To Rebuild Or To Start Fresh? (Looking For Opinions and Ranting a Little)
Hi Everyone! I hope you are all doing well during this quarantining period. I thought it would be fun to ask around for opinions as to whether I should rebuild my Mazda 3 or start fresh. So here's the story.
I have a 2009 Mazda 3 (2.0, 5-speed manual) which I bought about two years ago. I didn't know anything about cars at times except that I wanted a manual and I wanted something that I can learn to fix on my own without a mechanics help. The car was in horrible shape, rust, dents, engine was about to blow, suspension problems. But I only had $2000 and I really needed a car at that time.
Fast forward 3 weeks and the engine blows up on me... I had the engine and clutch replaced (new engine has 100,000km) by the mechanic and since then I decided to start fixing her up. This is what I've done to the car.
- General maintenance (coolant flushed, power steering flushed, engine oil replaced every 6,000km or 4 months - whichever occurred first, brake/clutch fluid, battery replaced, drive belts and pulley's replaced, wiper motor, power window motor, transaxle gear oil, air filter, cabin air filter and basically everything else you would find in the owners manual).
- Basic engine carbon cleaning. Removing throttle body, removing EGR valve, replacing AF ratio sensor, downstream O2 Sensor etc.
- Almost a complete suspension overhaul. Replaced the rear shocks and mounts, front struts, control arms, tie-rods, wheel bearings, brakes, sway bar bushings, upgraded to 17" wheels etc. Everything except for the axles. They were in good shape.
- Engine and Transmission Mounts Replaced
- Replaced all the plastic pieces under the car, sanded down all the surface rust and metal parts, repainted the entire underbody as well. I hardly ever drove her in salty conditions after this. She looks brand new under there
- Body work. Fixed up the dents, fiber glass repaired a rust hole, new bumper, grille, added fog lights, replaced headlight assemblies, replaced the fender because it was popping out on top of the headlight. Rebuilt that entire area actually. Added side skirts and then I took it to a shop to have it painted. Once I got it back, I spent a full week wetsanding and polishing up the paint work since the shop didn't do it and the car was covered in orange peel. (did this by hand BTW)
- Fixed up the AC compressor. Turns out the coil wasn't working and wouldn't engage the clutch. I sliced the old clutch out and soldered a new clutch in and got the AC to work again.
There's definitely a lot more than that, but that's just what I remember off the top of my head. But it's clear that money-wise I put a lot more money into her than she was actually worth. She served her purpose to teach me though and I wouldn't trade the thousands of hours I spent in the garage working and researching away for anything. I got her back to nearly perfect condition. Here's where the bad news happens...
A few months ago, I hit a patch of black ice and fish-tailed her into a ditch. Thankfully, I walked away without a single scratch. Mazda... Not so much. The rust repair I did flew off, and there's a bunch of dents so she needs some body work. I inspected her thoroughly and I even took it to a shop to have them check it out to make sure mechanically she was fine. Other than cosmetic damage, she was perfectly fine. So I decided to research the approximate cost to have the body fixed up. I'm looking at around $1000-$1500 which didn't seem too bad for me seeing how much money I put into her. I've also been single my entire life, so I would just blow my extra funds on my car
More bad news, a few weeks ago my third gear would pop out into neutral. This doesn't happen often, but it happens aonce a day where it won't fully engage into third and as a result, just pops out. No grinding or weird noises or anything, but I'm thinking it's a bad synchro or sleeve. Either way, it sounds like it's internal and the transmission either has to be rebuilt or replaced. A used transmission seems to be running around $500.
So far I'm estimating a total repair cost of anywhere between $2000-$3000 to have the body fixed and have a new transmission put in place. Another Mazda 3 is going to cost around $3000-$4000 used here. I took the past few weeks to drive different cars to learn new platforms and even try different gen's of the Mazda 3 (second, third and even the fourth) but I always seem to like the first gen Mazda 3 the most. I like the bare-bones ruggedness of it. The newer cars are a little too refined and it takes the excitement away from me.
I know this post was on the long side, but I'm just looking for opinions as to what you would do in this situation. I thought it would be a fun way to virtually interact with people during this quarantining period. The issues I have with a replacement Mazda 3 is that I still won't know the entire history of the vehicle and I'll have to transfer a lot of my mods over which will take time. It will be a gamble all over again. Engine and transmission might be problematic etc. What do you guys think? If I fix up my Mazda, I feel like I'd probably have more piece of mind knowing that I took care of it and knowing the condition of the vehicle. Thanks all!
Stay safe during quarantine! Here's a picture of my Mazda 3 once I finally got her back to a beautiful shape. I have more, so I'd be more than happy to share them as needed!
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Re: To Rebuild Or To Start Fresh? (Looking For Opinions and Ranting a Little)
