My MX73 story

OkieRA29 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 26, 2010 2:28 pm

This is a mish-mash of posts from other forums, but tells the story of my x73. Found this one through a craigslist ad for an 89 with a BHG. Ended up with a package deal for both. A buddy took the 89, I took the 86.

Okay, here we go. Last time she was tagged and titled. It really wasn't that long ago, probably 2-3 months tops. I thought I had more important things to work on. So I black tagged her and let her sit for a while. Turns out, the important stuff wasn't that important. So the tag and title were updated and she was back in the driveway. Anyway, here she is pretty much how she looked when I got her with her 'frowny' bumper and blown shocks/struts. The front springs are cut 1.5 coils as well. Drove like a lowrider at a hopping contest. :lol:

Here she is now, not much has changed on the outside.

She now has GR-2s all the way around. The fronts are bad, but not as bad as the ones that were on there. The ones I took off I could expand and contract by hand:eek: Volvo lip, that still needs some aligning work. New bumper, from junkyard cressi. Again, it still needs some alignment work, but is better than what was there. Suspension height is stock, but that will change. I have some cut ST springs off a parts Supra. Unfortunately the PO cut the progressive part off of the springs. Coupled with the softer GR-2s, it should ride ok. On the supra, the STs were coupled with Tokicos and it rode really, really rough. There was no suspension travel at all.

Engine is straight stock 5M goodness.

I did repaint the valve covers with VHT Black Wrinkle paint

Plans for it right now are new plugs, wires and rotor. The ones there are the ones that came on the car. They are at least eight years old. Oil change after that. I do have an LSD from an MA67 auto that will go in eventually. I need to change out the sunroof panel as the one in the car has some rust holes. I was able to get a good panel from the junkyard a few months ago. Since it is a different color, I am thinking of painting a rising sun-esque flag on it. We will see.
Nothing huge on the interior front. Clarion tape deck with 6 disk changer, Pioneer TS-X4 speakers on the shelf. I have a set of Infinity 6x9s 2 way and 6.5" 2 way round speakers along with a set of Polk Audio 6x7 3 way speakers to try as well.
That is all for now.

OkieRA29 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 26, 2010 2:31 pm

Okay, the cut coils are back on the front. I swapped the bad struts(appear to be the originals) for Tokico Blue HP. She rides much more stable now. On other news though...
Cruising the JY on saturday to grab a tailight for the wife's camry. Came across these flares. Luckily, there was an x73 in the yard. The radius matched really close, so I figured 'what the heck' bought 'em and brought 'em home. Slapped them up against the cressy that night. I thought they didn't look to bad. It was too dark to take pics, so sunday morning I headed back out. I used black gaffers tape for the pics. I swapped the flares and put the fronts on the rears and vice versa. I think they need a little tweaking, but with some work and some deep offset wheels I think they will look good. Please give opinions, good or bad. Onto the pics...

Front looking rearward

rear looking forward

Here is a straight on shot of the rear flare.

The flares have a notch where they met the body work on the car they were from. I matched that notch with the mudflaps on the cressy. It matches almost perfectly. I do think that I will need to trim the front of the flare so that it flows into body a bit more smoothly. I also will remove the chrome lip from the wheel well before mounting the flares, if I decide to do so. In answer to all the "where did they come from?" questions....

Well, actually they came from a Saab 900s 16v. It has pretty much the same body kit. I was also thinking of grabbing the front bumper if they go on sale soon. I could see grafting the lower portion onto the bumper cover of the cressi and going from there...

ben · **Posted:** Tue Jan 26, 2010 11:05 pm

They don't look too bad, but the fact that the fronts stop short of the full arc is kind of a bummer.

KresSlyda180 · **Posted:** Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:48 am

The flares look good.. although, the fronts will prolly look better if you push them forward a bit. :wink:

OkieRA29 · **Posted:** Wed Jan 27, 2010 8:19 am

Yeah, that is the plan. I hope to use some FG to round out the flares a bit more. Still, they're not bad for 5 bucks and change

KresSlyda180 · **Posted:** Wed Jan 27, 2010 6:37 pm

OkieRA29 wrote:

Yeah, that is the plan. I hope to use some FG to round out the flares a bit more. Still, they're not bad for 5 bucks and change

Only $5?

I paid around $80 shipped for mine.. and they don't fit. DOH.

OkieRA29 · **Posted:** Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:07 am

Gotta love the junkyard. Only problem with ours is who checks you out. If I get one of the older guys, things tend to be cheaper. If I get one of the younger guys, the prices are stupid. Take the Volvo lip on the car. One day it was 5 bucks. The next weekend the same lip cost me 20 bucks. I always look for the older guys who sort of know me. I got the tailight for my wife's camry, the four flares and two sunvisors for the cressy, total price was 18 and change. It all depends on who checks you out.

KresSlyda180 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 29, 2010 4:14 pm

Ditto. Sometimes at the Self Serve Pick-A-Part.. one regular cool guy let's you take lil things for free, and another day, you might get an anal, by the book guy.. who wants $20 for one ratty console. Hmmmmm... come to think of it, my regular cool guy has been real anal about giving out free things, lately. Maybe his higher ups, are cracking down on the free item policy. lol :lol:

My MX73 story

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