Minor details.
Minor details.
Swank Force One will never die, and i don't care how many cars i sacrifice at the altar to satiate its thirst along the way. 
Despite the fact that you're starting with the worst shell possible.
It's pretty rust free, though... Only one hole so far, just some wrinkly floors. No big deal.
Just some wrinkly floors he says. Like a car hit hard enough to wrinkle a floor is still straight lol
I have a big hammer and the car takes an alignment. Beyond that, ain't care. 
Omg someone please get this and fix it.
1988 Mazda 626 Turbo
http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/pml/cto/4503317684.html
Seth, might be worth digging into this.
http://www.mx6.com/forums/fs-cars/260433-89-mx6-gt-5-speed.html
This is weird. I guess someone just put an MX6 badge on the back? Isn't this a 626? And it looks like a turbo, I think. Might be worth $300.
http://eastnc.craigslist.org/cto/4516920197.html
Nevermind, non turbo.
Well, it aint one of the good ones, but a '93 V6 5 speed got traded in at work. I haven't asked about price yet, but it has 260k on it, so I'm guessing dirt cheap will be the price. If it's cheap and decent, it might be fun to pick up. Heavy and slow sounds like the description for them though, but I know the good Japanese motors are a common swap, or turbo this one. Tell me, is it worth getting? Are they any fun at all with just weight reduction and decent suspension and tires? Body looks decent, interior too except for the driver's seat.
They don't really weigh any more than a 1st gen, have superior suspension geometry, and the motor is fun, if not near as grunty as the F2T.
Engine bay not super fun to work in, but they're reliable enough that you shouldn't be in there every weekend.
If you want to give up and settle, you could do far worse. 
And yes, they're fun with just weight reduction, suspension, tires, and you need I/H/E for DAT NOISE. The KL sounds ridiculous.
In reply to Swank Force One:
Yeah, the little I know of them tells me they aren't much fun to work on...that engine bay looks CROWDED. Are they interference motors? This one has 260k on it, so a timing belt is probably in order. My coworkers and I are thinking of doing a little challenge between ourselves where we have to buy cars from our wholesale lot, and then we'll drag race, autocross, and road trip them for fuel mileage ratings, then get them appraised again at the end. Might call it the Bottom Gear Challenge or Hoopties from Wholesale. This might work, I have to check on price today.
Might not take the time and/or money to do I/H/E, but if I decided to, any budget brands that you would recommend? I figure a good sized 17" wheel/tire combo could be found on the list of Craigs for cheap, and lowering springs are cheap on eBay. Other than that, this would just be a DD (I live 2 miles from work) and an occasional auto-x car. Fun, budget, beater, are all things that apply here.
I'm not totally settling. My list of cars I would take right now is decently long, and I can't find any of them local (and I don't have the time or desire at the moment to hunt further out-a wife and a 3 year old make that too difficult). That list includes anything SR20 powered (G20, Sentra SE, SE-R), anything 4AGE powered (Prizm GSi, FX-16, Corolla), BP Protege, non SR20 200sx, MX-6 GT, Geo Storm (yes, random), and some other random Japanese 80's cars.
I'll check the price on this today, and look it over more to see if it's too far gone or not.
They're non-interference motors.
Intake - home brew
Headers - Ebays are Hotshot copies, worth the $80 or whatever they cost. Used real Hotshots or Pacesetters show up on Probetalk fairly often. The Pacesetters make the most power, and sound the worst.
Exhaust - Home brew, or the old Greddy SP2 if you're lucky enough to find one.
For suspension... you're in a rock and a hard place. The only "budget" suspension worth messing with in my opinion, of course, is Tokico Illuminas and Megan Springs or Ground Controls. Ground control setups show up for cheap from time to time, and honestly, you could probably easily just piece together an Ebay sleeve/perch/spring setup that would work fine for cheap. That said, Illuminas are expensive these days and your money might be better spent waiting for a used set of KSports to show up, or just paying the ~$900 for a new set.
Wheels/tires - 17s work well on the car. I like 16s. FDs are easy to fit to a 2nd gen MX6, and they'll swallow a 225/50-16, which is reasonably plentiful.
Brakes - All forms of 1st gen Mazda6 front brakes bolt on. This includes the obscenely huge Mazdaspeed 6 brakes, and all the aftermarket options those cars have. If you want 14" brakes, you can have them.
As for working on the motor... you probably won't like what i would do to this particular example if it were in my hands and i was going to daily drive it. I'd pull the entire damn thing, do a clutch while i was in there, timing belt, water pump, oil pump, re-seal everything, remove every piece of E36 M3 piece of emissions i could find, power steering, a/c, install the headers, and think about a KLG4 intake manifold swap. Possibly some KLZE cams while i was in there.
Oh, and Megasquirt. If not megasquirt, then MAF conversion.
In reply to Swank Force One:
Thanks for all the info! Unfortunately, pulling the motor and doing all that work is not in the cards for me now. I neither have the desire or the garage to do it in. I like the idea, but at this point I would just be doing maintenance and minor mods. If I liked it and kept it for a while, I would probably just do a KLZE swap down the road. I need to check it out more first anyway and see if it's even worth getting...don't want to get ahead of myself.
KLZE swaps are silly. Just sayin'.
But either way... i would take a long hard look at removing emissions if you can, power steering, and a/c. Will go a LONG way towards cleaning up the engine bay and actually making it not so terrible to work on.
I had a 1993 MX-6 years ago and I don't remember it being that bad (I wasn't into motorsports at the time). Is the 2.5 V-6 really that much less desirable than an older turbo 4?
Please forgive my woeful ignorance Mr. SF1
KyAllroad wrote: I had a 1993 MX-6 years ago and I don't remember it being that bad (I wasn't into motorsports at the time). Is the 2.5 V-6 really that much less desirable than an older turbo 4? Please forgive my woeful ignorance Mr. SF1
The V6 has its place. It's a very nice motor, makes great noises, is really responsive and sewing machine smooth. Good design, 3-piece block, huge crank girdle, etc etc etc. Makes positively mind-boggling amounts of power under small amounts of boost, and isn't hard to get over 200whp n/a, either.
It's all the things the F2T isn't.
The F2T sounds like E36 M3, is an old terrible design that was outdated before it even surfaced, needs huge amounts of boost to make mediocre power, isn't responsive, and rattles/vibrates like a dump truck.
The F2T is also dirt cheap, ridiculously easy to work on, will make power that built KLs only dream of making, and will run forever without complaining, even if abused. The KL is none of these things. (Though i wouldn't run away from a 260k KL, either.)
Hmmm. Sounds like you're trying to make the worlds most accurate smoothbore rifle. It can be done but the payoff is kinda questionable for many. But good luck to you sir! 
Nevermind, it's a turd. Dirt cheap, but too rough for my current needs. The hunt continues...
A few 1st gen GTs have popped up locally-ish. http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/cto/4544169223.html http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/cto/4538753250.html more than I've seen in awhile (3 up including the automatic that's been on forever)
This one appears to be low sodium.
http://scranton.craigslist.org/cto/4559264083.html
Rust in driver's side front strut tower. Doesn't look bad yet, wouldn't scare me away, but also wouldn't leave it unattended.
http://chambana.craigslist.org/cto/4558436364.html
Local to me.
I totally had to look up where the heck "Chambana" was. Too bad it's not closer, that green one is nice.
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