Got a Brand New Car (and started a project on my rx7)
04-16-10, 08:28 AM
#1
Got a Brand New Car (and started a project on my rx7)
Hey Guys,
(Mod Note: At least half this post is 1st-Gen-Specific, so it can be in this section
)
Well, I was going to wait until I had pictures to show everyone before making a thread about the project that's begun on my rx7, but since I still don't have those I figured I'd mash it in with a thread about my brand new 2010 Mazda6
Back in the fall I drove Naomi (my Sunbeam Silver '84 Rx7 GS that most of you are familiar with) down to Classic Auto in Hagersville. They were nice enough to store it for me over the winter, and in February I went down to sign the papers, drop the deposit and get the project started.
What's on the agenda? A complete teardown and rebuild. They're going to strip it down to the metal inside and out (glass, dash, engine, suspension, brake lines, you name it) and put it up on a rotisserie like a giant chicken. Then they're going to sandblast / chemical strip all the old paint, rust, and 25 years worth of road grime off of it, patch any metal that's been perforated by rust (not much, mainly in the bins) and then primer, paint, and reassemble.
During reassembly it's getting all new soundproofing (SecondSkin's "Damplifier Pro"), a new windshield, and I'm likely going to do some major re-working of the engine bay wiring harness since I found a place in the states that can sell you rolls of "blue wire with a red stripe" etc... We'll get eyes-and-hands-on every piece as we put it back together and replace things as necessary.
It's going the same colour, Sunbeam Silver, though I'm probably going to see if we can increase the size of the mica/metallic flake a bit to get a little more sparkle out of it.
Project Completion Date: August 1st 2010 (my birthday, booyeah!)
BUT.... Since I don't have pictures of the project yet, I'll cover the other cool thing that's happened lately.
I figured that with the Rx7 off the road for a good chunk of the summer (assuming there are no delays in getting it done), I'm not going to have much time with it this year. That means borrowing other people's cars, taking the autobus more than I'd like, and just plain not having my own damn car to drive.
I heard that the local Mazda dealership was offering 0% financing over 5yrs so I went in and took a 2010 Mazda6 for a test drive. I freaking loved it.
I took the test drive Tuesday at 7pm. By the time I got back and talked to the Financing guy it was 8pm. He told me that, even though they were open until 9, he figured he'd hear back from the bank the next day so he said he'd call me. In the 15mins it took me to drive home he got the answer. He called me as I was stepping into the house to tell me that I was approved
I got the GS-I4 in "Onyx Black", with a 6spd manual transmission. Base model, no crazy add-ons, but it's fairly well equipped as-is. When all was said and done, and I had extended the bumper-to-bumper coverage for the full 5 years, added "rustproofing" etc, it came up to $235 bi-weekly, which isn't bad.
I picked it up around 7pm on Wednesday, it had 6km on the odometer! So, naturally, I picked up some friends and took it to Montreal and back that same night, just to give it a good run.
It's got a 70L gas tank :o - but if you drive it somewhere close to the speed limit you can squeeze almost a thousand clicks out of that tank, so that's not too shabby!
I've named her Saya. It's a Japanese girl's name meaning "Swift Arrow". Japanese because it's a Mazda (despite being assembled in some place called "Flat Rock, MI" in the USA), and girl's name because it's tradition to name ships, cars, etc... with girls names
And of course, the obligatory picture:
There's a car behind it with a roof rack, in case you're wondering what's going on there.
It drives like a dream, though obviously very differently from my rx7... It's going to be tricky getting used to the 5spd again when I switch back to the 7... I'm always going to be resisting the urge to put it in "6th" on the highway, which would likely leave a trail of transmission gear confetti on the highway behind me if ever I tried it!
Jon
(Mod Note: At least half this post is 1st-Gen-Specific, so it can be in this section
)Well, I was going to wait until I had pictures to show everyone before making a thread about the project that's begun on my rx7, but since I still don't have those I figured I'd mash it in with a thread about my brand new 2010 Mazda6
Back in the fall I drove Naomi (my Sunbeam Silver '84 Rx7 GS that most of you are familiar with) down to Classic Auto in Hagersville. They were nice enough to store it for me over the winter, and in February I went down to sign the papers, drop the deposit and get the project started.
What's on the agenda? A complete teardown and rebuild. They're going to strip it down to the metal inside and out (glass, dash, engine, suspension, brake lines, you name it) and put it up on a rotisserie like a giant chicken. Then they're going to sandblast / chemical strip all the old paint, rust, and 25 years worth of road grime off of it, patch any metal that's been perforated by rust (not much, mainly in the bins) and then primer, paint, and reassemble.
During reassembly it's getting all new soundproofing (SecondSkin's "Damplifier Pro"), a new windshield, and I'm likely going to do some major re-working of the engine bay wiring harness since I found a place in the states that can sell you rolls of "blue wire with a red stripe" etc... We'll get eyes-and-hands-on every piece as we put it back together and replace things as necessary.
It's going the same colour, Sunbeam Silver, though I'm probably going to see if we can increase the size of the mica/metallic flake a bit to get a little more sparkle out of it.
Project Completion Date: August 1st 2010 (my birthday, booyeah!)
BUT.... Since I don't have pictures of the project yet, I'll cover the other cool thing that's happened lately.
I figured that with the Rx7 off the road for a good chunk of the summer (assuming there are no delays in getting it done), I'm not going to have much time with it this year. That means borrowing other people's cars, taking the autobus more than I'd like, and just plain not having my own damn car to drive.
I heard that the local Mazda dealership was offering 0% financing over 5yrs so I went in and took a 2010 Mazda6 for a test drive. I freaking loved it.
I took the test drive Tuesday at 7pm. By the time I got back and talked to the Financing guy it was 8pm. He told me that, even though they were open until 9, he figured he'd hear back from the bank the next day so he said he'd call me. In the 15mins it took me to drive home he got the answer. He called me as I was stepping into the house to tell me that I was approved
I got the GS-I4 in "Onyx Black", with a 6spd manual transmission. Base model, no crazy add-ons, but it's fairly well equipped as-is. When all was said and done, and I had extended the bumper-to-bumper coverage for the full 5 years, added "rustproofing" etc, it came up to $235 bi-weekly, which isn't bad.
I picked it up around 7pm on Wednesday, it had 6km on the odometer! So, naturally, I picked up some friends and took it to Montreal and back that same night, just to give it a good run.
It's got a 70L gas tank :o - but if you drive it somewhere close to the speed limit you can squeeze almost a thousand clicks out of that tank, so that's not too shabby!
I've named her Saya. It's a Japanese girl's name meaning "Swift Arrow". Japanese because it's a Mazda (despite being assembled in some place called "Flat Rock, MI" in the USA), and girl's name because it's tradition to name ships, cars, etc... with girls names
And of course, the obligatory picture:
There's a car behind it with a roof rack, in case you're wondering what's going on there.
It drives like a dream, though obviously very differently from my rx7... It's going to be tricky getting used to the 5spd again when I switch back to the 7... I'm always going to be resisting the urge to put it in "6th" on the highway, which would likely leave a trail of transmission gear confetti on the highway behind me if ever I tried it!
Jon
Last edited by vipernicus42; 04-16-10 at 08:32 AM.
04-16-10, 08:50 AM
#2
My 7 is my girlfriend.
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Awesome news there Jon. The 6 looks great, but it needs some bronze wheels and less fender gap.
Please let me know the ballpark figure of the work your having Joe do, as I am planning to do the same with Nikki next year.
Please let me know the ballpark figure of the work your having Joe do, as I am planning to do the same with Nikki next year.
04-16-10, 09:35 AM
#4
hey, looks great! a very good buy. i'm not familiar with litres and km so much but it wounded like it had not been driven at all and you were the first to test drive it..which is good so you know that no one had beat on it before the break in period. any interior pics?
04-16-10, 09:38 AM
#5
It's a $16k-ish project when all's said and done, mainly because I want one shop doing everything from the mechanical dissasembly/reassembly to the body work. I basically wanted to drop it off in running condition and pick it up 6 months later in the same condition, at the same shop, and not have to deal with the logistics of coordinating between two shops, paying two shops, etc...
I learned a lot from watching a guy I used to be friends with go through his rx7 rebuild project. He split it across two shops, the mechanic shop which was awesome and very trustworthy (RPM) and the body shop that completely screwed him over, adding a year of delays and trying to double the price of the project halfway through despite their already signed contract (Fearless Customs... NEVER get work done by them. EVER).
Classic Auto are the ones who picked up the ball when Fearless fucked him over, and they finished the paint/body part of the project, but the coordination between "Okay, RPM's done, when's the body shop ready" and "okay, Classic Auto is done, when's RPM ready?" and the transportation between the two shops was a minor source of delay and frustration in an already delayed and frustrating project. So I said that for mine, I'd just want one shop handling everything from A-Z to make things easy.
I chose ClassicAuto because Marc (that former friend), Sam, and Tony from the forum here all had major work done to their cars there and they turned out great. Well, I haven't seen Tony's in person yet, but if it meets Tony's standards then you know it's done well, lol.
Still love the guys at RPM though, I'll be going there for my engine build when I'm ready for that, as well as any work I don't feel like tackling on my own. They did my steering rack install a few years back, and some other work I can't quite remember, and dealing with them was great.
Jon
I learned a lot from watching a guy I used to be friends with go through his rx7 rebuild project. He split it across two shops, the mechanic shop which was awesome and very trustworthy (RPM) and the body shop that completely screwed him over, adding a year of delays and trying to double the price of the project halfway through despite their already signed contract (Fearless Customs... NEVER get work done by them. EVER).
Classic Auto are the ones who picked up the ball when Fearless fucked him over, and they finished the paint/body part of the project, but the coordination between "Okay, RPM's done, when's the body shop ready" and "okay, Classic Auto is done, when's RPM ready?" and the transportation between the two shops was a minor source of delay and frustration in an already delayed and frustrating project. So I said that for mine, I'd just want one shop handling everything from A-Z to make things easy.
I chose ClassicAuto because Marc (that former friend), Sam, and Tony from the forum here all had major work done to their cars there and they turned out great. Well, I haven't seen Tony's in person yet, but if it meets Tony's standards then you know it's done well, lol.
Still love the guys at RPM though, I'll be going there for my engine build when I'm ready for that, as well as any work I don't feel like tackling on my own. They did my steering rack install a few years back, and some other work I can't quite remember, and dealing with them was great.
Jon
Last edited by vipernicus42; 04-16-10 at 09:42 AM.
04-16-10, 09:40 AM
#6
hey, looks great! a very good buy. i'm not familiar with litres and km so much but it wounded like it had not been driven at all and you were the first to test drive it..which is good so you know that no one had beat on it before the break in period. any interior pics?
Jon
04-16-10, 10:21 AM
#7
My 7 is my girlfriend.
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Ah I see. I'll be stripping and reassembling the mechanicals of the car myself aside from trim bits and the undercoating and interior damping material. He'll basically be getting a rolling shell, which a few parts will have to be removed from before getting stripped and rotisseried. I'd like to get the chassis seam welded as well to stiffen it up as much as possible.
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04-16-10, 10:38 AM
#8
Ah I see. I'll be stripping and reassembling the mechanicals of the car myself aside from trim bits and the undercoating and interior damping material. He'll basically be getting a rolling shell, which a few parts will have to be removed from before getting stripped and rotisseried. I'd like to get the chassis seam welded as well to stiffen it up as much as possible.
Marc's and Sam's were delivered to Classic Auto with all the stripping and everything done already, so their projects didn't cost as much. Marc's didn't even need metal work by the time it got there, it just had to be block sanded, re-primered, painted, and reassembled. Mind you, re-assembly was a pretty detailed and long procedure (including things like installing a dash and enough suspension bits to get it on rolling wheels).
Jon
04-16-10, 10:41 AM
#9
All those conversions are from google, so take them as they are. I have no idea if they're right because those numbers mean nothing to me, the same way my numbers don't mean much to you, lol
Jon
Last edited by vipernicus42; 04-16-10 at 10:44 AM.
04-16-10, 11:47 AM
#11
I've never been a big fan of hatchbacks and didn't find the 3 as comfortable for long drives (the centre console is in just the wrong spot, and hurts my knee over extended periods). I also was kind of drawn to the fact that the 6 seems to say "Hey look at me, I'm higher end than the 3" as the 3 seems to say "I'm a damn good car if you're on a budget". I've had my eye on the 6 since before they restyled it for the '09 model year, and when I test drove it I just fell in love with it ^.^
Plus, I really don't like that "goofy happy face look" they've got going with the new 3's front end
So, really, it's 60% asthetic and comfort, 25% features, and 15% ego for the reasons I went for the 6 > 3...
Jon
Plus, I really don't like that "goofy happy face look" they've got going with the new 3's front end
So, really, it's 60% asthetic and comfort, 25% features, and 15% ego for the reasons I went for the 6 > 3...
Jon
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