This ''build thread'' may never amount to much as the 1984 Mazda B2000 Sundowner(third generation B2000, 1977-1985) belongs to my father and he has no intention of doing anything BUT keeping it running which looks as though that may, more times than not, fall into my hands which I am totally fine with.
First I would like to say how great of man/father/husband/son my Dad is and is a far better man/person then I can ever hope/aspire to be. He has sacrificed so much working hard to make sure he provided for his family which included myself, 4 other siblings and of course my mother.
He hasn't had his "own" car for well over 20 years and I was looking at getting something for him when he came across this great deal on a '84 Mazda B2000 long bed truck that his work had bought when it was brand new and only had around 100k miles on it when he bought it. It had been ''decently'' maintained by his work's garage but shows its age which coincidentally it is the same age as me, 32 years old! Thankfully I have aged much more graciously!
The long bed version in some regions, like the US, was called the Sundowner which according to Wikipedia was a reference to nomadic Australian herders who would make camp wherever they were at sundown.It also has a 2.0 liter single over head cam inline 4 cylinder motor with a 5 speed manual gearbox that sounds like a diesel drivetrain when you are inside driving it.
Well last week my dad said that the gearbox, 5spd manual, hadn't been wanting to go into gear as of late and wondered if it was the slave cylinder, which I thought sounded likely and suggested changing the master cylinder at the same time. He asked if I wouldn't mind doing it, well of course I didn't!
He had said it also had a oil leak which he thought was coming from the head, which I had read they have problematic head gaskets but I didn't think much oil would originate from that issue. Upon getting it and looking it was quickly apparent that the valve cover gasket was the main culprit of the oil leak that was making a mess of the engine bay. I went ahead and ordered the master and slave cylinder from my local auto parts store and they said it would be in the next day.
So the next day(08-25-16) I went and picked up the new master and salve cylinder and tore into it but not before taking a few before pics....
...master cylinder in question...
I quickly found a few other issues like cracking vacuum lines, a cracked fuel line to the carburetor, a oil soaked air filter and the valve cover bolts only being finger tight. So I removed everything including the valve cover to find a old cork valve cover gasket that had turned into a brittle and practically unrecognizable substance.
I went ahead and called up my local auto parts store and ordered the valve cover gasket, a rubber one of course, and they said that would be in the next morning, the 26th of August. Here is the valve cover after I removed it:
and after cleaning it up(both on the outside and underside) and about 1.5hrs or grinding/smoothing....
...the plan was to smooth everything possible except for the center raised portion but unfortunately they apparently cast these valve covers thinner than the Miata valve covers and I just BARELY went thru it causing a pin hole. So that plan was out and a little JB weld on the bottom side the hole was taken care of and I decided to just paint it but only had gold spray paint on hand that I had bought in an attempt to match the color that Beatrush uses.
I had the right size vacuum line on had so I replaced what was cracked and found one or two lines that weren't hooked up and I BELIEVE I found where they went. Had to buy some fuel line and of course I forgot the old one and was going to buy two sizes but the larger size was $5/ft because it was for fuel injection(higher psi rating) and I had 5 ft
of it so ya didn't buy that and of course it ended up being the size I needed! Some of the new parts:
So all said and done I did the following:
-installed a new clutch master cylinder
-installed a new clutch slave cylinder
-installed a new air filter
-installed a new RUBBER valve cover gasket
-replaced a few vacuum lines
-replaced the two carburetor fuel lines(feed and return?)
-shaved and painted the oem valve cover
Here is the pile of old parts:
...and the ''results'' of my "hard work"...
...I went and washed the motor off at a car wash and was going to take interior and exterior pics but my camera battery was dying. So I will have to get those pics and post them up next time. Besides basic maintenance I would like to find a nice set of wheels for the stock size tires, maybe do some body work and try my hand at painting it as the roof and hood have surface rust.
I also noticed the rear cylinders spark plug wire was lying on the exhaust manifold and it had a 1" or so split and the inside looked "swollen" so that will be one of the next maintenance items, which I would have went ahead and bought myself, as I had exceeded my original quote on parts, but am currently ''in between jobs''. Will probably go ahead and get some plugs and spark plug wires for it and replace them, that should "break me'' at around $20.
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