MX-3.com

I was looking for a beater that I can use just to drive to work and around town, and just to keep miles off my other car. I love hatches or coupe, for their usefulness and overall style. After searching for a while, I found this Mazda MX3 on CL for 2400 dollars.
4 people looked at it and never bought it because the paint is horrible, and I am sure the previous owner had PUKED in the trunk. He said it was a sandwich that he left in the trunk over the summer. I have puked before, and I know that ain't no sandwich.
The tires are also in horrible shape. The front left wheel bolt was broken.
The wing is broken as well, just have the bolts sticking out from the hatch.
The interior is in amazing shape though, and same with the electrical system.

After haggling for a while, I got him down to 1800 dollars. He took it.

Driving in St Louis winter one morning, I slid in 1" snow. I was driving about 25 MPG making a left turn and then BOOM! Front wheel drifto! Slide right into my work parking lot.


Paint is in horrible shape.

Interior is in amazing shape for being a 95.




So the wheels and tires must go, and it must go now. I bought a set of Motegi MR7 for 150 dollars. The tires were bought for 30 dollars each at this store called Cheapies in Alton IL right down the road from the wheel store. They have this huge warehouse of tires and you have to go in and look for a set that you like. I spend 1 hour looking for tires that are the same brand and model. After I found it, they mount and balance it for free. The wheels and tires were 270 dollars out the door. Not bad I think.

Wheels, Motegi MR7. Tires, Bridgestone Potenza G019.


The next task for me is to paint this MX3. Now, I am not going to give this car a 3000 dollars paint job as it was quoted to me by 2 paint shop. I bought the car for 1800 bucks, why the hell would I spend that much money to paint it? I can't really justify it. However, I do want it to look better than before.

So I start gathering parts.
Got a rear wing from ganue.
Struts from Night Shade
GS Lip from wagZE (broken and need huge fixing) need some fiber glass work.

I took 5 days off from work and start the process of painting my MX3.

First is sanding... and sanding... and sanding.



Then I spray Rustoleum Satin Hunter Green with a spray gun, using an actual spray booth.
The result is what I wanted, a better paint job. I am not looking for perfect, just better.






I was lucky at a junkyard today. Found a good condition of rear mudflaps for $10 dollars. The car also have a set of front mudflaps, let me know if you need that. Also found a Mazda emblem with the plastic pieces unbroken. Sand them down last night and will paint the mudflaps Green and the emblem black.

Thats a cool looking colour. I like it !

Hey man, where abouts do you live? im looking for a front bumper realllll bad. and that white one looks like its in decent shape? no junk yards here got any in good enough shape to fix.

I live near St Louis Missouri. If you want it, I can go take off the front bumper and mail it to you.

Next is the GS lip that I got from wagZE. It is in horrible shape, with both sides having cracks that were fixed with fiber glass. The old fiber glass needs to go, and that will be interesting, I hope I don't break it any further.

Ahhh no never mind! i looked through fed-ex and its 150 bucks to ship it. to far away! thanks anyways man!

Yeah, that's Fedex. USPS is much cheaper though.
I tried to ship a box to Japan and Fedex quoted me 143 dollars. USPS did it for 65.

Up to you though, I don't mind helping another MX3 owner.

Damn that's a clean interior!!

I like the green, it's good to see other members share my favorite color

A+ on the interior and paint

Rustoleum paint job, 1 year later. The paint works! Not bad at all for a paint job that cost $100.
There are no chips, no flakes, no cracks in the paint.



The rear emblem hand painted.



The rear mud flaps are on.



The front air dam is fixed. First I super glued the cracks for a workable bond, then fiberglass the hell out of it. Sanded everything down and painted it. Came out pretty good, I think.




1 year with my MX3 (Froggy) wasn't bad at all. Put in a new head gasket, and replaced all the belts. Current mileage is at 58xxx miles, still plenty of life left. Oh, my postman wants me to paint his old muscle car using the same technique (with satin black).

That does still look good! Nice job on the lip repair too, makes me wish I hadn't sold mine now

Still, when I finally get that MazdaSpeed on, it'll be worth it.

looks like you did a good job on repairing that lip. Have you mounted it yet? I'd like to see what it looks like on the bumper.

Very cool color!!

SuperK, I am going to mount it this Friday and I will post a pic. Thanks for the kind words.

Kulluminati, thanks! It was the only Satin Green available at Lowe's. I think I am going to change the color to Satin Blue in 2 years. Which shouldn't be hard at all.

This MX3 is really the first time I actually repair or work on a car. Mostly it is trial and error, but I think it has turned out pretty okay.

ratheater,

I hope that my post wasn't misinterpreted, I meant only to compliment you on the quality of your repair work. It looks good, and I still say that green was an excellent choice! I look forward to more updates in the future.