# Mazda 323F V6



## _stuz_ (Nov 15, 2010)

Hi guys, We bought the car for a measly £200 for my Fiancée to run around in, It has turned into the best £200 we have spent on a car and now plan to keep it till we cube it.

Anyway, On with the detailing, I'm no pro by any means and this is my first detail and I'm still just learning, Don't have a full arsenal of good's yet but I'm sure my wallet will be spent mostly empty rather than full :lol:

Parts used,
Silverline Rotary machine polisher,

Meguairs - Ultimate compound, Paint cleaner, Polish, Gold class wax, Clay, quick detailer, Tyre gel, Trim detailer, Metal polish.

Farelca - G3

Halfords - 1200 wet and dry

Rainex - Glass cleaner

I will let the pictures do the talking now.


















































































See these arches 


















irstly I started off with this.


























After a little while with my trusty rotary machine polisher and a bottle of Meguiars Ultimate Compound I ended up with this 50/50 shot 










After another 30 mins I ended up with this,


















After the bonnet was done ( it needs a bit more work to be perfect ) I moved onto the passenger wing, I decided to take the mudflap off though and I ended up with this,










After a good clean down with some Meguairs Quick Detailer, A compound and some Megs Gold class wax I ended up with this,










Then I turned my attention to the mudflap It started out with this,










And after some Megs quick detailer And Megs trim detailer and a bit of Elbow grease it ended up looking like this,


















And back on the car,










Looking all good and shiny now, Don't worry about the arch this will all be sorted when the wheel come's off to clean that.

Bought her a little present too,










When putting them on I decided the wiper arm's could do with a little re-furb, so that's what I did,

Before I did the arm's You can see they are rusty :roll:










And after I finished,


















After I did all this I popped on the new Crystal clear side repeaters,










When I had completed this I looked at the front of the car and decided the numberplate holder had to come off, Unfortunately I snapped the plate when I pulled it off  Give's me an excuse to buy some shiny new one's 
Anyway here is the picture,



























I used some cheap Morrison's all purpose cleaner and a dish brush type thingy, anyway Ended up looking like this,


















After this using some Trim detailer They looked like this,


















Cleaned the alloy wheel but I forgot to take picture's of it, looked ok in the end though. Did get some pics of my Nuts though . . . . .


















Nut's aren't perfect Could do with re-chroming but that is one for the Future.

After the wheel was back on I started on the bumper and wish I didn't bother :roll:

I have had to wetsand pretty much the whole thing then G3 and then finally Ultimate compound, I haven't waxed anything yet though, Here are some after picture's, I still have the other side to do so I will get picture's of that tomorrow,


























Working my way around the car and to get to part of the bumper I have had to take out the headlamp, whilst I was in there I cleaned and polished what I could,










And finally for today Headlamp back in and looking shiny,



















And an ermmmm reflection ( kinda ) shot of the drivers side front bumper before polishing,










After Wetsanding with 1200 grit,










And finally polished,










Removed the splitter ( Just for you Paul . . )


















Picture of the holes for you Paul,


















Whilst the splitter was off I decided to replace the centre section with the Brand new part i had from Mazda,


















And polished the clips in the end of said splitter,










Splitter back on the car all clean and polished and the rest of the bumper finished, Polished and Waxed,










Onto the badge I started yesterday,

Just lacquered,










Sanded,










Polished and on the car,










All completed and waxed, Just missing numberplate and fixing's,










Nice reflection shot on the bonnet,










Drivers wing Before, I have also given the mudflap the same treatment as on the passesnger side,










Drivers wing after, Forgot to get a picture of the mudflap :roll:










Bought and Acquired some stuff recently too,

Silvervision bulbs,










Some new trims, Front doors, Both trim's above the doors and Front door seals.


























A new bonnet release to replace the awful old one,


















Finally I have a nice Sony stereo, I forget the model name,









Had an easy day today, Didn't do too much today as I am getting really annoyed with people in my workshop breaking and losing all my tools :evil:, The simple answer is not to let them near anything I own  Their loss not mine 

Anyway, removed the stonechip guard flute and polished it all up, Looks lovely now, but as always, on with the pictures.

Driver's Side,


















Wing mirror,










Stonechip guard and arch,


























Some nice shiny after shots now,


















And the Stonechip guard and flute,










And the wing mirror,










the spoiler is really doing my head in though, Wet sanded it but can't seem to get much of a shine on it, Dont have any picture's from after I sanded or polished 










Finally today before I decided to call it a day I removed the rear light's to clean inside them and so the boot shuts,


















Just a Quick comparison shot for you all,

Before. . .










After. . .










That's all for now, I had to get the rest of the car done really quick as the Mot was looming and I was on my own for most of it after that.

The other side is exactly the same as this, as are the other 3 arches :lol:

I hope you enjoyed it if you have got this far and Look out for some updates as I get better with the polisher.

Thanks

Stu


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## _stuz_ (Nov 15, 2010)

This has been lifted straight off Club323F So sorry for the emotions and references to other people :lol:


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## johnnyguitar (Mar 24, 2010)

Nice work Stu - that's very thorough indeed and looking good.


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## Th3Doctor (Feb 2, 2010)

Cracking work fella great turnaround keep the pics coming!


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## _stuz_ (Nov 15, 2010)

Cheers Guys  I'm not sure where to take my skills next, Want to learn more but kinda stuck with money


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## magpieV6 (Jul 29, 2008)

looks spankinly clean & pukka now


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Looks fab mate, really well done! I'd start off by offering to do some friends cars for beer tokens and see how it goes!

Addictive stuff though!


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## _stuz_ (Nov 15, 2010)

I'm not really wanting to get in to it as a job, More just for myself and my cars.

It already annoys me when I see other cars messed up and scratched and people not caring for them, Even my Fiancée notices them now :lol:


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## BDJ (Nov 21, 2009)

Wow man!
That's all I'm gonna say!


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## liam99 (Dec 29, 2009)

Good work, Came up well.


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## pete5570 (Jun 11, 2010)

Great work there. Very thorough indeed.


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## Dazzy130/VXR (Dec 5, 2005)

It's like watching Ed china :thumb: Top work fella


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## Howie (Feb 8, 2009)

Nice job, looking good Stuz. 
Great to see all the development pics together.:thumb:


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## herbiedacious (Sep 27, 2010)

lovely job! Would the Morrisons APC be the stuff for 25p? Bought some the other day but hav'nt had the guts to try it,seems to work well


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## _stuz_ (Nov 15, 2010)

Howie - Thanks very much :thumbup:

Herbiedacious - Yep just some cheap morrison's APC, Did the job spot on as you can see, As I get better I will be using better quality stuff


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## AlexTsinos (Oct 10, 2010)

perfect job :buffer:. well done :thumb:


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## Arfman (Sep 13, 2009)

Cracking job! Love these cars, a silver 1.5GLX was my first car, racked it up from 70.000kms to 180.000kms, without any major repairs (water pump and some belts were the biggest expenses in the ~7 years I owned it). Unfortunately, I hadn't been caught with the detailing virus back then, so took it to the carwash most of the time, although I already used brushes to clean the logo's and interior 

Sadly, my gf totalled it just as we were looking for a new car. Engine started to lose some oil too, so probably for the best. Nifty little cars though, from an era when Mazda really had the guts to produce some great looking cars. Still loving the model.


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## Kap01 (Aug 12, 2007)

What a bargain!!! Top notch work!


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## Sportspack Mark (May 24, 2007)

Great job fella


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## _stuz_ (Nov 15, 2010)

Thanks everyone for the kind word's, I think I may have been bitten by the bug . . .


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## GSVHammer (Feb 7, 2009)

Amazing turnaround. I bet the girlfriend is well pleased with the result.


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## CliveP (Feb 1, 2009)

Stu,

Great job fella :thumb:

I also like the fact you've just gone for it, and you're not trying to worry about every little swirl, just a decent once over and shows what can be achieved relatively quickly and with relatively little knowhow....

Reference learning more, don't know where you live but Autobrite in Stoke run some great one day training courses with Caledonian :buffer:

Regards,
Clive.


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## MadMerc (Sep 8, 2008)

Great job! Thanks for showing us.:thumb:


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## _stuz_ (Nov 15, 2010)

CliveP said:


> Stu,
> 
> Great job fella :thumb:
> 
> ...


I'm In Scarborough, Do you know anything around here ?

The fact it was £200 helped me along to do what I needed to do i.e the wetsanding, I have now learnt a valuable skill which I can improve upon now 

Just need to resist opening my wallet now . . . .


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## hotwaxxx (Jul 12, 2007)

Incredible turnaround - that must have taken some time and effort.:thumb:

And also love the pink to reds - my favourite corrections.


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## Yoghurtman (Dec 9, 2008)

What a great £200 car and ongoing project....

The tyres looked like they had loads of tread and were probably cost £50 each!

I guess no ones wants a small car with a v6 petrol engine in now, but good for 2nd hand buyers!
:thumb:


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## _stuz_ (Nov 15, 2010)

Everyone on the Club are very jealous :lol:

One lad bought his car for £5 !!!!


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## gally (May 25, 2008)

Brilliant bargain mate! That's the kind of little project I love.


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## "SkY" (Apr 21, 2009)

nice work,looks good


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## AcN (Nov 3, 2010)

That's what i call an extreme makeover.... best £200 ever  maybe you should come back to the seller and let him see


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## impster (May 2, 2007)

_"Ed! You've really done it this time fella! 'Old out your 'and! You've bought a car!"_

Nice write up mate - just like watching Wheeler Dealers but without the bull****!

Good job.


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## Guest (Nov 17, 2010)

Brilliant work mate!


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## MadOnVaux! (Jun 2, 2008)

£200 for one of those is an absolute bargain-a-rooney!

Great work, with excellent detail, it looks 100% better....excellent write up too


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## matthewrblack (Nov 7, 2010)

That's some improvement, great job with the detail and the accompanying pics. 

Matthew


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## Bunji81 (Apr 28, 2010)

Fantastic turnaround fella, the mrs must be well chuffed


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## _stuz_ (Nov 15, 2010)

She is well chuffed with it, Can't wait till I have the time to do mine, It's going to be awesome


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## 123quackers (Jan 29, 2009)

its amazing what a lot of time an effort car do to a car..... Great little run around for £200 plus its not rusty and will be very reliable too well done on a great read:thumb:


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## powelly (Aug 9, 2007)

I used to work for Mazda as a mechanic when these were new, they are a loveley car and in my opinion have aged very well, as with all Mazdas I always though the interiors let them down, they just never feel that great. Out of interest has it actually got A/C or does it just have the button, I remeber we had a batch of BA's come through with A/C buttons but none of the actual working bits, we only realised when customers were coming back with it not working, telling a customer their car doesn't have A/C when they're staring at a button that says otherwise is not easy even when they hadn't ordered it.


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## Arfman (Sep 13, 2009)

powelly said:


> I used to work for Mazda as a mechanic when these were new, they are a loveley car and in my opinion have aged very well, as with all Mazdas I always though the interiors let them down, they just never feel that great. Out of interest has it actually got A/C or does it just have the button, I remeber we had a batch of BA's come through with A/C buttons but none of the actual working bits, we only realised when customers were coming back with it not working, telling a customer their car doesn't have A/C when they're staring at a button that says otherwise is not easy even when they hadn't ordered it.


That's funny, mine also had an A/C button but no AC parts inside. I bought it secondhand so didn't really bother with it, nice to know the story behind that :thumb:


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## colarado red (Jun 5, 2008)

Top job,decent engine in these imo.A steal at £200:thumb:


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## jay_bmw (Jan 28, 2010)

the button used to be covered from dealers (near me anyway) with a black plastic sticker, 
the majority of BA's (from the Jan 1997 Facelift when ford took them over) didn't have AC but had the button with working LED, less work to install it if it was a customer request i suppose.


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## Mr_Scisco (Oct 22, 2009)

Top job there fella. Nice write up too. :thumb:


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## _stuz_ (Nov 15, 2010)

To answer the question, No it doesn't have A/C it only has the button, Why Mazda never did put it in escapes me but hey, I have 4 electric windows and a sunroof, Who needs A/C anyway . . . :lol:


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## mr cooper (Apr 15, 2010)

Cracking work. I love this type of thing:thumb:


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