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Alabama 88 GTX

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    Alabama 88 GTX

    I'm terrible at maintaining build logs, fair warning.

    A few months ago I bought an 88 323 GTX from a racing buddy who bought it off Brody, a forum member here. I've had plenty of idle daydreams about owning one of these, but had never seen one in real life, much less one for sale. A few days after I got back from my honeymoon my buddy calls me up and asks if I'd be willing to help him out and get this thing going. It had a MS2 install that got screwed up somewhere and wouldn't crank. I gushed a bit about my irrational love of a car I hadn't even seen. He told me I could have it for a rediculously low price just to get it out of his yard.

    I got it and played with the MS2 for a day, verifying the build options and pinouts. Got my hopes up when I found a connector had been built backwards. Still no start. Swapped the miata cas for an unverified spare i had lying around. No love. Traced every wire and found everything good.

    Ordered a new CAS that apparently got stolen off my porch while I was out of town for a timetrial. A month later a neighbor knocked on my door with a weather-beaten box that he found under his woodpile. My CAS! I could barely stop myself from hugging my new best friend.

    Installed my known good CAS and nothing. I decided that the connection HAD to be flakely and ghetto ran a new wire over the fender, through the door, and into the MS. Hit the key and boom. Cranks and idles in less than a second. After 5 minutes of maniacal laughter I realize the HLAs still sound like gravel in a dryer. Oil change and a victory lap around the neighborhood.

    Last night I got time to start ripping out the unused emissions stuff and start opening up the wiring harness for a rebuild. This is how it currently sits.





    Annd crap the site is complaining about uploading pics on mobile. I'll have to add them tonight. I warned you I suck at build logs.

    Edit:hosted on imgur, but the forum is fighting me on filesize for embedding. I'll fix it tonight.

    Edit2:got a brain and remembered how to embed. Added pic I found of CAS diagnostics.
    Last edited by Militancy; 11-07-2015, 02:19 PM.

    #2
    Congradulations to you both man,Alabama huh?Home of the rustfree cars! You dont have to have a greatbuild log, pics makes most happy.

    Comment


      #3
      Awesome (congrats!), glad to see this car saved, up and running.

      Hope you put together a DIY on the MS and how is it running with the MS?

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        #4
        Glad another GTX is being saved yet alone another MS GTX in the southeast too.

        I am assuming you know of the guys at DIYAutotune. Jerry and those guys have been saints when it comes to answering my questions.

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          #5
          Try Photobucket for the pics...it drops them in nicely.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by slownrusty View Post
            Awesome (congrats!), glad to see this car saved, up and running.

            Hope you put together a DIY on the MS and how is it running with the MS?
            The MS install is pretty simple. 90-97 miata CAS, coil option of your choice (this one has 2 coil drivers internal and a dual wastedspark "dumb" coils), follow the 90-97 miata build instructions, and use the wiring diagram in the FSM to mate the MS to the wiring harness.

            At a later date I may decide to add a crank trigger to reduce timing scatter, but that's outside the forseeable future.

            For right now I'm not sure how deep I want to get into the harness I want to get. Torn between starting from scratch, cutting/extending/replacing wires all the way to the connectors (getting rid of all factory wires), or just cleaning this up by redoing some of the most egregious issues and just living with the rest.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by nickz View Post
              Congradulations to you both man,Alabama huh?Home of the rustfree cars! You dont have to have a greatbuild log, pics makes most happy.
              Unfortunately I'm told this was a yankee car that may have some rust issues. That said, I haven't found any issues, YET.
              Originally posted by Wildfire0310 View Post
              Glad another GTX is being saved yet alone another MS GTX in the southeast too.

              I am assuming you know of the guys at DIYAutotune. Jerry and those guys have been saints when it comes to answering my questions.
              Yeah I've bought from them several times. I've been meaning to go to their MSmeetup for the last several years but something always comes up. I think this car is something like the 6th MS powered vehicle I've had.

              Comment


                #8
                Nice to see this car in good hands! Keep up the good work! What are the specs of the car?
                Mazda
                1988 Black 323 GT
                DOHC 16 VALVE TURBO

                2013 Velocity Red Mica Mazdaspeed3

                Comment


                  #9
                  Sweet setup, looks like it'll be a beast! Don't suppose you feel like sharing the Megasquirt files, do you? I've been stockpiling turbo miata maps for years and having a GTX specific one would be great!


                  What external wastegate is that running, I've never seen one with more than 1 hose, is it for fine adjustment or failsafe?

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by FamiliaGT View Post
                    Nice to see this car in good hands! Keep up the good work! What are the specs of the car?
                    Barely have an idea. Some sort of garrett turbo, can't really see the numbers to ID it. Knockoff tial external wastegate ghettowelded to the stock manifold. Knockoff hks ssqv, ms2, aem wideband, some sort of downpipe, honda oe radiator, ebay intercooler, pipes, and coupling, AC delete :'( , ps pump removed but I doubt the rack has been looped or depowered, ksport coilovers, FD seats (I think) on some scary looking brackets to the stock slider on driver side and cheap ****ty sliders on the passenger side.

                    Originally posted by djcommie View Post
                    Sweet setup, looks like it'll be a beast! Don't suppose you feel like sharing the Megasquirt files, do you? I've been stockpiling turbo miata maps for years and having a GTX specific one would be great!


                    What external wastegate is that running, I've never seen one with more than 1 hose, is it for fine adjustment or failsafe?
                    I dont mind sharing when I can actually tune it some. Right now it's a basemap from someone somewhere that runs really lean off idle/part throttle and really rich on throttle.
                    The wastegate is a tial knockoff. The bottom line is the standard port that everyone knows and loves. The top port is atmospheric vent. If you run the boost control solenoid into the top vent you change the reference pressure so the wastegate stays totally shut until the boost controller vents the top port to atmosphere. It helps build boost slightly faster.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Militancy View Post
                      I dont mind sharing when I can actually tune it some. Right now it's a basemap from someone somewhere that runs really lean off idle/part throttle and really rich on throttle.
                      Sounds like your map maybe similar to DIY's MSPNP 1.6 turbo map they have on there site. I know i am running that map as my starting point and that basically sums up my setup :D. When you get some time I'd be interested in your map too. I need to get some time in to street tune my baby. =/

                      Comment


                        #12
                        welcome! glad to see you traced down the issue with the MS. wiring bugs are never fun
                        ---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


                          #13
                          Originally posted by FE3-323 View Post
                          welcome! glad to see you traced down the issue with the MS. wiring bugs are never fun
                          I'll drink to that brother.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Update

                            A little update before bed. This thing runs and drives. I ended up ripping the harness out and sort-of starting over. I found vampire taps hidden under some loom and I just can't abide that. The PO attached most of the connectors at the end of a prebuilt diyautotune harness, bundled the excess, and shoved it in the fenderwell. I pulled it all out, cut off the excess, and reworked anything that needed it. I sleeved it all in braided nylon for abrasion resistance (and it looks cool). Double-wall heatshrink was used throughout to seal the connectors. It's still a bit messy, but much, much more sane than it was before.

                            I drove it a few times to work and back (50mi round trip) before it got too hot to mess with. My brother's FD popped a coolant seal and my dad's started working on his mustang again so room in the airconditioned shop is extremely limited. I've been slowly cleaning up little things as I can only work on it a few hours on weekend mornings before it gets toasty outside. I replaced some of the caps in the factory radio to get it kind-of working again. Replaced the dry rotted front speakers. I left a mess in the passenger floorboard when i was trying to finish off the wiring after my daughter was born. I cleaned that up some today and reworked the megasquirt's bracket so it wouldn't bug my feet. It's still a damn mess, but i felt good enough about it to reinstall the passenger seat.

                            I pulled the rear seat bottom to diagnose my failing fuel sender. Narrowed it down to the driver's side. I need to buy the magnet wire to re-wrap it.

                            There's a problem maybe y'all could help me with. When driving slow, less than 40mph, on decel, there's a sound from the rear end like something strumming some tightly cables, or like if you stretch a pen spring and run your keys down the turns. Definitely coming from behind the driver. I would say it's in the rear diff, but I've nevrr heard a diff make that noise.
                            Attached Files

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Congrats on the new addition to the family.

                              And great to hear that the car is getting sorted with the MS.

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