Fullsize spare? Yep, mine came with one stock, tire's never been used. Anybody want a rock-hard 185/70HR13 Bridgestone SD-106? Still mounted on the wafflewheel... yep alloy spare!

One more reason to love SA's... tee hee!

 

?

SA's have larger storage for the spare or something?

 

Yes sir!

In '81, one of the many changes they did was to go to a compact spare, to make room for a larger fuel tank. The spare tire well is much deeper in an SA.

Consequently SAs require their own special fuel tanks, because an FB tank doesn't have a deep enough recess to clear the well. And SA tanks are discontinued...

 

What size fuel tanks do you yanks have? All the Australian 1st gens came with a fifth alloy wheel as the spare. Maybe our fuel tanks are smaller?

 

One time I drained the tank in mine dry... it took about 13.5 gallons, or roughly 51 liters. The later US models then would have a roughly 60l capacity.

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure mines about 50 litres. Mind you I'd rather have a spare alloy wheel than an extra 10 litres of fuel tank capacity. Hell, I never fill the bloody thing up anyway. Usually just put 20 bucks worth in. BTW Peejay, how do you like the locker so far? Do you find it annoying to drive at all? Is your car a daily driver? Mines all welded up and ready for me to bolt in. I'll probably drop it in tonight. Hope it rains.

 

About that... turns out the locker didn't have any gears or pinion bearings, just the diff carrier/carrier bearings/3rd member housing. Didn't feel like swapping all that over, and hunting down a new pinion bearing and crush sleeve, so I just put an open diff in it. Just a leetle bit noisy on the highway - no prob.

Kia Sportages (??? in Australia) have a 4.778 gearset in the front axle, that is the same R&P setup as the 1st-gen RX-7. 7" ring gear, same pinion length, etc. Going to hunt one of those down at the junkyards and grab the gearset. This is even better than the 4.444 used in '87-88 4wd front axles, because there aren't too many 14 year old Japanese pickups around anymore, and good luck finding one in the junkyard, especially a 4wd! However Sportages are everywhere due to their very generous warranty, and people are 4wd-happy, so finding one in the junkyard should be a piece o' cake. MUUUCH better than the stock 3.909 junk, especially with a peaky 12A. Once I get the gearset, if this car hasn't crumbled to dust by then, it should be racin' season again next year and it's going in and we'll see how well it works on the street!

 

have you seen the guru Torsen Diffs?

www.gurumotorsports.com

 

I am having problems getting the axle seal for my '85 GSL is it possible that the rear might have been changed to an earlier modle, I have a rear axle out of an '83 and they apear to be the same.
Mazda insists that the seal is inches across while the one that I removed is only 2.25 inches.

Vic