My First Car - 1986 Mazda B2000

Quick post this morning to make up for falling asleep on the couch last night!  This is my very first car- a 1986 Mazda B2000 long bed pickup.

That's me, on graduation day, thinking I was the coolest thing on four wheels!  Forget all of the talk of air suspension, body drops, custom body work, and billet wheels- this was 1995, and I worked at McDonalds!

Here's a quick list of the mods on this custom ride: I pulled all of the leaf springs out except for the main leaf, then added 3" lowering blocks to ensure that the rear axle was sitting hard on the frame- no suspension travel at all!  Up front, I started by cranking the torsion bars all the way down, but I never read about re-indexing the torsion hangers, so I actually dragged the bars all the way off on a speed bump at school!  So, no suspension travel up front, either!

Those wheels you're feasting your eyes on are 14" stock LX chromies, wrapped in 195/60-14 tires!  Only the best for this ride!  Inside, the "stocker is cheaper" look continued, with a factory tape deck wired to a small Clarion amplifier for two pairs of 4" coaxial speakers.  Of course, a mini has to have some bass, so a custom box with four Pioneer 8" woofers sat behind the seat.

I learned a lot with this truck- mostly about how NOT to modify a vehicle!  But I had a blast cruising around Sacramento with my friends, and it never left me stranded.  These Mazdas are so cheap now, I think I'll add one to my "must build" list for the future- I'd love the opportunity to build one the right way!