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My new shite.....courtesy of Mr Bollox...


retrogeezer

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Some of you may have noticed that Mr B was selling his 323 over on RetroRides, well I've bought it to use as a runabout after deciding that our 2001 Picasso was a bit too posh for going to the station and back..

 

I've just spent the day giving it a thorough wash and brush up - still got a few bits too do, repaint the wheels and get rid of the dodgy touching up mainly.

 

Really pleased with how it's cleaned up, and the better half thinks it's o.k too so that's a bonus!.

 

If I'm honest, I would have preferred SL's Accord but typically, a month ago I couldn't decide what to do about the pic. Then my brother said he wanted it so that kind of pushed me into making the decision. The 323 should be a bit more practical and cheaper to run but I soooo wanted to cruise in that Accords brown interior loveliness!

 

Here are some pics..

 

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Good work Simon! Notice you've left it in gear while parked - very sensible :lol: Those interiors definitely look better in blue than brown - is the steering wheel really sticky to the touch? Mine was for some reason, tried a number of cleaning products short of Agent Orange but still couldn't remove it.Hopefully you have acclimatised to the exceptionally heavy steering, and the fact that acceleration tails off markedly over 45mph.Having said all of that though, I was well impressed with mine (the best £160 I ever spent on a car), and would wholeheartedly recommend one of these to anyone who wanted no-nonsense, cheap reliable transportation.A nice set of Mk1 MX-5 minilite-style alloys would look good in my opinion!How was Wyke Down by the way - and also I might be dealing with Aldershot Car Spares for 405 panels, did you ever deal with them when you were down here?

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What do these drive like? I imagine they're very competent.

Well, the last time I drove one was back in 87 (coincidentally) as my driving instructor had one. I'm actually quite surprised at how nippy it feels, very 'willing' but then, I've not driven a small hatch for a while.The steering is a bit heavy at parking speeds but soon forgotten about. On the whole, I am really impressed with it and hope it lasts a while.

Good work Simon! Notice you've left it in gear while parked - very sensible

A habit I got into years ago....one of the better ones I think!

Those interiors definitely look better in blue than brown - is the steering wheel really sticky to the touch? Mine was for some reason, tried a number of cleaning products short of Agent Orange but still couldn't remove it.

Yes, the steering wheel is sticky - I think it's where they just wear through the pattern so not a lot you can do about it.....I would have preferred a brown interior! :roll:

Hopefully you have acclimatised to the exceptionally heavy steering, and the fact that acceleration tails off markedly over 45mph.

Not got over 45 since the test drive....does feel nippy round town though.

Having said all of that though, I was well impressed with mine (the best £160 I ever spent on a car), and would wholeheartedly recommend one of these to anyone who wanted no-nonsense, cheap reliable transportation.

Hopefully with nearly a years ticket it should be cheap motoring. I'm going to change the brake pads as the brakes don't have a lot of feel - any tips??

A nice set of Mk1 MX-5 minilite-style alloys would look good in my opinion!

Yes, they sure would!

How was Wyke Down by the way - and also I might be dealing with Aldershot Car Spares for 405 panels, did you ever deal with them when you were down here?

Wyke Down was o.k - not as busy as the last couple of years but the weather wasn't up to much. I have used Aldershot Car Spares, they are good to deal with, very professional but there is no climbing around cars on your own there. The cars are stacked on proper metal racks and they bring them to you with a fork lift!
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Yeah, I spoke to Aldershot today and I was surprised you still have to remove the parts yourself, given the professional layout...will get out with the tape measure tonight and see if I can fit a 405 bonnet in the back of a Fabia! They are the front runners, although a little pricey (£135 inc. VAT for bumper, bonnet and both front wings); there's a breakers near Wokingham which will do the lot for £80, but the panels are red...so the paint gun will need to come out regardless, as the Aldershot car is dark grey. Reckon I could get away with smoking around without painting them for a while, and probably not painting the underside of the bonnet in any case, with a grey one.I did the brake pads on mine, piece of cake. 4 bolts holding the calipers together, slide the pads out, wind back the caliper piston with a G-clamp, new ones in, bolt back together (nice and tight on the bolts though, as I lost one after a short time and they are about £7 each from Mazda!), job done. I would recommend greasing the back and sides of the pads though because I didn't, and never got rid of a graunching sound from mine!Ebay be your friend for parts on these, everything I bought cost me a fiver a go - brake pads, spark plugs, cambelt, spare wheel...make sure you get the right Haynes manual though, I bought one for the 85-87 model which had the chain cam motor. There's an excellent website called Autozone (I think) which has photos and text copied from the original Mazda workshop manuals, I found that really useful for when I changed the cambelt. First one I have ever done, and it took me about an hour! Shame Reg_Bo11ards has already done yours, really...

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Hopefully with nearly a years ticket it should be cheap motoring. I'm going to change the brake pads as the brakes don't have a lot of feel - any tips??

I think you just have to live with it, every Mazda I've seen from that era has been like that. We spent a lot of time on a 323 and a 626 trying to get a decent pedal and concluded it just can't be done. I always planned to transplant an entire braking system from another car onto the 626 but in the end it was easier to trade it in for an R19 Diesel.We could get a decent pedal if we clamped any of the flexis, which suggests that the bore of the master cylinder is too small to supply all the brakes. The brakes are stupidly light so a larger bore master cylinder could be fitted without making the brakes too heavy.Another thing I considered but never tried was braided flexi hoses.
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Been doing a few little 'tarting up' jobs today......rear quarter window surrounds had paint peeling off so I've flatted and re-painted them.

Wiper arms were rusty so gave them a quick blow over with the matt black too...

 

Only little things but make quite a difference I think.

 

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Tomorrow's fish-and-chip-wrapper, today's Maz 323 paint mask. Quality reading material.I'd have been half-tempted to scratch away what was left of that satin black then polish up the chrome underneath, but looking at your results I reckon you did the right thing

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