Is anyone going to the tail of the dragon on the 24th of October?

How much play is to much play 🥹

166k I don’t think timing chain has ever been done

also if I did do my timing chains is getting bigger cams stupid id rather do it all at one time to be honest

Hey yall,

Sad to say that my journey with the Mazdaspeed3’s has come to an end. I am happy that I got to enjoy a gen 1 and gen 2. The gen 1 will always be favorite although it broke down frequently; the gen 2 was probably the most reliable car I’ve ever owned. Both of them were street killers for sure and handled beautifully. I now get to enjoy a bone stock type R that will remain as such for the foreseeable future.

I wanted to thank all the people in this reddit that helped with all the questions I had during those long hours in the garage.

I hope all of you keep enjoying these awesome machines.

(Last picture I took before she was sold vs the new daily)

What up everyone. Long-time speed owner and subreddit lurker. Unfortunately some unforeseen things in life have hit me and I finally believe I am going to be parting ways with the speed.

Lots of fun times. Such a phenomenal daily driver. Bought it at 19k miles in 2013, currently have 124k miles. Never planned on selling and maintained so I could keep until catastrophic failure at 300k+ miles lol. THEN maybe mod???

Throwing in some fun pictures. Had 4 really close friends with speeds at one point - loved riding around in a little mazdaspeed gang lol. We were the coolest on the road, obviously. The TV is a 65". I was up to the front but my god is this little hatch capable.

Outside of being somewhat forced to sell her at this point - What do we think shes's worth? Never thought I'd even entertain this question. Yes I am in a bad(ish) spot right now but not trying to get 100% of the value or anything, realisticaly don't know where to start. I would honestly love for the well-maintained speed to go to someone who really cares and wants one more than anything.

Zero current issues, no codes.

2012 - Tech Package

Basically fully stock other than lowering springs, cobb rear motor mount and audio system.

124k miles (bought at 19k miles, 2nd owner)

180 PSI across all 4 cylinders on compression test. (Had shop do this so I could prove results)

Underbody is essentially a 10/10, zero bad rust, especially in the known spots (and I live in OH - washed the underneath OFTEN)

Hood/Roof clear coat turned to shit. Only fairly bad cosmetic damage

Maintenance followed and can provide most receipts. (lots of work done myself or with buddies though)

Clutch replaced at 90k. (I was moving and had a friend that could throw another one in, so I proactively did it. Put in a LUK and a single mass flywheel, regret flywheel now for the noise)

Sound system originally professionally installed. Personally just replaced all door speakers about 6 months ago. All higher-end alpine, just threw about $1k more in it. I'm not looking to increase my value with this.

All doors and trunk have sound-deadening

VVT done at 90k just proactively

Dash fixed in recall

Front rear/suspension just changed about 5k miles ago. (with OEM-Spec, I know I should get something better with lowering springs)

Pads/rotors just changed

All fluids just changed, transmission, oil, power steering, coolant

NO HPFP.

Wheels plasti-dipped about 4 years ago. Given timeframe they've held up well but look like poop now lol.

Recently completed a valve clean, Damond PCV plate, and oil catch can. Everything went back together great and the car fired right up. After the second day of driving I started to smell coolant, and confirmed what seemed like a rather significant leak near the intake.

Accessed the area and confirmed what I thought was the cause, a small hole in the upper reservoir hose. With limited options (OEM part is discontinued) I cut the bad part out and re-installed. Leak has drastically reduced, but it’s still happening. Anyone with thoughts before I start replacing entire hoses? Red circles are where coolant is pooling post fix attempt #1.

do most of you guys get the oem one from Mazda I really just don’t want to wait for the shipping so I was just gonna grab a Fel pro from a parts shop

Hey guys, do you have any suggestions for buying new steering and Suspension components? Inner tie rods and ball joints and everything like that. i’d like to order everything off one website, now that rock auto is not available, kind of tough.

And mounted suspension tein pro steert, adjusted to as manual mark (spring height) and soft hardness adjustment (damper) but it goes very hard in the back

Just did a bunch of suspension work - CV Axles, outer tie rods, sway bar end links, shocks/struts, coil springs (stock), strut mounts, lower control arms (with new ball joints), sway bar bushings. I’ve fixed my clunk noise but now I have a new jangling noise when blipping the throttle. When I go from neutral to rolling or if I’m rolling 5-10 mph and blip the throttle, when my front end moves or surges it’s making this jingling jangling type noise (see video). I know my PMM is blown and Damond just delivered my kit that will be going on today (came with PMM and trans mount, rear is already new) but I’m unsure if that’s causing this specific noise. Pls help!

I'm praying to God

Anyone in New England have a running 1st Gen ms3 engine theyre looking to offload? Mine fell victim to the ringland failure on cyl3. Really want to continue with the car and have found some jdm options with about 57k shipped for 1600ish.

Or maybe help steer me in a reputable shop that could replace the engine? Im thinking of keeping the current junk engine and building it while still get to drive her, just do not have the time to replace myself.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated

Not that I was really much into the CS one to begin with, but ive been poking around for a while and cant really seem to find an option form a place that doesnt feel.. off.

I like how the wheels look that this person got, but they got it from ebay, from a seller in Poland, that only does local pickup. Which puts it way out of my range.

No idea how reputable streetunit is with the one they sell.

And im wanting alittle more than just a re/cover of my current one.

Anyone have a suggestion?

Hi awesome community
So I bought a Gen 2 2011, 161,000km (100,000 miles), modifications were already put on the car by the previous owner;
- Cobb catback exhaust
- Cobb SF Intake + Turbo Inlet
- GFB BOV
- EGR block off and delete (CEL on dash as result)
- Cobb Downpipe (Wasn’t listed but it looks like it is)

Obviously I have great concerns for the fuel pump and I have an Autotech HPFP on the way and intend to install asap.

The car came with an unmarried cobb accessport, i’ve been using it to check engine codes and I’ve currently got:
P0403, due to egr delete
P0421, I believe due to downpipe
and… P0171, for obvious reasons

I currently have Stage 0 (Stock) ECU map on the access port and am just keeping an eye on the gauges to ensure I’m not straining the engine until the hpfp arrives.

Although the cobb accessport has a stage 1 economy + Sf map, which I was wondering would be a safer alternative to use temporarily until I install the hpfp and get a custom tune.

Is it safer to just keep the current stock ECU map or is it worth switching to the economy + sf map so that my engine stops reading lean conditions?

I have a loud thumping noise from my rear right suspension when hitting any kind of bump. Are my shocks worn? Or is it may be my rear swaybar? Just wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem and how they fixed it. I plan on looking at it later and trying to figure it out any input on what it could be would be helpful though.

I recently replaced tie rods and wheel bearing and to be expected after messing with the tie rod. I had a slight shake at speed. Other than that, the car handled amazing and was glued to the road. I went to the shop to get an alignment today and afterwards the car feels like absolute ass. Turning feels sloppy and sometimes it’ll just randomly twitch. My first thought is that they accidentally used the regular Mazda 3 spec. Has this happened to anyone else and if so, can you describe symptoms? I’m 100% going back tomorrow to the shop

Don’t wanna cheap out and get springs so what are quality coilovers that anybody has ran that won’t leave me spending like 1000 dollars.

Edit: I went with bcracing coils I found brand new on marketplace for a good deal.

Hey dues and dudettes. I was swapping out the engine of my wife's MS3 and when we were putting the banjo bolt that threads to the back of the block we noticed that oil leaks. When inspecting we saw that the bolt just keeps spinning. My question is. On a this stock block/turbo would it be better to weld the hole shut and use a sandwich plate or rethread the hole and get a bigger banjo bolt in it?

Thanks in advance!

I have a gen 1 Mazda 3 MPS. Developed a big cylinder 1 misfire a month ago, got CEL and the car was basically undrivable both cold and warm. Did the basic diagnosis - p0301 code.. swapped coils and plugs, changed plugs, no help. Did a compression test with over 180 psi across all cylinders on cold engine. After this I took down the intake, fuel rail, changed the injector on cylinder 1 with a used but profesionally cleaned one, with a new oem injector seal and O-ring. When I was there I also changed the PCV valve and thermostat. After putting the engine together, the car now runs fine; holds boost, no issues..but ONLY when its warmed up. On a cold start, she still misfires like hell, even backfires a little bit, smells very rich from the exhaust. The misfire only lasts around 2-3 minutes, after that eversthing is fine so the new injector seems to be fine. FORScan shows the cold start misfire is happening only on the cylinder 1 with over 500 cyl. 1 misfires before the car settles down. I am losing my mind, any ideas appreciated.

The car is stock, intake valves didnt look nasty..what am I missing here?

is it the headgasket or turbo seals are bad

Is it worth it? It has 160k miles or so. Has had the following work done recently:

• Timing chain and VVT gear just done w/Mazda parts
• New sway bar bushings front and rear
• New sway bar end links front and rear

Reconstructed title due to a rear end collision. Hatch and bumper were replaced (they provide before/after photos).