The DD MS3

Got the bad side’s strut assembly off and took a photo of the carnage. Then I discover that I got pranked and should’ve ordered bump stops too. Was too hopeful thinking I could reuse the current ones. Now I have a few days to remove the other side.

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Gave the struts and springs a good wipe down before bump stops came in. Because why not. I usually wipe down the wheel well whenever I’m in there on all my vehicles.

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Got the car back together. The old strut mounts are still good so I’ll keep those around. It was only the strut bearings and bump stops that were bad. Reinstallation of strut assembly back in the car was unpleasant to say the least. The process had me pretty frustrated.
 
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Went on a food run yesterday and noticed that all the front end clunking is completely gone. Who would’ve known strut bearings would make so much noise. If you know me personally, suspension clunks and rattles are a big pet peeve of mine. Clunk free is the way to be.
 
Weather was nice out yesterday. Did some maintenance engine bay wipe down to rid of all the pollen and dust. Yes I know I'm missing the battery cover. It's the way the car came and I'm currently not actively looking for one.

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Washed it and dusted the inside yesterday. Cleaned the hell out of the door jambs. I think it's the first time I made the effort to and it was pretty filthy. While wiping things down, I found the mazdaspeed plate on the door sills came off pretty easily and the double side tape has failed so that'll be another project for another day. Also ordered a fitted winshield shade (Tuningpros SS-224) for it since that time of year is coming up.

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Nah, car will stay as is and just be maintained to my standards :). I'll keep driving it like an old man so nothing ever breaks.
 
Windshield shade came in. I’m pretty happy with it as it’s really firm and not floppy at all. Perfect fit too. Not bad for about $36.

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Pulled it into the garage today to get started on the to do list. I had 3 items on that list I wanted to knock out ASAP but ended up adding in another one after getting under the car lol.

Changed the oil at 81,652 miles. It's my second oil change and I'm still not feeling the oil filter cartridge system. I may end up buying the kit that allows me to use a normal filter to screw on. We'll see. While waiting for the oil to drain, I used some simple green to bring the oil cap back to life and it worked out pretty well. Got off all the old stains :)

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Next up on the list is to install the serpentine belt and pulley kit I bought a while back. It's definitely time. I took the belt off after taking this photo.

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Because I'm an old man and can be forgetful, this is for my reference.

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After the serpentine belt, I'll be installing a passenger side fender since it was missing when I bought the car.

Oh, and I discovered driver side my axle boot is torn... womp womp.

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Replaced the serpentine belt, tensioner, and idler pulley yesterday at 81,652 miles. No biggie. It's a pretty basic job right? NOT. If you know me well, nothing comes easy and the pranks keep on prankin' 😂

First off, ignore that awful orange rusty looking stain. That's what happens when the passenger motor mount fails and leaks out it's hydraulic fluid. It was the first or second thing I replaced when I got the car.

The idler pulley bolt is pretty long (peep the new one sitting on the axle) and the passenger motor mount had to come off to lower the engine to create the space necessary to remove and replace the idler pulley. Easy as pie.

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Next up, the tensioner is held on by two bolts. Top bolt came out fine. The bottom bolt felt fine for a couple rotations and it started showing resistance. Yeah it snapped. I never have any luck drilling out stuck studs and I blame them being super duper seized. Feeling the back end of the bolt that was still stuck in there, it almost felt like it was installed crooked. Oh well.

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I ended up drilling through the sucker and used a longer bolt and a spare locking nut I had laying around in my hardware stash. Seems proper and safe.

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On to the serpentine belt, I wrestled with it for a good while and couldn't get it on. Took a break and watched a youtube video and learned with the tensioner pulled back all the way, you have to turn the crank pulley to get the belt to catch. Holding the breaker bar back with my shoulder, I had free hands to deal with the crank pulley and eventually got the belt on properly. After that my ratchet got sandwiched between the tensioner and a metal line! I thought that was pretty funny. Loosened the nuts holding the metal line and got my ratchet out.

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Sharpie probably won't hold up but I thought this would be funny.

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That's all the pranks for now kids.
 
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