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Picked up this 230k mile 93 MX-3 with a ZE already swapped into it with 105k miles on the motor. Engine ran strong, but burned a TON of oil, so I'm going to rebuild her. Since it will be torn down anyway, I'm going to clean everything I can and while I'm at it I will be removing every last bit of purple from under the hood to give it my own style. The swap may have already been done, but boy is there a lot of fixing to do. Most of the wiring is crap and cracked, there is axle grease all over the place, looks like lots of red rtv, and did I mention a lot of purple??? This is going to be my first experience with a rebuild and with a Mazda...so stay tuned and try not to laugh too much at the many fails that I'm sure will come about.

So far I have the motor out of the car and completely disassembled. I cleaned the crap out of the lower block half, and got the upper half as clean as I could. I have the block as clean as I can get it, so once I decide on a color for it I will paint it once I have my crank and pistons installed. I have my brackets and other various parts painted and waiting on install.

Got all my supplies ready for the pull:


I was expecting to make a bigger mess:


Finally got it ready to get out:


Out she goes:


The teardown begins:



Tasty!!

#1, 4, and 6 looked exactly the same

Also, I have Lotek shocks/struts and some lowering springs to replace the EBay 4" drop coilovers that were on the car. Those things suck! Ride is not very enjoyable, but I have to admit, I will miss the look. I will not miss bouncing my head off the roof or hearing everything that sits below the frame grind across the pavement when I hit a bump. The Lotek says it's a 1.2 - 1.8 inch drop, so I'm hoping it will give me at least that much lift from where I'm sitting at now. Never thought I would use a lowering kit to raise a car...smh. When I change the suspension out, I'm throwing on all new rotors, pads, and axles.

I'm thinking about duplicolor cast iron for the block, but this aluminum spray is awesome! It looks fake!

great work, i like where this build is going =)

I'd recognize that hatch garnish on the top of the hash anywhere!

That's PuroMX3s car!

those green wheels on a white 3 look too cool. Also the black on the rear is nice! Thats funny how no ones mx3 is the same and how we can tell who used to own it right off the bat

Im so jealous, to have a car with 230k and no rust like that!

Rob- I do believe you're right. I found a thread on here the other day and thought..."THAT'S MY CAR!!!"

kulluminati- I like the green, but I'm not sure if I want to keep them that color. Luckily spray paint is cheap so I can experiment before I get them powder coated

Evo_spec- Thanks! Right now it's just to get back to a good running condition. And I figured it wouldn't hurt to throw some style into it.

Sleeper6- Thats the great thing about the southwest. There has to be water somewhere for it to really rust.

I think Puro paid the big bucks to get it resprayed too so the paint should be pretty good.

I'm not a big fan of the bright green rims either it's just too Honda for me.

I'm digging those timing covers, if I had fancy cam gears I'd totally make a set o those, look really cool.

Keep up the good work!

Looks good

And with the shiny wrap


I think it looks good peeking out from that manifold

Going to polish up the lettering and spray the plug channel black then hit it with copious coats of clear!


The timing covers are pretty cool. May freshen up the plastic as its getting a little hazy. They will be changing color as well. PURPLE IS GONE! Going to be black with polished lips. The raised humps on the "spokes" will be red as well as the hub around the bolt. Think it will look pretty sweet spinning and all you see is a red ring.

STILL waiting for my heads and pistons to come back from the engine shop. The car is just sitting out in the driveway collecting dust. As soon as they are done I can finally put this beast back together. Although, while I'm waiting, I should finish paining my valve covers and my other cam gear.

I love all the detail, if i didn't DD my car and had the time to take it apart and redo everything it'd be just like what you're doing
is the valve cover paint red wrinkle paint? or just flat red? either way, it looks nice.

Evo_spec,

The VC is flat VHT red right now. Still waiting to paint the plug valley black. I like the flat, but I don't see it holding up too well so I will be dropping a lot of clear on it. Sadly, this is my DD. Fortunately, the weather is nice so I can commute on the CBR.

GOOD NEWS! Engine shop finally got to my heads and they are good to go. After the vavle seals are replaced, and they are decked...it's time to put this puzzle back together!