Project Jay-Spec Mazda 323 KLZE

[Dali]

lol, awesome job man. should have picked up another 323 while you were at it. mine had a touch of rust on the rear fender well driver side, hit it with a sanding wheel and the small hloe grew into a large one, no welder around last winter so i pretty much did the same thing as you but i used a pizza box lid. fiberglassed and some bondo on top, my friend tyler seen the hole after i cut it out, when he came back to the shop he could not tell where it was.

[IMACHU2]

Good job. It makes me less intimidated about making a fiberglass hood. While you're in there, you might as well put a few more welds on the seams, since it's going to have to withstand more power than it was built for.

Check this out dude. You remind me of young me, only with much bigger Kiwi's

http://midwestattachments.com/hood.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[IMACHU2]

lol, awesome job man. should have picked up another 323 while you were at it. .

Your not the first to make that comment! I got my Mustang from Arizona, my friends are saying we should drive down and pick up a 323. I plan to drive it only in the summer so once all the rust is fixed it should be good for a long time. Fiberglass can be pretty amazing stuff. Fiberglass repairs last forever. I had a 1982 Mercury Lynx that I repaired about 16 years ago, all the fiberglass repairs stood the test of time and all the welded-in patches rusted-out. (The car blew-up many years ago and is sitting in a field at my parents farm).

[IMACHU2]

that's a lot of metal/glass work. Great job! Makes me feel confident about putting in my core support myself. you can't learn unless you try I guess. Again, good job sir.

I heard about a study of becoming an expert. The study concluded that if you spend 10000 hours doing anything, you become an expert at it. This project will test that theory. By my math at the end of this project, I should be a quarter of the way to becoming an expert??

[fowljesse]

Wada coinky-dink! That's the one that I was going to go by!
I'm going to have hood pins in the usual places, and 2 in the strut bar, and get rid of the hinges.

[IMACHU2]

Spent an un-told number of hours strippin' the goo off the bottom of the floor. I used an angle grinder with a few wire brushes to get the job done. The floor is near mint. (unlike the rest of the car) LOL The bottom of the car is clean enough to eat off of, and ready for paint. I think since the outside of the car requires no serious work, that I will paint the shell now and get it over with, so I can have fun boltin' it all back togeather. The rear shock towers and rockers need some love now.

[IMACHU2]

Painted the bottom of the floor and the inner fenders on project MX-326 GS today.
You can eat off them now. The bottom of the floor and the inner fenders are not: slimey, scungy, rusty, multicolored or missing.(anymore) Clean, solid and flat blackened.

[wytbishop]

We are a visually oriented group.

[IMACHU2]

We are a visually oriented group.

I know, I know, I will post more pics soon Geesh

[IMACHU2]

I spent the long weekend working on the MX-326GS. Update! Latest disposable camera developed!

Painted the interior floor





I primed the engine compartment.



Then painted the engine compartment.


I started work on the rear shock towers.
(before)



Prepped the towers.




I cut the donor tower tops from my parents old 1997 Ford Escort Wagon. Cut them out with about 6 cut-off wheels and an angle grinder. (they are exactly the same as a 323 towers)




Mocked them in place.



Then I welded them in place with my Fisher Price welder



I removed the cracked windshield with some piano wire, which came out surprisingly well. After that I cleaned all the windshield goo off the frame.


Sanded the 326 down. The little rust bucket was surprisingly straight and near dent free. The panel above the rear bumper was the exception, it is dented, bent and full of holes

[solo_ryder]

Looks good so far.

What you are you taking this pics with? A old school camera with flash powder?

[Mooneggs]

this reminds me of the days before I had my cell phone camera (disposable cameras FTW) haha this is crazy how much work you are putting in repairing stuff! But it's looking good!

[fowljesse]

Good show!
Are you going to put something other than glass back in?

[wytbishop]

"Hey Mom....careful driving the Escort...I had to borrow a few parts. The rear end might be a little sloppy."

[IMACHU2]

Thanks for the comments guys.

solo_ryder: Takin' pictures with disposable camera's. I always have a few on the go at the shop. I am an old man cell-a-ma-phones and digital camera's scare old people. LOL
(I am 34)

Mooneggs: Ya because I am old, a 1994 car is a "Late Model". If I knew how rusty these nearly "new" fifteen year old cars were, I would have got one out of Arizona or something.

fowljesse: I am going to drive it daily in the summer, I have a chick and a short guy that looks like me, so I am going to put a "Full" interior into it. "Full" in a base model 323 is nothing like the swanky, luxurious MX-3 interior your used to though....think roll-up windows, Vinyl seats....like an old police cruiser / taxi cab I will likely put a easy to remove 10" sub and a little amp in there too. A V6 323 only weights around 2000LBS, so around about 582LBS less then it's Sexy chick magnet MX-3 brother so it will still scoot.

wytbishop: My moms 1997 Escort Wagon is tuckin' 14's like no scort you ever seen bro. Add some stretch and poke and I could put it up on the VW Vortex
(I like VW's not a dis)