Over the past year or so a friend and I have slowly been putting together this 87 Mazda 323. The goal isn’t to make a serious car that would be at the top of its class in local rally crosses. But one that we would have fun driving and building.

To be honest some of the things we have done to it made no sense and quite frankly were done just because we wanted to do them. So sit back, relax and look at tons of iPhone pics as I explain.

A friend of mine had an 89 Mazda 323 as his 2nd car. It wasn’t anything special, but being kids in high school who could finally experience the joy of driving, he wanted to modify it. Here is a picture of the car in its “prime”:



The car ended up blowing the motor, so he bought a new (used Japanese) engine. Unfortunately for the little black 323 he got a better job, and a nicer newer car, and it sat.

Until about a year ago, when he mentioned that he was looking to pick up another one to dink around with. I mentioned that my neighbors had a white one that had been sitting for a number of years. And maybe they were interested in selling. So we wandered up to their doorstep and sure enough it was on craigslist! So he agreed with the owner on a price of just $500. Not bad for a single owner car with only 87,XXX miles on it.

Here it is the night he picked it up.



It even came with a factory bra that had the 323 logo stitched into it!


But being kids with a brand new beater car. We couldn’t just leave well enough alone. So we washed it up.



And decided to paint a little website I had started on the side (We both now agree this was a terrible choice as this car was mint)



Here is a protip: Keep spray paint away from us :laugh:





Seeing as we had a few parts lying around from the black ’89 Mazda 323, we threw those on as well. Including the upper wing from a 323 GTX



And an eBay strut tower brace:



This would have all been around this time last year, which for residents of the NW means one thing: Mt. Hood Rally. So we took it up there!




But we quickly got bored, so we kept modifying it. We were able to pick up these seats + tons of other parts (some new, some used) for next to nothing. So who cares if they were Tenzo Rs. They were cheap and lighter than stock.



And took out for some fun on some property a friend owns




A few months later though, something absolutely crazy happened here in Portland, we got an enormous amount of snow!





But the snow cleared up in time for an annual winter car show we have here called PDXmas.



Months went by and it was Rally-X season. Luckily we were able to take it out to two events before the clutch didn’t want to make the car move anymore.

The first event:


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We even convinced a friend to join in:



The second event:





So since the clutch was so bad, the car basically sat while we accumulated parts. Until labor day weekend where we found some motivation.

Had a friend help us with a light bar






The lights were super bright




The next day we got some more done




We ran out of cutting wheels, so we had to do something different to finish the hole.



Then applied some trim so we don’t cut ourselves.



And thew on the scoop




At some point we also found the time to install the other seat, a grant steering wheel, and $5 bin Autozone shift ****.





We were also able to pick up a Corksport intake for the car after a quick trip to Vancouver, WA



And there you have it, here is the car in its most recent state:



We have another clutch that we are hoping to get installed in this upcoming week. And with any luck we will be able to get it installed before the last rally-x or two of the season, plus with Mt. Hood rally coming up at the end of October that is even more motivation.

Sure the car looks like butt. However when you look at the price breakdown:

Car: $500
Seats, large lights, new clutch, 5 point harnesses (not shown): $400
Grant steering wheel: $40
PIAA lights: $40
Light bar: $35
Rallysport Roof Scoop: $20
Strut Brace: $10
Shift ****: $5
Corksport Intake: $30

Total: $1080

It hasn’t been a bad investment for the fun involved. Hope you enjoyed the mounds of pics I posted. You can also check out our Myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/f4wrally

 

this is what makes cars fun

thanks for posting this

 

Woha!! I want to do something like that so bad, to bad we don't have RallyX down here in P.R...

 

I really dig the end result man. Looks like a fun project and even more fun driving it in all those conditions :D

 

That looks like a blast man.

And excuse my ignorance, but are those AWD?

 

wow, lol I love it. I bet its one hell of a blast to drive that thing.

 

The 323 GTX is AWD and Turbo. They are fantastic cars but because there were only around 1300 of the GTX's imported to the US. They still command a 5k asking price all day long.

They also made a GT model. It was a sedan that came with the turbocharged engine out of the GTX but uses the same FWD with a torsion bar rear suspension that the NA model i've posted does.

The engine under the hood here is just a 1.6 SOHC 8V.

 

whats the roof scoop for? I always wondered what they were for on rally cars.

 

*build

 

To be honest. I'm not sure of the "real" reason. But the one I have heard, and the reason we put it on (other than getting it for 90% off retail) is to get airflow into the cabin while allowing the windows to be rolled up. This means you don't die of heat exhaustion and you don't get caked in mud.


Dammit haha

 

Looks like fun

 

Awesome.

 

Love it: dirt cheap, dirty, and fun as hell

 

Looks like fun!

 

Looks fun! I recently got a 93 legacy awd 5spd. I'd love to rallyX it!

BTW is this ben? If so what's up man, it's matt that used to work at TF with jason.

 

Any updates????

 

Super Cool.

 

shouldve left it washed up with a slam

 

props because you are having way more fun with that car than people who spend 100x's that much