HMT's Daily: the xero fux given 323

Thought I'd do another thread for my current daily.
Got it in 2017 to get me to work, carry the family around and transport some building materials for the house while retaning a fun driving experience for almost no investment.
Enter the 2000 BJ 323 Sportive, coming with free front impact damage. Still the best one i could find in a long time because chassis rust was minimal (most of these look like a swiss cheese by now).
Found it a couple of hours away at a very quistionable dealership where it was basically awaiting it's faith in Africa. Not on my watch!
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Paid 250 Euros for it but had to leave it there until I had worked out a way to get it back home.
Don't wanna go into too much detail here but I decided to drive it home, so got a head light to replace the broken one, persuaded a friend to get me there, brought along some spare parts, temporary plates and a lot of tape to hold it all together :D
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To make a long story short, the car had tons of issues. Spend about a month or two wrenching away in the evenings and threw a couple of grand at it until it looked like this and was just ready for it's first round of winter duty:
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It did it's job really well so I decided it deserved some treats the next summer...
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So it's currently sitting on KW V2 coilovers, 17x7" OZ Leggenda wheels with the Sport20 side and rear skits, some aftermarket front lip, Protege5 tail lights, original Mazda Sports Exhaust, Sport20 intereur (which made it to germany for a very short time period in 2000 and only in the 1.8 Sport; this car came standard with it), 01+ center console and door sill panels, Autoexe Carbon Fiber intake, 01+ Sport strut brace and some audio upgrades.
I've never been really into this model but it serves me quite well. Couple of months ago I almost sold it but it suddenly developed a few failures which I had to fix in the week before the deal was supposed to go through. Decided that it's not worth it to invest and then sell for the same price as before so decided to keep it and give it another round of love and wrenching. And because I'm stupid I decided to order some overlight parts from Japan again :D

Cheers,
Chris

Just a few more pics for fun:
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Details of the blacked out lights and indicators. They only came in chrome as standard.
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Double ass shot together with my wife's daily MX3:
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One of the few existing interieur pics
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Added some wind deflectors recently to allow the windows to stay open when parked
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Test fitted the V6s wheels
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The intake setup
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One of many part runs
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The car hay really proven to be incredibly useful and versatile, when moving stuff around (keeping in mind it's limited size). Fun fact: the passenger seat folts doen flat and the rear bench can slide forth and back depending on the need for cargo or passenger space...
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I've been moving a load of parts and building materials over the last two years and really like not having to care too much about scratches or dents as it already has a few of those. Everybody should have at least one car like this :D

I have to admit, this was not something I have been expecting me to ever say, but that looks so damn cool!

Time for a new year update :)
As I could not stand the look of the front end, I seriously considered selling the car in 2019. Last minute i reconsidered and instead went full Sport20. One trip to the yahoo auction, a message to rupewrecht and a couple of weeks of waiting later, I received a JDM Sport20 front bumper and grille. Had it repainted from red to silver and got it on the car in summer 2019.
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I have to say, this changed my relationship to the car. I started actually liking it and dont regret the invest at all :)
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In 2020, I took in on one larger road trip through europe as I combined a trip to Luxemburg where a collected a JDM bumper for my MX3 with a family holiday trip to the czech republic.
The car didnt miss a beat and had enough space for everything. Even with the KW coilovers the comfort was perfectly fine for longer trips. Fuel economy was okay, power output as well.
Only thing I noticed at high Autobahn speeds were worn suspension bushings.
Here are a few pictures from the trip:
Waterplane action
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Collecting the goods :)
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Dry summer landscape
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Driving break
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Aaand I reached the picture limit :D
Anyway, not much else to tell. Bought a complete set of suspension arms in the mean time but didnt get round to fitting them yet. As I'm working from home since spring, I really only go on shopping or part runs at the moment.
I guess the BJ will be with me for a couple more years as it would just be a waste of money to replace it at this point.
Plus, it's a rare sight like it is now.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with it :)

Huge fan of this shape :-) 4x100 :D

Thanks :) For me, it's an acquired taste but the Sport20 kit transformed it to something desirable. Unfortunately, the BJ chassis rusts so badly. Mine is still ok as they got really bad from 2001 onwards and I spend months looking for a good example and pumped it full of wax but we'll see how long it lasts.