1973 Mazda 808 Coupe

Dave77 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:13 pm

I’ve just acquired a 1973 Mazda 808 Coupe with fantastically 70s yellow paint and black stripes. The look is topped off with a set of slot mag style rims on period looking skinny tires. Taken as a whole it gives a rather mini muscle car vibe. It needs some brake and motor work but the all important chrome, trim and interior pieces are all there and in good shape.

Its home but too cold to do much with it (-24C). Will pull it into the garage tomorrow. You can see the one bit of rocker rust. The rest of the car is nice and solid.

The interior blows my mind - not even a tear in the seats.

The license plate was just zip tied on to avoid it getting towed away by an over zealous parking official.

1973 Mazda 808 original manual and service book. Sold at Kramer Mazda in Calgary in 1972. The previous owner told me a guy from Magrath, Alberta then bought it followed by his neighbor then the guy I bought it off.

john · **Posted:** Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:21 pm

Very cool. :tu:

ewokracing · **Posted:** Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:28 am

that is as cool as a bag of ice down your pants. Nice score!

Beware · **Posted:** Wed Mar 02, 2011 9:28 pm

Interesting :tu:

Dave77 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 03, 2011 1:46 pm

Thanks all. More pics here too - http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveseven/ ... 168020756/

Dave77 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 07, 2011 9:34 am

Found some stuff:

1974 Mazda 808 brochure

1973 Mazda 808 Coupe Factory Photos

1973 Mazda Brochure

Garant · **Posted:** Mon Mar 07, 2011 2:16 pm

ah, the fact you're from canada tells me you might actually keep it piston?
well done. xlnt find

Dave77 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:13 pm

I've owned two Rx-7s so I might just keep it piston.

I could rebuild the stock engine.

or

Swap in a Miata engine/gearbox (expensive in Canada)

or

Swap in B2000/B22000 engine/gearbox

I'd like to keep it Mazda anyway.

B1500boy · **Posted:** Tue Mar 08, 2011 4:48 pm

Great car, just loving those stripes!!

Yeah, go piston!!

Dave77 · **Posted:** Tue Mar 08, 2011 10:17 pm

Leaning towards rebuilding the engine. It had the bearings done by previous owner. +.20" and +.30" pistons are pretty cheap - any thoughts on which is better?

whit · **Posted:** Tue Mar 15, 2011 3:40 pm

Looks great :tu:

Dave77 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 24, 2011 8:53 am

Oddly the Mazda came with no horns - I guess a previous owner must have harvested them for something else. But I did have a set of horns from my old Hyundai Stellar kicking around. They weren't the self grounding ones like what the Mazda probably had but I added a ground wire to each. I even had a spare bolt in the bolt bucket so a zero dollar repair.

The red primer is showing through in places so one day I'll have to try and match the yellow and respray in the engine bay.

Dave77 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 25, 2011 8:00 am

I finally received my newly rebuilt starter after a long wait. That it on the left, with the old one on the right. See that note about it having nine teeth? Obviously an odd ball as my old starter has eight - I stuck a bit of painter's tape on one tooth and counted them six times. Argh.

I did an order of brake parts from another place and ended up with four sets of front brake pads and nothing for the rear. That might have been my fault though. Argh x 2. I guess I have front brakes for life time of the car.

On a happier note I did clean up my old starter and got the car started. It works ... for now.

Dave77 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 25, 2011 9:38 pm

My Mazda 808 Coupe is now officially running. It sounds a bit weedy as there is a hole in the exhaust or muffler somewhere. The front brakes have now been done too. Drove it up and down the driveway a couple times. That is as far as I can go until I get insurance and a plate for it.

Blows a bit of white smoke so I think maybe a +20 bore and new pistons and rings might do the trick. Anyone done that before.

A video of a running engine if anyone wants to see - http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveseven/5560453138/

whit · **Posted:** Fri Mar 25, 2011 10:23 pm

I watched the video,yup it runs.
Looks like the brake master may be overfilled??

Dave77 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 26, 2011 3:56 pm

Yeah it is a over filled - just did the brakes which where very worn down. Need to get rid of a bit.

Dave77 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 01, 2011 3:24 pm

It is insured and plated finally.

My wife took this with her iPhone. Apart from re-adjusting to arm strong steering and vintage brakes it went well. Went for a few kms so far.

I took each one of my kids for a quick ride around the block separately as I didn't realize there where no back seat belts. Then I went for a longer drive on some back roads. I definitely need to get a muffler and it needs an alignment but otherwise drives well.

Could definitely use a 5th gear as the engine gets rather busy at even sub highway speeds. Any 5spd that fits the 1.6L motor?

Camshaft · **Posted:** Thu Jun 02, 2011 8:46 am

Looking really good so far! I hope your kids enjoyed the ride. They're probably Mazdafarians for life now, hahaha.

RestoreMaz · **Posted:** Fri Jun 03, 2011 2:13 am

The 626 coupes had a 5 speed which will fit the 1600 motor. Not sure how available they are in the us though.They are rare here now, and we got alot of them.

kv77 · **Posted:** Fri Jun 03, 2011 6:16 am

Indeed, the 626 rwd 5spd fits the 1.6 NA engine. But you'll need to swap the adapter plate bolted to the back end of the engine too, the one where the bellhousing bolts onto. Works without it too, but you won't be able to put in the bottom 4 bolts

Or, if you say your 1.6 is fucked anyway, you can just swap the whole thing (626 2.0 litre + 5 spd box).

1973 Mazda 808 Coupe

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