My 2nd Gen MAZDA 6 2.5 Sport - 23/07/13 update

[nucleustylzlude]

Yeah seen those, they have tried to take the styling a different and original route, but I can see hints of other cars in there. Still looks good! Means no MPS version for the 2nd Generation one as I thought.

I found some tasty lip kits from Japan now, just hard to find somewhere who can get ahold of them. I'll add some pics later, but those intrigued google 'kenstyle Mazda 6' and 'DAMD Mazda 6' to get a flavour.

[Merlin]

Nice looking car Rob!

The new car on the 2nd page looks like a Jag to me when its side on.

[Donald]

The kenstyle stuff is quite decent looking actually! Prefer it over the DAMD.

[paul bristol uk]

Nice car Rob. Have you priced up any parts or spares yet? Mazda made Honda look like a charity but that may have changed recently.

[andypont]

Very nice car. I have liked the Mazda 6 since it replaced the 626, and the sport version just adds a bit more.

[nucleustylzlude]

Cheers guys.

Nice car Rob. Have you priced up any parts or spares yet? Mazda made Honda look like a charity but that may have changed recently.

Well I have some nice Mazda receipts from the previous owner and just this year before I bought it she had all new discs and pads front and back, plus a new full exhaust system. Both receipts came to around £1700!

I think he may have had some done on warranty though.

Things like that though, I’ll tend to replace with performance parts if appropriate and try to do the work myself, but keep the main servicing to the garages for the FSH. It had Mazda FSH but the garage I bought it gave it the latest service so I lost that. I rang Mazda to see how much that service would be again from them and it was £275!

It was an oil change, plugs and brake fluid change + their usual inspection crap!

Funnily enough I didn’t book it in!

I’ve priced the spark plugs up which were Mazda branded – No NGK references on their system and they were around £15 each. I reckon they won’t be far of a nice set foe the lude from NGK. Then I got a price for a small clip I’m missing on the roof rail (where some roof bars would fit) and that was only £5.

Beyond that, I’ve had one single problem from the day I picked it up – the keyless entry system. It all works as it should, key in pocket, walk up, slip your hand into the handle and a sensor picks up the key in pocket and hand in handle and unlocks the same time you open the door. Get in, clutch down and press that ‘Engine Start’ button. ‘Zoom Zoom’ branding pops up on the display and I’m off!

However, when I park up and get out, to lock it there is a tiny black button on the handle to press to lock the car with the key in the pocket. You could just walk away and it locks after 30 seconds, but this is risky. This button on the driver door handle doesn’t work. I didn’t notice until I got home and went to lock it as the salesman had showed me (indicated). Doh! Could be expensive! But I bought the car with a full check that everything was working on the car. Read some T & C’s and it comes down to a 14 day notification to the garage as a defect at sale. I thought it was going to be an argument with the garage when they started saying whether the 3 month warranty would cover it.

I don’t care who pays for it, as long as it was sorted. Luckily for the garage the warranty company has approved it so I didn’t have to go to the next option of the garage having to pay. The reason? The part from Mazda is a complete unit with the handle (in choice of body colour pre sprayed) and costs…£411.80!

Plus some labour to fit and it would be a £500 bill. Anyway, the part is ordered and will be fitted next week or after.

Apart from that, all is good (touch wood). I know main dealer bodyparts and electronics can be pricy though, not just Mazda. If it breaks again and it’s too much to fix I’ll just use the fob like a normal car – so there is an override and a hidden key, door locks and ignition for when a battery may go flat.

Anyway, must be Friday: No work, more essay!


Cheers,


Rob

P.S. Where’s these styling pics then…(glad you like em Gorgon)

[Ted]

so how is this bit panning out ? - MPG: 25-45mpg (35 average) seems a little optomistic to me whats it doing rob?

[nucleustylzlude]

Not had the chance to drive it much and record some figures yet. I've had my old Fiesta company car for the last couple of weeks. My last day today, so I give that car back. I'll let you know. The printed figures are always taken with a pinch of salt. But the drive back from Bridgend didn't seem to drink much petrol, a good hour and a half drive. The problem is, as it's new and I'm getting used to it hooning around and 'testing' the engine performance I think I may be more 25mpg!

I think 30-35 average is a reality. I'll let you know in due course.

[nucleustylzlude]

Hey guys.

Got a few little updates to the Mazda, the first being some maintenance things missed by the garage's service that I bought it from.

First up was to change the air filter, so I opted for a K & N drop in panel filter.

The MZR engine - familiar variable valve timing, not quite Honda VTEC standards but nice all the same:




Had to remove this pipe and some wiring/plugs to be able to lift the airbox up on it's hinges, clamps had seen better days, I'll get some new shiny replacements soon:



Old dirty paper filter:



New:


And thought I'd actually use the stickers provided so no numpty mechanic on a service bins it!




Sorted.

It felt good doing a first mod, even something so simple.

Also have some new plugs to fit, NGK Iridiums - standard spec apparently! got em delivered for £30, better than Mazda stealer at £60!

Also picked up a used OEM Mazda boot liner mat - need to take a pic. Just a little hard at the moment with the car filled with 5 wheels. New wheels for the Mazda 6!

[nucleustylzlude]

Right, I've spent a little money on the new daily (+ a little of my time).

I've bought:

- Mazda 6 OEM bootliner
- Mazda 6 OEM Ali Aero roof bars
- 5 x Inovit DTM alloy wheels - 18" x 8" wide (unsure on offset, need to check this)
- Cash at the powder coaters!

Firstly I quickly got a shot of the bootliner, after it had been used thoroughly. Such a handy little thing. Makes trips to the recycling centre a doddle:




Roof Bars

A bit of a boring update as I havn't test fitted them yet to take some pics, I will do on our next little holiday in a couple of months. See if I can pick up a cheap roof box too.


Wheels

The most exciting of the lot though are the new wheels. Most of you saw them at Japfest. They are Inovit DTM's, the same brand that do the Volk copies. These alloys are based on the BBS E39 Style 42 alloys you get on old 5 series beemers. But they have black centres and pressed on stainless steel lips - not my ideal colour choice for this car. Plus they were very beaten up and one of the wheels has a dent, but they were a steal at £90 including a couple of decent tyres!

Here they are when they arrived:



Yes they came off a Honda Civic EP3 if you're wondering about the centre caps!







To be honest, pretty hanging as I expected as I wanted to get them fully refurbed. The pressed lips were kerbed to hell and there is no way of renewing this. Plus there are areas of flaky paint and some pitting on the centres. I tried them up to the car, one angle shows the 3" deep lip nicely.





The next job was to remove the pressed lips to get done to the bare aluminium below and see what state they were in. One wheel had already had this done and had been DIY'd sprayed but the lip was coming away badly:



A combination of a hacksaw, some screwdrivers, crowsfeet and brute force I started with this:



Some time at lunch in work:



And ended up with this:



The pressed lips are also fixed with glue, between this and theflaky paint underneath I didn't appreciate the corrosion that lied beneath and got them to City Powder Coaters in Birmingham following the recommendation from Mart609 and they were still honouring the deal of £20 a wheel for black or silver.

I promptly picked them up (plus 5 other wheels *cough*) a week later and was disappointed to see the condition of the pitting below and how that had shown through on the powder coating. I'll be honest all the lips need some high build primer and redoing with some silver, so my bodyshop is gonna sort this in the next couple of months.

I had the same tyres on the OEM 18's switched over, during which they also managed to break 3 of the 4 TMPS (tyre pressure monitor sensors) on the valves. They are flimsy after a few years so was expecting this. So binned them and no have an annoying light on the dash to sort out - no biggy! In addition they pointed out I hadn't got spigot rings, I'd completely forgot in the mayhem of one week to get them on for Japfest, but made sure the nuts were done up correctly.

Then about to leave and the tyre guy kindly tells me, 'oh yeah, the locking wheel nuts are too big for the whole, we can't get a socket over it.'

Me: 'Right...so they're not fitted?'

'No', he replies. 'Oh and can you just sign this disclaimer stating we've told you so and you drive it away at your own risk.'

WTF! Wish they'd told me beforehand!

Anyway, long story short (not usually possible for me), I stupidly drove the car home on back roads going as slow as humanly possible without pi$$ing people off. Luckily Mazda have the same thread size as Hondas, so I grabbed 4 spare red ali Tegiwa nuts I had in the garage which fit a treat, and off I popped to Japfest. No problems with lack of spigots, if anything it was slightly smoother as I think a wheel was out of balance before. But I'm awaiting the delivery of some just in case.

Anyway, snapped some pics the following Monday in work. The car is filthy and needs a clean!





Nice bit of poke on them too:



The resulting combo of wheel nuts:



I absolutely love them!
I was worried after all the drama getting them fitted, but the fact they suit the car makes it all worthwhile. I appreciate they won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I lurve 'em!

The wheel bolt situation simply won't do, so in my wheeling and dealings at Japfest I forked out for a set of D1 Aluminium black internal drive wheel nuts, with my thinking that there is no issue with sockets and less likely for a mechanic to mark the ally wheel bolt hole. Got them fitted on a lunchtime. Much better I'm sure you'll agree.





Much better! Only remaining snag is now with the offset and poke the rear tyres are rubbing on the main arch on the odd speed bump. So looking into arch rolling, smaller tyre profile, etc. Especially if I want to lower it next.

A final pic I snapped last night in a tunnel near where I go climbing. The finished Prelude and my DSLR are definitely coming down here one day:





Future plans are:

- Centre Caps - renew the Honda centre caps as they fit perfect - undecided what to do though?
- Clean the damn thing!
- Lower it! It really needs it, you just wouldn't know they were 18's with those huge arches. Only good kit is the factory lowering kit by Eibach = £180! 30-35mm drop.
- Front Lip
- Debadged grill
- Remove front plate mount and relocate down to bumper grill - maybe tilt holder, maybe JDM plate? Too much?
- Remove tow bar!
- Debadge the rear
- New Exhaust Trims - looking at the new Jag XKR ones.
- Wind Deflectors


Cheers,

Rob