Alrighty. No pics right now, i'll get them up this week.
Back story:
When i met girlfriend, she was driving a Taurus. It was epic crap, and we wanted to get her into something better, as well as better on gas. We happened to be out driving, and saw a red EGT in a parking lot with a "FOR SALE" sign on it. Stopped and looked, they wanted $1100 for it. It looked pretty clean, the clear coat was peeling. (DUH.)
If i must be honest at this point, i should have ignored the car and looked for something else. But, the girlfriend said it was "cute" and that she wanted it.
Arranged with the seller a time to look at it in depth. Ran ok, but smoked like crazy. (A re-occuring theme, i'd find.) Long story short, the seller was a scumbag, but i still bought it anyways like an idiot. For $700. We thought it had 58k miles on it. Oh, did i mention that it didn't have 3rd or 4th gear? Thought it may have been a dropped shifter or a failed mount.
A couple weeks later, after the following had been done:
New transmission
New springs and struts
New front brakes
New intake tube
Full tuneup.
New clutch slave cylinder
And a laundry list of other little things, it was finally driven, and it drove ok. Way more power than i was expecting, but it still smoked like crazy. We ignored it.
Pulled up a carfax on it. Turns out that when we bought it, it had 258k miles on it. AWESOME.
I'll skip to the good parts.
Current mods
Current mods
Leaky exhaust
Tokico HP struts
Megan Racing springs
Pierce Motorsports front 4 point tie bar
Energy Suspension bushings
Energy Suspension mount inserts
Josh_LX delrin endlinks
Pacesetter adjustable STS
MX3 rear tie bar
MX3 front and rear strut tower bars
MX3 leather shift boot
MX3 shifter console
Protege lower console
Black MX3 carpet
Clear corners
MX3 black weatherstripping
MX3 black lower dash
****ty Kenwood head unit
Kicker 6.5" front speakers powered by an old school Punch160 amp
Now it has over 280k miles on it, and it still has plenty of power, but it's starting to show it's age in many ways. The transmission is crunchy in 2nd and 5th. The front suspension hardware won't hold torque, and loosens on it's own. The smoking is getting worse. All four strut mounts are shot. The brake system needs an overhaul.
I bought a complete low mileage head in thought that i was going to rebuild the motor, bump the compression a bit, and that she would just enjoy that. Then i found out how cheap it would be to boost it. Then i found out that FE3 swaps aren't that hard. Then SHE HEARD A KLZE.
And that's what she wanted. What girlfriend wants, she gets. She also seems to be jealous of how much fun i have at Autox events, so she wants to do that, too. In her Escort.
I've already purchased a 94 MX3 GS (with 80k miles ) for a donor.
I'm going to be upfront here and say that she could have picked many easier, cheaper, and better platforms to compete in SMS class with, and that i'm not in love with this thing. (I'm a Toyota guy, don't hold it against me.) But, this could be fun.
Here's the preliminary read-out of what's to come:
Motor/drivetrain
KLZE (All KL31)
King6fab timing belt tensioner
DE retainers
Interprep springs
Straight neck intake manifold
MX3 trans
MFactory LSD
Fidanza 9lb flywheel
South Bend TZ Stage 2 clutch
Filled mounts (Anyone know if there's AWR parts that work?)
Headers
Intake
2.5" exhaust
Underdrive pulley
Suspension/Steering
Pierce Motorsports tubular control arms w/ rodends. ALL OF THEM.
Pierce Motorsports front 4pt tie bar
Pierce Motorsports 2-point rear tie bar
Ultra Racing rear strut bar
Cusco front strut bar
Erik Bacon custom front and rear sway bars
Josh_LX Delrin endlinks
Cusco camber plates
Ground Control coilovers
Koni Yellows
MX3 steering rack (possibly depowered, will need input)
Brakes
Centric Premium rotors
Porterfield R4S pads
Corksport Stainless braided lines
New calipers all around
New master cylinder
Exterior
NEW PAINT JOB. She wants dark-ish grey with purple flake.
Shaved EGT grill
3-piece rear EGT wing
Re-do the tint
Konig C-Sharp 16x7 wheels
Solar Wing (maybe?)
CF hood (down the road)
CF hatch (down the road)
Interior
Everything listed above + the following
Gut and tuck the rear
Finish converting all front trim to black
Nice steering wheel of some sort
Corbeau FX1 Pro Microsuede (pair)
Crow 5-point 3" black harnesses
Wideband/Oil Pressure/Water temp gauges
Facelift MX3 dash (down the road)
This will be a car that is in no danger of winning championships or anything, but it should be locally competitive. The two current top dogs in SCCA SMS class locally are both DC2 integras. One is a yellow Type R, and the other is K20-powered, so it'll be dicing it up with them, and my Celica once it finally comes out of hibernation again. It's not going to be any danger to the celica (but don't tell her that ) but it should be in line with the Integras. The only REAL advantage they have is the ability to fit more tire than us. But they do weigh quite a bit more.
Anyways, input is welcome on anything with question marks or comments, or anything at all for that matter. We aren't really looking for massive power here. A KLZE should motivate this thing pretty well in any form.
My big question right now stems from the brakes. I'll be buying that stuff very soon, and i'd like to move to something bigger if possible. (But also not looking to spend thousands of dollars, either.) Has anyone swapped over an entire MX3 setup? The parts car has a better "feel" than this thing.
Also: Subframe bushings. Are there aftermarket parts available?
Back story:
When i met girlfriend, she was driving a Taurus. It was epic crap, and we wanted to get her into something better, as well as better on gas. We happened to be out driving, and saw a red EGT in a parking lot with a "FOR SALE" sign on it. Stopped and looked, they wanted $1100 for it. It looked pretty clean, the clear coat was peeling. (DUH.)
If i must be honest at this point, i should have ignored the car and looked for something else. But, the girlfriend said it was "cute" and that she wanted it.
Arranged with the seller a time to look at it in depth. Ran ok, but smoked like crazy. (A re-occuring theme, i'd find.) Long story short, the seller was a scumbag, but i still bought it anyways like an idiot. For $700. We thought it had 58k miles on it. Oh, did i mention that it didn't have 3rd or 4th gear? Thought it may have been a dropped shifter or a failed mount.
A couple weeks later, after the following had been done:
New transmission
New springs and struts
New front brakes
New intake tube
Full tuneup.
New clutch slave cylinder
And a laundry list of other little things, it was finally driven, and it drove ok. Way more power than i was expecting, but it still smoked like crazy. We ignored it.
Pulled up a carfax on it. Turns out that when we bought it, it had 258k miles on it. AWESOME.
I'll skip to the good parts.
Current mods
Current mods
Leaky exhaust
Tokico HP struts
Megan Racing springs
Pierce Motorsports front 4 point tie bar
Energy Suspension bushings
Energy Suspension mount inserts
Josh_LX delrin endlinks
Pacesetter adjustable STS
MX3 rear tie bar
MX3 front and rear strut tower bars
MX3 leather shift boot
MX3 shifter console
Protege lower console
Black MX3 carpet
Clear corners
MX3 black weatherstripping
MX3 black lower dash
****ty Kenwood head unit
Kicker 6.5" front speakers powered by an old school Punch160 amp
Now it has over 280k miles on it, and it still has plenty of power, but it's starting to show it's age in many ways. The transmission is crunchy in 2nd and 5th. The front suspension hardware won't hold torque, and loosens on it's own. The smoking is getting worse. All four strut mounts are shot. The brake system needs an overhaul.
I bought a complete low mileage head in thought that i was going to rebuild the motor, bump the compression a bit, and that she would just enjoy that. Then i found out how cheap it would be to boost it. Then i found out that FE3 swaps aren't that hard. Then SHE HEARD A KLZE.
And that's what she wanted. What girlfriend wants, she gets. She also seems to be jealous of how much fun i have at Autox events, so she wants to do that, too. In her Escort.
I've already purchased a 94 MX3 GS (with 80k miles ) for a donor.
I'm going to be upfront here and say that she could have picked many easier, cheaper, and better platforms to compete in SMS class with, and that i'm not in love with this thing. (I'm a Toyota guy, don't hold it against me.) But, this could be fun.
Here's the preliminary read-out of what's to come:
Motor/drivetrain
KLZE (All KL31)
King6fab timing belt tensioner
DE retainers
Interprep springs
Straight neck intake manifold
MX3 trans
MFactory LSD
Fidanza 9lb flywheel
South Bend TZ Stage 2 clutch
Filled mounts (Anyone know if there's AWR parts that work?)
Headers
Intake
2.5" exhaust
Underdrive pulley
Suspension/Steering
Pierce Motorsports tubular control arms w/ rodends. ALL OF THEM.
Pierce Motorsports front 4pt tie bar
Pierce Motorsports 2-point rear tie bar
Ultra Racing rear strut bar
Cusco front strut bar
Erik Bacon custom front and rear sway bars
Josh_LX Delrin endlinks
Cusco camber plates
Ground Control coilovers
Koni Yellows
MX3 steering rack (possibly depowered, will need input)
Brakes
Centric Premium rotors
Porterfield R4S pads
Corksport Stainless braided lines
New calipers all around
New master cylinder
Exterior
NEW PAINT JOB. She wants dark-ish grey with purple flake.
Shaved EGT grill
3-piece rear EGT wing
Re-do the tint
Konig C-Sharp 16x7 wheels
Solar Wing (maybe?)
CF hood (down the road)
CF hatch (down the road)
Interior
Everything listed above + the following
Gut and tuck the rear
Finish converting all front trim to black
Nice steering wheel of some sort
Corbeau FX1 Pro Microsuede (pair)
Crow 5-point 3" black harnesses
Wideband/Oil Pressure/Water temp gauges
Facelift MX3 dash (down the road)
This will be a car that is in no danger of winning championships or anything, but it should be locally competitive. The two current top dogs in SCCA SMS class locally are both DC2 integras. One is a yellow Type R, and the other is K20-powered, so it'll be dicing it up with them, and my Celica once it finally comes out of hibernation again. It's not going to be any danger to the celica (but don't tell her that ) but it should be in line with the Integras. The only REAL advantage they have is the ability to fit more tire than us. But they do weigh quite a bit more.
Anyways, input is welcome on anything with question marks or comments, or anything at all for that matter. We aren't really looking for massive power here. A KLZE should motivate this thing pretty well in any form.
My big question right now stems from the brakes. I'll be buying that stuff very soon, and i'd like to move to something bigger if possible. (But also not looking to spend thousands of dollars, either.) Has anyone swapped over an entire MX3 setup? The parts car has a better "feel" than this thing.
Also: Subframe bushings. Are there aftermarket parts available?
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