Mazda MX6 2.5 V6 manual

[robc831975]

Hi. I would be interested in the vris solenoids and the rear spoiler plus the seat rail trims if you have them.

[robc831975]

There are a handul left...this is my 97, manual, 130k and still beautifully smooth.....

[savvy]

MX-6 said:

Thanks for the comments, it's always good to hear from other MX enthusuiasts. I always really liked the MX3 since the 90s as well, it's a shame that the numbers of those and MX6's are really thinning out now, I think they make for fun project cars particularly for those on a budget.

It was sad to see how many MX-3/6’s got scrapped on the scrappage scheme (another thread on General Gassing). It has made our cars much rarer and I imagine the values will really start to increase in years to come.

Here’s my MX-3 after a recent clean.

Edited by savvy on Friday 22 January 20:30

[MX-6]

robc831975 said:

Hi. I would be interested in the vris solenoids and the rear spoiler plus the seat rail trims if you have them.

I have these items available, I'll message you about it.

Edited to add: I see that you don't accept private messages, if you want to message me then we can talk about the sale of the parts mentioned.

Edited by MX-6 on Saturday 23 January 09:24

[MX-6]

robc831975 said:

There are a handul left...this is my 97, manual, 130k and still beautifully smooth.....

Looks great, like my old one, is it Noble Green?

Last time I looked there were less than 200 cars left of the road if I recall, my GT manual is one of about 40.

I think they have got to the age now where they have started to come more interesting to the enthusiast and the better cars remaining are worth restoring.

[MX-6]

savvy said:

It was sad to see how many MX-3/6’s got scrapped on the scrappage scheme (another thread on General Gassing). It has made our cars much rarer and I imagine the values will really start to increase in years to come.

Here’s my MX-3 after a recent clean.

Looks like a very nice example, I always thought these looked really good in the red. I like the bodykit these came with, would have been good if the MX6 had the side pods, front splitter, etc. as standard. As I'm into modifying stuff, I think the KL-DE 2.5L swap into the MX3 looks a really good route to increased power and just bolts straight in more or less.

I think values have already started to head up somwhat, the better MX6's for sale are starting to have asking prices of around £3k now. The fact that they are FWD has really limited the appeal though, if they were RWD and popular with racers/drifters then the values would be like other 90s Japanese performance coupes whose values have inflated a lot in recent years, like the 200SX for example. I've always really liked the MX6, but the main reason I've got into them in recent years is because they are cheap to buy. They were the answer to the question: what is an interesting sporty looking coupe with a V6 that you can buy for cheap?

[savvy]

I think the MX3/6 represents the an of an area of a market that had healthy competition for coupes, one that has since disappeared. When you had the Calibra, Celica, Probe or the 200sx, the MX3 and 6 was an interesting alternative. You didn’t choose one because of its performance but more for their character. Arguable one of the nicest sounding V6’s and great handling whist being incredible practical.

Incidentally, if you have an original 5 speed manual gear knob in good condition, I could do with replacing mine!

[MX-6]

savvy said:

I think the MX3/6 represents the an of an area of a market that had healthy competition for coupes, one that has since disappeared. When you had the Calibra, Celica, Probe or the 200sx, the MX3 and 6 was an interesting alternative. You didn’t choose one because of its performance but more for their character. Arguable one of the nicest sounding V6’s and great handling whist being incredible practical.

Incidentally, if you have an original 5 speed manual gear knob in good condition, I could do with replacing mine!

Yes the 90s was a great time for 2 door coupes, lots of interesting options on the market back then. The MX-6 is a good all-rounder really and didn't seem to have any real weaknesses in the road tests of the time, but also didn't perhaps stand out as having a strong point either. Seems to have been largely over-looked in what was a crowded market at the time.

Ive actually a couple of spare original gearknobs here. I'm not really a fan of the standard knob and steering wheel, I think they look quite cheap and plastic and let down what is otherwise a functional but good looking interior. As you can tell from the thread here, I'm not someone who is particularly bothered about originality, a little while ago I swapped in a black leather gearknob from a 90s MX5 which I think is quite a nice upgrade whilst still being OEM.



I also treated the car to a period Mazda branded black leather Momo steering wheel, again from an MX5, not fitted yet though...

Edited by MX-6 on Sunday 24th January 14:43

[robc831975]

MX-6 said:

robc831975 said:

Hi. I would be interested in the vris solenoids and the rear spoiler plus the seat rail trims if you have them.

I have these items available, I'll message you about it.

Edited to add: I see that you don't accept private messages, if you want to message me then we can talk about the sale of the parts mentioned.

Edited by MX-6 on Saturday 23 January 09:24

Thanks for that - now updated my profile so you can message me directly.

[robc831975]

MX-6 said:

robc831975 said:

There are a handul left...this is my 97, manual, 130k and still beautifully smooth.....

Looks great, like my old one, is it Noble Green?

Last time I looked there were less than 200 cars left of the road if I recall, my GT manual is one of about 40.

I think they have got to the age now where they have started to come more interesting to the enthusiast and the better cars remaining are worth restoring.

It is Noble Green with grey leather....the Mx6 is a rare sight these days as you say. Still has its original dealer plates and is really nice to work on and keep improving it.

[MX-6]

I've finally got rid of the old car now that has been taking up space in the garage. I had mixed feeling breaking it but I just felt that it was too worn out from high miles and rust for me to justify spending the money and more importantly time on repairing it. In financial terms I've already made quite a bit of cash from selling parts, I guess around double the £430 the car cost me to buy so far. Plus I now have an Aladins Cave of spares in my garage loft space, all the parts I bought and fitted to it have come off plus a lot of useful spares as well.



There were more parts that I could have removed, but got to the point where I had to call it a day and pass it on to a breaker. The guy came for it Sunday. I was sad to see it go, but in hindsight, looking at it as a development motor for the turbo conversion and as parts donor car I can make sence of it to myself.



So moving on, I was very keen to finally get the silver Six in the garage. It's taken quite a bit of time to tidy and re-organise the space to fit the car, although I pleased I'm got a garage it is a compact space really, significantly smaller than the garage of my previous house.



I'm planning to paint all the walls and ceiling, plus wall mount the stack of cupboards, the never-ending DIY projects aren't going away. I need thin out the amount of parts I have and get to get more bits and pieces up into the loft space.



I'm excited to actually start work on improving the car soon, it's still running and driving very well but there are plenty of bits and areas to fettle and improve...

[ElmerFud]

Excellent.
So what's the action plan?

[MX-6]

Well I've plenty of plans for work on the car but not much time to do anything recently unfortunately. It's the usual working full time plus commute, looking after/spending time with my 17 month old son, plus I've been doing the house DIY project at the weekends.

We moved into a bit of a doer-upper (again) at the end of 2019, I've made quite a lot of progress with things internally. I inherited a tip of a garden, so have been really keen to get that all sort for spring/summer and the end of lockdown, been working on it for the last month. There was a large decking with plenty of rot and loose boards, so a bit dangerous, like walking the plank/shiver me timbers, etc. Plus had a pond full of stagnant water and quite a large summer house, again with ample rot. Just need to level up some patio slabs and lay some new turf down over the next couple of weekends then will call it done, for now.



Anyhow, plans for the car. Once I get though sorting out this garden I will be making time for the MX6. The medium/longer term plan is to get it turbocharged with all the parts I have for this conversion. In the short term I'm going to be concentrating on servicing, maintainance and cosmetic repairs. Here's something of a list:

A deep clean inside and out. I bought a pressure washer recently for the patio so will be putting this to use.

Fettle the ride height. One of the front coilovers doesn't seem to want to rotate and thus adjust in height below a certain point, need to remove it and strip it down to find out what is limiting it.

Rear brake pad replacement, I've already purchased and received these. They are very low now, had an advisory for them on the MOT. Planning to paint the rear calipers in yellow to match the carriers and front calipers, ordered this along with brake cleaner.

Fix the rust spot on the offside rear wheel arch, annoys me every time I look at it. Plus there are some other paint marks/imperfections that I want to deal with. Need to repaint the sunroof panel.

Give the seats the black leather dye treatment.

Fix the sunroof, doesn't operate. Have a spare complete assembly at least.

Other stuff I can't remember off the top of my head...

Edited by MX-6 on Wednesday 17th March 13:31

[MX-6]

Well, I've managed to get the back garden into a useable state for summer now, put down several tons of top soil and rolled new turf last weekend. So the Mrs is off my back for the time being at least and I can put some work into the motor.


As mentioned the rear brakes were very due some attention, I'd basically run out of pad and was starting to get some untoward noises emanating from that area. I wanted to tidy things up a bit and paint the calipers to match the colour of the fronts and rear caliper carriers.


The wear was a bit inconsistent across the pads, the worst basically had nought left though.


I gave the calipers a going over with the wire wheel and brake cleaner

[MX-6]

I bought some yellow brush on paint and did the calipers and carriers. It wasn't a complete success and does need touching up but it's an improvement at least. These rear brakes aren't standard and are a conversion upgrade. The calipers are shared but several Mazda models, there is a bracket to mount them further out from center to accommodate larger Tarox grooved discs.


The pads I bought fit the RX-7 and also a Starion apparently.


Anyhow, I got everything somewhat cleaned up and thrown back together. Gave the discs a going over with the Kurust, greased up the pins and all that, they seem to be operating well.

[MX-6]

Got a few other bits and pieces done. Managed to get the moonroof going, just needed a bit of encouragement from an assisting hand to get it moving after not being used for some time, will have a look at greasing it up at a later date.

More interestingly though I fitted the replacement MX-5 Momo steering wheel, really prefer it to the plastic blob standard item.



Replaced the number plates front and rear, nice to have fresh new ones plus I prefer the plain style to one's with borders, extra text or other additions.

[thomasrs50]

I've just read this thread... several times. Love the time and dedication that went into the MX6. So much, I'm now actively looking for one...

The silver car with the TWR kit looks amazing, even more so with the black wheels.

I know the TWR kit is rare (and not made anymore), but is their a way to still get (a replica) one?