Mazda 929L 1978

It is time for me to put some pictures of my new 929L.  I bought this car in January from a car dismantler who did not want to dismantle it.
He stored it for many years at his mothers house underneath a Gum tree.  It is genuine 1 owner and only had genuine 84000Km on the odometer.
The interior, paint and body is comme ci comme ça.  The engine was seized from being stationary for so long.  The suspension  - no good from age.




The first job was to clean the car from all the leaves and spiders.


The engine bay was fully of leaves and very large(dead) Huntsman spiders.


To make the engine work - I was very lucky!!!!  I removed the spark plugs and sprayed Penetrene into the cylinder bores to
loosen the rust and lubricate the bores.  Using the starter motor with 1/2" breaker bar and a 1.8m length of steel pipe to increase leverage, we began
to slowly turn the motor.  Each time the motor moved a little bit, I would spray more Penetrene into the cylinders.  Finally the motor began to rotate freely.
We then spun the motor using the starter motor to push the excess Penetrene out of the cylinder bores, refitted the old spark plugs and started the car.
It started first time!!!!  We let it idle for about 10 minutes, then replaced the oil and spark plugs.

This is me taking it for its first drive (in many years).  Even though the suspension was not good and the brakes rusty, it drove very well.  I was very happy!!!  

Now, at least, I could move the car around easily without having to push it in and out of our factory - we sell and service tyre workshop equipment.

Next step - fix the suspension.  This step was difficult - there is very little information or aftermarket parts available for the S1 929L in Australia.
I think this is the same in Europe as well, except you guys are really lucky because you were also able to buy the Hardtop 929L, Australia, no!!!

I bought(from Ebay) new front strut inserts and rear shock absorbers.  The new strut inserts were too large in diameter and would not fit inside
the strut tubes!





The rear shock absorbers were easy!    I also checked the rear brake shoes at the same time - they are almost new!!!!



So, back to the front struts.
After many phone calls, I found that the LA4 strut is the same diameter as the LA2(929/RX4) strut.  No-one could tell me this!!!!!

The original "wet leg" strut and the new sealed strut insert


Shows the top collar of the strut - this sit below the locking nut and seal.


This shows the new insert fitted.  This will float inside the strut housing, if I do not make a spacer.


I cut the original collar.


Fits ok.


Now modify the locking nut by removing the old oil seal - not needed anymore.


Struts fitted and re-assembled - I also cut 1 coil off each spring to lower the front a little more.
This shows the difference in strut length by removing 1 coil - on left, original on right.

Gorgeous car ! Congratulations, it was really worth saving
Is it already back on the road or does it need some more work ?

I guess it has the same 2.0L 4cylindres than the european versions ?


I really like the way you adapted the new front struts !
Is it safe to cut the springs ?
On my 1983 Nissan Laurel, the springs are shot on the left side, I managed to find used front ones but I cannot get rear ones... So it would be possible to cut and re-use springs made for another car ?

Yes, the car is back on the road, but I wanted to make sure the major safety items were correct first.
I thought I would make this a build thread for you guys.  

The engine is the same slow 100Hp 2.0L MA motor with 3 speed automatic, but my plans are to fit a fuel injected 20B triple rotor
peripheral port motor - this should make around 400Hp.  This means many more modifications later, but at the moment I am just enjoying
driving the car standard.  It is such a comfortable old car!

Cutting springs - is not recommended, but it is a cheap fast way to lower the vehicle.  When cutting you have to be careful not to cut too much
otherwise a shorter strut insert is needed to make sure it does not hit the bottom at full compression.  The whole car needs to sit lower - I want the wheel arches level
with the tops of the tyres but this can wait until I do the big engine conversion.

More pictures and little modifications to come.

When I was removing the struts, I found the rubber brake hoses had perished from age.  There were cracks in the rubber
everywhere!



Lucky for me, there is a company 10 minutes from our factory, who specialise in manufacturing brake components,
so I took the old hoses to them, and they gave me the choice of rubber or braided hose.  I purchased the braided type -
much better!






I also purchased new brake pads and new disc rotors.  I have not fitted the new rotors yet because the old ones are still good but
a little rusty.



I also fitted some new tyres - the old tyres were 3 different sizes and full set of hubcaps.  I wanted wider tyres so have fitted 215/60 x 14.  To me, with the hub caps
it looks much better.

Is the frame going to be strong enough for a 400hp engine ?
But having such a powerful car would definitely be cool

Thanks for the advice about springs !
That's a good idea to check the brake hoses, I'll do that too !

I love it !

It's look like the green hornet car

They multiply!!!!!!

This is a small Huntsman spider on my fingers, this morning.

A blue one, my favorite color !
Will you use it for parts or is she going to be a driver too ?
And it looks like another Mazda 929 Coupé, next to the building

You live in a very dangerous country... Luckily we don't have any of those in France !

Brrrr.....i'm not sure to love this kind of 8 legs surprise....

Thibs a écrit:

A blue one, my favorite color !
Will you use it for parts or is she going to be a driver too ?
And it looks like another Mazda 929 Coupé, next to the building

You live in a very dangerous country... Luckily we don't have any of those in France !

I agree.  The early model Mazdas in blue or silver are my favourite colours because they always had the blue/grey interior.

I am thinking to disassemble this car for parts - it has over 240000km on the odometer.  I have another white 929L (this one was given
to me by the gentleman who owned the green 929L) - the body is better but the interior is burgundy.  So I may change the complete interior to blue.

Otherwise, I have some spares to keep or to sell.

The other 929 HBSHE, is my son's car - genuine 1 owner vehicle as well.  Completely original.  I wait for him to give me money and tell me what he wants
to fix/change on it, but first he must organise a safety check.  Otherwise I will do all the work, and he will do nothing!

japamobile a écrit:

Brrrr.....i'm not sure to love this kind of 8 legs surprise....

No, these are friendly spiders but they can grow to 200mm diameter! When they fall from the ceiling you hear them hit the floor!

I worry more about the redback spider!!!! During summer, there are many of these!!!! These ones are poisonous!!!!

Oh! Another owner of this Hyper-reliable car. I loved its shape (especially in hard-top) and with the original face. I have a Sedan that I like very much
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDQkq7hBfrI
The last of the kind for years in the area... and have some parts for sale if anyone interested

By the way, If someone have some "bumper rubber fender" (I don't know exact mname) parts as yu got on yours, I would like it !

It is great to make them cruising on our boring roads

In English they are called "over riders" - they ride over the top of the bumper bar.  The Japanese Luce model came with chrome ones
and a small rubber strip in front.  These ones look really cool!

If I could find the original hood ornament as well, this would be really great! Was it available in Japan only ?

Unfortunately, I have never seen any of the hood ornaments or the chrome corner lights (sit on top of the front guards/fenders in front of the mirrors), outside of Japan.
I can give you all the part numbers for the hood ornament and the different badges - if you would like to scare your local Mazda spare parts dealer, to see if they can find them!

I bought today the red S2 wagon, also for spare parts.  It has electric windows, mirrors, head light cleaners and central locking.  Also it is a 5 speed manual.
So now, I can make my green sedan a manual transmission with Luce electric upgrades.

I fear that our local Mazda dealers have no idea of what cars are these ! About these series, japanese people were the luckiest with equipments close to american standards (USA in where these cars were never imported). So in Australia you only have Sedan and Wagon models. Unfortunatly, in Europe, the Hard-top was quite poorly equiped (no servo direction or power Windows for example) The second serie can have these equipments as standard and other stuff, but only with the Super Sporty version. And Your Wagon was more luxurious than our (no power Windows, 4 speeds manual gearbox).

It is always funny to see differencies in equipements / option between markets with the Japanese cars!!

Yesterday, I received my new coilover struts in preparation for the engine change.  They will make the car
stiffer at the front, allow me to adjust the height, have adjustable bump and rebound, and last, adjustable camber.

I cannot wait to fit these to see what the car looks like.

So, what's up ? By the way, I don't know if one of you, Luce Legato/929 L owners, lives as I do in a misty area. But don't you have
problems with defrost efficiency ? The car by winter or rainy day appears to be wetter than a submarine !! Especially with 3 or 4 people inside. Moreover with AC. I still don't understand how japanese iengineers mind worked at this time...Impossible to make AC working with defrost to dry the air. The right side of the panel only dedicated to heat (AC is explicitly on the left side) excludes air conditionning action. And this is the same thing on Toyota, Datsun...Concretly, you can't use AC during Winter !! This was happily modified with the Luce Mark 3 generation.

Ça va bien, merci!

This is an easy modification if you understand the electrical wiring in the car.
When the lever is to the left, there is a micro switch attached to the switch bracket. The lever contacts
the microswitch to turn the AC on. This is why you cannot move the lever to the right.

Change this switch to a push button or lever switch, and locate it onto your dash board. This way you can use
the AC with the heater as well.

Thanx for the thread. I'll try to look after that, though It's strange that we have to make an "aftermarket' modification
to expect drying our windows in moist winter

Hey Rotated, suddenly my "top headlights" stopped to work. All beams are in function on the "bottom headlights"
Do you know if there's a specific relay or fuse to check for this 929L dual headlamps ?

Thanx