My $260 Mazda3 progress thread

MazMetalhead

I like manuals, Mazdas, and metal music.
:
New England
:
3 MT, 5 AT, 6 MT
So about a month ago I picked up a very rusty 05 SP23 trim 3 sedan for $260. How could I resist? I couldn't. The body was neglected but it still runs like a dream and is a fun drive with the 5-speed manual. If anyone is interested in my progress on bringing it back to health, feel free to follow along. Pics shortly after we got it back home:
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Dang, I wish I had as much spare time!:giggle:
Everyone has time for a hobby! I work full time and have a wife and three young kids so I don't have a ton of spare time myself, so this will get spread out over weeks/months. Evenings are for tinkering!
 
Everyone has time for a hobby! I work full time and have a wife and three young kids so I don't have a ton of spare time myself, so this will get spread out over weeks/months. Evenings are for tinkering!

Well, I'll be retiring from the daily grind, soon, so there will be more tinkering time planned.
 
Rocker panels: what a disaster! Original after removing the plastic side sills:
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I bought panels for both sides online for under $100 including shipping and had a local guy weld them in. I washed them off after getting the car home so I'll be priming and painting them soon. After welding:
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I've now painted the new rockers and the repaired wheel wells. So I did the front brakes over the weekend and it was warm and dry enough, so I took the 3 through the car wash on my way to Home Depot. It's really a pretty nice looking car when clean!
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Well done...Looking good! (y)

What's next on the list?
I still have to do the rear brakes. I have a lot of little paint touch-ups to do, and the interior still needs cleaning. Then just little maintenance stuff as time goes on, ie. spark plugs, filters, fluid changes, etc.
 
So I finished up the rear brakes tonight. They were very neglected. I bought a set of all 4 coated rotors (because salt) and ceramic pads off eBay. They look and fit fine so we'll see if they perform ok. They're certainly better than what was on there!

Before:
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After:
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Yep, that looks like New England, all right. I used to use a hand-operated car wash because I hated the sand/salt-coated look during Winter months. Of course, the next morning I had to pour hot water on the door key hole to be able to unlock the door. One day I was coming hole from work on the highway. I went to change lanes and my 73 RX3 started spinning around and down an embankment. Those were the days!
 
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