I test drove it, that is if you count it as mine even though I havent paid for it yet. 1994 Mazda 323 1.6 GLX
£350 with MOT: (imported from here) (imported from here) (imported from here) 120000 miles and all the electrical doodads work. all 4 windows are electric, they work. Sunroof is electric, it works. Mirror adjustment is electric, they work. Cabin vents blow fine on all settings and the heater seems to work. Stereo works, but then its aftermarket. Did notice the wiring for the rear speakers was pretty new, didnt identify a model, but I think they may have been replaced with something better than a car 20 years old should have. Stickers will have to come off though.
Flip up headlights are cool, but when I am literally just trying to get anything roadworth for £350 or less, I can live without.
The pop-up lights are from the F version... 323F The 323 itself never had pop-ups, only the F. Car looks like a bargain dude. But, while flip-up headlights are super cool, you really don't want them when you're living on a budget. Changing a lightbulb on those things is a BITCH of a job. How do I know? My parents used to have a 323F.. Had to take it into the dealership because dad wasn't good enough with a spanner to do it. And it took the mechanic at the dealership garage about 30-45 minutes to do it... Sooo yeah.
Took it on a longer test drive today, longer route with more varied roads. Concluded 1 thing. Clutch is totally toast. £450 to replace, minimum. I can't afford that. No sale.
REVEAL YOUR SECRETS YOU LEAKY TWAT (imported from here) Probably will need to rip the windscreen and properly seal it back in. There's also some rust at the top that needs to be treated.
I dont have the tooling. Changing the clutch requires complete seperation of engine and gearbox, supposedly a job in excess of 5 hours on that car that I am flat out incapable of doing. Even a DIY job is well out of my budget. Not just out of the range I want to spend, but physically beyond the limits of my bank account.
I replaced the center console a few days ago in my E46 with the European spec center console tray (I have my reasoning, I'm very particular about people eating/drinking in my car. Along with the fact that most of the interior trim isn't in good shape), soldered in a 1.2K Ohm 1/2 Watt ceramic resistor into the connector related to the SMG transmission to help cure some issues with it slipping into neutral in hot weather, cleaned and oiled the cold air intake (currently trying to source a OE air box), and replaced the lens on the reversing light since it was cracked. I'm going to order a pair of new front brake rotors soon. My current plan is just to try to get it to be as original as possible, which includes selling the current Borla oval exhaust system in favor of the stock unit, ripping out the horrible amp and sub woofer, putting in the stock air box, and a few other minor things such as replacing the xenon headlight assembly, black grill and exterior trim pieces, etc. In the future, I might end up finding a donor E46 M3 six speed manual transmission and swapping it into my car if the hydraulic pump goes bad (which shouldn't happen anytime soon, as the pump was replaced 20,000 miles ago). It should be a decently easy swap, since I believe that underneath the transmission is the same, only that the 6MT has a clutch instead of the hydraulic pump found in the SMG transmission. I still haven't had any nightmarish issues with the transmission so far, so I won't worry about this anytime soon. It's been an absolute joy to own. I've put close to 300 miles on it since I bought it almost a month ago (March 24th @ around 80,950 miles, currently @ 81,260 miles).
ECU is usually setup differently for manual vs auto so some sort of trickery may be required to get it working.
Swapping the pedalbox, installing clutchy bits, and tricking the trans ECU into thinking it's in drive should do. Probably.
Hopefully. Here's a thread detailing the process of swapping the SMG to the 6MT transmissiom: http://m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=444126 I'm not sure how easy it will be to do without a lift. It should be cheaper then replacing the hydraulic pump, just including all the parts required for the swap, but installation is a different story. Replacing the pump is around $3,500 including installation, while the total amount for parts costs somewhere around $1,200 for the 6MT swap. I don't think it would be worth selling my current car and trying to find a 6MT M3, since many of them run closer to $20,000. Not to mention that 6MT E46 M3's tend to sell for more than the SMG E46 M3's, so it'll be worth more after the procedure. I'm still on the fence about it, so it won't happen anytime soon. I'll try to make friends with some independent BMW mechanics, and see if I can borrow a lift for the time it takes to do it.
Got onto the highway in the warmed 2006 Subaru Outback 2.5 I, rolling merge start to 5mph, jammed the shift into tiptronic, accelerate to 5000rpm, shift, 4500 rpm, shift, disable tiptronic back into standard overdrive mode. Went smoothly and enjoyable. Over the weekend was a scare though. If you know this generation of Subaru or any help in general I thank you. The story is... I am told the headers on the engine are leaking oil, coolant, and will be a 2 grand fix. 113000 miles. I have never seen a drop of oil or coolant hit the ground, and I personally cannot locate it on the engine block, occasionally I do smell the faint scent of evaporating coolant though. Have you guys ever owned, worked, know, can give me a feel for what goes into this car? I would like to trust the dealers word so far, but they did not repair what I told them to repair, and actually started to escalate the situation when I made note that their choice did not help so I wouldn't cover a guess. - - - Updated - - - check out the borrowed garage at 9:50 I am not much better than the devil on your shoulder saying, do the swap, you will love yourself for it.
Its easy to confirm whether you are losing oil and coolant. You have an oil dipstick, there is a min/max marker on the coolant reservoir. Use them, basic vehicle maintenance dictates you check them regularly. If you are losing oil, it will show. If you are losing coolant, it will show.
