Just another RePu Build
 

I figure it's time to start my build thread, so here goes..

This is an introduction I wrote about 2 weeks ago to post in my intro for mazdarepu forums, but they forum is messed up at the moment and I just saved it. It's out of date, I edited it a little bit, but I may contradict some stuff I have said in there later on through the progress I've made since I wrote it..

Hey, my name is Aaron, I'm a college student. My major is Mechanical Engineering. My Grandpa gave me his 1975 Mazda Repu (free!). It's been sitting in his garage for around 18 years and was started about 5 years ago and ran shortly, but not driven.

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It shows 77,xxx miles on the odometer, and my uncle said that he doesn't think it's rolled over. We towed it home from Illinois to Kentucky, it was probably a 280 mile drive on 15 year old tires (We were using a tow bar, my Grandpa used it to tow it behind his RV). My great uncle gave me 5 6 lug wheels, and my grandpa had 2 6 lug wheels behind his garage. So we had 7 potential spares. We aired them up, 3 held air but only one didn't leak.

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We took off, and about 70 miles out we had our first blowout. My brother in law and I found out half an hour later the driver side rear lugs are left hand thread. Luckily we only ruined one lug nut. We hit the road again and made it home going 55 for another 210 miles. We had made another spare just in case by getting some fix a flat and hammering the edge of the rim down on the bead.

My Grandpa put a factory rebuilt 13b in it before he parked it, so the engine has maybe 10 miles on it. It has an automatic transmission, but I'm checking ebay for an RX7 manual transmission as I write this. This was originally an Arizona truck, so it shouldn't have any rust, but it does sadly. The floor board is really bad.. I'm kinda scared to get the carpet out honestly lol. The carpet is actually in decent shape though. The dash pad is cracked really bad, and there is a bullet hole in the windshield. It's weird, I think someone shot OUT of the cab because there's no damage from a bullet inside.

I'm rambling, I know, but this is exactly the project I've been looking for a long time and I'm very excited. I gotta figure out how to post pictures, there will be plenty.

I have to get it started first. We got it turning over really well before we towed it home, but the spark is very weak. The left coil plug is very corroded, and the points were to. I clean the points, and it almost started several times. I think at this point I'm going to have to just get new plugs, plug wires, (planned to anyways) at least one coil, and drain the fuel. The gas is at least 18, maybe 20 years old.

I have a bad feeling about the brakes, I think I'm going to have to go completely through them. The master cylinder is sucked completely dry. The lines themselves are in good shape though.

I'm getting carried away, so I'm just going to stop. I doubt anyone made it this far anyways.

Ok, so I've gotten the seats out...

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Found some rust...

Attachment 689792 Just one of what I'm afraid is many holes.

I got a points/condenser kit, but couldn't get two of the condensors out.. Going to have to pull the dizzy because the phillips screw is stripped. Anyways, the spark is a lot better now. I think it's down to the last two condensers now, probably a spark plug wire or two as well...

One thing, I'm only probably 4 hours into working on this truck and I've already broken 3 bolts. And I was using PB blaster too. What an awesome start.

Ok. I dropped the gas tank today, which was an interesting endeavor.
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That gas was ripe. We have a nice pressure washer that is about 500 psi (supposed to be about 1000 psi, but the regulator is messed up), but also has a heater and has a line for degreaser. So I went to work on it today. No pictures of it, but most of the paint on the top half is gone.

So that's all caught up to where I am. I'm still finding pieces of tire from that blowout in the bed, and the mud flap is bent up under the bed. Yes, I'm taking out the roll bar..

Thanks for reading, if you read all that. :lol:

Great story & find man, don't feel that your rambling off. My opinion if your words and description are put together with some sense your fine. Good luck with build Aaron.

Thank you, I agree. I always loved the build threads that were extremely descriptive so I guess that's what I'm going for. :beer:

Here is a picture of the gas tank after we pressure washed it, as well as the pressure washer.

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And by the way that picture of the tank beforehand with the green bucket, yes that is the gas that came out of it.

nice man!! car looks like a good project if you got the time. Good luck!

Whoa, some work there! That floor :eek: Still, bit jealous of a free Repu, even one with some... err, issues. We never got Repus here in the UK so threads like this are the closest I'm ever going to get to one, please ramble on all you like :nod:

Thanks man. Being a college student, time is all I have. I'm working on getting the money lol.

:lol: I agree. I wish they had just realized how rare these trucks are, because my great uncle let it sit in his field for a few years.. at which time I believe it got the bullet hole in the windshield.

I'm hoping to get the rest of my carpet pulled today..I just have to figure out how to get the back board out. Any hints, anyone? I've found some 1/4" bolts holding the board into the back wall, but one is covered by the carpet that goes up the back. I don't want to ruin the carpet because it's in pretty good shape. Ideas?

Cool that you got it from your grandpa, would have loved to see this thing being towed behind an RV. Good luck with the build, enjoy the process not the result. I recently built a REPU and I am now enjoying the results hahahahahahhah

Haha I'm sure man. Yeah he towed it from Arizona to Illinois behind an RV.

Love the truck but.... Those seats and the rear bumper.... got to go!!! lol

REPU looks good. A very good base for reconstruction. I want this for myself ... You need very much time.
Congratulations for your Grandfather. He had a very good idea to give you a REPU.
Jacek

Good luck on the project, can't wait to see your progress!

Yeah I'm still not sure about the seats, but I'm pretty set on getting rid of the bumper. My dad wants me to keep the roll bar and bumper, and I want to get rid of both of them lol. That'd probably be 200 lbs off the back with both off, probably more really. I agree, Alfa! He's owned it for 30 years, so I think he got sick of looking at it lol.

Ok here's some things I've been thinking about the past few days.

First of all, I plan to upgrade the alternator and the ignition. I saw one ignition upgrade with some ridiculous name (DLIDFIS or something) but is supposed to be really good. Then I know that a 2nd gen rx7 alternator is supposed to be pretty easy. Next I was thinking a lot more advanced.. I'm really considering scrapping the carb and going Megasquirt. I've been reading up on it, and I'm trying to decide what to do with my ignition. My wiring harness needs some work as it is lol.
I have a lot on my mind about this build if you couldn't tell. I haven't been able to work on it much lately because my daily driver keeps trying to over heat on me. I got a thermostat today though so that should take care of it.
Another thing, there's this black box, I think the emissions control box, behind the passenger seat. Is this correct? Since my emissions stuff is already deleted, can't I remove it? If I'm going Megasquirt (pretty set on it) I would remove it anyways, right? So basically, what is it? Lol.

These floorboards are starting to get to me. I wish I could just fix them already. I really want to pull the cab and bed and por-15 the frame, but I know as soon as I do that I'm going to be 10 grand deep before I'm even on the road.

Gah!! So many thoughts right now lol. Opinions?

Oh yeah, what do I do about door panels? They're an ugly white and I want the black ones every other repu in the world seems to have except mine.

Ok sorry for the lack of updates. Sadly nothing has been really moving on the truck. I just don't have any money to work with at the moment lol. Hopefully in January I can get the ball rolling. I found a cheap car I'm going to look at, my current driver doesn't do very well on gas lol. So when I get that I'm considering stripping it down to the frame and doing a frame off restoration. Hmm..

i recently got a green repu in simular shape. id really like to save it but i may just grab a courier cab that is in better shape. or... cut all the sheet metal i need out of a courier cab and weld it in. i am also poor with little free time. i feel like we will be sharing the struggle. lol.

Lol glad to hear that another Repu is being saved! I'm sorry to say I haven't made any progress since my last update. It has been sitting in the barn begging for attention lol. I have a job now though, but since I'm on break from school all my freetime is going into that. I've decided this project will be a full resto instead of a drive it and work on it as I can lol. So right now I'm going to be getting a 1983 Monte Carlo (sorry rotary guys!) for cheap, and be making that into a megasquirt 1 run, turbod, 5.3 4l80e. Lol I've got the LS bug. Don't worry, I'm not going to be putting a v8 into my Repu. I'm going to do a factory restoration on that.

I have a question though, how do I stop the rust?! I need to do something to stop the rust from spreading. I was thinking primer, but then how would I clean it up once I am ready to work on it? Really need some help here lol.

Thanks,
Aaron.