My wife also has a Mazda (Familia 323) as does my daughter....lucky neither of them are silver or I would have torched them by now ;-)

 

Got the old tranny welded up, I just have to drill and tap for 5/16 fine hole , I figure the best way would be to tighten down the trap door and drill. I have to do something with the drain plug as well with the threads being pulled, suggestions?

 

Get a time-sert.
John

 

I just use an oversized car drain plug and re-tap the hole.

 

I wander if a Mazda plug would work?
Seriously though I kinda figured all oil pan plugs were the same size.

 

John any idea what size it is that I need to ask for if I go that route? I'm thinking 1/2 inch but not sure on number of threads.

 

Oil pan plugs are many and varied, most auto stores should have a rack with about 8-10 different sizes and shapes on them.

 

So I hada thought about drilling and tapping the trap door 5/16 bolt hole. Now thats its welded and I have to drill and tap for the 5/16 course allen bolt I came across a bit of a dilemma. I beleive the drill size for the 5/16 course is .25 inches now the problem, if I use the trap door as the guide for drilling the hole and obviously the trap door allen head hole is going to be larger than the drill bit well how do I get it centred for drilling then tapping. If I was drilling the same size hole as the trap door hole it would be easy but that would also drill out all the meat that the threads would use. Any ideas?

 

Get a 5/16"-1`/4" bushing, or tubing and use it as a guide in the side door hole.
John

 

What he said........