I have an 81' 626, I have been surfing the net finding other people who have modded theirs, I haven't found anyone in the states that has as of yet, mostly australia and a few other countries, I am curious if anyone knows what parts can interchange with little or no modification, or with mid level mods, the ones that i have seen have had 13b motors that are N/a or Turbo or Twin Turbo, that is what I would like to do, however, a more realistic approach for me financially would be to find a good miata donor and use the motor out of it and suspension parts to aid the handling of my car, the cool thing about my car is it is already RWD so the possiblities for engine, tranny swaps are nearly endless, i once thought about putting a small block V-8 in it, that would be entertaining, but I would like to make it a kick ass sleeper and corner carver, some road racing future maybe if funds come through. Just wanting to know if anyone has had any experience modding these earlier cars. Thanks for any help guys and gals.
Anyone with knowledge on early 80's 626's
- Thread starter early626
- Start date
I've heard that the 929 V6 will fit within the engine bay of the 1st gen 626. I do recall that the 626's engine bay is quite large for the size of the car. Might want to look up on it, the 929's DOHC 3L makes 197hp and 197 ft lbs, for the transmission you'll need to find a '88-'89(don't think '90 or '91 had them) 929 base with the 5 speed...you could only get a 5 speed in that car with the SOHC 3L(155hp, 165 ft lbs), and in Canada they had 5 speed V6 MPV 1st gens so you could look there as well.
Hope that helps. I can barely remember the last time I saw a 1st gen 626.
Hope that helps. I can barely remember the last time I saw a 1st gen 626.
That could help a lot, and yes, the engine bay is unusually large, not sure why, but it definately could work to my advantage, it already has a 5-speed tranny in it, but I'm not sure if it would mate to any other engine, let alone handle the power.
How about suspension/brake upgrades, if you noticed the link that I posted, that guy had fabbed a lot of RX-7 parts to fit, I"m not sure what else I could do, I would like to upgrade to a 4 wheel disc brake setup, with some coilovers all the way around dropped a little with probably 16 or 17 inch wheels.
I would like to do an entire frame off restoration from the ground up and go nuts with it, but budget limitations will probably keep me from doing that, and my wife thinks I"m nuts for even thinking about this project. My Mazda was my first car, my mother purchased it brand new along with a brand new B-2000 pickup, my brother has the pickup now in Arizona and my 626 is currently sitting at my mother's house in Oregon. The actual mileage on the 626 is less than 90k original, it has major engine issues, mostly having to do with carburetion and emissions. Anyway, it seems like a fun project, and I have two other cars so it's not like it's my daily driver anyway. We'll see. Thanks for any help anyone can give me.
How about suspension/brake upgrades, if you noticed the link that I posted, that guy had fabbed a lot of RX-7 parts to fit, I"m not sure what else I could do, I would like to upgrade to a 4 wheel disc brake setup, with some coilovers all the way around dropped a little with probably 16 or 17 inch wheels.
I would like to do an entire frame off restoration from the ground up and go nuts with it, but budget limitations will probably keep me from doing that, and my wife thinks I"m nuts for even thinking about this project. My Mazda was my first car, my mother purchased it brand new along with a brand new B-2000 pickup, my brother has the pickup now in Arizona and my 626 is currently sitting at my mother's house in Oregon. The actual mileage on the 626 is less than 90k original, it has major engine issues, mostly having to do with carburetion and emissions. Anyway, it seems like a fun project, and I have two other cars so it's not like it's my daily driver anyway. We'll see. Thanks for any help anyone can give me.
Antoine
Administrator
Checkout this thread: Generations:Mazda 626 and Mazda 6
Antoine said:
yeah, I think I already saw that when I searched the forum once before. I am going to have to try and get some info from people from other countries where that model was a little more popular. Most people in the us have probably never seen a 1st gen 626.
Thanks guys..and gals?
early626 said:
I currently have an '82, 2d coupe that I'm rebuilding. I owned a 1979 back in 1980 when they first came out and when i saw this one, had to have it for old times sake.
As far as compatibilities and crossover parts/pieces, engine parts are the same as the ford courier and mazda b2000 of around the same era. the rear axle is the same as on the RX7 of the same era as well. I haven't confirmed this yet but am told that the shocks and struts off the '81-83 RX7 GS and GSL (Not SE) are the same. If you want to add disc brakes locate an RX7 GSL SE model. I have an '83 GSL RX7 disc brakes and the axles are the same. Much of the drive train of the 626 was the same as the first Gen. RX7's.
As far as interchanging Miata parts, well unless you're able to do a LOT of chassis and suspension fabrication, you wont be able to change out the rear suspension directly. The Miata has independant rear suspension so you'd have to fabricate hangers for the a-arms and work out mountings for the rear coil-over struts. The 626 has coil springs and shocks, a lot different than the Miata. Front suspension on the Miata will be equally difficult to swap. I have two Miata's so I've been looking at the same things you have. I had similar thoughts.
Engine/tranny wise, not sure what would need to be done to make the mounts. I haven't looked too closely on that yet. I have access to a 12A which I am told is a fairly simple swap. That remains to be seen. You could probably look at Grannyspeedshop http://www.grannysspeedshop.com/ for their v8 conversion for the RX7. There might need to be some structural mods to make it work. A big block v-8 will upset the handling just due to the extra weight. So in a straight line it might be fine, but through the twisties, it might be a tank. Some RX7 guys have opted for the Chevy 4.3L V-6, still plenty of HP but a little lighter package and easier and cheaper to find. Common in Chevy Astro vans and S10 pickups.
One big issue is aftermarket rims. The 626 as well as the 1st gen RX's have a unique bolt pattern of 4x110 with a 20mm offset. Yeah try finding something to fit that.
Anyway what I've found is that 4x108 also known as 4x4.25 rims WILL bolt right up with no modifications. But beware of the FWD rims offsets, most are 35-45mm and will cause the rim to hit the struts and shocks. If you look for rims that will fit the late 70's to mid 80 mustangs, they had 4x108 and some had 20mm+/- offsets, The newer Ford Focus is the one that uses 4x108 but not sure of the backspacing, most likely it's in that 35-40+mm range. It looks like the car can easily take 17 inch rims, but 16's are going to be my choice primarily because I hate the big rim 4wd jacked up look and also I don't want to ride on rubberbands, but that's personal preference more than anything. Personally anything bigger than 17's will overwhelm the small car.
That's all I can think of right now.
Good luck.
If you want to do something unique pay attention, because you'd be the first personal to have a RWD F2T.
B2200 transmission or an RX-7 TII with the top casing of a Ford Econoline (the old terrorist lookin vans) transmission from the late 70s early 80s and use an F2T engine. It will bolt right up to the block and you'll be all set. You could also use the genuine FE3 or the Kia version. Kia bought the blueprints to this engine and released it here in the US, since Mazdas genuine FE3 was never released here. Kias version can be found in Sportages. Extremely detuned, but can be built. The manifolds on it are set up for only a RWD vehicle, which is what makes it a PITA to swap into a 1G MX-6 or 88-92 626.
If you decided to go this route, you'll only have a few options for engine management. Stock ECU with chip or learn how to run Megasquirt. The 1G MX-6 was equipped with a VAF which no one has found a conversion to get rid of it besides MS due to the voltage system it runs on.
I'm going to stop typing because chances are you dont want this engine.
-Tyler
B2200 transmission or an RX-7 TII with the top casing of a Ford Econoline (the old terrorist lookin vans) transmission from the late 70s early 80s and use an F2T engine. It will bolt right up to the block and you'll be all set. You could also use the genuine FE3 or the Kia version. Kia bought the blueprints to this engine and released it here in the US, since Mazdas genuine FE3 was never released here. Kias version can be found in Sportages. Extremely detuned, but can be built. The manifolds on it are set up for only a RWD vehicle, which is what makes it a PITA to swap into a 1G MX-6 or 88-92 626.
If you decided to go this route, you'll only have a few options for engine management. Stock ECU with chip or learn how to run Megasquirt. The 1G MX-6 was equipped with a VAF which no one has found a conversion to get rid of it besides MS due to the voltage system it runs on.
I'm going to stop typing because chances are you dont want this engine.
-Tyler
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Antoine said:
Thanks guys, I haven't posted or checked this in a while and I appreciate the suggestions immensely.
Good to know about the miata swap issues. And the other issues that you know of. I am trying to figure out what I could do otherwise still. I have a few projects and am a little short on cash at the moment so all of this will be on the back burner for a while.
Keep the info coming.
