Installed my curt hitch:
What a pain in the ass to install...they say 20 minutes in the instructions but took me closer to 2 and a half hours by myself. Maybe with help and up on a hoist and you've done it before it would take under an hour.
Fishing bolts through the frame rails is a pain. The instructions say to do it first then lift the hitch into place, but gaurenteed you would lose bolts in the frame doing that. So I got the hitch lifted up (pain to fit it around the exhaust on the passengers side, had to really give it a good push and scraped up a bit of the finish on the hitch itself which I touched up after) and then fished bolts one by one doing up the nuts finger tight as I went. Torquing down the bolts is also difficult, 3 of them you can get with a straight shot with an extension on a proper torque wrench. Two I had to do with a box end wrench as there's no way to get a socket on them, and one of the back ones did with a ratchet and deep socket.
All that said, fit is beautiful once it's in and it feels very solid. Unlike hidden hitches and such, you can't see the cross bar at all, it's tucked right up behind the bumper...all that you see is the receiver poking out.
- 2021 Porsche Macan GTS -
- 2016 Lexus NX200t F Sport -
- 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 Black Mica - SOLD -
Installed my roof rack and dashcam, and went for a drive with as many windows open as possible.
Made the switch.
NO CREW
Alignment at Altech this morning!
Follow up. Did the wiring...very very very easy. I spent a bit of extra time really tucking away the wires under the panels and stuff but you could literally hook it up in 5 minutes if you didn't want to hide the wires. Really is just plug and play.
Then I washed the car, cleaned the interior and vacuumed and such.
Busy day.
Small paint brush. Must have taken a while. What paint did you use? Any finished product pics? Congrats on not squashing yourself.
I was dropped in a cement mixer when I was a child.
I was doing the edges near the pads because I don't want to have red pads and calipers. I used a bigger brush. It took my friend less than an hour to do his. But it took me much longer. But it was a learning process and I didn't end up stuck under the car. I used Duplicolor, turned out better than I thought.
Pics coming up.
Productive day. Switched to my alloys, and changed the cabin air filter which I've been meaning to do for awhile. Wasn't even that dirty with 60k + on then
Here's a pic
Dat wheel gap.. Looks more pronounced without winters.
Skyactiv Powa
Corksport | Nextmod | Garage16 | Work | Razo | Tein | Audio Heaven | Broadway | Eurolight | Sony | Kicker | Alpine |
"everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always"
- My Ride!
I installed an aftermarket fog light kit. Yes, the one with no instructions that had me pasting together various tid bits of advice from other online Mazda forums. I managed to pull it off. Here are some photos. I did not do a step-by-step because I did not think I could pull it off.
This is just the relay and fuse. There was also the cables to the left and right fogs.
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This picture contained the piece that was most difficult to figure out. It had the part going to the switch (makes sense), but then there was this yellow wire that came off. Eventually I just cut the wire free and ended up pairing it with a black and orange wire that attached to the aftermarket wiring (behind the dummy switches...it was a green switch) for the fogs.
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Going through the firewall wasn't a problem and making the other connections. When I finally had power to the switch, it felt great.
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Eventually I got the front bumper off (I hear it was easy, but the 8mm screws under the fender were tricky to reach).
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Here are a couple of closing images of the lights in the car. I really should have them on, but I don't.
It also figures that after I washed it this afternoon, and waxed the car, it is now raining. This is a long post, but I feel pretty good about completing a mod that has confounded a lot of members. When I have a chance, I will piece together the most useful information and post it up to help some others through this mod. I know it has been done before, but it won't hurt.
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SHOUT OUTS: TM3 members, INJEN, JBR Racing, CorkSport. edge autosport
^^ That looks like a lot of work. Well done figuring it all out. You must have been out there most of the day.
It was a long job. A Mazda forum member from the US said the job took him 9 hours and I couldn't understand why. Figuring out the wiring bit was the trickiest, especially hooking up the connection to the existing wiring. Very satisfying.
I can see why picking up an OEM kit (including the new stalk with the fog thingy on it) might be easier. That would be all plug and play.
Still, the $70 kit from China seems pretty cool.
Thanks for the props.
Last weekend: Tint and deck install at Audio Heaven.
Today: Painted calipers and put summer setup back on :-)
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Have you seen my stapler?
Banged out a little tab in the front wheel well so that she can sit lower without killing my tires.
Modifications? I've forgotten more than I remember. Click here for the list.