LankyKiwi's Rally-flavored SP20

Got the car properly aligned today and got a tire put on the spare. Caster and camber were roughly right but toe was waaaaaay out! Its a whole lot less twitchy now, much more stable and predictable.

Couldn't help a cheeky hoon in the hills afterwards.
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This thing is FUN! Low end power is instant and the honk of the supercharger is slightly addictive. It handles like a go kart, super planted in the bends but not too bouncy on the rough stuff. The turn-in on sharp corners is ridiculous.

There are a few areas for improvement though:
- I wired the windscreen squirters backwards (oops lol) so pulling the stalk turns on the rear pump. Easy fix! My wiper blades are shagged too
- There's a good drone from the intake at 80kph, not a party killer but it needs something to dampen down the resonance somehow.
- Needs a clock because I hate not knowing what time it is.

WOF next Monday, Cert appointment the week after.
 
Sorry to pop in, but is that an OEM equipped tow hitch??

If so, I'm laughing right now because my USDM user manual has a whole page dedicated to trailer towing, but the only thing printed on it is "Never tow a trailer with your Mazda."
Ha! I don't have the owners manual but I wonder if it is different for the NZ market? Towbar was OEM from memory, mazda logo and everything. I only really used it for a bike hitch for my tall bike :D

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Heya Harry, the original towbar is gone unfortunately, it was on my blue familia when it got stolen and I didn't think to save it before the insurers took the car :(

They do turn up at pick-a-part occasionally, here's one in Mangere for example:

Easy enough to install, it's waaay easier if the rear bumper is off. From memory it used factory holes so no drilling required!
Hey Mate,

That's a shame those genuine ones are worth a bit of coin, about $600 worth for just the bar no install or wiring! :O

Yes there are a few familiars up there getting wrecked like this one: http://www.pickapart.co.nz/eziparts/Display_Vehicle.asp?PriceListID=0&VehicleID=11513&Location=pickapartconz&VehicleDesc=Mazda Familia BJFW Facelift.

Too bad I am in Christchurch and won't make it up there to get it!

Sweet as, would you be able to give me a brief guide/runthrough on how to do it?
I couldn't find too much information online. :(

Thanks!
 
Psst:
http://www.pickapart.co.nz/eziparts...n=pickapartconz&VehicleDesc=Ford Laser BJ 98-

This should fit, it's the same base chassis and looks about right from memory. For $50 and an afternoon you can't go far wrong! Plus pulling a wrecked car to bits gives a good idea to how it goes together :)

Here's the steps (Again, from memory. I'll try and remember to grab some photos later)
-Jack up the rear and remove the rear wheels, remove the spare wheel tray and plastic inside the hatch
- Remove the bumper, there's a few screws in each wheel well, 2 torx screws in the rear hatch opening, 2 or 4x 10mm nuts inside below the lights and 2 or 4 14mm nuts underneath at the ends of the chassis rails.
- Remove the steel crash bar behind the bumper, this is where the towbar will bolt up, 2 x14mm nuts each side
- slide the towbar in and bolt it up, mine had 2 captive plates that bolted up from below the chassis rails, 2x 17mm bolts per side, as well as the bolts holding the crash bar.. Make sure these are in good condition and tight!
-Remove the passengers tail light and run your wiring harness in to the car somewhere in that area. A generic 7 pin kit from repco/supercheap will work if you can't get an OEM one
- Wire up your trailer harness, don't forget to grab the indicator signal from the drivers side too
- slap the taillight and bumper back on, it helps to remove the towball as it's a bit tricky to get the bumper over it and down in to position.
- chuck the wheels on, put the spare wheel plastics back in and you should be good to go!

Yep, new bars can get crazy expensive! I source them for work sometimes and even with a trade discount it's painful on the wallet

Hopefully this helps, give us a yell if you need any more info!
 
Welp, car is at the certifiers now, waiting its turn to be poked and prodded to see if it can legally drive on the roads here. Fingers crossed this time tomorrow it'll be done!

Tidied up a few more things over the weekend that the pre-cert WOF inspection pointed out;
- Replaced the bolts through the top engine mount with zipties (frowned upon due to the bolts possibly rubbing through the mounts)
- Replaced the power steering hose with proper oil hose (and it's black now!)
- Added some small catches to the rear seat cover to keep it in place in case of an accident
 
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So close!
Didn't pass the cert unfortunately. Apparently very few cars pass first time and it's a super in depth check so I'm not suprised by it not passing.
Things to fix:
- put the bolts back in the top engine mount as that's actually OK and better than the zipties
- Change out the bolts holding the S/C on to higher tensile versions and add lock washers to everything
- add lock washers to the rear swaybar mounts and longer bolts for the links
- add 2 more drains to the battery box for liquid spillage
- replace the spare wheel strap with one rated at 300kg+
- tweak the coilovers to get 40mm of droop in the suspension (no more three wheel action :( )

And the big one
- modify the seat bases so there's more material around the bolt holes and they actually line up better. Wasn't expecting them to take the seats out and those WRX seats are a proper pain to get back in. Also need to helicoil at least one bolt hole as it's a bit stripped. I might take the chance to level out the seats while I'm there but need to run that past the certifier first.

Not a huge list and nothing really major or serious to fix. The certifier was impressed by it being a bit different and loved the rear seat panels! I've got 60 days to fix everything which should be do-able.

The car even handled rush hour traffic no problems at all! Temps stated nice and low and the clutch isn't toooo heavy at low speeds.

So very close!
 
Damn that is super thorough. Sounds tough to have modded cars in your areas. You are doing the most!
 
So close!
Didn't pass the cert unfortunately. Apparently very few cars pass first time and it's a super in depth check so I'm not suprised by it not passing.
Things to fix:
- put the bolts back in the top engine mount as that's actually OK and better than the zipties
- Change out the bolts holding the S/C on to higher tensile versions and add lock washers to everything
- add lock washers to the rear swaybar mounts and longer bolts for the links
- add 2 more drains to the battery box for liquid spillage
- replace the spare wheel strap with one rated at 300kg+
- tweak the coilovers to get 40mm of droop in the suspension (no more three wheel action :( )

And the big one
- modify the seat bases so there's more material around the bolt holes and they actually line up better. Wasn't expecting them to take the seats out and those WRX seats are a proper pain to get back in. Also need to helicoil at least one bolt hole as it's a bit stripped. I might take the chance to level out the seats while I'm there but need to run that past the certifier first.

Not a huge list and nothing really major or serious to fix. The certifier was impressed by it being a bit different and loved the rear seat panels! I've got 60 days to fix everything which should be do-able.

The car even handled rush hour traffic no problems at all! Temps stated nice and low and the clutch isn't toooo heavy at low speeds.

So very close!
Damn that is super thorough. Sounds tough to have modded cars in your areas. You are doing the most!

Wow yeah, gotta agree with 323. Those are some reaaaally picky rules. On the bright side, if you're super perfectionist like myself, it might be nice to have some pressure to address those little issues, instead of letting them pile up unaddressed for eternity. If nothing else, just for the satisfaction of having a legitimately "Dialed In" car.

Hopefully you can get everything to a satisfactory status in order to pass!
 
Yep, it was a good 4 hour check and it still needs a road test! Very specific rules for lots of stuff but it's good at keeping the jokers off the road with dodgy mods and now I know it's all been done and checked to a high standard.

The only annoying thing is that it effectively stops the major mods to the car. If I wanted to go back to standard (lol), or change the s/c pulley, or even change the wheels, then it needs to go through the entire process again.
That stops a lot of people doing mods in stages as it's best to do everything at once and only pay the cert fee one time. It's a bit harder to budget for both in cash and in time.

That being said there's still a lot of cool modded cars here, and the cert process means they're all built to a high standard and safe to drive on the road!
 
Neeeaaaarly there! battery drains installed, engine mount re-installed, a few small items ticked off and the seat mounts have been re-jigged.

The inner front mounts required the most work, I cut the factory mount off and added a new plate. The outer front mount got a plate as well to cover up the giant slot from the original fitting. Rear mounts just got big washers, and shiny new hardware all round.

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Funnily enough the inner mounts aren't the same side to side, the passengers side (rh) is offset further outwards by 5mms. I think that's the seat design rather than the car. :)

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Also deep cleaned the seats, LH is the dirty drivers seat, RH is the cleaned passengers seat! Such a difference in colour, these things were dirty!

Sourced some longer grade 9 3/8" bolts for the swaybar and still need to put lock washers on everything underneath. Another weekend and it should be ready for the recheck.

Also, my wideband is acting up, reading off-the-gauge lean at idle. Hoping it's not a dead sensor so going to poke around the wiring this week.
 
Car is now certified! Wooohoo! Waiting on some official paperwork and a final warrant of fitness check, then it's fully road legal! Replaced the o2 sensor and it's all running good now

Managed to get three familias in a row in a car park
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Mounted a cheap clock in the drivers air vent, used a spare vent and cut the grille out so the clock fits in nicely and at a good angle for viewing. I'd love a backlit clock for night driving so this'll probably change once I find one at the wreckers
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Also wrapped the wing mirrors with some black vinyl, the paint was getting pretty manky and I've seen black mirrors on another pro5 that looked neat.
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Not 100% on them yet, what do you all reckon?

Next on the car is.....

Not really sure! Any thoughts or ideas for this thing?
 
Car is now certified! Wooohoo! Waiting on some official paperwork and a final warrant of fitness check, then it's fully road legal! Replaced the o2 sensor and it's all running good now

Managed to get three familias in a row in a car park
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Mounted a cheap clock in the drivers air vent, used a spare vent and cut the grille out so the clock fits in nicely and at a good angle for viewing. I'd love a backlit clock for night driving so this'll probably change once I find one at the wreckers
View attachment 299375

Also wrapped the wing mirrors with some black vinyl, the paint was getting pretty manky and I've seen black mirrors on another pro5 that looked neat.
View attachment 299376

Not 100% on them yet, what do you all reckon?

Next on the car is.....

Not really sure! Any thoughts or ideas for this thing?
Sweeet!
Some videos, maybe POV, of driving the car and especially the sound would be awesome. You may have already posted some here that I missed but more can't hurt! Would love to see and hear how it drives.
 
Will give videos a go for sure!
Need to beg or borrow a better camera than my old phone to really capture the noises. I haven't heard the car from the outside yet!
 
Cert: 👍 Warrant of Fitness: 👍 Road registration: 👍

It's fully road legal now!
Took it for a spin over the Kaimai ranges to the parents, about 1 1/2 hours one way up and down a fairly twisty road. The thing just pulls up hills, and it barely slowed down around corners.

Gave Mum and Dad a ride too, they used to have a couple of rally cars so are no strangers to fast cars. They reckoned it was nice and smooth, and that the motor isn't too much for the car.

Tried the autotune function with the microsquirt too, but it's doing weird things and making the car hard to start. I'll get it properly tuned eventually but I want to get it dialed in slightly better for driving around.

Going to tidy up a few more things and enjoy the car for a bit, then it'll be on to the next stage!
 
The sun is finally shining so I gave this poor thing a bath
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And busted out the proper camera for some nicer photos

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Really enjoying the car as it sits now, but that doesn't mean it's finished!

Things I need to do:
- Install an alarm
- Get it on a dyno for a proper tune
- Replace the rear tyres
- Figure out how to cut the boost back a bit, 8-9 psi is fun but I don't really want to rebuild this motor just yet. Fun fact, FS-DE engines are harder to find than FS-ZE engines here! There's so many JDM familias and only a handful of 323s around

Things I want to do:
- Revisit the spotlight cover project, maybe fibreglass this time? (oooh, maybe carbon fibre?)
- Re trim the seats with red inserts, Type R integra style
- Modify the rear strut tower trim pieces to get rid of the seatbelt holes for that factory look
- Eventually sort this paint out, it's super rough and patchy. I'd love to do the whole car in Zeal red like the engine bay but that'd take some serious cash to do properly.
- Remove the rear window regulators for added lightness

I'm tossing up whether to swap all the doors over to manual windows and mirrors, for that WRX Type RA feeling, the base model Laser variant has manual windows and I think they'll be a straight swap over. Also want to swap the mirrors to either OEM manual versions or aero type aftermarket mirrors from a S15 / civic. Any thoughts?

Thanks to everyone that's followed along for this journey!
 

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I Swapped over my p5 to manual windows, it was pretty straight forward. The rear fits fine, but the front door cards are a little different. I did have a hard time finding manual window BJs here in the US.
 
Thanks for the info, good to know that the mechanisims should bolt straight up. Knowing Mazda the mounting points would have been different or something lol.

It looks like all our Mazda BJs had power mirrors and windows, while the base spec Ford Lasers had manual mirrors and windows, there's a few in a Pick-A-Part yard near here, just need to make the time to get to them!

Now I'm going to trawl through your build thread again!
 
Something slightly different now;

I wanted some kind of tool storage for this car, just for a small amount of tools for roadside repairs, but didn'twant to pay $50 for a off-the-shelf box or roll

So I busted out my old Singer sewing machine and made one!

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If you want to improve accuracy in fabrication, try a sewing project! Working with fabrics is super tricky when you're used to wood and metal but it still requires accuracy and patience to get a nice result.
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This is 70x30cm of heavy duty fabric, with a few pockets for small things and dedicated slots for a screwdriver, multi-tool and spanners, perfect!
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It now lives under the rear seat cover along with a jack, brace and warning triangle, all stuff I hope I never have to use, but is there just in case.

This was a fun little side project for a few weekends, it's always good to do something different!
 
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