V6 powered Mazda 323

SkinnyG wrote: If you did some old-school wired fender edge happening, you'd be less likely to bleed all over Pitt Meadows looking for a band-aid when you change the tires. Will you put some kind of anti-finger-severing shield over that lovely Tetanus-inducing edge? I'm a big softy - I wear leather gloves with everything. Still, this project is SUPER-COOL. I love the detailed updates, and this is one of the handful of threads that make my heart go pitty-pat at every update.

Haha love the response SkinnyG, thank you for the kind words. I am glad you enojoy the build thread. I always gravitate towards your updates when I see them pop up. Plan on bringing that Sprint down for any events when its finished? I'd love to see it.

As for the edge, I have some spare plastic hose used in air bag kits. I plan on splitting some of it and gluing it in place. I figure the plastic would work better then rubber, if by some chance the tires happen to make contact with the fenders. Long term solution would be proper fender flares. My codriver/Partner Rob has been busy researching and looking at different ways we can build some.

Well guys this weekend was a busy one, but full of success. I'll start off with Friday. It was alignment day. The boys down at Dales Alignment did a great job setting the car up once again. These guys are one of the top shops for custom set ups in the lower mainland.

Saterday was a clean up and odd jobs kind of day for Rob and I on the car. We tore the splitter off, and the seats out in order to paint and clean up all the brackets we had made. Rob worked on the gas tank cover. He had gotten a custom box made by code electric with an open bottom. The bottom has been modified to fit the contour of the floor pan. I just need to get some tabs welded to it in order to mount it and then seal it up.

We got a great deal on this box. In the end it cost us almost the same to have it made as it would have for us to build our own.

Lots of time spent measuring and working with a car bored template to make sure we got things right the first time.

I ended up being the one chosen to make the cut. We really only had 1 shot to get things right, needless to say I was a little nervous. Turned out almost perfect though. 1 small problem in the back passenger corner but its going to be easy to fix.

Painted seat brackets. We were running low on black but had lots of blue. So a bunch of the splitter pieces that you can't see are blue. The blue seat brackets just happen to go with the blue drivers seat, almost like we planned it that way. haha

By the end of Saturday we went threw our list and scratched off a good number of completed items. Not much left on the list. Finish the fuel cell box (90% done), Fabricate the rear wing (in the works), Fabricate a harness bar for the belts we have. (still needs to be started but not necessary to finish)

Sunday just happened to be a REVscene car show/meet (local car club). These meets usually draw over 1000+ people and cars. So what better way to get some exposure for the car then to show it off. Thankfully the weather held off for most of the show. I got lots of positive reactions. Overall people seamed to like the car.

So I am always on the quest for more knowledge, especially when it comes to suspension set up.

My 323 runs a McPherson strut front suspension set up. Since I have owned the car it was running with the track width in the front widened aprox 2.5" This was done using factory mx3 lower control arms, and 2nd gen Rx7 ball joints.

in 2012 I had the car set with 3 degree camber, 5 deg caster, and a slight bit of toe out. My SAI was close to 17 deg, stock spec is 12.5 deg. The camber and caster were accomplished with offset bushings in the rear of the control arm and upper camber/caster plates that were maxed out. The car had excellent turn in and mid corner grip, but it chewed the inside half off the Rcomps off.

For 2013 I backed off the camber to 2.5 using the slots in the struts at the knuckle and zero'd the toe and this seamed to help a little bit wear was still heavier on the inside of the tires.

For 2012 and 2013 I wasn't confident with my changes, because I was running used rcomps so I had no really good way to gauge any improvements I was making The Rcomps were a 225/55R14 on a 6.5" rim. Late 2013 I got some 205/50R15's on a 6.5" rim that I ran.

2014 I centered the upper camber/caster plates to the stock location, went with 3 degree camber using the slots in the struts. I still had the off set bushings in the control arms, so caster was now set about 3 deg and zero toe. my SAI angle was now at 14.3 deg.

2014 I ran brand new rcomps 225/50R15s on a 7" rim. Watching my wear patterns and temps I was still wearing a little more on the inside edge but for the most part it was even across the face. The down fall was that the car didn't feel as sharp on turn in or mid corner.

This season I have changed out the mx3 control arms for stock 323 control arms. I am still running the offset bushings to increase caster. This puts the car with in half an inch of stock track width. I maxed out the upper camber caster mounts to reduce my SAI/Camber angles but max out on caster. I am now running 275/35R15's on 15x10 rims. Camber is set at 2.7 deg using the slots at the knuckles in the struts. Camber is maxed out at 3.9 degree, with zero toe. My SAI is now down to 12.1 deg.

What do you guys think? Have I gone in totally in the wrong direction? Next weekend is the first test and tune chance I get with this set up. I'll be checking tire wear and temps and report back.

Well. Today was a short day. With the help of my son I got the cover for the fuel cell mounted. Finishes off the back pretty good.

I also took some time to make sure all my gear was ready and the car was packed for tomorrow's test and tune event. Unfortunately it's supposed to pour rain all day.

Oh I haven't updated this. I'll have to go back and fill in a couple things.

As for today we have landed in Patterson California for the night. Tomorrow we hop over to Crows Landing for the national tour event. Anyone at the event who's been following come by and say hi. Rob and I are both excited to see how things go.

We got 2 runs in each last weekend to "test" the car befoe the rain set in. Needles to say the car is a whole new beast to drive. We both have to relearn everything again. Yaaa what fun would a national tour event if you weren't relearning how to drive your car at the same time. Hahaha.

The Canadians are bringing home the trophies. Rob finished 1st and I landed in 2nd. We proved you don't always need the fastest times on course but having clean runs is key to winning.

Any info on the box? I need one similar.

java230 wrote: Any info on the box? I need one similar.

It's a custom made box by code electric. My codriver Rob works for an industrial electrical supply store and has connections with the company that made it for us.

In reply to crazycanadian:

Thanks, thought it looked like an electrical enclosure, not many stock ones that deep though.

Well its been a little while I finally got some pictures up loaded from the Crows Landing National Tour event. Rob and I were very happy with how the car performed. We've discovered SMF has some tuff competition and we are going to need more power if we hope to stay competitive.

It took about 19 hours to get down to Patterson California. We drove straight threw the night Wednesday and arrived Thursday afternoon. I was really glad we did this because it gave Rob and I much needed down time to decompress and relax from the drive.

We stayed the night in Patterson at a hotel. Friday morning we headed over to Crows Landing to get set up and have a chance to run the test and tune. We ended up camping on site. I am not sure if this was a good idea or not, but it worked out. Rob got heat stroke on friday unfortunately. Us canadians aren't used to that much sun.

The test and tune went well. Rob and I did 4 runs each on the short little 30sec course. We were amazed with how much more grip you have on the concrete surface. Rob and I noticed right away that the car was much more balanced then our "test runs" the weekend before. I am not sure if its due to the higher speeds, warmer weather or the grip levels of the concrete but it didn't matter. The car did exactly what we wanted it to do. It turned in well, the back end was easy to control It was amazing.

Saterday we got to meet all of our competitors. There were 5 of us in total driving 3 cars. The biggest shocker was the 2005 Acura TL. It had been revamped in 5 days between national tour events. The owner of the car was fast but dirty all day. Consistently his scratch times were half a second faster then Rob and I. The little CRX that was in our class was suffering from tuning issues relating to Vtech not kicking it. Rob and I were both a bit disappointed, we really wanted to see what that car would. As 3rd runs came to a close Rob sat 1.4 sec a head of me in 1st place. I had coned my 3rd run which would have beaten Rob, so I had to settle on my 2nd Run. Brett in the TL had coned every run, this put him 1.0 sec behind me. Knowing that Brett was faster then us Rob and I felt pretty comfortable that we had enough of a lead that we'd do well so long as we ran consistent and clean on Day 2.

Driving the course on Day 1 was a huge adrenaline rush for both Rob and I. Walking the course we knew it was going to be fast, but we didn't know just HOW fast. I couldn't believe the amount of time I was spending on my limiter. The back sweeper we were taking in 3rd gear foot to the floor. My data loger was showing 65 - 68mph in this section. It was UNREAL!.

Day 2 proved that anything can happen. Running the course in reverse was just as fast as day 1, all though we didn't end up in 3rd gear. My first run out felt pretty good but I ended up hitting a cone in the slalom. DAMN slaloms! Robs first run on the other hand was different story. He coned as well but he was having a real hard time with the back end of the car wanting to come around. My second Run ended in a DNF as I got really sideways on the 2nd sweeper element. I almost saved it and kept it on course but I had over corrected. When the front tires caught traction the car jumped right and I wasn't able to make 1 gate. Robs 2nd run was slow, very slow. We both concluded something was wrong with the car, the back end was almost uncontrollable. At this point Bret had shed his cones and he was proving to be just as quick if not quicker then Day 1, Laying down a 54.4 he jumped from 3rd into 1st.

In a mad scramble to try and get the car sorted out I set the front shocks to full stiff and the rear to full soft. As I thought about the course, I dailed things back in a couple areas where I was having trouble with the ass end of the car. This proved to do the trick as the car was much more balanced and I finished out with a clean 54.8. This moved me up to the top spot. I relayed to Rob what I changed and how much better the car felt and did the best I could to pump him full of confidence. Rob took what I had to say and ran with it, improving on my time with a 54.7. Brett was the last person in our class to run. I watched the time bored anxiously as Brett finished his final run. It was a fast run, but not fast enough. Stopping the clock with a 54.1. His dirty day on saterday stuck around to haunt him, putting Rob and I in 1st and 2nd.

Packing up on sunday we figured out why the tail end was so loose. Concrete has a lot of grip, but it sure wears a lot on tires. I would have never thought I'd cored a rear tire. Granted the rears were just what we had left from last season, I thought they would have enough meat on them to make it threw this season. Glad we have 2 more spares.

Rob and I holding up our "trophies"

The SMF class all together It was a great group of guys. We all had a lot of fun.

You never raced at Boundary Bay, eh? Your shoes would wear out just walking the course. Concrete is fantastic for grip. Pitt Meadows was so "meh" after losing Boundary Bay.

My first year of autocross was the last year of boundry bay. It was so long ago and I was soooo green I never did relate the difference.

Have you been down since Pitt meadows expanded to 2 pads?

I don't think so. I was there with the Lethal Locost for the Canadian Nationals in 2007, and the Kumho Super Challenge in 2008. I think the second slab was paved after that. Haven't been back since.

crazycanadian wrote: So I am always on the quest for more knowledge, especially when it comes to suspension set up. My 323 runs a McPherson strut front suspension set up. Since I have owned the car it was running with the track width in the front widened aprox 2.5" This was done using factory mx3 lower control arms, and 2nd gen Rx7 ball joints. in 2012 I had the car set with 3 degree camber, 5 deg caster, and a slight bit of toe out. My SAI was close to 17 deg, stock spec is 12.5 deg. The camber and caster were accomplished with offset bushings in the rear of the control arm and upper camber/caster plates that were maxed out. The car had excellent turn in and mid corner grip, but it chewed the inside half off the Rcomps off. For 2013 I backed off the camber to 2.5 using the slots in the struts at the knuckle and zero'd the toe and this seamed to help a little bit wear was still heavier on the inside of the tires. For 2012 and 2013 I wasn't confident with my changes, because I was running used rcomps so I had no really good way to gauge any improvements I was making The Rcomps were a 225/55R14 on a 6.5" rim. Late 2013 I got some 205/50R15's on a 6.5" rim that I ran. 2014 I centered the upper camber/caster plates to the stock location, went with 3 degree camber using the slots in the struts. I still had the off set bushings in the control arms, so caster was now set about 3 deg and zero toe. my SAI angle was now at 14.3 deg. 2014 I ran brand new rcomps 225/50R15s on a 7" rim. Watching my wear patterns and temps I was still wearing a little more on the inside edge but for the most part it was even across the face. The down fall was that the car didn't feel as sharp on turn in or mid corner. This season I have changed out the mx3 control arms for stock 323 control arms. I am still running the offset bushings to increase caster. This puts the car with in half an inch of stock track width. I maxed out the upper camber caster mounts to reduce my SAI/Camber angles but max out on caster. I am now running 275/35R15's on 15x10 rims. Camber is set at 2.7 deg using the slots at the knuckles in the struts. Camber is maxed out at 3.9 degree, with zero toe. My SAI is now down to 12.1 deg. What do you guys think? Have I gone in totally in the wrong direction? Next weekend is the first test and tune chance I get with this set up. I'll be checking tire wear and temps and report back.

I experimented with a no sway bar, high roll center setup on the Daewoo of Death and was very satisfied.

I can send you a detailed, physics intensive write up if you like but moral of the story - much better grip, slightly slower transient response, glorious amazingness over bumps, vastly improved tire wear and occasional problems with jacking/under tucking in the rear.

It kicked the living E36 M3 out of my big bars, lowered type setups.

SkinnyG hopefully you can find time to come down for an event in the future. When the pad was doubled it really opened up what we can do with courses. Lots of fun, more flowing higher speeds. I am pretty sure its the second largest site in the PNW now.

DaewooOfDeath I'd love to read it. Thank you.

This is the less mathy version from my Daewoo of Death days.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/no-swaybars-updated/75306/page1/

About halfway down the first page on this thread, E36 M3 gets real. This is the VERY mathy version. http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/suspension-confusuion/48640/page1/

Hello first off let me start by I admire your work. Awesome! I just swapped in a KLG4 w/ full 00' Mazda 626 engine harness and ecu w/o immobilizer into my 94' Probe. What pins had to be connected on the two relay plugs (off the klg4 harness) to get the car started w/ the KLDE Probe fuse box. It clicks and turns but won't start. I wired starter solenoid 12v wire(blk n blue) to START RELAY H301. Not sure where about for ignition coils 12v wire(blk n wht) and fuel injectors 12v wire(red n wht). I was thinking IGN MAIN RELAY FS11. What other pins on the two plugs (that connect to Relay box) need to make contact? I'm sorry for the long question I'm just close to getting it on and ANXIOUS (been at it for a week and I'm starting to think its the starter going bad. I can turn the engine w/ a ratchet by the crank pulley but only when the starter has been taken off.

Any ideas ??

Also, how could I add pics off my camera roll in my iPhone so I can show u What I mean

In reply to crazycanadian:

Thanks! In advance

In reply to KLG4PROBE:

Hey bud.. sorry I haven't checked this thread in a while..

I am not sure how to answer your question. Does the motor crank over fine when you try and start? or does the starter just click?

If it is cranking over have you checked the basics? fuel/spark?

My swap didn't use any probe parts.. I took the stock klg4 engine harness and found the main power/ground wires and ran them into the mx3 fuse box.. I did a lot of research with my wiring diagrams to make it all work as close to factory as I could.. Its been 2.5 years since I completed the swap though so I don't remember the wire colours.. I'd have to go back and look it up..

video of my fastest run on saterday.. https://youtu.be/Fz_sV9kIo2A

Well this weekend was another big weekend. Packwood natoinal tour event, this is the largest autocross event in the north west region... Once again SMF was a full class with 9 competitors... Last years winner Quinn Cambell was back in his little FSP prepped Sirocco. Although this year he came a little more prepared with a built 1.8L motor and a turbo hanging off it. He had also added a bunch of ballast to make min weight this year. Quinn and I were separeted by less then 1 tenth of a second last year. I was excited to get a chance to face off against him again this year. We also envelopem Hayton in his FSP prepped Ford Focus. Don't let the fact that it's an FSP prepped car fool you. It a well sorted out car and Norm is a bit of a freak behind the wheel.. Norm used to campaign this car a few years ago and has won his class at the Canadian Nationals and done well in natoinal tour events before.

Saterday was chalked full of excitement. Norm set a blazing fast first run scratch time with 54.4. He had picked up 2 cones on that run but it looked like he would have no problems cleaning up his run and improving on it. Rob and I both struggled our first runs out. Rob conning away his run and I ended with a DNF after missing a braking point. Quinn sat comfortable with a 56.3. Run 2 I shook things up. Nailing what felt like a perfect run, I came in with a clean 54.0. Norm struggled getting slower and hitting cones again. Quinn picked up a bunch of time but not enough as he finished with a 54.5. Rob decided to play it safe and just looked for a clean run. He came in with 55.3. 3rd runs opened the door for some more placement shuffles. Rob pulled out the stops and laid down a blazing fast 54.1 time, unfortunately a late cone call ment he would sit on his 2nd run. Norm finally got a solid clean run with a 54.5. I looked to improve on a few areas and extend my lead. Getting a little to greedy I picked up a couple cones. Quinn was following me and had to stop for a course worker. This gave him a rerun. Well that 4th run was what Quinn needed to figure out the course. Laying down an amazing 53.3. This left me scrambling to figure out how to go faster on sunday.

Sunday morning was a new day. Quinn sat in 1st with a 7 tenth lead over me. Norm trailing me by half a second. Rob sat another 7 tenths back in 4th. Sundays course was very technical. First runs out were once again chalked full of excitement. Rob struggled his first run out conning it away. Norms codriver came him from his first run with engine bay steaming away. Turns out a piece of the fan broken and put a hole in the rad. This left Norm scrambling to find a car to drive. Both Quinn and I coned away our first runs but my scratch time was 6 tenths quicker. Both Quinn and I cleaned up on our 2nd runs, but Quinn couldn't close the gap. This opened the door for me as I was now only trailing him by 1 tenth between both days. I was struggling with fuel starvation on my run so I knew there was more time to be gained out there. Norm had found an STS prepped CRX to drive allowing him to at least put in some times. Rob continued to struggle running a pretty slow 57.3. Norm at this point still held on to 3rd place. 3rd runs came around. Rob still struggled to figure out the course but was able to pick up enough time to over take Norm for 3rd place. I made a last min decision to adjust the shocks hoping to get the car to rotate more. This worked a little to well, lifting off the throttle for a long decreasing left turn the back end stepped out putting me in a full on drift. I managed to save it, run a perfect line and pick up 4 tenths. Ending my 3rd run with a 54.4. Quinn was unable to improve on his times. This ment Quinns 2nd run at a 55.5 would be his fastest putting me in 1st place over all.

Pictures and videos to follow shortly..

Packed up and bringing home the "trophies"..

Robs fastest run saterday https://youtu.be/-rpbNXI0aTE

Robs fastest run Sunday https://youtu.be/dWcTHDvPhDs

My fastest run saterday https://youtu.be/jjAdSbllkFE

My fastest and most sideways run Sunday https://youtu.be/vmQoef4vySg

Another day gone another autocross day in the books.. today was a day of testing all though it turned into a great battle for FTD and top spot in my race class locally..

for the morning runs we just played with shock settings... going from full stiff to full soft.. Not much to report there other then full soft helped with how ruff the course was.. In the afternoon we disconnected the front sway bar.. my first run out was amazing... the front end was much more compliant. . Turn in felt better... grip felt better and it netted me almost a full second gain over my fastest run in the morning... I held FTD until 2nd runs when a local CSP miata out ran me by 4 tenths.. I felt as though I could catch him but the hot pad temps and quick turn around times took its toll on the front tires.. by 3rd runs Rob and I were over heating the tires... switching tires over to go home we noticed we've corded one of our new A7s on the front... we have spare A6s but I think we might park the car and have fun with a different car..

At the end of the day It looks like the zx2 front bar and 800lbs front springs are to much for the 600lbs rear springs and 19 mm white line rear bar....

Well the car has been hibernating but she hasn't been forgotten about...

I took a little trip north to Kelowna today and picked up some new goodies for a screaming good deal..

Shiny. Ebay turbo kit?

Have been following your thread over on probetalk for quite some time, Excited to see updates!