Without too many spoilers about what is happening right now, and believe me it a lot more than just the frame, I wanted to share with all of you the full extent of my frame rot.
In the photo the welds (red) for the rack mounting point were also broken halfway across I pulled that side of the sway bar off without even unbolting it!
Oh wow!! It makes me kinda glad that my car leaks oil lol. I was joking with a friend of mine Sunday night about how much oil is under the car but no rust. I said that I'm going to start calling it my "Chassis lubrication mod" for rust prevention lol. I'm glad that you found it before anything drastic happened. That's a great save!! Definitely a point earned for the saved a 1st gen badge!!!
Got really lucky and found a replacement frame, it’s solid all the way around it’s a huge relief I was afraid I was going to have to try and patch mine. This is a much better option especially for only $73
The thing that got me about this (other than being very pretty) was the bushing collars that were used.
Since I am always in search for things that improve rigidity this was a natural eyebrow raiser for me.
With your location, powder coating may not be a bad idea.
The day is finally here!! It has been a painstaking four weeks between work and rusted bolts and tight spaces but the result is absolutely amazing. I did take some pics along the way as well as a bit of a photo shoot today, unfortunately most of the work isn’t visible as it all took place under the car but here’s the list and pics
Front:
wheel bearings (both sides, passenger side twice...)
Passenger control arms (Detroit Axle)
Outer tie rod ends (both sides- Detroit Axle)
Struts (KYB Excel G)
Front lowering springs (Eibach)
Subframe (scrapyard ‘06)
Rear engine mount (Anchor)
Sway bar/polyurethane bushings (Steeda)
Rear:
Wheel bearings (TRQ)
Lower rear control arms/spring seats (both- Duralast)
Camber Bolts (OEM Mazda)
Outer bolts, rear control arm (OEM Mazda)
Toe control arms (Ultra-Power)
Lowering springs (Eibach)
Basically in the end I replaced everything under the car that was more than two years old, more pics below.
Did another ATF flush today to swap out the cheap Valvoline ATF with some RP Max. I’ve only put about 6 miles on it but it does seem happier than before especially once it gets hot 175+
Soooo, I've been a little absent from here lately, mostly due to that crazy thing called life, but anyhow time for an update! Let me start with saying this is the first time I've logged on here on a computer in months and I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm more than a little pissed to see that my badges have disappeared with this god awful so called "update" which leads to my next complaint, who the f**k designed this its terrible maybe its partly because I haven't used it much yet but so far even after a few hours I still HATE it...moving on!
The hood just kept getting worse and worse as it was sanded so I ended up having to buy a replacement, then long story short I got f****d over for 6 and 1/2 weeks straight on getting the car painted in the end the ONLY things that got painted were the hood and bumper.
Moving on to this past weekend, it was time for the annual Midwest Mazda Club meet in Louisville KY the meet starts at the meeting point just off the interstate, then becomes a "spirited" drive along Taylorsville Lake with a couple of well timed "cool-down" stops along the way ending at a restaurant. It was and awesome time, the Blue Devil handled great for the 5 hour drive down and he stood up to everything I put him through during my "spirited" driving, and by spirited I mean I beat the hell out of the poor thing for about 3 1/2 hours of awesome windy back roads high rpms, tires screeching and pushing it as close to the limit as possible through every single corner...unfortunately I do not have a GoPro to really do all this justice, I think we broke more than a few laws if you know what I mean
in related news I had no problem keeping up with the rx-7s, miatas, rx-8s, 3rd gen 6's, and even the speed 3s through all of it
Here's a few pics the rest will be in an album linked HERE
Cool Update. Glad to hear the 6 handled the spirited driving well. Car looks good with the new hood and painted bumper
FYI I read somewhere they are trying to fix it so we get our badges back. The site is a bit more aesthetically appealing IMO but you're right it takes a bit of getting used to the new format when navigating it.
Decided to post everything in one spot in regards to my car, makes it easier for me as well as to remember what I did.
5-18-2014
New 2014 Mazda 6 Touring Owner "Black on Black". coming from a 2003 Toyota Matrix.
My old car I still have, going to be selling it off this weekend.
First...
So this is not my normal type of post or video seeing as it is more of a tutorial, but I feel like this could prove useful to anyone who gets a tint fix it ticket or just may be curious on how to remove tint. Hope you enjoy this different style video :)
Youtube: ABC Garage
Upload...
I figured since it's getting colder and I can have the wagon in the garage, I'd start in with the stuff I have planned. First up was painting the plastic grille pieces. I started with the main one since it's the most challenging, and to make sure I have enough paint at least for that one. I had...
As many of you know, I have a thing for the wagons! I know there's a number of you out there but I don't see many photos of them on here so I thought I'd start a wagon photo thread. All gen's are welcome. Post updates and random shots as you update your ride.
SHOW ME YOUR WAGON!
It was time for the Gen 2 diesel to go :( I always wanted a Gen 3 but at the time the prices were alot more than I could afford so I settled for a Gen 2 2.2D Takuya. The car was faultess in the 18 months of ownership, despite other owners having problems with DPF,injector seals,timing chain...
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MadStyle · updated 
Modzas6x · updated 
MazdaMetalhead · updated 
waughoo · updated 
hoodedreeper · updated 
