Just kidding .........sort of!!

I was talking to a "real" FD mechanic today. He asked me if I would like an R1 transmission undershield. I replied that I never knew there was a difference. The standard FD tranny undershield has a cutout. Apparently Mazda, in their infinite wisdom, decided to put a cutout in the "non R" models, This cutout allows access to absolutely nothing. You can look in, and see the starter, but you can't access any of the bolts. Apparently the R models have no cutout, and better aerodynamics because of it

Anyway, I thought I would pass along this little tidbit of "interesting" information.

 

interesting information.. i'll have to check that out

 

I've seen both shields but I think your mechanic has it wrong.

I *think* that Mazda made 2 different shields for a short period of time, after which all models got the version with the cutout.

I've had at least 6 R1s and only the very early ones had the non-cutout shield.

The cutout fits very nicely with the automatic transmission pan FYI.

I wonder if anyone has an old parts fische?

 

This has been my experience too. Although, I have also seen 2 early base models that had the non-cutout shield. Not sure if they were the original shields that came with the cars or replacements though (I was assuming they were original). Who's got an early touring model that can chime in?

-Rob

 

Jeff,

I wonder if they started by putting the "non cutout" versions on the R1's because they had manual trannys. I don't remember if any R1's had automatics??? Maybe the cutout version was for automatics, and at some point, they decided to just use one cover for all of the cars.

 

I think the mechanic was just mistaken - you see a difference on one R1 car, you can't assume that's true for all R1's. Gotta find someone like Jeff who's seen a LOT of cars .

I also believe it's a cost-cutting measure. There were a few parts that Mazda had different from one model to another that they later consolidated to save cost.

Dale

 

No Cut-Out = Auto Transmission
Cut out = Manual Transmission

Thats from my understanding.

You need access to the manual
transmisson so that you can
detach the trans shaft from the
clutch (pull-type).

JP