Who wants to help with this extreme project?

[JET]

Looks like a good deal, but it will take a lot of work. It probably won't be as bad as you think it is. If I was still down in Woodbury I would give you a hand with some of the harder parts. Maybe put on a "get together to work on the Mazda" day or something :D

[Raptor]

Amazing things can be done on a budget, just matters who and what you know. We have worked on the Mazdaspeeds before, Nice car, not too quick but still pretty nice. The only thing I would worry about is after the time and effort spent, you will have a car that performance wise will not really impress you much after coming from DSM's. We get spoiled by ease and cost of getting more performance. The Mazda's take a lot more work and are way more fragile.

[AJ]

I think it's a hell of a project and if would be up for helping sometime. I love those cars. When you get some cabbage for some goodies thought hit Mike up for a front mount for it! ;)

[SuperSleeper]

Thanks for the reassurance, guys. Actually, I'm not going to try and make it really quick. I'm just kinda trying to "work myself up the foodchain" as far as cars are concerned, and get it back in decent shape. Maybe it will lead to bigger/better things. All of which depends on funds. I wasn't by any means looking for an MSP, but it popped out at me and I figured why not. Hopefully I can get a title reinstated for it... otherwise someone will be getting a running MSP for a heckuva price when I decide to sell it.

[TalonFiero]

I reccomend having a body shop install the new front clip/core support. No offense, but if you try and do it yourself your car may never go down the road straight. My brother just had the entire front clip for his 2001 mustang welded on and then put on a frame rack from a shop he knows for a pretty decent price. If you are interested I could find out more.

Overall, if everything is as it is stated in the auction, you could have this car up and running with new paint for 5,000 or less pretty easily. Sounds like a fun project.

Jim

[Raptor]

You might consider taking it to centerline off rice street to confirm the running gear is all straight etc, I hear they are worth the call.

[SuperSleeper]

Thanks guys for the suggestions, more info on both places would be highly appreciated!

[95tsi]

I would tear off anything on the car (front clip) that is still good. Leave the fenders and toss a hood with it, then bring everything down to a frame alignment shop and tell them to call me when its done. All they will do is pull the frame if it is still good enough or rather, weld on the other entire front clip. I'm guess if you tell them your on a budget they will be able to work with you a little bit. I've dealt with that kinda thing a few times and most places are pretty helpful. As for price, the biggest thing your going to be looking it is the paint and the actual frame alignment. But, I would definitly suggest leaving the frame work to people with the proper tools/experience so the car will drive straight and body panels line up properly. Btw, you should post some better pics of that whenever you get it. Dosn't look too bad from those pics on ebay though. Best of luck!

[JET]

Yep, I agree. You can also tell them that they can take their time and fit it in when they can. They should give you a price break for that.

[SuperSleeper]

Excellent points guys. As for the paint, I'm not super concerned about it, at least for the time being. I'm sure it won't all look totally straight, but the front clip looks clean, and is at least the same color. So that should help costs quite a bit too. Just gotta find a place to take it to now, so I can arrange shipping!