rasberry metallic MX5 :)

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masonholmes

masonholmes

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Well this go round with the roadster enduro I won a rasberry metallic MX5. Why am I so happy about this, it's exactly the same peculiar color of my real car, I love it :D That will now be my only roadster racer that I use. (may keep another like model for 2p tho) That's one thing, why the heck didn't they put MX3's in the GT series????!?!?!? :cry: I mean heck, they can include AZ3's. An MX6 and Probe platform would be great too...
 
Is your MX-3 a V6? The Probe V6 is the same engine, just bored less to make it a 1.8L, while the probe GT and GTSs are 2.5L.

I've always liked the MX-3, it's like a mini RX-7. I hope to eventually find a MX-3 GS and do the engine switch, but I don't even have my permit yet(my 88' 323 doesn't like reverse, my dad will fix it soon), so it won't happen for a year or 4. :rolleyes:

And yes, I have the Miata Limited A and B, and like both equally, exept I wish there was a lighter color for it.

And I've always wondered why the '88-92 MX-6 GT and '93-'97 Probe GT, or GTS was left out. It's just not logical. So they put the older Protege in GT2 instead. No excuse. And BTW, I like the 88-92 MX-6 over the same years probe, and the 93 and later Probe over the same years MX-6.
 
Believe me, I'm all over the swapping thoughts and anything else I can't afford:) As for yourself, you do know you're sitting on a beast in disguise don't you? The 323 is a 3 series Mazda chassis, which means it's nearly the exact same thing, in that respect, to an MX3. It just has a less sleek design, some mushier struts/springs, and a blockier interior. (no offense ;) ) Anywho, what I am getting at is the B6 engine will handle LOTS of boost before you have to upgrade it internally. So you could either turbo your current engine or go buy a B6T, which is basically the same thing but with the turbo already in place. (its stock with only about 130hp, but you can increase boost a decent amount before having to upgrade the turbo itself) Or you could go up one step and drop a BPT in it, which is a 1.8L turbo starting with like 180hp, with room to up the boost. Then there's the fact that since you have the same chassis as an MX3, if you could get ahold of the front end of one, you could drop a v6 in it. (for this you basically need all the accessories bolted into the engine bay of an MX3, but it all fits in just fine) You can also swap nearly the whole interior of an MX3 in and just to add to the capabilities, the 323 is a couple hundred pounds lighter than an MX3....... I could go on and on about 3 series Mazdas and anything related, hehehe. Anywho, good luck with it and lemme know if you have any questions.. Oh, and yea, my babies a v6. The better swap for that is a j-spec version of the 2.5L which has better cams and some higher compression yielding about 190hp stock. This will also drop right into your car provided you have all the rest of the accessories to go around it. one last thing, your car has the same engine in it as the earlier 4cyl MX3's and some older Miatas... Ok, I will shutup now ;)
peace,
 
Uhh, my 323 is an '88, the first one, so it's a different platform than the MX-3. The MX-3's platform is the same as the Protege(I beleive). And My dad doesn't like mods much, so I'm kinda stuck with the stock 323. With the MX-3 GS(V6), no mods are necesary in the switch. The 323 is not so easy. The 323 GT(or GTX) is a totally different engine setup, so the turbo off of it would not work, and just trying to find a GT or GTX in the junkyards is not going to happen.

I'll just have to wait. With my dad being a Mazda master tech, he gets a lot of cars with burned up engines that the owners want to sell. All I have to do is wait till one comes around.

(not to shabby for a 15 yr old) :D
 
Ok, I will admit I discluded the year when thinking, My bad!!!! (so you're on a BF platform and not a BG-big difference!) You oughta ditch it and go for a dirt cheap 90 model and do a swap of some sort. Cheap, fast and lots of potential. (since you get alotta cars with burnt up engines) As for the 2.5 swap in an MX3, while it pretty much just drops right in, it's going to take a good bit of tinkering to get it to run right, if you want it to run well and for a long time. If your not into mods, theres also no real reason to take a KL-03 over a KL-ZE, , (unless you can find the probe engine dirt cheap). Personally I would love to have a 323 'ZE, or '03 for the lower compression-IE forced induction capabilities.. Sleepers are great!!!!!
peace,
 
engine codes.....I don't know em. Sorry. I usually just go by what car it's in. And I can't just ditch the 323....I'm only 15, and don't have money....my dad would have to do it, and that's not going to happen anytime soon. My 323 is in mint condition, exept for reverse, and a minor battery eating problem when my dad lets it sit on the driveway for 6 months with out driving. :rolleyes:

So I'm sorta stuck right now. jeeezzz, I haven't even driven around the block yet. Still waiting for dad...................
 
Originally posted by masonholmes
(unless you can find the probe engine dirt cheap).
Click to expand...

I can. My dad has one sitting in the garage. It's the MX-6 version(samething)and he took it home from work. It's got a slight knock, and he's going to take it apart, find the knock, put it back together and he will have a backup for his, since the Probe has almost 200,000 miles on the original engine. So in retro-spec, all I need to do is find the right MX-3 without an engine, convince my dad to let me have the other engine, and get him to put it in. Simple. :D
 
Insurance isn't easy on any MX3, especially for a 16 year old male! We might wanna go off-list with this topic if it keeps going, since we're so far away from talking about GT ;) Also, do you have emissions testing where you live? It can be a pain to get a 2.5 MX3 to pass emissions. About the slight knock, is it a deisel/rattly kind of knock sound? If so it's probably just a spring worn out on the backlash gears in the cam area. The only real reason to do anything about it is because the sound can be a little annoying, to car guys. (if you're used to a nice quiet engine) To fix that particular problem you gotta tear all the way down into the valve stuff. Lotsa labor involved. How many miles are on the engine, does it smoke? Can I buy it :D (too bad you don't have a 90 model or so, I'd trade you the whole front end out of my dead MX3 GS for your 2.5, but then I guess you would be putting it in it ;) )
peace,
 
Originally posted by masonholmes
Insurance isn't easy on any MX3, especially for a 16 year old male! We might wanna go off-list with this topic if it keeps going, since we're so far away from talking about GT ;) Also, do you have emissions testing where you live? It can be a pain to get a 2.5 MX3 to pass emissions. About the slight knock, is it a deisel/rattly kind of knock sound? If so it's probably just a spring worn out on the backlash gears in the cam area. The only real reason to do anything about it is because the sound can be a little annoying, to car guys. (if you're used to a nice quiet engine) To fix that particular problem you gotta tear all the way down into the valve stuff. Lotsa labor involved. How many miles are on the engine, does it smoke? Can I buy it :D (too bad you don't have a 90 model or so, I'd trade you the whole front end out of my dead MX3 GS for your 2.5, but then I guess you would be putting it in it ;) )
peace,
Click to expand...

We have emission tests here too. My dad's probe passed with flying colors, and this was right after her got it running.(Our nieghbor had it, but was moving and wanted to get rid of it cause it didn't run good, so my dad talked to him, and bought it for $1,000, replaced timing belt, distributor, alternator, plugs and cables, and some other stuff and it's like a new car now)

As for the engine, I never heard it run, it's sitting in my garage. I think that there are like 90,000 miles on it. And my dad can and would work hard on it. He switched my brother's old '87 626 to a manuel in one night. He also has done a lot of engine swaps, at home, like his '86 RX-7 NA. He bought it from a guy for $275, and it had a blown engine, and he ordered a remanufactured one, and they just happened to be out of them, and there was a 2 week period when they built 20 new ones, and my dad was one of 20. So he put it in.
He also got my brothers MX-6 running. My brother bought it for $300(Makes that PS2 look like a big ripoff) from someone at work(my dad's a mechanic, and my brother works as new car prep in the same complex). It had a bad turbo, so my brother got one from the yards, my dad put it in, and got new plugs and stuff. The way my brother drives, something is wrong on a regular basis, and 5th gear was out(when he bought it), so my dad fixed that(worn yoke and gear(the guy drove down the highway with his hand on the stifter))and then the turbo started to overboost, and the car was a rocket, but the alarm/thottle cut was doing it's job and it became worse. My dad found the problem(Boost gate diaphram had a hole in it)and fixed it. He has also done brakes(several times), radiator, suspension stuff, and a lot of other fixes on the car.
That's about it.
 
I just told you about the cam/backlash gear thing because unless you are extreemly nit-picky, there's no reason to replace it. It's like a couple dollar part at most and causes no problems other than a little bit of noise. (that things gonna rattle like a mofo the first time you start it up anyways ;) )I wasn't trying to start anything against you OR your Dad's Mazda knowledge. If she's got 90k on her, you might as well have your dad do a valve job on it before it goes into whatever he might put it into, in which case I would suppose you'd go ahead and take care of the backlash thing ;) On your tranny, I'm not sure what Mazda used before 90, but if it's a JATCO model, (what is used in all 90+ 3 series mazdas and all their K-series engined cars), you might as well ditch it and swap to manual. (a fun thing to do, I commend your dad on the one night swap!) Losing R in JATCO's is one of the telltale signs that the rest of it is about to go with it. They're not even strong enough to hold the 1.6L without some help. As for the emissions thing, forgive me again as I'm used to thinking 'ZE swap and not '03. ZE's don't have an EGR ('ZE=j-spec 2.5, '03=US-spec. personally I'd rather spend $1600 and get another NA 30hp or so before I drop it in and do anything else to it, but that's just me)
peace,
 

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