so ive decided to start this build thread to show how far my little truck has come. you'll see that its not exactly stock anymore. and im sure most of you will hate me. just know i love j-tin i just cant work on rotarys.

this is the first picture i ever saw of the truck, it had a blown 13b and no transmission



and the intirior as i recieved it, note the extra tachometer, gauge pod blocking the shelf under the glove box and badly cracked dash.



i didnt take any pictures of the build as i honestly didnt think to take them, but lets just say this was a tight squeeze. (the quick and dirty way)



its a GM 305 smallblock V8 with a TH350 auto transmission, i linked it to a ford 9inch rear end with a custom drive shaft.

this is the engine now after some cleaning up, new distributor, some paint and ceramic coated block hugger headers.



i also did a lot of intirior work, fixed the cracked dash and recovered it and the doors in brown sued, later i decided it was too much brown and dyed the doors black leaving just the dash the brown color. the bench seat will get a new black fabric covering as soon as i find the time.





the truck as it sits now with new black grill and very wide stance. i still have a lot of work to do but this is the culmination of countless hours, blood, sweat and beers.





and finally the emblem i made that is the only clue to whats under the hood, you can see in the picture i aged it to fit with the truck



thank you for checking it out, many more mods to come!

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one does not simply find repu parts

Why didn't you just find a B series of the same vintage and cut up one of those instead?

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-Cam
1980 Toyota Celica
1984 Porsche 911
1988 Mazda RX7

believe it or not there was no cutting involved in this build, fire wall, trans tunnel and frame are all 100% intact . and nothing i found had the charm of this truck. when i found the truck it had been left to rust so i figured better have it on the road with a v8 than dying with a 13b haha

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one does not simply find repu parts

<RickyBobby> With all due respect, the fact that you couldn't figure out three moving parts and did the requisite smallblock chebby swap makes you look kind of like a hillbilly. </RickyBobby>

Uhm, the outside looks quite nice, though.

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-Cam
1980 Toyota Celica
1984 Porsche 911
1988 Mazda RX7

classy with the name calling. saying "with all do respect" does not make calling someone a hick okay. to be honest I didn't want to spend insane amounts of money rebuilding an engine that in the end wouldn't have nearly the same power or torque as a stock V8 (i know the argument "they can make insane power, just look at the 20b" and yes they can, again if you feed them money by the bucketfull), its reliable, gets better MPG than the stock rotary (with a 4 barrel holly 650cfm) and cost me next to nothing. and you calling me a hillbilly makes you look like a pretentious miser. have i criticized your car?

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one does not simply find repu parts

I was kidding, dude. Like you said, it's better running and driving than languishing in someone's yard.

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-Cam
1980 Toyota Celica
1984 Porsche 911
1988 Mazda RX7

agreed sorry about that, ive just gotten nothing but hate since i built this thing. you dont get that with other engine swaps, people would probably accept it if i had any kind of japanese motor put in. funny thing is that the truck wasn't even sold in japan, and died out because of its terrible gas mileage 13-16mpg depending on where you look.

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one does not simply find repu parts

My RX7's fuel economy is EPA rated Hilarious city/Depressing highway.

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-Cam
1980 Toyota Celica
1984 Porsche 911
1988 Mazda RX7

I love it.Would love to see a vid of this thing running.

And that V8 mazda badge is a cool idea. Well done and all the best with it.

Needs more Buick 455 Stage II.

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occasional blog: http://ewokracing.tumblr.com

Brought to you by me as I search Alta Vista for Geocities webpages using Netscape Navigator while listening to Jam & Spoon.

Awesome idea on saving the Repu mate! Rotaries are cool and that, but the are no where near as rock hard and reliable like a trusty V8! The best part is no one will be expecting the V8 rumble either (until they see your cool as Mazda V8 badge that is). And forget the haters out there, they are only jealous of your ultra cool pickup (or ute as we say down under).
There are several mazda V8 conversions here in NZ, and it's a different way of making a car unique (and dare I say more reliable..)

I love it and would happily stare at any more pictures you would like to post up!

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your wish is my command, this is right after we got it running. my dad doing the first non posi burnout, also before i had the exhaust done. enjoy

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fM7J2cC-ppc

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one does not simply find repu parts

Dont listen to the hate mate, I think its a rad wee truck you got there! good work.

Ive got a '79 B1600 with a 3.8 GM v6 in it and is loads of fun!

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http://classiccolt.forumcircle.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/ColtSSR
'69 Honda C50
'79 Honda C50
'73 Honda ST90
Custom Honda Chaly
'85 RX7
'79 B1600

thank you, is it still pretty quick with the V6? there is probably a lot more space under the hood (bonnet) to work with

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one does not simply find repu parts

Not a lot of space, theres bugger all room around the headers, A blip of the throttle at 50kmh and it'll spin the wheels without breaking a sweat, from what I gather its about 180hp and has loads of torque.
I'll put some pics up in the next week or so.

'tis a Sushi rod..

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http://classiccolt.forumcircle.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/ColtSSR
'69 Honda C50
'79 Honda C50
'73 Honda ST90
Custom Honda Chaly
'85 RX7
'79 B1600

bad ass little pickup man....extremely clean looking swap theres nothing i dont like about it lol....slotted mads are a real nice touch too

thanks, im going to be swapping the rims soon so i can put a 10" wide rim on the back to have 275 wide rear tires, the only problem is my front rims are mazda 6lug the back are ford 5lug so i gotta find the same rim in 15x8 6 lug and 15x10 5 lug lol easier said than done

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one does not simply find repu parts

okay a few updates this weekend i was pretty busy working on the truck.

to start with, a picture of the door panels as they are black now, i think it looks much better over the brown they used to be. you can also see how shredded the origional bench seat is, i havent decided if im going to try remaking it or going with buckets, im quite tall and need all the space i can get so i dont know if buckets are an option in this truck.



i also got tired of looking at the auto meter tachometer on the steering column so i removed the old non working tach and modified the dash cluster to fit in in, i think it came out quite nice and looks pretty stock.



next is a current picture of the side of the truck, you can see my new true dual side pipes (they dont have the tips yet) which are basicaly straight pipes with thrush glass packs soon to be painted black so they go unnoticed. sorry for the bad quality photos, my camera is on the fritz.



so with all that done im going to show you the picture thats been my inspiration, its the only picture ive found of a repu haha and whats good is that the guy really got it right the first time. you can tell im working toward mine looking like this, getting that stance is going to be really difficult with the suspension on the truck as it is. but so far i have the side pipes, blacked out grill and black upholstery (sans seat) the fog lights are soon to come and im not sure about that lip...what do you guys think?



thanks for all the positive feedback, its given me new found motivation. you guys rock

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one does not simply find repu parts

alhough i dont agree with the V8, i commend you with your efforts and keeping another REPU on the road. would be great to match that picture. i have the same one stored on my computer. i dont know how realistic it is but i am also trying to make my truck look like the sketch. good luck with the build, i will keep a close eye on this thread and copy you with the exception of the V8

wow a fellow repu owner awesome! any chance i can see your truck? and i know the proportions are off in the sketch but the overall stance and details are easily repeatable. i di some measurments and the rims in the sketch would be 18inch with a 35 sidewall which is hugggggeeeee! ill probably go with 16x10 in the rear with a 55 sidewall just because i dont want cracked rims lol. hope to see your truck and share tips, thanks for commenting.

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one does not simply find repu parts