Mazda 323 GTX - $600 St. Louis

NMNA just don't want to see it get scrapped!

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/4123710520.html

I have an '88 mazda 323 GTX ROLLER for sale. Its one of less than 1300 made. The engine is a 1.6l turbo and its all wheel drive. Motors can be found for about $350-$550 depending on mileage. I was in the process of building a stroker motor for it and i realized that I have too many projects and too many cars in general. The car has aftermarket struts (i believe they are tokicos) upgraded front and rear sway bars, ecm is chipped and good for 16 psi, comes with a good 5 speed awd transmission, interior is pretty decent for an '88, the body has some rust around the wheel wells and a little on the hatch but other than that its a pretty clean car.

If the car is not gone by next week I will be forced to scrap it. I dont want to have to do it but i cant keep it where its at anymore.

Call/Text Jake @ 314-583-3888 open to trades as well

Would it be completely wrong to pull the engine out of one of these and stuff in a 13b to run as RWD?

EvanB wrote: Would it be completely wrong to pull the engine out of one of these and stuff in a 13b to run as RWD?

No.... the motor in it is relatively fragile, and a lot of parts are NLA. I say go for it.

I smell a scam here. "Comes with a good transmission"? That's gotta be too good to be true.

It might have one that hasn't broken yet, but I doubt it's good.

Well I happen to know of a neglected rally 323gtx near me with full cage etc and blown headgasket...

mndsm wrote:

EvanB wrote: Would it be completely wrong to pull the engine out of one of these and stuff in a 13b to run as RWD?

No.... the motor in it is relatively fragile, and a lot of parts are NLA. I say go for it.

The motor isn't bad. You can make decent power out of these quite easily.

What's not so easy is getting the drivetrain to handle it. Some cannibalize Celica AllTracs for the unbreakable driveline and put them in the 323GTX.

Leaving them with a slightly heavier 323GTX that's still inferior in almost every way to the Celica AllTrac that was just cannibalized.

EvanB wrote: Well I happen to know of a neglected rally 323gtx near me with full cage etc and blown headgasket...

Buy it, put a BP + turbo in it, grab this parts car, and then part both cars out once you destroy both transmissions.

Pick up a BPT with trans on eBay, that'll take care of most of your trans problems unless you're a monster.

The motor is just a Miata motor with tragically low compression. Parts for the engine are far from NLA.

EvanB wrote: Would it be completely wrong to pull the engine out of one of these and stuff in a 13b to run as RWD?

You remember the diff you used to have in your Miata?

Its little brother is the rear diff in the 323GTX.

That can be fixed. If I'm going to be doing that much work anyway I'm sure I could fit a stronger diff in.

Cut out the firewall and fab a new trans tunnel, radiator in the back if there isn't enough room in the front, sounds like a MR winner to me.

Swank Force One wrote: Leaving them with a slightly heavier 323GTX that's still inferior in almost every way to the Celica AllTrac that was just cannibalized.

You must not be tall.

EvanB wrote: That can be fixed. If I'm going to be doing that much work anyway I'm sure I could fit a stronger diff in. Cut out the firewall and fab a new trans tunnel, radiator in the back if there isn't enough room in the front, sounds like a MR winner to me.

Don't forget having to completely engineer a front suspension, since the trans is going to want to exist where the rack is, and IIRC the 323GTX mounts the control arms to the body instead of to a subframe like the regular 323. I seem to recall that body failure at the control arm mounts is fairly common.

In the end you'll have a nose heavy RWD with very little weight over the rear axle since the axle centerlines are all wrong for rear drive. You could re-do EVERYTHING and shift the axle centerlines six inches or so forward of where they are now... but at this point, you may as well start with a standard 323. Or anything at all.

Personally, I think you'd be better off starting with a Starlet, just because I've watched far too many Mikaki Racing rally videos.

Knurled wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: Leaving them with a slightly heavier 323GTX that's still inferior in almost every way to the Celica AllTrac that was just cannibalized.

You must not be tall.

Mr. Swank Force is a 5/8 scale version of you in terms of body type.

In reply to cghstang:

I hope closer to 7/8 than 5/8 But really, while I've managed to fit the RX-7, the driving position leaves much to be desired, and it feels like car control is so much easier in a Golf or Subaru or whathaveyou because being able to sit in the car instead of laying down is important for being able to feel what the car's doing.

Seems that part of a good chassis involves the pelvis and inner ear both in close proximity to the car's center of mass. At least, this was explained to me as why an Escort was a better driving car than a Capri even though they were the same car with a little extra wheelbase for the Capri - Escort sat your butt right at the car's center and your inner ear was right above it, and the Capri had a more compromise driving position.

Disclaimer - Have never personally driven either, but I'm more than willing to sample somebody's MkII or Capri. Purely in the interest of scientific research.

Knurled wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: Leaving them with a slightly heavier 323GTX that's still inferior in almost every way to the Celica AllTrac that was just cannibalized.

You must not be tall.

I had far more head and leg room in my celicas than I do inmy Escort.

But yes, I'm only 5'9".

In reply to Knurled:

What a buzzkill.

Swank Force One wrote:

Knurled wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: Leaving them with a slightly heavier 323GTX that's still inferior in almost every way to the Celica AllTrac that was just cannibalized.

You must not be tall.

I had far more head and leg room in my celicas than I do inmy Escort. But yes, I'm only 5'9".

Only? that's taller than me.

Miatas are about the smallest car I can fit in. I have legs for days.

Swank Force One wrote: Miatas are about the smallest car I can fit in. I have legs for days.

Ben is all limbs and no torso. He's like a damn spider. I've seen pics.

So in torso terms he's like 4'2?

Quick, SF1, buy a 928. I want to live vicariously through you. Last time I tried to drive one, I didn't have enough headroom because the seat wouldn't lean back far enough - it was fouling on the REAR seat...

edit: hey now, I just got the implication from cghstang's post. Although it is nice sometimes to be able to shift basically any car left-handed (this was bothering Miles to some degree) and sometimes you just gotta scratch your ear with your knee while you're driving... And handcuffs? Can step right over them.

I don't do projects that logical.