'93 2600i 4x4 Resto/mild project

Hi guys,

I'm a new member and fairly new to my Mazda truck, but I've spent a lot of time in the last couple months learning more about these cool little trucks and wanted to contribute to the community. I have to say I've learned a lot from many of the members on here and on MT.

I bought my '93 B2600i 4x4 this fall from my cousin-in-law for $1500. My intention for this truck is for it to be my daily driver in the winter and my all-around rig for hunting, hauling, and having fun with. I figured I'd start a project thread because this truck is definitely a project. I want to fix all the issues and put it back right, then maybe go from there to a mild performance improvement.

So far I have replaced the front bumper, valence, turn signal, passenger side mirror, rear tail light cover, exhaust from the cat back, and parking brake cable. A pair of new high output sealed beam headlights should be here tomorrow. I have also repaired the hot/cold selector switch, grille, and fixed/modified the four wheel drive system.

A little history on the truck: it came from the south or southwest at some point in the last few years. Up here in Michigan that means that the body is in better shape than your average northern car of the same era. It has about 135k on it, manual transmission, standard cab, short box, 4x4. It's currently sitting on 265/75/r15 Coopers on the stock wheels. My to-do list is long, and I hope to be able to slowly chip away at it as time and money (and the wife ) allow.

Eventually, all of the body panels need to be refinished. There are some small areas of rust on the fenders, rockers, and the front edge of the box, but nothing that can't be fixed. I also want to repaint the rear bumper which is starting to get rusty. I work with my grandpa at his bodyshop, so that's something we can do fairly easily. It also has a Lund "truck hat" that I don't really like.The windshield has a couple big cracks and will need to be replaced down the road. The drivers side door lock cylinder is broken from a burglary attempt in the past. The ECU has not been repaired yet, and has some areas of concern, but for now the truck runs alright. I also still need to change all the fluids, starting with the diffs, transfer case, and manual transmission. I would like to replace the standard bench seat with buckets, whatever I can find that are cheap and comfortable. The stereo needs to be rewired and the speakers need to be replaced, I only have one speaker now that barely works. At the next oil change she's going to get a K&N filter; I thought about going to synthetic but at that many miles I'm going to stick with conventional oil.

Here's how she sits now:




Here is a diagram of my 4wd fix. I wired in a switch to the dash to control the engagement of the front hubs. There was an electrical gremlin that crept up after I'd had the truck a month or two, and the hubs weren't locking up when I engaged the 4wd shifter, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I tied into the hot wire to the cigarette lighter and grounded one terminal of each solenoid directly to the battery.



And the 3 position on-off-on switch on the dash




I hadn't thought about it before, but my uncle and I were talking and with this mod, I now have the ability to run 2wd low range. I had read about some people having an issue where their hubs tried to spontaneously lock while driving, so I figured I'd rather not trust twenty year old electronics if I didn't have to.

The ECU









Pretty sketchy, eh? I can find the money to have it fixed, but the big issue would be having the truck down for several days. Any suggestions?

I'll add some more pictures as I continue to make progress. Thanks for all the detailed info that I've found here and on MT, you guys' experience and knowledge is tremendously helpful.

EDIT: added ecu pics

Sweet! Them little 4X4 2600i's will pull a house down! (I know)

That ECU looks bad. I normally don't see them burnt like that. I'd advise getting a pro look at it. Also you can grab one from an MPV with the 4 cylinder engine. But open it up before you get one from a junkyard! Its likely bad too!

For bucket seats...I like my Dodge Neon Coupe seats. They lean you back a bit more, but its not bad. Mine are from a first gen Neon. Not sure if second gen seats are the same or not. It needs to be a coupe and not 4 door, because 4 door seats don't fold forward. Slight modification to the seat need to be made. Bending, fileing and maybe drilling out a rivet or something.

Good luck!

kick ass truck man i like the blue. sounds like you have some work a head but a pick up is always worth the time. they are so handy lol. i have one of those remote freewheel switches in my box of parts but i didnt know wth it went to lol.

Great little truck, I wish 4x4s where more available here.

Love the work around!!

Welcome and greast pics, write up! Keep the pics coming.

Dan

Those components on the ECU are pretty easily repairable, just take it to a college where they have electronics majors and have some of the students work on it. The labor will be next to 0 and the parts will cost you less than $20. They will know how to clean the board, safely remove the burnt resistors and such, and get it back to tip top shape. It looks like it was worked on before by an amateur with too high a wattage of a soldering iron, should only be 9w for PCB

I'd agree with that...But I didn't recommend it because no telling what else went out to overload those components...maybe something else on the board failed that isn't noticeable, or it could have been something on the truck that fried it. The board would need to be diagnosed and looked at with O-scopes and crap...Might not be as easy as bridging burnt traces and replacing burnt components.
I like the idea of giving it to a college to look at it!

2wd low range ability, perhaps pointless but AWESOME because now you have it
Nice diagram too, neat truck

That is a really good idea, I hadn't thought about that. I'd take a stab at it myself but I'm not sure what exact type of components to order as replacements. I will have to follow up on that, there are several large-ish schools close to me.

I replaced both headlights today with new sealed beam halogens, but the High Output versions. RockAuto had a closeout special so they were ~$20 shipped.

I'll put up a couple pictures in the moderately near future of the truck in daylight.

Well if you need a ecm for that truck i have one sitting in the shop.

I ordered some Redline MT-90 for the trans today. I'll do the transfer case later, I don't think it's as much of a priority. That stuff is great but pricey. I'm going to pick up some Advance Auto brand synthetic 75-90w gl-5 for the diffs, and some engine oil and filter in the next few days.

It is hard to tell in that light, but the color is sort of a blue/green. I think she deserves a bath tomorrow.