Canadian 1988 Mazda 323 GT Owner looking for answers..

[ehwol]

Hello folks,

I also have a 2003 msp but i'm leaving her bone stock for now, frankly, not to impressed with all the slight flaws, but very impressed by the overall handling and solidness at 230 km she give me..

But right now I'm focusing on getting my '88 323 running and driving the way I'd like her to..

Mods on her have all been DIY and free or junkyard parts, cept for the k&n filter..

-3" alum mandrel bent intake with huge k&n cone.. I have the cone located in a front compartment with a heat shield protecting it from heatsink off the turbo/engine/rad, I also have some 1.5" plumbing from the lower lip on the grill, forcing cold air into the air filter compartment thru a hole saw cut 1.6" hole and sealed.
-mx6/626 gt intercooler with apropriate plumbing and reflective heat wrap
-2.5" down pipe from the stock turbo into a 3" magnaflow cat followed buy 3" exhaust and a straight thru a straight thru 3" borla muffler
-boost and a/f guages

without boost control she'll hit the 11 psi boost cut at maybe 3000-4000 rpm she'll lean out at about 13-14 psi at about 4500-5000 rpm so i know there's quite a bit of room for boost, so i'll be getting a basic remapped replacement ecu and an basic manual boost control unit to make her hit 16 psi..

I was running it fine by watching the AF ratio and never had any knock or probs.. some guy shmucked the front end up and the guys who replaced the rad either feckered up the rad install and overheated her bad, or some kid or grown up took her for a test drive and didn't watch the AF ratio and blew the head gasket..

So anyways, i'm just about to untertake the headgasket and do the ecu upgrade at the same time as I'm sure the ocaisional leaning was partial cause to the blown HG..

I'll be using a Felpro replacement gasket as reccomended from others, and while i have the head off i'll be doing as much port matching/polishing as possible on the intake side..

I'm an aprentice mech and haven't had a ton of time with tuning and rodding cars, i'm still stuck in the basics at work, it's hard to find a performance shop to work at.. But I'm pretty confident in doing the work myself..

I'm looking in the future to rebuild the tranny and maybe look to put a taller 5th gear in her for long bouts of 160km + cruising.. 1/4 mile and the ocaisional stoplight race only lasts to 4th gear in most cases anyways..

And the other most important mod will be a tire/wheel and suspension upgrades.. I'm looking for wheels i can fit and piece out from a junkyard that are wider and taller, i guess 15-16" is the most I could go, i don't mind a stiff ride aslong as the results increase high speed stability and and heavy twisty driving..

i find the stock suspension and tires get a lil too light squirly at around 200km to inspire confidense.. I'd like to feel safer at those speeds like i do in the msp..

So anyways, any help or comments are welcome, i know the 323 isn't exactly a protege, but i know there's some 323 junkies over here, and some good info to be found..

i hope to show you the end results.. she's just a sleeper, i despise chrome, and only do work that increases performance/drivability..

take care fellow junkies..

[cropduster323]

I have just recently done work on my 323 GTX. It also had a blown headgasket from too much boost and not enough fuel. A quick look at the head revealed a small crack. This led me to take the motor down to the bare block and I'm glad I did. The detonation resulted in two cracked pistons. If you are doing the head you may want to consider a complete teardown.
One regret I now have is that I bothered to work on this car as it is an '88 it will have to pass emissions tests for it's lifetime. Guess I should have spent it on my '86 RX7. I have been struggling to pass an etest as I went to a larger injector in order to avoid another detonation problem.
If you are going to start running boost levels above 15 I would recommend an ECU upgrade.
Keep us posted on your progress!

[ehwol]

thanks for chiming in cropduster323, I was planning on checking the bottom end out while I removed the head.. I'm hopeful that it's still intact, but if not, I'll just replace the parts and have the block dipped/and surfaced..

This is my 2nd '88 323, the 1st one was written off by some idiot who pulled a left turn right in front of me head on at about 60-70 kms downhill.. I wasn't a mech then, but i had work done on the motor a few times and I'm aware of what to look for in terms of weak points... I wish i would have kept that car for parts, but it was along time ago and before i knew i'd be buying a 2nd '88..

no offense but i prefer the look and practicality of the 4 door sedans, i wish they came in awd but such is life.. and i prefer the look of the pre '90 323/proteges over the rounder 90+, then i like the 2003-2003.5 msp protege look just as much.. altho i'm sure the 90+ has a better drag coefficient at high speeds i just love the edgyness of the 88-89s.


The ECU is already on the books, just a corksport or similar plug and play remapped unit.. I'm not looking for crazy HP right now, just a solid 200 should fit the bill..

I haven't had any problems getting my '88 gts thru the BC Air Care stations.. they only take the car up to 40 kms and i can set the boost real low if need be.. I have a brand new free flowing cat on her, plus, lots of friends that will fill out the forms at the shops if she doesn't pass..

The emission tests are BS for sure tho, I know that they have created higher standards for vehicles 15-20 yrs old than when the cars were brand spanking new..

I won't be adding any additional injectors, just the ECU upgrade and maybe some thicker fuel pump electrical lines, and some fresh injectors if she's still lean at 16 psi..


I'm also looking for some '88-'89 GTX seats to replace my stock units, i've test driven quite a few gtx and the seats are far superior to the gt units.. If I can't find any junkyard or used units I guess I'll go aftermarket, but I'd prefer to stay fairly stock and keep the sleeper look going strong..

if anyone has any used gtx seats for sale or if anyone knows where to look please let me know..


cropduster, what pistons did you use for replacement? did you have to replace the rods or do any crankshaft work (regrinding journals etc)? anything i should look out for?

I guess it's time to buy a cherry picker for home, i was hoping to get away without using one just working the head and replacing the gasket, but i've always known I might have to do a complete tear down..

She still ran fine, she just overheats quickly, so i'm hoping there isn't too much internal damage..