1990 B2200 Ground Up

I used to be a member here and just re joined.

This project will be my third Mazda B series build. My last two I will post pics of sometime in this thread.

This one will be a ground up build. I am beginning with a 1990 B2200 reg cab. I will be getting a Kia Sportage to use for the engine, trans and other necessary parts.

Step one on this project was to find the truck. I will tell the story of the search for and finding the truck to start with. I will add pics as I go.

More to come.

Well I was going to get the material for the frame table this weekend but too far behind on my day job and a holiday weekend means I have to wait till next week. Normally a 3 day weekend would be a good time to get stuff done but Memorial day weekend is when me and my two brothers all celebrate our May birthdays.

So next week I get the square tube for the frame table and we build it. Already have it designed in CAD and I have the casters for it. Just need to make some jacks so I can level it. Thought about using some screws but lately thinking of some car jacks from the wrecking yard. Might be a better idea.

Welcome back! Pics are a must!!

I am going to post pics of my first two Mazdas then start with new pics. Unfortunately not many pics exist of my first two so I have been scanning old photos to get what I can. More to come.

In for this!

Ok, back in June of 1988 I had a buddy that bought this truck new from Mazda.





We took it directly to my Dad's shop the day he bought it and dropped it with blocks and turned down torsion bars. We did a few other things as you can see.

We went to a car show out in San Angelo and saw all kinds of trucks. We go no play at all. We decided on the long drive home to build a show worthy truck. The next day we took pics of the truck in front of the building sitting both directions. We developed the pics, no digital cameras then, and cut them up and taped them together to get the idea we had in mind.

In late July early August we pulled the truck in the shop on a Thursday night and started cutting. On Monday we drove it out.











Then it got painted, we went to many more shows etc etc etc.



I bought the truck in 1991 and decided to stretch it again. I wanted to add 6 feet between the doors and a little more behind the back doors.









It took about 4 door skins and some fenders etc to do the sides and a long piece for the roof. All of this over bend square tube skeleton structure.







This was my daily by the way. So I got it like I wanted and started pulling it apart to start painting it.







Painted it a base coat white and black on the top to see how it might look with a vinyl top. I knew it was too much plain white so I decided to add some graphics. I also decided to add to the ground effects to make them more pronounced.









Got it all done just in time for Heatwave 1995.





As I was saying I drove it as a daily. We even used it on family trips like this one down to South Padre. That's 641 miles from my house. Drove it on the beach and down to the border. Did not cross in the truck.



Everything on this truck was either factory Mazda pieces or something we made. No kit anything. These next pics were some show in Oklahoma in early 1997.







I drove it a few more years and went to shows all over the country. The last long trip we went on was Spring Splash 1997. This next pic was taken in the parking lot of the London Bridge in Lake Havasu between California and Arizona.



On the way back I took these somewhere in New Mexico. By this time I had added an extra factory Mazda fuel tank to the left side and A/C.







Keep in mind I was a poor MFr the whole time so to be able to build this I had to make as much of it as I could myself. It's hard being a minitrucker in America.

At Heatwave 1997 some guy asked about buying the truck. I quoted a price like I had done so many times before. People always asked if it was for sale. By this time I knew the style was way out of date. I thought I would never be able to sell it.

In October of 1997 the guy calls me up and says he talked to me at Heatwave and has the cash ready. He meets me in waco, drives me back home in it and I did not see it again until Heatwave 2000. Haven't seen or heard anything of it since.



I put more than 100,000 miles on it as a daily. When I sold it I bought a 97 F-150 and tried to get out of the scene. Little did I know I would get bitten by the bug again.

So I gave away literally two 16ft trailer loads of Mazda B series parts. Determined to not do anymore minitrucks.

Well in late 1998 I decided I had not fully kicked my B series or minitruck habits. I started designing my next project. I knew I wanted to build the entire truck. I don't mean buy a truck and tear it down and rebuild everything. I mean start with nothing but frame tube and build the frame first then build the rest by hand.







Well I bought some 2"x4"x3/16" rectangle tube determined to build the frame for the new ride. As you can see it was not built like a traditional frame. I went Nascar style with the center much wider then narrowing at the back.







This was because the idea was to make the floor bolt down to the frame, then have the body bolt down to the frame. Then I could take the body off and drive the truck with the body off.





The frame was going to be the air tank because I had no room for a big ugly tank.



I used the factory front clip to get the Mazda suspension geometry. I planned to build new arms for it as well.

Then came the building of the body. I started by building a skeleton out of 1" square tube. I used a stock bed for mockup of the width and where the body lines go. Then I cut door skins off of doors and bed sides off of beds and the windshield frame off the cab. From this blue cab the only thing I used was the windshield frame.







I then added aluminum in the floor and started building the console and seating. I had 4 bucket seats from a Chevy van. They came factory with short backs and no head rests. This was so they would not stick up past the body. This body was doored by the way.





I really wish I had more pics but my bitch ass ex wife took all my pics and destroyed them.

So I had this thing as a rolling chassis with the body on it and I decided to take it to Dustoff in 2000 or 2001. Can't remember exactly.

This is what I rolled out.











The trunk was made from a Mazda 929 hood skin fitted over another square tube skeleton.

Next step was to get the bodywork roughed in and I just couldn't resist taking it to shows unfinished.









I sent Lance Martz (editor of Minitrickin' magazine) some pics as I had it to about this stage and he flipped out. He put one of these pics on his desktop of his PC and his boss saw it and said to get it on the cover of an Under Construction special issue.

He saw me with it at Showfest in May of 2002 and said we had a date of July 5th at a studio in Costa Mesa for the cover shoot. He said to have it it cover ready in primer by then or the cover would go to another truck. That truck was the Nissan Pathfinder used in the next year's Under Construction issue. They did them one a year back then.

We got the truck to Costa Mesa after driving straight through.



This model by the way, you have seen. Not before this but after. She is Candice Michelle. From Go Daddy and WWE.



















I took it to heatwave 2002, then took it back to the shop to get it running.



Got it running, and took it to Showfest 2003. Unloaded it and drove it the whole weekend.



Not many pics remain and I really wish I had more. I planned to finish it but lost it. I owed my landlord money when I closed my shop and he crushed the body. I had it taken apart redoing everything to bring it out done. Lost it, the parts, the body, the frame, all of it. I have one copy of the magazine in good condition. My biggest vehicle regret is not finishing it. This is why I am building my next Mazda.

So some of the things I did with the last Mazda was to use the frame for the air tank. It's been done a few times but that was back in 1999 when I did that one and I had not seen it done then. I also went RHD which has also been done. I used a Tacoma power rack and pinion and just flipped it over. I used a GEO Metro brake booster and installed it in the back just in front of the rearend. I then ran a rod under the floor to push it.

I used a York compressor and had the outlet go into the frame in the front. I had manual plunger style valves mounted in the console. Not fancy electrics or a big block valve kit. It worked pretty well.

I have lots of ideas for the new truck. Just have to make a few things first. By the way I am also helping my 17 year old son Casey build a 66 F-100 he bought. He is going full tube chassis, cutting down the long bed and a big block.

So I quit my day job building armored cars and started building vintage industrial furniture for a living from my home shop. I needed a shop truck.

I was using my Freestar van to haul steel and wood. It did a wonderful job. I can haul 10ft pieces inside the van. Crazy huh.

So I can't afford a full size truck so I bought this Mazda.







I found this 1991 B220 on Craigslist. It's an LE-5 with auto trans, A/C, power steering, cruise, tach, brand new tires (blue stripe still on the inside) etc etc with all the receipts and records. I paid $2900 for it. It's in immaculate condition and runs and drives great with no squeaks or rattles.











It has 202,000 miles but had an overhaul at 168,000. I was surprised at how expensive these trucks are in my area. I was also looking for a truck to start my project with. I'll get to that here in just a bit.

So I needed this gray Mazda to use to haul steel and wood for my shop. I built this bed rack from 1" square tube. It mounts directly to existing holes in the Mazda bed. I did not drill any holes. It will un bolt in 5 minutes.













Now that project is done and I use the truck all the time now to bring home materials and supplies.

So next I started looking for a truck to use for a project build. The idea being to use a Mazda truck with a Kia/Mazda engine. I want the fuel injection and auto trans. I don't have time to chase parts all over so I plan to buy an entire Sportage. They are very cheap on CL. That way I have everything I need without having to hunt stuff down.

I just needed a semi straight B series. Looked on CL and found several. Was going to go buy one and then the morning of I saw another one, $750, straight but did not run. Great, I zeroed in on that one. Next day I see this one posted on CL











Guy had it on CL for $700. I am thinking straight body, white is a good base color, reg short bed (better than an ex cab bed for what I have in mind) and it runs. Says it runs good but will sputter every now and then while driving. Auto trans, power steering, A/C. The air does not work and the trans will not go into overdrive. It slips out of high gear until you rev it back up and it warms up.

Guy says to bring a trailer and cash and it's mine. I take the $700, wasn't really going to try to talk him down unless he went that direction. I knew it was worth more than $700. Bought a tow bar at Harbor Freight and went the hour drive to the place. Guy cranks it right up, runs good.

He says he bought it for a hunting truck but the trans thing forces him to sell it. He says he thinks its a good $500 truck. So I say "so the price is $500?" and he says yes. Did not want to give him any chance to remember he listed it on CL for $700. Whipped out the cash, checked the title and drove it out of there.

I figured I would see how far I could drive it away from there before I pulled over and installed the tow bar. It made it all the way to my house. Sputtered every minute or two then picked back up. Probably bad gas or stopped up fuel filter. Never got above 1/3 on the temp gauge. Trans would not go into overdrive. Stopped and looked at the fluid, it was very clean. He probably changed it trying to get it to work.

It quit slipping out of high after it warmed up. Got it home and I crank it every day just to make sure the battery stays up.