I just found this forum and thought I would sign up looks like a good Mazda site. I have an '06 Mazda 3, I love this thing I bought it as a drive to work save fuel car and it is as much fun to drive as anything I own we now drive it most of the time The truck and Acadia sit in the garage. I bought it and it had been in a small accident so it needed a headlight front drivers fender and rear drivers side door. Then a deer hit the good drivers door so I just decided to change the color while I was fixing the body. I changed it from shimering sand to Artic White added a wing and factory aluminum wheels. My plans are to add cruise, power locks, driving lights, cold air intake, exhaust and aftermarket sound system. I will attempt to post some pictures soon.

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Where in Arkansas?

 

I live in the River Valley near Russellville.


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Nice area. I used to work for Arkansas western gas north of Ozark. Had a phone company generator (standby) I also took care of in Russelville. I live in Tulsa.

 

cool, good to meet you Kevin

Dave

 

Hello, AKDave, and welcome to the site!!
Good choice to change the color. Shimmering sand was only available on the 3i series and it was never a great color.

As for the cruise control, that should be as easy as adding a couple a' switches. The actual "control" is done by the ECU and its already pre-programmed. Cost about $120-$140 for the conversion. If you have the 5-sp you will need the clutch deactivation switch. Auto? No such thing is needed.

Intake and exhaust: Hmmmm.... This has been a long standing debate for some time now. I have both and can tell you that except for some additional sound, "noise" as my wife calls it, the performance and mileage have not really changed. If anything, low end is a little more sluggish than before, but top end has improved. Unfortunately that doesn't help much in day-to-day driving. You're better off staying small.
If you decide on an exhaust, DO NOT go crazy with tubing size. In fact is if its noise and appearance you really want, add a freer flowing muffler (an exhaust shop may be the way to go here) and bigger exhaust tip to the factory system. Cheaper too.

Central locking is another matter however. The door actuators are cable controlled and many installers don't want to get into that. I've never done it myself, but understand it to be a PITA, BIG time!!

By driving lights, I'm guessing you mean fog lights? There are a lot of aftermarkets kits available for the 3i... many on eBay alone, which is liable to be your best bet from a cost standpoint.

Keep us all in the loop!!

 

thanks for the info I had read up on the power locks it does sound rough but I have did some work like that before so maybe it will work out. I will probably be sick of it before I'm finished though. I am going to try to load some photos. I appreciate the info I need lots of info as I am new to Mazdas. Oh and I also added a wing and clear style tail lights.

 

... Haha!!! And I see you have a spare door and panel hanging around to experiment with too!! LOL!!

Did you do the paint or a body shop?? It looks pretty good from what I can tell.
You say it was repainted in Arctic White, not Rally White, the factory color? Have you got the paint code?

 

I did it myself it turned out fairly good for an amateur job, I had a couple offers from friends wanting theirs done so that made me feel good about it. I can get the paint code for it. It is a universal color from what I have read that was used on corvettes, mustangs, allot of gm vehicles and I actually seen some Mazdas online that said they were arctic white not sure if they were originally that color or not. I wanted something different and so I just took a paint chart with several white shades and this one stood out to me it looked frigid like it was really cold and was very bright so that was the one I selected. WA9567 is the GM code for it, that is still the code for 2013 vehicles. Yeah I have some spare parts I have to get them moved to the main shop before my wife gets me.

later
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Man I don't know if it's my screen, but that artic white is special and goes real well with the 3!
Welcome to the site!