[louis110]

Build threads on forums are a bit of a lost art these days with everyone moving to other social media platforms to show off their rides. You can learn a lot from someone's build thread, and I find it's a great way to keep a historical log of your progress if anyone feels nostalgic years after their build has finished.

I'm Ron and this is my build thread.

(Stock Image for place holding)

 

[louis110]

A bit about my car history:

Bought a 2014 Mazda 3 Sport in snowflake white pearl new as my secondary car when the 3rd Gen first debuted. The car had a custom red leather interior (not available through Mazda), BBS style wheels, lowered on Eibachs, first gen 3 to have Rally Armor mudflaps (pretty sure my car is still up on their website), and some other cosmetic stuff. This car was so reliable, worked on the coldest Alberta days (-45C anyone?) and was a great compliment to my summer car.

Fast forward to the end of 2019 - I was so impressed with the package of the 4th Gen after a test drive that I sold my 2014 to a co-worker's kid, and ended up signing a lease for a 2020 non-turbo AWD in polymetal grey with the red leather interior. The timing was right as the car was ready for pick-up one day before the world shut down for the pandemic.

I got to modding the car almost immediately, and I'm pretty certain I was the first car in Canada to have the Mazda optional body kit (I special ordered it using Japanese part numbers), and the first AWD in Canada to be lowered. I had fun driving the car to local meets and bombing around town with the Corksport springs, Enkei TSX-R (18x8.5+38), some cosmetic mods, but always knew it would be so much better with a turbo. A year after I got my 2020, Mazda released the turbo (doh!). I guess I caught the Mazda 3 bug because I broke my current lease to get into a turbo after test driving one.

I had previously built a R32 that I owned for 9 years, but since I sold it, I just can't seem to scratch this pesky mod itch! I spent the last few months collecting new parts (more to follow) and I'll be transferring what I can from my 2020 car to the 2023 Turbo.

 

[louis110]

I walked back into the dealership at the beginning of November 2022 and negotiated a deal on a 2023 Turbo. My only requirement was that it come with a red interior. They said they could get me a white one the fastest, but it would still only be delivered in April/May 2023. To me this was perfect, it would mean taking delivery after winter, and giving me time to de-mod my car, while collecting parts for the new car.

Pictured:

• Corksport rear spoiler (regular carbon)
• Corksport rear sway bar.
• Corksport Turbo lowering springs (might consider exchanging these for the new "Not So Low" springs? On the fence)
• Corksport rear engine mount
• AutoExe front strut bar
• AutoExe front subframe brace
• AutoExe rear chassis braces
• AutoExe trunk chassis brace
• Burger Motorsports Stage 1 Air Intake kit
• Mikstore LED ambient door lighting kit
• Mikstore paddle shifter extensions (forged carbon)
• Mikstore interior trim skins (regular carbon, to cover the piano black trim)
• Mikstore TPU gauge cluster protection film
• Lamin-X headlight and rear turn signal film

I headed back to the dealership mid-Dec for regular maintenance, and a quick chat with the sales rep revealed that my car would be showing up early January! Que mad dash to de-mod the car:

Check out this hack job by the dealership when they installed the front lip ☠

 

[MazdaGT_E]

Build threads are def a lost thing no ah days, I started one on here for my budget Gen 3 build, I miss the good ol days when I was a Honda kid scrolling forums for hours admiring peoples build threats, yours looks great so far! Im a g=huge sucker for the Gen 4's! cant wait to see more! and that lip hack job is exactly why i never go to dealerships

 

[louis110]

Build threads are def a lost thing no ah days, I started one on here for my budget Gen 3 build, I miss the good ol days when I was a Honda kid scrolling forums for hours admiring peoples build threats, yours looks great so far! Im a g=huge sucker for the Gen 4's! cant wait to see more! and that lip hack job is exactly why i never go to dealerships

I don't know how many hundreds/thousands of hours I've spent on forums like Zilvia, SON240SX, NASIOC, GTRCanada, etc learning and taking inspiration from those build threads. Some of the forum OGs still live in my mind as legends, and some of them still pop up as featured guests on YouTube channels the likes of Throttle House, Larry Chen, ThatDudeinBlue, Roads Untravelled. Always get me like

 

[JoeMini]

I kinda have one on the Toronto Mazda Forum
Started it when i upgraded the Cams in the Gen 2 MZR 2.0L
and everything else i have i come across or done or planning to do to the car since.


Any regrets on letting go the GTR?

 

[louis110]

I kinda have one on the Toronto Mazda Forum
Started it when i upgraded the Cams in the Gen 2 MZR 2.0L
and everything else i have i come across or done or planning to do to the car since.


Any regrets on letting go the GTR?

I might have an account on Toronto Mazda. I should definitely be more active on there, as I'm currently living in Ottawa/Gatineau and travel to Toronto often since that's where I'm originally from.

I don't regret letting go of the GTR, but I absolutely miss it. It was a passion project and got a lot of love at any car event I rolled into. I bought the car from Right Drive in Toronto and moved to Alberta with it. I built it to 450whp, lots of Gucci JDM parts, and unlimited smiles per hour. The GTR is a financially dangerous platform, as the aftermarket is quite literally endless. Alberta has an incredible car scene but the Skyline was so common there it kind of diluted the "specialness" of the car. You often felt pressured to keep modding to 'stay on top of the game' as it were but I got to the point where anymore mods would mean an extreme step to the next level (e.g. full bottom end upgrade, new diffs, upgraded transmission, etc). I was happier keeping it a relatively reliable street car.

Moving back to Ontario, the car was more rare and it was definitely a heavyweight at any car event I attended. It was still a lot of work and money to maintain the car and not have a panic attack every time it sounded or smelled different. There was always something to fix. I sold the car when prices started to skyrocket and it allowed me to put a down payment on my first house. In a way, I owe a lot to my old GTR: I made a ton of friends in the car scene, set me up for my current living situation, and I learned a lot about working on cars.

 

[louis110]

Make sure to wrap your pipes, fellas.

Be aware that the BMS heat shield slots into the MAF housing and the tolerance is tight! I'll have to remove some of the gold foil where the surfaces meet to allow it to fit.

 

[PFederighi]

Thanks for sharing!

GL with the wing and rear chassis brace install.

Looking forward to seeing more progress.

 

[MazdaGT_E]

I wish that heat tape stuck to my aFe box like that! looks DOPE!!

 

[Dar_T]

Wow that front bumper. I don't even understand what they did. It's just supposed to be mounted by tape on that side.

 

[louis110]

I wish that heat tape stuck to my aFe box like that! looks DOPE!!

Wow that front bumper. I don't even understand what they did. It's just supposed to be mounted by tape on that side.

A real hack job! There are tabs on the lip for self tapping screws in those spots. I guess you can put double sided tape on those spots, the entire underside of the lip is screwed to the under tray, in the wheel wheel, and double sided taped in the bottom grill area. There's also a spot you have to drill in the side of the car to mount the side skirts.

 

[SportIMazd3]

Sheesh, I love a good build thread! I miss these things, just like the others have mentioned. Looking forward to watching this build.

 

[louis110]

First look at the new car! The dealer received it off the truck on the 10th of Jan, and since then was sent off for rust proofing and tint/PPF. I hadn't seen the car or even pics from the dealer but the tint shop reached out to me and sent me some pics, the first time I laid eyes on her! I'll be popping by the shop tomorrow to install a few things before taking official delivery from the dealership 😅

Also got my summer tires in. As you can tell by the labels, Kumho ps71 in 235/40R18. The reviews online have been very mixed but it seems like an ok UHP tire for city driving. It was super cheap ($180CAD/tire from Quattro Tires) and I figured anything would be a huge upgrade over the shitty Turanza 440s that come with the car. The water channels are HUGE, probably not a great thing for dry traction.

 

[JoeMini]

First look at the new car! The dealer received it off the truck on the 10th of Jan, and since then was sent off for rust proofing and tint/PPF. I hadn't seen the car or even pics from the dealer but the tint shop reached out to me and sent me some pics, the first time I laid eyes on her! I'll be popping by the shop tomorrow to install a few things before taking official delivery from the dealership 😅
View attachment 289280

Also got my summer tires in. As you can tell by the labels, Kumho ps71 in 235/40R18. The reviews online have been very mixed but it seems like an ok UHP tire for city driving. It was super cheap ($180CAD/tire from Quattro Tires) and I figured anything would be a huge upgrade over the shitty Turanza 440s that come with the car. The water channels are HUGE, probably not a great thing for dry traction.
View attachment 289282
View attachment 289283

That is an inexpensive price for a UHP
Whats the treadwear 340?

 

[louis110]

That is an inexpensive price for a UHP
Whats the treadwear 340?

320, with a 95Y rating

 

[louis110]

I stopped by the tint shop today to get eyes on the new car and install some quick and easy parts. The guys had all the windows tinted already, and laid the PPF earlier in the day on the full front end, mirrors, and B-pillars.

They had a bunch of trim removed. The interior panels were taken off in order to remove the door handles for the PPF on all 4 doors, and the C-pillar trim was removed to get to take the GPS antenna off to wrap it in black.

They gave me a couple of hours to check out the car and install whatever I wanted. Easy stuff first - AutoExe front strut bar went in.

Then the gauge cluster TPU film applied (the plastic on the cluster scratches like a mofo). Learned my lesson on my old car when a simple microfibre dusting turned into a full orbital polisher job.

Applied the carbon interior skin from Mikstore, and I gotta say, the fitment is bang on, and the fake carbon does a real good job of looking like the real thing.

Forged carbon paddles from Mikstore as well. These are real CF.

I had also bought front and rear pre-cut tints from Latin-X. I bought their "tint" colour for the headlights which provided a very subtle change which I'm sure will please the local constabulary. Mazda 3 Hatchback (2019+ ) Headlight Covers

before

after

KB43VER

 

[louis110]

Got my Ultimate9 EVC-X throttle controller today, shipped in from Australia. I've seen throttle controllers on the market for a long time but never paid much attention to them. A guy from Australia reached out to me and preached about his EVC throttle controller and it was a pretty inexpensive mod so I figured, "what the heck".

This thing is tiny! About the size of a small match box. I opted for the more expensive EVC-X model, as it offers a few more bells and whistles over the standard version, such as a launch setting, full throttle lockout for anti-theft, OLED screen, and Bluetooth connectivity with your phone. Will report back with a review once installed.

Throttle Controllers - Our Range

 

[MazdaGT_E]

320, with a 95Y rating

what is the 95y rating?
I just got some Toyos with 500 Treadware and A temp A traction, I know the Y is a speed rating but whats the 95 before it?

lol Nevermind I found it, its been a while since i payed attention to that stuff 🤣 😬 🤷‍♀️