The Millennium Falcon--Mazda 323GT build thread

[Crazy Drummer69]

Jovanne worked on the rear passenger corner of the car some more. The floor was all patched up except for one corner by the wheel arch, I ended up fiberglassing it for ease.

This corner of the trunk is now patched up.




Fiberglass patch


2nd layer, patched from the inside this time



Once that section was done, I had him work on the dog leg. He cut out even more metal and patched it up. It's just missing a lip to seat the weather stripping. The door closes with ease.

[Crazy Drummer69]

Finally, I started working with fiberglass. The first strip was simple; a small little piece by the rear driver's side wheel arch in order to maintain the body line.


No noticeable protrusions from the piece




Next, I did a big strip on the rear driver's side wheel arch & dog leg. The piece will be cut to length & shape, fortified, then finished with body filler, primer, and paint.



Started constructing the underside of the dog leg




Then I moved to the front driver's side fender. This one turned out mint, I'm VERY please with the result






I then dabbed the CAI piping in whatever leftover resin I had. A trip to the local store for more supplies followed :D


A second round of resin after I returned



After two and a half hours (an hour more than needed) at ~23C, I did a few second layers and continued building a fiberglass base. This was at around hour 10 of the continuous push. I took quick pics and left right after... I'm a little worried about how the glass is going to set. Anyways, first some mock-up pictures.

Flattening the outside patch for the passenger trunk hole.


Front driver's side fender



Building up the rear driver's side quarter panel




And now, pictures of the freshly soaked pieces in place

Front driver's fender


Rear driver's side quarter panel



Underneath the rear driver's side dog leg



I started building the outer lip (so the door's outer weather stripped can seal) on the rear passenger side dog leg



I need to do another big push to finish fiberglassing on Thursday and getting a jump on the body filler/sanding if I plan to prime the spots and drive the car on Friday in time for the car meet.

[Crazy Drummer69]

Did some more glass work, started on the body filler. I kinda cheated and used a grinder with a flapper wheel on it, they don't have a sander here and Andrew was busy.

Front driver's side fender progression







Rear passenger side wheel arch + dog leg


You can see the door sits flush on the inside, but the fiberglass doesn't yet have the shape of the door. I'll use another piece of glass with a spacer to push it out instead of filling it with body filler.



Driver's side dog leg underside







Rear driver's side wheel arch & quarter panel




I used part of a pizza box to push out the fiberglass, then ripped off whatever excess I could.


Pretty good shape, won't need much work to complete


Passenger side to compare the shape



Primed the charge pipe, plan to paint it matte black like the SSQV. I could only find white galvanized metal primer



The plan for today is to finish the glass work, smear body filler where needed, and reassemble the car to drive to the meet tonight. Lots of work ahead of me, toodles!

[MyHooker]

Looks like you are trying to pack in a lot of work into a short amount of time. Something that may help with your fiberglass work, if you use "Good Stuff" expanding insulation foam in your open spots to build it up before the fiberglass. It is easy to shape after it sets up, using hacksaw blades for doing gross cutting and sand paper for shaping. I would suggest using a rust inhibitor on some of those edges to avoid having to go back through again at a later date. Otherwise, keep up the awesome work!

[nerd racing]

Or you could use green floral foam, it comes in bricks, just shape them and then attach them with resin and fiberglass over them.

[Crazy Drummer69]

Well, I've been taking advantage of the freaky +15 weather in Edmonton (Should normally be like -5 to -15 around now) by driving with the sunroof wide open, which means little progress to the car. All that's really left to do is to replace the turbo and finish the bodywork (trim, door surface rust, fiberglass, driver's side trunk floor).

Putting back on the caliper


The boot is a little torn, but still glides smoothly





I had some gold paint lying around...




Some tune-up parts



Look at what came to PaP on Friday... and it still has working adjustable suspension!



ANNND VJ14/VJ11 hybrid turbo coming soon courtesy of a MX6 turbo

[FamiliaGT]

Your not going to want to go platinum plugs on a B6T...

[Crazy Drummer69]

Meh, the guys on the yahoo groups and m323p.com said as long as you gap them right, they should work.

[FamiliaGT]

Gaping makes no difference. The platinum will come apart under High pressures in a turbo motor. Base line, unless you want to loose your engine, dont run them. This has been prooven many times.

[Crazy Drummer69]

Kay then... I'll exchange them for some iridium ones when I get a chance. Better to be safe than sorry... the engine already has enough issues with the bad turbo.

[FamiliaGT]

Heh, better to have the problems you do have and fix them then to add to it.

Havnt tried Iridium's yet, but ive heard great things. Probably will be my next set to try out.

[Crazy Drummer69]

They worked well in the GTR and in my B6, no gapping involved either. Stronger spark and they last longer. Hell they better at forty bucks for a set...

[nerd racing]

hey would you be willing to pull the passenger axle and intermediate shaft from that 323GT that was in the junkyard? I'd pay ya well for it. PM me if you wouldn't mind.

[jay]

Dammit guys (rants a guy who spent way way too much time swapping plugs to get more outta 3 different turbomazda ignition systems), there is *nothing* to be gained from platinum/iridium/whateverthehellium plugs. NGK BKR7E or BCPR7ES-11 work. The others either work just as well but with a side benefit of costing way more, or they cost way more but at least make for high boost high RPM misfire, or better yet they come apart and put some nice graffiti on your cylinder walls. You put iridiums in cars that require hours to get to the plug wells, so you put something in there that lasts years, but we don't have that issue. One of the things we did with the rallycar at the dyno shop was a plug change and the iridiums, the only alternative plugs I've found that did not induce a misfire, changed the dyno curve by absolutely bupkus.
Iridiums will help, I think, maybe, if your coil sucks. That tiny electrode makes for an easier jump-off point for tired electrons. But rather than bandaid the problem with fancy plugs, you'll actually gain some performance by replacing your coil. It's the coil that makes the damn spark in the first place, not the plug.

[Crazy Drummer69]

Xmas came early...

My new contacts finally came in... three weeks of 5yr old glasses = nose dimples again >.<


Happy Panda


Sad panda




I bent the pins back into shape, and put it back where it should be. I'm going to go install it right away. Also, I just realized why my boost controller isn't working. I'm pretty sure I forgot to remove the restrictor from the wastegate line. Either that or the turbo is that ****ed again. This **** happened to my GTR... one day it decided to work and boosted properly otherwise it was always stuck on stock boost.

Also, my roomate got his xmas present early too