Thread: Mazda owned/ First american car

Hey guys, I just picked up a 97 grand prix gtp, from a buddy for 500 bux, motor was rebuilt, has 60k on it, says its leaking oil out the pan so need to replace the gasket, i was reading this was notorious on this car along with the manifold gaskets as well.

I currently own, a 2004 Mazda 3, 2008 Mazda 6, 2009 mazdaspeed3, and a 1983 rx7, the 6 is actually my wife's i bought for her, the Mazda 3 i have been trying to fix forever. the rx7 is boosted driftness obvi. speed 3 is my baby.

Anyways, allot on the car is ghetto rigged like the ignition so i will need to be replacing all that, apparently he starts the car by switch and just puts the key in the ignition, stupid ghetto, needs suspension, apprently they installed the motor wrong on the mounts, so the motor is to far to the right and the belt is hitting the coolant resevouir, so i see replacing mounts is up, so just looking to do bolt ons, and run a smaller pulley and hopefully this car uses HP tuners cause im familiar with it.

any suggestions im open too, as far as easy cheap mods, (performance) or str8 on smaller pulley (BOAR BOOST) and cheap aftermarket motor mounts....


cliff notes, got the car on the cheaps, needs minor work. want go fast for the cheapsies.

o really, so ecu has 0 compensation for increased boost levels? interesting...i guess it is a 97 and not like my 2009 ecu where boost spikes on colder weathers can be controlled by the ecu. i can lock in a target afr, and run up the boost and not touch the fuel tables again.

so what are the best gains for this car? i mean per money wise...i would assume a test pipe would yield the same results as a downpipe if you arent running high boost.

thanks for the link ill read up on that tonight. yea i saw mods are pretty cheap for this car. its my daily so i don't need to get crazy with it, but some bolt ons and a self tune from myself and ill be good.

Originally Posted by Fivefingerdeathpunch

Even right off the bat you really wont have to change much with the tune, the stock tune tends to run somewhat rich from the factory. Changing fans setting and reduce some of the torque mngt can do some, but most will not need to adjust fuel at all for a little while. Having a WB is needed to dial it in, going off the narrowband normally isnt the best idea.

ill need to order a wideband then, has anyone ran Full e85? i am currently running that on all my cars, ill see what you guys have come up with, if thats the case to see what others have found. Wow didnt know you could play with fan settings and all, that is pretty neat, Only sucks because now i will need to buy my own HP tuners device instead of messing around with my friends and his cobalts. Ill prob use the wideband for cruising AFR's WOT id much rather trust a WB.

should be cheap i would assume, coming from the mazda platform i paid 450 for 440cc injectors.

All depends what caliber of injector you're after.

caliber of injector? what size are the stock injectors? i will prob run a blend of 85/93 for a fun map/ and max a 93 smaller pulley map for daily.

as of now i want to see what the car can take at around 90% IDC.

i have been reading up on others builds, gathering info, on their win/fail. as of NOW i want to get the car mechanically sound, replace the elbows, and gaskets, run some sea foam, replace fuel filter, etc.

Originally Posted by Fivefingerdeathpunch

Stock size are 33 lbs IIRC.

You are better off just leaving it on 93 pump gas instead of doing a mix, no real gain there. To me its way easier to just make 1 tune that works instead of trying to do 2.

I've never looked at files for mazda's and compared them to our GM cars, but you will find that the GM 3800 PCM is very simple and stupid compared to V8 computer or a foreign car.

by stupid do you mean it will only do what i command, and not take into consideration its own fail safe's?


this is very true, see on the mazda platform we cant run Full e85 we develope what we call black death on our secondary cam driven fuel pump which made us lose fuel pressure from what it needs to be of 1500+ to about 300. The reason i would want to do two maps, is because sometimes im not going to want to drive to gas station 5-10 miles from my house for e85, when the 93 is walking distance. ESPECIALLY during winter, e85 cold start ups are terrible.

the benefits of doing the mix can consequently be the same as going full, from my testing 50/50 yielded MAX 10whp less then going full e85, and wasnt worth the issues of cold start's, or constantly pulling and cleaning my fuel pump. i have yet to start testing on this vehichle. But this should be interesting to see the results. i have not played with a s/c ever. only turbo so i have open ears towards it. i cant imagine it would be way off, considering, when i change the pulley its the same kind of compensation i would on larger turbo. First im going to make a intake and just tune it bone stock see what it can take. then slowly adapt from there. test pipe etc. and see if the gains are worth the spending the money for them. IE: 500 dollars for 40whp.

given the contents of e85 combat KR ill keep throwin timing at it till i i can reach MBT.

well essentially, all i need is timing throughout the whole range, afr's, spark advance, etc. I phux with the COBB AP. so this will be a new experience, @silvapain; is a awesome tuner on the mazdaspeed platform, one of the best actually, i will have him over-look my work. just noticed he is on this platform as well.

You can still buy injectors that cost a buck twenty a pop or 40 a pop. Up to you.

im all about budget building papa

Ok cool. I don't need anything crazy this will be my daily. Rx7 is my drag/drift/race car. I should post some vids of my drift action. But anyways. I just got the car now. Its going to be fun.

1. Heater does not work
2. Ignition is hot wired to a switch to start the car
3. Oil pan leaking slowly from a hit
4. Not sure if this is normal but s/c is loud as crap. Prolly needs oil.
5.suspension is shot front nd rear
6. This baffles me...somehow how the s/c belt is rubbing the coolant resevouir the mounts, don't seem to be in place correctly. For example I looked at the mounts the. |0. | the two lines is the motor mount the 0 is the motor and is leaning all the way to the side and is not centered on both front torque mounts. I assume the torqe mounts are shot.

7.Needs new battery and alternator.


For 500 bux with 67k on it I think I'm still ahead.