Then in Feb 2006... Now in September 2009...
Short version: Liked it, bought it, f**ked it, fixed it, started one little mod then went totally nuts and built it up slowly. Idk just like the car...
This is my car. Its a 1989 Ford Telstar TX5 which is based on the GD Mazda 626 and shares pretty much everything bar some of the panels. Out of all the GD cars the liftback/sporthatch ones are the best looking I reckon although there are a few coupes that look as good. This one was built here in Auckland New Zealandand registered on the 20th of December 1989. I got it in feb 2006 for $600. It was your usual standard 17 year old car with 230,000 km, scratched paint yet pretty straight body, crappy suspension and tired old 230 km clutch. I didnt really care cos dohc ones are hard to get and I always wanted one ever since I was 6 when I saw a white and grey GT which I really liked.
Many of these cars are sohc 1.8 or 2.0, 8 or 12 valve carby and efi grocery getters with anything from 67 kw (90 hp) upwards - a few of them like this one have the gold top 2 litre dohc 16 valve motor FE3N aka FE-Dohc from 109kw (145hp) upwards, which is available in Europe and Japan (we get the dohcs cos 90% of cars here are from Japan, whatever they get we get). Australia and America get 2.2 sohc injected n/a and turbo versions. The turbo versions have the same amount of power as the low compression fe dohc makes in n/a form (depending on cams). I love this engine. As long as you have oil and water it will go hard all day long. It sounds amazing has brilliant response revs very freely and has a mountain of torque. Possibly my favourite N/A engine. I wonder what a turbo one is like. I would try but its a daily driver so economy is the reason I hold back. It still goes well without it. And sounds beautiful with the angry cam roar. Love it.
In late 2002 both Ford and Mazda released new cars once again based on each other mechanically called the Mondeo and the Mazda 6 although now they dont share any of the bodywork. New badge and engineering but underneath it all echoes some slight recollection from almost 20 years earlier. I have driven them and like them but as good as they are I just like my old Telly better.
This is how it was back in 2006, all stock down to the paper air filter. Only exception is I took the factory tape player out cos it was broken and chewed tapes and didnt get reception it was just a useless ornament.
Page 1 [Overview] Page 2 [Mods and repairs] Page 3 [Mods pt II] Page 4 [Mods pt III] Page 5 [paint] Page 6 [Bodykit] Page 7 [Engine rebuild] Page 8 [Engine swap] Page 9 [final result and future plans]
