Mazda 3 MPS

Author
Discussion

maxdb

Original Poster:

1,533 posts

156 months

Sunday 17th May 2015
quotequote all
So the story was the current car was wearing out. The Alfa 156 was getting rusty underneath and after a quick pull up of the carpet and with a little tap of a screwdriver a hole appeared. That along with the exhaust beginning to rust = £££ so it was time to get rid. With the car only being a 2.0 TS it was not really worth saving giving the condition of the bodywork.

So the criteria was:

  • Something a bit newer than the Alfa
  • Something a bit faster than the Alfa
  • Something a bit more practical than the Alfa
  • Parts not too expensive
The Mazda 3 MPS seemed to of fitted the criteria.

Most of these seem to be for sale up north. I did travel around the M25 and saw one get sold in front of me and another that was a complete heap. I did see one more local so after a visit I ended up with this:



It was a black mica 2008 MPS Aero. It's in good condition for it's age. There is a few marks on the rear bumper and on some of the interior but otherwise it's been well looked after with full Mazda history until this year (print outs given at sale).

It's actually cheaper to the insure than the Alfa (work that one out as I can't!) and the insurance is actually cheaper than the tax as this one is in the highest tax bracket.

After 12 days of ownership tragedy struck:







It was parked up near work when a car came out of a crossroads without looking and punted another car into mine. It sent my car back a few feet. Luckily they left a note and their insurance sorted it out. However the garage was a bit less than desired.

After a £4k repair job and nearly 3 weeks later I got it back but noticed the car was flithy in side - it clear had been driven around as it had dusty footprints in the rear footwell. It had some extra marks on it I did not notice before and there was red paint marks on the passenger side. I took it back and the machine polished out some of the red paint (didn't even do a good job of this).

Either way it's back so it's time for a long term project. Here's some current pics:



I added a Corksport turbo inlet pipe as the turbo was getting a bit smokey. I also fitted a banjo bolt and changed the oil to some Shell Helix. I also bought an oil catch can but this is yet to be fitted.



I took off the MPS badge as the "S" was broken on it originally and it makes the car a bit more discreet smile I will do the side badges sometime..




One thing I have noticed is the paintwork is quite thin and can mark really easy. Stone chips can get through the primer. May be I will get the car resprayed to a different colour in the future.. and may be get a carbon bonnet..

Below are some more general pics of the car:
















maxdb

Original Poster:

1,533 posts

156 months

Sunday 17th May 2015
quotequote all
So initial thought on the car:

Speed - subtle at low revs and crazy when on boost. The cruise control is nice, especially when your near some average speed camera's wink

Ride quality - quite harsh when compared to the Alfa. The suspension is much harder and the large low profile wheels and tires makes bumps a bit less forgiving.

Equipment - well equipped and comes with all the bells and whistles, including cup holders and some decent sized compartments. This is nice as the Alfa had none of these. Everything works as it should. The only negatives here appear to be a squeeky seatbelt mechanism and that the cabin brings in a lot of road noise.

Build quality - average. Paint work is quite thin and is prone to marks and chips (although having a black car doesn't help). Turbo's are also weak. The gear change is quite poor compared to the Alfa. Infact the Alfa had the best gear changes I had experianced in owning cars. The MPS has a long through between gears - especially between 1st and 2nd and when cold it's quite hard to go between the lower gears.

My plans are quite long and with the house having work done it will probably be a while between updates. In all it's to try and make it the car it should be. The list:

Engine:

- Replace the turbo with a BNR S3 turbo for more power and better reliability.
- New air intake and heatshield.
- New downpipe but keeping the cats in for MOT
- Front mount intercooler as not keen on top mount ones
- High pressure fuel pump
- Cobb remap
- Upgraded rear engine mount

Powerwise I will be aiming for between 321bhp - 330bhp as it is probably all you wand from a FWD car. Ideally I am aiming for slightly more power than my friends old BMW M3.

Transmission:

- Look at replacing the gearbox oil with some Ford gearbox oil.
- New bushes for the gear shifter.
- Some sort of short throw kit for the gear stick.

Suspension:

- Keep the ride height the same but get some softer springs so it's better for road use.
- Strut brace

Wheels:

- I don't like the wheels so I may get some MK2 MPS wheels or some RX8 wheels.

Brakes:

- Get some 4 pots
- Braided brake hoses

Interior:

- Replace the 6 CD changer for something a bit more modern. Needs to work with the steering wheel controls though.

- Tidy up/replace the marked glove box

Exterior:

- The car has 3 small dents in the roof that looks like it's been caused be stones or hail. I want to get these sorted.

- Respray/tidy up the paintwork
- New number plates as the plastics started to peel on the current original ones.
- Take off the remaining MPS badges!

stuno1

1,296 posts

194 months

Sunday 17th May 2015
quotequote all
Lovely cars and I owned one for a few years. Have a look at kai force ten gunmetal wheels. Suit the car amazingly well! Some nice plans there. I think this car is massively under rated.

Stu

TheAngryDog

12,394 posts

208 months

Sunday 17th May 2015
quotequote all
Nice car OP, I have a 6 as I prefer saloons cars.

Re the fmic, choose wisely as you run the risk introducing air leaks into the system. Bnr S3 will do an easy 360 plus bhp.

Go on mpsoc forum and read up about the cars. Avoid total MPS.

Get it mapped by Justin Heath

Take it easy below 2500rpm as they can bend rods

Replace the rear engine mount and look at getting a short shift plate

At the desired power level you are aiming for a good tmic is more than up to the job.

maxdb

Original Poster:

1,533 posts

156 months

Sunday 5th July 2015
quotequote all
Small update - the side badges have now been removed! I gave it a quick wash and gave it my 1st attempt at snowfoaming yesterday. I got myself a 12v machine polisher so gave it a bash on the bonnet and front pass wing. Tbh it didn't do much so I may take it to a detailer some time.

My next plan is to probably get an uprated rear engine mount along with a high pressure fuel pump and uprated injectors where money allows.





The only give away to the car now is the MPS wheels, lowered suspension and aero kit. I plan on changing the wheels at some point but at least it's a semi sleeper wink

GregK2

1,651 posts

145 months

Sunday 5th July 2015
quotequote all
Like it, and like your future plans so following with interest. Should surprise a few people who don't know what it is, which is always fun!

TheAngryDog

12,394 posts

208 months

Sunday 5th July 2015
quotequote all
Unless you're going big power then uprated injectors are not needed, and not really available. Best bet is bnr S3/4 and meth injection, fully bolted and decent tmic or fmic for over 400bhp

After that you need to think about forging the bottom end, if you haven't already put a leg out of bed before then!

Edited by TheAngryDog on Sunday 5th July 21:05

maxdb

Original Poster:

1,533 posts

156 months

Sunday 5th July 2015
quotequote all
TheAngryDog said:
Unless you're going big power then uprated injectors are not needed, and not really available. Best bet is bnr S3/4 and meth injection, fully bolted and decent tmic or fmic for over 400bhp
Sorry I meant injector seals smile

I might end up getting the Corksport turbo as there are a few reports out there claiming they are better than the BNR but we'll see.

TheAngryDog

12,394 posts

208 months

Sunday 5th July 2015
quotequote all
maxdb said:
TheAngryDog said:
Unless you're going big power then uprated injectors are not needed, and not really available. Best bet is bnr S3/4 and meth injection, fully bolted and decent tmic or fmic for over 400bhp
Sorry I meant injector seals smile

I might end up getting the Corksport turbo as there are a few reports out there claiming they are better than the BNR but we'll see.
There seems to be mixed opinions on the seals, I know one guy fitted the Toyota ones and they failed quickly.

Might be worth contacting bernies blowers as well

TrevMcd84

6 posts

104 months

Monday 6th July 2015
quotequote all
I had a short sprint against one of these whilst in a golf gti, although it had the legs on the gti I think they're a very undesirable car and I can see why, the horrible looks being a strong point. All in all though have fun in it!

pimpchez

897 posts

182 months

Wednesday 8th July 2015
quotequote all
I had one for a good while and i was very prevalent on the forum and fb group (until banned).


Have a read of my thread.The car had all the bolt ons and bnr3 @ 23.5psi come sale time. I had a VD reading of 324whp (unfinished tune) , so about 360bhp with more to give. The current owner is in the process of a full remap for more power.


http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

maxdb

Original Poster:

1,533 posts

156 months

Friday 28th August 2015
quotequote all


Just had these come through the post!

The rear engine mount should make a really nice improvement compared to the standard one.

I suspect the car is still using the original gearbox oil it came with out the factory so I'm going to treat it with some Motul. The washers will also replace the plastic shifter ones that come with the car. I wanted to get this done before the weather is cold and the engine mount before the next MOT as there seems to be a lot of engine movement and gear changes are pretty rubbish when it's cold.

I have also noticed a ticking noise coming from the drivers side. Hopefully this is a bearing gone in the idler pulley so I have ordered a new idler pulley, belt and tensioner to hopefully resolve the issue smile

rb5er

11,657 posts

171 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
quotequote all
TrevMcd84 said:
I had a short sprint against one of these whilst in a golf gti, although it had the legs on the gti I think they're a very undesirable car and I can see why, the horrible looks being a strong point. All in all though have fun in it!
You own a Skoda Fabia??? rofl

so roll me further bitch

2,382 posts

170 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
quotequote all
rb5er said:
You own a Skoda Fabia??? rofl
Ha

snoopy25

1,858 posts

119 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
quotequote all
rb5er said:
TrevMcd84 said:
I had a short sprint against one of these whilst in a golf gti, although it had the legs on the gti I think they're a very undesirable car and I can see why, the horrible looks being a strong point. All in all though have fun in it!
You own a Skoda Fabia??? rofl
laugh

maxdb

Original Poster:

1,533 posts

156 months

Tuesday 2nd February 2016
quotequote all
Small update time:

Well not much has happened in the year I have owned the car. The uprated engine mount has run in a bit so it's less vibe - there's still a bit but no where near as much as when it was first fitted. Otherwise just wear and tear. I noticed the battery was going a bit flat so got it checked out. It turned out the car was still running on the original Jap battery! Got a new one fitted. Got some new flat wiper blades as the others were worn and got some new front pads.

It was MOT and service today and the car flew through with no advisories! That made my day as it's now the 2nd year the car as gone through the MOT with no failures.

I still have lots of money tied up in the house so most spare money is spent on that at the moment. The car's time will come though as I have some goodies in store smile

DaveH23

3,230 posts

169 months

Tuesday 2nd February 2016
quotequote all
Great cars these.

I also have a MK 1 in Red minus the aero kit. They are very sleeper like.

Mine does not have cruise control though which is very annoying. Does anybody know if it's possible to have it re fitted?

maxdb

Original Poster:

1,533 posts

156 months

Wednesday 3rd February 2016
quotequote all
DaveH23 said:
Great cars these.

I also have a MK 1 in Red minus the aero kit. They are very sleeper like.

Mine does not have cruise control though which is very annoying. Does anybody know if it's possible to have it re fitted?
You can retrofit cruise control. There might be a guide on MPSowners.

problemchild1976

1,376 posts

148 months

Wednesday 3rd February 2016
quotequote all
these cars are superb!!

JJ

maxdb

Original Poster:

1,533 posts

156 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2016
quotequote all
Time to do some little bits. I had a bit of change left over from the service and MOT and got a few bits to make the car a bit nicer. All on a budget though!

So..

The seatbelt squeek:

I figured if I had something that could stiffen the metal bracket of the seatbelt up it should stop squeeking. After some head scratching I got some bushes of Amazon (I don't have Ebay) for around £4:



I made a slice down one part to the middle so it slides over the metal section in almost like a semi circle. I wasn't holding much hope as it's a bodge but it works! I'm going to get some strong glue to stick it in place but it sits happily on it's own after some adjusting :cheers:

The stereo fix:

One small annoying thing with the stereo was the media button not doing anything. A read on another thread on here linked to a much needed cable to fix this issue. I just don't get why Mazda fitted a stereo that had aux input but never bothered spending a small amount on actually fitting the input..

So the price of this fix - 50p! - I had some free Amazon credit left over from something so got this lovely cable at a reduced price. This is it arrived and unboxed:



Getting to work - I would recommend getting a friend to hold the stereo for you if you want to keep it connected and fiddle about running wires through the dash:



I was going to drill a hole in a cup holder then I had a better idea:







I decided to ditch the astray and have that compartment as a place to keep the aux cable. I don't smoke and no one in my car does so it seems pointless having an ashtray. I can then charge my phone and play music at the same time!!

Visual:

I decided to get the Corksport led kit. I had some credit left so got it cheap. I didn't even have to pay any import or handling fees which is nice - thanks Mr. Postman smile

Fitting the glovebox light was a bit daunting:



Once all fitted it looks nice. The camera phone pics don't do it much justice but it gives off a much cleaner light:







Not all went to plan. I managed to break the switch on the boot light so need to get a new unit as the boot light won't turn on. I also noticed a scratch on the front interior light. I don't think that was caused by me though so I need to get a new one as it looks a bit annoying.