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

[93BlkOnGreenPro]

Yeah, you can check it - I'll see if I can dig something up for the RHD GTX model.

You can't just insert a jumper wire? I did that when I installed my remote start, and now my car thinks it a automatic. Maybe the same method will work with you.

[Kris]

No work this week, I have 3 midterms and lots of studying to do.

But, I did pick up a mint 626 front bumper lip and initial mockup shows a pretty good fit. Maybe I don't need an OEM lip after all.

dan you think a LTS lip would work saw this on ebay maybe it can work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Protege-LTS-Front-Bumper-Air-Deflector-trim-Rare_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem414d7cc0b2QQitemZ280472895666QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

[TheOnenOnly]

bump for mor pictures!

[Dan [Sac]]

Not much new for now. Been busy at school, and replacing my tow rig for the summer. F150 now gone, F250 in, should pull quite a bit better.

On the 323, I've got all the parts together (well almost all) that still need painting

Black - front & rear bumper lips, a-pillar covers, the b-pillar glass covers, flares, mirrors, and some misc. parts & brackets.

In silver I still have to do the right side chassis engine mount, coolant lines and misc. nuts & bolts.

I can't find the motor mounts yet, they're in one of the myriad of parts boxes though.


So first I'll be laying the wiring harness, then doing the steering rack mounts, then the hydraulic lines...those 3 things will take the longest.

[Dan [Sac]]

Well at this point i'm 99% sure that my retarded no-crank issue pre-paint was the missing switch on the clutch pedal (I know that because I found it in a box, instead of on the harness).

Tomorrow (friday) I hope to knock out the steering mounting. Using the 323 pedals also means I have to make a plate to allow the mx3 steering column to mount to the pedal box. I wanted the mx3 column because of the tilt adjustment and intermittent wiper options.

Also started sanding the flares, hope to have everything primed by next thursday.

[nerd racing]

you can swap the intermittent wipers over no problem, the tilt on the other hand not so much...

[Turpro]

The finish line seams so close yet so far away doesn't it? Good to see so much progress in such a short period of time.

[DeeAOne]

awesome man. your car is gonna be ridiculous when its done.

[Dan [Sac]]

All right, steering rack brackets are done - this took quite a bit longer than I thought, because there were lots of little pieces that had to be made to fit.

So I took the factory bracket that was spot welded on the GTX, drilled it out, and tried to mount that to the stock USDM mx3 subframe....that didn't go so well.

So then I just cut out the mount points. Then I took a piece of flat stock, measured its placement, welded it to the stock subframe, then closed it up for full 360* support. I then made rear-support brackets from gussets which I boxed up.

























Peek-a-boo!

[neuspeedescort]

granted i have not looked into the rhd applications that much but it really surprises me that the racks mount different.

non-the-less! looks awesome!


NEUMAN

[Dan [Sac]]

The GTX doesn't have a front subframe - the control arms are bolted to the chassis, and the rack is firewall mounted. A subframe would have impeded the placement of the transfer case and driveshaft in the AWD GTX.

Don't know if the GT-R is the same or not. I tried for the longest time to source a manual RHD MX3 rack but with no results, so then I just used what I had (depowered the stock GTX rack) and made it fit the USDM subframe.

[nerd racing]

Looks like an amazing job to me man! nice shot of your fine rear end too!

[Mazda_Powered]

Yea guess that makes sense, the AWD models never had the complete subframe...lots of work...sure paid off though! did a great job too.

[Dan [Sac]]

Spring break is next week! It'll be pedal to the metal starting this friday, w00t!

[DeeAOne]

you must be pedaling so hard you forgot to update!

so give us some!