Unbury the information in there and turn it into articles, whether it's on KLZE swaps, how to get the suspension dialed in, or a buildup for Chump Car or LeMons. A good set of articles and links to "discuss this on our forums" can go a long way.
^ Definitely!!
I REALLY prefer the 'knowledge center' style on turbo-mopar.com versus the 'faq thread' style found in so many places.
When I saw the thread title I immediately thought of mx6.com before I clicked on it.
I have been a member there since '00, and I am also saddened by that forum's fate. It used to be a pretty good forum, and I am affected more than most because like you I am a first-gen guy.
The first gen turbo cars are hard to find period. The 2nd gen cars can be found but nice ones hardly exist anymore (None above $800 within 400 miles of me on CL!)
I wish that mx6.com did a better job of archiving knowledge so that if someone stumbles upon a decent example and pops up on the forum, they can hit the ground running and not have to wade through so much garbage.
This issue of forum death affects nearly all semi-obscure 80s and early 90s cars now, as has been mentioned. I guess only time will tell if we one day see a larger interest and appreciation of this era of automobiles. The 80s are my favorite time period for cars so it's pretty depressing that I can't easily find decent examples of any car I am really interested in. If I liked '57 Chevys it would be much easier on me.
Almost forgot about this.
Matt, i was waiting for you to chime in on this subject, and i'm glad you brought up the idea of an MX6 Challenge car, since that was what i was thinking would be the easiest/cheapest way to actually breathe some life into the place.
My car is still staying strictly to Challenge budget for $2011, but let's be serious. The 1st gens are a lost cause. There aren't many of them left. (Besides mine, i've noticed a whopping 4 others in my LIFE.)
The second wind, if one happens, is going to happen with the 2nd gens, if people can notice how much power one can make for peanuts if they're a little handy, and how well the car actually handles. The fact that they look pretty good is a nice bonus. Also, they're CHEAP. A decent 2nd gen V6 can be had for $1500 or less sometimes.
The point on all the good info being "buried" is a good one. (And it IS buried. I often find myself reading threads from 2003.)
I don't mind sifting through all of it myself, since i love to read, and i love finding lost "nuggets" that might help me down the road. I guess i'll talk to the admin on there and see if we can start another section, even call it the "Nuggets Section" or something and start unearthing everything.
James, it sounds like you and i are in the same boat. 90% of my car lusts lie in cars made in the 80s through the early 90s, and because they aren't Hondas, it puts everything in a weird spot. This is also exacerbated by the fact that most people buy cars in that time period because they're CHEAP, not necessarily because they like them, and they don't want to spend money on them.
Who are you on those forums, by the way? I'd guess it's obvious by now that i'm "concealer404."
Anyways, i appreciate all the input thus far, i'm going to take some of it back there and see what we can do. There's enough of a supply of these cars out there that it doesn't make sense for the forum to completely die off.
ProbeTalk is going strong, but it doesn't seem to have the same knowledge buried within it.
red5_02 wrote:
This Car Free for Each New Member!
More pictures of gratuitous burn-outs.
RE > 93celicaGT2, My name over there is antiSUV. I haven't been an active poster for a long time, but back in the heyday I was on there quite a bit.
I haven't driven my MX6 in a few years. It's sitting at my parents house rotting away under a cover, unfortunately. I do plan to restore it though, and this thread has re-inspired me to get to it quicker than I had planned. I have a lot of NOS parts squirreled away, including complete sets of both the '88-'89 GT wheels, and the '90-'92 GT wheels, still in their Mazda boxes.
I really miss my MX6 and my other GD body cars (I've had a few.) There's something special about the way they feel and drive which is missing from everything else I try. I had an FC RX-7 for a couple years. It was a really nice example, owned previously by a Mazda Master Mechanic, but aside from the fun of RWD shenanigans, it's actual driving enjoyment was not anything like my MX6. The MX6 rode far far better on the highway, was faster, more comfortable, got far better mileage, and I think it even handled better.
For the last 7 years I've been building an FD RX-7, which I have yet to drive. When it is finally done and I get to drive it around for a while, it will be interesting to see if I still want my MX6 back.
James
Oh, and my brother has a nice GC (83-87) body 626 GT which I am hoping to buy from him some day. Those are another really nice 80s car that is lost to time. Woe be unto the GC 626 fan, you will live a lonely existence. Nice ones are really enjoyable, but it's hardly worth mentioning 'cause you aren't going to find one.
It really comes down to support. When many model-specific message boards were created the net was fairly new and the cars were 5-years to 10-years old. Now these same cars are 20+ years old. More disturbing is that the support for cars which are now 10-years old is not the same as it was for there older brethren a decade ago.
The answer may be boards such as this. Stop and think about just how eclectic the collection if cars is which we discuss. Consider the diversity of the participants. We have newbie teen, those who came of age during the sport compact days and those of us in our 40s and 50s who came of age during the 70s and 80s, yet we all get along and share many common tastes. I like this board better than any other board and I am a member of several. The depth of technical knowledge and historical perspectives are unsurpassed by any other board of which I have been apart.
JamesMcD wrote: Oh, and my brother has a nice GC (83-87) body 626 GT which I am hoping to buy from him some day. Those are another really nice 80s car that is lost to time. Woe be unto the GC 626 fan, you will live a lonely existence. Nice ones are really enjoyable, but it's hardly worth mentioning 'cause you aren't going to find one.
Heh, i actually found an 86 626 GT Coupe here a couple months ago for $500 with what was probably a blown motor. Body and interior were in incredible shape, though. The thought crossed my mind to swap the drivetrain from my MX6 over into it for some crazy go nuts speed, since the GC is a bit lighter, but decided it would be too much work, and the aftermarket is dry enough for the 1g MX6 in the first place, i didn't want to mess with an even older one. 
I agree with you 110% about your sentiments on the 1g MX6, though. They just feel so... solid and connected, even though mine has had a VERY hard life. I wouldn't have ever expected something that i got for $900 to feel like this, and be so easy to work on.
It feels EXTREMELY similar to my main project Celica, actually. And that's a good thing.
I continue to state that of the four cars I've owned, my '88 626 turbo was easily the best of them. Its replacement, my '99 Olds Intrigue, is a joke by comparison.
Yeah, I saw that white GC coupe on CL (I think that's the one you're talking about). If I had a place to stash it I would have picked it up. There's a write up on MX6.com on how to convert those cars to GD suspension & 5-lugs. If it's still around and you have a place for it, you should re-consider getting it.
Pres589, I've been around these cars for a long time (since '96, when I got my first one), and I've never ever heard any previous owner say a single bad thing about them. Everyone always says "oh, I had one of those once, best car I ever had." Or something similar.
You just can't go wrong with them. I really haven't felt "at home" driving anything since I had to mothball my MX6.
Well, mine had transmission issues, 5th gear syncro problems. And I'm not really a big fan of front wheel drive, these cars have 'impressive' torque steer. But the AWD variant we never got in the states is supposed to have a much more shallow trunk to deal with the mounting of the rear diff so while a BMW 3-series fighter with RWD would have been an impressive package, I understand why they're wrong wheel drive.
The trans issues keep me away, lovely car but having the trans worked twice (the second time by a not so competent shop) left a bad taste in my mouth. Otherwise, yes, a wonderful car.
I would imagine that your transmission had been abused in a past life. My 2nd gear synchro did wear out around 200k miles so I had the trans rebuilt, but I never had any other transmission problems. I do agree that the transmissions are the weak link when one tries to make large amounts of power in these cars. The engines are capable of making amazing torque so breaking a trans in a highly modified car happens sometimes. The torque steer thing gets bandied about a lot, but I've found that when all the motor mounts and suspension bushings are replaced, the torque steer makes an exit. Most of the torque steer complaints come from people with older cars (and all of them are older, these days.)
With filled mounts, new bushings, and good tie rods/ball joints, my torque steer has all but disappeared. Yeah, it still tries to hunt a little bit, but it's not the "Oh look! A TREE!!!!" kindof torque steer that it was when i first bought it.
The upside is that these parts seem to be dirt cheap for these cars.
The demise of any specific car forum is a fact of life once production ends. I mean, come on, if a million cars are made, and 10,000 people bother to visit the forum, five years after production stops, the type of person interested in the car changes. No longer are they new buyers, they're ones who can't afford new cars and have picked up one used, which means their budget for doing anything is likely much smaller than the original forum menbers.
Fast forward another five years and it's even worse. Now the cars have a lot of miles on them and are getting unreliable, and a sizable percentage have been wrecked. That original 10,000 base is now perhaps 500 - it's inevitable and "simply is." If you like the car, great, but if it's important that you be part of a big group, I'm afraid it's time to find something new that has a bigger audience base.
Even classic car forums are doomed to die over time. As the cars get wrecked, the former owner has no reason to continue posting - it's just the way it is.
kb58, I think the forum time scale may be a bit different. The new buyers tend to be making car payments and not have that much money to throw mods at the cars, so most of the people are going to do little more than commute with the cars and wash them. The peak is likely to happen once they're cheap enough that an enthusiast can buy one in cash (or at least not a $600 a month payment), but still plentiful enough that you can find them in good condition.
Yep, these things are still EVERYWHERE in good shape for $2000 or less. They've got a ways to go before they are rare enough to the point that nobody has them, or nobody replaced them when they crash them.
The problem is getting those people that own them to join and be interested. Or getting the people that don't know anything about them and dismiss them, educated.
There is a lot of performance for the money in these things.
Having been on the MX6.com scene for... about a decade, with very few exceptions there's been absolutely nothing new posted for a few years. Its a lot the same questions with the same answers. Gavin's posts, since becoming a moderator, have gotten fewer and fewer, which is a shame since he was the only other person on the board other than myself that seemed at all interested in autox. the vast majority seem to be caught up in drag racing or insistant on putting in jap spec equipment. I've been relatively inactive for the last few years, more reading on occasion and trying to put out bits of info. usually to be blasted by my dedication to a natural asparaited platform ( to find me, just look for gtdreamdxbudget. im in there lots of places) . As much as I love my MX6, theres really just no demand for the car or additional info on it short of anyone doing something unusual. the majority of the cars built arent worth saving, those of us that have saved 1 or 2 have been either active for a long time, or dont need the help. The kids that are buying what few mx6's that are left tend to tear them up without caring. All of these reasons are why im far more active in my scca forums, and the local mazda owners club forum, where i'm one of 2 mx6 owners and the only owner of a 1st gen. It was a great car, one not often seen, with a loyal following.. that is small and dwindling as the car's slowly die/get hit/trashed by the newly licenced kid.
In reply to JamesMcD:
wow, i remember you. come to think of it, i think i was reading a post by you a few weeks ago and though perhaps you'd just gotten tired of the mazda.
were there differences in the 88-89 and 90-92 wheels for the GTs?
i have a pair of the 89 wheels in the mazda boxes from when i bought a gt from a close friend, but kept them when i sold the GT. both the best sale i ever made and the worst sale best part.. paid 100$, new ( not nearly, but NEW) yokahama's, all records of 3k mile oil changes, strait, clean well maintained interior . sold-$1500 3 years later worst part.. i wish i'd never sold it!
( oddly, this particular GT, bought new by gary, was the reason my father bought my mx6 DX new, i inherited the DX, and bought the GT from gary after my 626 got tboned by a buick since he couldnt find anyone that wanted to buy it )
In reply to zoomin6:
Yeah, i don't see the 1G community going anywhere fast.
Like i said, the future lies with the 2Gs.
Anyways, we're doing some work behind the scenes right now that should help out a bit. First step is digging up all that information that got posted 7+ years ago and get it out in the open again, organizing it.
Next step? CHALLENGE.
now if only i could get them to realize that not everything has to have a turbo to run great.. in a dragrace, many of the gt's on mx6.com would likely kill me... then lets go into the mountains where i play ( then i'd have to worry mainly about gavin and a select few others )
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