Michigan Rotary Club
Generation Specific => Other Car Projects (Non-Rotary) => : ~Groll69~ March 09, 2018, 08:35:07 AM
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As most of you know, I have acquired this little 1992 Mazda MX-3 GS 1.8 V-6 from Murz. The plan is to utilize it as a daily driver. I have named her Gretchen and have a personalized plate coming for it. Gretchen has approximately 30k miles on the motor with 171k miles on the chassis. I have had to do some little things to the car since buying it from him. I had to replace the radiator cap on it, the one Murz put on used from an RX-7 had started to leak. I had to get all new wiper blades since the ones it had deteriorated over the past few years of very little use. New gas cap, and I am getting used drivers side window switch shipped in from hillbillys junk yard, I think out of VA. That has been a challenge to find. Otherwise I plan to do some maintenance repairs later this summer and replace the radio since the volume knob is funky.
The car has so car been fun to drive. It is a nice little birthday present to myself. Thank you Murz.
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The upper shock connector on passenger side rusted completely apart. Also some holes have rusted through in the shock tower. Plus after getting it aprt, the shock is totally trashed so i have both rear shocks on order and a new upper shock connection for the otherside. I had already got the one part in before pulling it apart. I assume drivers side is similar just not as bad. Will replace regardless. I will try to get some pics to post.
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Here is what i found upon removal of the rear struts. The top piece of one of the struts was non existent. The top you see was the good side aka drivers side rear.
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Since the springs are out, i decided to paint them red. In the meantime while waiting for paint to dry on the springs. I gotten in a new radio with Bluetooth and cd player for the car and harness connector. After doing the harness connector it became the easiest radio install i have ever done.
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Amazing that I drove that car across country several times like that after, having almost rolled it, accidentally jumped a train track etc. It still handled very well! Glad the radio install went smoothly.
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Wow, thats worrysome! Are you going to do anything to weld more material to the shock tower there?
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I call Lemon Law! LOL. Seems like they really didn't design it with any corrosion protection or something.
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I got the shocks in. I thought i ordered the same style for left and right. Both kyb though. I am awaiting the other new bumper to come in and then i can finish reassembling the gray one.
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Gretchen has received some more love yesterday. I had ordered in a set of seat covers for her for the front and rear seats. All black with a diamond pattern in the central part of them for them. It looks pretty sharp. She is becoming a comfortable daily driver. The new rear shocks are working out great. I just need to get her a fresh battery now. The current one sometimes doesn't have enough to get her started. That is why I carry a battery jumper in the car at all times.
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Glad Gretchen is being taken care of, I miss her already. How's the ride with the new suspension?
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She is riding really well with the new rear suspension. Right now is the battery that needs to be replaced. It is really weak.
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It's a good thing I got Gretchen for the price that I did. I had my brakes go soft on me Sunday morning then followed be some grinding. Turns out I lost the pad on the drivers side of the car. The brake caliper was tough to push in, but manageable. The good thing is Murz did throw in a set of new pads that he hadn't installed yet on the car. One slide binds up some though. The caliper on the passenger side is actually seized. I can not get the plunger pushed back in. I need to replace it. The good thing is AutoZone has the calipers in stock. I will be purchasing it tonight. Debating on replacing both. The fun will be in trying to bleed the calipers on my own.
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I managed to get the new calipers in and installed. I also managed to bleed the brakes. I could probably use a touch up bleed, but i believe that I got the air out of the system. Here is a pic of the passenger side with the worst caliper that i removed.
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Gretchen went into the shop last week. While driving, i was getting a lot of grinding noises etc. Then she became hard to shift into 3 and. Those gates moved to location of 5 and R. 5 and R became nearly impossible to even use. I immediately to it to a transmission shop. Their initial diagnosis was bad transmission. Upon closer inspection the next day, the shop noticed that the engine mount was loose.
Turns out thay the three bolts into the block had sheared off. Also the two transmission mounts were really bad. The bolts have been fixed, but only place for the replacement mounts is dealership. Once those parts arrive, i can have them installed and have my daily driver back.
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I got to enjoy Gretchen briefly after getting her back. on Tuesday as i got to work, i put her in reverse to back into the parking spot that i always use and she blew the upper radiator hose to the heater core. I had to call the Ex with the jeep, buy me a new nice retractable tow strap and tow it to a shop. The plastic connector broke on the upper heater core hose. Unfortunately there was no way for me to redneck fix it for the time being.
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Depending on how much of the plastic was left on either side, I've had luck with using a 2-part epoxy and an Aluminum or Brass tube that closely fits the ID of the pipe to provide more support. The upper radiator nipple in the Celica was held together this way for 2 years before it finally let go again.
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I don't think that i would have as much luck with this as you did. I am better off getting new if i can. Plastic from the early 90's still seems to fall into the brittle category for mazda. I would not be surprised if that was an original plastic hose connector.
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Yea, it was the original radiator for a '91 celica, so it was around a similar age (well, a bit younger actually since this was at least 4 years ago), but of course a new one will be better and last longer.
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I am trying to get a full day to tear down the Gretchen and put a new headgasket on her along with new timing belt. While it was parked on the street over the weekend, someone hit the drivers side rear corner messing up the bumper and denting the metal some. It happened either friday or saturday while i was gone with Itswill on Operation Screaming Eagle. Now another thing to add to my repair list.
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shitty
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so Rich, why does your mx3 have an 84.5mm bore???
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Murz kept telling me it was only a 1.8 liter. Looks like i have an upgraded short block on her.
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I always thought it felt much faster than 130hp
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I don't think we are getting the 200 hp out of it right now. need to look into it and see
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Yeah it has the stock intake still, theres a beefier intake the 2.5 uses.
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I need to find the intake and the associated computer.