Archie's 1994? MX-3 1.6L - Pandora's Box Project

[OutlaW]

my car is from Portugal , and i have the same worries Archie has ...
i only registered here after i bought the car, and the trouble about MX3 is that they really make people blind before business
I bought my car , and did not noticed this :

The car has the holes in the front bumper, but no GS lip
My cluster has no airbag light, no low fuel light , my steering wheel has the SRS written but there was something weird ... it had a small tear in it ( not big enough to get the airbag out , about half an inch )
I have a hole , in the same place Archie's car has the "black button"
The car suffered a good crash, cause i have the left headlight misplaced , the AC intercooler bended inside ( even out of its place ( 0.0 ) ) and a different car paint .

But, the spell is still inside since day 1 , and even if i get rich tomorrow, this car will allways be mine.
i had a few cars in my lifetime, all sporty. Mazda made a spell on me , and it changed me

[Archie]

This is exactly what i meant about this worklog: "to be also an inspiration for others".

Please post some photos of the car.



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(i hope the admins won't mind, if also other people post similar things about their cars here)

I myself will be glad, if they do.

[Archie]

Ladies and Gentleman,

I am very pleased to announce that Steve_SK has worked his Magic (or pulled some strings in the Slovak Secret Service ), and he provided me with the following information about my car.

Date of manufacture: 17. january 1994
Color: SQ (red)
Model year: 1993 (Steve: looks like a transition model during the facelift)
- Roof window
- 1600 cc 16V DOHC
- 5 gear manual
- no ABS
- standard suspension
- EGI (whats this? electronic gasoline injection?)
- C.E.D.STEP-2 (whats this?)

And it was sold in Switzerland.

And a lot more info. But the most important part is that the VIN is correct, and it wasn't tampered with. So the "theft" check done by the specialized company is also valid and legal.

This is just great news for me, and i would like to express a big thanks to Steve (and also to mooneggs, for pointing me to the right man). A big chunk of stress just fell from my shoulders.

So next up, will be a good thorough photo documentation of the vehicle (coming this week).

Once again a big thanks to all.

-----------

P.S: I'm looking forward to meeting Steve in person. (although he lives at the other end of the republic, but thats not a problem).

[Steve_SK]

I am more than happy to help if I can. I had the same worries about my MX-3's identification labels, numbers etc. I should have checked the engine instead. But this is another story, hehe.

I am looking forward to meeting Archie too. Maybe some castle as a meeting point would be great. Photosession?

[Archie]

Finally Photo Update:

The Good:

1. Hopefully this is as Stock as possible...


2. Lets play spot the difference (well i can't cause this is the first B6 i see in my life )


3. Is that burnt oil around the oilcap?


4. "Neo... follow the white cable!"


5. Definitely needs a good cleaning...


6. According to the previous owner "The rattling noise while accelerating" is coming from the "Don't touch me cover"... i suspect the exhaust pipe... we'll see on monday.


7. The Great Unwashed!


8. Also called "The Winter Camouflage"


9. Please, please don't stop me Mr. Evil Policeman... don't have enough money, even to get the car washed...


10. Ha, transformers sucked!... From B6 to V6 in no time!


11. I love buttons that work! (These do!)


12. Need to loose the Red crap... I do like red but not inside the speakers and on the gearshift... "Stock" is the magic word!


13. Seats are kinda allright... Planning to change the fabric over time...


14. The top slider of the heater control is ripped off... will fix it later.


15. A good cleaning will do...


16. Use your seatbelts! Drive safe people!


The Bad:

17. Bumper misaligned, definitely has some front crashes behind it...


18. Same sh... bumper, different angle...


19. My bad... it was rotten to pieces, i just gave it the "Artistic Touch!"


20. Counting Crows: Colorblind... http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5jvxl ... shortfilms


21. Need to marry a bodywork specialist...


22. "Professional body work"... Crappy "white goo over the rotten parts and respray" fix, by the prev owner...


23. Definitely not supposed to be there... "aftermarket metal stripe" holding the right drivers seat rail bolted to the floor... and it looks like crap.


24. Holy cra... The car is ALIVE! It's changing skin already...


25. What kinda reptile are you? The Mazda Chameleon?


26. Wrinkles, wrinkles on my a$$...


27. Nice... a two color car... definitely a "Looker".


28. I'll just quote the prev owner: "The car was definitely not crashed!"


The Ugly:

29. Mmm... hello lil' cable... are you lost?


30. The "Mysterious Black Box" right in front the motor block... (with the annoying white cable).


31. The One Million Dollar Q! "Why doesn't my heater work, even if the fan is set to blowing full throttle?"


32. Hopefully a working rear seatbelt...


33. Definitely a not-working rear seatbelt...


34. The professionalism of the "Fix" just oozes from the picture...


35. Some more "pro" work done on the rear window isolation...






36. Do you like puzzles?


37. Oh schnap... and i thought the Japanese were tidy people...


38. I suspect the work of a "Evil Cable Gnome!"


39.


40.


41.


42.


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More Pics after car wash:







I have booked a good thorough check of the car, in the local Mazda Authorized Service center. Going there on monday, will make some photos of the bottom of the car, once its up in the air.

[Ryan]

I must say, you're a pretty picky kid. Its nice. Good eye on all of those things.

It seems you need some REAL body work, and a paint job. The crap stuffed under all the rattling parts is kinda funny. I do that too, but with more taste, not with orange fuzzy stuff and random cloth. The rusty seat rails can be fixed with some generous sand blasting and some good paint.

[Archie]

Well i just returned from the service center...

Where should i start?

First things first... i'm speechless. Things running thru my mind right now: "Baseball bat, prev owners head... smash, bang, bang, thump, thump."

1. The brakes are utter, utter crap. Brake lines, pipes are leaking. Front and rear brakes are a complete POS.
2. The whole motor block is leaking oil. (According to the service guy, he has seen mazdas which where in much better shape after 250.000km, mine has according to the seller 160.000km...). And it's just a matter of time until the motor starts rattling. (it was "over-pressured" - either the prev owner was driving like an insane mofo, or it has much much more KM on the clock then stated.)
3. The gearbox is leaking oil badly.
4. There is a gasoline leak somewhere, they weren't able, without dismantling the car first, to pinpoint the exact location of the leak.
5. The whole underbody is just mainly rust.

And thats just a few things on the list, but these are the most serious.

They gave me just an estimated repair price for the braking system... 1300,- Euro, just for the parts - complete new brake assembly. And thats just the brakes, not counting the crap gearbox, or the oil leaking Exxon Motorblock Waldez.

I should probably rename this worklog to "Project Titanic"... its going down... ruuuun, save yourselves!



EDIT: I don't know where to start first. Money is a big problem right now, and i just can't afford splashing out 1000+ euros on repairs... Any tips? Or should i just go buy a baseball bat, and go "enjoy" the 2000 Euro the car cost me?

[Ryan]

Okay well a few things.

-Brakes do wear out. Usually not lines, but it seems you're listening to a mechanic, and they love making something super trivial seem like the end of the world, just so you pay them to fix it.
-The block does leak oil. Its a Mazda. Thats pretty much what they do.
-You KNOW the odometer isn't correct, as the redline is wrong, and that means that it was swapped from a GS. (Unless you have a B5 DOHC? I don't have ANY experience with that motor, I just know it looks smaller)
-Gearbox leaking seems unusual, probably another exaggeration from the mechanic.
-Gas leak is common from the tank itself, especially in a climate like yours (ours). Same goes for the insane rust.

I would say repair what you can by your self. Between Ebay and whatever else you can find for parts, I'm sure you can repair most of the things solo with basic tools. Do you have a good junk yard nearby? That will help for the seatbelts and interior pieces, maybe a new gas tank too. Ebay will have calipers (only if you need) and pads/rotors for sure.

[wytbishop]

Ryan is right, you can get what you need from ebay for much much less than that mechanic is quoting. However, if the underbody is very badly rusted make sure that the car is structurally sound before you spend much more money.

Assuming you have to get it running safely concentrate on the brakes first. The MX-3 is basically a 323 with a different body, so if you do have a decent auto wrecking yard around you should be able to get good calipers and flex lines for cheap as 323's are very common and almost any year can donate brake parts to you.

[Archie]

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes the mechanic was very skilled in freaking people out. I've cooled down a bit and already started checking ebay for the "worst case scenario" of swapping the motor and gearbox. So price wise it wasn't a complete armageddon... MX-3 and 323 are much alike... now thats the kind of info that i need right now, great . I asked a friend who knows a "good" mechanic, so i'm gonna meet him, so he can check the car, and give me some pointers what exact parts i'll need. And i'll try to swap most of the parts out myself.


Note to myself: I should really be careful what i wish for... a long time ago i wished that i would know more about fixing cars... well i didn't anticipate, that i would get the "Express Car Mechanic Crash Course for Dummies" so soon and in such a form.

Big thanks for the tips so far, keep em comin

[Ryan]

http://www.mx-3.com/phpBB3/search.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you can't find it there, ask us a direct question. We've got aaaallll the answers

[wytbishop]

Unless the engine and transmission are leaking very badly I would put that issue on the back burner. No you don’t want to be losing liters of fluids but most cars leak to some degree. It’s something that can be fixed as time and funds allow. Concentrate on the brakes and finding that fuel leak if there actually is one. It's fairly easy if you know what you're doing.

Your entire brake system is identical to most 323’s. My suggestion there is because it’s a critical system do the best you can afford. Flex lines and calipers should be easy to find at a junk yard. I’m not sure what it’s like over there, but here I would see 6-10 323’s in the yard at any given time and one of them will have had brake work done recently if I’m lucky. Get a decent pad and rotor/drum if you can. If you have a lot of rust, be very careful undoing the flare nuts on the brake lines. Invest in a couple of flare nut wrenches. A regular open end wrench will quickly destroy the flare nuts. http://www.redhummer.com/myhummer/tools ... arenut.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Steve_SK]

I love those rims! I cannot find a set of these anywhere.

Archie, if there's something I can help with, just call me.

Don't worry, your MX will be in pristine condition one day. Trust me.

[Archie]

Final entry in the MX-3 saga:

- The whole underbody was completely rusted, with big holes all over the place. Exhaust pipes, exhaust, and brakes disintegrated. The drivetrain was a POS and was falling apart. According to my new mechanic the car was under-water at least once (that would explain the swapped pieces of the interior). Gearbox was leaking, and i couldn't switch into the 1st gear anymore. Basically the whole car was falling apart. I tried to find another MX-3 for a reasonable price, and use the few parts i could salvage from this one. But it would cost too much money, time and effort.

So I sold it 2 weeks ago for 378 Euro (bought it for 2000! and used it for 3 months...), and i bought a Seat Toledo 99' (in top notch condition, i took a mechanic i trust, with me).

I finally have a car that is both safe & reliable.

A BIG Thanks to everyone for their time and effort.

So finally this nightmare is over, hopefully.

P.S: At least some good came out of this MX-3 experience, i found a great mechanic that i can trust.

Maybe some day, i will buy another MX-3, but at least i will know what to look for. All in all, driving even a crap MX-3 is a fun experience. And being also my first car, it left a good impression.

[Mooneggs]

whenever you get another one we will be here waiting... glad to hear it was a good experience regardless!