Wanting to buy an Astina
 

gotta start off by saying welcome mate! the BA is certainly the pick of the models in my opinion :P im not sure when they started with the f-series gearbox but pretty sure it is late 95. i picked up my 95 model with 120k on it for 9000, so u could probably push a bit lower for price.

the 4 would be better imo also, as it is easier to change spark plugs and you will also see slightly better fuel consumption. i say slight because after babying mine for about 2 months it didnt get below 9.8L/100km. it probably isnt too bad but it wasnt wat i expected.

in terms of mods you have certainly come to the right place, there is a wealth of information on this forum, just search!!

i have 6 1/2 components in the front of mine. just made up a mdf baffle cut around the original 5x7 and cut holes for the woofer & tweeter. took about 1/2 hour and i have never used a saw b4!!! i am not sure about running cable but it really shouldnt differ from any other car i imagine

hope i helped

hey Grt,
welcome to the club

what yr is your telstar? i started of driving an 83 626 which was pretty much identical to a telstar of the same yr :)

anyway i ran 4 gauge along the passenger side, and rca through the centre too, both were quite easy and unnoticable too.

front speakers are 5x7 but can easierly be fitted with 6" as many on here have done
rear door for the hatch is 6 or 6.5 and the rear shelf on the hardtop hold 6x9s.

Thanks guys,

yea the tely is an 85... the 83 626 is the short nosed one (i think) so it would look a lot like a tely, which have the shorter nose than a 626.

Father used to work at a mazda dealer when i was really little... so i've grown up drooling over mazdas (30x's, 'stinas and mx5's mainly) family hasnt ever had a mazda during my life except the tely(which isnt a real mazda... povo pack ford.... with some mazda bits! lol), which i pried the keys to from dad about 2 years ago.


Yea did the 6x9 thing in the telstar, looking at 6.5's in the doors.... Priced a set of 2 ohm infinity splits, that i think would do quite nicely in the front.
will initially just use my current sub (10" pioneer in a badly designed, store bought ported box).

I've learnt the hard way to research heavily before doing anything, just off the sub, I paid through the nose for the box (cheapest price around here still) and then i found out a sealed box would have been cheaper.. and sounded better (compared to a dodge job ported).

Considering going down to the auctions, ofcourse firstly to scope it out, then eventually to buy.

just love the look of the BA, i was about 7 when they came out, and dad brought one home one night... i think that was the beginning lol.


Any things on the BA to watch out for in particular?

gotta love how jap cars dont have the hood lining start to hit ya on the head when the car hits 10 years old!! hehe.

cheers.

things to watch out for r the o-ring on the distributor leaking oil. look for oil coming out of the distributor. tappet cover gaskets are also a problem, check for oil coming from under the tappet cover. about $60 + labour if u cant do it urself is all u will pay to fix these. other than that it is common problems with front wheel drives like wheel bearings and cv shafts etc. thats pretty much it. if it is cared for it'll be sweet

ahh tappet cover gaskets... biggest problem tely has too. Mazda stopped making them for the GC series 626/AR Telstar, so ya got to get aftermarket ones... that dont seal properly.

Are most Astina's still getting around on the original Clutch and CVs?

just curious, my Telstar has had the CVs done recently (280 thou on original CVs isnt bad! driveshafts, (oh that was a complicated process... **grumbles at dealer not know how to read part numbers**)

I think the only thing im gonna miss about my telstar is the exhaust, 85 cars dont have to have a catalytic converter, so basically i have no restrictions in the exhaust, and the muffler is straight through (well.. you can look through it and see the piping on the other side, but its technically not a straight through coz its offset), i've noticed the astina's snakes around a fair bit.

I've gotta go get a manual licence first, (I've only got Auto's, but i've got my test booked for within the next fortnight). After that If i get my finance approved ill be going shopping for a meana not necessarily greena astina :) May have to wait till April though... :( (talked to a finance person thingummy and they said It would be easier after the probation period for my traineeship is up)

The only thing that really attracted me to this 'stina at the car dealer was the fact that its pretty much immaculate (though the seats seem to be out of a BG SP, could be wrong though), and the fact that its only got 74000 on the clock, for a 12 year old car, thats 6200 a year :O thats about 120 a week.

Talked to some family members, a family member is now head of a used car dealership.... so i might be able to get a deal done :D

i replaced my cvs at 130000. i could have gotten away with just the boots but i could get the full assemblies cheaper.

Clutch will probably go around 150,000. Enginewise, look for smoke, and listen for HLA noise on startup. CVs are a random thing - i went turbo and still never broke one in 180thou of driving.

BA11P1 (94-mid95 1.8) have a stronger gearbox and bigger driveshafts, than BA11P2 and P3s (mid95-98 1.8)

Easiest way to pick a P1 from a P2 is black doorshandles on the P1
Easiest way to pick a P2 from a P3 is by the black interior with no door pockets

I'd say have a look at eBay, as there always seems to be cheap ones popping up there.