As I've been lurking here a lot lately, I thought it was time I finally put up some pics & info about my BA.

I've had it since 1999 (when it was 2 years old), it's just done 122k. It's a completely standard GXi, but unlike many owners I'm not going to mod the car: I'm keeping it absolutely standard (or as near to it as is practical), but I want to get it back to as near showroom condition as possible.

It's a solid car with very little rust: some minor spots of surface rust on the sills and on one of the doors, which I'm dealing with. The usual brown stuff underneath, and again some surface rust at the front under the radiator where the old rad was leaking, but the metal is still solid. It's been ultra-reliable in all weathers, and never had any engine trouble (although I have an occasional revs problem at the moment). The only significant issues have been the expected brakes, exhaust, bulbs & fuses, tyres etc. It usually sails through MOT, any fails in the last few years have been minor things like a delaminated number plate and some bulbs.

The only mods are alloy wheels. It came with high-spec alloys, I believe the first owner put them on - I've since had to replace them, as they started warping & leaking air around the rims. Currently I have some nice-looking but relatively inexpensive alloys (£300 for the set); I didn't want anything too flash as it would look out of place on an unmodded car (and as I spend a lot of time in London, I don’t want the hassle of risking them being nicked!) It does have a CD player, as the old Clarion cassette unit died several years back, but I guess that's a necessity these days, not really a mod. Slam panel cleaned & painted black, as it was rusting.

As an early '97 P-reg it seems to be pretty much post-Ford, although for some reason it has a pre-Ford spoiler with the fittings for a third brake light (although as a post-Ford it came with a high-level third light as standard). The spoiler’s not in good nick paint-wise, so I bought a good replacement off Pinkers recently, which I'll put on while I refurb the original and decide whether to keep it.

The plan is to gradually start refurbing or replacing key mechanical parts where available, on the basis that by now a lot of them will be in need of it: new shocks & springs first come to mind, anti-roll bar bushes, etc. It passes the "bounce" test but the ride is definitely getting rough! Obviously "if it ain't broke don't fix it" – and as my daily driver I can’t have it off the road more than a day or so – but if I want to keep it on the road I need to anticipate eventual failures in some parts, and get them changed before they break at the worst possible time.











(Heat shield not painted white, it's just bright sunlight!)

Current jobs list in roughly the intended order:
Finish sorting out minor rust on sills before autumn/winter - rust gone, anti-rust/ undercoats done
Remove new rad, deal with rust on frame below it caused by leaky prev rad, put this one back Rad replaced with brand new one, June 2016, rust on front crossmember cleaned up
Oil & filter change
Replace rear ARB bushes (not touching the front ones, have been warned they're a b*****!) Replaced March 2017 along with suspension
Clean & prep hub/strut connection for eventual shocks replacement (solid with rust at the mo - need to see if bolts/nuts will come off) Not done before suspension replaced 2017
Start getting parts (cashflow willing) - replace springs etc. as and when possible New shocks (GH), springs (Monroe), top mounts (Lemforder & Ashika) March 2017
Get cat replaced - done July 2014
Get timing belt replaced (still have 20k miles before critical)
Replace aerial - done August 2015
Replace front right wiper linkage (dying) - done April 2016 & again Jul 2017
Swap spoiler - repaint original - respray ongoing July 2015
Deal with minor dents & dings - ongoing July 2015
Remove black plastic exterior parts where possible & re-spray ongoing July 2015
Proper clean & polish, sort minor scuffs on alloys (mostly caused by careless garages where work being done )

That lot should keep me going for a year or so ...

Hello Serina, I too have an immaculate almost standard car. It is an Intrigue in metallic blue, post Ford. The only mod I have made is cream leather seats which give it a certain vintage charm. The car was almost perfect when I bought it two and a half years ago but I scraped the bumper on a wall then ran over a hidden rock which dented a cill and damaged a flute. I have recently repaired these defects so the car is back to almost perfect.

There can be few such eye catching, cheap to run, cheap to buy cars out there. A classic for the price of an Escort. It would be interesting to know what you felt about your car when you chose it all those years ago. Why did you choose it? Did it look smart and sexy back then or was it just another saloon like Escort or Astra?

In the early 90's I knew someone with a 626 which was still going at 250k, so I was impressed with Mazdas technically. Then the 323 BA came out and I was obsessed with getting one for a number of years but couldn't afford it. I worked for both Ford and Vauxhall in those years, so I saw their cars every day - they were so boring, the Mazda just stood out visually. Getting a better paid job coincided with being desperate to get rid of the diesel Peugeot 306 I'd ended up with (ugh!) so one lunch break I gave in and went down to Mazda, and this one was just coming in as a part-ex so I bought it on the spot. Never regretted it

The guy who traded it in bought a Honda CRV instead - I still think he was crazy

Chasing rust today, while the weather's dry.



Below: Rust is almost all on the rail, rather than the sill. The metal's still solid though, hopefully all this will grind straight off. I uncovered all this today, beforehand it was just a few bubbles in the coating, which I've been peeling off.



Below: slightly further along the rail. The black piece of plastic there: what is it? A drain hole of some sort? Does it come out easily so I can respray? (Don't want to try until I know, in case I break it)

I would guess that that is a vent

But if you stick a penknife blade up it, it seems to be solid

Anyway, most of that rust ground off as planned Have KuRusted the rest. Working my way along the sill dealing with anything at all that looks like bubbling paint. A few tiny spots which I'm eliminating, but all in all it looks like I've caught anything potentially serious before it turned nasty. Hopefully ... !

Will finish that off tomorrow, then I guess I'll have to rub everything down and think about undercoating.

I'm pretty sure that that is the blanking grommet for the little skirts that you can get for the car

they pop out and are replaced with the fittings - which have a threaded hole in to screw the skirts to

Light dawns! Actually I did wonder why there weren't any at the front end.

What this one for, then? One on each sill

so you can squirt some waxoyl type stuff inside?

OK, stupid question time -

Here's the end of one of the new rear drop links (thanks Probe Store! )



The black plastic thing in the middle - I'm assuming this was just to protect the rubber during storage/transit?

Just checking ... !

S

Correct!! looks nice

Thanks! She's hanging on in there. This particular BA was definitely not a "Friday afternoon job".

Might be a little while until I can fit the new drop links anyway, still trying to get the first nut off I'd been soaking it with the "3 in 1" oil brand sold by Halfords, but it's doing nothing on this.



A friend just put me on to Plus Gas - fortunately my dad had a can so I'm soaking it in that for a bit. Fortunately I have three days in which to get this done before I have to use the car again

Fingers crossed!

Good luck. You may have to cut the bolt though...
Make sure to fix the bolt with an allen / hex key, otherwise it will rotate with the nut.

welcome to the single most frustrating job on the BA, the nuts are always an absolute nightmare to remove in my experience so far, an allen key suposedly fits in the hex in order to stop it turning while unbolting it, always rounds off though....
im afraid its a frustrating afternoon in store cutting through the nut, plenty of swearing and scuffed knuckles

sorry, i know thats not what you were wanting to hear

use a grinder, I always do...

Cheers all - wasn't aware of the allen key thing - thanks for the heads up.

Scuffed knuckles - yep! After skinning most of them during my first attempt with the spanner I donned a pair of gardening gloves. They won't stop me smashing my elbow on the front of the wheel arch but they will stop me leaving any more skin there...

I'll see if Plus Gas will do the job, and whacking it with a hammer & wood block, but if no joy then it's grinder time.

smurf182: no worries, I went into this knowing that the job is a b*d!

Ever tried changing the front sway bar bushes?

Spent the afternoon killing rust on the back offside wheel arch. Fortunately it was just a few small paint bubbles - all the arches on the car are sound so far - so I sanded down the whole lip underneath and Ku-Rusted the lot to be on the safe side (I didn't nuke it from orbit, although that is the only way to be sure).

This corner not doing so well, small piece rusted off since I last looked at it, but fingers crossed I've caught the rest in time



Masked up the back of the car and undercoated:





Had a break while the paint dried and contemplated my eco-friendly mod!





Result! And no overspray. First masking & spraying job I've done on the car so I'm pretty chuffed that I didn't mess it up.





Before spraying I sanded off the sill and rail as much as possible as well, and Ku-rusted what I couldn't grind off. At least that should hold back the worst of it for a while - the point of the exercise was really just to secure it before the winter. I'll do the top coat etc. and tidy it up when I've finished working along the sill.

I will need to get underneath properly at some point and sort out the inner side of the rail as well.

Second day of rust chasing. A bit of this to sort out:



... and very glad I dealt with this sooner rather than later The anti-corrosion layer around the hole just peeled off when I attacked it with a penknife:





Loose stuff ground off & the rest blasted with Kurust:



4 year old nephew's contribution:



All ground down and everything within 40 miles masked off:





All done:



(marks on the door above are an illusion - it's just brown anti-rust paint that escaped from some work along the inside of the door, it's not really rusted to **** )

Unused flute holes temporarily sealed with gaffa:



Time for a wash:



Managed to polish & wax one side. Was losing the light or I'd have got a load more done

Last day of work on this sill.

Started off in the engine bay, though - been meaning to start tidying it up for months, get some cable sheathing on there:



Took off the corner mudguard and loosened the inner ones - plastic connectors all over the place, whoever designed this at Mazda must have been on acid (or the Krypton Factor):



Better not lose any of this lot:



HOW MUCH EARTH CAME OUT OF THAT SILL? Enough to grow freaking tomatoes, that's how much. Oh, and some cobwebs. And a live snail



Mess:



No more mess!



Longer job than yesterday, nearly ran out daylight. Will need to start garaging soon, if I want a good day's work done

Looking good! Worth all the effort to keep it on the road hopefully you don't find any majorly rusty bits! Though if you do, I have a welder and some sheet metal

Drop links - spray plusgas etc and let soak for a while...then slap an impact gun on the nut for a while to break the seal, then get a good hex key in there (or spanner on it for the other type) and go for it

That's far too much effort Marc...

For the droplinks, fire up the grinder and just cut through them

I've been focusing on the sills this week rather than the drop links (as I have no garage available at the moment I have to make the most of the good weather!) but when that's done I'll give it a second afternoon trying to get them off without cutters.

After that - it's grinder time, or I'll have the new ones sitting in my boot forever!

S

Worst case scenario, leave them in your boot until you come up my way and I'll cut them off I don't remember the last time I unbolted a droplink

Actually I do, it was Tuesday, because they were only 6 months old, and it was late at night so I didn't want to fire up the grinder

I can't remember the last time I had to resort to cutting one off...I bet it takes me less time and work than you think

Man that eco friendly pic is best . I did similar thing there just sprayed there with special anti stone hitting rubbered black thing. Forgot how it calls thou... I sugest u use that protection there and after u can spray normal paint on top of it

That looks very cool - what is it, anti-stone chip stuff? I want to put some protection on the sills before I paint them again, but at the moment I'm not sure what. Zinc paint/spray of some sort, maybe?

Suggestions welcome

S

I'd just use a proper primer on the bare metal then some normal paint, preferably same color as the car, and keep it all properly waxed.

Arne

The problem is, I've had to take off that textured paint layer on the sill - and it won't look brilliant if that textured area is dotted with repaired, smooth patches, even if they are repainted the same colour. I've used grey anti-corrosion undercoat so far. I was thinking of using some textured metal paint, then painting over with 3L.

Anyone else gone down that route?

S