New project car, '93 Mazda MX6.
Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 12:20 pm
My buddy from work was shopping around for a cheap car to fix up to be faster then mine. I told him it wouldn't take much, but he was about set to get a used grand prix GTP and supe it up some more. Then I told him about one of the guys at the speed shop that was selling his '98ish mustang gt (with lots of work done to it) for $4500. He was driving around one night and saw a pair of 93 mazda mx6's at a car lot full of tuner neon sxt's, a nice porsche 911, a lot of camarros and firebirds, and rousch mustangs. They wanted $900 for the green one that was running but they said it had a bad cylinder and was missfireing. The other (white) one had a blown head gasket. They both had 'Mechanics Special" written on the windshield. He came back and asked the dealership guy, "How about $1400 for both of them?" The dealer took it.So he brought in the green one and I looked at it. Oil was black, but none leaking , Air filter had a nest inside it ! Cleaned it up and suprise, it ran much better. Still was misfireing when you reved it. The body was ok, the normal dings and scratches from a 14 yr old car. The worst thing is a dent with a crease on the driver side front fender, but those go for only $50 on E-Bay. The window seals were all dry-rotted Only very minor rust though. Interior was also ok for it's age. Nothing a nice dark tint would cover up until he can repair it later on. The next week we both were doing searches on the net for parts and ideas. Sorta mad at how cheap the parts are for the thing compaired to the Vibe. Turbo kit for $900, not including the manifold and engine management which should be another $800-$1000.Last week when I roll into work he comes up to me with a huge grin on his face. He tells me that his wife went ahead and BOUGHT him a new engine with only 26k miles for $600! Then he tells me that he knows a guy to do the swap and worked out a deal to trade the white mx6 for the swap. Then he has another guy to do the body and paint work (with our help) for only $300. I'm a little jealous and excited about this project. He's a work-a-holic and makes pretty good money and his wife has a really good job, too, so money wont be too much of an issue. It should be fun! I'll give everyone periodic updates on our progress.