Diary Of A Car Nut

04/12/2022

The 67 is now in the fine tuning, tweaking stage. The boss has put over 100miles on the car now. The new brake master set up works flawlessly. With the shocks set on their soft settings the Ride Tech suspension setup keeps the car feeling planted with out being to stiff. The transmission computer didn't take much to get it tweaked and everything shifting great. The engine ECU on the other hand. GM's connect and cruise set up is a mix of OEM tuning from a Cadillac CTS-V, and 7.0L Corvette. With the heavy over lap the cam has, there is tones of fuel smell at idle. We had fouled a set of plugs running the car before we really got it on the road. Its rich at idle. On the road driving, power feels amazing. Steady state driving looks great. But there are quite a few holes with transient conditions. This is due to the tune being set up primarily using the MAF sensor. MAF tunes are simple and easy to get running quite well, but MAF sensors are a bit delayed in reaction when it comes to quick throttle movements and changes in load. With some time and tweaking though I'll make it run even better and cleaner.

03/22/2022

A weekend spent doing race car prep things! The Mx3 transmission had been pretty noisy for a while now. The KAAZ L*D hasn't been putting power down as well as it used to.. The clutch has been starting to act a little wonky from time to time.

If I am going to all the work of pulling the transmission out of 1 car and tearing it apart, why not do it too two cars! 😂

The 323, has an Mfactory L*D in it. Mfactory, makes a great differential but the KAAZ works better out on the autocross track. The Mfactory is smoother, doesn't bind up when pulling into a parking stalls. Making it a better choice for daily driving.

Since the Mx3 is being retired from race car duties it only made sense to swap the differentials between both cars.

But wait! There's more! With both transmissions apart, how about changing out the differential ratios.. The autocross area at mission is pretty small and tight with lower top speeds then a lot of venues. Racing on these tight courses, both cars felt like they were struggling getting into their power bands.

So, I dove into my bucket of spare parts. Or well spare pile of transmissions. The 323 now has an Mx3 4.38 final drive and rebuilt KAAZ diff.. The Mx3 is now running a BP KIA 4.10 final drive with Mfactory final drive.. Both cars are privileged to have to have a 0.717 5th gear in order to help keep the rpm's at a resonable level on the hwy.

It was a lot of work, but everything went well. Next weekend I am hoping to get both cars out for a little autocross action.

03/11/2022

When you think you can get something cheaper some where else.. keep this in the back of your mind. You get what you pay for..

This is a Chinese made brand new 17x8 rim.. retail price $160 Canadian..

Cheap rims are manufactured in a way that allows for a lot of variance in material density. This can cause all kinds of issues.. This rim will never balance or roll down the road as well as a rim worth double or triple the price.

A good rim might be out by 1 or 2 oz total..

03/03/2022

Timing Chains. Let's take closer look at the difference between the 2.5L and Mazdaspeed 2.3L Timing set up.

First off lets talk about "Stretched" timing chains. I've always believed saying that a timing chain has stretched gives the wrong impression on what's gone on. The metal doesn't stretch, the chains wear out. Specifically they wear where the pins for each link are located. The pins and bores wear, creating slack. It's a very very small amount, but when you have 50 to 100 links. That slack adds up. If you have a chain on the bench and you don't know what condition it's in. Attempt to pull and push a couple of links together Look for play in the area of the pins. It's important to also look at the guides and gears for wear as well. Check out the captions in the pictures for more details.

Ok now on to the difference between the 2.3L and 2.5L chains. When laid side by side it's clear as day. The 2.5L Chain is beefier. The chain design was changed. The links are thicker, there's more metal. This is going to take more stress and wear before it reaches the end of it's service life.

The 2.3L crank gear is 2 pieces. 1 drives the oil pump chain, the other drives the main timing chain. the 2.5L crank gear on the other hand is 1 piece. When you think about how the crank gear and harmonic balancer are held in place by friction created by the crank bolt squishing it all together. The 2.5L 1 piece design has an advantage. There's 1 less place for the gears to slip.

The 2.5L gears have thicker, stronger teeth. Now the 2.3L's don't commonly strip the teeth off the gears, but having thicker, stronger teeth that support more of the link will put less stress/load on the pin where the links wear. This helps the chain run quieter/smoother and last longer. Make sure to check out the pictures for some more info on inspecting the timing gears.

Taking a closer look at difference between the 2.3L and 2.5L gears I found something I didn't expect. The 2.3L oil pump is under driven. The gear has 22 teeth, where as the 2.5L teeth has 19 teeth.. This should in theory improve oil pump operation by spinning it faster. I haven't done the research around 2.3L oiling issues, but this makes me curious.

02/28/2022

3 weeks ago the Mx3 was resurrected after sitting in a field for almost a year. Yesterday was spent installing and setting up the old autocross coil over set up. Today she hit the track.

Princess (The red 323 Autocross car) got pretty dirty during the last event. It didn't feel right subjecting her to more ugly weather abuse. Plus I have never compared how both cars drive. An Mx3 is 2" wider then a 323, but everything can be interchanged between both cars.

The Mx3 is set up with a KLG4 V6, headers 2.5" exhaust..Fidanza Flywheel.. KAZZ L*D with a 3.65 final drive transmission. K-sport GT pro coil overs (600lb front springs/800 rears). 19mm White Line rear sway Bar. Stock V6 Mx3 front sway bar. Tubular rear control arms, Special sleeves and spherical bearings replace the front control arm bushings. The rear sleeve is offset to add caster. Front and rear subframe braces..Corksport Front and rear upper strut tower braces.. Hawk Pads, braided brake lines.

Princess (The red 323).. Has a stock BP swap, header and full 2.25" exhaust. Fidanza Fly wheel. Kia transmission 4.10 final drive with an Mfactory L*D. K-sport GT Pro coil overs with the same spring rates as the Mx3.. Zx2 Front and rear sway bars. Tubular rear control arms, Zx2 trailing arms with poly bushings, Stock front control arms with Poly bushings (No added caster adjustments). Beefier 4 point front subframe brace. Rear subframe brace. Beefier Pierce Motor Sport upper strut towner braces front and rear.. Plus extra Chassis bracing in the rear. EBC green stuff brake pads, braided lines..

Princess alignment is set up a bit different. The front Camber/Caster plates are set to max out camber/caster adjustment.. This increases the SAI angle as well..with some added adjust ability down at the knuckle for Camber..

The Mx3 Front Camber/Caster plates are set to remove as much Camber as possible and maxing out caster.. This reduces the SAI angle... Camber is achieved at the knuckle with the top bolt hole slotted..

Ok ok ok ok. I've spent waaaaaay to much time geeking out over suspension set ups.. I am far to excited to talk about all of this.

So what makes this so interesting? Well both cars have similar weight balance.. The suspension mounting points on the chassis are the same (Mx3 has 1" longer control arms for the added track width, the way everything bolts to the car is the same as the 323)..Both cars run between 2.5 - 2.8 deg front Camber and 2 deg rear camber. Both cars run suspension components that can be interchanged.. Both cars behave differently, but are relatively well sorted out. Its exciting to see the differences, and share theories/ Idea's on why.. Then taking that info and progressing things to make the cars faster.. Or just using the info to taylor a car to meet needs of the driver.

The rear end of the Mx3 tends to dance and rotate easier then the 323.. The stock Mx3 front bar is softer then the Zx2 Front bar.. The higher caster/lower SAI angle of the Mx3 also gives it a better dynamic camber curve.. This gives the Mx3 more bite on turn in.. This means you can attack the course harder and pitch the car around corners using throttle to keep the back end of the car in check.. The torque of the V6 means the car will dig its self out of bad situations. The KAZZ L*D bites harder on corner exit. It's less prone to spinning when the inside front wheel is unweighted.

But this also makes the Mx3 more difficult to drive.. The Mx3 doesn't have as much forgiveness when it's over driven. If you over drive the grip levels the car pushes. It feels like you hit ice all the sudden. If you don't anticipate the rear end dancing you'll spin out easy. Getting late and jerky with steering inputs in a Slalom will make for some serious p**p your self moments.

Driving the Mx3 is brutal raw and rewards an experienced driver who knows how to manipulate weight transfer and balance grip levels.

Where as the 323 doesn't bite or rotate as hard. The back end doesn't dance as much during quick transitions. Making slaloms easier to attack.. It's more confidence inspiring. The 323 needs to be driven more fluid, hit smoother lines. It wont rotate on the spot so car placement and line choice becomes more critical. The BP has less power and the Mfactory torsen diff don't put power down as well on corner exit. So the car cant dig it's self out of bad situations as well. But the car is more forgiving when over driven. It recovers quicker. It doesn't transition between good grip to no grip as suddenly. You can feel it happen more gradually giving you the opportunity to modulate your inputs and correct things mid corner.

The 323 rewards a driver who focuses more on line choice. Smooth direct inputs. It's more confidence inspiring right out of the gate with less seat time.

Next Autocross event is March 27th. I hope the weather is nice enough to bring both cars out. I want to drive them back to back and get comparisons on the same course.

02/16/2022

Some more progress has been maid on the 2.5L build. Bottom end clearances all measured out and with in specs. Bottom end assembled. I wanted to go with and ARP main stud kit, but when I ordered all my parts they were back ordered. So I stuck with OEM main bolts. For my application I dont think this will be a problem.

JBR balance shaft delete installed. Turbo oil drain drilled/tapped and installed. JRB oil baffle installed and the Speed6 stock oil pan bolted up.

When it comes to the turbo drain I drilled and tapped the block right around the factory location. To be honest this was a short sighted decision. I wouldn't recommend this location. First off the block is thin. Very thin in this area. I've taken some extra precautions with lock tight to try and prevent the fitting from leaking.

The second problem with this location is clearance. If your fitting penetrates the block to deeply you'll be in trouble. (Que the big dick jokes). The fitting will contact the connecting rod as it rotates around. So you can only give the block just the tip.

The 3rd problem. Oil air ration/windage issues. With this location you are dumping the oil right into the path of the connecting rod. So as the connecting rod spins around its splashing the stream of oil coming from the turbo.

So why not tap an put a fitting into the oil pan? Well this has worked for a lot of people but I don't believe it's a good solution either. If you don't get the fitting up high enough then it's sitting at the oil level in the pan. This will effect how well the turbo drain flows. It's possible to have the drain back up and push out the oil seals.. it's possible to keep oil trapped in a hot turbo when you shut off the car. This will cause the oil to coke/break down..

Depending on your set up. I would still tap the block for a fitting. I would shift it though away from the connecting rod path.

Up next, we will take a closer look at the difference between a 2.5L timing chain set and a 2.3L set.

02/10/2022

On Friday my winter be**er left me stuck when it wouldn't start. Fixing it quickly snowballed into a resurrection story.

The be**er wouldn't start due to no sparky sparky.... The ignition coil built into the distributor died. Locally a Cardone Re-manufactured Distributor was $450, with only 1 showing in the warehouse. Online I could get a rebuilt distributor for about $200, but it was going to take a month or more to get.

With the head gasket leaking oil externally, a radiator with a small weep due to a rock hitting it and a heater core I've had to back flush twice in order to get heat. The winter be**er wasn't worth putting money into it.

Getting creative I dug through my parts bins and found an earlier generation BP distributor, coil and ICM... BP, B6ME... Both engines are from the same family how different could they be? The plan! Cut off the coil lead going into the Cap. Install the Ignition cap from the BP. Cut the ignition control wire and run it to the BP ICM. Some powers and grounds and in theory things should work right? WRONG! The BP distributor cap is clocked differently.. Even though it would bolt up the spark plug leads aren't in the same place. This was going to cause issues getting spark to pass through the cap at the right time. Potentially cross firing to the wrong cylinder.. Ok, new plan. The mounting location for the distributor and the drive gear is the same. Lets swap the whole BP distributor... NOPE! not going to work. BP and B6ME distributors have a different Cam/Crank signal.. Well that plan failed in a hurry..

3rd plan!. My 92 Mx3. This one suffered from getting punched in the passenger head light about a year ago. The accident wrecked the fender, bumper, hood, head light and bent the radiator support. Good news! The car drove straight, wasn't leaking coolant, nothing was rubbing. After spending almost a year parked in a farmers field the KLG4 roared to life the first time I hit the key.

Armed with some chains, a come-along, and a CRV as an anchor. 2 hours is all it took to straighten out the radiator support. A Couple hours more and I had the bumper, head light, fender and hood from the winter be**er installed on the 92...

Now the brakes on the 92 were pretty rotten. This needed to be addressed before the car could be driven. Buuuuttt! I didn't want to spend any money. So I got creative. Idling the car in 1st gear, with a Brake rotor attached to the hub, I used various sanding tools to "machine" the rust off the rotors. The brake pads are a set of Hawk HPS. Not many miles on them, so I used my belt sander to knock off the glaze, ensuring they are flat and gave them a new lease on life. The sliders were all cleaned, lubricated and everything was put back together.

The road test went fantastic! This car has a bunch of my autocross suspension goodies in it. Custom built transmission with L*D. Healthy KLG4 power. The car looks like crap but drives great. Oh how I've missed it!

02/05/2022

Finally! It's time to get back to the Speed6 engine build!. Let's dive in, taking a closer look at the crank shafts shall we?

Visually you can see the extra machine work done on the 2.3L crank. The oil galleries on the 2.3L crank are beveled for better oil flow. Besides that, they don't look much different.

Weight wise the 2.3L crank is 6.5lbs heavier. This validates factory information about the the cranks being constructed differently.

Going through and comparing both side by side, I would have to say the stock 2.3L crank is stronger.

For fun I installed a stock 2.5L crank and rod in the block and measured the crankshaft stroke. The 2.5L is 100mm vs the 2.3L 94mm. If you used the stock 2.3L crank in a 2.5L block set up you'll loose compression. For some reason my brain thought it would be fun to know how much compression you'd loose so I spent Way to much time calculating it. 9.7:1 is the factory spec.. a 2.3L crank in a stock 2.5L.. You'd be around 7.7:1.

When rebuilding a motor you shouldn't use plasti gauge for checking oil clearances. It's not accurate. I haven't taken pics yet they will come. But I'll show you why. After checking all my oil clearances were good I took a die grinder and chamfered the oil passages. This way I'd get better oil flow, matching what Mazda did on the stock 2.3L..

Next up, some block work.. Drilling the turbo oil drain and installing a -10An fitting. Making sure everything is all cleaned up and ready for final assembly.

01/11/2022

If you weren't aware I have a website. Learning how to build, maintain and run a website has been a challenge. Never the less I've updated some of my personal build blogs. You can check out my 1988 Mazda 323 GTX build log from 2015 and 2016. In 2015, I custom built the AWD transmission with a closer ratio 3rd and 4th gear. In 2016, I tore down the interior of the car to clean up a bunch of wiring issues, install a power glass moon roof along with some other goodies. https://diaryofacarnut.com/index.php/personal-projects/1988-mazda-323-gtx-build-log-2015/

https://diaryofacarnut.com/index.php/personal-projects/1988-mazda-323-gtx-build-log-2016/

2015, what a year!. I didn’t focus much on the GTX. Most of my focus was spent on preparing my Autocross 323 for a big race season. The car was performing well as my daily driver despite some transmission troubles. Work was pretty slow which gave me some extra time to dive in to the […]

12/18/2021

The red 323 is getting a little upgrade in the computer control department. All though this upgrade is pretty low on the priority list. I need to get back on track with building the motor for the speed6 and getting the shop completed before I can tackle this project.

12/11/2021

After 3 of being stuck in Chilliwack due to road closures it was nice to get back to work this week. Waiting for me was a new project.

This 69 Z28 is almost a numbers matching car. As she's made her way through life a bunch of modifications were made. As the value and collectabilty of this car has grown an attempt was made to undo all the modifications and return the car back to original glory.

The engine is a 69 302, but it's not numbers matching. It's also been worked over by Richmond engines. Making around 400hp on the dyno.

It looks like there was a home made coil over and 3 link set up in the car. You can see where an upper cross beam was cut off. The rear diff has evidence of brackets that were once welded to it.

I am betting the car had a pretty wicked drive line in it at one point. The transmission tunnel has been punched out where the shifter goes.

She's had an accident at some point. The drivers rear quarters panel has been replaced. Not a very good job either. I couldn't capture it with pictures but you could tell where all the bondo was used to fill in the seam.

Wiring issues are going to be an interesting challenge to sort out. Lots of cut wires and ruff modifications have been done.

Overall this is quite a solid car. It still has the original floor pans, no rust issues that we've uncovered yet. Lots of love and work has gone into restoring this car back to its original glory.

I got the pleasure of stripping a bunch of it down in preparation for a trip to the body shop. A full rotisserie restoration is something that's trying to be avoided, but we'll see what the body shop uncovers as they strip off the under coat and dive into repainting the car.

Since there's some important parts missing. Such as the numbers matching engine, this car is getting period correct restoration.

11/28/2021

Lot's has been going on here at the home of the Car Nut. Here's a bit of an update..

Earlier in November I got out Autocross racing for the first time 2 years. Man I was rusty! It was wet and cold, but Princes performed like a champ! The Continental DWS tires performed very well. By the time I shook off all the rust my times had improved quite a bit. I finished the day 4th place over all Raw time, 8th index time. Best part about the day was my family coming to join me in the afternoon.. My son is finally old enough, where here can strap on a helmet and come for ride along. He's not overly interested in cars, but his excitement to come for a ride sure filled my heart with joy.

After that it was back to working on setting up the home shop. I bought a small drive on hoist to help solve storage issues. This is installed in the garage attached to the house. The idea is to put one car up and one car under it to help keep the drive way and work shop space more clear and open. My property is pretty small so I've gotta be creative how I manage everything.

Once the hoist was set up, I was turning my attention to the work shop out back. Finalizing my plans for electrical upgrades, and getting ready to order insulation and all the necessary stuff to seal up/sound proof and close up the walls. This got delayed when a nasty rain fall hit the area.. We had around 230mm of rain in 2 days.

Nov 14th the back yard was starting to flood and water was threatening to enter the back work shop. The storm drains had become so over run they were backed up and over flowing. My partner and I work quickly to dig a trench from the back yard out to the front between my property and the house being built next door.. This did the trick. allowing the water to flow out from the back to the road out front. The amount of water we had, was just unreal.

The next day was Monday and I was due to go into work. When my alarm went off at 5am, the late night trench digging and lack of sleep had caught up to me. I was simply to exhausted to try and make the 70km drive in to work. I decided I would check in after catching up on some rest and possibly go in for the afternoon and work a bit later.

Checking in around 10am, the crew wasn't overly busy. They had everything handled so I decided to stay home for the day. This was probably the scariest but best choice I could have made. At 2pm I was resting when a rumbling and what felt like a small earth quake woke me. My partner yelling and running through the house. A mud slide came down the mountain hitting 3 properties still under construction next to mine. The damage was pretty unreal. A small crew was working on site, thankfully no one was hurt. It's amazing there was 1 working inside working on the top floor of the coach next door to my place.

The city decided to have my family and I evacuate the property as an extra per-caution while they can assess the stability of the land above my property.

On top of the mud slide, major flooding as happened in this region. It left all the hwy's in and out of my town closed. For almost 2 weeks we've been cut off from the rest of the province. It's been pretty humbling and difficult times.

I am thankful that right now all I am going through is the inconvenience of not being able to live at home, and not being able to go into work. I am thankful I was home on monday when the mudslide happened. The hwy between my work and home closed around 4pm that afternoon due to the flooding. If I had gone into work, I wouldn't have been able to home to support my family and be here for them through this difficult time.

It'll take some time before things get back on track, as I write this another rain storm has hit the area. Some places are starting to flood again. There's a possibility the hwy will close, cutting us off again. For now I've got my health and family.

Stay safe out there everyone. Take a moment to recognize and enjoy what you have, because it could be washed away in the blink of an eye.