fl327 Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 I may be picking one of these pretty rare Mazda cars. For those who dont know about these, its a pretty rare model, ony 1400 ever came to the us, 5000 produced worldwide. It was to homologate their rally car GTX. Basically its a hatchback 323 with a 1600cc DOHC4 turbocharged (miata engine with lower cr and a t25) AWD five speed, loaded with options and pretty hard to find. It has the ability to send power 25 percent to each wheel, which I think is pretty nuts. My buddy has one and wants to sell it, heres tale of the tape 118k HKS ssqv stock turbo (will come with a thunderbird t3 and adapter plus jdm downpipe) Cusco strut bars earls ss lines some kind of coilover suspension turbo timer and greddy boost guage rest of car is generally good condition, straight no dings or dents, RED. May be able to coerce him into giving up the racing hart c5 17s that are currently on it! The downside is: He put miata pistons in the engine 9-1cr and thinks hes spun a bearing. after diagnosis, it may have to come out in order to make the car whole again. He wants under 2k, and the only other examples of the car ive seen are at least 5k range, and I barely ever see these cars for sale, period. Im not scared to pull the engine and rebuild it at my uncles shop, just wondering if you guys have any experience with these cars, I did a search around the internet and couldnt find anything domestic really about these cars. IF i end up grabbing it, I would basically bring it back up to good running condition, swap out turbos and put a bigger intercooler on it, and turn boost up a hair Dont want to go too far with it, want a nice and tight all season daily driver. Whatcha think????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 those cars are awesome. Everytime I see a 323 in a little hole in the wall dealership, i pull over and check to see if its a GTX. it never is though. 2k is not a bad price as long as it wont take to much to fix it, and the rest of the car is in good shape. it certainly would be fun. But dont take my word for it, I have 0 experiance with these cars besides just liking them alot. goodluck, and if you get it, post some pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted October 21, 2003 Author Share Posted October 21, 2003 the car is in really good condition besides the knock, which I havent diagnosed yet. Engine bay is really clean and has a bunch of new parts, ive been checking these cars out ever since I saw his. Hey sparky-you do that too? Everytime I see a 323 hatch on the street I check it out, and its never the GTX. The guy I would be buying the car from is pretty cool, he just has like seven cars he messes with at the same time and hasnt had the time to work on the gtx, I guess he got fed up with the car a little bit and its been gathering dust. Funny thing about this guy is that all his cars are RED, and have big aftermarket rims on them!!!! Anyways if its "only" the engine and the trans and differentials sound and work well, I will probably pick it up from him- I would probably rebuild it, keep the 9-1 pistons and use a 2mm steel headgasket or so to lower cr to 8 somethingish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john kosmatka Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 Buy It! I have one that I will most likely be setting up for SCCA pro rally. I picked it up for 275 bucks, from my dad who got it at an insurance auto auction. I love when rare cars go threw there, the lack of knowledg on these rare cars cause them to go cheap! They are pretty rare mine is the only one I've seen in the milwaukee area, but I've seen about 5 or 6 in the SCCA pro rally. I wanna set mine up to be serious contender in the SCCA pro rally. Since the cars are hard to find, so are the parts, if you dont wanna spend a fortune. I blew a rear axle on the one I have, which was very expensive. So expect some things that are unique to the GTX to be expensive. You may also want to see if the differntials are working properly and the differential lock. Other than that I see nothing wrong with these cars. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted October 21, 2003 Author Share Posted October 21, 2003 Thats what im scared of. How much power or how hard were you beating the car when you blew that rear axle out? Im not planning on beating the car too much, mostly commuting at high freeway speeds. Im pretty sure they are in good shape on this car and plan to keep it that way by not abusing it...too much. 275 is cheap as heck, dude I got it from bought it for 500, but put many a thousand in it only to blow the engine, or think he did. I think he did just because hes a pretty smart guy. I figure the car has a good resale, so most likely I will be doing the transaction in a month or so, have to get this dang zx outta here!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john kosmatka Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 The car was probably only putting out a little over the stock horsepower, when my dad decided to display how big of balls this little car had. I just got the car and it had been sitting for a while, my dad dropped the clutch somewhere around 3500 to 4000 rpms, we had beating on the car relentlessly all day, then the fun ended when the axle blew. This was under a very harsh beating though, and with the four wheel drive engaged and on dry pavement. The car lit up all four tires though. But for daily driving and a race every once in a while I think things should hold up pretty well. Over all I think you should get it, they are very fun cars. I have not started prepping it for rally, I still have to get my license. But after my senior year of highschool, its off to Tim O'neil rally shcool for me. This has been my dream for so long, Ive always wanted to participate in the club or pro rally, who would think I would do it in a mazda 323 though. Good luck with the car John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonzer12 Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 A common swap into 323's (not sure if its been done with AWD) is the kl series swaps. A 200hp klze in a 323 is an awesome sight. There is a company near Toronto that specializes entirely in Mazdas that does ze swaps into quite a few mazda models. They have a 323 klze that has some amazing specs. Just another thing to consider if you happen to find that the motor is shot/too expensive to replace. KL motor's can be had very reasonably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ULISES Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 The Capri XR2's have the same engine used in the Mazda GTX. I was going to swap one of this engine's in my festiva. Adapters are made to make this possible, But i have to work on my Z for now. Maybe in the future i'll do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruez Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 Hey john kosmatka Is that your car in your avatar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john kosmatka Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 No that is a 240z owned by a japanese tuning shop called Spirit Garage. The company makes parts for Z's, but they're very expensive. The car in the pic is set up for road race and has a l24 with tripple solex carbs. John Len buy the 323 yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ULISES Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Here is a link to some festiva's with the b6t engine, Same engine as in the 323 GTX. Check it out..... http://www.fordfestiva.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David K Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Geezus!!! Look at the rubber under those fenders! I like the mid engine setup hes got going there too, lol 8) http://www.fordfestiva.com/multimediaandfun/gallery/grassroots_festiva_shogun.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruez Posted October 28, 2003 Share Posted October 28, 2003 Unless they have widened the wheels.... Those are stock rims for a 91 SHO.... They are on my 91 SHO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ULISES Posted October 31, 2003 Share Posted October 31, 2003 Have you guy's ever heard of the FESTIVA SHOGUN? It's like the one on the link, But that one was home made. Jayleno owns one of this mini rockets. I think they were like 48,000 g's. http://www.fordfestiva.com/performance/shogun.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted October 31, 2003 Share Posted October 31, 2003 something about paying 48k for a festiva doesn't sound right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ULISES Posted October 31, 2003 Share Posted October 31, 2003 I know 48k, Imagine investing 48k on a Z.. Now That Would Be Cool!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted November 5, 2003 Author Share Posted November 5, 2003 323 is a no go, too many variables, or differentials... Im going with what I know I guess, Im thinking s13, dang nice cars, ive been staring at silvia parts for eons now- piles of tein coilovers staring at me, bolt in 200 dollar 12mm r200 4.08 lsd units with bulletproof looking cvs, huge sway bars-some bent like crazy some extremely nice, front clips staring me in the face-driving me crazy . nice drivers too-they remind me more of a z than the 300zxtt or the 350z do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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