My 89' 323 GT Worklog

[Damkid]

^^the diff swap will work the exact same as it did with my festiva, I'm dead positive in that one

[Damkid]

Edit: wrong thread

[Damkid]

Progress!! As you see the B6T is out and front end off, tomorrow night I'm hauling it to my work to repair the rotted out lower rad support

[Damkid]

Ready for transport to my work for some patch work on the lower rad support

[M323GTR]

I like the kids approval lol

[Damkid]

Old rad support cut out



Boxed in the frame side



New support welded in




And the old rotted section

[DuRWooD]

Nice work. It's weird how rusty that old one was, and how clean the rest of it is.

[Damkid]

Ya I totally agree, all I really need to do still is drill holes and weld in some sleeves for the bolt holes so I can run bolts straight through it..... I wanna weld in sleeves so that over time the bolts don't crush down the new section..... Same for the sway bar mounts and weld tabs on for the lower hood latch bracket, rad mounts etc

[DuRWooD]

Yeah, I forgot that's where the sway bar mounts. That explains the rust. The car has been driven hard, and long.

[Damkid]

I been absent from the forums for a while, but I have some good progress to post once I get the chance to post pics

[Damkid]

So after I got a new piece welded in for the lower rad support, I wanted to test fit the engine to see what room I had to work with for rad clearance



So then I grabbed the VW rad I had kickin around and it fit nicely, so I made up some mounting points



Then the engine bay got a coat of black paint



Knowing the issues I had with clutch cable adapters on my festiva I decided to convert the GT to hydro clutch, so I got my hands on a GTX clutch pedal and master cylinder



Here's a comparison pic of the GT vs GTX pedal, GTX is the top one



And all parts bolted up almost like stock, the master took a slight but of modifying and the pushrod needed to be shortened




I had to put the tranny in for any fab work needed to get the shift linkage bolted up




Then I put the face back on it



Before I could put the engine back in, i needed to make up the int shaft mounting plate (remember I swapped in a 26 spline diff so I can re-use the stock axles)



Then the engine went back in



Lots of header clearance



That's how far I got until I got distracted with buying this AWD protege (drive shaft was pulled prior to towing) build thread to come shortly

[michael0008]

nice using the factory rear and side engine mount?

[Damkid]

Stock rear GT mount, stock front KL bracket but i had to re-drill the crossmember to match the KL front mount.... i still need to make the passenger side mount

[FE3-323]

holy updates batman!!!! im a little confused. so now you have 2 KL festiva's??? and a KL 323gt?

[Damkid]

Lol no, I have 2 festiva's, one is stock though and just got replaced with an AWD protege (build thread coming up within a few mins)

THIS 323 GT WILL BE FOR SALE WHEN FINISHED

Price is still to be determined, but discount price will be given to forum members lol