Mazda MX6 2.5 V6 manual

[XJ40]

Hi folks, welcome to my £430 ebay V6 sports coupe budget resto/modification thread.

After looking for something cheap and interesting for a while I picked this up as something of an impulse buy on Wednesday evening. I've always liked the MX6 shape, just saw this one on a popular auction website and took a shine to it, fancied something other than an old Jag. It's manual, I like the colour, it seems to drive well all things considered. I've had a car shaped hole in the middle of the garage so thought it needed filling with something to muck about with over the winter. It came complete with 158k on the clock and no history.

One amusing thing is that after buying it and looking at MX6 stuff online I found that this actual car was previously a PH SOTW, so that's a claim to fame...
http://www.pistonheads.com/regulars/ph-features-sh...


These seem quite forgotten cars now, I can't remember the last time I saw one on the road (How many left is saying there's only a few hundred now). They seem quite unfashionable, probably at least partly on account of being wrong wheel drive. It's 165 horse so not exactly fast as such, but it goes well on account of being fairly light for a V6 car at 1260Kg, and the relative lack of power obviously means it's easy to drive to the limits on the road, the V6 rev's to 7800k RPM and sounds great at full chat.

It's a bit of a project as there's a few bits to fix. I'm not going to put much money into it but want to service it, fix the broken stuff, get it looking tidy and do some subtle/basic mod's. Quite fancy snapping on a cheap ebay intake and a back box/fart pipe so it makes a bit more of a row, heh. It could also do with a set of lowering springs as it's riding on stilts at the moment.

Edited by MX6 on Wednesday 12th September 12:13

[XJ40]

This is the afore mentioned space in the garage, I'm keen to get a motor in there and have a go on the inspection pit as I've not had a play since I bought the house...

Edited by Mycroft Ward on Wednesday 24th January 16:17

[XJ40]

I hadn't heard about MX5 owners putting these engines, KL-DE I believe, into those but that makes sence as an upgrade. I'm enjoying the engine a lot, nice and responsive and sounds great (my daily is a diesel so this is a welcome change).

Yep it's more or less a Probe V6 underneath, I always prefered the MX6 shape but the Probe does have pop-up lights I guess...

Edited by Mycroft Ward on Thursday 25th January 16:35

[mx-6]

Okay well I've been unable to do much work on the MX-6 yet so it's presently languishing outside the house and waiting patiently in abeyance, here's a picture for proof.


I've a space in the middle of the garage now, planning to get in slotted in there so I can muck about with it over t'winter. I've not quite managed it as I've been getting rid of a few unwanted items in there to make more space by turning them into money via ebay.

I've started the procurement of assorted required items. I needed keyring and an uncut key, as it only came with the one (both items 99p plus postage)...


I've no history with the car so will do a full service and tune up. First things first, back to ebay for an oil filter (£3.90), plus the blessed Haynes manual (£11.99)...

Edited by Mycroft Ward on Wednesday 24th January 16:19

[mx-6]

I've been having a think about what modifications I want to do. I'm not thinking of anything wild, the main one will to fit lowering springs as it's a little high currently. I've seen a few '6's on RX7 five spokes and like the stance, seem to suit quite nicely. What do you guys think? I'm thinking this sort of thing:

Edited by mx-6 on Friday 27th January 15:10

[mx-6]

Okay so I didn't get much time over Xmas to have a go at the car but I've been able to start pouncing about with it over the last couple of weeks so I thought I'd do an update.

I've been able to finally get the MX6 in the garage after clearing out a bit more gubbins, I've also opened up the inspection pit.




I've intermittant starting issues which are annoying. Sometimes after driving the battery doesn't seem to supply enough juice to turn the starter motor quick enough to fire the engine. If I leave it overnight and try again the next day it will start, and there's no problem when using jump leads so the starter motor itself seems okay. I checked voltage at the battery terminals when the engine is running and it shows 14.6V so it appears the alternator is working correctly. I gave the battery a full charge but still the same issue, so I bought another cheapy one online but still the same... Any ideas?



In other news I've had a nose under the car and found the exhaust was rusty with the backbox having a hole, so bought a new cat-back system. It came with the fixings, hangers and gaskets, £68. Also after scanning around for a while I found a nice set of these 16x8" RX7 wheels I like, in anthracite/gunmetal with very good Kuhmo Ecsta 225/50R16 tyres, so bought them, £175. Planning to sell the old wheels to recover some cost.




Looking forward to get these bits on soon. I'm missing wheel center caps plus I need a new set of wheel nuts so those are next on the shopping list..

Edited by mx-6 on Wednesday 15th February 12:41

[mx-6]

A fine pair there. Yeah a V6 manual at 18 must have been a hoot!

[mx-6]

I've been thinking about the issue this afternoon and I think you're right, there must be a voltage drop between the ignition and starter, maybe a bad ground connection to the starter soleniod as you say. It is definitely worse after driving so the heat pushing the resistance up is a good thought, thanks. I will have a go at cleaning up the contacts...

[mx-6]

I remember really liking the MX6 when it was launched, the line-up of Japanese coupes was great back then in the '90's. Maxda alone had the MX3, MX5, MX6 and RX7 of course.

Yeah I think I read before it was the smallest around in terms of capacity, 1.8L. I understand it's basically the same engine as the KL-DE in the MX6, some MX3 owners swap in the larger 2.5L unit as a performance upgrade...

Edited by mx-6 on Friday 27th January 11:37

[mx-6]

I've been having a look over the car and I do indeed have leaking cam covers so those are on the list of things that require attention. Would be nice to paint the covers at the same time, just to sex up the bay a bit.

I've read about the JDM version recently, with the KL-ZE 200 horse motor that you mention. When I was looking I did see an imported one for sale, it was up for a couple of grand if I recall, they must be rare over here.

[mx-6]

BrettMRC said:

To get to the rear bank its an inlet manifold off job, so be prepared with a whole new set of UIM gaskets etc!

Very nice cars though - a timeless shape IMO

I thought it was looking that way, a bit involved but I would like to tackle it at some point. I actually took a few pictures the other night of the areas where oil appears to be weeping out a bit...




The MX6 does have that proper sports coupe shape with clean unfussy lines that still looks great to my eyes. I want to get the new wheels on, lower it about 35mm, get rid of that ugly front number plate holder and a few other bits, then it should look pretty much there...

Edited by mx-6 on Friday 27th January 15:14

[mx-6]

Oh yes very tasty those, I like the lattice BBS style, eighties-tastic. I had a set of 16x8" forged lattice wheels on my previous project car, mmm. Fancied something a bit different for the '6...

[mx-6]

So I had some time yesterday afternoon to do some work on the MX6. I finished cleaning up the electrical connections to the battery and starter so I'm hoping that this will resolve my sluggish starting issues.


Wire brush treatment.

Bought a new battery earth cable, couple of quid from ebay. The old one was a bit bodged up.

Edited by mx-6 on Monday 13th February 13:02

Edited by mx-6 on Tuesday 14th February 14:17

[mx-6]

I also got this new exhaust fitted. The backbox was quite a state, had several holes in it.

Just surface rust on the center section really but the pipe was cheap so decided to do both. The nuts were totally rusted so just chopped it in half.

Nice and new looking, shame about the very rusty heat shields, left them on for now but will drag them off at some point...

Edited by mx-6 on Tuesday 14th February 15:31

[mx-6]

...while I have all the intake gubbins pulled off I decided to get an aftermarket cone type air filter to replace the standard airbox. Went for a foam one as opposed to cotton, should look and sound faster at least.

Found this one on ebay for £20 brand new. Even has a brandname on the side, though will probably position that downward so you can't see it...


The internal diameter of the airbox piping is about 70mm so bought a filter with that size opening.

Edited by mx-6 on Wednesday 15th February 13:40

[mx-6]

Ha, well why not get another Brett, I'm sure you've seen that they are pocket money to buy these days, they can't be any cheaper. As the youngest example will be 20 years old I imagine most will be like mine and need at least some degree of sorting out, but it seems easy to work on (apart for the somewhat cramped engine bay) and parts are pretty cheap...

[mx-6]

shalmaneser said:

Just a quick tip - try running a jumper cable from the battery earth to the engine block to check if you have an earthing problem - if the problem goes away, you know where to look!

I had the same issue with my old 205 16V GTI - turns out the bolt holding the earth strap to the gearbox had corroded in the ally housing causing high resistance when it got hot.

Taken out, regreased and cleaned up all my starter issues went away! Wish I'd tried that first before buying a starter motor and battery!

Thanks for the tip I will try that if my issues haven't been cured by what I've done so far. That's exactly the problem I've had, doesn't want to start when it's hot. I should have saved the money I spent on buying a new battery too as that's clearly not my problem, I'll have a decent spare now at least...

Edited by mx-6 on Wednesday 15th February 13:42

[mx-6]

Paul S4 said:

Always liked these cars... but I would take the spoiler off...just IMO of course !

I have an E36 318iS that I bought a few years ago, first thing I did was to find another boot lid in the same colour as I have never liked spoilers !

Just cleans up that shape, which on yours is quite sleek.

Really like those wheels you bought, that and the lowered suspension should look great.

Like the thread by the way.

Ha, funny that you say that Paul but I've already deleted the spoiler! I really like the cleaner look, I've seen a few MX6's without it and they look great. I was initially in two minds as I kind of think it's part of the character of the car, but I do like it better with it off.

Here's one I've seen. I'm not into some of the mod's like the painted bonnet/boot, yellow headlamps, etc. but really like the silhouette of the shape and the lowered stance of this.


I've debadged the boot lid too, I haven't taken any pic's yet though. I need to grind a bit of surface rust off the bottom edge of the lid plus fill the holes (for the spoiler and badges), then blow some paint on. I'll just DIY it for now but may have some proper paint down the line if I think I can justify it.

[mx-6]

chryslerben said:

tricky1962 said:

Looks nice!

As to your starting problem, it sounds like it could be a bad connection - an earth, lead to the solenoid or battery - that is high resistance. When you are running it's getting hot and the resistance is going up further, hence the slow starter motor. Just a thought

Certainly sounds like this, I'd try a jump lead between the engine block and battery negative as a quick test.

I hadn't thought to try that before you and Shalmaneser suggested it but it sounds a good idea, thanks. I guess if that works and I can't get the existing cabling to work well I can just connect up a new cable in there...

Edited by mx-6 on Wednesday 15th February 13:45

[mx-6]

I did a bit more work this weekend, got the new rims on. Not a big deal you may think but the car came with security wheel nuts and I had no key for them anywhere in the car. I had a look at what would fit onto them, 19mm didn't grip well so I bought a bi-hex 18mm socket which would be a slight interference fit over them (just a regular 18mm hex socket pictured here).


The first ones removed were loose and basically fell straight out, the third was a little tight and I had to hammer the socket on. The last one tackled was on very tight, and on trying to remove it the socket started to slip on the nut without loosening it. I was getting scared of rounding it off at this stage. Next thing was to whack on hard a regular hex 18mm socket and soak in plenty of penetrating oil, the nut was very tight for some reason but it came out and I breathed a sigh of relief...


Bought some ebay £12.99 zinc plated wheel nuts to replace the lumps of rust on the car. The old wheels had a tunnel in the casting for the nuts so they are obscured, but they are more exposed on the RX7 wheel so wanted them to look decent...

Edited by mx-6 on Monday 20th February 12:40