Pommyvince's BF 323 KL ZE swap

[DeeAOne]

Feels good to have such a swap run great doesn't it? I didn't expect mine to make it this far without any major problems. I've put about 8,000 miles or so on mine.

[Pommyvince]

Thanks guys...I think I've done about 15,000Km in the car ( about 9000 miles) just running to and from work and blasting about at the weekend.

Car passed the "re-cert" today at a cost of $380 NZD ...ouch !! but its all legal again.
The helpful guy at Nolathane has e mailed me back and is pretty sure that you can use kit 45378 off-set lower control arm bushes in both arms even though they are meant to be a L/H offset and R/H std. This means I can get a bit more caster in the suspension to get a bit more high speed stability.

The new wheels are much better to drive on ...about 2600 rpm @ 100 km/h (62 mph) in top and the car pulls just as well as before if not better.

Managed to get hold of a good secondhand set of control arms so I can fit up some Nolathane bushes and just put the whole arms in the car.

Pic of car taken in the Hazel Orchard....my other hobby...just finished summer pruning 700 + trees which i am bloody glad about

[Pommyvince]

Christmas Holiday almost over and I might find time to fit my new Nolathane control arm bushes. I had to buy two of the 45378 kits to get two offset bushes as these are normally used to put extra castor in the L/H side only. The guy at Nolathane reckons it shouldn't be a problem to swap the offset bush into the R/H side by just turning it round.
The front bush kit 45018 is for both arms.......just got to find the time to clean up the spare arms and get the bushes fitted. Hopefully steering will self centre better and straight line stability will improve.

[michael0008]

its looking very good

mmmm Nolathane brushes

[Pommyvince]

Good news is......I'm still alive after the second Christchurch earthquake..couldn't get hold of the wife for two hours which was a bit panicky!!

Good news 2... Nolathane bushes giving extra caster definitely improve the feel of the car on road.

Bad news...daren't put the car up on stands to finish the work because of the aftershocks and won't be able to get a wheel alignment done for a while.

[bomdoutscort]

Glad to hear that you and your family is ok. Be easy over there.

[Mazda_Powered]

Wow, two hours? I bet it felt like 2 days almost...glad everyone's safe!

This is the earthquake they're still considering aftershock from about 5-6 months ago, correct?

[Pommyvince]

Yep, that was considered an aftershock and the amount of damage in the CBD is amazing.

I've managed to get hold of a BFMR steering rack which I plan to fit in the near future to try and get rid of some of the centre play in the steeering and then i'll modify the bottom arms to see if yet more caster calms the car down at full throttle through the gears.

Been waiting for this weekend to be over as "The Moon Man" has been predicting another big quake this weekend.........complete nonsense but I don't want to be underneath a car if it happens.

[projectb10]

Thinking of you guys

Hi Vince

Glad to hear the day passed without any major aftershocks!!.

Wise move to make sure you did put your self at risk under a car on jack stands,

Chris

[Pommyvince]

Thanks Chris, but you spoke too soon, just had a magnitude 5.1 which gave the house a good shake for a few seconds. Good job the car wasn't up on stands !!

[princewe]

awesome dude, where a bouts in NZ are you?? you going to take it to the 4 and rotor nats??

awesome work man, I'm planing to do the same in my 3 door BF but not going all out with the 626 suspension and stuff maybe BG front struts and 5 stud astina hubs and brakes

[Pommyvince]

Earthquakes subsiding

Now that we are down to a 5+ earthquake about once a month its time to get back to the car !

Also been delayed by sorting out my Astina that wouldn't fire up. No fault codes, all the right resistances, all the right voltages in and out on the ECU, AFM fine, fuel pressure good...just wouldn't fire up.........Father in Law had topped up the tank with diesel

I spent the day getting the power steer rack out that had developed about 3/4" play at the steering wheel and I've had a couple of hairy moments when giving a bootfull to discover that I've suddenly stepped a foot sideways when changing up :O

It's a good job my arms aren't too big as I managed to get the rack out without dropping the exhaust or the crossmember just a lot of cursing and bruises......damn sight easier with the engine out !

I've decided to go back to the BF hubs with 22V calipers and VR4 discs as the "turn-in" with the 626 hubs has never been quite right and I'm hoping the return to BF hubs will cure this. I'm also waiting on some goodies to turn up from USA which means I need BF hubs..........

Pics of knackered rack and new hub bits.

[bomdoutscort]

Things look really nice!

[Pommyvince]

Thanks for that...trying to keep it tidy under the car if not on top lol.

Just when I thought things were going to plan I've discovered the 626 drive flanges are not as similar to the 323 ones as my memory thought....see the pics.....626 one is taller and has a funny notch in it. Obviously the bore in the flange is bigger and the spigot is about 1.0 mm bigger diameter

The 626 CV's are about 27.0 mm across the 26 splines (where the vernier gauge is in the pic)....anyone know what the largest BF 323 CV is ?????

I might have to go back to 323 CV's which means might driveshaft might now be the wrong size......argghhhhhhh!!!!

[NoBoDy_nz]

Just get the 626 ones machined down to suit the 323 bearings etc

I have done this on my car to run levin cv's (they share the same spline count\size as 626's and BGs)