OY pics and plans

[Aspen500]

There's quite a few Mazda model over the years that were nothing but Ford's with different sheetmetal and vice-versa. At least they're more different than the VW Routan. Nothing more than a Chrysler T&C with a different front end and badges. Otherwise, they're exactly the same.

Side story: Way back at the Ford dealer, we had a Mazda 6 come in with a fried trans. At that time it was pretty much a Contour (JUNK) chassis. Reman trans from Mazda $3,800. Exact same reman trans from Ford $2,400. Mazda trans was 2 weeks out (IIRC), Ford we had the next morning. Go figure. Literally the ONLY difference was it had a Ford sticker on it instead of Mazda. Probably both were done at the same reman company. What I mean is, if you have a Mazda, it pays to check if Ford uses the same part or assy. It could be substantially less money.

 

[Opticon77]

The second gen Mazda 3s (09-13) were still on a shared C1 global Ford platform. Newer Mazdas are on Mazda specific SkyActiv platforms.

 

[old yellow 78]

Actually, after doing a bit of research, I found that since 2015 Mazda has been a completely independently owned Japanize company. Ford did have a partnership with Mazda for a long time, owning varying percentages in stock from as early as 1974 up to 2015. Fords stake in Mazda stock reached a high of 33.4% in 1995, and was down to only 3% by 2010, and just 2.1% by 2014, finally selling that off completely in 2015 to which Takashi Yamanouchi, Mazdas first post-Ford CEO said “This is a Godsend!” LOL.

Interestingly, Mazda then signed a long-term agreement with Toyota as of 2015 to collaborate on SkyActiv gas, diesel, and hydrogen fuel cell powered engines and technology which they are still working on together, but have no ownership/stock relationship.

The partnership between Ford and Mazda was one of “one hand washing the other” in that Mazda helped Ford out with small-car engineering, and lean manufacturing, and Ford helped Mazda with finance and marketing. Some older models of Ford and Mazda were clearly badge engineered, particularly in the ‘90’s, such as the ’91 Explorer and the Mazda Navajo, and the Ranger and B-series Mazda compact pickups. Even the Ford Probe was Mazda based. Later models not so much, although the Ford Focus, Volvo S40, Ford Fusion/Edge and Lincoln MKZ/MKX were all based on Mazdas. The later Fords and Mazdas basically just shared the same “C1” platform initially up to 2008, and only partly until 2013 with the use of the subsequent “Global C” platform. There was also collaboration on use of SkyActiv engines and technology.

Even so, I recently noticed that some parts on my 2010 Mazda 3 are branded with a FoMoCo stamping. For instance, when I put new shocks on the rear recently, I noticed that the trailing arms were stamped “FoMoCo”. This is because of the shared Global C platform I suppose. Really, anymore there is no such thing as a purely domestic or purely "foreign" car. It really is a global market and global technology. I suspect that is for the good actually.

 

[kkritsilas]

The Mercury Tracer of many years ago was based on the Mazda 323, just with different grille/headlights and tail-lights. A friend's wife had one, and loved driving it, to the extent that she didn't want to give it up. The rear hub had an issue, and he couldn't find the part for it anywhere. I told him to find the 323 equivalent part, and the car was back up and running.

 

[Darth-Car]

Funny I never had any trouble getting my F's, or M's through the Winter stuff. I actually preferred them to any front drive platform.

With all of the world influence on all of the major nameplates out there, you just can not buy a pure nationality car anymore, but if I am going to spend my money on something new I want it to go to a company that is headquartered, owned, designs, and builds its product here. That unfortunately is no longer Momma Mopar. I guess I would have to buy blue oval.

 

[old yellow 78]

It was a nice sunny day today, light breeze, and in the low '50's. I was outside raking out some gardens, avoiding a ton of paperwork that I have to do. It was so nice, I decided it was time to wake up OY for a short drive. It started right up on the second round of cranking and ran just fine. I gave it quite a bit of time to warm up and circulate its vital juices before driving it about four or five miles. I stopped to take a few pictures posted below. Can't wait to get back to work on it. Spring begins next Thursday, March 19th! Hooray!

 

[XfbodyX]

Sounds like a super fun day.

 

[old yellow 78]

Here is a nice article I enjoyed reading in this mornings Hemmings Daily.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2020/...aily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020-03-17

This article was interesting because it shows that driver quality cars with low budget affordable maintainance and improvements are becoming popular again. I have been missing that segment of the hobby since so many peoples goals seem to be restoration, modification, or hot-rodding of their old cars. I remember having such fun with my father who was a mechanic as a younger man, and he enjoyed just making old cars run well and dependably. I remember when it was a great treat to simply put on new seat covers, or to be able to fix rust with bondo in the driveway. I have nothing against people who want to do more to their cars, but I like the comaraderie of those who simply want to make their car nice, on a budget, by themselves, on weekends.

When I was driving OY on Sunday, I was quite aware of just how old the car is now (42 years), and how it drives and sounds so different from modern cars. I periodically think about replacing the Super Six with a Magnum 318, or a period correct V8, but then, I actually really like the good ol' slanty. It sounds good. It's relatively simple. It's reliable and dependable. And it reminds me of a simpler time. All good stuff. It's not fast, but neither am I, so who cares. It's nice to just cruise around in and relax. Something to look forward to this Spring.

 

[Darth-Car]

The great Spring ritual with Dad for several weeks in the evening after work. How will we repair the cracked Bondo this year, that will improve it from what we did last year? Those were good times. Most kids today, mine included have no interest in that sort of stuff at all.

 

[Aspen500]

Some of my best memories of growing up are me and my dad out in the garage working on the cars. My mom always said she never had to worry about us, she knew exactly where to find us, lol.

 

[techexchange]

4048257 POWER ANTENNA PKG /TRI BAND U4048444 1978 H,N,F,G 1 125.00
Marty has an NOS Tri-band in stock.

I have 8 or 9 NOS Mopar Tri Band Antennas I'm looking to sell. I have one 4048257 never openned. I have two 4048259 that I openned few days ago to take pictures. I have a third that has handwritten 4048259 on box but part numbers dont match the two sealed boxes. Also 40488444 powered triband never opened. Then several non-power antenna. 2 x 4176112 for truck. One missing has parts package other doesn't. Never openned not powered 4057649 and 4048349 both sealed. I buy and sell things as a second job mostly on eBay and would also appreciate any info on models each one fits. I think they are all triband. They came from Eastern Electronics in Hackensack NJ about 15 years ago. They were an AC Delco radio installation and repair shop... Searching by part number on eBay I came up with this posting. I'm in Brooklyn and spend a good deal of time in State College PA.

 

[old yellow 78]

I decided to move this post to this thread to keep up the progress report on OY in one place:

OY seems happy to be out of the garage. It's pretty dusty and dirty and I have to clean it up:

I decided to just switch out the entire glove box door rather than try to change the locks and that worked fine. Doesn't really matter to me that much. Then I decided that I'm going to just tear the dash apart and finally put in all the toys that I have been collecting for it. It would be so much easier to do all of it at once rather than piecemeal.

I have a maplight; a digital clock (I found the wire connector for it up in the dash); a reverse light switch (I'm just going to put it where I want); a minty dual speaker dashtop (have to find mini speakers); a beautiful AM/FM/CB stereo transceiver with mike and dash hook; a remote passenger mirror with the corresponding lower dash panel for the control, and a nice woodgrain dash bezel. Now for the job of finding where I put all that stuff.

I really enjoyed taking the dash apart and it was all pretty simple. I labeled everything because this will probably take a while doing it in my spare time (and I don't trust my memory).

 

[old yellow 78]

I have 8 or 9 NOS Mopar Tri Band Antennas I'm looking to sell. I have one 4048257 never openned. I have two 4048259 that I openned few days ago to take pictures. I have a third that has handwritten 4048259 on box but part numbers dont match the two sealed boxes. Also 40488444 powered triband never opened.

The power tri-band antenna was a one year only (1978) feature - at least on the F bodies. The power antenna was standard with the AM/CB and AM/FM/CB transceivers that year. In '79, the tri-band antenna was a fixed antenna. In my searching, I found them to be very hard to find but did manage to find a spare.

 

[old yellow 78]

I took a look at the back of the lower passenger side dash panel hoping that there might be some type of marking to locate the reverse light indicator, but nope. Just smooth. I think it should be located somewhere close to the white wire clip under the hole for the map light. Anyone have a manual shift '76 that they could get the measurements for the correct location? Even a close up picture of one including the map light (or map light hole) as a reference would be helpful.

 

[BudW]

Usually Chrysler does have leave a mark on parts for things like that - but I looked myself and there is nothing on the backside of my parts to indicate anything on that location. I have a theory as to why there is nothing but only a theory.

If you look at the panel under the steering column, you will find a mark for the passenger side mirror remote hole, as well as other things of that nature in other locations of the car.
BudW

 

[old yellow 78]

Here's another pic which shows that there is no marking for the hole. The white clip was holding the yellow wire that runs from the door jamb switch to the dome light, and is right below the hole for the absent map light. I guess it doesn't matter that much actually, but I just wanted it to be as close to the factory location as possible. Even though the reverse light was only offered on the '76's I think, maybe by '78 they did away with any markings for it. Yet that seems weird - why bother if it is never even seen?

The more difficult job will be mounting the passenger remote mirror. It was a job getting that off the parts car, and probably will be a much bigger job to put in on my wagon. There are two knock-out plugs to run the cable through, one on the door and one on the door jamb. I think to do a nice job, I might have to take the door off to get access. Boy, how things snowball into bigger things!

 

[old yellow 78]

 

[DCAspen]

Take your door panel off and roll up the window.That should give you enough access to put the mirror on.I did it to my 77' R/T when I put the pass side mirror on.

 

[old yellow 78]

Thanks DCAspen. I remember that I was able to get it off the donor car without removing the door, but it wasn't easy. The chicken was of no help at all. Also, as you can see, there is not much access to get to the mirror mounting point. Putting it on my wagon might be more tricky though, particularly drilling into my door for the mounting holes. I did take some pics of the mounting points for reference. Unfortunately, I now have another huge project that just landed on my "To Do" list, so my wagon is back on the wait list. Frustrating.

It was a shame about this '77 Volare Premier donor wagon. It was nicely optioned and in its past must have been a beautiful wagon with it's metallic black paint and woodgrain. It was rust free and reportedly ran great, but had been the casualty of some stupid dispute between ex's, so in revenge the owner removed the engine and trans to put into his Dart, effectively making the Volare a parts car.

I bought the car online, and drove from Pennsylvania to Tulsa, Oklahoma mainly for the near perfect plaid interior. I wasn't about to let that interior get away! Once cleaned, the seats are now almost like new. I took as many parts from it as time and space in my old F-150 would allow, including the entire interior, wheels, roof rack, mirrors, etc. I wish I had taken the tilt wheel column, but didn't. I left the carcass for the seller to scrap.

 

[BudW]

There are three holes stamped into the inner door skin for a socket wrench (and extension) - which allows for a lot of wiggle room (if you get the holes in wrong location).

I have installed a lot of mirrors into Right doors for those cars that came without the mirror. What I do is measure the distance from mirror gasket (black plastic) to front edge of the door on drivers side:

Before doing the same for passenger door, I will put down masking tape on the door (one wide strip or a few narrow strips). Then get out tape measure and using the black plastic gasket (bump or ridge side up) and mark an outline of the gasket on the tape (as well as the holes). Note: It will be impossible to get the mirror in the exact location, but you will be close enough that no one will ever know. Using a straight edge, mark two lines on the holes (to form a "X") to mark the hole centers, then use a automatic center punch (I love that tool...) to mark the hole centers.

You can get this for about $5.00 (US) from Harbor Freight (or other locations). Use of a (pointed) punch will also work.

At this point, you can now drill the holes with tape removed or in place. The punch mark(s) will keep the drill bit from walking.
For the larger holes, a metal hole punch does an excellent job (if you have access to one/some):

You still have to drill a pilot hole (for the bolt), though.

I like to take a round file and file off the sharp edges from the holes - but that is optional.
Also optional, is to take some clear fingernail polish (or similar) and dab onto the new holes, just to keep rust at bay.

These are from a new Right side mirror kit (for my wagon). This is a bit different from a factory installed mirror, but the procedure is the same.
Put the mirror gasket on door (bump or ridge-side up). With window rolled up, insert the metal plate (top of picture) inside of door. push in the two plastic push pins through both to hold the gasket in place.

Note: the actual hole diameters can be smaller than the holes on the gasket. They make holes bigger in case you drill a hole off center.
BudW