A slow and low Mazda 3 build

Hi, new here on this forum, I have a build thread going on in a couple other forums, Mazda and Non-Mazda specific. Though I would post some of the stuff that I did. There are some things that people might consider rice or tacky, and that's cool....I like it and it is well executed, so to me that is all that matter....I am coming up on 1 year since I started this major overhaul.....anyways, on to the pics...

 

At this point in time, the car had a mild drop (1.2") some 18" wheels, HID's, angel eyes, painted interior pieces (color matched), and a license plate pocket from a 02 Bonneville rear bumper sunk into the front bumper.

Front bumper had some damage from the winter, but before I got to fix that, I ordered a nextmod GV replica lip.

Due to the sunk in license plate I had to do a little fiberglass work on the lip to fit.





Once this was done, I fit the lip and then proceeded to mold it to the bumper with some 2 part epoxy.




I also shaved the tow hook cover, and the old license plate holes, once that was taken care off I buried it in primer.

 

Then it was on to the rear bumper to continue deleting things that I didn't want. First to go were the reflectors.







I also got rid of the rear valence that was molded to the bumper....and then more primer.

 

Up next was the hatch, didn't want the emblems any more, so I welded up the holes left behind, then body work, and you guessed it...more primer.

 

Next I moved onto my headlights, for a different look. New 5000k HID's Clear projector lenses from TRS and new Angel Eye's from umnitza. I also got some projector fog lights with 5000k HID's....but those are still sitting in a box in the garage.

Painted the cutoff shield..





Color matched the bezels.





Angel Eyes glued in and ready to go.


All assembled and wired up.

 

Broke the welder out again, and took care of the antenna, the side markers, and also added a badgeless grille.

 

Worked on some custom tail lights. Basically stock tail lights with the outer lenses removed, fiberglass used to fill the gaps and make a smooth transition, then they will be painted to match the car.

 

Switched gears and did some interior stuffs....changed all the color matched parts to black metallic, and also tried my hand at some carbon fiber overlays.

 

Swapped out the LED's in the gauge cluster and the A/C controls.

Before Pics....




After...

 

Started on the suspension, full air ride custom build front struts, custom rear LCA's.

Painted some of the suspension parts.





Made the switchplate out of fiberglass to sit where the ash tray used to be.








And the suspension installed.....






Still gotta do some work to get the front to lay out a little more. Currently 1 inch off....

Qtr. panel to ground = 21.5"
Fender to ground = 22.5"

 

I also have some new brakes to install....MS3 front calipers, and MZ5 rear calipers, with slotted rotors, and stainless steel brake lines.

 

wow looks good. i can't wait until it's done. i think i saw your car over at mazdafitment also.

 

Just a little video


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Wt0yQPm-c

 

I like it! Looks good up, looks good down. Good work!

 

Saw this car in person last week. It's pretty sweet! Can't wait until this rolls out to Sonic.

 

Put back together (for the most part) took it out for a drive and a couple pictures.

 

Looking good man always nice to see progress