Singallant's Mazota - '76 929 Coupe with a 1GGZE

[singallant]

In August 2008, I paid $400 for a 1976 Mazda 929 Coupe. Possibly one of the closest things that Japan came to a muscle car. The car got a swapped engine (from a '82 Mazda B2000 ute), and a 5-speed manual from a Mazda 121 (which, in those days, was a big rear-drive car). The car also got a new coat of the factory "Concord Silver" paint. But, other than looking quite good, there was nothing special about the car. The engine got smokier, the gearbox started losing gears, the shocks were close to the end.
In May last year, I realised that the smokey old Mazda 2L MA motor was pretty close to giving up the ghost. Along with going through 3 gearboxes in as many months (entirely my own fault - free gearboxes don't work very well), it was time to do something drastic. The easy thing to do would be to stick a 13bt import motor in, using off-the-shelf crossmembers and having a plethora of people who have played that before.
And therein lies the problem. Who doesn't know someone who has rotorised a non-rotary mazda?

So, after many debates with mates, and emails with engine importers, I decided that I wanted something a bit different, and a bit cool. A 1G-GZE, 2L supercharged inline 6 (out of a GX81 Cresta) was purchased from SSS Automotive, along with a manual gearbox (out of a Supra).

I started by doing a bit of routine maintinence on the 1G. Timing belt and sparkplugs were replaced, flywheels were swaped, supercharger oil was changed. Various bolts and things were checked. Air-con and powersteering bits were removed - who need luxury?
I pulled the old engine out, feeling good about how very easy the conversion would be. Oops.

The 1G was put (with much pain) into the engine bay of the car. The 1G was taken out. The engine mounts on the 929 engine crossmember were cut off. The 1G was put back in. And taken out again. The swaybar was removed, and I took a wire brush and a tin of paint to the surface rust on the chassis rails, caused by a leaking radiator and a leaking brake master cylinder at some point in the past.

I then made little cardboard models of new engine mounts to be welded onto the crossmember and used these as templates to cut bits of 6mm steel plate. Friend-with-welder (hereafter known as "Sam") was cajoled into turning many bits of metal into mounts on the crossmember. These are essentially little 3-sided boxes up off the crossmember. I then made some plates for the engine mounts that bolt to the engine.

The 1G went back in and the gearbox was bolted on after a small amount of trans tunnel cutting. Sam and I spent about 6 hours with the engine crane, small bits of wood and a selection of coins, balancing the engine on the crossmember and using a spirit level to make it perfect.
Once sitting perfectly, I made some little cardboard templates, and cut 6mm steel to shape, and used a mate's 20-ton press to bend them into shape. Once welded and painted, the engine was finally bolted into the car.
I was now 3 months into the conversion, and feeling pretty grumpy about how long it was taking.
The next step was getting a radiator, as the 929 engine bay is no where near as long as the GX81 engine bay, and I only had 62mm between the front of the supercharger and the crashbar at the front of the car. I was told (with confidence) that a VL commodore radiator would fit, so I bought one. Needless to say, it didn't. So I went to the local radiator shop with as many measurements as I could find. 2 weeks later I had another radiator that didn't fit. I asked them to modify it, and they said no. So I asked them to try again. I finally picked up the one that fit in the first week on January this year.
While all this was going on, I started on wiring, as I had a radiator from an RX3 that fitted in with cableties. The wiring diagrams that infotechplus and Bullfrog have up on this forum were incredibly helpful, and after only 3 weekends I had a running engine. The noise straight out of the extractors was just incredible, and I had the pleasure of driving my car 2 metres back and foward in the driveway. There's a video on YouTube of it starting up and running very rough due to dodgy wiring if you're interested.

Within a week, I had an exhaust fitted at Powatone in Fyshwick, and had the pleasure/terror of the first drive home (having trailered the car to the shop). The radiator leaked, and the ACT has fairly strict laws on modified cars driving around. Amongst other problems, I had no speed input to the ecu, so more than 50% throttle turned the check engine light on, and the supercharger wasn't turning on.

By the end of February this year, I had a driving, reasonably happy car (still no blower). Most problems were solved by re-doing some earths, and fitting a VDO speed sensor to the gearbox, and wiring this to the ecu. I was quite bored of working on the car, and was not working very hard on it.

It took me until mid-March to work out the supercharger issue - there were tiny issues hiding somewhere in the loom, so I ran my own wiring and relays, still switched by the ecu. I also fiddled with the wiring for the cold-crank injector, and now had a very happy car that was quite happy to spin the wheels.

At the end of March, I had my first engineering inspection. Only a small list of fixes were required - brake lines weren't secured properly, seatbelts were slightly frayed, and there were too many holes in my firewall.

Two weeks later (last Tuesday), the old girl had her second appointment. And passed! Now I just have to go through a rego inspection and sort some insurance.

Feel free to request photos/videos and ask questions. I tempted to post this up on Ausrotary, but I might never been seen again

Specs:
1976 Mazda 929 Hardtop
Engine: 1G-GZE
Gearbox: W57
Brakes: 280mm Slotted, Vented disks with GMH Camira calipers
Suspension: King Springs Lows, Bilstein shocks.
Exhaust: Stock headers into a single 2.5 pipe, through a high flow cat, a little oval muffler from a commodore, and into a 600mm long, 150mm diameter straight-through Walker truck muffler.

Photos:

[jezz]

Mate amazing looking Mazda you need to bring it along to some of the CCG events check out the ACT event section for more info.

I've got a mate thinking of putting a 1JZGTE into his 929 wagon (i'm pretty sure its a 929) but is not sure its going to work this should give him the needed nudge.

Cheers

Jeremy

[HAIRY_APES_22'S]

very nice man, just looked up more pics of it on google and im loving the shape of this car, inparticular urs because it got nice reliable toyota motor not a rotor.
Post up some more pictures of your car man would like to see more dude.

[singallant]

Cheers guys. I'll try and find a time to meet up with you celica guys. Jap is Jap is Jap, according to a mate of mine (who drives a stock 96 camry having crashed his IS200 ).

There's nothing wrong with rotors (and I'll admit to loving the things), they just need a bit more love than pistons, and I needed a quietish daily drive .

Went to the car wash last night and snapped this outside Bunnings Tuggeranong.


Once I'm through rego I'll attack the springs - she still rides pretty high.

[1JZ-Rolla]

Nice idea mate! I had a four door RX4 in the same colour many years ago, the late model factory 13B variant with the same front end as your 929. Good to see there's still some early Mazdas getting restoration attention other than RX3's & 2's

Loving the black simmons too!

Cheers
Phil

[singallant]

Cheers mate.
I love the 4s, they're just a bit meatier than the others, and the fact that the coupe doesn't have a B pillar is awesome!

The Simmons actually have a really dark purple pearl on them, so in the sunlight they add some colour, but they don't make it look like a lady's car .