Michigan Rotary Club
Generation Specific => Other Car Projects (Non-Rotary) => : ~Groll69~ June 03, 2015, 12:05:19 PM
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I figured i might as well add a post for my Mazda 6S.
It was purchased in December 03 from the dealership with only 17miles on it. Since this has been a daily driver vehicle for the family, we have racked up over 248,000 miles as of today (6/3/15). Through the years we have done some work to it. It has always received minimal care. around 192,000 miles, the engine gave up the ghost. I think it was due to clogged catalytic converters the was the major contributer to the engine failure. We replaced the engine with a Ford fusion 06 6cyl short block with just over 40,000 miles on it. All of the sensors were the same. The valve cover and front covers needed to be changed. We emptied and straight piped the cats on it.
The engine old and and new engine both were prone to blowing out the spark plugs. After helicoiling the spark plug holes that failed, there has been no issue from them. Out of a total of 12 engine plugs between the two engines, i helicoiled i think 7-8 of them, i don't remember the exact number, at least 4 of them were on the new engine.
About 4 weeks ago, i had the radiator finally blow out. the leak occured just under the the power steering resevior between the metal core and plastic top of the radiator. To change it, required removal of the front end and took the majority of the day to finish.
The car is currently undergoing major suspension work on the front end and will be receiving a complete brake job. The front suspension had been getting pretty bad for a while and needed severe attention. I am replacing the Upper ball joint, both lower ball joints, new shocks and springs for the front and new outer tie rod ends. This effort hasn't been without its difficulties either. Essentially there will not be much left that is used/old for the front suspension. After almost 248k miles, i deserve to be putting this much attention into the front suspension, since I have been doing the minimum required to keep it on the road.
I have a few pictures that i will post later of the current progress. I will try to get in the habit of posting pics on all of my progross for my vehicles. I tend to slack on the picture portion of keeping everyone updated.
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I finished the front suspension and put new brakes all around. I took it to Precision Auto Tune in royal oak and had them do the alignment for me. Then i got new tires installed. Now i need to try and get the camber adjusted properly so it doesnt prematurly wear the rear tires.
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You paid for an alignment, why isn't the camber right?
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i paid for a front alignment, i did not pay for a full alignment. It is the rear camber that is off.
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Ah rear camber, have you replaced the shitty springs? That should fix it.
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No, unless i want to lower the car
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Huh, I thought your rear springs were shot? That would mess up the camber. Camber should be right on with good springs.
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It's good to let my dad borrow the car for a week while we borrowed his van for vacation. He wasn't a fan of the 470 air system as my mom says it (4 windows down at 70 MPH) and he was kind enough to fix the rear camber for us. I almost had AC, except it seems to be leaking somewhere near the point of disconection that we had done when doing the engine swap a couple of years ago and we eveidently forgot to re-install the schrader valve. It has a new valve so just need to get the ac leak tracked down and fixed.
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here are the pictures I promised of posting now that I finally got them off of my phone.
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Finally Sold this car. Dauphine went to a new home 2/15/17. After 13+ years of ownership it was time to let it go to someone else with more energy to make it awesome. Final sale price $878