West Coast B2600i is crashin the party

[Pantharen]

Howdy from Vancouver Island..

This is the only Canadian "mini truck" 4x4 forum I have found.. I have been on BC4x4.com and a few of the others.. but they're mostly rednecks, and dont like those of use that dont drive a JHEEP..

Do you guys care that I dont drive a Nissan, I'm in the "other" Japanese mini truck I have 2 Mazda B2600i 4x4's plus a couple of Mazda MPV 4x4's

[Scotto]

Cool. Welcome to the dark side


Sent from my iThingy.

[buttsy]

Hey bud, there are vehicles of all sorts here, we don't discriminate. There are even Jeeps, and Blazers (or Jimmy if you prefer) *cringe*... Do we get pics of your rigs or what? Welcome to the club.

This post has been written entirely in recycled electrons by a bonehead on a Galaxy S4. Also from inside an igloo. Why not, I'm from the "North" right?

[Bow_Tied]

(or Jimmy if you prefer) *cringe*...

Jealousy abounds

[Bow_Tied]

Welcome left coaster!! New guys buys the beer.

[Jayman]

Welcome to the club! No discrimination here, the name of the club might be Nissan, but all are welcome.

Post up some pics of your rig! Everyone likes pics!

[ECosta]

Welcome! i think pictures are mandatory

[Nd4SpdSe]

Nice! I've got a buddy with a B2600 4x4. I don't know if he still has his regular cab, but he now runs an extended cab in the Tropical Emeral Metallic of my old '92 Mx-3. I actually wanted one back in the day, but I had a hard time finding one. Love them tho!

We do indeed need pics!

[Miner]

I'll discriminate plenty! But as long as it has a bed in the back and a frame underneath its good enough for me.

Welcome.

[the x kid]

Welcome to the show.

[Pantharen]

I dont have any current pictures, as both trucks are a "Work in Progress" type of deal..

However here are pictures the OO took.. the P/O sent them to me via email..



This bumper is solid metal, the thing is dam heavy too..


2.5 inch body lift. (running an electric fan, and a rad from a dodge ram)
((It is always a Good Day when you a towing a Yota out))



This is the red truck, that the P/O took

[Spider 007]

Welcome to the zoo!

I drive a Mazda truck too...

[the x kid]

I've seen some Mazdas or Ford Rangers built up. They look cool.

[Pantharen]

Welcome to the zoo!

I drive a Mazda truck too...

You drive a Ford Ranger with Mazda tags..

I've seen some Mazdas or Ford Rangers built up. They look cool.

Any Mazda prior to 1994 is NOT a Ford Ranger. It wasn't until 94 that Mazda bailed Ford out of their financial difficulties, and as a thank you to Mazda, Ford felt it was in their best interest to steal the "Eco-Boost" technology from Mazda, and release it a year prior to Mazda's release date..

I might own a Ranger 2WD, But I'll never expect it to be reliable... after all, it isn't Japanese made

[Morpheus]

Welcome to the party

[Pantharen]

Maybe I get to go wheeling the summer with some of the Vancouver / Vancouver Island members

[Nd4SpdSe]

Any Mazda prior to 1994 is NOT a Ford Ranger. It wasn't until 94 that Mazda bailed Ford out of their financial difficulties, and as a thank you to Mazda, Ford felt it was in their best interest to steal the "Eco-Boost" technology from Mazda, and release it a year prior to Mazda's release date..

Ya the 83-93 Rangers are rebadged Mazda pickup trucks, and even previous to the Ranger, the Courier, was made by Mazda, basically a piston-powered, Ford-badged Repu.

Ford came to Mazda not as a bail-out for Ford, but to bail-out Mazda in the 60's, and also get into the Japan market. They invest and worked with Mazda in the 80's and more help for Mazda back in 97.

BusinessWeek explained the alliance between Ford and Mazda has been a very successful one, with Mazda saving perhaps $90 million a year in development costs and Ford "several times" that,

This was a time when Ford was expending and has their hands in owning many companies like Jaguar, Aston Martin, Volvo and Land Rover

They were particularly interested in their design of small pick up trucks and small cars and technology, and to help Mazda be competitive in the domestic North American market (Mazda being very small compared to other car companies). Ford used heavilly Mazda's vehicles in the 90's, which include the Fiesta, Escort, Escort ZX2, Cougar, Probe, Tonic, Meteor, Laser, Teslar, and Mercury Tracer. Even in the 2000's with the Mazda6/Ford Edge/Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan/Lincoln MKZ, the Mazda Tribute/Ford Escape/Mercury Mariner and the Mazda3/5/Ford Focus/Volvo C30/S40/V50. Ford sold their shares back to Mazda to save face and avoid a bail-out unlike the other 2 of the big 3 when they crashed. Mazda was hit hard, but now was on their own, with now the free will again to design cars are they please since Ford in the late 90's had started to control much of Mazda's designs and direction.

If you don't know the Ford Probe (aka Mazda Mx-6) was suppose to REPLACE the Mustang....

Ford felt it was in their best interest to steal the "Eco-Boost" technology from Mazda, and release it a year prior to Mazda's release date..

I'm not sure what you mean by this? Mazda has nothing currently related to Ford's Eco-Boost except that it seems that the Focus ST may be a 2.0L version of the discontinued MazdaSpeed3's 2.3L. A new MazdaSpeed3 is on hold, but it may be to work to align the motor with the efficiency of their SkyActiv tech, but we'll see; the problem is you can`t slap a turbo on a 13/14:1 compression motor. The Miata, also using the to-be-retired MZR, has a new model which is anxiouly being awaited, especially to see what kind of motor it'll have. They have power and fuel efficiency goals, but the teaser video out this week seems to have the sound of a turbo in whatever they're using, but it may or may not be part of them working with Fiat/Alfa-Romeo to share it's platform. For all we know it would be the Abarth 1.4 in there...A test mule was seen with that combo a few months back, but it`s assumed that it`s the Fiat version with just a hacked up current gen Miata body on it.

The Ford Motor Company owns rights to build and use the MZR generation of engines under their Duratec brand name for global service in its vehicles since 2003.

As of 2011, Mazda discontinued development of the MZR generation of engines to be replaced by their new SkyActiv generation of engines. Ford continues to develop and manufacture variants of the Z-engine and L-engine for their Duratec and EcoBoost four-cylinder engines. The 3rd generation MX-5 is still produced with the MZR 1.8 or 2.0 engine, which may be shipped from the factory with a Ford Motor Company oil filter fitted, suggesting a shared production line.

As of 2010, Ford is introducing a GDI turbo variant of the Mazda LF engine design as the EcoBoost 2.0L. They have developed their own manifold and engine control systems for use with the direct-injected, turbocharged EcoBoost.

Mazda's SkyActiv direction as far as I know and see, is their own, and actually doesn't believe in using hybrid tech or going small displacement+turbo for increasing fuel efficiency.

[ECosta]

Well that is def interesting, thanks for sharing Nd4SpdSe

[Scotto]

You rock, Mike. I wanted to respond but didn't quite know the right approach. You, my friend, nailed it.


Sent from my iThingy.

[Nd4SpdSe]

Thanks!

(Added some extra info in the EcoBoost section also)