Me and my brother (teklord) are looking at picking one of these up for cheap...an '88 with 117k miles, doesn't start but we're pretty sure we know whats up and its a relatively simple problem.

It's got full time 4WD with the ability to lock the center diff, turbo, 1.6L 4 cylinder and 5-speed manual of course. 130hp stock, boost it up to 180hp fairly easily in a 2300lbs car and you got something that moves pretty nice...The end result we are looking for from the car is an autocross car though, so obviously engine isn't the most important part.

Before we decide to get this one nearby...we need to know mods are cheap. The only thing we're having trouble finding fairly cheap is suspension...seems like shocks/struts are extremely expensive for this car...to the tune of $200 a piece!! Does anybody know where we could get some cheaper shocks/struts?

(More info on the 323GTX here: <a href="http://www.roadraceengineering.com/323index.htm)" target="_blank">http://www.roadraceengineering.com/323index.htm)</a>

TIA

 

I used to have one. It's funny, another lister on the board is looking to buy one of those as well at the moment.

They were made by Mazda for group B rallying. The car was meant for off-road applications, but would probably make a good auto-x car with mods.
Look at HKS for engine upgrades, and Rod Millen Motorsport in Florida used to have a lot of suspension upgrade parts when I had mine.

Beware of breaking the headlight lens, they cost a TON and are a different size and shape than a stock 323lens.

Fun car, other than the interior quality being fairly underpar...

Tifo

 

Interesting project. Grassroots motorsports ran an article on this car as part of their May 2002 issue, check it out. They said they used standard 323 struts in the front and '92 protege struts in the rear.

Good luck

 

Apropos nothing more than I saw his name, I watched Rod Millen take his Pikes Peak Celica up the hillclimb at Goodwood a couple of weeks ago. 1.16mi in 46 secs. Of course it absolutely murdered the competiton. It was without doubt THE scariest automobile I have ever set eyes on. There was not one person within earshot who didn't utter some sort of expletive when he opened it up on the straight.

Good luck on the Mazda, it sounds like it will be a riot if you can get it sorted.

 

i saw one in the paper where i used to live (when i bought the acura) for $1500. i was tempted and knew what it was (the ad simply said "mazda 323, turbo, awd," but i knew what it was ) and how rare it was. but, i was left to wonder about the condition as i lived in upstate NY at the time...

 

Beware of the crankshaft, from what I understand, they had some problems with the nose of the crack bending. Do some research before you buy it. Some of the parts are pretty rare and expensive for a cheap car.

 

I read about the crank issues...the crank is the same as the crank in the miata.

Keep it coming... I didn't think this many people would have something to say about a little Mazda.

Looks like we can get KYB adjustables for $50 a pop...and Koni Red's for $133 each rear and $157 each front.

 

But, do you really want to run in X class?

 

You know Dave...there ARE other groups that run autocrosses besides PCA.

PCA events are nice, but Mclub events are good as well. I haven't tried SCCA or WSCC yet...but we shall see.

What, are you scared you'll get beat by a little mazda?

 

Had to come out of hiding for this one...
I looked into this car as well. From everything I could gather the car is very tuneable and a blast to drive. The problem is (true for any "cult" sports car) there are very few "normal" examples. By this I mean that there are only two kinds out there to buy:
1) Babied to death, bought and parked. This owner wants way to much money for the car because he knows that it is rare, and the car is probably in need of some work because it sat around for so long.
2) Beat on mercilessly. I've seen a few GTXs like this. They are popular in the rally circuit and as a result have been worn out by previous owners. You can get them cheap, but you take the risk of taking on a real nightmare.

If you find one that's documented and in "normal" shape go for it. It is a true sleeper and would do well auto-x'ing I'm sure.

PS there is an m-club auto-x this weekend at the colisseum if you are interested. The scca ones bring out some cool cars and look well organized, but the courses seem small. I haven't checked out a NASA event but it seems alot of people love their layouts.

 

Spidey,
I would do the M club event but the website shows they're in lot 18 at the Meadowlands..

If I remember correctly...this is a pretty bad parking lot (tire wise)...

Thanks for the info on the GTX, this one is in normal condition. Its in need of belts and solving the no-crank issue (should be pretty simple)..other than that it's got 1 broken spring and is in need of shocks...but is otherwise good to go. It's got a little bit of rust, but nothing serious. For thr price, you can't beat it.

 

Sport Compact Car has one for a project car. You might want to look up back issues. They haven't worked on it in a while since they've been given some new cars to build into rally cars.

 

Just got to thinking...the car we're looking at hasn't had the belts done in a good while...70k miles...

Is the GTX engine (1.6L 4 valve/cylinder DOHC) interference (valves hit pistons when timing belt snaps)??

TIA

I'll look into back issues of Sports Compact Car...maybe a friend of mine has a collection of em...hmm

 

IIRC, it is an interference engine and the timing belt change interval is 60K on that car. I would change it immediately upon purchase....

Tifo

 

sorry adrial, bmw cca this sunday at the colisseum
<a href="http://nybmwcca.org/autocross/classification.shtml" target="_blank">BMW auto-x</a>