Project: Retro REPU-aka Super Daily

[slinky]

After much searching, wheeling, dealing, swindling, negotiating with the wife.....and what not....I finally picked up what i think is one hell of a head turning daily driver. I am now the proud owner of a 1974 mazda REPU (Rotary Engine Pick Up). I bought it from a car collector of sort(second owner of the Truck), he had 2 of them and one was all original. Mine on the other hand has had a full toyota 20R engine and trans swap performed by the original owner after The triangle destroyed itself. Has a weber carb and a hot head build, new clutch, the swap was done VERY well and just really needs some wiring cleaned up, a little brake work, and some fresh suspension. wheels and tires are already on the way

Its rathe amazing how complete the truck is. the odometer ready 80XXX and i believe it. it was obviously well loved for a while, but has lived in a shop for a lot of its life. the thing runs like a top and is a blast to drive. i cant believe how many options actually still function fully.

well, enough blab, now pics!














So far it's unclear what will go into this in the future. I'm going to run the 20R until it pop's and then the plan is to swap in a KA24de and 5 speed, or a 22RET which i happen to have laying around.

but anywho, I will post updates as i clean it up. There will be some taistfull Daily Driver mods coming soon as well,

[digitalsolo]

That's a pretty cool daily driver. 

[gc3]

looks awesome, i've never seen one in person

[texfc]

Cool little truck!  Is that the battery compartment behind the passenger door?

[RX7what]

That's a nice ford courier you got there
It would be real nice with a 5.3 truck motor in there.

[nofxrxmxpx]

lol i love these trucks. 20r/22r is a great swap for this imo!

[slinky]

Thanks everyone, I'm pretty damn excited about it. got some basic maintenance to do this week, Really hoping to get this thing to reliable driver status by the weekend.

Cool little truck!  Is that the battery compartment behind the passenger door?

yes sir it is. I'm actually going to relocate the battery into the toolbox I'm building for the bed. gonna flush the compartment up and us it for added storage. i just don't like how accessible the battery is.

[jparker7]

Seats are nice

[slinky]

Seats are nice

"seat"

[Bowtie7]

check out Billy Waits on Facebook, he is doing a complete resto on a repu. Cool trucks!

[slinky]

check out Billy Waits on Facebook, he is doing a complete resto on a repu. Cool trucks!

lol i don't envy him....parts for this thing are stupid hard to find. It really is a fun little runner. Once i make more headway on my FB i'm going to throw some coin on this little guy. poor truck needs a little love (seat).....

[slinky]

Oh wiring....how i hate you

[slinky]

F*ck it, f*ck it, f*ck it......i quit

yanking this damn 22r hybrid out and dropping in a carb'd 302 w/ t-5. keep having stupid wiring issues and im sick of chasing birds nests. gonna rewire the whole damn truck throughout the next month and get this motor mounted up...in search of a trans right now

gonna slap a cam and lifter set in, chain set, manifold, 600cfm edelbrock, headers into some custom dual 2 1/4...maybe find a decent drop in distributor...nothing crazy...


the truck rips with the little 4 banger in it, but i keep finding myself wanting more. going to have to find some 4.09 gears....the 4.64 set in it will be awy too low i'm thinking. throwing the 22r hybrid into my 83 celica i have out back it seems like a win win situation.


thoughts?

[ishigakisensei]

F*ck it, f*ck it, f*ck it......i quit

yanking this damn 22r hybrid out and dropping in a carb'd 302 w/ t-5. keep having stupid wiring issues and im sick of chasing birds nests. gonna rewire the whole damn truck throughout the next month and get this motor mounted up...in search of a trans right now

Honestly, I sometimes wonder if engineers at car companies do this knowing that one day down the road that somebody is going to want to do an engine swap and they'll be damned if they allow someone else to fuck up their "baby". Look at what MB does to their wiring to keep people from swapping a manual to their AMG engines. Oh, its doable.....but it'll damn sure cost you.

[slinky]

lol I'm a fabricator, I'm obligated to hate engineer's. I't goes with the job title

I'm just really upset with myself that i didn't take a little closer look at the wiring before buying the truck...but to hell with it. the bitch is paid for and its my fab business's shop truck so i may as well swap something fun and impractical into it right? i feel it's a bit of an obligation lol

not like the fuel mileage will get any worse. damn carb on the toyota motor is a beast...and we all know how fuel efficient carburated rotory motors are