Ok, first of all, I want to publicly thank Custommx3 and Mooneggs for authorizing me to open this worklog. No wonder this is the best forum in the Internet.

Now, last December 29th I bought a '96 MX-6 "M Edition", with a few "issues".
This is a pic of the car some of you already know. More to come.



The car had (supposedly) a snapped timing belt.
I opened it up, and found the timing belt was ok. The bolt holding the belt tensioner between both banks had sheared off, flush with he block.
So I took a nut, mig welded it on top of the bolt, and took the bolt off. Then, when I went to put the timing belt back on, I found out the crankshaft key was missing. Luckily I had the key from the B8 I have disassembled in my bedroom.
Now, the car is working (badly), and after taking it to Autozone to be diagnosed I found out (lucky me) that the mass airflow sensor seems to be busted.

So here's what seems to be left to do on the car:

Test (and maybe replace) the MAF.
Change valve cover and oil pan gaskets.
Replace engine mounts.
Move battery to the trunk.
Replace intake for CAI.
Fix A/C ( high pressure line has a hole in it).
Tidy up engine bay.
Replace all fluids.
Fix power windows.
Fix audio (only one speaker is working)
Fix door panels, and tidy up interior.
Take the stupid window tints off.
Replace lift supports in trunk.
Fix Canker around sunroof.
Fix little ding on C pillar.
Polish paint, rims and door sills.
Replace struts and springs for a good lowering kit.
Upgrade brakes.

So now, time to start working.

Not sure about anyone else, but I love the idea that this worklog was allowed to be created. Here here! Looking forward to monitoring its progress.

Hey it's mazda and it's Mx-3's big sister.

Good luck with the build. MX6's have a website too.. Just a FYI

are you keeping this car white? Im a sucker for a white car. They seem so pure (on the outside)

can't wait to see the build. I cut the front of the same car off with a big saw, it wasn't as nice as yours though. plus it sacraficed itself to my DE swap so it didn't die in vain

Thanks everybody.

The fact that they allowed me to make this worklog clearly shows it's not an accident this forum is as nice as it is. I'm a member of about a dozen or so forums, and right now I'm only posting on 3. And this one is by far my favorite.

I am a new member (signed in a couple of days ago) at MX-6.com. But, as nice as they seem to be, they couldn't hold a candle to all of you. That's the reason I wanted to make the worklog here, and not there.

TripleMX3 chick: yes, I'm keeping it white. I want to keep it as stock as possible. Depending of me being able to find the original color (and it not costing me an arm and a leg), I will keep it original or I may use a different white.

Today I finished flushing the cooling system, changed the oil (I put some motor flush yesterday) for some Syntec and Pro-Long, and spent some time taking off the window tint. Tomorrow I'll give it a shower and I'll take some more pics.

Then, as soon as I get the manual (it's in transit), I'll start fixing things.

As promised:






Here's the canker around the sunroof...



...and here's some "professional" repair made in that area...



And finally, here's the best part.

gotta love an unmolested engine bay with intake ducting still intact how long will that last ?

looks pretty clean, except for that nasty disease on the roof of course.. i didnt know they had rust on cars in miami ?? lol

Yeah everything was looking clean untill the roof pic! Hahah, still not bad for MX-3's big sister

The intake ducting is gonna last...right until I get the money to get the battery out of the way.

And yeah, the roof is in bad shape. It shouldn't be, if the idiot who repaired it last time hadn't used aluminum foil and a glob of bondo. But anyways, I already have a patch ready, so I'm waiting on the manual to disassemble the dash, so I can disconnect the ECU, to weld safely.
Meanwhile, I'm still fighting with the window tint, and the cleanup today took me the best part of the day.

EDIT: Hey Nightshade...Happy birthday!
Are you old enough to drive yet?

It's that salted air/humidity that makes cars rust out.

You should be able to just disconnect battery and you should be safe to weld. At least that's what I was taught at in auto body class.

Heres a hint for the window tint glue removal. Non-corrosive, non-flammable brake clean like Super-X sold at Napa's part number is 930. I wouldn't suggest getting it all over everything, but a ton of that on a shop rag will get rid of all the stickyness and leave no residue

Mitmaks: that's what I always thought, but I've known of a couple of people doing that and getting the ECU fried anyways, so I rather play it safe...

93sohc: I have a can of brake cleaner. will try it tomorrow.