Marc's Sooty v2.0 - Autozam AZ-3 B5ZET

[marco]

Hey all,

Picked up this AZ-3 last month and have been putting the hours in since. Plan is to have a car somewhat economical but with power when I want it. I've put about a months worth of pics and posts into this thread now, so sorry about the bandwidth attack!

Bought condition/stats:
1.5 DOHC B5ZE
79k miles
Drum rear brakes
Jspec dash
No sunroof
Chronic paint work - washed with gravel!
Virtually no underbody rust :-D
Leaky exhaust
Windscreen cracked
Aerial filled in badly
Crap aerial installed on roof

The eagle has landed:


Unexpected surprise, I think it developed during transit.



Got annoyed with my stainless exhaust not being in sections, had to take off subframe from old car to get it off!


Washed with bricks? :lol:


Rear shot, exhaust installed! Those terrible bump strips will be tackled!



Front bumper madness, just going to bin that one and replace with my old one.


My new home for mechanical madness.

[marco]

Had some more time today to start working loose the rear subframe.




What a pleasure working on the mechanics of this car! All the bolts in the process of rear subframe removal came off without heat, violence or cutting Even the caged nuts on the body attachment of the trailing arms came off. Also I see this car has the cool trailing arms too. All loosened up ready for my refurbed and poly bushed subframe to go on. BUT I need to recover some rear disc handbrake cables first from the old car.

Funky interior pics:




My refurbed subframe with wytbushings/polybushes has been installed complete with disc conversion. I HATE drum brakes! Had to swap over the v6 handbrake cables too. Gave them a clean up too. Loads of things have been painted with POR-15 and hammerite.

Waiting for a replacement DS caliper to arrive, my bleed nipple sheared, then tried using an extractor which also sheared off

I'll have to put up pics of my under side soon, looking good... What a pleasure working on a non rotten car!

I've also phoned up about windscreen replacement £120 new plus vat (plus fitting I guess). £60 for a transplant from the old car. First I have to tackle the roof welding.

So you have a hole, here's what you do:
fill it with bog roll to catch moisture and encourage rust
pile in filler several cm thick
paint

Good job:

Smiley face haha:


Plan is to cut donor section out of old car and weld in. Should be exciting lol

And my other treat isn't so bad, the previous owner who did this needs to be banned from car work!

Looks easy enough to patch in.

Got a nice new bottle of pureshield argon ready for action. Need to pick up some mild steel welding rods and get TIGing.
_________________
I've started the patching in of the aerial battered section today.


Will hopefully finish that tomorrow. I've currently got it tacked in place. TIG welders are awesome :-)

I have to say I'm not a fan of bodywork! So tedious.

Welding done.


Etch primed after metal filler


It's pretty close now in terms of finish. I'll hopefully block sand once more, then filler primer, then paint. Can't look worse than it did

[marco]

Did a bit more sand fill prime today. Still got more to go. Getting those edges flat but curved is the worst bit.

Anyway, whilst waiting between drying I familiarised myself with the engine more.

B6S7 Cams


B551-7 Head


Looks like a BP valve cover... yet smaller!


B6 Pattern exhaust studs


Heads look pretty clean, mileage seems believable! I'm going to change the valve cover gasket after I clean up the valve cover. I'm impressed by the chromed bolts as standard! Next up oil change.

[marco]

Done for now! That was some ordeal. Bodywork is so slow. I'm happy enough. I can't really find the weld anymore

BEFORE:

AFTER:






Both of these have been tackled now, pics to follow, new setup:

-x2 new ball joints (boots were destroyed)
-x2 new tie rod ends (boots were destroyed)
-mazda 323f BA lantis v6 spindles
-mazda 323f BA lantis v6 5 stud hubs
-mazda 323f BA lantis v6 brakes and discs
-goodridge SS brake lines

[marco]

Probably going to swap my carbon fibre bonnet over anyway but anyway - before on RHS, after polishing on LHS:


MX3 to 323F BA V6 5 stud
BEFORE 257mm disc, 54mm piston, 4stud:


AFTER 274mm disc, 57mm piston, 5 stud, goodridge SS brake lines:


Also replaced tie rod ends and ball joints due to split boots.

Windscreen out!

Windscreen in!


Front bumper swapped over with glass headlights, clear sidelights and you can see the polishing has helped this side a lot

[marco]

BEFORE:


AFTER:




Nice MAF system on these, very little restriction compared to the V6 VAF. External IAT sensor too, nifty!

Now with K&N cone filter


Windscreen looks fantastic The seal is really neat, glad I went new.

Also:
Ran wynns engine cleaner, largely cleared up sticky HLA tick
New oil filter
New oil
New valve cover gasket



Mazdaspeed strut bar installed, plenty of clearance on a 4 cylinder :lol: Kinda forgot I had this! Brightens up the bay a bit.

[marco]

Suffering from the cold today, so haven't been doing anything major. Installed MS strutbrace, refitted interior trims, eunos SS sill plates and then took some photos :arrow:

[marco]

The car passed MOT :-) now to register it.

Today's work-



Decat is complete. Not overly attractive but a decent result for being made in between snow flurries :-) 2.5" stainless.

[marco]

This project has been planned as an eco-boost project if that's not a contradiction in terms! Basing it on a civic 1.5 eco project I read about hitting as high as 65MPG, though they have the lean burn advantage.

ANYWAY.... hardware:
Evo 8 turbo £60 with only 20k on it!
Evo manifold £80
Evo downpipe elbow £to be bought
B6 flange £18
Megasquirt DIYPNP $500

MANIFOLD TIME!
Evo 8 manifold compared to B6/B5 flange:


Not quite a match, going to require some chopping!



The scary bit, just destroyed an evo manifold:


I then made slices on the inner 2 runners and bent them in. I had to cut the two outer and remove 1cm of length each side.

Tacked mock up:


Almost done now, I'll maybe finish going round the welds tomorrow.





So that's how I butchered an Evo manifold to fit an mx-3
:D :D :D

[marco]

MANIFOLD COMPLETE!




Now B5/6 shape


I was slightly tempted to sit and port and polish but I just can't be bothered spending hours on a 2bhp gain or whatever. I just worked the obstructive areas were pipe was in the port. It's all either smooth now or oversized exhaust pipe.

I've been battling with a megasquirt problem in between making the manifold. Having bother getting the cam signal conditioned for the MS to understand, until I do can't progress the MS with no RPM.

[bogaut]

Lovin the progress so far. I've got some ssr type c for my car too, once all my 5 lug stuff comes in.

[ThatGreenBG]

Very nice!

[MazdaNoob]

despite not liking it you have a talent for body work .. nice job

[Mazda_Powered]

That car is lucky to have you as her new owner! She was probably screaming bloody murder from the last guy lol.

It's surprising how easily the B5 is mistaken as BP engines...even the JDM importers around here get it wrong!! Check the head stamp...and continue!

Agreed about the improved MAF system on the B5 though, it's the same setup we have for our B6 (doch) AZ3/MX3. Vast improvement over the BP/BPT air flow meters we're all use to lol...shame they never had a factory turbo B-series with that MAF style.

[FE3-323]

Awesome thread thus far!! stoked for more updates!