anyway, enough of that.

What I did on 4.18.09

- new denso TT plugs gaped to .040 ( I always use anti seize when installing plugs, and always gap them)
- new cap
- new rotor
- replaced pcv valve
- cleaned throttle body
- cleaned MAF
- degreased entire engine bay (was super bad from years of oil under coating)
- flushed engine with gunk engine flush
- changed oil with castrol gtx high mileage 5w-30
- added a can of engine restore ( just to see if there is a difference)
- k&n oil filter
- ordered new plug wires
- ordered new valve cover gasket
- dumped a bottle of 104+ octane boost in the tank with a some 93 octane to help clean out the cheap gas I know the PO was using!

Thats really about it for now.

What I need to do:

- repair the slight surface rust in a few places before it gets really bad
- replace valve cover gasket
- flush cooling system
- replace ball joint in the front
- have a bunch of stuff blasted and painted back to stock condition
- fix small exhaust leak if possible ( up around header)
- T-belt and water pump soon (its getting to that time, 100k)
- remove daytime running lights

What I would like to do:

- find another B6 to build up for boost
- lower the car on a really good suspension
- stiffen it up a bit
- replace steering wheel
- 16x7.5 wheels ( also thinking of stealing the stretch and poke look from the VW scene?)
- replace shift knob
- GS lips and spoiler
- cd-player with better speakers (no subs!!!!!!)
- cat back exhaust to a nice muffler ( no cans for me )

The list goes on. But I'm hoping by mid summer to atleast have wheels and suspension and exhaust. The basics. I'm really focused on the B6-T so most of my time,money, and energy will be on that first. Pictures will be up tomorrow. I promise.

[Ryan]

Hehe, I have my old SOHC sitting at Mazda...


Good luck on the build, no one pays attention to the B6's anymore because its hard and money consuming...

Here's another worklog I'll peek at every once and awhile

[802mx3]

Sorry no pictures today. By the time I got out of work it was pouring. But I'm now wondering if I should go the B6-t route. Due to the OBD2 factor. As far as the BPT swap, I will look into that. I really want to turbo this engine but will have to see I guess. I would love to hear others opinions. Positive or Negative.

[Bigb22]

i hope to do the same thing to my b6ze but it depends if i go a klze root instead

[fieromx3]

where do u live? i have a mint condition B6 for sale... 150 and its urs

[802mx3]

where do u live? i have a mint condition B6 for sale... 150 and its urs

thanks for the offer but we have tons of good engines around here. My engine only has 97k on it and is a good/potential rebuild for boost.

[802mx3]

Ok, found out why my idle was so bad. The factory intake boot was severely cracked. Replace with custom intake. Also seafoamed the car and had a good laugh at the amount of smoke. My factory header is junk, and I need something right away. I've heard talk about the prob 2.0 header working. Is this true? Going out for pictures now.

[ionic1000]

All in a better attempt to sound like a total newb, what is "seafoaming the car"?

[802mx3]

All in a better attempt to sound like a total newb, what is "seafoaming the car"?

basically:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef3HNvxb ... re=related" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Evan6689]

Hey, i was just wondering if you could post pictures or a description of where you seafoamed, and also were you aware of all these issues b4 purchase?...... just got a 95 RS myself......and now im scared im going to be burdened with repairs in the coming months

[802mx3]

Hey, i was just wondering if you could post pictures or a description of where you seafoamed, and also were you aware of all these issues b4 purchase?...... just got a 95 RS myself......and now im scared im going to be burdened with repairs in the coming months

The reason I'm having to do so many repairs are:

-Car was only driven less then 10 min a day for years
-car was not totally kept up to snuff
-I always do a tune up when I get a car regardless

What I've found about mx-3's are:
-They're miss treated for years by rednecks
- The bodies are washed but not the undercarriages
- Lots of people "Rice them out" trying to get stupid little amounts of horsepower but destroy them in the process
- They're relatively cheap to buy so people just dont care about taking care of them
- many parts are special order ,hard to find ,take to long to get here, so your basic bubba owner sells in crap condition and then the next person finds out and so on.

Atleast we have this place for people that care.

[802mx3]

4/28/09

Car is at my local muffler/mechanic shop getting the down pipe re attached. I'm still having the cold start, lack of power, then gobbs of it ,thing. I'm going to replace the water temp sensor to see if that helps. I remember a 1990 vw golf that had similar problems. I replaced every thing I could on the car but was still having the problem. Ran amazing after the water temp sensor was replaced. I also figured the idle problem would go away after the seafoam treatment, and it did for about 2 miles. So I'm going to have to look into that again. It maybe a direct link to the WTS.

Well see. Would love to get some pics up for ya' , but the car isnt here

[802mx3]

5/6/09


Not much really to report. Car had to have a new catalytic converter installed and some piping. I asked them to simply just remove the second cat like in the old days. But apparently they wont do that anymore. I figured maybe this weekend I would remove the TB and do an extra cleaning on it. The TPS is messing up when I turn the heat on and am at a red light. Bounces all over the place until it eventually calms down. I've been in contact with a few companies about aftermarket parts and a few have told me they are working on prototypes. If that ever actually happens who knows. At the same time. I'm pretty sure I've decided to do this engine up NA while building another one for boost. If I can squeeze out around 130hp from this engine NA , I would be happy with it. Going to be looking at some potential engines over the weekend for a rebuild purposes as well. I'm pretty sure I'm going to run stand alone management on the second engine. But since I've owned this car for not even a month, things may change.

Plan so far:

-Suspension
-brakes
-tad bit more power on this engine
-wheels
If I can accomplish this buy the end of the year I will be thrilled!!!!!!

[802mx3]

5/19/2009



So over the past weekend I was up at the salvage yard and came across a 1997 kia sepia. To my surprise there was a second generation BP engine in excellent shape. The car is showing 53,000 miles. Pretty sure the engine is ok, I say this because the entire back of the car is smashed up. This being an OBD2 engine I shouldnt have a problem swapping it in. I'm going to go for it. Also found a factory cd-player from a 1997-1999? mazda mini van. Will this work in my car? I would love to stay stock with the sound set-up.

[RS_OBD'oh_2]

ummmmm.
You'll need the entire wiring harness. It does not matter if it's OBD1 or 2, either way, it won't work with your harness. I'm no BP pro, make sure you can use the 97 engine. If you can, see how much for the entire car. Then scrap it back.