And so it begins....323BG hatch ----> V6 powa with a few extra surprises

[Dan [Sac]]

Today's work -

not much actual work but a lot of reorganization. Had all my parts in totes but they were unmarked so it was a PITA to find something. Took everything out, separated them, and re-stocked them in the totes, with labels this time. Now I can find any little part in no time.

Got all the wiring mostly sorted (pre-layout). The wiring is full MX3 GS, bumper to bumper. There are a couple of connectors that are in the wrong spot, some that need to be extended, but overall not a bad swap. Second time around should be a little more sane.

Wiring tuck is going to be one tedious ass project....probably a full week at a leisurely pace.

Finally, replaced the US fuel door with a JDM unit - no more ugly keyhole in the door. With the bolt-in MX-3 cable release, this will be OEM-good looking and functional.


Pics!



How do people get so many pine needles on the inside under the carpets?






Vacuumed, before the first wipe-down






New wiring harness....mmmmmm...






Ummm....holy crap...






But wait! This is easy....






Where's the keyhole?

[progt91]

looking good man, whats a new harness go for $wise?

[Dan [Sac]]

The new harness was $350, but in retrospect I wouldn't get it again. It doesn't have the ECU-engine section.

[FamiliaGT]

This is just plain sweet. Very cool project man. Im keepin my eye on this one. Keep up the Awesome Work!

[dali]

you should have just used a donor car, i pulled all the wiring, front and rear seats, dash, center console, front and rear sub frame. i think the only thing left of the 323 is the body, fuel tank/lines, pedal setup, wiper motors and heater core most of the interior etc from the 93se gs i had and put it into the 323. my 323 had the fuel door without the key hole from factory. as well all i had to splice from the mx3 harness was the taillight bulb holders.

[mx-3_4evr]

^ Uh I think he used a MX-3 GS as a parts car

[Gforcefd]

Might of cost $350 bucks but at least you won't/shouldn't have to worry about shorts, broken wires, or weird issues you can't trace in the wiring.

Logan

[Dan [Sac]]

you should have just used a donor car, i pulled all the wiring, front and rear seats, dash, center console, front and rear sub frame. i think the only thing left of the 323 is the body, fuel tank/lines, pedal setup, wiper motors and heater core most of the interior etc from the 93se gs i had and put it into the 323. my 323 had the fuel door without the key hole from factory. as well all i had to splice from the mx3 harness was the taillight bulb holders.

"Should" posts should at least prefaced by reading the thread

Already using the full MX3 harness. The brand new harness is for an MX3 GS.



Today I flipped the interior harness, moved a bunch of plastic retainer clips on the harness and now it looks OEM. Got the gas & trunk release cables installed, but the gas release is too short and the trunk release has a matching issue with the 323 lock mechanism, so I'll have to find a different cable in the yards.

Also got the parking brake cables for the disc conversion put up, and pulled the engine out to continue engine bay work.

Finally, ordered a Snap-On DA (dual action sander) so I can start on the body work and do the finish work in the engine bay.

More tomorrow!

[Mazda_Powered]

what cables did you use for the gas/hatch? i used protege ones and the gas door worked fine, just had to transfer the spring clip...the hatch required some work though, had to crimp in a section so it would make the cable stationary by the lock mech...

JACK.

[Dan [Sac]]

I used the MX3 ones, but now they're anchored on the right side so my gas release distance has increased. I'll have to do the same thing with the protege cable (re-crimp) unless I find another one that has the proper distance between the anchor point and the 'ball'.

[viper_707]

screw the cables... electric actuator hooked up to your alarm if u have one.. oh ya

[Dan [Sac]]

I was thinking about doing that with the doors (shave them and use poppers), but it's probably more work than I care to do...

Tomorrow I'll weld up the last of the interior firewall brackets and that should end the welding portion of the work. Then I'll put in the blower motor & the bastardized heater core and hope to make it all work with the manual actuators from the MX3.

Also got the dash stripped down to just the plastic, and will take it to a shop for recovering. The JDM dash has seen some harsh conditions in its transoceanic trip and many summers of sitting idle

[viper_707]

Tomorrow I'll weld up the last of the interior firewall brackets and that should end the welding portion of the work.

buddy u have it this far, why noy go ahead one more step and stitch weld all the seams and stiffen up that chassis.

[Dan [Sac]]

Seam welding the entire chassis is a huge undertaking. Not only has it to be stripped (like mine is) but you have to clean up all the seam sealer, which is very time consuming - even with the tools I have you have to really get all the crap from between the panels, the stuff that sits in the seams that isn't accessible with the wire wheel, otherwise you can't get good conductivity. I could use a body hammer to close some of the gaps, but then I lose the 'smooth' look which is what i'm after in the engine bay.

And since I don't have a rotisserie or a lift, I am not looking forward to welding upside down in close quarters. Since this will be a full time street car and I'm already upgrading 100% of the suspension bushings to 90-shore poly bushings (bulk buy on mx-3.com for mx3 suspensions), AND will have coilovers, this thing will be plenty stiff. Then I'd have to re-weatherize all the places that were welded...

So yeah, there is such a thing as doing too much. Seam welding wasn't in my plans for this car, so it isn't gonna get done...

And if it seems like I don't know what I'm talking about, I *am* seam welding my RWD Probe conversion, so I know quite intimately how much of a pain in the ass this is with home tools. The most time consuming part is getting all the goop from where the panels overlap - the best way to do it is acid dipping (illegal in Cali technically) or media blasting, which I have no access to.

A good idea, but not practical for the purposes of this car

[viper_707]

booo... ah well it was worth a try lol