Ok, have been meaning to create a thread on here for a good while.

Now that it looks like my PC at work here is going to take a few hours to process some stuff for me I have some free time to do a write up.

The story so far...

I bought a 1000 ute from a friends Grandfather a while ago now and have been using it for weekend errands. Unfortunately though it really struggled on the hills with the original driveline.

So I then kept an eye out for various parts to get it moving at a decent pace, picking them up as I found them. The list so far

- Older style Recaro bucket seats, small enough to look normal in the ute cabin. I gave away the bench seat to another 1000 ute owner.
- Black Nardi steering wheel & boss kit to suit, it was brand new, genuine and cheap, hard to say no.
- 12A RX-7 Series 3 engine
- A couple Series 1 RX-7 gearboxes
- Ute diff converted to Mazda 4 stud 4x110
- Cross drilled and slotted brake rotors with camira calipers (installed)
- Rubber kit complete
- Various interior spares
- Dash Mat, to cover the cracks for the time being
- Set of 14" wheels
- Spare tailgate to replace my rusty one, may just fix them both and have a spare

I had a spare saturday a few weeks ago and pulled original motor and box out ready for the upgrade, which is where the ute currently stands.

Should be able to plough ahead with things in the next couple months as I finally look to have some free time up my sleeve.

Initially getting the driveline in and sorted for a while, then pulling it all done for panel & paint. With the plan to make it a neat & tidy weekender. Black wheels with either white paint or one of the RX-3 original colours.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4 ... directlink

I know I know, need more pics, will get onto it.

Will see if I can get the ute ready for the All Japanese Car Show mid year. If not I will bring my FD Spirit R Type A, or both cars.

Also if anyone would like a PDF copy of the 1000 Ute owners manual or a 1000/1200 ute Spec sheet let me know.

Jono

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1975 Mazda 1000 Ute

Nice pickup, It'll look a treat when it's done. It'll probably be even cooler than the REPUs we got over here! Be sure to include your Spirit R in future updates.

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-Cam
1988 Mazda RX7
1980 Toyota Celica
a bunch of cool other cars I'm not allowed to list

Here are a few pics of the RX-7 when it was in Japan.

https://picasaweb.google.com/JonFoster8 ... directlink

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1975 Mazda 1000 Ute

Sweet Jono,

Sounds like a plan mate, let me know about the old drivetrain, always looking for the older piston stuff for the museum,the stockers in my collection.

We've got our classic show on the 20th of feb if you want to come along, the spirit R is cool theres a 'modern' car park at he back!!

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Too many Mazda's in the collection. 4 Mitsubishi's, 6 Toyota's and now 3 Datsun's as well.
Putting together a Mazda/Japanese motor museum. New bigger venue for the museum has been bought, watch this space!

Nice man!

I have never been a big fan of the REPU utes, the driveline is great in a ute, would have been a hit in Australia, its just the styling that puts me off them.

Have decided not to tackle the actual conversion myself, custom cross members etc. as I would take forever doing it and most likely make a mess of it. So I have booked the ute into a workshop here to have them put the motor in and get it running.

By the time I buy everything to do the job and get some welding done I wouldn't be saving a great deal, as much as I would like to do everything myself.

Jono

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1975 Mazda 1000 Ute

I've got a 71 ute 1000 in the US pretty poor shape we are slowly doing her right with a rotary swap, couldn't keep it orig she didn't have the drivetrain and was also cut floorboards bad