New member with new project (323 GTR)

[neliveto]

Hi all,

last summer a not that well kept Mazda 323 GTR came to my possession, and I've been slowly working on it since. When going through the brakes I realised it's not that easy to get parts for a rare japanese car.

Now I'm working on the engine and got some problems with getting the right parts. One cylinder has scratches which didn't come off with honing and it has to be drilled oversize. One valve is also gone.

Right now I'm looking for these parts:

- Oversize piston set with rings
- Engine rebuild gasket kit
- Valves

Cheers!

[therieldeal]

Welcome!

No one makes true GTR pistons anymore. I'd recommend going with forged pistons designed for the 94-97 1.8 BP Miata. If you're running the stock computer I'd go with the lowest compression available (usually 8.5:1 or so) because the GTR has 8.2:1 stock compression. The gasket set, same thing, any standard 1.8 BP gasket set will work. As far as valves go, again no one makes the correct sodium-filled GTR exhaust valves. 94-97 miata parts will have the same dimensions though.

Note.... if your original GTR pistons are still in serviceable condition i would be interested in them. Same goes for any of the original exhaust valves that aren't burned up.

[Dixie94Pro]

Post more pictures!!!

Sent from my m8wl using Tapatalk

[neliveto]

Welcome!

No one makes true GTR pistons anymore. I'd recommend going with forged pistons designed for the 94-97 1.8 BP Miata. If you're running the stock computer I'd go with the lowest compression available (usually 8.5:1 or so) because the GTR has 8.2:1 stock compression. The gasket set, same thing, any standard 1.8 BP gasket set will work. As far as valves go, again no one makes the correct sodium-filled GTR exhaust valves. 94-97 miata parts will have the same dimensions though.

Note.... if your original GTR pistons are still in serviceable condition i would be interested in them. Same goes for any of the original exhaust valves that aren't burned up.

I thought so. My friend, who's helping me out with this project since I'm an unexperienced mechanic, say that there's oil channels for cooling in the BPD engine. Is that a problem when using not-original pistons?

Three out of four of the original pistons are in good condition.

Post more pictures!!!

Sent from my m8wl using Tapatalk

I'll do, when I get the car out of the garage. It's sitting below a twin turbo Dodge Dart right now, so nothing much to see.

I created a topic for my project here.

[therieldeal]

It's true that the GTR pistons have a cooling channel cast into the bottom of the piston. There are no aftermarket pistons available with this feature.

Now that you mention it i remembered something else... you might need to also replace the oil squirters with ones from a non-GTR BP. The GTR ones may make contact with non-GTR pistons as the piston skirts on GTR pistons are shorter than a "normal" BP.

Out of curiosity, which piston is damaged? I melted the ring land in cylinder 4 of my motor.

[neliveto]

Piston 4 was melt.

And now the car is running nicely, but I've faced new problems: gas tank is leaking and windows keep fogging even when the car's been stored inside and is fully dry from the inside.

Is the fuel tank a GTR part only? Can't find any info about it.

What about the fogging windows in a BG? Heater core had a LOT of leaves on it but it was all dry.

And hey, of course a pic.

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