1988 323 Station Wagon, KLG4 swap build

Damkid

Member
I recently purchased myself a 1988 323 Wagon, it has been mechanically converted to a GT with the rear disk brakes, sway bars, and of course the B6T

The plan for it is to get it running and plated with the B6T then later I'll pull it out and swap in a KLG4 with a turbo, 5 lug conversion and get it riding nice and low

It was in the beginning stages of being parted out so it didn't run when I picked it up but was told it shouldn't take too much work to get fired back up again

Here's a few pics from when I picked it up

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And a bunch of spare parts to go with it

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It also had 4 garbage tires on it which can somewhat be seen in this pic

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Before I started putting a face back on it I wanted to test fit my festiva ATH front bumper on it, it fits beautifully if I choose to use it :)

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After a set of tires I was able to roll it out of the garage for a quick photo shoot and to clean up the garage before I get started on fixing it up

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My collection of spare parts

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First disgnoses showed it has spark but no fuel pressure, so digging further I found out that the fuel pump was dead

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So it's a perfect time for an upgrade with a walbro 255lph pump

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Along with a new sending unit and gas tank

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The old, beat gas tank with the remains of a mouse nest that was on top of the tank

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New tank ready to go in

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But after getting fuel pressure to the fuel rail, it still won't fire up, checking things out I found out it lost spark..... Ugh

So I didn't bother putting much effort into getting the B6T running since I wanted a KLG4 in there anyway, so I picked up my donor cat

A 2000 626 with a 5 speed

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The goods

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And it's almost ready to come out

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KLG4 is out

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Pulled the B6T out

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Since I've worked on KL's in tight engine bays before, I counted on having clearance issues with the KLG4 intake/throttle body and master cylinder and since this engine bay has more room in it then my old festiva, I figured if there's enough room to work with, I'll move the engine forward to clear the MC so it was time for a test fit so I can see exactly what I'm working with

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And like I anticipated the throttle linkage interferes with the MC

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It looks like I can move the engine forward by 2-1/2 inches and I should still have enough room for the rad

The flex pipe on the Y-pipe needed to be replaced so I figured to also add a V-band clamp to make life easier down the road

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Hydraulic clutch conversion using GTX parts

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When I did the diff swap in the festive I learned of a thickness difference in the ring/pinion gears between the B6T/BP G series vs the KL G series which does not allow the complete internal gear sets to interchange

And since there was a difference in final drive gear ratios I couldn't simply drop in the 26 diff to the KL trans so I ended up separating ring gears and bolting the KL ring gear to the 26 spline diff..... That proved un-reliable in the long run

For this project I don't want to go with an Mfactory because I didn't like how it felt to drive in the festiva so I started using my brain at what options I have to run an open differential and retain the factory rivets

So knowing KL trans either came with a 4.10 or 4.38 final drive, I got thinking about what 26 spline G series had a 4.10 final drive.... The BP trans..... So tonight I picked one up and got to work

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After pulling both transmissions apart, I confirmed they had identical final drive gear ratios

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The BP ring gear is not as thick as the KL ring gear but I don't think it will cause a problem since the gear ratios match

I was really happy how that turned out so I started the re-assembly

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Today I re-threaded the holes in the block for my intermediate shaft mounting plate I made and installed it

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When I bought the 626 the owner said it leaked a lot of oil.... So I ordered new valve cover gaskets which arrived today, so I got those replaced as well

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The previous owner of the wagon must have had trouble at some point with the crossmember bolts because the front was welded directly to the lower rad support

So while the engine is out I decided to cut it off so I can make the proper repairs to both the crossmember and the lower rad support

In the process of removing the crossmember I also found the rear bolts were rusted pretty good to the point where I need to basically replace all 4 captive nuts to properly re-attach the crossmember

So today I ground off all the welds on the crossmember, drilled out the mounting holes again (they were full of welds) and re-inforced the ground down areas

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Next job is to replace the captive nuts.... ****
 
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I found that some mice once made a home in the cavity for the rear captive nuts

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Before I start making motor mounts I wanted to clean up the surface rust from the engine bay, looks pretty ****ty

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Then found a rust hole in the strut tower and after having both strut towers on my GT separate, I decided to fix the problem before it becomes a bigger problem

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The paint that I picked up doesn't quite match the exterior, but it's close enough lol

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Got the mounts made up tonight

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I couldn't live with the baby blue, I had to darken it up with some navy blue instead

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Also freshened up the engine and got the harness attached so I can start sorting through the harness to get it prepped for splicing into the wagon

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Some prep/tidy up work on the harness tonight

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And hopefully the last install of the engine

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So progress has been steady, parts have come in the mail etc first was a new idler pulley for a PS pump delete which I also trimmed the bracket for a cleaner look

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But the belt I ordered was too big so I need to order a shorter one to finish up the install

Also got some new plug wires

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Pulled the old shifter linkage out and replaced with a much cleaner set

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Axles installed, clutch hydraulic lines installed and bled out

And tonight was fitting the VW rad in the support and making the mounting points etc

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Plenty of room left for a fan lol

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Next is exhaust work

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And the first start up video!!! WOOT!!

https://youtu.be/jbOckjOSQ5E

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And now to address the clearance issue between the throttle body and brake fluid reservoir

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One coolant pipe welded up, just need to clean up the welds and paint it

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I got some more progress to post on here, I got the right sized belt to finish my power steering pump delete setup

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Also finished up the rad hoses and heater core hoses

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And I got the factory 626 coolant overflow reservoir mounted

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And the last clearance issue is solved lol

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TEST DRIVE!!!!!


https://youtu.be/KWMPV8dUaFw

Ordered some new fans

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Then started working on getting the lighting up front working, the turn signal housings had a lot of corrosion in them so I decided to refresh them with some LED's

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The headlights still aren't working but I believe the problem is inside the dash, possibly from mice chewing on the wires but that's the next job to do

But in the meantime, here's a shot I thought looked pretty cool

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Found the problem with the headlights, turned out to be a missed connection under the hood, very easy fix lol

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But I still knew there was a mouse infestation in the dash so time to pull the interior..... Something I've been dreading......

This first pic didn't turn out the best but you can see the nests inside the vents

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Everything out, and I mean everything lol

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I spent a couple hours washing doen the firewall, floors, all the ducting including the HVAC unit etc to get rid of any evidence/smell from the mice

The insulation on the firewall had obvious signs where the mice had been so instead of trying to clean it and risk having the smell come back, I decided not to re-install the insulation and hope that the noise level won't increase too much without it

Afterwards I got the HVAC, dash, pedal assembly and steering column re-installed before calling it a day

Today I took the carpet to the car wash and pressure washed it and once it's dry I can finish putting the interior back together

I can almost finally see the finish line to getting this car on the road

I got the interior all back together and it smells so much cleaner in there now.... If I turn on the heater fan I get blasted with the smell of pinesol

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Got started on some permanent wiring for the engine harness

Since the battery is now in the back I first picked up a distribution block so I can pull power from the battery cable without running a wire all the way to the back

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Then added another smaller distribution block and bolted it to the HVAC so I have an easy spot to power the relays

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Then took 2 fuel pump relays and got the wiring prepped for install

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Then got the relays bolted down and wired up and ECU wired up permanently

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Before I can bolt the ECU in the stock location I need to modify the mounting brackets, I intend to use the stock ECU brackets and use them as a mounting plate for the KLG4 ECU.... Here's a pic to show the differences

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Once the mounting brackets are made up I can tuck away the wiring and put the centre console back in place.... But before I do anymore fab work, I needed to see some drive time in this thing, so I took it for a short drive

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Then some parts I ordered arrived

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And installed...

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I also have clear turn signals on the way in the mail to match the new headlight setup

The test drive overall went ok, the engine still has a bad oil leak, it overall feels sluggish but I also know the calipers are sticky so that could be holding it back.... it also pulls to the left but I also know the front drivers wheel bearing is toast and needs replacing

Clear turn signal lenses arrived

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This is where the car sits at the moment

Basically the test drive proved how much work the brakes need, so instead of fixing the current setup I'm going to work on gathering parts for a big upgrade

The ultimate goal is to run Speed 6 brakes up front
 
(drinks)
KUDOS!

Thanks for taking us along for the build!

I love the idea of Mazda-Frankenstein cars... You got some good skills, some patience, and a nice toolbox! Keep up the good work!

(popcorn)
 
I had hoped to have made more progress on this lately but things haven't really gone to plan

My girlfriend rolled our Ford escape so that put a damper on my little project, she walked away from the crash without a scratch and the escape has survived to see another day

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So in the meantime I did a little photoshoot with my daily driver, a rare 88' 323 GT with a factory B6T in it

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I still have plenty of things left to finish on the wagon and I will most likely do some small things very soon..... like build a battery box and make an ECU mounting bracket etc..... but the major things.... like a complete brake job, including all 4 calipers..... will have to wait until the new year since I have two little kids that need to be spoiled at Christmas time lol
 
Wow, hope she's doing ok. That's some scary s***.

Ya man definately is some scary s***, neither one of us has ever been in a crash this bad before, but thankfully she only had some sore muscles for a few days and right back to feeling 100% again

Cars can always be replaced
 
Sweet cars man and nice work! Makes me miss my old 323 turbo..

Glad to hear nobody got seriously hurt in the crash.
 
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