323 GTX- The Refresh-ening!

Most of the parts I'm seeing closely resemble the stuff I had on my 90 Miata, like that air box and clutch slave.

I don't think all Mazdas are rust buckets, excluding the rockers most Miatas hold up pretty well around the northeast.

JoeTR6 wrote: Confess. You have a time machine large enough to transport a car. That thing is unbelievably clean. Very cool project.

Time machine my ass. This man bagged himself a gen-u-wine unicorn.

Oh, and replace that slave. It is leaking and will need bleeding again.

Harvey wrote: Most of the parts I'm seeing closely resemble the stuff I had on my 90 Miata, like that air box and clutch slave. I don't think all Mazdas are rust buckets, excluding the rockers most Miatas hold up pretty well around the northeast.

Yes they last quite well...if they stay in the garage for the winter.I was given a Miata parts car that the outer bits looked halfway decent for a winter driven car,underneath was completely toast however.

Friend of mine drives his Miata year round up here and has 250k+ miles on it. The only thing that went was the rockers. Probably depends on what sort of stuff gets put down in the area. Just about any car will get eaten up underneath with the various things they put down in some states.

That said, there is a difference between the Miata and say an MP5 Protege that another friend had which had rust eating through the windshield surround and various body panels.

There was a guy in Jackson Hole with one of these, just as stock, except for a brake bias controller. That was 7 years ago, so I'm not sure it's whereabouts now, but it was probably 90% as clean as this. I freakin love these cars.

In reply to beans:

I hope it's still around! Id hate for these things to disappear, i might want another one someday!

Just for fun I checked with the mazda dealer for parts availability on the hopes that people who buy these are frugal and didnt buy up all the expensive dealer parts. Turns out I was somewhat wrong, but not too much. Slave cylinder availabe, but few left and not cheap. Hood release cable is available too, but not the under dash part where it mounts. I asked about a few other odds and ends I dont really need, not much available. Some engine stuff is there, I assume the usual b6 things. Almost no GTX specific stuff, but I expected that.

Update: Drove around a bit today, about 20 miles total. The clutch line got air in it again slowly over the course of driving, so it definitely is leaking. The part will take a few days to come in, the guy said the few parts that are still available are spread all over the country. I'm in no rush. It's not bad enough that I can't drive it, but i probably won't until it gets fixed.

My current short term plan is:
1- replace clutch slave cylinder
2- replace hood release cable and figure out a way to fix the broken piece that it mounts to under the dash (i found the piece that broke off in the center console, so i do have it)
3- fix the rattling right front skid plate under the engine. It rattles pretty loudly when i tap on it, i don't know if a nut is loose somewhere or if there's something loose inside that shakes around when it vibrates at the right frequency. Either way, it's not too hard to remove and check.
4- grease the drivers door hinge, it's squeaking a little bit.
5- a guy just put bumpers up for sale in my state. I want to see if his front bumper has better paint, and what this good sir wants for it.
6- come up with an actual master-list of things i want to fix.

Oh yeah, and a car wash then more pics!

I guess I'm the guy who annoyingly posts relevant motorweek videos now, so here you gohttps://www.youtube.com/embed/dssgPe36RlE?list=PL8HILNMicoi6frBzfDro05x0W-44D1ZWz

That digital dash is awesome! So 80's futuristic!

Not gonna lie, i've seen that motorweek review before, probably half a dozen times, but i still watched it over again. The car they used looks like it was optioned out exactly like mine- digital dash, sunroof, power windows.

I agree with them, the normal gauges would be much easier to read, but you can't deny the extreme 1980's-ness of the orange digital dash!

I'm still waiting on a few parts (among them the release cylinder). The guy didn't know exactly when they would come in, but i'm not in a huge rush. I did a little research and it looks like the shifter won't be too hard to get to. It feels fine forward to back and it goes into gear easily, but there's more slop side to side than i expected with what feels like a little twist. The passenger side 'undercover' is definitely rattling, and that looks easy to remove as well- all the bolts are accessible and none of them look like they are rusted on or missing, so that's a good start.

I'll probably take on the clutch cylinder and undercover when the parts come in, though i suppose i could do the undercover whenever i have time. The hood release cable (also coming) might require a bit more disassembly so i'll worry about that when i have a little more time. I can get the hood open easily enough so it isn't a huge rush on that. Same for the shifter, i don't want to dig into that just yet. I'm careful when i'm driving and it has yet to grind, pop out, or be difficult to find a gear, and if it works i'm happy enough to leave adjustments for later.

My van blew a brake line when i was moving some cars around yesterday, and is currently blocking my rx8. This gave me the perfect excuse to drive the GTX today. I'm really, truly shocked how quiet and smooth this car is. Granted i dont' have any rough roads to drive on, but it feels like i have miles of smooth suspension travel. Quiet, smooth, plenty of room, AND a turbo? why didn't these sell better?!

I'm glad to hear the car is working out still. I guess there's no interchange between the slave cylinder and other, more junkyardable Mazdas?

RockAuto's interchange lists just say 88-89 AWD, so I'm guessing no. There are lots of them on RockAuto though, so you might be able to get a rebuild kit for the one you're pulling off the car.

According to RA the Dorman CSK351232 is the only slave rebuild kit available, but it also says the rebuild kit works on a ton of BP cars (Tracer, regular 323, etc) so I'd question that.

Some of the Mazda dealer parts search engines say FB0149460, the Protege slave cylinder rebuild kit, will work, so maybe RA is right.

Either way give it a shot and see if you can revive that old slave cylinder instead of tossing it.

In reply to ssswitch:

I was just thinking about that, thanks for looking that up for me! It can't hurt to have an extra on hand, and if it doesn't work, then i just spent some time taking something apart. The manual only shows the release cylinder having, like, 10 parts. 4 of those are in the bleed screw, how hard can it be?

The new parts aren't in yet (i didn't expect them this soon anyway) but i happened to have a good day for a car wash. Clear, but not a driving hot sun, weather was in the 60's with a light breeze. I wasn't the only one with the idea. At the same time, my neighbor cleaned up the interior of his buick, and the neighbor on the other side of him was engaged in his usual weekly ritual of making his red pickup shine brighter than the sun. Seriously, this guy keeps his chrome wheels cleaner than most hospitals, even through the salty winter. I kinda want to find out his favorite beer to bribe him to give my cars the same treatment even once.

Anyway, here are some before pics. I tried cropping them as much as possible so google wouldn't reduce them as much, hopefully it works:

The dirt doesn't show up so well in photos i suppose. You can see the brake dust pretty clearly, though. I didn't do anything special, just a standard hand wash. I did keep separate cloths for washing the red parts (cleaner to start with) and black parts (which i rotated out when they got dirty). I also used separate wheel cleaner for the wheels and rotated out rags generally with every wheel. Behold the results:

The wheels came pretty clean, too, though i didn't bother cleaning off the mudflaps:

This shot best demonstrates why this needs a little polish/wax job:

You can see here the black plastic is starting to look a little less black. Up close, it looks like the texture has wax or something built up in the deep parts:

Quick question about that shot, see the plastic guard around the edge of a door? To me, that looks like it could trap moisture. They look like they are installed correctly, should I just leave them on? It looks like some stuff might be trapped inside, maybe remove and clean under them, then re-install? They could be nice to protect the edge of the door if anybody (SWMBO, kids) swings the surprisingly long doors open. What say GRM?

There's nothing like hand washing a car to show you all of the flaws in the paint/body. I found more small dings than i originally expected, but none were bad enough to even show up in a photo (i tried), except maybe one on the hatch just below the wiper. The paint is pretty thick too. I'm going to take a 'less is more' approach and not go crazy, but i bet it could handle quite the buffing if needed (which it isn't).

I did more poking my head around looking for rust- along the edges of panels, underneath, in the rear wheel well, etc... I even looked up in the rear shock tower, where my cousins old 323 (non-gtx) rotted out, killing the car. Nothing. No rust. Solid metal, not even the beginnings of rust.

I pulled it back in the garage, put the RX8 out. I'll do more work inside now that the bulk of the dirt is off of it. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain which will get my RX8 dirty(er), then lots of sun, looks like more car washing is in my future! At least until they both get put away for the winter.

Any detailing tips/products that you would suggest would be very helpful. I have a bunch of mothers stuff, since that's what my dad used to use back when he went to car shows. If it works, i'm happy to keep using it, but i'd like some feedback, too. I know this isn't exactly a 'concours' forum, but some of you have some very pretty cars

Update! More cleaning, polishing, and discovery! (some good, some bad)

The lights on this thing are glass, i think. As a result, they look crystal clear. however, there is moisture in the headlights:

How do I go about fixing that? any ideas? I've never had to fix this before.

Also you can see the trim piece below that (and the grill) are in severe need of a polishing. I haven't gotten to those parts yet, i might try taking them off and doing them over the winter.

In the trunk, this has the complete spare/jack kit, except for whatever fits into that spot on this plastic door:

Any idea what's missing in that spot? The spare looks new, but the jack has been used before.

The black plastic spoilers were fairly sun faded/wax-residue-d up, but some 'back to black' stuff cleaned them up beautifully:

The double sided tape holding the spoiler down is all dead and the edges are lifting. I can push the edge back down, but the tape doesn't hold. I may need to replace the tape, any ideas what kind of tape works? There are some pretty tough double sided tapes available, and the spoiler is really held in place by screws anyway.

My initial washing missed places like this under the hatch:

A little elbow grease later:

I also discovered this nifty light:

Some stuff still looks kinda nasty:

Rubber bits are showing their age as well:

I also discovered i'm missing some parts! (gasp!)

Here's one of the buggers found sitting in the trunk:

I need about half a dozen, looks like a common plastic bit. That one is broken, but i can probably get plenty of those for cheap.

Now, onto the polishing work. I quickly discovered the hood and one fender were clearcoated for some reason. If they were repainted because of damage, that might explain why the paint on the bumper is cracked (and flaking off now). I only wish they hadn't clearcoated over the 4WD sticker on that side . Anyways, here's a shot of the fender reflecting a light pre-polishing:

and post polish/waxing:

The painters tape is a tip i read in a detailing book- mask off the black stuff/stuff you don't want wax getting all over. No worries about cleaning up the black, in that case the rubber around the headlight.

I realize now i didn't photo document this very well, but here's a before shot of the driver's door:

That's after a hand wash. It's clean. It looks hazy, spotty, etc... Then some polishing and waxing, and the rear fender (yes, i know, different panel, i didn't take enough photos) now looks like this:

It's not perfect, but it's as good as time has allowed me to get it so far. I plan on keeping this thing for a loooong time, so i have all the time i need to clean it up. Looks like the parts i ordered can take their time getting here, i'll be busy right up until they arrive!

Looking awesome... So how long till more boost and better breathing?

Not until i get a second one and turn that one into a sweet, epic rally car!

So probably never. Most of the admittedly simple parts required to do so are no longer available. The tip of the exhaust on this car is pretty gross so i tried to look up any exhausts that might still be available. I found precisely 0. Mazda doesn't have any section of the exhaust left, HKS offered theirs the longest, but not anymore, and everybody else seems to have stopped support for the GTX about a decade ago. I don't blame them, there aren't many left for people to modify and most of them seemed to have all the aftermarket parts anyway. I seem to remember HKS pulling out of the USA, too.

Besides, the transmission on this thing works perfectly, why would i want to ruin that?

I wouldn't mind some of these sweet rally wheels, though:

pic isn't mine, it was snagged from the GRM facebook page. btw thanks for putting my car up there! It feels extra good using it to show my wife that this is, in fact, an interesting car that deserved to be purchased

I'm pretty paranoid (for probably no reason) that i'll lose the center caps from the factory wheels, sweet rally wheels could alleviate that fear... I probably can't justify the cost, though, since the current wheels have new tires on them, and there is no way i'm taking this car rallying...

One of the original wheels has a decent dent in it, though. Any idea where to send a wheel to get that fixed? It isn't bent and the tire has no trouble holding air, it just bothers me because of OCD reasons. The rest of the car isn't perfect, i'll probably just have to live with it.

Quick question, how do you get rid of stubborn brake dust deposits? :

Anyways, since last time this is basically what i've been up to:

I mask off plastic and stuff i don't want to get polish/wax on, then polish and waxing. It's hard to see the benefits from garage shots, but the paint is cleaning up nicely. Much of the car has fairly heavy paint oxidation so it takes quite a bit of elbow grease to polish, but it isn't bad enough to break out the power buffer. I suspect now that the car got in a fender bender on the right front side. The paint on the bumper is cracked there, causing it to start peeling, and that corner of the car has clearly been clear coated/resprayed. The non re-sprayed parts of the car are still un-clear coated, so i suspect it's standard 80's acrylic lacquer paint, but i don't know when the repair happened. The hood needs to be redone i think, the clear is pretty gross looking if you really get up close. Just standing next to the car it looks fine, though. Whatever happened it wasn't bad enough to repaint the bumper, or even deform the plastic of the bumper, but there is some red over spray in the engine bay. No worse than any decent body shop could be expected to do, but not perfect.

The car hasn't moved since i've been waiting for a few parts to arrive. Oh, would you look at that:

It looks like a box of parts! only a few, the vital (and more importantly, the available) parts. The most important of them:

Also got a new hood release cable:

My index finger is touching a part that is simply destroyed on the original one. This handle also glides in and out without jamming! what a concept! I'll install this later, i only had a little time tonight.

I removed the airbox and stuff like last time:

This next shot was meant to take a look at the dirt on the body, but also the draining of fluid. Take a look at the rubber boot on the cylinder, it's all soaked in fluid!:

This thing leaked WAY worse than the last time i bled it (20 miles ago) so it's clearly dying fast. Last time it was damp looking, but not wet to the touch. This time, that rubber boot was filled with fluid! All of the space and the conveniently located engine undercover made draining everything a snap.

After getting the old part off, i compared and noticed 2 very different castings:

The bleed valve is at a slightly different angle, the shape of the neck isn't as cylindrical on the new one:

and the castings have different codes:

The other side has some different numbers, too. I took lots of pics but i won't post boring stuff like that. Too much. OK, maybe a little more:

I don't really care, the dimensions were the same, it fit, it works. Before reinstalling I tried doing a little more cleanup:

Still not very in depth, and i did do a bit more after i took this pic, but i'm mainly just trying to get this thing mechanically 100% first.

The old part fit just like an OEM part should, some anti-seize just in case i need to do this again:

LOTS of bleeding:

And put it back together! Well, i checked out the air box first:

I realize i didn't take an after photo (typical me being an idiot) but this all wiped off with a damp rag.

The air filter looks good:

Flapper door isn't dirty or sticking:

so i put it back together. No pic as the engine bay looks the same as it did before, but I am cleaning it up a bit now. I haven't had time to check what part of the undercover is making the rattle, but it's definitely coming from that.

Some stickers also came with the car:

The mazda one is on the outside. It's from some event sponsored by Mazda and it was meant to be temporary, so i removed it. The 'don't touch' sticker is on the inside and i haven't removed interior stickers yet. I also took off a AAA sticker since i'm not a member. No pics because it's just a window. Also, i haven't cleaned the windows yet so they are FILTHY compared to the rest of the car. I've been doing more cleanup without pics because it's all taken place after sunset in a garage, but i'll get the car out and take some more detailed pictures soon. My 'to do' list for this car is growing significantly, but that's only because i'm becoming more picky, there aren't any new problems. Then again, i haven't been driving it!

Got it out of the garage finally! Today was cold, but dry.

I drove it around quite a bit, probably another 20-30 miles. I found a route to the nearest ethanol free gas station that, while not convenient, is somewhat hilly, somewhat snaky, and has beautiful views of all the fall foliage. I then had to go pick up my wife's phone which she left at church. again. For some reason, i didn't mind one bit, I absolutely love the way this thing drives. I think i want to win the lottery and buy 5 more of these. The steering is heavy with actual steering feel, the brake pedal feels great (SS lines, everything set up and bled properly), and now the clutch doesn't go all sloppy at random! I don't even think i want to mess with the shifter anymore, it feels fine. Maybe if I get spare time, which means never.

The previously hazy paint really cleaned up nicely, and a little 'back to black' cleaned up the black trim pretty well:

Still a lot of orange peel, but for all of my OCD i don't care about that.

I haven't had a chance to do much on the drivers side of the car as my garage is narrow enough that i can park with ample room on only one side at a time. Here's the trim i haven't touched:

And a detail pic:

The back to black doesn't make it 100%, but it certainly helps. You can see where i stopped:

I finished that up, and did the mudflaps, too:

To come, some other trim pieces. Here's the B pillar on the drivers side, which I have not touched:

And the passenger side after a surprisingly light polish and wax:

Everything is cleaning up pretty well, but it's still a long way off. I'm not anticipating getting this thing 100%, but i want to get it as close as possible, and then try to maintain that as well as possible while still driving it, kinda like how i keep the RX8. I've actually never gone over the RX8 with polish, only wax/wash, but the GTX is a LOT older, and it shows. Not that I care, i really like relaxing while doing this, assuming i don't freeze in the ever-cooling weather! Labor of love, and all that.

Looking good! I could spend the entire fall detailing. It's my favorite time of the year for it.

I need to learn how to detail without rage-quitting.

Got a link for newbies? About the closest I get to actually detailing is wash and wax.

I need to detail the elky and duster when I get them put back together.

It's definitely a great time to detail, not too hot, not too cold (except today) and fall foliage drives look extra epic out of a freshly cleaned windshield . Coincidentally, i haven't cleaned the windshield yet...

I don't have any links to how-to websites, but i haven't looked too hard. most of the ones i found are linked to online stores selling supplies and i never know if i can trust those. "I just tried out this new product available here and it's awesome! Signed, totally a legit guy not hired by this company's marketers"

In the spirit of totally not pimping products, i have this book:

I read it cover to cover. I don't use it as a how-to guide or anything, in fact it's been sitting on the shelf since before i got this car, but there are some good tips in there.

Basically, i'm taking the following steps, which should be a flowchart but whatever:
1- Pick something that needs to look better, usually a panel or a trim piece or something. Lets say the black B-pillar above. It's painted metal, like most of the car.
2- Make sure it's clean. I hand washed the car before starting, but i mean really, really clean. That pillar has stuff hiding up top along the top, back by the rear window seal, and inside the door jam. Open the door, get in there, get up close and clean everything, like by hand with a clean microfiber rag (and something like water, or soapy water again) and dry.
3- Inspect like you're looking for contraband. Look for chips, scratches, swirl marks, haziness, anything. That 'before' B-piller shot above isn't very shiny, for example.
4- Use blue painter's tape to mask off anything you don't want to get all waxy, especially black plastic or seals around the window, etc...
5- If you found no problems and it's all "shiny", wax it and you're done. If not...
6- Try polishing compound. In this example, the B-pillar is all hazy from paint oxidation. Put some (a little) on a clean cloth, i prefer microfiber, and rub in a circular motion like when you're waxing. If your car isn't clear coated, it's normal to see some of the car color show up on the rag. Keep rotating the rag until you wipe it all clean again, don't let it dry like wax, and stay in a small area. With the painter's tape protecting the trim, you can get right up to plastic and not have to worry.
7- Inspect again- is it shinier/are the swirl marks or whatever gone? If it's better but not yet perfect, repeat the polish. If it's fine, wax and you're done. If it's still pretty bad, you might need:
8- Rubbing compound. it's polish but more aggressive. Since you are cleaning up the paint by removing some of it, use this sparingly, but in the same way as polish.
9- inspect again. Don't repeat rubbing compound too much in one area. For me, if rubbing compound doesn't work the first time, i just move on.
10- after rubbing compound, polish it. After polishing, wax it.
11- once waxing is done, remove the painters tape and look to places you need to wipe clean.

On larger areas, I general use a spot approach for polishing until the whole area is done, then i wax the whole thing. Generally, oxidized paint rubs off on the cloth right away, but healthy paint doens't polish off as quickly. Much of the car is still slightly oxidized just because i didn't have time to get it flawless. Unless i'm in my dark garage looking at a reflected light in the paint, i can't tell.

That process can remove swirl marks, haze, light scratches. For chips, i don't do anything. I just live with it. Deep scratches are harder, especially if they're through the paint. You're kinda boned there. can't add paint with polishing compound.

So polishing compound is different than rubbing compound. Didn't know that.

Im going to try your method. Seems like a practical guide.

Thanks for typing all of it out for me.

No problem! happy to help. The main thing is just elbow grease, and patience. I just set netflix on my phone to run, and i listen (keep eyes on the work) to something while i work until my wife comes to the garage and tells me i need to do something else

Also another tip, some waxes are just waxes, others are very fine polishes, too. I think 'cleaner wax' is a polish, (cleans be polishing off top layer of paint) while turtle 'hard shell' for example is just wax. I'm using a mix of different company's products, but the wax i'm using is mothers and it is a slight polish, too. Those polish/waxes might be the only thing needed for very light swirl marks or haze, so you can skip the rest of the steps. I have to use the heavier polish because this is nearly 30 years old and the oxidation is pretty thick, but on something that isn't older than I am, it might not be necessary.

Not to side track Rufledt's thread but detailing is one of my passions. Here is about a weekends worth of work with lot's of elbow grease and a little bit of know how.

Before

After