Well holy carp. The guy that owns the site with a project car!

[dmention7]

Okay, I did a little more reading and here's the theory anyways:

Old car with old hard seals. Mediocre dino oil leaves deposits that keep the hardened seals "plugged up" and still sealing. Switch to synthetic and the deposits begin to be dissolved and cleaned away, leaving old hard seals that leak like a sieve. At 23 years old and 200k miles, that doesn't seem unreasonable.

My advice: Just run regular oil until you get around to changing the seals. It's gotten this far on regular oil (you said the previous owner "DGAF"...), it's not like there are going to be any benefits at this point to switching to synthetic anyways.

 

[concealer404]

Yeah, it's gonna get the ol' roto-rooter treatment, flush everything I can, throw fresh oil in it, etc etc. I'm assuming MT90 in the trans and 5w-30 syn of some sort in the engine, yes?

Don't remember what goes in the trans. I'd either use 75w-90 or Acura Syncromesh MTF.

Don't use 5w-30 in the motor. 10w-40 minimum. If you still have the sticker on the hood, you'll see that it'll call for up to 20w-50. I'm using 10w-40 now, will probably be switching to 15 or 20w-50 soon.

If that sounds like diesel oil, it's for a good reason. This motor is based off an old diesel engine.


+1 to dino juice. I run Castrol GTX in mine.

 

[mndsm]

So cheap dino guts. Apparently the learning curve on this thing is way steeper than I thought, mostly because I'm used to turbo cars requiring fancy oil and premium gas an stuff. This thing DOES need premium, right?

 

[concealer404]

So cheap dino guts. Apparently the learning curve on this thing is way steeper than I thought, mostly because I'm used to turbo cars requiring fancy oil and premium gas an stuff. This thing DOES need premium, right?

Probably not. It would probably run on diesel.

The timing is so retarded (literally) on the stock ECU that you could probably run it on 85 octane econo-swill and it would be fine as long as you didn't ream the hell out of it.

But yes. Run premium. Cheap insurance. And DEFINITELY run premium once/if you end up with a chipped ECU of any kind. Most of them put a hefty timing advance on the ecu.


I think i'm actually running cheap gas station oil in mine right now. 3500 miles on this oil change, oil is still a nice amber.

 

[ZoomZoom Diva]

I thought premium was required or recommended back in the day. Even Chrysler recommeded premium for the 2.2. turbo in my grandma's Dodge 600.

 

[RockLobster]

Even the turbo RX-7s of that vintage didnt require premium. 87 all day long in stock fuel trim (which was admittedly pig rich).

 

[dmention7]

With such a low compression, I wouldn't run premium either, unless you're actually getting knock.

 

[mndsm]

moar pics-

That gives you an idea what i'm working with. There appears to have been drain holes punched into the trunk floor at some point, which tells me the trunk leaks. There's a pool of water in the spare tire well right now, so it'll probably get at least one more drain hole, until I figure out where the leak is. My guess is the replacement trunk lid isn't 100%.... that'll be the first spot to check.

 

[Big Nate]

MX-6s are known to have leaky trunks. My mx-6 was damp in the spare tire area all the time. I punched hole there too.

 

[concealer404]

My trunk is damp as well, but i think it has more to do with the fact that it was butt-fucked at 40mph by an F150 at one point in it's life.

 

[mndsm]

MX-6s are known to have leaky trunks. My mx-6 was damp in the spare tire area all the time. I punched hole there too.

Yeah, I figure if I gut it, punch a hole in it, I might even stick a screw cap in it I can pull whenever I need to drain the pig... figure cover it with that rustoleum rust to paint stuff and run some rhinoliner over it, I oughtta be close enough to good. At least it appears the gas tank is mostly out of the way, so when I go poking holes in things, I don't set myself on fire.

 

[concealer404]

For your reading pleasure:

http://www.mx6.com/forums/1g-mx6-ot...6-gavins-1st-gen-mx6-dsp-autocross-build.html

 

[mndsm]

So..... we're gonna have to do some electrical on this thing. Not a lot, but it's an annoyance. Seems that with the recent humid weather/rain we've had lately, ol girl has developed a gremlin in the door switches. She likes to claim that the doors are open and leave the dome light, curb lights, and floor lights on as i'm driving along. Occasionally they'll make good enough contact for the lights to go out, but- a small bump and they're right back on.

The good news is- I was foot into it a little more over the weekend, and after adjusting the butt dyno for the loss of almost 200hp, (ms3 vs mx6) she feels like she's on the sauce and might be making good power after all. Still need to get a boost gauge in it and see where it goes.

 

[mndsm]

Small update after some time of inactivity-

After baby, I quit running this car as a DD due to the lack of a solid way to load and keep a car seat safe in the thing.... so it sat. In preparation for winter though, it was decided that it would be my backup plan if things got serious, as it was the car I could bolt my snow meats to. Ideally, i'll have the MINI as my car, and the wife will be taking the Prism, but.... who knows. It was LOADS of fun too. Apparently the pinch welds are sorta rusty on this thing- so I might have bent a couple getting it up in the air. No pics of that, but i'll need to hammer and block that out so they're straight eventually, and get some sort of rust repellent on them, as the rockers are amazingly rust free considering the condition of the rear quarters. For kicks, I test fit the one msp wheel I have with a tire on it-

Fitment was fairly on point, all things considered. I think once the suspension gets sorted, these may end up on the car.

Once all that shenaniganizing was completed, it was time to mount the winter tires. One thing I had forgotten was that this car had 0% e-brake, so it was up and down on the jack 3 different times on one side..... I can't break lugs loose on wheels that are spinning freely as it turns out...who knew? Got it on the ground to break the lugs loose, and man the ones on the right rear were wicket. To the point I was torquing on them hard enough to actually SPIN the wheel while it was on the ground, I was both pissed and amused. A little 250lbs in Pumas standing on a breaker bar finally got them to see the light. Didn't even break myself! The clearance on the front suspension is fine, probably 1.5 fingers width. The back.... yeah. I have less room to the suspension that I do with the Rotas on the ms3...... But that's what I get for going to a higher offset wheel, larger diameter, and adding in a 60 profile tire. She's close. BUT- she works. Word of note, I do not advise sticking ones' hand back there to check clearance while the tire is rotating. Rubber has a tendency to grab ones' finger and try and stuff it between said tire and the shock tower. That kinda hurts. A LOT.

But, she's rockin now. After a couple of jump starts to convince it to run, it's good to go, and as a bonus, the heat works good!

 

[ohsixspeedsix]

one word... plasti-dip!

 

[mndsm]

IT might happen depending on the budget. I need to fab some flares for it eventually so I can cut out the fender rust. Might be lookin' at you for some assistance.... at least with laying the 'glass.

 

[concealer404]

Wow the MSP wheels look REALLY good on it! Kind of want...

I'm also jealous that your heat works. I need to figure that out on mine, but at least i got my fog lights finally wired up and working, so i can see at night again.

Car looks pretty good!

 

[concealer404]

Just finally saw the rest of your pics.... Your interior is in GREAT shape, and it looks like we both have old horseshit Pioneer head units. You need an old retro double din in that thing.

And that IS an OEM radiator. If it's not leaking, keep it. Flush it, clean it, but keep it. All the replacements are only 1.0" thick instead of the OEM 1.5".

 

[mndsm]

Actually a horseshit JVC head unit. Connected to a JBL amp. I think it's a JBL amp. I know the interior is amazing. Part of the reason I bought it lol, I knew that while worn, it had been well cared for.

 

[mndsm]

Oh and I finally put the collector plates on it. Why? Because NO TABS! and racecar.