agreed

but keep the stock wheels
maybe someday you will miss them

Yes have two sets of standard 5 spoke mags and have no plans to get rid of them.

The new wheels and tyres have really grown on me and set the car out from the norm.

The grip and turn in is now nicer and there is more grip be it wet or dry.

Hi All,
Decided to improve the air supply to the CAI and tidy it up bit at the same time.
Here's a photo of the old set up.

I have added a plastic plate down to the front grill and have isolated the intake from the hot air rising from the radiator. I also moved the horn down so that it wasn't in the way.


Have also added additional sealing rubber under the bonnet to seal the CAI from hot in the engine bay.
Looks much tidier than before and its much easier to get the CAi out if I need to.
Fingers crossed its functional.

Found a full set of Mazdaspeed Struts (in lime green - WHY) with Eibach springs made just for the Lantis V6. (Thanks ProjectB10 - Chris)
They were far from new but seemed to be in good condition.
I stripped them down and had the shocks checked as good at George Stocks.
The check did point out that the rear shocks maybe more race than comfort but the fronts should be excellent.
Put new bump stop kits in and changed the top hats on the fronts also.
Things of interest - The front springs have an extra coil and the rears have three extra coils at the top for progressive rates.

And after fitting the car looks like this.


Initial impressions are that the fronts are excellent with good balance and nice ride and the back is sharp with the rebound and the good ride has gone.
Will drive for a few days and see if its what I want.
If not with change the rear shocks but keep the springs.

I have always liked this sedan ba model if i could i would import one.......... great work looking really nice

Well I didn't last a day.
Took the rear units out and replaced the Rear Mazdaspeed shocks with the Monroes I had (6mths old) and kept the Eibach springs.
The ride is even better than before with the eibach/Monroe combo.
There you go then.
Car lowered a little bit, ride is better and the handling is very good.
You can have your cake and eat it.

Exhaust System.
Over the time I have owned this car (20yrs) I have mucked around trying to find a good exhaust system.
I have used rear and centre mufflers from Holden V8's and have never been completely happy with the set ups. I have tried straight through mufflers but it doesnt matter what you do they are NOISY.
As a conseq my exhaust system has had a lot of changes over the years and as you will see from the photos it looks a bit second hand.
I currently have a pretty good system (Forget the look) that is not too loud inside or outside, and certainly allows the engine plenty of freedom.
Its a 2.5inch system, with a centre muffler with twin 2 inch perfed pipes and three chambers. (centre chamber is a reso) and the rear muffler blown up in size KF Type R muffler with 2.5 inch inlet and twin 2 inch outlet with all the chambers etc that they have.
Between the two mufflers I have a branch resonator that is 570mm long to get rid of the drone around 100kph. (Speed limit in NZ)

This is the centre muffler and as you can see twin in and out.

This shows the branch resonator.

And this is the rear muffler with standard exhaust tips.
The mufflers were made by Manawatu Mufflers in Palmerston Nth NZ.
Like I said not pretty but very functional.
One day I may tidy it up - Maybe????

One of my front arm bushes was looking a bit sad after 374000km so decided to change all the front arm bushes to Nolathane / WhiteLine Poly.
Things got a little interesting as I found the front ball joints and anti sway bar links were also in need of changing.
Front arm rear bushes


Nolathane Front arm front bushes and new anti sway bar links.


There was a bit of work getting the old bushes out otherwise the job was straight forward.
How does it feel to drive?
Not a lot different to be honest but in saying that it is already very sharp.

And took the 17inch Works Emotion CR KAI wheels off and replaced them with the standard 16inch five spoke Mazda wheels.
Why? Because I didn't like the handling. (Looked OK)
It could have been the 32 offset or the 215/45 17 Tyres or the wheels being heavier than the standard ones but to be honest I just like the standard wheels/tyre set up.



They just seem RIGHT

Thats a shame, really liked the old setup with the lowered suspension. Nothin wrong with OEM though, but the Works were just more interesting.

Hi HMT,
Yes agree with you.
The Works Emotion CR Kai wheels looked the business.
Have been hunting for the right set of 16inch - 7inch wide 38-40 offset wheels but haven't found anything I like as yet.
17inch size has way more options than 16inch but I'm certain there is something out there.
Thanks
Craig

Hi All,
The accelerator pedal has never quite been right for me. (6ft 6inches tall and big feet don't help)
At Pick a Part I noticed that the MX6 has a pedal that tilts and has an action that looked like it could be a worker for me.
I brought a MX6 pedal assembly and then adapted it to the Lantis using the base of the Lantis (plastic) but then adapting the metal axle assembly of the MX6 onto the Lantis base.
The Pedal shaft required some careful bending to pick up the accelerator cable and for the pedal to be just right.
I am not getting cramp in the accelerator leg anymore so I will call it a success.
Here are a couple of photos.

Nice little mod there dude!

Hi lantisv62500, do you by any chance know where to buy a KLZE engine here in Welly? I've tried pick a part but all i saw are KLDE (KL02 MAF/VAF). Thanks

Sorry if i hijacked this thread, you can delete this if you need to do so. Cheers

lantisv62500,
Hi Craig,

I have been following the work on your car; nice work.

My car is a JDM metallic green Lantis Type R coupe with the internal igniter/coil setup in the distributor. I have had problems with this over the years and would like to do the conversion to external igniter/coil which you have done. I already have an external igniter/coil from a KF but will retain my current distributor (6 nipple). I intend to modify the dissy entry for the high tension lead around the male coil tower rather than modify the cap. Other than that just need to sort the wiring out. It would be good to discuss with you.

I live on Auckland’s North Shore and would be keen to get in touch.

Sam H

Next was side mirrors.
My car never had folding side mirrors.
A bit of research at PickaPart and all I needed was a mirror control unit that had the fold switch and mirrors with the folding electric motor in them.
All wiring in the cars (folding or not) was the same and the only difference was the mirrors (motor and 5x wires verses 3x wires on non folding) and the mirror control unit.

In the photo I have the 2x control units (one with folding button and one without) plus behind it the mirror showing you the folder motor (B01B stamped on plastic cover).
Installation is easy as.

Photo with the mirror folded.

Photo with mirror unfolded.
One blank switch in the car sorted

After looking for and trying out plenty of sport seats (Why are they so uncomfortable unless you're a stick) I realised that Sport seats and my full figure were not made for each other .
My daughter has a 2003 Merc C Class C320 and I found the seats on that excellent. (Supportive and very comfort) so did some measuring.
The Mazda seats are about the same size if not a bit bigger but the mounting setup is different.
I brought a pair of 2005 C Class front seats with electric's and over the next month or so will set up the rails and electric's and see how they go. Getting the seat low will mean mods to the rails and I will use the Mazda rails forward and back function verses the Merc electric system to assist with the height.
Should be interesting and challenging
Has anyone else tried this? or something similar?

Getting the RX-8 Seats into my BJ, which had completely different mounting brackets etc. I just cut back the tabs etc. so I was left with flat rails in for the RX-8, then used the original 323 mounting tabs from making those flat. You can sort of see in this photo:


323-2013 by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

As my seats were fully manual in both cases, I didn't have to worry about electrickery!

Hi Zippy,
I had a very close look at the RX8 seats but decided against them in the end.
The Merc seats have given me plenty to do to get them in right.
The mounting issues are not that much different from the RX8 seats and the electrical side has some issues.
The seats came with a memory unit and I am not using that so its a rewire and mount an adjustment switch on the drivers seat and should be good to go. (Passengers seat already has the switch on the seat.)
Then its set up power to the seats with a fuse.
Most of the work will be in the mounting.
Have you got any photos of the mounting set up you make?
Thanks
Craig

This is probably the best photo I have of it.



Those bits you can see are the brackets from the original 323F seat, so the original seats are left with just flat runners. I did the same exercise with the rx-8 seats so they were left with flat runners, then essentially, they just bolted them up.

Hi Zippy,
Thanks for that.
Thats an excellent idea as it makes it easier to mount the new seats.
Thanks
Craig

Update on the front seats.
Been an interesting project fitting the front seats from a 2005 C Class Merc into my Lantis.
I started with the Drivers seat and that is now fitted.

Just got to do the passengers seat now but that will be much easier after all the issues got ironed out fitting the Drivers seat.
How does the seat feel and look.
The Merc seat is very comfort and makes the Mazda interior look a bit average. Should look much better once I fit the passengers seat.
Will post in the BA Styling and exterior section the fitting of the seat.

Finally fitted the passengers seat also.

Very very nice Craig.

Congratulations. That looks grand indeed. How hard was it to work out the rails and mounting?

Edit::: Never mind me. I found your other post. Off to have a read.

Hi Chris,
Not an easy job and there was plenty of thinking and work involved to get it right.
But the Merc seats are nice and comfortable and that's what I was after.
I haven't fully written up the install as yet but will get onto that soon.
thanks
Craig

The Gold Momo Gearknob needed to go and I was finally able to buy for $10NZ a nice secondhand weighted Momo gearknob.
It's a nice round one and is very nice to use.
Top is painted silver with clear coat so doesn't get hot in the sun which is nice. (Aluminium knobs are cookers)

I'm loving all these little tweaks that are taking place, it really is your car now!

And then this gearknob came up for auction.

$150nz start price.
Mmmmm

Finally found some wheels that I like.
They are a set of Rays United Arrows WR (forged) 16x7 - 42 offset in Gold.
Set of new Hankook Ventus Concept 2 H457 and set of new 19mm wheel nuts.
Just need to find some centre caps.