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Old 23-04-2010, 06:38 PM   #1
Clean_Cookie
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Wink My brief hardtop worklog

As this is now more than one page long, with lots of piccies, heres a list of what ive done/whats been changed from stock:

Interior
Chrome doorsills
Chrome handles
Alarm system with 2 point immoblizer.

Exterior
Mazda foglights with 55w hid 3000k.
35W 6000 HIDS in low, 55W 6000 in High
Led strips for parkers in addition to 30x indicators
17" alloys with kuhmo 31's and falkerns on the front.
Lluma black tinting
Wiper blades
30X clear indicators with blacked out internals and chrome indicator bulbs.
6000K numberplate wedges.

I.C.E
Speakers upgraded by previous owner to decent mid-range quality units form JBL.
Rewired the front speakers to an amp bought as a package on ebay.
Upgraded HU with USB/Aux
12" sub in a crappy weatherdamaged MDF box. sounds pretty good. (kicker sub)
250W response amp included with sub.
PURE highway digital radio


Performance:
K&N panel filter With CAI
93 model Engine.
Ngk iridium plugs - removed still undecided if they ate better or worse .
new radiator!
bonnet gas struts
8MM spark plug leads
full exhaust system which seems to work ok. never bothered measuring. wouldnt mind it having a deeper tone but may lead to droning. (sounds tinny higher in rev range!)

handling
Mazdaspeed front strut brace
Super pro bushings all round
20mm rear whiteline swaybar
El sport shocks and springs, about a 30-40mm drop, progressive.
4X whiteline camber bolts.

hmm i swear ive poured more money into this beast! mainly replacing stock parts to keep it in newish condition.

Wants:
New carpet all round
New rubbers all round
Custom tail lights
Custom Dials
Short shifter
new shifter boot + knob
Pedals
more headlights

Wishes:
MS seats in white or black
Coilovers

Hey guys and girls. since being on the boards for a while and doing a few basic mods feel that its time to justify a worklog. basically its a 1997 BA hardtop in noble green (rusty said something about it being a different colour but you'd have to ask him about that!

SO some history. Bought the car for $4300 in Oct 08. just had a $2000 service a few months prior, bluetooth handsfree and with some shiny wheels I couldnt resist. actually i decided i liked it because the seats were so comfy! after doing some research on here decided it would be an ideal place to get ideas and help when something went wrong. very thankful to all of you for helping directly or indirectly when i needed some info!





did my driving test in Jan '09 and only lasted 3 weeks before being in an accident... albeit it not my fault! took 6 months for the insurance to come good with $3500 and got repaired at coorparoo paint and panel and they did a great job on the painting side but left a little to be desired on the finishing of it. (seals etc not reglued properly etc) but what the heck, fixed them myself properly...

Invented the CAI shortly after this (june/july 09 i guess) and has stayed the same since with a k&n panel filter being washed and oiled every 3-6 weeks depending on its condition. improved the bottom end alot.


Upgraded the Stock High beams to 55W HIDs and lows to NARVA blue vision (which were quite $$). HUGE DIFFERENCE!

since then its been run on a strict diet of BP ultimate and had the regular oil change. Swapped the motor out in january this year for a 93 BGSP variant which was good fun. Thanks nate + fellow companions.

anyway after the engine was changed have since done some minor matainence but been pretty much trouble free. Changed to iridirium plugs. didnt notice the difference but what the heck.

Installed a new head deck from cash converters (yeah yeah, i think i got the better of them thouhg haha. good for $100 i thought. LOTS of adjustability etc)


Installed sub and amps for the sub and front speakers ($80 for everything including wire off ebay!) which improved sound alot. previous owner had upgraded the speakers to JBL and pioneer respectively.

A few weeks later bought a digital radio tuner off Phil which has been providing lots of listening pleasure ever since. well worth the money imo. wont buy another cd again



Managed a 70.1kw at the recent dyno day which i was happy with. slightly more than jarrods stock beast.

Installed a front strut brace and again made a noticible difference in the handling.

Installed $70 ebay HIDS in low beams and tried to tint my parkers.. which resulted in an "epic fail" still havent changed them to proper ones. Installed the t10's included into the number-plate lights. looks alot better now.









now in this picture it looks as if the beam is scattered but its just becuase of his number plate the camera had a spaz attack. in real life its a straight line across. do you think that this is acceptable?



Advanced the timing last week and wow. what a difference that made. actually was very impressed with its gains. searching for a JAP ECU to further this and keep it running well.

Installed chrome door handles and polished sills from Rupe too. sills were a PITA but got there in the end with some nuts and bolts.






also installed new wiper arms with some unusual ones which suposedly dont work according to SCA... but they do... much smoother and silent wiper action
so far its been an expensive car but alot of fun at the same time. looking to improve the suspension more with thicker sway bars and either mazdaspeed shocks or BC coilovers -still undecided on what i want... best of both worlds i guess...

one day I will also install some Foglights as the previous owner had them in but took them out before sale so all the wiring is there!

mazdaspeed seats are also on the list but happy with stock ones for now... happy with engine performace vs fuel consumption. spent a bit to extract the most gains and dont see it viable to increase it alot more. its a zippy little car!

Needs the rubbers replaced, windows desperately fixed, tinting redone, and ill be happy with it.

pics are from various stages but trying out the new phone camera - was acutally very suprised at the quality yay.





thanks again to you guys for helping me out now i can help others! feel free to comment/suggest stuff which needs improvement!
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Last edited by Clean_Cookie; 13-07-2011 at 07:03 PM. Reason: more info
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Old 23-04-2010, 06:52 PM   #2
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Your car paint is 12K from memory (same as mine) which is Twilight Blue Mica and your car is only 0.6 more Kw than me.

Very nice car tho. Didn't know you had the chrome handles on. How do they fare. You really need to lower it tho. The Mazdaspeed option is great but will find out more on the skid pan.

Cheers Jarrod
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Old 23-04-2010, 06:57 PM   #3
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Your car paint is 12K from memory (same as mine) which is Twilight Blue Mica and your car is only 0.6 more Kw than me.

Very nice car tho. Didn't know you had the chrome handles on. How do they fare. You really need to lower it tho. The Mazdaspeed option is great but will find out more on the skid pan.

Cheers Jarrod
chrome handles are a recent installation. add a nice touch to the car. really would like a touch more chrome on perhaps the window buttons or something. but not too blingy just to make it look more prestige haha. trying to do mods which will improve sale value now that im happy with performance!
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Old 23-04-2010, 09:09 PM   #4
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v nice i like
keep it comin
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Old 23-04-2010, 09:46 PM   #5
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Coming together nicely ryan

Oh and here's another pic of your car, needs springs ASAP

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Old 23-04-2010, 10:12 PM   #6
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i almost cry everytime i see mine next to tonys lol. well anyone got some spare $$$ to speed up the process! :P
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Old 24-04-2010, 05:15 AM   #7
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that's scary how the front of this lil' beast resembles the GEN2 MX6 in this pic:



Also, the door trims


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Old 24-04-2010, 08:26 AM   #8
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which is why some 323 owners have gone and put the mx6 projector headlights in
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Old 24-04-2010, 08:40 AM   #9
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They look similar but the Hardtop is much curvier at the front

Looking good, btw! Just needs some fat friends in the passenger seats
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Old 24-04-2010, 09:03 AM   #10
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man i want me some door sills
but i know that my passangers one will become brushed rather than polished within 2 months haha
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Old 24-04-2010, 11:10 AM   #11
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If you need help with spotlights buy some then shoot me a pm and I'll give you a hand. It's pretty simple if you know where stuff is.

Do recommend 30X indicators if you keep the stock bumper
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Old 25-04-2010, 07:04 PM   #12
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If you need help with spotlights buy some then shoot me a pm and I'll give you a hand. It's pretty simple if you know where stuff is.

Do recommend 30X indicators if you keep the stock bumper
as i think i said up top, im pretty sure there were once foggies in there. i have a $90 reciept for the relay and switch, and the switch has been wired in so all i can assume is that the work has been done and the foggies were removed before sale?

then id have to mod my CAI :P it just sounds pretty cool - think it has something to do with the corroguated piping i used. also found a split in my air intake above the filter. temp fix with some good gaffa tape (the original stuff not a knock off!) which is rather heat resistive but need to either go the alloy road or get another stock pipe. opinions? what i think would be nice/ideal is to match the rocker cover, an alloy intake annodized black with a black pod. opinions on what works the best for the least $$$?
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Old 25-04-2010, 07:07 PM   #13
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They look similar but the Hardtop is much curvier at the front

Looking good, btw! Just needs some fat friends in the passenger seats
LOL true. see why i was chasing that suspension :P


on the -ve side, had to buy more tools for my apprenticeship which included a new drill and impact driver... so 3 weeks wages gone there! back to square one with savings...
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Old 25-04-2010, 07:41 PM   #14
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as i think i said up top, im pretty sure there were once foggies in there. i have a $90 reciept for the relay and switch, and the switch has been wired in so all i can assume is that the work has been done and the foggies were removed before sale?

then id have to mod my CAI :P it just sounds pretty cool - think it has something to do with the corroguated piping i used. also found a split in my air intake above the filter. temp fix with some good gaffa tape (the original stuff not a knock off!) which is rather heat resistive but need to either go the alloy road or get another stock pipe. opinions? what i think would be nice/ideal is to match the rocker cover, an alloy intake annodized black with a black pod. opinions on what works the best for the least $$$?
http://www.club323f.com/club323f/for...ic.php?t=17954
i've always liked the look of this one
and plan on doing it one day.
also lists the part sizes and types if u wanna go down this road


theres another guide on there somewhere where a guy cut a hole in his bumper and routed his CAI down to this with a grille infront of it.

looked mint but im not sure how adventurous you are i know i'm not!
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Old 25-04-2010, 08:13 PM   #15
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yeah seen that previously too. still 50/50 about the pod.
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Old 25-04-2010, 08:40 PM   #16
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Same thing happened to me with my intake hence why I have intercooler piping now.
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Old 25-04-2010, 10:40 PM   #17
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my intake is split and its being held together with some very stealth elec tape hahahahaha
il be looking in to some IC piping very soon
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Old 01-05-2010, 06:58 PM   #18
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got hit by a dog today... pics coming tomorrow GRR. anyone care to sponsor the damage :P
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Old 09-05-2010, 08:09 PM   #19
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well stole jarods idea (THANKS ) for the parkers cause I thought they looked so damn cool. so kindly they were donated to me and installed them this evening. look pretty good in person but hard to take a decent photo in the dark nevermind the cameraphone quality! anyway heres some snaps.














probably wont mod it anymore in the near future, but still aiming to colour change all the interior lights in the dash to blue/white (6000K white) and get some silver rings and or dials... happy with it otherwise. would like to add a resonator to the exhaust to make it a deeper note and work with the intake noise better...any ideas?
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Old 09-05-2010, 11:06 PM   #20
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hell yeah man that looks awesome. makes me wish i stuck myn on the top of the headlights rather than inside them.. one more month n myn will b coming out tho hehe
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