1986 Mazda 323 Manual Trans Swap?

[War_Wagon]

As you may guess by my user name, I dig station wagons. I really know nothing about older Mazdas, so I am hoping someone here can shed some light on this for me. A while back I scored a super clean 1986 (maybe a 1987? Cripes I can't remember, but it's one of those) 323 wagon. It's the "Sport" model, so it is fuel injected and has some really lightweight 13 inch alloys on it. It's also original paint rust free red body with clean black and grey interior, with 140k KMs (87k miles). But, it's an automatic. I got it so cheap that I just left it sitting, but someone asked me today if I wanted to sell it. I can't really find any info on what's required to make it into a 5 speed, and honestly if it was 5 speed there is no way I would sell it, it's that nice. Can anyone fill me in on how hard this swap would be? IE, would I need to swap the computer, change the axles, etc. I have owned a lot of 80s era stuff and man this thing is cleeeean! So I don't want to sell it unless it's a huge deal to make it a 5 speed. Thanks Mazda gurus!

[Rusty94cx]

I'm sure you would need the ecu it will look for at sensor. Find a rotted out beat up same year donor car. The Honda guys do it all the time in civics. Trans mounts axles pedal assembly all the interor pieces. A donor car makes it alot easier.

[War_Wagon]

Ya there is a ton of info about the Civic swaps, I actually have a Civic wagon waiting for that conversion, and yup you are right about the parts car being the way to go. I guess 323s aren't subject to conversion often though, I am having trouble even finding out what year the CPUs are interchangeable from. Mine has the 103 hp 1.6l, which was the only non-turbo model with fuel injection, so I am thinking my parts car would have to be the same, and it's a rare bird from what I can tell so far. Then I got to thinking that perhaps a Mercury Tracer CPU would work, those cars are a little easier to find but are basically a 323 with different body panels. Man this is giving me a headache already lol.

[Rusty94cx]

In laws had a town and county 1 year only van Mitsubishi motor. Gotta love it yeah if the tracer engine trans are the same the ecu might be interchangeable. See of you can get pn off of one and if it's similar. Good luck.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

I'm not so sure about this specific model, but earlier EFIs didn't use to take input from the transmission.

[War_Wagon]

Cripple, you called it. I actually found an obscure, 4 year old post on some Mazda forum that I had never heard of, and you are right, the ECU doesn't care about what kind of transmission it is hooked up to. Apparently all I need to do is hook the Park/neutral safety switch wires from the shifter up to the clutch safety switch on the clutch pedal, and the reverse light wire from the shifter to the reverse light switch on the 5 speed. Then change the trans and axles. Who knew that finding info on a transmission swap that no one does on a 27 year old car would be hard to find?? ha ha.

Edit: and by the way, I found that site via looking on Craigslist, found some rare '80s Mazda turbo parts for sale, then emailed the guy with my questions and thanked him for his time. He didn't have the answers, but he sent me the link. Gotta love Craigslist lol.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

As a last-case resource, Megasquirt is available to overcome that issue

[Rusty94cx]

With enough determination anything is possible. Good luck. Just need a trans and mounts. Buy new axles. The hunt is on.