1988 Mazda 323 GTX Project w/ pics

[slow&rusty]

Hi Gals and guys - I thought I would share this with fun and neat project with y'all. I guess you can call this a sympathetic nut and bolt restoration.

I needed a project car like a hole in my head, but came across this and was simply too cheap to pass up. I paid $2k for it, 18 months ago. The previous owner had done a full engine and transaxle rebuild but left the car in pieces as he had lost interest.

I had the car shipped from California (Santa Cruz) to Houston and immediately began working on it. As soon as I received it, I stripped and sanded it down at home and then my buddy painted it.

We did a color change to a newer Mazda metallic silver and installed several Japanese market body panels (slightly different fenders, factory side skirts, hood, front and rear bumpers).

After paint, I turned my attention to the engine bay and I made all new aluminum brackets to replace the factory steel brackets. I also did a turbo upgrade to a larger IHI, I replaced most of the fasteners with Torx stainless ones. Yesterday I completed a full coilover conversion and installed new wheels and tires.

For me this period represents a great time for cars, great looking and rewarding to work on (takes well to modifications). This car is well laid out and simple to wrench on. This is the first AWD Turbo car I have owned. My plan is too keep it and drive it a few times a week. I still have a lot of work ahead of me, but making some good progress. These cars can reliably be modified to around 250hp and weighing around 2350lbs, make a perfect power to weight ratio.

As a point of reference only 1,243 were sold new, according to an online registry there are less than 400 than exist in the US today, many rusted away or were raced and crashed. Brand new in 1988 they were $13,500 new, so quite expensive at the time.

Onto the pics.

When I bought it 18 months ago:


At my friend's body shop:




Primered:


Painted:


Painting all window trim:


Engine work:


Coilovers installed and new wheels / tires (photo taken yesterday):


My best,
Yasin

[billybek]

Nice job.
Didn't know the significance of this car but googled it and found this article.

1988 Mazda 323 GTX - Classic Drive

[KNS]

Sweet! They made great rally cars back in the day.

[DonDavis]

Very cool.
Looking forward to hearing more as you progress.

At first, I thought this shadow was an angled blue accent/stripe. I was thinking "Hmm, that's interesting".

Originally Posted by slow&rusty

Painted:

[onewhippedpuppy]

Awesome! I love those cars. Your approach is very similar to what I'm doing on my RX7.

[VincentVega]

Way cool, nice work. Thanks for posting.

[Tobra]

Most outstanding little car. Be very gentle with the transmission.

[slow&rusty]

Thanks for all the kind words! I appreciate it.

[Macroni]

Excellent!

[CurtEgerer]

Nice work. Very cool cars. Erik Zenz is still racing his in the Rally America series ... and he does very well with it.

[CurtEgerer]

Rod Millen campaigned a very fast Group A version in the late 1980's:



But not quite a match for Buffum's Group B Audi

[david c.]

I had one. Loved it. It pushed too much on street tires but I know it could be set up much better. Tons of fun.

[slow&rusty]

Thanks guys. I wish it could run with a Quattro!

Well I have a problem, keeping it stock, so started mocking up a new ram horn turbo manifold and ball bearing Garrett GT28 turbo along with a new stainless exhaust and a new aluminum radiator..more pics to come, but here's a sneak peak of the new turbo set-up mocked-up on the engine stand.

[sand_man]

Awesome car!

[Tobra]

I look at that manifold and can't help but think, Houston, we have liftoff