Mazda 323F GT

New Engine

Well... what can I say ? Bloody expensive and scary because dunno what will happen with all this stuff now... :)

Left home early in the morning today with some money and returned back with no money at all and a huge piece of iron...Actually got engine 1.8 DOHC, Gear Box, drive shafts, clutch, presure plate, flywheel, brake disks and calipers, centre bosses for the wheels, ECU. Left everything at the service (will not be able to do all of this myself alone) and still need to buy so things...

So my Mazzy going to become a GLXXX ?

Process slowly going now...

this guy in red cap, who is "braking" my car, is N3 rally driver Sergei Lapitzki :) When I arrived in the garage yesterday, guys there teased me that I don't really need this car anymore, they will install engine, mount a roller cage, do a couple of mods and it will participate in next rally stage =8-0

This is the final results of engine swap - everything run well now:

This is the summary of what was done:

- GT engine

- GT Gearbox

- GT clutch and flywheel

- GT drive shafts

- GT ECU

- MX3 hubs

- MX3 brake disks and calipers

- forced to do a custom upper engine mount and gearbox lever

- painted head

- a lot of test rides :)

Original air pipes were replaced and filter box removed. A cold intake ram air system HP Raid Max Flow been put instead. All other air ventilation pipes were separated from the main flow. MAX crankcase breather and oil catch tank been installed instead.

Always been interested in what will happen with car performance after installing a free flow air filters. So once I’ve got a G-Tech performance meter, I’ve got a chance to prove all modifications I did are making sense.

Here you can see the results of two test runs: Black one with MAX-Flow air filter, Red one – original Mazda filter box with original pipes.

As you can see, there is a drop in performance for the whole range below 5000 rpm for about 5 HP and 5 Hm torque. Only after 5000 rpm looks like free flow filters will start playing the trick (the black line is going higher). Keeping in mind we mostly below 5000 rpm I see no reason (apart from shiny thing) to replace the original box. However I’ll keep doing my experiments with different configurations and will post more results.

Now returning back to the setup, I’ve bought eRAM electric supercharger and got it installed (see eRAM article). Once did that, I’ve put a heat protective shield on eRAM, intake pipes and battery.

Also had to reconfigure all my electric power supply net because of many new devices (two sets of fog lights + 2 more on the way), air horn signal, eRAM, etc). It’s became two dangerous to have so many wires attached separately to the battery connectors so I’ve re-setup the connections, added an integrated fuse blocks, more connectors for ground and rearranged everything to fits the place on a battery cover. Now all fuses are in one place, all of them the same type and easy for access. All wires can be easily accessed and disconnected if required. Relays can be easily replaced. There are still extra free connectors for future upgrades.

Kira aka Aprilia, 2006