MX-3.com

so its been a while since i posted an update.As of right now i have all the seat and dash out to change my heater core and carpet.Also I have baked my euro lights to paint the insides of them and my clear corners.I have been taking a good bit of pics, will post them as soon as i get done for the night.

Update: So i havent taken all the pics of what im currently working on so i thought Id post some pics I shouldve a while ago... Enjoy seeing what i have to fix

This is what the SC sun does to a dash





My broke center ac vent



my holey pass door panel



the tearing back seat



The tearing carpet



My cracked windshield



And the biggest problem of all with my mx3


The little baby b6.

As of right now i have new ac vents on their way and i have two new door panels and carpet (thanks to neuman).

so heres an update... WITH PICS!

here are the clear corners after baking them and removing the lenses





Euro h4 headlights post baking





the only pic of the sanded headlights i took



Here they are after prime and painted with high heat gloss black



here they are after rebaking and lens reinstallation





Heres both headlights and corner markers after painting and lens reinstalltion



Heres what the interior looked like while removing everything for a new carpet and heater core



My first time tinting windows (20%) and those arent bubbles its dirt on the outside

Passenger side





Driver side





The new tie rods



yes i know this one has a blown cv boot



Here are the new tires i put on





I couldnt think of a better way to say f$ck you rust than sume spray undercoating

heres the under carriage









In those pics you can see why a new exhaust is in order and this section right before my muffler



Heres the wheel wells before cleaning and undercoating









And here they are after undercoating, and yes i only did the actual metal not the plastic









Heres a lil something a gave a try (had some pretty good reviews)



Here is a product i swear by and works great for a 4cyl one can can literally treat all of its applications



And this it what it looks like when ran through your vac system, oil, and gas tank





And finally heres a few pictures of the car in a slight winter drizzle.















and with driving lights and fogs on





Well now if your not blind yet from this long post thanks for looking, all oppinions are welcomed, and stay tuned for more to come.

Awesome! Great work! Looks great now you've gone full blacked-out! Gives me more confidence about how it will all work in on my car when I get some glass lamps to paint black & black altezzas!
Thats insane how badly damaged your dash is!!! I've never seen one that bad before, and the sun here in Perth, Australia is pretty nasty too! (hole in the Ozone layer is right over us!) Glad you're getting a new one in!
Also, great work on the tinting job, looks real good!

So heres another update.

Heres my back hatch after I finally tinted it



And another pic




and one more



Now on to my latest upgrade (courtesy of mister neuman) KYB GR2 struts and bg 2 in lowering springs.

here all the newer parts fresh from their boxes



Still new enough to have all the stickers





Now heres some pics of the cars front stance before the kybs



heres an after the installation



heres a rear shot before kybs



and after



Well thats all Ive got for a little bit, I have to rent a car trailer in the morning to go pick up a 92 ford escort with a bp for the mx3. More pics will be here soon!

So I had a slow start today wiith the many conversions I have in mind. To recap I just bought a 91 ford escort gt with 126k.

My plans for the ford are this. Tear the minty bp out of it and transplant it into the mx3, Swap all the rear disk componants over, and also trasnfer the cruise control.

Today I was able to get the front NEW never used brake rotors (with a two year warrenty) and ceramic brake pads (with a lifetime warrenty) swapped with my cheap @$$ stuff with half their life left. I started to swap the rear equipment but quickly was defeated by the seized bolts on the hubs of both cars... It cost me a total of 4 stanley ratchets and a good deal of my pride.

After some quick research here I found the easiest way to do this is to swap the entire rear subframe. So thats first on the list for the morning. Then next on the agenda is to swap the proportionating vavle and the master cylinder. The Its a ride to the local scrap yard where there is a bp protoge that ill be robbing the disti, vavle cover, and some other small things from.

Stay tuned for pics.

Nice!

Its amazing what a new set of shocks and springs will do for a car

Well i finally got the fords rear subframe off after breaking two breaker bars, the solid exhuast from the ford is no on the mx3. In the morning Ill take my subframe off slap the other one, swap out the master cylinder and ill be good to go.

Am I missing anything?

Question: I thought the Escort GT had a narrower wheel base than the MX3. Or is it only the front that is narrower? Can you not just swap over the rear knuckles from the escort? I was wondering because it seems to me that Escort and 323 guys swap to MX3 suspension parts for a wider base, but that may only be the fronts.

Well Ill let you know if its narrower in the morning, and I tried swapping knuckles but the gts are seized on there, soo I just pulled the whole thing.

Keep up the good work. It's good to see the underbody protected.

Ok Josh after some research on club protoge last night I found that the wheel base is the same. The only differences are the rear sway bar on the eggt has drop ins, and the lateral links are skinnier. These dont much concern me as Ill be putting on the mx3 lateral links.

Jesse: Since I moved up here I have religiously painted and undercoated everything. When I did the struts and springs I painted the head and mating surface on the struts to ease in future removal. I started painting every bolt when I realized my one monthe old tie rods already started rusting.

As of right now everything from the through bolts on the struts to the ball joints is painted with black rustoleum rust preventor, this includes the drive shafts, tie rods, calipers, and metal brake lines. Since doing this I have had a much easier time removing any part later on.

Well time for me to go to advance and pick up my new rear caliper... one on the egt had the bleeder valve broke off.

Ok as of right now the mx3 is out of service due to issues with the rear disk swap. The only issues im haveing are the through bolts on the lateral links to wheel, the ones ones that go through the bottom of the hubs. Im gonna have to pick up a torch in the morning to try and get the two good ones out to put on the the new lateral links and control arms.

Only other issue with all of this is I had to reuse the old bushings, Im trying to get a line on a full bushing kit for the next time im off of work. After I get those installed Ill be compression testing the new bp to see where its at. I hope all be well as it only has 120k on it.

Then its time to swap in the bp, with the g series tranny.

Oh and in a nice turn of events the egt that I bought for the bp has a gtx oil pan already installed on it.

So as for a quick update. I was delayed on the rear disk swap due to those darned through bolts and had to wait for mazda to get them in. As of now I have the car put back together plus some junkyard goodies inside the car. I ll post up some pics in the morning for all you fine people to see what has been done to the mx3.

As for the BP swap, Ill be waiting for two and a half weeks to swap them. Reason for this is my new engine hoist is still in transit and I havent spent much time with the wife and kids.

heres the pics of the rear disk setup that is now installed and working great,

rear disk hub and knuckle installed



with rotor



YAY new through bolts and freshly sanded and painted parts



Random shot of the sexyness installed... it looks so new.



now its time for a few j/y goodies I stumbled upon, along with some spare parts as well

the newish bp valve cover to replace the fords



Here t is after a good sanding and some flame proof paint



steering wheel from an 03 protoge, grabbed it cause its nice and has the controls for the cruise im installing from the ford



again with the 03 protoge, but the hand brake this time.



And just for those that would attack me without pics of them installed... (cough, cough evo spec)

its not just looks it is indeed functional and sit level with the seats, but it does look good



The horn works after some slight mods, as for the cruise, I havent installed any other parts so it doesnt work... yet



And heres a shot of it all together



You can just barely see the chrome door handles in that shot, but between the instrument cluster, door handles, e-brake
button, and the flying m all that chrome and silver is a great accent inside the car. Makes me want to redo my interior in black and silver later on.

As a quick little show, here is the escort gt I bought for $450 with a new g series tranny, stage 2 clutch, gtx oil pan, bp, and various other new parts

here it is getting ready for its part stripping



and heres the bp with only 126k on it, sorry for the pics general sidewayness... its a word because I said it.



Well thats all folks, I go back to work in two days, and will be there again for another two weeks w/o down time or internet, or wife and kids. However when I get back Ill be doing the engine swap.

jeffs93toy wrote:And just for those that would attack me without pics of them installed... (cough, cough evo spec)

hahaha, i was noticing that this worklog was missing some pictures lately =D (a whole 11 days!)

but that's some really nice work you did!