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Think about buying a MX3 for my daughter

Posted: May 27th, 2008, 1:58 pm
by Quicksilver98
Hi guys & gals,
I am new to this forum and I am looking at possibly getting a used 95 MX3 for my daughter. This car has 122k miles on it and a overheating problem at the moment. The body and interior are in pretty good shape. For 500 bucks I thought it would make a good project car. By the sounds of other post that I have read on here the overheating problem could be due to a warped head / head gasket problem. I do most of the maintenance on my other vehicles so I am fairly knowledgable on the mechanical systems. My question is..How involved is a head replacement on these 1.6 liter engines and is it worth having the old one resurfaced or are they pretty much toast after they have been severely overheated? Thanks for any advice. Casey

Re: Think about buying a MX3 for my daughter

Posted: May 27th, 2008, 4:40 pm
by onlytrueromeo
It's not worth it to fix the motor, IMO. You might as well spring for a BP engine w/ 20-50k imported from Japan, will probably run you around $600, plus new fluids for everything. It will bolt up to your stock tranny, and it will have a bit more horses to it to boot. Look around the site, there is alot of info on this swap. You will have to do minor electrical work in the engine bay, but everything else will bolt up (mounts, etc)

Re: Think about buying a MX3 for my daughter

Posted: May 27th, 2008, 6:23 pm
by Ryan
How many boyfriends do you want to beat off? It's such an attractive vehicle.... and so much fun... I'm sure she'll love it.... especially with that BP :wink:

Re: Think about buying a MX3 for my daughter

Posted: May 30th, 2008, 6:12 pm
by Quicksilver98
After closer inspection it turned out to be rather trashed out.....Neadless to say I didn't get it. I will keep looking though!

Re: Think about buying a MX3 for my daughter

Posted: June 3rd, 2008, 10:22 am
by projectmx
quicksilver.. where abouts is that car.. if you are passing on it i might be intersted in it for another project or fix it up to replace my daily driver

if the body is in good shape and he can be talked down a litle then it would like only cost a few hundred to put a rebuilt engine into it and clean up the interior

Re: Think about buying a MX3 for my daughter

Posted: June 3rd, 2008, 1:32 pm
by Daninski
Quicksilver98, where do you live? Nice for us to know if you need info on where or who to buy stuff from. Cheers

Re: Think about buying a MX3 for my daughter

Posted: June 4th, 2008, 9:44 pm
by Quicksilver98
I live in Tucson Arizona. It would be quite a road trip for anyone to come look at this thing. I dont think it would be worth your time! It's pretty beat!

Re: Think about buying a MX3 for my daughter

Posted: June 4th, 2008, 10:22 pm
by Daninski
Take your time, find a nice one. I bought my 95 for $600 bucks. It's like brand new, cruise control, air, even the shifter is tight. I only had to do brakes and new tires and it was good to go. I did upgrade the stereo system.