Mazda in Ford clothing: '85 Laser TX3, 4WD turbo glass gearbox wonder

[0R10N]

Reposted hurr because some folks were curious.

back in July 2007 I had a little incident involving crazy muddy front lawn and the side of my own house. Nothing too serious right, just a bit of panelbeating and some paint. (The house won by the way. also, weatherboards are cheap)







by pure dumb luck (or was it fortune?) I'd snotted the car in exactly the same spot as a previous accident a few years back, where some guy failed to give way at an intersection and plowed into the front left corner. I mentioned this to the panelbeater that works on all my classic Jap cars, who said that it would probably pay for him to do a thorough check of that location in case there was anything that could potentially be weakened from the last repair (which had been handled by an insurance-approved repairer). So off it went to his workshop for an initial inspection.

in the meantime I'd already sourced a new slam panel, front guard and lights, and the panelbeater was going to repair the bonnet. at the time I was hoping to have the car back within two weeks, but how wrong that estimate turned out to be...

About two days after dropping off the replacement parts at the workshop I got a call from Tony, the panelbeater, saying that I should probably head in and have a look at something he'd discovered. To cut a long story short, after hammering out the existing rail and temporarily bolting up the new panels the overall fitment didn't quite seem right to him, so after some careful inspection of the LH rail he discovered a large rusty kink which looked to be about 10 years old, caused well before I'd come into possession of the car.

cue lots of colourful words on my part, and the sudden realization as to a. why the wheel alignment on that front left wheel always kept screwing up, and b. why the front gearbox mount was sitting at such a funny angle relative to the crossmember. The previous repair in the same general area, typically, had only served to make the damage worse as the metal had been heated during the process - causing it to become further weakened. Obviously the insurance repairer was more concerned about getting the car back on the road, and had chosen to ignore the kink completely. All these years I'd been driving a car with a crabbed chassis, and to finally discover it for myself you can probably imagine the initial despair and frustration.

The proper solution was to remove everything forward of the front seats (engine, dash, loom, carpet, underseal... everything) and graft another LH rail on from a suitable donor car. Alternately I could've written my car off and called it a day, but after a bit of despairing and careful thinking I decided that I wasn't willing to give up on the car yet. So I trucked it back to my house where I began pulling bits out of the engine bay to prepare it for a total front end stripdown, while searching for a suitable donor vehicle to grab a rail from.

July turned into August, then September, then suddenly it was Christmas and I still hadn't found anything. To vent some of my frustration I helped some friends smash up my old BF5S Cabriolet parts car



2008 rolled around and I was almost ready to give up when one day in late January I came across this on Trademe:



a BFMRF rolling body, chassis number 100603, with engine and box already gone. "Perfect," I thought, and rang the seller up to arrange a look for that weekend coming. To my luck the front seemed to be in good condition and most of the crap had already been cleared from the bay, which would make gas-axing the front MUCH easier.







I emailed photos of the rail to Tony, who proclaimed it good enough to use, so the next week I agreed to buy the rolling body sans wheels for $200, and a friend and I trailered it straight to the panel shop where I promptly started stripping it to bits. The front guards, rear hatch, bumpers and glass were all put aside for my track car BFMPF, and the doors too. I kept a few other bits such as the front struts, A-arms and brakes "just in case" anything on my BFMRF turned out to be damaged, and the rest was sold to recover some of the costs. I should thank my mate JP at this point, who came down and helped strip the vehicle over the course of a few days.

By this time it was early February 2008, and Tony's shop was starting to fill up with other classic restoration projects belonging to folks with lots of money and even more influence. It was decided that he'd chop the rail off the donor vehicle and put it aside for now, but due to his workload and customer demands he realistically couldn't start working on my car again until about May. since the rail swap would require pulling the engine out, I decided to use this downtime to haul the car down to my mechanic's and get this done on his hoist - once you've had to remove an engine and 4WD transverse box using nothing but two jacks, you never want to do it that way again...

The day it left for the mechanic's:



Not long after, Tony rang to say the rail had been stripped off BFMRF-100603, and the rest of the car had now been sent to the crusher. sigh, one less BFMRF on the road... but that's OK, it gave its life so that BFMRF-100178 might live again



down at the mechanic's, my mate Andy (who incidentally used to own a TX3 of his own, and used to post on here) lifted the engine and gearbox out, and we started getting it ready for a total front-end stripdown.

Now my car's always had a strange smoking problem after periods of high vacuum which was never solved by changing the valve seals. In fact prior to taking the car off the road the damn thing was going through a litre of oil roughly every 200km; not good. Andy and I talked it over for a while - and since I'm such an impulsive little bastard I was determined to solve this issue once and for all regardless of cost - so I sent the VF8 hybrid turbo off to be inspected and reconditioned on the off-chance that the seals were shot. The verdict (followed by the bill!) came back from the turbo shop: the seals were on their way out, but not seriously enough to cause the amounts of blow-by I'd been experiencing.

Certain that the issue lay with the bottom end (which had never been cracked open during the time I'd owned the car) I decided to let Andy take the engine apart to see what he could find.

and the cause? ridiculously simple, yet infuriating. turns out the oil control rings had shrunk in the bores. thus six years of torture were ended by a bottom-end rebuild.

I ordered a Cometic metal head gasket to replace the sorry-looking ACL one, and with the engine side of things getting taken care of it was time to ship the rest of the car back to Tony's for the serious panelwork to start.

after most of the interior and exterior guff had been removed and I was sure I'd never remember how to re-assemble the vehicle again, my poor BFMRF was mounted on the car-o-liner and Tony and his workmate Greg set about drilling out the old rail, stitching the new one on, re-measuring the chassis tolerances, and so forth.

So it progressed from looking like this: (the ochre-coloured part of the rail is where most of the historical damage is, as well as a section further back towards the strut tower)



to this:



and then finally to this:



As an interesting note, the old LH rail was measured to be 20mm out compared to factory, which is a huge discrepancy.

Greg followed this work up by fixing a few rust holes in the firewall, and up in behind the vents, which is an area notorious for rotting out in BFs. fortunately mine wasn't too serious, but to put things in perspective the donor car was completely gone in that section.

Once the new slam panel was on the car and everything welded and re-aligned, the car went off to John, the painter, to have the engine bay re-done in a new coat of gloss Dover White. The doors, meanwhile, were taken off for inspection as I'd pointed out a bit of rust appearing in the bottoms of both skins. the passenger side on mine was too far gone to repair, however the one off the donor car was in much better condition - even though it required repairing too.

So in addition to the guard, bonnet and front, both doors would now require repairs and painting as well. You can see where this is heading...

Tony left me to mull over what direction to go in next, and within a couple of weeks the car arrived back from the painters with a sparkling clean engine bay, and I spent a weekend re-assembling the engine bay wiring, ancillaries on the firewall, and sticking the loom and dash back into the cabin. It helps when you have two other TX3s to reference to - the laptop you can see in the photo contained a bunch of photos I'd taken of the firewall on my BFMPF track car.







By that time I'd decided to remove ALL the rust in the vehicle and spring for a complete prep and respray; if there's one thing I've learned after six (now seven) years of owning this car, it's that things only work when done PROPERLY. Doors were re-hung temporarily, and the car was shuttled back to the mechanic's during August to await having the engine re-fitted while another swag of projects cluttered Tony's shop.

the freshly rebuilt engine and turbo were dropped back in around the middle of September, and after a bit of fun boosting up and down the street making sure the mechanicals were OK, off the car went on a transporter yet again (damn those things are expensive) for final rust repair work and eventual respray. by this time I wasn't too concerned about the timeframe towards completion, so Tony and Greg decided that to keep rapidly spiralling costs down they'd find time in between other projects to work on my car and also after hours, which I'm eternally grateful for.

finally at the end of November rust repairs were complete. Amazingly for a car that's had quite a rough life both here in NZ and in Japan (where we suspect it was originally raced at amateur level) the overall amount of rust found was minimal at best. The butcher's bill came to include both doors, sills by each front wheelarch, under the rear spoiler and around the rear 3/4 windows and tail lights, but the rest of the car remained corrosion-free. John the painter came back to evaluate the final product and we settled on a reasonable enough budget for painting/prep - basically I wanted a tidy paintjob worthy of the restoration effort, but nothing so mint that I would be afraid to drive it ever again!

the TX3 entered the paint booth mid-December, and was completed on xmas eve. By some small stroke of luck, John still had the original paint mix and codes on his computer from when he used to do collision repairs on BFMR/BFMPs about twelve years ago when they were still highly popular, and the final finish was as close to factory as I could possibly hope to get, in Dover White and Lustre Silver metallic.



Fast forward to 2009, and after a "refreshing" xmas/new year's holiday period, my car was sent back to the panel shop where the lengthy process of putting it back together began on Monday.

And here is where I'm at now. this entire week after work I'll be pulling 7-11pm shifts to get the exterior and interior re-fitted, and next week the car will hopefully be going on one last transporter trip back to the mechanic's to have the final engine bay bits put back in, for the auto sparky to have a look at a broken plug up under the dash (Typical!), and then - we all hope - it'll be fired up for the first time in months, and road legal again for the first time in nearly 2 years!







and at 11pm Monday night with the door rubbers, handles and locks fitted:





yesterday we fitted the bumpers, rest of the glass, parts of the skirting, and I started on the interior.





and by 11pm I'd gotten the back seats and all the rear trim/belts in. You can see I've converted to the early BFMR pattern (suede and black/grey fabric), but unfortunately the RHS seat back has a broken latch and won't clip in properly - luckily I have spares.



If you've made it this far, congratulations, you have an attention span greater than mine...

[0R10N]

while the engine was out getting rebuilt I fitted a RX-7 fuel pump and 390cc injectors. I reckon it'll start killing boxes if I try to put any more power down

it's still a rat's nest under the bonnet, haha

stripped the side mouldings of all the old tape/urethane/residue as best I can in order to have them reattached. Gotta love the smell of prepsol in the morning

smells like... a friggin' headache. thankfully there's only one left to strip down.

Without factoring in the rail replacement, I think the panelbeating worked out to around $5k. this included a few painful repairs, like fitting the new front radiator support, repairing the bonnet, and completely re-skinning the bottom of the passenger door due to rust (this was by far the most time consuming bit)

ohaiz, what be this?

Link LEM V5 + new loom + Link HEI + NA6CE MX-5 CAS + Mitsubishi igniter and coil pack = hello decent engine management sorcery. I'm terrible at estimating engine outputs and all that crap but I'd be happy to net around 150kW (205PS) at the wheels on moderate boost, given the fueling system and turbo upgrades already in place.

thanks to Carl for sourcing me the ignition stuffs

At which point I'll stop, because any more power and that glass gearbox will literally shatter itself to pieces.

and on the OCD side of things: Reproduction factory decal kit, oh yes.

Look ma, no dizzy!

New rims back from the painter. O.Z Racing Superturismos, rare in 15x7.

fitted the O.G. decals (thanks to JP for pointing me in the direction of a reliable signwriter - Michael @ Icon Signs)

and chucked on the Superturismos with new tyres. Didn't get Toyo T1Rs, went for the slightly better Bridgestone RE-001 instead. Now I am poor.

Spent a weekend back in Feb 2010 fabbing and fitting the new Dirk-spec intake and airbox, and Kent from SpeedSource dialed in the final tune later that week. 143kW (195ps) at all four wheels, running 1 bar boost, stoked as. It's as close to the magical 200ps mark as I wanted to go, and yeah I could try for more power - but as we all know, the glass gearbox will always be a problem so I shall continue to err on the side of caution.

Drivability-wise Kent set it up for good midrange torque; with the VF8 it would always be a bit laggy so gotta remember to keep the revs above 3000rpm and she'll be sweet

dyno graph:

intake (you can sorta see it underneath all the other crap):

airbox:

[0R10N]

Updated photos as of Feb 2010:

Replaced the rear muffler with a proper chambered-and-baffled system, and holy crap what a difference it's made at highway speeds. No longer drones and you can actually hold a conversation with the person next to you, with the added bonus that your ears don't ring for an hour afterwards... i was afraid that I'd have to swap the entire 2.5" system out for something smaller to quieten it down, but fortunately that didn't turn out to be the case. The scary thing is that you can also now hear how whiney the rear diff and gearbox are

next I scored some proper BFMR seats so now everything in my interior actually matches, chur to Dee and Ross. Here's how different the trim patterns are between the two:

yucky BFMP seats.

BFMR seats in finally. No more gangsta lean on the driver's side

Door card trim matches seat trim. I can die happy now.

and that leads us to 2011 and whatever little progress I've made on the car. Bought another turbo after blowing the VF8's exhaust oil seal on a spirited drive back from Wellington at the start of the year

Had grand plans of fitting a TD05 with custom manifold blah blah blah but in the end the old saying "keep it simple stupid" prevailed, and ended up buying a trusty old VF10. Track car managed to make 240ps at the front wheels with one of these puppies hanging off the side, after all... and the smaller exhaust turbine should also improve the response of the old girl a bit, as the VF8 hybrid was renowned for being a lag monster.

on the left is the VF10 I purchased, off a Legacy that's only done 130km. Has the least shaft play of any VF I've ever seen... and on the right is a fucked VF10 hybrid with the most shaft play I've ever seen, about 10mm in and out, HAH.

Take the good bits from each one to make one decent turbo, guess you folks all know the drill. I'll also be getting the wastegate machined to accept a bigger flap and avoid the dreaded boost creep.

Also hoping that the VF10 won't necessitate a retune of the Link.

Don't have a timeframe for getting this all done, as I'm quite happy for the TX3 to sit in storage under a cover getting rarer and rarer, and I have that other blasted BFMR to finish, as well as tinkering with the AW11

but I suppose being able to drive the TX3 again occasionally would be nice. Had only just sorted the handling at the end of last year and was enjoying being able to fling it around corners like a go-kart again!

[johnnyfive]

Admiration at dedication.

[feathersword]

<- What he said!

Most of the TX3's I see are either buggered beyond belief, or there was that blue one on trademe for eons with Gullwing doors, airbags(?) and custom interior.. :-& :-&

[Glancn]

Remember the good old days of motorway runs, 'illegals' and Piha touge missions in this. Awesome.

[0R10N]

lololol, shit yeah Davy - this car went through the wars with me! (to those unawares, I've owned this car since 2002 which is longer than some of my mates' marriages/relationships)

These days it leads a pretty quiet existence though, haha. Amping to get this turbo fixed and back on the road soon. May even have it ready for your jaunt back down to NZ, taupo mish GET!

[Dell'orto]

Much love for the dohc turbos

[0R10N]

Turbo is being reassembled today with the modified housing (bigger wastegate flap and port) which should stop it from overboosting.

Will probably try and nana it down to my mate's shop this weekend, chuck it on the hoist and swap them turbos over. I stopped by the lockup where it's currently being stored and the clutch needs some serious bleeding after having sat for so long

The Link's cold start was always a bit questionable so here's hoping I can actually get it running after not driving it for nearly 6 months.

[CXGPWR]

We can sort the cold start out if you like ed, flick me a txt im sure we can sort it! 027 262 9068

[0R10N]

We can sort the cold start out if you like ed, flick me a txt im sure we can sort it! 027 262 9068

Keen! I shall be in touch

Might also pay to check the tune once the VF10 is on, see if it needs any tweaking for the slightly different boost curve. Though I wouldn't think so. But assumption has bitten me in the arse plenty of tiems before, so I'd rather err on the side of caution.

anyway this time next week the beast should be alive again, and I can finally do some werk to the AW11...

[UTERUS]

I've always wanted to drive one of these to see what a 4wd turbo hatch would handle like, we should swap cars for an hour

[0R10N]

clutch bled and operational again.

Started it for the first time in 8 months tonite to see how it would cope. Filled the lockup with a crapload of smoke, but the engine seems to be all good. Running rich as hell but that's just the Link, haha.

pity there is nowe a dead RX-7 in the way, so funtiems will ensue trying to get the car out of storage and into shop with hoist.

RkaWuZdmjaw

[Esprit]

Nice that she's back running. Perhaps a mapping session is in order for the Link?

[0R10N]

Nice that she's back running. Perhaps a mapping session is in order for the Link?

Yeah this is pretty much a thing. Though a retune from Speed Source will be bloody expensive at $650 a pop.

John has kindly volunteered to do a bit 'o tweaking so we shall see how that goes.

I don't know if I'm superstar high-roller enough to take it somewhere like Ohlsen Developments or Ronnie Lim.

[Poo]

Nice that she's back running. Perhaps a mapping session is in order for the Link?

Yeah this is pretty much a thing. Though a retune from Speed Source will be bloody expensive at $650 a pop.

John has kindly volunteered to do a bit 'o tweaking so we shall see how that goes.

I don't know if I'm superstar high-roller enough to take it somewhere like Ohlsen Developments or Ronnie Lim.

Kent took pity on me and didnt charge me $600.

my car had a road tune before I took it up to him. all it needed was some fine tuning.

I waited in the reception while it was getting setup, stroped down, plugged it, etc. then watched my car get raped on the dyno from the garage door.

It didnt take that long to get it running sweet.

[0R10N]

Fluked getting the RX-7 started tonite, so quickly played musical cars at the lockup and moved the TX3 closer to the door.

Then temptation got the better of me and I spent a good 30 mins driving around making sure everything (apart from the turbo) was sweet. I'd forgotten how cheesy the intake and recirculating ABV sounded

also had to pump up a couple of the tyres, but c'est la vie.

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ahh shit, is that the gearbox I hear whining in the last video

[0R10N]

SOMETHING IS MISSING

oh wait, there it is.

With the VF10 hybrid the change in boost response is immediately noticeable; there's a steep hill on the way back from my friend's shop which the TX3 used to struggle at building boost on the upward side at 70km/h in 4th. Now the slightest application of throttle shows that boost instantly shoots to 3psi and continues climbing with ease.

amazing what a smaller exhaust wheel can do - this is probably what I should have fitted all those years ago instead of getting feverish delusions of grandeur with the big laggy VF8

today I'm going to re-adjust the GFB controller to set the boost level back to around 15psi/1 bar and see how things go from there, then obtain a WOF and rego on Monday, see if CXGPWR can tweak the cold start and tune a bit, and drive it around for a few weeks while the MR2 gets booked in for its long overdue rust repairs and general tidy-up

Think I'm gonna have to take successive photos of all the cars parked at the shed at my new place before it gets bowled.

[0R10N]

Welp this is decidedly strange. Even with a custom pinhole restrictor in the wastegate line, and the GFB bleed valve completely open the car still only manages 0.7 bar of boost

Might have to go back to electronic control, or rax the Goyen bleed valve off my track car. Only thing I can think of that could be interfering is the h00j ported internal wastegate.

nevertheless... I'll get the boost to 1 bar somehow then look at tweaking the map. But it seems that any modifications performed just end up making the car slower and slower which is infuriating.

[RUNAMUCK]

Nice thread.

I only clicked it for the 1st time after reading the title about the glass gearbox.

Just yesterday I was working with a bloke who was telling me that he once owned one of these. He said that when he wound it out to as fast as it could go, (I don't recall the claimed speed) the gearbox exploded with fist sized holes in the housing the instant he lifted off. I don't think I cold own a car that required rstraint to drive with reliabitly.

All that aside, thats quite some dedication you have applied to this build. I can remember back when these cars were not so old.