New to the forums. New to the 3. New to Mazdas. Recently picked up a '08 CWP Hatch S . Car has coilovers installed and the exhaust resonator deleted and 95k on the clock. Main purpose is DD duties. But if my "race" car sells, the 3 will get prepped for STF to run mostly local non-SCCA events, but a few trips to Devens will be in order. If I get rid of the other car, it should be easy to justify a STF/slightly uncomfortable daily.
Here she is the day I got her
Ive since deleted the intake silencer and hacked the air box...why not, sounds cool. And stripped the door moulding, 2.3 and 3 badges.
Today I dug into the coilovers to see what Ive got. Unfortunately they appear to be Racelands. The dealer had adjusted them all the way up and the front were preloaded a ton. I took the liberty of removing the wheel gap in the process. Probably went to far, but whatever...they're Racelands :roll: Lowered the front around an inch.
The rears were seized. A little heat, big hammer and vice later and lowered the rear a 1/2" or so. One of the rears is missing the top spring isolator. :angry: I took the other out for now to match it up with a replacement. May or may not drive it as is.
Final outcome
Future Plans
- Replace motor mounts
- Put good tranny fluid in it
- Get a set of real springs and shocks/coilovers (already have a set of 7"x2.5" 10/12k springs, need shocks to go with them and maybe more spring combos)
- 17x7.5s w/ 215-225 200tw (Im thinking Slipstreams and ZIIs or RS3s; and a set of studs for the stockers)
- Rear camber arms
- Replace cat back (probably Corksport w/ HFC, it currently hits the subframe...uggh)
- Get into some tuning w/ MazdaEdit
- SRI
- pre-06 front grille
- Mazda air dam
Its a fun car. I like it more than I expected I would and it keeps growing on me. Few little issues to take care of. It grinds 2nd if you even think about being aggressive. With the mileage, Im hoping that some mounts and a good fluid change fix it. Needs some rust proofing, I'll POR the undercarriage this spring. Needs some plugs and a good MAF cleaning, maybe this weekend. The suspension setup will be fine for winter duties, but Im sure it'll be far too soft and under dampened for real tires and my driving.
Im really happy to find out they can be made competitive in STF. My current autox car is a stiffly sprung, stripped 380whp Evo in SM. I run our local street tire index w/ 285 ZIIs. Its for sale. Just trying to get the "toy" costs down. There are some suspension bits Id kill for right now in the FS section here. :twisted: But unfortunately Id be sleeping in the garage indefinitely if I acted on them before selling the Evo.
Anyhow, I'll try to keep this up to date. Thanks for looking
:cheers:
Here she is the day I got her
Ive since deleted the intake silencer and hacked the air box...why not, sounds cool. And stripped the door moulding, 2.3 and 3 badges.
Today I dug into the coilovers to see what Ive got. Unfortunately they appear to be Racelands. The dealer had adjusted them all the way up and the front were preloaded a ton. I took the liberty of removing the wheel gap in the process. Probably went to far, but whatever...they're Racelands :roll: Lowered the front around an inch.
The rears were seized. A little heat, big hammer and vice later and lowered the rear a 1/2" or so. One of the rears is missing the top spring isolator. :angry: I took the other out for now to match it up with a replacement. May or may not drive it as is.
Final outcome
Future Plans
- Replace motor mounts
- Put good tranny fluid in it
- Get a set of real springs and shocks/coilovers (already have a set of 7"x2.5" 10/12k springs, need shocks to go with them and maybe more spring combos)
- 17x7.5s w/ 215-225 200tw (Im thinking Slipstreams and ZIIs or RS3s; and a set of studs for the stockers)
- Rear camber arms
- Replace cat back (probably Corksport w/ HFC, it currently hits the subframe...uggh)
- Get into some tuning w/ MazdaEdit
- SRI
- pre-06 front grille
- Mazda air dam
Its a fun car. I like it more than I expected I would and it keeps growing on me. Few little issues to take care of. It grinds 2nd if you even think about being aggressive. With the mileage, Im hoping that some mounts and a good fluid change fix it. Needs some rust proofing, I'll POR the undercarriage this spring. Needs some plugs and a good MAF cleaning, maybe this weekend. The suspension setup will be fine for winter duties, but Im sure it'll be far too soft and under dampened for real tires and my driving.
Im really happy to find out they can be made competitive in STF. My current autox car is a stiffly sprung, stripped 380whp Evo in SM. I run our local street tire index w/ 285 ZIIs. Its for sale. Just trying to get the "toy" costs down. There are some suspension bits Id kill for right now in the FS section here. :twisted: But unfortunately Id be sleeping in the garage indefinitely if I acted on them before selling the Evo.
Anyhow, I'll try to keep this up to date. Thanks for looking
:cheers: