MX-3.com

Hey guys! I'm new the forum and complete new to this "sports car" deal. This is currently the second car I've ever owned. The first car I owned was an 1998 Nissan Altima (automatic) and it was a great car that treated me well, got her on my 18th birthday. I just turned 19 today (may 22) and I bought this car myself and had it in my driveway as of May 12 (Saturday). I'm 100% absolutely in LOVE. One of my good buddies from work had a mx - 6 that I drove around in it when I was trying to decide what car to get and I greatly enjoyed it, but when I found this car for sale I just jumped on it and had to grab it. I loved the looks and the entire deal seemed like one that I will never get again.

The price tag on this baby was 2000$ for a 1994 Mazda MX-3 GS manual, with a tealy-green colour to it.
With that purchase I was ensured safety and e-tested along with all paperwork EVER done to the car. Yes, everything that was ever fixed or done to get the car maintenance wise, I own. I have papers that date all the way back to 1999 when the first repair was done! My father bargained down the price to 1700$ with everything still inclusive. I gave a deposite and she was to get the car saftied and etest for me. I get a email a few days later and she told me she paid 860$ for the saftey, it included rear rotors and brake pads, sway bar kit and right wheel bearing and hub were all replaced and are brand new. We paid 2000$ for it instead of 1700$ to compensate a bit for the safety.

Here's the baby from the back. I don't have a good picture yet and I'm not sure why.


Here's a weird picture form the front that I'm not sure why I took.


The only downfall to this car is one thing, the rust. There are two spots where this rust is located. Heres the side view from the passenger side


and a bottom view of that. It looks a lot worse than it really is.


Here's the bad rust. The owner before the lady I bought this from tried to life the car up on a rusty spot and poked a whole right through it. The mechanic saftey this car even though he said he shouldn't have with this hole. He just felt really bad for the lady who had already paid 860$ when she's losing so much so he saftey it anyway. Here's the up view best seen when the doors open (drive side).


Now the bottom view (be prepared to see this D:! )




Other than that that's the only problems with it. I plan on getting a body shop to take a look at these and see if they can fix them cause I have no idea how to even proceed. I'd LOVE to learn though. A friend told me I should try doing the the passenger rust myself and leave the driver side to the mechanic. What do you guys think?

Also, one modification to this car I would really like to do is somehow create a bigger grill on this car or close off this small one and replace it with a bigger one.



About a week after driving around with it I had my rear left caliper seize up. I've had that removed and replaced.


My poor baby!


My real intentions for this car is to make it look more aggressive and more edgy. I also plan on doing a KLZE swap, but that's one of the mod's I'll be doing later after a few more cosmetic mods.

On a side note, does anyone know if it's possible to get a digital speedometer for this car? I don't mean complete make the entire speedometer digital but keep all the same aspects just add a little section with a screen that can give me my speed as a number digitally. I've seen some like this on other cars, if I find a picture I'll post.

On another side note, any idea where I could find another "PRECIDIA" sticker for the back of my car?
I'll keep you guys posted with my progress.

Any suggestions you guys would like to give to me and my project?

Hope to hear from you guys soon, thanks and I'm going to be part of these forums for quite some time!

Awesome find on the car! For a more open front bumper you should look at Sam's or the ms one.

Sam's



ms



I have never done any rust work but a lot of guys here have so I'm sure they can give you some good advice

So I've found a few KLZE engines online but I'm not sure which one of these would be the better deal, or if these deals are over priced or not.
I also don't know if I need anything else along with this engine + tranny. Someone recomended I buy a KLZE (or KLDE) from a junk yard and stick it in my garage and just build on it over time till it near completely rebuilt (to the point where there arn't any close to death parts on it). What do you guys think?

Here's the links + some images of the engines.

The transmisson. 495$ + shipping.http://www.jdmtigerjapanese.com/klze-5- ... 3-97.html#


Engine one (KLZE) 845$ + shipping. http://www.jdmtigerjapanese.com/klze-do ... 3-97.html#


Engine two (KLZE W/ Straigh Mainfold) 1045$ + shipping. http://www.jdmtigerjapanese.com/klze-do ... fold.html#





The dash idea I was talking about is something along the lines of this. I want my regualr same old dash PLUS a little digital screen that tells me my speed (along with the original speedometer). I find the pure digital ones like in the newer civics skip numbers instead of rising through them at a rapid speed, I'd much rather the rapid speed that the skipping, but knowing your exact speed is also something I enjoy. So I'd like to have both, if possible. A project I am willing to tackle, I just need some idea's and help from you guys. Here's a picture of what I mean by "little digital screen" found in an RX8.

Sleeper6 wrote:http://www.xtremethings.com/HowTo.htm

Damn. That's informative, thank you!

racycle wrote:Awesome find on the car! For a more open front bumper you should look at Sam's or the ms one.
I have never done any rust work but a lot of guys here have so I'm sure they can give you some good advice

I hope so. I'm waiting for that advice (:

Thanks for the pic's on the open front bumper. It's what I was looking for! Thanks !

The straight neck has a little more power than the curve neck engine but you would have to modify the brake master cylinder booster to use the straight neck. most will buy a straight neck motor and put a curve neck intake manifold on it. only real difference between them are the cams and the intake manifolds. If you are on a budget I would go with the curve neck. Keep in mind that no matter which one you buy to get longevity out of the motor you should change the valve guide seals and valve retainer caps to the US KLDE retainer caps. if you do some searching on the forum you can find more indepth reasons why to do that. as far as the trans yours will do just fine unless it is wore out. the KLDE/ZE trans has a higher 5th gear for better fuel economy. other than that not much difference. if you go through with it remember to try and use your K8 flywheel as well, as it is lighter than the ZE/DE flywheel. hope that helps.

How did the car ever pass the safety with those holes and if the brakes seized after 3 weeks sounds like a bogus safety. Anyway, I have a ZE and trans complete for $500 if clappy isn't interested.

Is that an Ontario car ? Must be . Have fun getting any bolts off from the underside . Very shocked that it passed inspection ??? Good luck with it in any case .

Why would have to modify the brake booster . My other car has a straight neck and it doesn't hit it ?

Josh wrote:The straight neck has a little more power than the curve neck engine but you would have to modify the brake master cylinder booster to use the straight neck. most will buy a straight neck motor and put a curve neck intake manifold on it. only real difference between them are the cams and the intake manifolds. If you are on a budget I would go with the curve neck. Keep in mind that no matter which one you buy to get longevity out of the motor you should change the valve guide seals and valve retainer caps to the US KLDE retainer caps. if you do some searching on the forum you can find more indepth reasons why to do that. as far as the trans yours will do just fine unless it is wore out. the KLDE/ZE trans has a higher 5th gear for better fuel economy. other than that not much difference. if you go through with it remember to try and use your K8 flywheel as well, as it is lighter than the ZE/DE flywheel. hope that helps.

Yeah, you hoped a lot. Thanks! This is the sort of information I needed to know.
How is the KLZE (after vavle change) on reliably anyway?

diezzel wrote:Is that an Ontario car ? Must be . Have fun getting any bolts off from the underside . Very shocked that it passed inspection ??? Good luck with it in any case .

How'd you know it's from Ontario :O ..
You think there that rusted?
And sorry if this isn't the smartest question as I'm learning, but why would I need to take those bolts off?

Daninski wrote:How did the car ever pass the safety with those holes and if the brakes seized after 3 weeks sounds like a bogus safety. Anyway, I have a ZE and trans complete for $500 if clappy isn't interested.

:O

Uhmmm..
Well I once I fix that rust, If it's still up then, then I'm very interested.

About the holes, the mechanic felt bad for the lady having to pay 860$ for safety so he let it pass safety with the holes anyways. Something he shouldn't have done, but we agreed to keep it on the down low. About the brakes, we have no idea. 3/4 days into driving it they because fully sized, and caused my break rotor's to burn red.

The ZE is perfectly reliable the way it is unless you rev the piss out of it all the time like 99% of those who have them do. You dont have to change the valves just the retainer caps. Then they are just as reliable as a DE. many never change them but eventually you will end up with a bad valve. Could be 5K 15K or 150K, when you get a used motor you just never know. so it is a cheap fix to just do it and get it out of the way to protect the longevity. Now the later model ZE's 98' - 02' already had the retainers fixed. look through the FAQ section and search the forum you will find gobs of information to make an informed decision on your purchase.

If you don't mind me asking, is $2000 the going rate for a car with that much mileage and in that condition in Ontario? I swear you can find them for much cheaper over on this side of Canada.

@iRobsta

i just did a DIY job on my bumper ill load a link for you

http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/ii5 ... 091519.jpg

i would say if you wanna fix the rust you would have to cut it out and weld pieces back into it to keep the frame structurally sound
for the ze you can but the straight neck then change the intake with a probe or mx6 626 millenia as for tranny use the one u have direct bolt on and u need a new ecu, either find a kl31, kl36 or u can use some stock ecu's in and use whats called a probinator chip if u use the kl31 or 36 u also have to change your mass air sensor to a je-50 instead of a kl-02
and when u swap you use the distributor from the k8 engine there are quiet a few write ups on it
good luck and welcome!

That price isn't unreasonable in MB. I wouldn't pay it now, but I paid 2000 about 5 years ago for an RS in similar condition.


I also suffer from rust. I hate it past death. Your best bet is sourcing new or at least much better condition fenders. You won't be able to patch that with bondo, and forming the curvature down there is a biotch to say the very least.

The rocker you'll have to patch too. It is possible to cut out a good rocker and weld/glue it in place. Most shops would fabricate you a new rocker. Again, the curvature by the fender is no fun.

I'd start by sourcing new fenders, and then removing your old ones and seeing what shape the rocker is in.