Got a feeling the time may be coming when I have to part company with the ZXi I really need something that does better mpg and can carry loads a bit better. So, I'm sounding out if there is any interest in a ZXi that will probably become available in a month or two.

So, it's a ZXi which means it's beginning to get rare now, only 145 on the road as of Autumn last year!!. It has the 2.0 V6, electric windows all round, front fogs, heated electric mirrors, 16" alloys, Air-con (not working as usual) and it's Silver so definitely the fastest, quietest and best looking

More can be seen here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=57450

In short:

MOT is July '17 (will get exact date later) and it has close to 152k miles on the clock. Seems high but I commute close to 2k miles a month along the M2 and M25, so pretty much all of it is 5th gear rather than heavy town work. That and I'm getting older and can't be naffed with speeding and ragging it, this car gets a pretty cossetted life really.

The engine is sweet, never smokes and rarely makes the HLA rattle (only when the oil is old and below the FULL mark, restarting the engine straight away honestly cures it 99% of the time!). It has let me down once in the time I've had it; the rear top shock mount collapsed right outside work. Other than that it has been faultless. On my long commutes I regularly get 34-35mpg (pretty good for age and engine size) and use very little oil. I've topped up the coolant level once since I've had it (need not neglect )

It's just had an oil and filter change and has 4 recent tyres (last couple of months), the fronts being Goodyear Efficient Grips.

Since I've had it it's had new discs all round, just had EBC pads front and rear, rear hubs & bearing have been done as well as both rear shocks and mounts replaced. It also had a new N/S front caliper couple of years ago. Water pump, tensioner and all pulleys and belts were done at last cam-belt change. cam-belt will need replacing itself again in 2 years or 10k miles.

It does have some bad points; rear arches are starting to bubble and the passenger doors are corroded along the bottom. The sills seem rust free though and the floor is basically rust free under the carpet (any surface rust was treated when the carpet was replaced). Air-con probably needs new seals not just a re-gas (never has worked since I've had it) and I'm pretty sure the engine mounts could do with being looked at (front is £80-£90 shipped from Aus on eBay, a LOT more from Mazda!). Aerial is also broken as seems the norm nowadays (currently retracted) but I've fitted a cheap windscreen aerial behind the N/S A-pillar trim, not great but I use the MP3 port on the stereo anyway Else it's a few chips and scratches from age.

All the electric windows and mirrors work as they should. Extras include Leather seats (some wear to bolsters), Mx5 mk3.5 Leather & Chrome Gearknob, JDM center armrest with cup holders, variable intermittent wipers, drivers Auto UP & Down window (stock is down only!), Xedos Leather steering wheel, chrome inner handles plus lots of other bits. Also has a HID headlight kit fitted (so you can actually see the road at night!) which are 35w @ 5000k, so stock colour.

Engine has K&N panel filter, air intake resonator box removed, Kerr Nelson leads and will soon have new plugs, cap and rotor arm. There is also an Ulter box at the back on poly mounts (so no clunking on the rear suspension). I also have all the bits for an external coil mod, for which the wiring has already been adapted to accept it.

I also have a load of bits that include the very rare JDM Wind Deflectors (they need fixing and fitting), low level washer indicator sensor from a BG, door puddle lights, switch for power folding mirrors (just need the mirrors themselves) and probably some other things.

As I say it will be a month or so before I'm ready to sell, need to get my bike on the road before that happens. Just need to see if there's any interest here before it goes on eBay or Gumtree. Price wise I was thinking around £800-900 on here only, more elsewhere, as I know it needs some work doing to it. Considering stock 1.5's seem to be creeping over £500-600 atm I think that's pretty fair.

Don't really want to let her go but unfortunately I can only do mechanical bits, body work isn't my strong point and I can't weld, so hopefully someone who can sort that out will take her.

So any interest?

Jon

Well if you noticed my thread on death of a ZXi it means I'm on the look out for one, easily within reach and with some nice jazzy bits on it too so I'm interested, g/f at first didn't much like silver 323's though cleaned up they look pretty good (had one myself years ago) but recently I don't think she's fussed, it's got leather so that may throw it, don't think she has a thing for leather though lol.

See how it pans out, but for now it's looking good

Quick update:

MOT expires 28th July.

The drivers side sill does have a couple of bubbles of rust but really nothing serious at all (will post picture later). The passenger side looks rust free, which is weird as the doors on that side are rusted at the bottom inside

As for the leather, I'm sure there must be an owner near you who'd happily swap out a decent cloth interior for the leather Personally I find the leather more supportive and general more comfortable than the cloth, but to each their own.

Jon

Sorry my comment was terribly written, what I was getting at was she likes leather but not enough to be kinky . My Saab 900 has leather seats and so did my 9000 which she does like but with them being hard wearing not that soft where the sand ones in my own scrap ZXi are-ish.
Just found out my root canal work on my tooth is going to need a specialist and that means paying for it but will still throw my arm up in interest but it is kinda handy it's not for sale now
Read your project page, how do the rear arches look like now, learnt from experience blending silver is a b*****d to do at home with even a HVLP spray gun. Any advisories on MoT? Bubbles of rust I don't care about, with my ZXi rust all over the floorpan is what done it in so how is it under the car on the floorpan?
Do you foresee any problems with next MoT?

No advisories on MOT, though normally at least a rusty break pipe gets a mention. All the emissions were more than fine too.

Next MOT? the only thing I've not replaced since having the car is the front suspension or the CV joints, but they don't seem to be in any state of failure; no rumbles, knocks or bangs at all. I'm always suspicious of the dreaded drop links though! Oh, and it's not been through an MOT with the HID's, but I have a pair of stock bulbs in the car that take about 10-15 mins to swap back in. Guess it depends on the tester....

The rear arch I tackled has come back a little bit in places tbh, and the drivers side arch is starting to bubble a bit (like the odd spot 1-2mm in size, not great long runs of it). We moved last May to beside the Sea and it seems to be a fair contributor in making it worse.

When I replaced the carpet the floor was pretty spotless. There was the odd small bit of surface rust in the passenger footwell (all of which was promptly treated!), but that was down to the sunroof drain leaking in to it. That drain has long since been blocked and doesn't cause any problems now. I'll see if I can grab some pictures of under the carpet tomorrow, should be able to lift it a bit.

And ouch on the tooth front. Had a root canal back in Feb and Crown couple of weeks ago, still a little tender above it Bike wont be ready for 2 or 3 weeks at soonest, too much to do on our old house before I'm allowed my weekend pass to tackle that

Will try to post some piccies tomorrow

Jon

Took some pictures today. Imgur album in order:

http://imgur.com/a/0SnrA

O/S Rear Arch
N/S Rear Arch (showing my failed attempt at bodywork! Have stone chip guard in a box, just not refitted)
O/S Sill (bit of rust around bung and tiny bit well behind front jacking point)
N/S Sill
O/S Front Footwell
O/S Rear Footwell
N/S Front Footwell
N/S Rear Footwell (small rust patch where cable has worn it)

All of the floors sound really solid when you knock them.

As I said the rust is just starting to come through on her. The bottom of the N/S doors though have rusted fairly badly on the inside, you can't see anything outside really though.

You can also see how recent the tyres are, the rears are a couple of months older than the fronts

Jon

It's not bad at all really. Had visions of metal flaking away lol, dunno why but do, maybe Mazda's and rust go together lol. Infuriates me that mine has no rust at all on top including the rear arches and has no signs of it yet underneath has huge holes in it - hence my questions on your floorpan lol

Damn tooth, going privately is costing me £120 just for half hour consultation with the prospect of £650 to sort it and then the £250 NHS fee for a crown, he better be good is all I can say! Plus another 3 grand for a gas fire I want installed in the house, good job my brother is so jarred off with poor interest rates that he'll len me some money as he see's it as being put to better use than sitting in an account getting bout 4p in interest

Well, the time is fast approaching when the old girl is going one way or another

Alas a few issues seem to have reared their ugly head recently and I just can't justify the time and/or money in getting it all sorted. So, in a couple of weeks I'm either going to sell the car as a fixable project or break it for parts.

The fixable project route?! well, here's a list of things I know will need sorting before the next MOT (July 28th remember), and I'm being brutally honest here:

Front suspension really needs sorting. There is a wobble at speed and under heavy braking that seems to indicate the front control arms or bushes need replacing. Then there's the knock/click when stopping and groan from the steering first thing in the morning (top mounts?) The random clunking from the brakes has backed off to 'intermittent' (I've already brought a caliper repair kit, just not done it yet and probably won't). In all the parts to completely overhaul the front suspension are about £300 (2x shocks, 2x top mounts, 2x control arms+ rear bushes (Mx3 bushes are identical and available) & bottom ball joints etc) That's worst case, it may just be one control arm, or one bush, I simply don't know.

The clutch thrust bearing needs replacing. The clutch itself doesn't slip nor are any gears hard to select, and the pedal seems to be in an ok position biting point wise, it's just making some whirring noises that fluctuate when you depress the pedal until the engine warms up. Mr Clutch want £350 for the pleasure, though you'll save a bundle doing it yourself (£70 for a complete clutch kit)

Other issues?

The inside of the passenger doors are heavily rusted at the bottom, though only the front is showing on the outside.
The windscreen has a scratch across it at eye level (sods law), has been this way since I got it.
The front O/S wing has been over polished back to primer, zero rust, but needs re-spraying to look ideal.
Stone chips on the bonnet
Couple of scratches on the corners
Rust coming through on the rear arches
EDIT - Engine mounts are shot and replacements are stupid expensive if you can find them (think £500+ for a set from Mazda and up to 3 months shipping from Japan!!!!)

On the plus side you get some rare goodies and a fair few mods, and the engine is super sweet considering its on 156k (no smoke, hardly ever makes the rattle (keep oil on max and you're fine), doesn't eat said oil and goes like a train).

The other option is splitting the shiny bits from the car and try to make my money back a bit. I'll list everything on here first before palming it off on Fleabay, rather keep it in the family

Ideally I'd rather someone took the car and kept it going seeing as the ZXi is getting pretty rare, but I guess she's just getting old and tired now.

You can read above for the stuff I've already done (rebuilt rear suspension, new disc all round etc), I simply can't justify the expense in fixing her whilst still ending up with a car with less than perfect bodywork, something I lack the skills to fix.

So, I'm saving to get something else (with galvanised steel bodywork!) and one way or another Pipa is going to have to part fund that To that end I'll be looking about £400 for her in due time, which if you can fix the things yourself you'll grab a bit of a bargain, especially if the suspension is an easy fix! You could end up with a ZXi for 1.5 money... though could be more, not gonna lie!

That's a very thorough post. The ol girl sounds in decent nick. I'd really love to buy as I've got tons of ideas creeping around my head.
I've really fallen in love with the sound of these zxi engines and i hope you don't have to break it down. Stupid money, wish it grew on trees lol

Well, looks like I'm going to be breaking the car for parts (to a point). Went to drive it this weekend and the front O/S brake had seized on (the one that was rattling). Stripped the brake down, replaced the rubber boots and liberally copper greased the pad backs, guides and the caliper bolts, but it's still dragging noticeably and getting that nice burnt brake whiff. So, in addition to everything else, it needs a new front caliper

I think it's just time to call it, especially as the engine is getting to pretty high mileage and I have no idea how much longer the cat will last for example, again I've never had to change it so could be due sometime, which is just more expense! I really don't want to sell anyone what could turn out to be a complete lemon and cost far more to fix than it's worth.

So I'll be aiming to split it of the shiny/rare bits in a couple of weeks, but won't be doing things like the wheels, or whipping the engine out. If someone wants all the brake and suspension bits to convert their 1.5/1.8 for example, then they can take the whole car, I can't have a wheel-less wreck sat on my drive or in the road!!

Sad times

Indeed

I'm really sorry, Jon. I'm dreading having to make that call on mine

I have done a lot to Sundance this year, because the only alternative for me is to spend that cash on another 2nd hand car ... and that could be an even more expensive can of worms as I won't know the car's history, and as with any 2nd hand purchase, I could end up buying a pup. So for me it makes more sense just to soldier on for the time being.

But as a realist I know that time will probably come when it's just unsaveable. It's a horrible thought

S