This has got to be the coolest,and most unique RE/PU out there.I wish I had the cash,and a use for such a cool truck.I bet it gets a lot of looks while towing larger vehicles.Why are all the cool cars,and trucks out west?Damn east coast living!



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mazda...11928399QQrdZ1

Chris
79 RX-7 GS
83 RX-7 LE
74 RE/PU
92 Cummins diesel

 

Neat vehicle but that truck needs all new tires, more leafs in the rear springs, and desperately needs a front end alignment.

Happy Bidding!

 

^ Im wit Drive fast on that... pretty cool though.

 

it looks like one of the two said to have been built by a forum member, I believe it was Stilettoman, but im not for sure

Stilettoman, did you build that?

 

My cousin built that truck, towed with it for many years, then sold his towing business. I arranged for the current owner to buy it at that time. I have personally towed cars and trucks with it several times, and the full sized truck in the photo is an extreme example of what it can do. It should be used for towing small cars, RX-7 or lighter. I does NOT need heavier springs. I once towed a B2200 with it, and the weight was about equal to the tow truck. The brakes are the limitation on what you can safely tow. Too much weight in the back and you unload the front wheels.

My cousin and I once were driving it in Seattle, with nothing on tow, and some kids pulled up next to us in a V8 Camaro. They were pointing and laughing at this silly little tow truck when the light changed, and away we went. At 60 mph they were about 1/2 car length ahead of us. I never saw such surprised looks!

 

nice truck

 

Why is that?

Not enough rear suspension.

Brakes are a totally separate issue.

You're talking to someone who has towed his 7 over a score of times, and has worked on suspensions for more than 2 decades. Including getting a REPU to handle on the autocross course.

That truck needs more rear spring to tow anything more than a honda civic like you said. Rear suspension dump is best handled my more rear spring.

Nice truck too. Not bagging on it, just saying it won't tow weight w/o more suspension. I put Gabriel air shocks in the rear of mine put 60-80psi in them each to move out of my old house. I know about rear suspension dive.

Brad

 

That thing towed my REPU just fine.

 

I doubt that truck has enough brakes to deal with anything over 1000lbs. Rear springs or not that thing just doesn't have much of a wheelbase. 70's mini-trucks are pretty light duty in general.

It is cool as a novelty but otherwise it just ain't a tow truck.

 

The law says if you're towing more than 1100lbs you need trailer brakes for a reason. I do agree REPU needs bigger brakes. That is fix-able with $$ as is higher load rating tires but wheelbase and track width fix gets complicated quick........

Still a neat truck.

 

That truck just screams for a 20b conversion.

 

Looking at this makes me wonder: what happens if you build a rotary diesel? Would that just make overheating problems worse or better short term solution?

 

The diesel combustion chamber is extremly hot and, if you were to make a rotory diesel it would

1: melt either and/or the rotor and housing
2: a better way to seal the motor would have to be made becuase a Diesel has to have compresssion of 24:1 to function, this high of compression would most likely blow seals and whatnot quite frequently(just a guess on that though)
3: The bitch is gonna get hott real fast, I mean like damn fast...if you dont know how a diesel works here it is in short. fuel is ignited in the combustion chamber of a diesel by the shear heat of the compressed air inside the engine, most people think they run off of glow plugs, and unless something big has changed in the last week they dont, the glow plug is merly used for cold start ups on some diesels. Another system that Caterpillar used is the precombustion chamber. Fuel again is ignited by compression, but the fuel in this system is first ignited in a small chamber and then it is forced out onto the top of the piston this creates better power and economy but it also cause a very hot spot on top of the piston, and this part of the piston is made of steel and the rest is made of aluminum. If the mixture is leaned out in a diesel to much such as when reving suddenly very quickly, some parts of the motor start to melt. A rotory diesle wouldnt be impossible(in fact I would like to see it done myself) it would just take a lil reengineering.

Sorry if this seems a little hard to read....had to pull an alnighter....Ill look back over it again when I get some sleep and see if I can make it clearer.

 

To far away but very cool.

 

After I bought a project REPU from the owner, he towed it to my house with that tow truck. It did just fine braking and accelerating. Infact, when the secondaries opened, it was surprisingly quick with a load. A stock REPU is the heaviest Mazda rotary vehicle as far as I know, and that tow truck did a very good job towing one.

I've used my REPUs to tow things as well. They're not quite as nice as the tow truck, but they hold their own. Brakes seem to be the weak point, but being the first minitruck from the '70s to have discs up front, I'm not really complaining.