My BG hatch V6 swap, rear brake upgrade, etc

[Dan [Sac]]

Not quite 100% perfect, but a decent test drive. Car needs alignment and a parking brake adjustment.

Speedo isn't working which means the B6 speedo gear isn't compatible with the mx3 tranny like the BP is - I'll test that out tomorrow probably.

The cooling fan isn't coming on at 207* as it's supposed to, which leads me to believe that there is a fan relay somewhere in the mx3 chassis harness that I missed when I picked over the engine harness. I'll check that at the yards too.

Other than that, it's nice. With the exhaust & magnaflow muffler it's really nicely toned down (no chrome tip on purpose). No check engine light, perfect vacuum signal, and a good idle. Suspension is stiff with the Jamex springs, and at first I wasn't digging the raked look but it's growing on me. Just gotta drive around big potholes with the 40-series tires.

I forgot how tiny the 323 sunvisors were :no:

Love the mx3 seats as well.

Edit - the sidemarkers are form a 3-series BMW. Next week I'll put on the upper & lower rear spoilers and shorten the rear bumper. I was initially going to get a JDM front bumper to go with it but for now I like the retro look.

[FE3-323]

i like the look of the 323, & the sidemarkers are an attractive alternative well done

[Mazda_Powered]

very nice! glad to see you're happy with the outcome man. as for the speedo, i've used a B6 speedo gear in my BP when it took a crap on me. It should just sit in the transmission, it won't really bolt down unless you make a bracket.

Are you going to get her painted at all? If you're staying with the stock bumpers i'll recommend a 626 front lip! adds a little bit of styling.

We want some out of car videos!!!!

JACK.

[323v6pr]

are u gonna run megasquirt or stock 4 now?are u gonna dyno it?

[Dan [Sac]]

Stock, I think that's about as much money as I'll put in it. No paint for now, just needs a wash & wax (haven't washed it since I bought it in december). It suffered a couple of dings during the winter storm when the canopy got banged in it so I'll just leave it as is now.

Depending on what the costs are for my drag race gearbox I might have to sell it to keep that project up. Going fast gets stupidly expensive!

The car is much more fun to drive now that the alignment is done (I was running negative toe on BOTH front tires) and feels very good around town.

Here are the latest shots of the engine bay, almost done.

[smoke187]

ok now i want one

[Mazda_Powered]

nice job once again!

one day....one day...

JACK.

[FE3-323]

Dan i must say.... It looks GREAT!! well done

[Dan [Sac]]

As far as the fan goes, it looks like my hunch was right. I looked up the '92 MX3 cooling fan setup on AllData and there are 2 additional cooling fan relays under the driver side fender. I'll see how they'll fit with the rest of the B6 harness - in the meantime I put a relayed switch on the fan. The single fan relay in the underhood fusebox checked out ok, and the fan does turn when 12V are applied.

As far as the gauges go (stockers), I'll put in an MX3 gauge cluster. My speedo doesn't work with the B6 gear in the K8 tranny, and my tach is off anyway by at least 30%, more in the upper rpm. Since it plugs right in, I'll put in the mx3 cluster and try to massage it in there as best I can. That way I have the proper tach readout, and the electric speed sensor. The B6 one that's wedged in there allows fluid to leak out anyway.

Thanks for the good words guys - it's not overly difficult, but sometimes it can be time consuming and make you feel like it'll never end. With the right info at your fingertips and all the parts collected, I wager this swap can be done in one weekend. And there are plenty of MX3s in the yards, just shop for the 50% off days

Now I just need to hunt down the MX3 gear ratios for the K8 motor and stock tire size for the MX3 V6...

[TREVO123]

Wow! very nice set up. Post some vids

[323v6pr]

damn it look great,mine looks like krap(engine),are u gonna dyno it before going to the track for some 1/4 times?

[Dan [Sac]]

Aaahhh, I got a little too optimistic with the gauge cluster. The MX3 cluster does fit with a slight amount of trimming, and it does plug right in, but in order for it to work, you have to swap the rest of the chassis harness, and that includes the cooling fan relays I missed (one in the driver side fenderwell right behind the coolant tank) and the others are by the pass side between the strut tower and firewall. Also the rest of the harness has to go in as well, so I may or may not do it (most likely I'll do it because I don't want to half ass it now that it's done, and having the cooling fan on a switch is annoying at best as it requires constant temperature monitoring).

I did get the electric speedo gear swapped back in today and took out the cable driven speedo gear and the cable itself.

Other than that, I love it. I just paid the tags for it so it's registered till March 09 (no smog till then) so I have time to do the BAR/referee recertification if I keep it.

I say if I keep it because chances are in about 2 weeks it'll be for sale so I can buy my billet gears for the drag transmission (at $900+/gear it gets pricy VERY fast).

[Mazda_Powered]

you mean you'd sell the car you just finished building? .....crazy lol.

Hey about the speedometer problem, have you tried just swapping out the speedometer stuff for the mx3 instead of the whole cluster? and just leaving your 323 cluster there?

JACK.

[Dan [Sac]]

That would still leave the tach off though, and I haven't looked to see if the bits are interchangeable.

As far as projects go, this one was a 'quickie' and by far the easiest I've had to do. Lots of swapping and some custom work, but overall very little fab work and for the most part everything fit right where it was supposed to go, which is pretty rare for custom things

[cojsl]

Nice work Dan!