my new project i am making in to a daily 323gtx

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dislexicdime
Posts: 652
Joined: 09 Aug 2004 18:26
Location: tigard oregon

my new project i am making in to a daily 323gtx

Post by dislexicdime »

well after daily driving the 1200 for the last 6 months I decided I needed a better winter daily driver . The 1200 is fun and handles great in the rain but being pushed around on a windy day when its pouring at 530 in the morning gets a little old.
So I started looking for a 4x4 720 and I found one I wanted in my price range. I was all set to buy it when city hunter calls me up and says! hay you want that 323 the I bought that other day I have too many cars and want to buy a evo. I said hell yes!

So rewind to about a month a go.
I was searching Craig's list and I came a cross a mazda 323 gtx for 1000 and i wanted it so bad but had no cash at that . I had just dropped some money to get the sr in my dime and was broke after that.
Shaun saw the car and i went with him to look at it. we get there and the guys tells us the issues with the car and how it was his buddys car for years and he had bought it to use to drive back and forth to the mountain(mt.hood) then he tells us the issues it has. The front right wheel bearing is making noise and it has no 2nd 4th or revers but you can click it in to gear in the trans but not with the shifter. So we take it for a drive get a block a way from the house and hit the dif lock button (its pouring rain out side at this point) we pull up to the stops sign with the diff's locked and he punch's it we both sink back in to our seats look at each other and go holy shit! neither of us was expecting it to pull like that. we turn around i tell him if you dont buy it loan me the cash and i will buy it. so he purchased the car and it sat in the drive way for a month. Now i own a 323gtx

there where only 5000 of these maid in 88 and 89 only 1243 where released in the us. mazda had to build 5000 of these to be able to race the gtx in group A rally. the car has 1.6 dual cam turbo charged 4 cylinder weigh's 2500 pounds and is 4 wheel drive

then i was poking around on the net trying to find who used to own this car and i found a guy who owned it a while back and pm'd jim and he sent mr this message
. I haven't owned that car in a while. Before I sold it it got new factory pistons, rings, ported head. It also had a modified ECU so I could run 14 psi, with a hybrid turbo. T bird intercooler, manual boost controller. I Think I put a walbro in that car, I've owned a couple GTX's and can't remember everything about all of them. I think that one got tokikos from a golf in the front and mr2 turbo inserts in the rear, ground controll coil overs. Short shifter. And ???? call me if you want

so my dad came over yesterday and he helped me figure out that one of the shift cables is shredded that's why i cant get in to the down gears in the gtx . so once i get the bearings and shifter cabkes fixed and register it i will be daily driving it . it almost pulls as hard as my 510.



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L series only have one header!

i need another garage mine is full of part's
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okayfine
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Re: my new project i am making in to a daily 323gtx

Post by okayfine »

GTX is a bad-ass little motor. Nice buy.
Because when you spend a silly amount of money on a silly, trivial thing that will help you not one jot, you are demonstrating that you have a soul and a heart and that you are the sort of person who has no time for Which? magazine. – Jeremy Clarkson
dislexicdime
Posts: 652
Joined: 09 Aug 2004 18:26
Location: tigard oregon

Re: my new project i am making in to a daily 323gtx

Post by dislexicdime »

thanks. i cant believe how hard it pulls. cant wait till i can get my hands on a shifter cable set so i can use 2nd gear
L series only have one header!

i need another garage mine is full of part's
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S15DET
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Location: Waxhaw, NC

Re: my new project i am making in to a daily 323gtx

Post by S15DET »

Score, very cool car. I love the design of that strut tower brace. These have a real following, I'd love to own one.
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Byron510
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Joined: 01 Jul 2003 23:06
Location: Maple Ridge, BC

Re: my new project i am making in to a daily 323gtx

Post by Byron510 »

There is one in the back of the my shop -it too has been through a couple of transmissions and has been used for years as a TSD rally car. This is the only mas production AWD small sporty car produced in any real production numbres to have a true torque split planetary center differential. And I don;t think the transmissions were weak, it's just that most of these see hard use and with AWD, something has to give. Ask anyone who's driven a Subi hard for prolonged periods of time - likely gone through a trans or two as well. Such is life - cool car thought.

Byron
Love people and use things,
because the opposite never works.
dislexicdime
Posts: 652
Joined: 09 Aug 2004 18:26
Location: tigard oregon

Re: my new project i am making in to a daily 323gtx

Post by dislexicdime »

So is the car yours ? Or are you working on it for some one?
This trans seems good i just have to wait for the new control cables to get here. I was looking in to the bp trans but as much work as it is to swap the trans I might as well put the 1.8 in. so i think i will just drive it how it is. it maid it this far.
L series only have one header!

i need another garage mine is full of part's
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Byron510
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Joined: 01 Jul 2003 23:06
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Re: my new project i am making in to a daily 323gtx

Post by Byron510 »

dislexicdime wrote:So is the car yours ? Or are you working on it for some one?
No, the car belongs to my shop mate. It's a bit of a shame really - it hasn't moved in at least 4 years.

Byron
Love people and use things,
because the opposite never works.
dislexicdime
Posts: 652
Joined: 09 Aug 2004 18:26
Location: tigard oregon

Re: my new project i am making in to a daily 323gtx

Post by dislexicdime »

score one point for me finally got around to installing my cables. It is nice having all gears. Now I just need to figure out what the grinding noise is. I can't tell if it is the savvier warped and gouged rear rotors or a wheel bearing, I like how the guy we picked the car up from said he just replaced all the brakes and rotor's. the front's are new but the rears are jacked. I am hoping one of the hub's are not toast if it is a bad bearing
L series only have one header!

i need another garage mine is full of part's
dislexicdime
Posts: 652
Joined: 09 Aug 2004 18:26
Location: tigard oregon

Re: my new project i am making in to a daily 323gtx

Post by dislexicdime »

well got the car together drove it to work last week it did amazing in the snow and slush. The car has a rumble at about 35 to 40 mph So I went to slowdat's to figure out what it was. jacked the car up, rear wheel bearings are good set the car down after checking out the rear and noticed that the front driver side spindle nut was un staked. I jacked up the front torqued it to spec. and the bearing was toast. So I paid phil a visit at work bought some bearings pulled the front hub apart and found this

this is the part of the hub where the out side bearing rides. The measurement in the pic is in spec
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this is where the inside bearing sits notice the difference
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The bearing just flopped around in there.
From what I can tell The previous owner found the problem and instead of fixing it threw a bearing in it and sold it to us.

So I got a used hub pressed it all together and fixed that issue. unfortunately i still have a rumble at 35. I think it is the tires from sitting for so long in the same spot.

On another note i got it side ways on a tight right hander today and it feel's weird having the rear kick out and the front pull forward at the same time
L series only have one header!

i need another garage mine is full of part's
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