Project Jay-Spec MX-326GS

[Mazda_Powered]

looking awesome man! yea i had to trim down the mx3 filler neck when fitting into my old 323 lol.

[IMACHU2]

Opened the box I was afraid to open.




Ahhhhhhhhhh MX-3 V6 wiring harness.







It was tough sluggin' at first until I realized the MX-3 plastic conduit did not fit on the 323, after I cut them off, it went in smoother. There was also a bracket with many relays on it. I had to pull the relays off it.







The Harness is pretty much where it needs to be. Many of the clips that hold it to the car were broken, so I will need to fasten it down better. There are some splices that will need to be made, I will document them next round.

[Ace]

Zip ties are your best friend for holding a harness into place.

[Mazda_Powered]

looks awesome!! hey me and damkid are trying to hit up Cayuga on the 2nd friday from today, you should come down! he's racing his ZE Festiva, you should bring your stang!

also once my car's up and running better (KL has issues, go figure lol) I can come down and help if you need it, i miss working on hatches lol.

[IMACHU2]

Thanks guys. Not one of my more productive days at the shop. I was kinda hoping I could worm the harness through the already installed dash. Fat chance LOL. I am going to have to figure out something to hold the 500 relays in place. There was this little sheet metal Christmas tree of relays, that I could not get to fit anywhere, so I pulled all the relays off of it, now they are hanging from the harness like fruit. I would love to see the KLZE Festiva in action! The Muscletang had a mysterious loss of oil pressure last season. I have not done a auto-psy on it yet. The transmission was slipping, it needs new tires....again, and it needs a rad. Figure I will finish the MX-326GS, and then re-restore the Mustang. Mustang's are like helicopters, lots of fun, but for every hour on the road they need about five hours of maintenance. My daily driver (stock 323) is a real hurting unit also.

[Turpro]

That's what I'm dreading too lol. Getting there about as slow as me.

[IMACHU2]

Bought some hose to make my brand new MX-3 filler neck fit my MX-326GS LOL. I threw out two 323 filler necks cause I thought the MX-3 one was the same. IT IS NOT! I cut the MX-3 filler neck to size and trimmed all the smog crap off of it.







I am going to clean it up and paint it. It should look and function good when finished. Why? because I am cheap LOL

[IMACHU2]

Finished my modifackin' the MX-3 filler neck to fit the 323.








I also put the dash back in.






I am workin' on a new adventure now. Making a MX-3 steering column fit in a 323.

MX-3 left 323 right.



I drilled the rivits. With some shims and some bolts I am going to put the 323 lower bracket on the MX-3 column.





I will post the finished product soon. I ordered a key for it today too LOL

[Turpro]

Good to see you getting shiz done

[Mazda_Powered]

nice!!! good job so far

[IMACHU2]

In the battle of man VS steering column, man won LOL. Got a key cut off the MX-3's VIN. Figured out the steering wheel would not turn. Had to further modify the little plastic thinger that cancels the signals. Got it all figured out and bought myself a steering wheel puller which came in really handy.



The 323 lower mount mated to the MX-3 Column


Got the dash and the steering column all in (for real this time)


Was excited about the key, it is almost a car, it needs a key!


Started splicin' wires, the clutch switch was the first to not plug and play


Used the brake safety switchs off the MX-3 so they plugged in.
Looks like the panel dimmer, heater, hazard lights and cigar lighter will need to be figured out and spliced in.

[IMACHU2]

Played at the garage for a few hours.

First splice was the low fluid level thinger on the brake fluid container. That is it for the engine compartment!


Next spice was the dimmer switch, it I were to do this all again, I would have saved a ll the mx-3 switches, then it would have been plug and play. I could have mounted all the MX-3 switches in the options I do not have plates LOL.

Most of the wires are the same color from car to car, so it was pretty easy splice-in some plugs deal.


Next spice was the cigarette lighter and the light bulb. Same color wires.


The Hazard light splice did not go so well. If you wire the four matching colored wires together the hazard lights do work, but the switch does not light up. The switch has an extra orange wire on it. I screwed around for a while , but could not get it to light up. It you add power to the green wire it does light up, but solid, it does not flash on and off like in a normal 323. I need to look at the wiring diagram for this one.



By far the happiest part of the night was the heater. I was scared to death of it. My MX-3 had the Knight Rider Darth vader digital climate control deal in it. There are like 5 plugs that go into it. One of the plugs fit into the standard 323 blower motor switch, but the plug appeared to be wired very differently. I plugged it in and prayed for no fires. All my fears were for nothing. On the blower motor side I plugged one of the five plugs into the blower motor resistor and then I cut a big blue power wire off a plug I marked blower motor, and spliced it on to the 323 blower motor feed wire. To my delight the heater actually works and no dash fire! Aw-right!








I took the mounting brackets off the MX-3 cluster, I plugged in, and placed it in the dash. Like Dan had mentioned, it fits pretty good in there. About half an inch of open space on both sides of it, I may make little filler panels to make it look more factory.


The yellow light means I am low on gas LOL

[IMACHU2]

I bought a new Powermaster Dry Cell battery for the MX-326GS today.


I got the mount for it too.


I am going to mount it to the frame behind the left front headlight


Regular battery left, Dry cell right


Even though they are small and the cold cranking amps are seemingly low, this little battery could start a V8. The more important power measurement (reserve capacity) is much higher then a normal battery. I have the slightly larger one in my Mustang II.

http://www.powermastermotorsports.com/xspowercat.pdf

[IMACHU2]

Made a battery tray out of a old metal shelf from a display from work.

Just about killed myself with a cut-off wheel LOL. Half got stuck in the ceiling, a piece cut my stomach and another piece hit the garage door about 20' away.



Cut the tray to shape.


Finished product.

Then painted signature color.

Installed in the car.

I made aluminum brackets for the fuse boxes too.

Cleaned and painted some relay brackets

Modified the diagnostic port bracket. It was kind weird looking.


One of the relays had a burnt plug

I put a good used plug in from the 323 harness and mounted it.

Spliced in the 323 tail lights. Mazda was nice enough to color code the wires so it was a very simple spice and solder.

I hooked up the washer pump and the dome light too. The wiring is almost done. I need to wire the rear wiper and go to the wrecker for a MX-3 rear defroster switch. I threw it out thinking I could wire in the 323 one. I probably could figure it out, but like the hazard lights it would have be much easier to use the MX-3 switches For simplicity sake I am going to wire in a separate horn button, The Grant steering wheel adapter took a lot of screwing around to get it to work because the MX-3 column had cruise built into the steering wheel. The steering wheel is finally on right and the signals cancel and the wiper / turn signal stalks all work , but I can't get the horn to work.

[Turpro]

Nice progress Jason