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So, question.... How much does the size difference between regular tires and the spare matter? Stock tire size on the 323 was 175/70R13. Stock spare was 115/70R14.  MX-3 GS wheels were 205/55R15. Stock spare was 115/70R15.  Same ratio. I'm switching to the MX-3 tire size, but would rather keep the spare from the 323 (its in better shape). There is another 5% difference.  The open diff shouldn't really care. Handling will be a bit more messed up, but its already not going to be great. I could always just only mount the spare on the rear to avoid diff issues. Am I overthinking this?
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May 14, 2020 22:46
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Sgt Fox posted:The open diff shouldn't really care. Handling will be a bit more messed up, but its already not going to be great. I could always just only mount the spare on the rear to avoid diff issues. Am I overthinking this? Yes, but I'd probably do exactly what you've already suggested - spare goes on the rear, rotate good rear in place of flat front if that's where your flat tire is. Also consider how rarely you actually use your spare on this car.
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May 14, 2020 23:07
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IOwnCalculus posted:Yes, but I'd probably do exactly what you've already suggested - spare goes on the rear, rotate good rear in place of flat front if that's where your flat tire is. Also consider how rarely you actually use your spare on this car. Putting the spare on the rear is SOP in the event one of the fronts goes on pretty much any car. You never want a tiny donut doing the steering, majority of braking and also being one of the powered wheels with that little contact patch. So yeah I wouldn't GAF especially since it's going to be used only for short distances anyway.
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May 14, 2020 23:21
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Suburban Dad posted:Putting the spare on the rear is SOP in the event one of the fronts goes on pretty much any car. You never want a tiny donut doing the steering, majority of braking and also being one of the powered wheels with that little contact patch. So yeah I wouldn't GAF especially since it's going to be used only for short distances anyway. I have to do the opposite on my Crown Vic, so I don't kill my LSD. The donut spare (from another Panther chassis, with the same full-sized tires) is smaller rolling diameter. Mines a cop car, so actually came with a full-sized spare, but it's worn, and I wanted trunk space.
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May 15, 2020 16:53
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Okay, I won't worry about spare tire size then. The smaller one gives me more room for the toolkit, which now includes a Mazda screwdriver!  As for the paint... peeling off all this tape really sucks...  I have piles of red tape now. Very glad I bought the expensive 3M autobody masking tape.  Let's put the foam, crash bar and fog lights into the bumper.  I am really happy with how they look. I think it was well worth taking the time to cut out the bumper for them. I like them recessed into the bumper, instead of just mounted underneath like most aftermarket lights. Okay, test fit time.  I actually kind of like the look without a grill or bumper...  Notice as well, I used the MX-3 indicator connectors for the fog lights.  It's tight, but it all fits.  Next up, headlights. The original ones had faded quite a bit, and while I had sanded and polished them in the past, they never lasted. This time I sanded them down and then sprayed them with some left over Valspar 2K clear. The finish came out amazing with my new spraygun.   
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Jun 12, 2020 21:34
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You do phenomenal work.
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Jun 12, 2020 21:37
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loving bravo
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Jun 12, 2020 22:42
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would you bloody look at that
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Jun 12, 2020 23:04
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Goddamn! 
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Jun 12, 2020 23:37
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That looks great!
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Jun 13, 2020 01:35
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That looks absolutely fantastic. It wasn't that clean when it left the factory, drat.
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Jun 13, 2020 04:19
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Wow wow the details are amazing
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Jun 13, 2020 05:23
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Darchangel posted:I have to do the opposite on my Crown Vic, so I don't kill my LSD. The donut spare (from another Panther chassis, with the same full-sized tires) is smaller rolling diameter. Mines a cop car, so actually came with a full-sized spare, but it's worn, and I wanted trunk space. What were you doing back there, building an apartment?  That front end is a thing of beauty, Fox.
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Jun 13, 2020 07:02
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That came out sweet! Agree on the fog light placement - OEM look wins.Liquid Communism posted:What were you doing back there, building an apartment? Spare normally goes on the shelf over the gas tank/under rear deck, and my sub box was just a skosh too wide to allow the full-size to fit, and offset the space-saver too much to use the hold down. The full-size took up too much room in the bottom of the main trunk area. The space-saver, though, fits right down in the recess at the bottom. I haul around a lot/big stuff from time to time. I like my shed back there. Reeeeaaaally wish it had at least a ski hole in the rear seat, though, even though it could only be in the top foot or so, thanks to the gas tank hump.
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Jun 16, 2020 18:21
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Man I love this thread so much
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Jun 16, 2020 19:19
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Darchangel posted:That came out sweet! Agree on the fog light placement - OEM look wins. Yeah, my sole regret with my vic is that lack of passthrough or sufficient roof stability for a rack so I could toss a kayak on top.
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Jun 17, 2020 01:02
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I've been very busy with work, however I don't want this thread to get archived. After the success on the front end, I turned my attention to the rear. I needed to paint the rear quarter after the rust repair, as well as the rear spoiler. I had been searching for a factory spoiler for a long time. They were available as a model option in Canada, and the Asia/Euro market only. They never were offered in the USA. In Canada, they were very rare, and the US guys loved to buy up any spares as well. I posted a wanted ad on clubprotege, and found one in New York. I think I paid 50$ for the spoiler and another $50 to get it shipped up to Canada. Of course, a couple weeks after it arrived, I happened to be on the mainland, and the pick-a-part had a car with the spoiler! I couldn't turn it down at $15. I was too excited to take pictures before removing it, but I did take some pictures to show myself where to drill for mounting. I would have taken the entire hatch, but it was very damaged.  The New York spoiler was white, and the junkyard one was teal. I resprayed them:  My old hatch was very faded as well. The decals were cracked and trash, but sadly no longer available. I took pictures for the future.   The third brake light in these cars is nearly always destroyed. The bulb gets too hot, makes the plastic brittle or completely melts.  After checking at least ten cars, I found one or two just lightly cracked. I will repaint and put an LED in its place. I hot glued chopsticks to the backsides of them to hold them for paint.  Finally, the rear hatch all painted up, with new wiring and mounting holes for the spoiler. 
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Sep 11, 2020 19:38
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I was very confused and thought you painted over the brake light lens. Had to google to figure out that it's mounted externally on the hatch where that big hole is below the glass instead of inside like most cars. Neat. Can't wait to see it all reassembled, looks like great work as usual.
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Sep 11, 2020 21:41
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Man I miss my 323s so much. They are completely non existent around here now  Great work as always man, love that you are keeping a 323 on the road.
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Sep 11, 2020 21:46
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Dude at our monthly Rx-7 meet brought a minty 323. 5-speed with AC, but otherwise a super-base model, blue in and out. Usual clear coat peel on the horizontal surfaces, but in fantastic shape. He also has a teal ‘89 Escort GT. Great little pair of cars.
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Sep 11, 2020 22:01
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I had a BG EGT as well. Loved that car, loved the motor (BP). I've owned six cars with the BP Saw a BG EGT the other day in mint condition and was astonished, you just don't see those cars around anymore and usually when you do they are trashed.
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Sep 11, 2020 22:06
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Club protege? drat, is that place still around? I've seen a bunch of second gen proteges around lately after seeing none for the longest time. They were all the lovely z5 cars though. I miss my old 97lx:(
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Sep 12, 2020 02:00
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Might try hitting up https://decalgremlins.com/ for the decals. They're goon-run and could likely do you some customs without much of a fuss. GerbilNut runs it IIRC. Did me a big war boys decal for my old work laptop with zero fuss, and it held up longer than the laptop did. Liquid Communism fucked around with this message at 11:59 on Sep 13, 2020 |
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Sep 13, 2020 11:55
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I've thought about getting them remade, but I'm not sure I want vinyl. The earlier generation used chromed badges, which China is faithfully copying. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/400...earchweb201603_ They also have the matching Mazda logos.
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Sep 13, 2020 16:09
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Applebees Appetizer posted:I had a BG EGT as well. Loved that car, loved the motor (BP). I've owned six cars with the BP I do miss having one. We raced a bunch of hatchbacks, all of them red, none anywhere near as nice as this one though. It was a lot of fun having one periodically as a daily driver. This weekend, we went with a trailer to the barn where we had our spare parts 323F parked. It hasn't driven for four years, it's stripped of a bunch of parts, and it's pretty rusted out. Will take out a few good parts and keep for MX5 spares, sell some others, and scrap the remains.
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Sep 13, 2020 20:42
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Liquid Communism posted:Might try hitting up https://decalgremlins.com/ for the decals. They're goon-run and could likely do you some customs without much of a fuss. GerbilNut runs it IIRC. Can confirm that custom vinyl would be doable, and good outdoor-rated vinyl will hold up for at least a decade, particularly white. I own a lovely crafter-grade vinyl cutter (Silhouette Portrait 3 - the little one) and it works pretty well for the <$100 I paid for it. Even created some custom "Corolla SR5 8-valve" decals for my AE86 based on the GT-S 16-valve factory decals that came out nicely. BTW, I'm pretty sure I have a DXF file of the Mazda logo I used to cut the aluminum versions of it for my RX-7. Sgt Fox posted:I've thought about getting them remade, but I'm not sure I want vinyl. The earlier generation used chromed badges, which China is faithfully copying. Or that. Those are pretty neat. Thanks, China!
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Sep 14, 2020 23:02
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We left off with the bumpers, hatch and spoiler painted. Next up was repainting the repair on the rear quarter. Eventually I will repaint the entire car, but for now, I am just going to fix the rust and make it all one colour. Remember a few pages back I had gotten primer down and guide coat. Time for colour!  My small compressor struggled with keeping up. (I've since bought a massive 80gal 28cfm@185psi for the new house/shop...)  Its not bad as sprayed. A bit of peel. Neighbours thought I was insane though.  I used an aerosol blending solvent to mix the old paint to the new on the roof. It worked well enough. It is a bit tricky, as it melts the top coats of the old and the new paint together after spraying. Hatch back on.    
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Nov 27, 2020 20:34
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That looks really good!  Is that RX7 wheels on that white Miata in the background?
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Nov 27, 2020 21:35
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Thanks! I have no idea what wheels are on that miata, ive always wanted to know, but never have found anything similar.
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Nov 28, 2020 05:36
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Looks great! Still one of my favourite AI cars. Miata wheels look like Escort GT wheels. I had those on my '91 Miata for awhile.
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Nov 28, 2020 06:32
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Similar but not quite. The escort wheels are a bit more triangular.
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Dec 1, 2020 04:18
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Looking great. I can't wait to paint the exterior on my '79 RX-7. So far, just the engine bay, and that went encouragingly well.
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Dec 1, 2020 20:36
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Reassembly time! Front bumper, grill, headlights and fogs:  Rear bumper (I like how the subaru muffler ended up fitting)   Rear spoiler:  New chinese badges:  Rare rear oem mudflaps:   Finally, the engine bay:   I used a razor blade and peeled the AC label off the parts MX-3:   I also was a dork and purchased the KL under hood labels.   This almost wraps up this project, but we still have some small fun left...
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Feb 3, 2021 23:58
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 I only have one 5 star rating to give... It's just so very very very clean.
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Feb 4, 2021 00:02
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This looks amazing. Well done.
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Feb 4, 2021 00:04
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God it looks so amazing.
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Feb 4, 2021 00:12
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I forgot, current parts MX-3 status:  (I've made my money back 2x selling the body parts off this thing.)
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Feb 4, 2021 00:17
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Sgt Fox posted:I forgot, current parts MX-3 status: You'd be a fun neighbor to have. Mostly just to pop in with beer and watch you work, lol. Car looks amazing. Mock up a stock looking airbox and I don't think anybody would be the wiser that there was anything going on under there.
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Feb 4, 2021 01:06
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It's the best car  I'd love to take it to Mazda meets, open the hood and see how many people catch on and go 
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Feb 4, 2021 01:09
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Awesome!
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Feb 4, 2021 01:48
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