MAZDA 2.5L V-6 MX-3GS

MY '92 323 SE HATCHBACK
(Don't expect a lot of modifications on this car unless they are basically free)

Rear Strut Bar

My $10, 3 Point rear strut bar. Tired of hearing the hatch squeek and rattle I decided it was time to stiffen the rear end a little. Rather than the typical commercially available "Show" strut bar that basically does nothing. I grabbed some scrap 3/4" steel tubing and weld up a 3 point strut bar that attaches to factory hard points. I haven't had time to take pictures of the upper and lower front strut bars I welded up over the winter.

New H.D strut and spring next to the coilover strut for the MX-3

This is one of the few things I done to the car that has cost me some money but it was a necessary repair that turn into a performance mod because the parts turned out to be cheaper. The dampers and rear springs were shot. The rear springs had actually broke 1/2 a coil off on one side and over a full coil on the other. I was going to order a set of remanufactured strut from Keystone (wholesaler) But I started pulling up other P/N# out of the catalog and found that they had a set 4 OEM struts that were 20% stiffer and 15mm shorter stroke in-stock. Best of all for the cost of 2 remanufactured struts, I got a set of premium perfomance struts for a car 600lbs heavier that the 323. This was a good thing as a mechanic friend on mine gave me a set of H.D springs from a station wagon. The spring rate is significantly stiffer that the stock 323 springs so the extra damping force of the new struts came in handy. The other thing about the "new" springs it raised the car about an inch which was one thing I was looking for. I have a 2nd set of Urethane front control arm and rear trailing arm bushing for the MX-3 that I may install on the 323 once the MX-3 is back on the road.

Pictures of the intake I for my old grey 323. I made a velocity tube intake system out of 2.5" mandrel bent pipe. One unusual feature I incorporated into the pipe is a 2.25" anti reversion tube TIG welded in the center of the S-pipe. The filter adapter on the Air Flow sensor was a spare piece from PRM that I got from a friend.

I've started to build a set of tube headers from scrap pieces of steel and mandrel bend tubing but I just received a small TD04-13G turbo from a friend at one of the local JDM engine importer to play with.

Since it won't take much to convert the header I started into an equal lenght runner turbo manifold I've seriously looking into developing a bolt-on turbo kit for the 1.6L SOHC as a personal exercise in engineering. I already sent drawing of the flanged to a friends shop to be cut out on their laser cutter between jobs. I have enough pieces of large diameter mandrel bend pipe to start welding up the down pipe and soon as the flanges are done. I was helping my friend again moving things around his shop and asked him to keep an eye out for a small intercooler in his next shipment. Going over to a box he pulls out 2 I/C a said take one. I took the one with the smallest inlet and outlet diameter for my project. I cleaned and polished it up and have been looking at ways to mount it and run the plumbing.

Looking under the hood at the engine and at the turbo I will have to make a few changes to the car to fit the turbo. Fortunately I have a spare MX-3 V-6 cat which is a larger, move the inlet flange back about 16" and is a bolt in. The other change that will have to be made is the OEM cooling fan will have to be removed. I plan to swap a pusher fan of some sort in front of the radiator. I have a friend that has an old pusher fan from is brothers old Ford Probe so I may look at using that. Digging in my spare parts box I have an aftermarket 120lph fuel pump for a Mustang that some one gave me a while back which the first step in the fuel enrichment. I also have a set of larger injectors from a Toyota that will also come in handy. All the joint hoses are cheap and long as you know where to shop and don't mind the the only color is matt black.

People ask why not just swap a B6T or BPT? The answer that would have cost money since no one is about to give me a complete engine. Anyway with all the freebies I've collected so far I am slightly ahead of the game over swapping a B6T. What most people don't realise is that a used engine doesn't usually come with an I/C, I/C tubing, high flow fuel pump, a stronger ignition system is needed to under boost, BOV, and the original N/A ECU isn't programmed to see positive manifold pressure so an aftermarket controller is needed to retard the timing for each pound of positive pressure. Even though most of the mechanics of the turbo system is ready to go into the car I am still looking at having to spend $1200-$1800 for the electronics and fuel management to operate the engine safely once converting the car over to Forced induction which is something that most people don't think about when talking about the B6T & BPT swap.