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GTX fix up, on a budget with some unique twists

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    #61
    Some more work done on the car over the weekend. Not much that was picture worthy. Things have started to go back in the car which feels good. I painted the rear speaker supports, installed and wired in the rear speakers. Then I bolted in the rear panels. This is the first time since I have owned the car that the rear panels have been bolted in and secured.

    Before installing the panels I did some rust proofing. Since I can't really reach behind the strut towers I used Fluid Film and sprayed it in all the seams to help seal them up. This is really good stuff my aunt and uncle use on their sail boat to prevent rust.


    Some left over pieces in the dash from back when this car was a TSD Rally car. I'd be nice to get my hands on a good dash. The carbon fiber sticker blends in nice enough to cover the holes, but its starting to peel off now.



    While I was at it, I tested the stereo system. Since The amp hadn't been hooked up right in the past I was worried it might be faulty. At first I couldn't get rear channel to work. After playing around with things, I discovered the rear RCA out put on my head unit was garbage. Made sense why some one had wired all 4 speakers in to just the front out put on the amp now. So I went shopping. The new head unit was on sale and with it mocked up to test everything worked good.


    This is where everything went sideways. I finished off installing the dash and putting a bunch of things back together. I properly wired in the new head unit and got it installed. At which point I tested it again. In my previous test all 4 channels worked good, this time I had lost my right rear channel. ARRGG!!! So there I was pulling E36 M3 apart to test. I discovered one of the brand new RCA cables I got had crapped out at the connector. My attempt to fix the connector failed, so I had to pull all the carpet up and rear panels to remove the broken cable and replace it. Thankfully I had a spare one, but I lost an evenings worth of work. Its all back together again and everything works fine once again

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      #62
      Life has been in the way lately. Some little things have been done though.

      I installed the little storage compartment from a 2wd car, since there was nothing but a big hole in this area before. The dark blue of the GTX plastics is unique to a GTX only. So that meant I had to find a paint that would match. Its not perfect but its pretty close. I gave it a light sand to start with and laid down a good plastic primer to give the paint a good base to stick to.


      The install was pretty straight forward, I just used the GTX outer portion of the center console and all the guts for the compartment. It did require some modifications to make it work, but it was pretty straight forward.


      From there I moved on to my doors. This is the worst of the rust thats on the car. I decided to run some POR15 over it and make sure it wouldn't get any worse..


      As you can see the inside of the door isn't to bad.


      I enlisted the hand of some little hands to paint the inside of the door after a little sand a clean up later.


      The final product so far. The plan is to paint the part of the door you'll see, white again. I just haven't gotten that far yet.



      Lately I have turned my attention else where. Can anyone guess what this little set up is for? and why I would have done it?

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        #63
        Originally posted by crazycanadian View Post
        Lately I have turned my attention else where. Can anyone guess what this little set up is for? and why I would have done it?
        Adding Relays for the window switches so you aren't running full voltage through the switch and having carbon build up on them. On my planned list for mine as I have already had to clean up my factory switches.

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          #64
          does that fluid film dry?? id be interested to try that inside my car. hows the smell of it also?
          ---Has ClubProtege helped you in someway? show your support by Contributing--- Click Here---

          1992- project FE3..... 313 WHP @ 9.3psi




          I pet my dash when I get into the car..."good car"
          he actually has a mazda tree, parts grow on it

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            #65
            My aunt and uncle use it on their boat... the smell disappears over time.. it never fully dries.. it's not supposed to. . So far after a week with the panels back in the car the smell isn't to bad. .

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              #66
              Originally posted by Wildfire0310 View Post
              Adding Relays for the window switches so you aren't running full voltage through the switch and having carbon build up on them. On my planned list for mine as I have already had to clean up my factory switches.
              Its pretty straight forward to do.. I still managed to make the cut off switch work as well.. The hardest part about it is running a ground wire threw the passenger door harness so that you run the ground side of the window motor threw the relay to the chassis rather then back threw the drivers switch..

              I was having intermittent issues with the driver window being slow at times, not going up or down.. I had a feeling the switch was starting to get bad, so its my hope this will solve the issue..

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                #67
                You should also go thru the regulators, replace the wheels and clean up the bead chain to get rid of the goo.

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                  #68
                  Once again, I'm in Awww Adam. Looks fantastic! My car came with a kenwood cassette deck, and 6x9's in the back, powered by an amp under the passenger seat. I think I'm going to use your rear speaker ideas with a new double din head unit and ditch the amp. Cant figure out why you would need an amp for stock speakers.
                  Mazda
                  1988 Black 323 GT
                  DOHC 16 VALVE TURBO

                  2013 Velocity Red Mica Mazdaspeed3

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                    #69
                    Originally posted by FamiliaGT View Post
                    Once again, I'm in Awww Adam. Looks fantastic! My car came with a kenwood cassette deck, and 6x9's in the back, powered by an amp under the passenger seat. I think I'm going to use your rear speaker ideas with a new double din head unit and ditch the amp. Cant figure out why you would need an amp for stock speakers.
                    They aren't stock speakers.. the rear is 120W clarions and the front is 80W focal. .

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                      #70
                      So I I finished putted the gtx back together a few weeks ago. It was a scrabble doing it so I didn't take make pics and never finished the detail work I wanted to.

                      This weekend I enlisted in some help to give the exterior some love. 7 hours of polishing later. She look pretty great from 10 feet away. Get up close and you can tell the body has been beat up pretty good from its days as a TSD rally car..

                      A little before and after during the the haze removal stage... The car had been washed twice and clay bared all ready. So you can get a sense of just how beat up the paint was.



                      Haze remover stage just done by hand at this point.



                      The after glory shots.. the bumpers and lower great area got a little butter wax job by hand.. the paint was to be at up to hit it with any machines. The rest got a single stage polish and any rubber got hit with some revitalizing products and buffed out. All the windows were polished as well.. after the polish it got a good wax job.



                      mm shinny..

                      Comment


                        #71
                        what do you use to polish your windows? all of mine could use a good polishing
                        ---Has ClubProtege helped you in someway? show your support by Contributing--- Click Here---

                        1992- project FE3..... 313 WHP @ 9.3psi




                        I pet my dash when I get into the car..."good car"
                        he actually has a mazda tree, parts grow on it

                        Comment


                          #72
                          Originally posted by FE3-323 View Post
                          what do you use to polish your windows? all of mine could use a good polishing
                          we used a finishing polish from these guys.. http://www.adamspolishes.ca/

                          Comment


                            #73
                            The GTX looks so weird without the top spoiler. Any plans to replace it or do you prefer it without it?

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                              #74
                              Originally posted by Wildfire0310 View Post
                              The GTX looks so weird without the top spoiler. Any plans to replace it or do you prefer it without it?
                              It's not missing surprisingly enough... it came off the show room floor with out the top spoiler... this is the second gtx i have owned
                              Like this..

                              Comment


                                #75
                                Originally posted by crazycanadian View Post
                                It's not missing surprisingly enough... it came off the show room floor with out the top spoiler... this is the second gtx i have owned
                                Like this..
                                WHAT... the factory options for the GTX are so weird. I am guessing then the plan is to not add one.

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