Koda's Mazda Build.

[koda6966]

Didn't buy it. He wanted too much and the parts were way too rusty for me.

Right now I'm looking into two parts truck, a 2wd with a rough body and 170k but a good interior and one in my color with a body that looks good from a distance. I didn't look at it too close, it's in a junk pile behind a local tire shop with a couple other trucks.

 

[Boggin]

hey koda, im soon gonna start workin on mine again. get her running first, then take out the trans and see whats on the go in there.
heres a pic of one with a 3" body lift and torsion bars cranked up and 3" rear blocks. this is the highest you can get these trucks to go without sas'ing or an extrememly gay body lift lol

 

[koda6966]

Me like. I'd probably throw on a 2" BL if I can't fit as much tire as I'd like. That's the only reason I can see using one. That, or hack the fenders. My fenders aren't pretty anyway.

If I don't find a different truck (looked at a ranger the other day) my Mazda will be getting some work done this spring.

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

me likes the red one.
those seem to be 31"s to me?

and Koda: lift that thing!

 

[koda6966]

Did some work today. Stereo stuff mostly.

I cleaned up that mess of wiring, and installed a harness to replace the hackjob the P.O. did. Does that harness look familiar?

And a piece of my old Ranger lives on in the Mazda. A small piece, but still part of it.

Works great, although it won't keep the station it was on in memory, only the pre-sets. I'm assuming it's something to do with me not having the memory wire hooked up. lol

 

[7.5L_STX]

thats smart thinkin using the ranger harness! i hate when i go to put a stereo in and find that the PO did a hack job. its really bad when the PO only leaves 2" of wire to work with.

 

[koda6966]

thats smart thinkin using the ranger harness! i hate when i go to put a stereo in and find that the PO did a hack job. its really bad when the PO only leaves 2" of wire to work with.

This guy left about two FEET with a butt, solder, electric tape, or copper crimp connector every 6" or so, some of them were redundant wires that were hooked to themselves in wierd triangles. I have no idea what he was trying to do but he has no idea how to wire a stereo.

At least he put in a fuse, although he bipassed it with two different wires.

 

[koda6966]

Found a little blurb on lifting using toyota axles.

You might like this boggin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anObbpljndY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq35RN9ZG1Q

That's got toyota axles with 4.56 gears, rear lcoker, 4.3 chevy swap/700R tranny, 36" super swampers, and just about everything else is stock Mazda.

 

[Viva*the*Ranger]

Congrats on the rig man. If you decide to keep it, you should tube bed it, get that yota axle (which are great axles) and powder coat the frame, in order to control the cancer.

 

[koda6966]

Found a sweet deal on a 4x4 1992 Misubishi Mighty Max with a 3.0 V6. I didn't even know they came with a V6! It's got 168k miles, bad exaust, "newish" tires. It looks like it was origionally red, but was painted flat black with blue/white racing stripes. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but painting is always something I do first so it's fixable.

If he still has it in a couple weeks I'll be buying it. Well, if it runs better than the Mazda of course.

For all I know it could already be sold, I just emailed him today. If it is I'll keep an eye out while I save up some cash to play with. I'd really like a Jeep Cherokee like my old one, or a nice Ranger to play around with in the summer.

 

[jhammel85]

I'd say just spray bomb it flat black! I like those things (rare for me with a misu/dodge)...They're fairly rare I guess too.

I'd keep that Mazda though and just fix that up. This Mighty Max would be a good project though for the side!

 

[koda6966]

Checked out that Max. It has a badly cracked windshield that would definately need replacing and I'd also have to replace alot of the exhaust pipe. I'd probably just strait pipe it after the cat, so that's no big deal. He said the horn doesn't work too, I'm not sure how hard that could be to fix but I'm sure I could figure it out. Didn't notice in the photos but it's missing a drivers mirror. That would be hard to find (rare truck) but I could always bolt on a mirror to get it inspected.

The windshield is what's throwing me off. If he still has it in the end of January I told him I would consider buying it. Until then I'm going to keep looking.

My girlfriend keeps telling me to stop buying vehicles. She doesn't understand that each one I buy is a tiny upgrade. She wants me to sell the ones I have and buy one good one, but while I like that idea it would unfortunately leave me with no backup vehicle.

 

[Boggin]

never heard of one of those truck,, they dont look to pretty to me. i think you should wait to find a ranger

 

[koda6966]

The more I thought of it the more I realized something. I was planning on paying off my car, and buying a newer, nicer car. But I drive my cars in the winter (for the FWD reliability and cheap tires) so they rust and get all ugly. I drive my trucks in the summer (for playing in the mud and camping) so my trucks stay nice and shiny. Why not pay off the car, and buy a newer nicer truck instead of a 500 dollar beater mobile?



I have two that I am looking at right now.

1) 2003 Explorer Sport Trac 4x4, 4.0, auto. Just under 104k miles and not a spot of rust, fully loaded. (PA)

2)2000 Ford Ranger Stepside Supercab 4x4 Offroad, 4.0, auto, 98k miles, no rust, fully loaded.

Both are in the 8-9k range, which is a bit higher than my current budget. I'm looking for something closer to 6k. If I can get approved for the loan on the terms I want I'll bite on one of them. They both have good things going for them, the sport trac has four doors and the ranger is the same color as my old one. Not sure which I would pick. We'll have to see how the loan works out. There's another Ranger, same year, that's roughly half the price but it doesn't have as many amenities or the same level of pristine quality. The owner of the stepside is a friend of one of my old bosses, and from what I hear he is OCD when it comes to maintaining and beautifying a vehicle.

 

[RangerFabWorks]

Hey koda, I'm selling my explorer if you were interested. It's in the for sale section. It would leave you plenty of room for upgrades.

Btw, looking good