FS: '88 Mazda 323 hatchback; Ames, Iowa; $600 OBO *REDUCED PRICE*
I know I'm new here, but if you want to check into my reputation you can look on StrangeTalk.net, I'm user Commander there, and I'm user SpeedOfLife on RX7club.com
So, on to the car:
Like the title says, I have a 1988 Mazda 323 hatchback I want to sell at $450 OBO. The key thing about this car is that it runs great and it can still get about 30mpg. The body has some rust issues, the rear wheel wells are poor and the sides underneath the doors have a couple holes, but mechanically it's beautiful and very tough. Light blue with black bumpers and black exterior trim (though the door trim has fallen off), the interior is a dark blue theme. 4 speed manual, 1.6L 4-cyl motor with 205,000 miles, but you wouldn't know it has that many miles if you drove it. It has a straight through exhaust, a dual cone air filter, a custom sound system (there are no stock speakers, Pioneers in the front and components I built in the back, and I replaced the back seat with 2 subs and an amp and the back of the seat can still be folded down for extra cargo space), and a dual tone air horn. I've replaced MANY parts, about as soon as something needed fixing I fixed it. If you want a parts list I can put it up and I have 90%+ of the receipts for parts I've replaced. I want to replace the tie rods and rear control arms before selling it, and that should be considered into the price of the car. Once that's done, the wheels can be aligned and tires should last a long time. If driven nicely and taken care of (which isn't hard to do with this car, it's very easy to maintain) I wouldn't be surprised if you'd get another 100,000 miles out of it. The timing belt and tensioner were replaced around 170,000 miles so that should be good with no problems for another 50,000 miles. The timing belt is also very easy to change and I have a Chilton manual that would come with the car (it has details on changing the timing belt and most other repairs).
I have a long, happy history with this car; I'm the second or third owner (I have a hard time remembering because it was 8 years ago and wasn't sure until the last couple months if I'd even ever sell it). I do remember, however, that most of its life it's been a highway commuter. It's never been in a serious wreck to my knowledge, I bunged up the front bumper a little this winter, but the bumper is the only thing that took damage, the lights weren't touched either. It could be bent back with the proper tools or a new one could probably be had fairly cheap from a scrap yard. I can provide the VIN if anyone wants it and I have a bunch of pictures I'll also post if anyone's interested. I'm completely open to questions and offers.
Since these pictures were taken I've painted the rims an aluminum color, and while some rust has shown through they still look much better. I showed some of the patching process for the driver's seat, I cut the bad parts of vinyl out and sewed some doubled over material to the seat (the seat feels MUCH nicer than it did before). The seat covers got stained some because of prior attempts to patch the vinyl with duct tape. The passenger side seat isn't <i>as</i> bad as the driver's seat was and it hasn't been patched. The car would also come with thicker black floor mats, I just used the clear ones because they reflected the red neons under the dash better.
These pics were taken last summer and since then the front bumper got dented, but the frame wasn't touched and neither were any of the lights. It would be easy to replace with a used one (probably not necessary to buy a new one). Within the next 10,000 miles or less I think the car should probably get a new clutch and new tie rods/rear control arms. I can do all of these fixes very cheap, cheap labor and I can get parts at a slight discount. I would prefer to negotiate any maintenance I perform in my favor, meaning I'd like to sell the car as-is for $700 obo. I am willing to help out with future maintenance if the car stays local.
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/5685/p5120002ur4.jpg
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/779/p5120001bf7.jpg
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/5290/p5120003cj0.jpg
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/285/p5120004ox7.jpg
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/2214/p5120005gm4.jpg
^^^ The switches to the left of the steering column (one red, one blue) are for the amp and the backing beeper. Red for the amp, blue for the beeper (having it on the beeper still only sounds when in reverse).
Pics of the driver's seat repair I did:
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/4247/p6290039yg0.jpg
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/208/p2230002id5.jpg
http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/3540/p2240001cd4.jpg
http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/8030/p2240003xe3.jpg
These pictures were taken recently, I put a sub box in place of the back seat cushion (but the seat cushion will still be included with the car so you can do what you like when you like). I built it this way to put less stress on the rear struts, to allow easier removal when desired, it adds storage capacity in the hatch, and you can put the back of the seat down and never have to worry about hurting the system when throwing stuff in the back. The old setup could still be assembled but power/ground/switch lines would have to be extended (not very hard, just do some good soldering and route the lines). If you want I can include the parts for the old setup for $40 (boxes, mounting parts, and maybe I'll include some wire to finish it out to the hatch). Here are some pics of the current setup, I think it's a pretty cool idea. Oh yeah, I have grills for the speakers if you want them, no extra cost. First picture is right before I installed the subs. I was planning on putting sheet metal (new) down around the amp so the mdf wouldn't show, it should finish it off nicely. Thick plexiglass is expensive and with just plexi the mdf would still show so I decided on something else. A grill could be used but without the metal (or something) the mdf would still show. I also rigged two 80mm computer fans to cool the amp from beneath. Some of these pictures are huge so I linked them instead:
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/5899/p4160001at2.jpg
http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/3862/p4270009cm2.jpg
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/3938/p4270010xx0.jpg
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/8084/p4250008vb9.jpg
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/1993/p4250010qj9.jpg
I know I'm new here, but if you want to check into my reputation you can look on StrangeTalk.net, I'm user Commander there, and I'm user SpeedOfLife on RX7club.com
So, on to the car:
Like the title says, I have a 1988 Mazda 323 hatchback I want to sell at $450 OBO. The key thing about this car is that it runs great and it can still get about 30mpg. The body has some rust issues, the rear wheel wells are poor and the sides underneath the doors have a couple holes, but mechanically it's beautiful and very tough. Light blue with black bumpers and black exterior trim (though the door trim has fallen off), the interior is a dark blue theme. 4 speed manual, 1.6L 4-cyl motor with 205,000 miles, but you wouldn't know it has that many miles if you drove it. It has a straight through exhaust, a dual cone air filter, a custom sound system (there are no stock speakers, Pioneers in the front and components I built in the back, and I replaced the back seat with 2 subs and an amp and the back of the seat can still be folded down for extra cargo space), and a dual tone air horn. I've replaced MANY parts, about as soon as something needed fixing I fixed it. If you want a parts list I can put it up and I have 90%+ of the receipts for parts I've replaced. I want to replace the tie rods and rear control arms before selling it, and that should be considered into the price of the car. Once that's done, the wheels can be aligned and tires should last a long time. If driven nicely and taken care of (which isn't hard to do with this car, it's very easy to maintain) I wouldn't be surprised if you'd get another 100,000 miles out of it. The timing belt and tensioner were replaced around 170,000 miles so that should be good with no problems for another 50,000 miles. The timing belt is also very easy to change and I have a Chilton manual that would come with the car (it has details on changing the timing belt and most other repairs).
I have a long, happy history with this car; I'm the second or third owner (I have a hard time remembering because it was 8 years ago and wasn't sure until the last couple months if I'd even ever sell it). I do remember, however, that most of its life it's been a highway commuter. It's never been in a serious wreck to my knowledge, I bunged up the front bumper a little this winter, but the bumper is the only thing that took damage, the lights weren't touched either. It could be bent back with the proper tools or a new one could probably be had fairly cheap from a scrap yard. I can provide the VIN if anyone wants it and I have a bunch of pictures I'll also post if anyone's interested. I'm completely open to questions and offers.
Since these pictures were taken I've painted the rims an aluminum color, and while some rust has shown through they still look much better. I showed some of the patching process for the driver's seat, I cut the bad parts of vinyl out and sewed some doubled over material to the seat (the seat feels MUCH nicer than it did before). The seat covers got stained some because of prior attempts to patch the vinyl with duct tape. The passenger side seat isn't <i>as</i> bad as the driver's seat was and it hasn't been patched. The car would also come with thicker black floor mats, I just used the clear ones because they reflected the red neons under the dash better.
These pics were taken last summer and since then the front bumper got dented, but the frame wasn't touched and neither were any of the lights. It would be easy to replace with a used one (probably not necessary to buy a new one). Within the next 10,000 miles or less I think the car should probably get a new clutch and new tie rods/rear control arms. I can do all of these fixes very cheap, cheap labor and I can get parts at a slight discount. I would prefer to negotiate any maintenance I perform in my favor, meaning I'd like to sell the car as-is for $700 obo. I am willing to help out with future maintenance if the car stays local.
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/5685/p5120002ur4.jpg
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/779/p5120001bf7.jpg
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/5290/p5120003cj0.jpg
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/285/p5120004ox7.jpg
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/2214/p5120005gm4.jpg
^^^ The switches to the left of the steering column (one red, one blue) are for the amp and the backing beeper. Red for the amp, blue for the beeper (having it on the beeper still only sounds when in reverse).
Pics of the driver's seat repair I did:
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/4247/p6290039yg0.jpg
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/208/p2230002id5.jpg
http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/3540/p2240001cd4.jpg
http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/8030/p2240003xe3.jpg
These pictures were taken recently, I put a sub box in place of the back seat cushion (but the seat cushion will still be included with the car so you can do what you like when you like). I built it this way to put less stress on the rear struts, to allow easier removal when desired, it adds storage capacity in the hatch, and you can put the back of the seat down and never have to worry about hurting the system when throwing stuff in the back. The old setup could still be assembled but power/ground/switch lines would have to be extended (not very hard, just do some good soldering and route the lines). If you want I can include the parts for the old setup for $40 (boxes, mounting parts, and maybe I'll include some wire to finish it out to the hatch). Here are some pics of the current setup, I think it's a pretty cool idea. Oh yeah, I have grills for the speakers if you want them, no extra cost. First picture is right before I installed the subs. I was planning on putting sheet metal (new) down around the amp so the mdf wouldn't show, it should finish it off nicely. Thick plexiglass is expensive and with just plexi the mdf would still show so I decided on something else. A grill could be used but without the metal (or something) the mdf would still show. I also rigged two 80mm computer fans to cool the amp from beneath. Some of these pictures are huge so I linked them instead:
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/5899/p4160001at2.jpg
http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/3862/p4270009cm2.jpg
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/3938/p4270010xx0.jpg
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/8084/p4250008vb9.jpg
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/1993/p4250010qj9.jpg
Last edited:
