Hi. New member here in central Maryland. Apparently, I'm a certifiably insane parts hoarder.

My Story: 1995 Arctic White MX-3 RS MTX w/130K has been sitting in my driveway for 11 years since most of the exhaust sys. needed replacing. 1600cc DOHC - same motor as 1st gen Miata - derived from the '89 Mazda turbo'd GTX so it's NA but was designed/built to also be turbo charged. Has oil jets under each cylinder and hardened engine internals. Stock 105hp w/curb wt. 2100 lbs. My daily driver from 1999 when I bought it used. I replaced the car in 2011 with a Honda but kept the MX-3 and my wife has been bugging me BIG time to get rid of it. I've resisted because I loved the car when it ran, had done a few mods and over the years I accumulated a ton of mod and stock parts, intending to use the MX-3 as a project car for rebuild/restoration. Every time Rockauto emailed with wholesaler parts closeouts I accumulated stock replacement stuff that never went into the car. Same with mods parts I bought on deep discounts because so few MX-3's were sold I was afraid mod parts would not be available later on.

Then my career got super busy and the car sat.... and sat... I ended up putting a cover on it, don't have a garage here. It has the same "fresh" synth oil and coolant I put in 11 years ago when I parked it. Have kept the tires inflated to 40 psi. Now I'm semi-retired so have time to work on it and after taking recent inventory of my parts stash (it is ridiculous), I'm thinking to keep the MX-3 and going with my original plan for it to be a project car. My wife is a little PO'd but the driveway is my domain... right? ;-) You might agree with me or think I'm nuts. If interested, check out the lists below and lemme know whatcha think. Pros and Cons from my own POV...

Pros:

• I now have time to work on the car and intimately know my way around it
• Have the full Mazda MX-3 hard copy shop manual including elec. diagrams - around 1700 pages of repair info.
• Have the tools for most of the work (e.g. Spring compressor, ring compressor, etc.)
• Engine internal parts still available since this same motor was also in the 1st gen Miata
• Son-in-Law has AC system evacuation vacuum setup I can borrow
• Car body seems in solid shape, paint still looks good and no visible body rust
• Since I'm OBD1, no MD State requirement for emissions testing. I could delete the CAT when rebuilding the exhaust sys.
• No MD State inspection required since car is 20+ yrs. old and qualifies for "historic" tags.
• Car body/lines still look great as they did in the '90's
• Have not seen an MX-3 on the road in at least 8 yrs. and this one would be a head turner

Cons:

• I have no garage so am limited in that regard.
• There may be body rust on the underside of the car. TBD
• No clue what shape the brake lines are in currently. Could be bad...
• While I have many parts, more will be needed (eg, exhaust, AC compressor, various hard-to-find rubber and plastic body trim pieces)
• Fuel sys will require cleaning, including dropping the gas tank for cleaning and possibly a new fuel pump
• Would likely take Spring/Summer of 2022 and most of 2023 to complete the work
• Wrenching on this car will involve may skinned knuckles and serious cursing of the Mazda car Gods

Mods that were installed prior to 2011:

• B&M STS
• K&N CAI
• Front and rear upper strut bars
• Rear lower suspension tie bar (From MX-3 GS)
• SS floor brace
• Mazda color keyed mud guards
• Konig Helium 15" wheels (super light wt. @11lbs) w/205/55 tires
• Black Altezza tail lights
• Clear side marker lights all around
• Clear front parking lights

My Parts Stash (yeah, it's embarrassing) Never Installed

• Full set new Tokico struts
• Full set new Eibach lowering springs (1"+ drop)
• Full set new KYB strut mounts and bellows
• New polyurethane sway bar end links and SB-frame mounting bushings
• New rear hubs and front wheel bearings
• Full set new SS braided brake lines
• New front disc rotors, Brembo, slotted and drilled
• New front disc brake calipers and pads
• New rear drum brake shoes
• New emergency brake cable assembly
• New brake master cylinder
• Steering rack from a MX-3 GS w/25K miles - direct fit install - has tighter turning radius than what came on the RS model MX-3
• Reman alternator
• Reman starter motor
• Reman distributor
• Amsoil auxiliary oil hi filtration system
• Multi-point ground wire kit
• Full set of new engine hoses and drive belts
• Full set new OBX CNC under drive pulleys
• Complete engine gasket rebuild kit
• New OBX CNC camshaft pulleys
• New timing belt kit
• Pair of barely used Stage 2 grind camshafts
• Set of solid (wafer type) valve lifters (perfect cond.-harvested from a 1800cc Protege)
• Full set of fuel injectors (perfect cond.-harvested from a 1800cc Protege)
• New Fidanza aluminum flywheel and Stage 2 clutch
• New clutch slave cylinder
• Chromed valve cover
• New SS header (for Ford Probe 2.0 engine - nearly a direct fit on the MX-3 -just needs a mounting hole drilled in the header) Will probably never use this as it severely drops back pressure and is really bigger than ideal for the MX-3.
• New stock exhaust down pipe w/bolts and springs
• New O2 sensor (OBD1, only uses a single engine bay sensor)
• Full set of new motor mounts
• New AC receiver/dryer
• New Sparco style racing seats w/sliders (No bases... yet)
• New CNC drilled full set of pedals w/"MX-3" logo
• New interior A-pillar trim for mounting tach + two gauges
• New dashboard single din 3-gauge cluster for oil pressure, oil temperature, electrical
• New carbon fiber emergency brake handle
• New SS roof brace/bar (Mounts to rear upper seatbelt bolts) to stiffen the chassis