My 89' 323 GT Worklog

[Damkid]

Well today i washed/detailed it........ it needs another B6T, i'm sick of chasing the problems with this engine and would prefer to start with a known good running engine/turbo (I'm suspicious of the current turbo to be fubar'd) so i had the thought to list it for sale and buy a stock festiva but i've also been it talks with a ff.com member who's gunna do a KL swap, i maybe able to make a deal to trade KL parts for another B6T, that's the hope at least since i'm too broke right now to just outright buy another engine and winter will be right around the corner

So i figured to at least show the pics i took today




A little bit of body damage














Yes this old girl has been around the block many many many times lol

[Damkid]

So tonight i decided to do a little bit of diagnostics, figured to start with a compression test, pulled the plug wires off and 2 of the plugs were completely submerged in oil, 1 was half submerged and the 4th only had a little bit of oil.... i guess the explains to miss-fire it developed lol so i pulled the plugs and decided to wait on the compression test lol hopefully the oil will gradually make its way passed the piston rings, if not then tomorrow its gunna create a hell of a smoke show hahaha

[michael0008]

gutted whats the rocker cover gasket like?

[Damkid]

It was brand new when I put the motor in

[underclassman]

I'd assume it's the valve cover gasket not seating properly. You want to install it dry as possible and follow a torquing pattern if possible. I usually start from the middle and work my way out.

[Damkid]

And I'm going to assume bad piston rings making for high crank case pressure causing oil to push passed the gasket.... You might have missed it, but this thing leaves clouds of smoke at stop lights, there's something really wrong with it

Tonight I'll be doing a compression test to find out

[Mazda_Powered]

been a busy man I take it? haha

[Damkid]

You have no idea lol my parents have been down for a week, had my daughters bday party, plus family stuff with Michelle's family, ugh, it never ends

[Mazda_Powered]

haha, "chris" time will be soon enough. I would have texted you, but my phone is shot from being dropped in water lol

[TX323GT]

Man to be under 30 again!... I just read your KLZE Festiva AND this worklog back to back. When do you sleep? I remember those days (I'm 44 now)... I used to do 5-9 Mustang 5.0 clutch swaps on Saturdays in my home town back in the day, after working 10+ on Friday and having more than "just a few" on Friday night... LOL

Anyway. your oil problem is 95.999% turbo is toast. Don't give up. You've worked through all the lil BS on the B6T. The vacuum leaks, the warped head... etc...

The idle issues are gone? If the car runs perfectly other than the dust cloud of blue/white smoke... 100% turbo is gone. period. My 323gt and my swapped '88 Tracer BOTH ate stock turbos and did this.

When you replace them, be 210% sure to check the OE molded turbo drain hose! the stock hose tends to get gummed up = toasted turbo.

I admire your skill, drive, and simple willingness to get it done NOW.

Keep it up!.. congrats on the baby.

I'm headed out to clean the garage and get MY 323gt back to life this weekend.

Rob

[Damkid]

Jack - that sucks about the cell, hopefully you get a new one soon lol

TX - thanks, I usually have some kind of project on the go, if you get bored and wanna check out another one of my passed projects, look up my old P5 thread, went from KL swap to KJ swap, although its back in the hands of Durwood, I also have another BF hatch that's awaiting a KL swap (theres a build thread on here as well) which I was gunna start on it this weekend but I have a rear main to change on my festiva lol then eventually I'll get my 13B converted to FWD for another future project.... It never ends lol

[Damkid]

Soooo I couldn't sell the 323 and I've picked up another stock festiva from VA, so now I have time to work on the 323 and actually keep it as a daily driver

The plan speaks for itself



And I've already diff swapped the tranny with a regular 26 spline diff, and here's a pic of a 323 GT int shaft in the KL trans



Over the next couple weeks I'll be making the mounts, prepping the wiring etc before I even pull the B6T out of the 323 to hopefully make this a fairly quick and easy swap

[M323GTR]

Nice

[CODY004WD]

Nice. I love me some KL swappage!

[michael0008]

Damkid you only need to mod factory mounts for it to bolt in cant wait to see if the diff swap works