So I've had the 323 just over 4 years now and it has gotten beat on a little bit (and the body wasn't in the best shape when I got it). A friend of mine went around a corner a bit too fast and nailed the guardrail in the back-passenger side and a leak showed up in the back that I can't find but it collects in one of the spots in the very back near the hatch (I drilled a hole in the bottom so it would drain) and the carpet and backseats molded so I had to pull all that out, interior work will get done when the leak is fixed later on but this thread isn't about that yet. The owner before me got a bunch of dents on the driver side and replaced the door before selling it to me so there is a bit I need to fix there, I'm not sure if it is too bad for a bondo job or not and they rigged up some **** on my headlights, I'm not sure if it is normal for these things to have two switches for the highbeams; neither of them work most of the time but I can hold my highbeams on no problem. A couple years ago I pulled the engine out and replaced all the seals/gaskets, piston rings, and some other small various things I don't remember. The car is completely stock, hopefully to change soon when I find a job (need the car fixed to do that though ><).
Recently the transmission **** itself so I decided it is time to put some more real work into it so I'm going to either get a new transmission or get mine rebuilt. I'm going to a shop tomorrow to ask about pricing but looking online I was able to find places selling transmissions for ~750 but I'm hoping it will be a bit cheaper to get mine rebuilt. In the meantime while waiting for that I bought new ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends, wheel bearings, wheel seals, front brake hoses, calipers, rotors, pads, and rear brake cylinders, a new brake master cylinder, pcv valve + grommet, alternator, battery, battery terminals, ground wires, spark plugs + wires, air filter, fuel filter, oil filter, alternator belt, and timing belt. I still need to pick up a new water pump... might as well do that while I'm doing all this other stuff since I didn't have the money to do it last time I did work on the engine.
I'm going to buy new suspension and bushings all around, but I'm not sure where to go for that. The most I'd like to spend on suspension is ~700 maybe, but I'll have to see how much the transmission costing me before making a solid decision on that. I want to get better than stock but if there aren't any <900 worth getting I'll just spend ~450 and get new stock springs/struts, but if somebody has some suggestions here I'd love to hear them.
As for bushings I'm not sure what to get. Next weekend I'll be able to get under the car to take the measurements I need but I want to replace the front and rear sway bar bushings and links, control arm bushings, trailing arm bushings, lateral link and lateral arm* bushings. I was considering getting SuperPro bushings if I could figure out where to buy them, I can't seem to figure it out from this thread, I go to the Tein website and pick my state and look at all those sites, but it doesn't look like any of them carry SuperPro bushings. It doesn't really surprise me since the OP was last updated with distributor info in 2008, it is just hard to find current info.
*I don't actually know the deal is with these. Looking online for a "lateral link" always shows me both the front and back pieces, and at the Oreilly's website they have listings for both a "lateral arm" and "lateral link" and both sections have both pieces. I found someone mentioning that those two parts are called the "Twin Trapizodal link" (TTL), I would just like to know what the proper names for the parts are. :p
We got some work done over the weekend, ready to take the transmission to the shop. Still a bit we need to pull off to get ready to replace, I still have some parts coming from the store and I got a ton after I took these pics so the obviously aren't pictured. The car is sitting at a friends house in his garage so I can't just readily go outside and take pics but I'll try to take pictures of progress along the way but I can't guarantee anything. If there is anything specific anybody wants me to take pictures of or measurements just let me know and I will.
Recently the transmission **** itself so I decided it is time to put some more real work into it so I'm going to either get a new transmission or get mine rebuilt. I'm going to a shop tomorrow to ask about pricing but looking online I was able to find places selling transmissions for ~750 but I'm hoping it will be a bit cheaper to get mine rebuilt. In the meantime while waiting for that I bought new ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends, wheel bearings, wheel seals, front brake hoses, calipers, rotors, pads, and rear brake cylinders, a new brake master cylinder, pcv valve + grommet, alternator, battery, battery terminals, ground wires, spark plugs + wires, air filter, fuel filter, oil filter, alternator belt, and timing belt. I still need to pick up a new water pump... might as well do that while I'm doing all this other stuff since I didn't have the money to do it last time I did work on the engine.
I'm going to buy new suspension and bushings all around, but I'm not sure where to go for that. The most I'd like to spend on suspension is ~700 maybe, but I'll have to see how much the transmission costing me before making a solid decision on that. I want to get better than stock but if there aren't any <900 worth getting I'll just spend ~450 and get new stock springs/struts, but if somebody has some suggestions here I'd love to hear them.
As for bushings I'm not sure what to get. Next weekend I'll be able to get under the car to take the measurements I need but I want to replace the front and rear sway bar bushings and links, control arm bushings, trailing arm bushings, lateral link and lateral arm* bushings. I was considering getting SuperPro bushings if I could figure out where to buy them, I can't seem to figure it out from this thread, I go to the Tein website and pick my state and look at all those sites, but it doesn't look like any of them carry SuperPro bushings. It doesn't really surprise me since the OP was last updated with distributor info in 2008, it is just hard to find current info.
*I don't actually know the deal is with these. Looking online for a "lateral link" always shows me both the front and back pieces, and at the Oreilly's website they have listings for both a "lateral arm" and "lateral link" and both sections have both pieces. I found someone mentioning that those two parts are called the "Twin Trapizodal link" (TTL), I would just like to know what the proper names for the parts are. :p
We got some work done over the weekend, ready to take the transmission to the shop. Still a bit we need to pull off to get ready to replace, I still have some parts coming from the store and I got a ton after I took these pics so the obviously aren't pictured. The car is sitting at a friends house in his garage so I can't just readily go outside and take pics but I'll try to take pictures of progress along the way but I can't guarantee anything. If there is anything specific anybody wants me to take pictures of or measurements just let me know and I will.
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