i'm going to try and put all of the info on my gtx in here, we'll start with the backstory
this is going to be LONG)
side note: for current progress, i've started putting this info up on youtube for anyone to see, i know someone can benefit from something there https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6l..._as=subscriber
years ago I ended up buying a 2003 protege 5 brand new and did a bunch of things to it. actually ended up with two protege5's. anyway at this time i was always seeing people with AWD 323's across the big pond and wanted to make mine AWD. years go by and a 323 gtx is all but forgotten.
i'm at home, waiting on the GF at the time to show up. she shows up, in a little red hatchback. hmmmmm. i happen to see her pull up through the window and was wondering what red car just pulled into my driveway, she hops out and comes inside. excuse me is that a GTX?!?! of course she says yes. come to find out her dad had owned the car for years and she had actually learned to drive on it. what are the odds. so her dad daily drove the car for many years, before that her uncle daily drove it for many years, and before that his best friend drove it from new for about 3 years. after meeting her father and talking to him about the car, he first was shocked that i knew what it was and at least the basics about the car. over the course of a few months every time i would see him i would say "if you ever want to sell that car, let me know" fast forward about a year or so, gf and I are no longer together, haven't spoken to her father in a while. I get a text that he's thinking about selling the gtx.....YES PLEASE. this however, came at a bad time and i didn't have money laying around to toss at another car(i was in the process of getting rid of my fb rx7 for an FC rx7) long story short we worked out a deal that worked for me and him. in reality he just wanted the car to go to someone that would take care of it and get it back in good running condition as it was starting to need some major work.
one to when i got the car:
I show up to pick it up and drive it back to my house, car had sat unused in his garage for about 6 months now. at this time the problems he told me were:
knocking from wheels(he guessed bearings)
brakes aren't working that well
gauge cluster doesn't work
he was more worried about the passenger headlight not lining up correctly than anything else
we start to tear into the car, first up was to see what we'd need to buy for this thing, we looked into the brakes first. rears were just destroyed, calipers and all, they were frozen solid. bearings we were going to do one way or the other, add that to the list. front calipers SEEMED fine so we went past those for now. shocks were not doing the shock thing, and was like driving a boat. digital dash was 100% dead. while going through all of the other things in the car we noticed water on the drivers floor, figured out it was coming from the windshield seal. along with that we noticed a rust hole on the driver and passenger sides just behind the wheel wells(front)
so as of right now, not too bad of a list, but still a decent amount:
pads and rotors
bearings
gauge cluster
shocks
rear calipers
windshield seal
RUST
seems like an easy restoration right? disclaimer, i knew nothing of how hard it was to find parts for these cars until i started looking for them, feel free to laugh now, or cry. whatever you prefer
will continue shortly in second reply. as i said, this has been one hell of a long story in the past few months
this is going to be LONG)side note: for current progress, i've started putting this info up on youtube for anyone to see, i know someone can benefit from something there https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6l..._as=subscriber
years ago I ended up buying a 2003 protege 5 brand new and did a bunch of things to it. actually ended up with two protege5's. anyway at this time i was always seeing people with AWD 323's across the big pond and wanted to make mine AWD. years go by and a 323 gtx is all but forgotten.
i'm at home, waiting on the GF at the time to show up. she shows up, in a little red hatchback. hmmmmm. i happen to see her pull up through the window and was wondering what red car just pulled into my driveway, she hops out and comes inside. excuse me is that a GTX?!?! of course she says yes. come to find out her dad had owned the car for years and she had actually learned to drive on it. what are the odds. so her dad daily drove the car for many years, before that her uncle daily drove it for many years, and before that his best friend drove it from new for about 3 years. after meeting her father and talking to him about the car, he first was shocked that i knew what it was and at least the basics about the car. over the course of a few months every time i would see him i would say "if you ever want to sell that car, let me know" fast forward about a year or so, gf and I are no longer together, haven't spoken to her father in a while. I get a text that he's thinking about selling the gtx.....YES PLEASE. this however, came at a bad time and i didn't have money laying around to toss at another car(i was in the process of getting rid of my fb rx7 for an FC rx7) long story short we worked out a deal that worked for me and him. in reality he just wanted the car to go to someone that would take care of it and get it back in good running condition as it was starting to need some major work.
one to when i got the car:
I show up to pick it up and drive it back to my house, car had sat unused in his garage for about 6 months now. at this time the problems he told me were:
knocking from wheels(he guessed bearings)
brakes aren't working that well
gauge cluster doesn't work
he was more worried about the passenger headlight not lining up correctly than anything else
we start to tear into the car, first up was to see what we'd need to buy for this thing, we looked into the brakes first. rears were just destroyed, calipers and all, they were frozen solid. bearings we were going to do one way or the other, add that to the list. front calipers SEEMED fine so we went past those for now. shocks were not doing the shock thing, and was like driving a boat. digital dash was 100% dead. while going through all of the other things in the car we noticed water on the drivers floor, figured out it was coming from the windshield seal. along with that we noticed a rust hole on the driver and passenger sides just behind the wheel wells(front)
so as of right now, not too bad of a list, but still a decent amount:
pads and rotors
bearings
gauge cluster
shocks
rear calipers
windshield seal
RUST
seems like an easy restoration right? disclaimer, i knew nothing of how hard it was to find parts for these cars until i started looking for them, feel free to laugh now, or cry. whatever you prefer
will continue shortly in second reply. as i said, this has been one hell of a long story in the past few months
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