New to the 4 cylinder game...again...

[wytbishop]

Hi Everyone...My name is Charlie. I had an RS once about 5 years ago, but have been a 6 cylinder guy for about 4 years now. Well I'm back...sort of.

So I'm sitting at the poker table on Friday with a few friends and a few new guys that I don't know and we're chatting and one of my friends asks about my car. So we're chatting and another guy that I don't know says..."I have a fun Mazda too". Naturally I ask and he tells me he has an 88' 323 GTX and it's for sale. I'm instantly intrigued.

The story goes...He bought this car and loved it...blah blah blah. Then he found out that mazda was selling off their remaining B6T's. So he bought one. So then he pulled the old engine out with about 150,000km on it and took it apart to inspect it with the help of his mechanic friend and it was all within factory spec so they were going to put it back together and keep it for a spare. but hen his buddy flaked on him and so he put it all in a box and stored it in pieces for the last 4 years.

So I says..."you've got a complete spare B6T and a GTX for sale?"

He says..."I have a complete spare engine with a turbo, both manifolds and AWD tranny...all in excellent condition...and a GTX with 20,000km on the drivetrain for sale."

So I says..."How much are you looking to get for it?"

So he says..."$2500."

So I do a bit of quick math. I figure that a complete GTX engine is worth about $1500. So I ask him what’s wrong with it. He says it’s been rallied and it’s got the predictable rust problems yada yada.

So I tell the guy I’m interested and I arrange to go see the car on Sunday. The car is rough. The rear quarters are a bit ugly and the paint is pretty bad. But the engine runs like new and the ECU is chipped by Road Race Engineering to support the turbo up to 15psi. All the mechanical stuff is in good shape so they could race it. It just needs some tender lovin’ on the aesthetic side.

So I offer him $2k, he comes back with $2200 plus he’ll throw in the spare wheels with Nokian studded monster winters and I accept.

No pictures yet…and really it’s nothing to look at, but it’s going to be the coolest winter beater of all time. The low km factory replacement engine is coming out and going up for sale as soon as possible. The parts of the old engine are going back together with 9.0:1 Miata pistons to boost the midrange and it’s going back in the car. While the engine’s out I’ll do a quick (extremely thorough) engine bay clean up, clean the interior up and cut out and replace all the rusted metal with 16ga., and put some corrosion stopper on the seams and what not.

Presto! 180hp AWD winter beater from hell.

I’m super stoked. Many pictures to follow and a worklog if they’ll let me.

[Ryan]

Congrats man, sounds like an awesome deal.

And when the shell breaks in half, into an MX the powerplant goes...

[wytbishop]

I think when the car is retired I'll build an AWD go cart with the drivetrain.

How frickin cool would that be!!! Or a lifted AWD MX-3...that'd be just stupid enough to be cool.

[fowljesse]

Congrats! It finally pays to gamble.
That sounds like a fun car!

[wytbishop]

It's a little bit rough but mechanically sound. The guy had been doing some rallycross with it so the rear of the car is gutted and they had a roll cage put in. It has all the rust you'd expect on a 21 year old car but the nice thing is that there's no need to put a bunch of effort into making it perfect. It's never going to be worth anything substantial again so I'll just cut out the rusted bits and weld in some sheet metal. I don't really care if it looks great or not I just want it to not fall apart on me. I think I'll keep the roll cage and do a sort of custom floor in the cargo area. It'll be great for hauling crap around and I don't have to worry about it getting scratched and what not.

I also found a very thorough write up on how to MS the car. I think if I can find the money I might do that to this car, upgrade the turbo and a few other little things and leave the MX-3 the way it is.

[djfinn]

i have been driving an 88 323 gtx for the last year or so, and its soo much fun to drive in the snow you got a great deal

[wytbishop]

Ok so I'm faced again with a decision to make.

Winter is taking its toll on the MX-3 which is why I wanted to buy this 323 in the first place. I have finally settled the claim on my stolen motorcycle and I have the money to purchase this car. Now if I buy the GTX I will not have any money for anything else for a while and as you all know there's always something more that can be done to the MX-3. If I do buy this car it will pretty much use up my allowance for the forseeable future so no work will be done to the Purple Beast either.

So, I wonder what you would do. Would you purchase the AWD turbo GTX and use it as a winter car as is, or would you pass on the GTX and spend some money on the MX-3...but continue to have only one car and have to drive it all winter.

Curious what you all think.

[RS_OBD'oh_2]

I say stop driving your mx in our winters and buy the GTX. Then make more mx goodies, sell them to us at a low mark up. This will allow you to get more mods for the mx while making some coin at the same time.

[Evo_Spec]

I have finally settled the claim on my stolen motorcycle.

wait wait wait, your bike was stolen?
i was talking to my uncles friend and his friend had a touring bike that was stolen too and when he called the cops he was told that there was 6 other similar incidents. seems like you were one of them, thats messed up

anyways, if i were you, if the mx-3 is running fine for now, i'd leave it alone and get the 323 GTX, because how often do GTX's come up for sale at that price, then that way i can come over to see it since i basically live in edmonton now =D

[wytbishop]

Well i'm leaning toward letting the GTX go. Because the money I would have spent on it will pay for a lot of the body work + MSnS.

[RS_OBD'oh_2]

what are you going to drive during the winter?

I've parked mine the last couple... have a company van that I drive tho. Anyways, with our road salt and crap alberta drivers, I say get some kind of beater.

You still need to make new parts for us and what not. Always remember:

Step 1. make mx-3 parts
Step 2. ?
Step 3. Proffit $$$$

Works everytime.

I think the gtx could be another project if you fell in love with it. One is often enough. I think you are doing things the smart way. Tell ya what. If I win the $50 mill... I'll buy your gtx for ya.

[wytbishop]

Well the trouble is if I buy the GTX I will have no budget at all for the MX3 fir quite a while. Whereas if I don't buy the other car I will have money to do some low budget body work, power coat the suspension, complete
the big brake upgrade and add MS later this year.

Oh and I'm going to go ahead with the big brake concept I've been working on. It will require some work on the part of the buyer but there will be options for each different users requirements.

[onlytrueromeo]

I would keep the money and put it towards you MX3. Inevitably, the GTX will be a full blown project and while its an AMAZING deal, if you can't devote the time and money to it, you might find yourself regretting it. Though if it were me, I would probably trying to convince the girlfriend that I need it LOL. This is why we have "4" cars for the 2 of us right now...

Do you have a garage for your MX3? If not - Can you build one? What about just a covered shelter or something? I think this goes a long way to protecting cars in the winter.

I am rebuilding my project MX3 to be driven year round. While I may not see Edmonton roads or snow, Upstate NY is not too much better and they use a lot of salt and sand here as well. The wheel wells on the MX3 are not as prone to rust as Hondas, but we are very prone to door sill rust and rust where leaves and dirt (and plants grow!) collect where the front fender meets the lower pinch weld. I'm sure you know all this - but take some time and $$ and clean, strip and reseal these areas.