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

[Dan [Sac]]

Wooo, finally the last pieces got painted...what a PITA, but they're done now. Like the rest of the car, they had the same work cycle:

*sanding progressively smoother to 220
*primer (with flex additive on plastics)
*sanding, progressively to 1000
*color (water based Glasurit paint) (4 coats), plastic adhesion primer wiped on prior to paint for plastics
*clear coat (4-5 coats)

Now I just gotta color sand (1500, 3000 grit and then polish).

Also got Infinity speakers up all around (not the best, not the worst - 6.5" front, 5x7 rears, Reference Series), with 1/4" spacers in front and custom 1" plywood in the back.

That's it for now, more tomorrow.

[Dan [Sac]]

More work today - got rear bumper lip installed, both rear view mirrors, b pillar trim (on the 1/4 glass), and of course the a pillar trim, but the upper plastic clips were nearly destroyed, so they disintegrated as soon as I tried to reassemble that part - I'll have to make some sort of clip out of metal to keep the trim pieces in place.



Here is the last batch of parts that was painted:





If it looks angry standing still, that's a good thing, right?

[progt91]

those pics make it look like it should be rwd looking kickass

[90prtege]

Said it before and I'll say it again Get me a towel cause I just made a mess good lord this car is sexy

[mazda323t]

dan the mx3 rear end make the tires look like outside of the car or are the tire like thta???
i am asking because i like that look at the tires and i would like to make my protect like that

[Dan [Sac]]

dan the mx3 rear end make the tires look like outside of the car or are the tire like thta???
i am asking because i like that look at the tires and i would like to make my protect like that

Ok, dude, I don't mind answering questions, but seriously, if you ask something that has an answer in this thread (I know it's long, but if you care enough, invest the time to read it) then I likely will not answer your question.

No, the MX3 rear end is not the reason the tires look like that.

Read my other 323ZE thread, in there you will probably see things closer to your build.

Stock tires or even 205-wide will fit under the stock 323 arches without modification if you pick wheels with the factory offset. I have 0 (zero) offset wheels with 225 series tires, hence why it sticks out so far - and yes, I did all this on purpose.


Now please, just refer to the other thread, or one of the MANY MANY threads here that answer already all the questions you have posed.

[Mazda_Powered]

glossy dude! loving it!!! 3rd pic almost looks like a new Mini Cooper lol, awesome.

[bomdoutscort]

The rear looks porsche wide. So sexy dude.

[SPENONE]

WOW,....looks so nice

[monoxidechild]

man that looks good. that ass shot is way hot.

[Dan [Sac]]

Door panels are in now, I had to enlarge the speaker 'holes' and now I have to find some 6.5" speaker grills. I replaced both broken plastic door handles.

All 4 seatbelts are in as well...taking 'before' pictures is priceless when reassembling the car. I didn't label the L & R rear belts but I did have pics, so putting them back in right the first time was nice. It's been a couple dozen times now that I've run inside and looked at the hundreds of photos taken during disassembly - even with 'bag-n-tag', some assemblies aren't intuitive when it comes to putting it back together. It's nice to have the resources at your fingertips.

As for the A/B interior pillar cover, I'll have to either reinstall a gutted seatbelt track (since the interior trim clips are attached to the track along the roof line), or track down some canadian units.

The tail light wiring has been spliced and soldered as well, to mate the mx3 harness to the 323 tail light pigtails. Love the color-matching Mazda marriage

Also got the gas and trunk release cables finalized and installed - they both work now as they should. I'll have pics of how I made the trunk release work a bit later.

Inside wiring is now done, the last bit I have to do is put in the rear bumper license plate lights and plug them in the main harness.

Speaking of plates, I think I'm going to go with a simple 'MAZD 323' on them. Since I'll be badgeless, I don't want to have to answer the inevitable question hundreds of times (Ray can attest to that).

[300BHPZE]

Dan,

Have you already cut the fenders for the flares? I'm looking through the thread and looking at the pictures it looks like you have trimmed the rears a bit, but it doesn't look like much. It's hard to tell from the pictures. The fronts don't look like they've been trimmed at all. Sorry if I've missed something. I'm thinking of doing flares on my GTX and I'm curious how you went about it.

I cannot think of a home build I've ever seen that was done this well. It's just the best I've ever seen.

[Dan [Sac]]

I did cut about 1.5-2" off the front fenders (just about all of the 'flat' part of it as you look at the fender close to the arch). I also cut the front bumper to match so that's why it probably looked normal in the painted pics. The only thing I have yet to cut is the rear bumper, and I might get to that tomorrow.

Edit - here is a pic that shows it a bit more.





A few pics for today:

Here is how i dealt with the hatch cable issue - there are 2 options here. For most cars, just find a parts 323 SE that has the cable and take that....

For me that won't work because I'm RHD and I didn't have the RHD cable (the LHD cable is too short because it has to come into the latch from the left side, and for RHD cars that means making a loop).

So to fix it, I got a second gas door cable (those are long), and used that to open the hatch - the issue, as you can see, is the distance between the 'clip' and the ball. On the red 323, I just used zip ties to secure the black sleeve. This time, I went lower tech and I just pinched the sleeve in the eyelet (chisel and a couple of hammer blows), then I marked its location to check periodically if it slips. Really it takes more time to type the 'how-to' than to do it

[Mazda_Powered]

sexual! car looks great, and yea the rear bumper is mighty close lol

[Damkid]

I am sure looking forward to seeing the finished product!!! Great work Dan!!