Thread: Jakes out of town car

thought since there are all types of projects up someone might be into this probably 5-6 years ago I stopped doing any form of motorsport. Worked hard trying to get further up the ladder I put my car in storage (its still there waiting for me to eventually finish it ) and i got into shooting in a big way and that took alot of my spare cash . Anyway last year my mates thought wed get back together and time the targa rally again as it had been a few years well the bug bit me again and I trawled trademe to find something that was cheap that needed a bit of work. I came across this mazda 323 originally listed for $1200 i waited and waited and waited eventually it came down to 800 I offered him 700 he took it and for a extra hundi he would bring it half way.

it has a worked engine in it too with the gt twin carbs , oversized pistons , port and polished head , race cam and had been balanced




now it had a bit of rust he said




Now it didn't look that bad in the photos but when i picked it up it was a bit rougher than i thought i suspect the photos were a bit old it barely ran when we picked it up and it was 30+ in napier so we tied it down and headed home.


turns out the stickers were hiding alot so over xmas i got stuck in to the roof




now this was my first real go at panel work it turned out ok .. it was never pretty to begin with but hey




the floor was pretty manky inside and had a bit of surface rust so I repainted it with some help of my new victim I mean co-driver






doesn't look too bad after a wash


I put fresh gas it in and it runs 100x better but noticed the engine bay fuel lines were perished so I replaced them after running the engine to check for leaks it stalled out as it was cold and the carbs have no chokes. But i heard a weird noise and it wouldn't start again or turn over so i removed the cam cover.



no good it seems the tensioner failed and it coughing and dieing at idle made the chain whip round and snap

$60.99 later on clearance


I couldn't do it at home so i sent it to someone in my car club who does it for a living a week later I got a txt ITS ALIVE !!! and all was good again

the seats that came with it were comfy but lacked the holes in the bottom for 5th and 6th harness points these came up really cheap on trademe so I snapped them up






the battery box was smashed so I put a new one in and it only had a cheap oil pressure gauge so i put some in i had for my other car



that leads us to this weekend the brakes had been spongy and were shit but the car has been sitting for 5-6 years so got some new fluid and bleed them up and they were sweet the old fluid was pretty grot and there was some air. I also painted and underseal the floor that's the last major job but the starter solenoid decided its had enough so will have to get that fixed






so thats my progress from the 5th of dec till now

When are you gona race the beast?

Im hoping some time next month its more of a $$ limitation currently and theres some stuff I wana tidy up so when I hit the road I don't need to do anything but servicing for a while

@Friwi, you could supply a couple of free flow suppressors?

I thought the louder they are the faster they go. At least it seems to be a boy racers theory.

Originally Posted by Friwi

I thought the louder they are the faster they go. At least it seems to be a boy racers theory.

It is a wee bit roudy with only 2 reasonators and thats about it may have to put a muffler in depending on what the wof man says

Been doing some stuff over the last month and a bit

made up my intercom headset leads



got a friend to machine up my adapter for the correct fit and then after cutting and refitting the hose said no more


Fitted a newer high flow rad fan and fitted my oil cooler up


that takes us to last couple of weeks when all the good stuff started turning up . Basically the old carbs were dogs and were always going to be dogs and were vac secondaries and with big cams ect never would work that great so some parts were ordered . The manifold was last one from Lynxcorp in aussie the DCOE 45 came from a friend of a friend in feilding.






Long weekend rolled round test fitted manifold it was spot on port matching wise only needed a small buzz with a flapper wheel to clear the engine mount bracket



Fitted up the sandwich plate for the oil cooler gives me over a litre of more capacity also


confirmed the head was ported as per the previous owners description of the engine


did a few other things like new cam cover gasket and fitted some side stone protection my throttle linkage came in yesterday but i haven't had a chance to finish fitting it yet. Its starting to look a bit more complete and the list is getting much smaller now .