Savin's '95 MX-3 RS - Deja Vu

[Savin]

Alrighty! I wanted to wait until after I buffed out the car and had some of the dents removed, but I couldn't wait to make a worklog on my new baby! I bought this car Wednesday April 11th and I couldn't be happier so far.

The basics:
1995 RS 1.6L
Creek blue mica paint
201k miles strong and going
Stick shift (finally I own a stick car!)
And most importantly... RUST FREE!!!

I really don't think this car was ever driven in winter. That, or it was garaged kept its whole life. Whatever it was, it shows. There's just that stupid frame rail rust on the ends, but I'm not too worried about it. Prior to me buying it, the previous owner had put a new exhaust, clutch, trans, brake pads, and struts on the car. Its quite nice for the $1,000 I paid for it!

As for mods, I really don't know what I want to do to it yet. I want to fix the misc broken crap, i.e. The stupid broken double din center console thingy, and the drivers seat. Its collapsed in the middle. I would like to autocross it a bit, but I want to run in stock classes, so I'm limited on what I can do to the car as far as performance and suspension goes. At least I can finally use my GS wraparound and SE rear seats I've had laying around for 3 years, hahaha!

And now onto pics! I'll take better ones with my good camera AFTER I buff it out. the paint is swirled like crazy.

No pics, of the day I bought it 'cause My brother and I didn't get home until 8:30-9 o'clock and it was dark. BUT the morning after: (before work)


I couldn't drive it to work that day because I still needed it insured and such, but the day after I did! Here's a pic alongside the cavalier I've been driving the past year:


That cavalier has to have been the most dependable car I've ever owned. I bought it for $250 and maybe put another $250 into it.

I did do one very important mod though. I swapped out gauge clusters because the one had stupid reverse glows and a broken gas gauge. I put in the canadian GS cluster I had laying around. (still got to swap out tach so rpms read correct, but meh)



I also installed a pair of chrome door handles. No pics of that swap.

While at work today the 17th, I was kind of bored so I took a couple more pictures. Nothing fancy, I took 'em with my phone.




That's all for now! And before anyone asks....no, this one will not meet the same fate as the other two. I plan to keep this car a VERY long time!

Cheers!

[racycle]

Real clean car, real nice and at a nice price to!

[SuperK]

Wait... Savin? you have a MX-3 finally? DANCE PARTYY!!!

[Savin]

YES I DO!!!!! (3 years later...) It'll take some time to get it how I want it. I'm pretty broke now after dumping money into the mustang to try and finish it before my brother's wedding, sunfire to fix its overheating issue, and buying this car, lol.

I kinda wish I never sold those leather fronts now.

[Savin]

Update time! For those of you interested anyway, lol. I've been driving the car for almost 2 months now, and I couldn't be happier. I have noticed a few things wrong with it, but that was to be expected. Swaybar endlinks are broken, trans mounts are kind of bad (lots of engine rocking), shifter bushings are done for (plenty of slop in shifter), and there's a very noticeable clunking coming from the passenger rear wheel that I haven't had time to investigate. Maybe strut mount? or possibly a bushing? New tires are in the near future, but I'm trying to find some new rims to go with 'em. The tires on it are junk, plenty of tread, but dryrotted bad. This car is useless on a rainy day, for only like 105hp, its spins the tires too easily in the rain.

Anyway....what's an update without some pictures, right? I still haven't buffed it or had any dents removed, and these pictures are from like a month ago, lol.
Drveway shots!





Bumper to bumper with the "Maztang" (long story I'll get pictures of that thing in its current state later




Now for some scenic pictures!

[Savin]

update time!
I have a couple pics I'll upload later.

It's been maintenance week for the mazda!

I never did do a general inspection of the car when I bought it. I did the quick look over for rust and it ran/drove. That's all I really cared about. I could fix the rest. But this past week I finally looked it over. What I thought were the swaybar endlinks (I took the word of the previous owner) turned out to be a completely shot original balljoint on the drivers side. The passenger side had been replaced at one point in its life, but I changed them both anyway.

The brakes...which were "new" according to previous owner...yeah right. outer pads ok life; inner pads? down to the metal bracket. Not to mention the rotors were cracking! So as I was changing the pads and rotors, I came across another discovery. Completely seized guide pins. I torched them and they barely moved. Calipers are in near future now as well. Struts are LoTeks....so those will be getting replaced eventually as well

I found a rust hole in the passenger side rear wheel well. It was covered by the undercoating so I never saw it. Just another reason not to drive it in the winter!

I did other misc. stuff as well. Valve cover gasket, belts, sparkplugs, cap/rotor, I have wires, just haven't put them on yet. Changed torn intake tube with one from my old car (yes I kept nearly the whole engine bay off that) I changed out the junk Dual headunit with a new one. changed out the stock front speakers as well. My brother recharged my A/C yesterday as payment for using my camera on his honeymoon.

A buddy I work with is going to paint my wraparound spoiler silver soon. I think silver will be a nice contrast to the creek blue. I'm missing one of the caps for it though. I can't find it anywhere.

Welp, That's it for now! I hope you enjoyed reading the update!

[Savin]

Not too much going on. Got the wraparound spoiler painted and installed. Could have turned out better, but I can live with it. AND FINALLY!!! New rims/tires. Tires are smaller overall height than stock, so I have some hellawheelgap to address soon.

Old rims:


New:


D2's and front lip to come once I sell one of my other cars, lmao!

Cheers!

[Savin]

Update time:

Car smokes like crazy when its cold out. Its definitely oil. I know all about that from my old RS.
The rear defrost sucks. it works, but the lowest 5 defrost coil lines don't work. And the car will grind into first when it's cold, but doesn't once its warmed up, hmmm...

I've put subs in the car. I think I've mentioned that I changed the headunit and front/rear speakers. I had 2 12's and 2 10's in it, but that proved too much for the stock alternator with the amp I had. alternator completely locked up and battery went toast. Put in GS alternator and optima yellow top. I went for a test drive right after I finished up and something fell on my amp and it caught on fire. That was fun. Soooo...I sold the first set of subs (the 12's) and now I'm rocking the 10's with a little 1000w amp.

I did finally buff and wax it, but never took pictures. it needs buffed again now, lol.

Once the snow flies, the car will be parked and a cover put on and the cavalier will take over for snow duty. I should have had coilovers by now, but I loaned my brother money to get his transmission fixed, and I'm buying 93SOHC SE http://www.mx-3.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=67527 this coming week. That car will go straight into a storage unit along with my mustang. All 3 cars will be overhauled. The mustang this winter. It'll get painted and a new engine harness. Purple mx-3 will get worn out stuff replaced and possible BP. and the SE I'll just get running and driving.

[Savin]

Random update:
I did buy 93SOHC's SE. ...BUT I think I'm going to use it to DE swap this car. I just have too many cars, lol. I'll have to pull the mustang and the SE out of storage soon and I don't have space for 5 cars.

[Surgeonasst222]

I need to come down and see you Savin, I am sur you got parts laying around that I could buy off you

When I get my engine in ok... Shape I am coming!!!

[Savin]

I'm sure i have enough random leftover crap to help your's and Dubber's cars out, lol.

[Savin]

Come on nice weather!

Finally took 2 pictures of the SE that may or may not be a V6 swap donor:


They're from facebook, so I hope they work.

[Savin]

Pulled the leather seats last weekend out of SE and cleaned the mold off of them. They are now sitting comfortably in my bedroom until I decide to install them after they get a bunch or conditioner soaked in.

[Surgeonasst222]

Those seats are soooo minty fresh.... I can't wait to see them up close when I come down! Hope that mothers stuff works on them.

[Savin]

Robbed the SE of its power windows and gave them to the RS. I'll get pictures after the door panels are dry and installed, but who really cares about those pictures?

I might even install the SE front seats today. I forgot to take off the top portion of the rear seat off the SE and I don't feel like going back to storage today, lol.