323 gt axles vs Kia rio

[Sleeper]

Hi there, I'm planning a engine swap ( BP or B6T depending on availability) down the road and I'm starting to collect the parts now. I'm quite familiar with festiva's and what's involved in swap ( I've owned 8 ) But I have been away from the fourm for almost 10 years and after looking through the forum for a few days I still have a few questions.

First off I will be doing a G series swap either a 323 gt/ capri cable or convert a escort GT to cable.

The most common axles to use are the 323 gt/ Capri with the intermediate shaft.

The inherent problem with this is how rare the intermediate shaft is... And you can't rebuild the intermediate shaft.... Correct me if I'm wrong.

The advantage of those axles is near equal length axles.... So less axle hop under hard acceleration.

The other option that I have come across is using Kia Rio axles ( no intermediate shaft )

Very easy to find, but unequal axle lenghts = axle hop

My question is this, are there any members here with a BP/b6t swap and G series tranny using Kia Rio axles? How bad is the axle hop?

I don't plan any drag racing or autocross, it will just be a fun street car,but I also don't want my car shaking apart every time I want to floor the accelerator....

Any input as to if a Rio axle swap is an option? Or is it a waste of time and I just need to start looking for an intermediate shaft?

[mikemounlio]

If you gonna spend the time and money to do all that might as well get the capri shaft as well. The b6t is gonna make a ton of power in the festiva. You need to get the right parts if you want fun.

[bhazard]

The intermediate shaft does have a replaceable bearing. I don't know anything about it though. You can try to ask one of the Capri guys about it.

However the problems I had with the intermediate shaft were my janky BP adapter bracket, bolts shaking themselves out of the block, and I had a CV get stuck in it. Never could get it out. Had a shop break it's press trying, hammered it to smithereens. Everything.

I switched to the Rio axles and ran 12 second quarter miles and had no torque steer issues.

[F3BZ]

the bearing and dust seals were still available from Mazda to refresh the gtx intermediate shaft

[Team Lightning]

My brother rebuilt my intermediate shaft. He works at a machine shop.

[mikemounlio]

What year rio do you get axles from?

[bhazard]

2000-2002 or so.

[Sleeper]

Thank you for all the replies everyone! And especially to bhazard for some first had experience!

If you are running a BPT in a 12 second pass at the drag strip with Kia Rio axles and no wheel hop, that pretty much seals the deal for me. Not only will that be simpler and easier to find, but I already planned on doing the Rio hub and front brake swap so I'll just grab the axles from the donor car while I'm at it.

Do they plug both into the G series tranny and festiva's or Rio wheel hubs or do you have to swap out the inner or outer axel ends to fit in the festiva?

[Festiver]

Thank you for all the replies everyone! And especially to bhazard for some first had experience!

If you are running a BPT in a 12 second pass at the drag strip with Kia Rio axles and no wheel hop, that pretty much seals the deal for me. Not only will that be simpler and easier to find, but I already planned on doing the Rio hub and front brake swap so I'll just grab the axles from the donor car while I'm at it.

Do they plug both into the G series tranny and festiva's or Rio wheel hubs or do you have to swap out the inner or outer axel ends to fit in the festiva?

All the outer ends of the axles are the same and Rio axles are 26 spline just like all capri xr2 323 gt and the escort and protege

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[Sleeper]

Awesome! Thanks Festiver!

[Damkid]

Adam - I have like 3-4 spare intermediate shafts kickin around, I'm sure I could part with one lol

[Advancedynamix]

Also, a good way to reduce wheel hop is to reinforce your front lower radiator support. This area is where the driving torque will stress and twist the chassis under hard acceleration. This also makes it easier to move the radiator forward so that you have room for the g series transmission and turbocharger. The g series trans pushes engine forward a couple inches. This also helps drastically with traction and handling.

[gorgonheimer]

We had a problem with the kia driver side axle. With the low ride height, it bottomed out into transmission. We used a kia long side and capri short side. The capri axle is .5 inches shorter than the kia short side.

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[Sleeper]

Advancedynamix do you have any documentation or pictures of how you reinforced your rad support?

And Neil thanks for the info on the axle lengths, good to know if I decide to lower the car!

[skeeters_keeper]

There are a bunch of good pics in Gomez build thread.