RX323 Project - Chassis Brackets

[MikeLMR]

Hi Richard, no I didn\'t get chance to get the car weighed before hand

I have used elbow grease to get the tar out, basically chipping it out carefully with a blunt screwdriver and hammer and then finally finishing off the last 5% with thinners and a wire brush/cloth. NOT a nice job, but needed because of the seam welding, and other fab work going on. It also saves a little weight (I doubt it\'s more than a few Kilo\'s)

Been out marshalling last night so the other half of the floorpan will have to wait zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[MikeLMR]

on a slight tangent, this is my potential new daily driver... a 323F V6 I\'ve always like these from having first seen them being PDI\'d at mazda when I worked there during the school holidays. I just so happened to spot one for sale on fleabay that was local and going for the right money.

Got to get rid of my old work horse of a 323 now its a shame mazda didn\'t do a better job with the underseal otherwise It\'s still be a cracking car. Oh well it\'s done good and won its fair share of the rallies it entered :Giggle

[Martiny]

That new 323 looks very nice. Tried to talk my wife into getting one. We are aiming for Mazda 6 instead.

[MikeLMR]

its being delivered tommorow night :Wiggle insurance isn\'t too bad either. (even though it is a parallel import from Cyprus ... RAF I think)

[MikeLMR]

chap dropped the car off tonight, fairly tidy and a steal at £670 really chuffed with it so far, hope It doesn\'t let me down once it\'s on the road.

best bit is it costs me only £90 a year more to insure than my 1300 :Giggle the noise is ace too

[Martiny]

really chuffed with it so far, hope It doesn\'t let me down once it\'s on the road.

eh? No way!  Mind you they were made when ford had there grubby paws inside Mazda. :-(

[MikeLMR]

Hopefully most of the technology went from mazda to ford and not visa versa.

Not really heard anything bad said against the KL V6\'s though

[MikeLMR]

bit of progress today, we cleaned the garage (big job! and never ending!) and I stored a load of the bits that won\'t be going back on till we\'ve painted it. Also found out that the availability of glass for the car is good (probably more sets of glass than there are cars in the UK!) so I think we will be taking out the bonded screen and not having to work around anything The cage is going to be ace

[MikeLMR]

engine is in  The engine mounting points are bit odd on these 2nd gen engines aren\'t they !

Anyone know how much is safe to remove from the sump (and put back else where obviously. The 1st gen 12a sump seems to have a much shallower front section.

[MikeLMR]

Right, a photo update (needed some timeout in the garage ... long story, so went out an grabbed some update photos for the thread)

As you can see the engine is sat in the bay for some serious head scratching work. This is not it\'s final position

[travellinbob]

Awesome stuff mike!  looks like you have pretty much got the centre plate of the engine in line with the front strut tops. Nice to see the carb and manifold being used aslo!
 cheers, michael.

[oldone]

Looking good bud........:cheers :mmmm

[RotorHeid]

Nice to see my old carby/KN as well!!:eek

[MikeLMR]

looks like you have pretty much got the centre plate of the engine in line with the front strut tops.
 cheers, michael.

oh it\'s going further back than that :evillaugh lots more cutting tonight ... I am really keen to get some constructive work done soon though ... all this destruction is getting worrying ! need to see metal going back in !

We welded 2 30mm box section beams across the chassis rails tonight and as you can see we have bolted in a beefy front strut bar + the lower X member is still in place. Got to try and keep the chassis straight !

[MikeLMR]

got the engine sat further into the car now, probably more than 8" further back than the standard RX3 setup puts the motor. The major problem with this is the X - member ! the engine is sat so high the prop wouldn\'t fit in the tunnel if we put it in as is ! ... some serious sump/x-member ineractions are going to need sorting I think