1987 Mazda Familia GT Turbo Cabriolet, RFI!

My partner and I have recently purchased a 1987 Japan model Familia GT turbo cabriolet (pauses to catch breath (glare) ). We are in Australia, so of course it is an import.

According to the registration papers, it is a 1.5 litre turbo, but according to the wikipedia Mazda engines page, the only turbo variant of this series motor that was put into that era Familia GT was the b6t, which was a 1.6 litre twin cam 16v EFI turbo, intercooled engine.

Having previously had a 1988 Australian market Ford laser ghia, which had the 1.6lt 8v engine, which had a noticeably different rocker cover, alot skinnier and plain black gloss paint, however the rocker cover on the engine in our Familia has a crackle black paint coating, and seems to be alot bigger overall (Clutching at straws here, but any clues I can give you would probably help.)

The engine in the Familia is the original engine, so obviously, whatever was actually specced in this model is what it is. It also bears mention I think, that the turbo is a factory issue job, with all appropriate info stickers, in Japanese of course, on the underside of the bonnet. It also has the standard injection setup with the large red turbo blazon on top.

Unfortunately, from my Googling around the net, I have been able to glean very little information even on the car itself, except a note at the wiki site that it is rare, let alone any information on this apparently non-existant 1.5lt turbo engine.

If anyone has any information, links etc on this absolute little gem of a car, especially the engine and make and model of turbo used on it, I would verymuch appreciate it.

Love this little beast, it rocks and is a real head turner. Unfortunately, we do not currently have a digital camera, or we could post photographs of the car and engine, which would undoubtably make it easier to identify, though hopefully we can borrow one soon.

Thanks in advance,

Bardan and Cruella.

*NB I should also add, that apart from a set of AP racing wheels, and a mazdaspeed steering wheel, this car is in completely original condition, i.e. it is a factory cabrio.
 
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KK, getting a couple of external pics of it this afternoon from the person who sold it to us.. As I said, don't curently have a digicam so they'll have to suffice for the moment, but I'm endeavouring to get some better ones asap :D . Bear in mind though that we only got it a week ago, so we haven't had the chance to put any money into it yet, but first bill of order is a paintjob and a re-covered canopy..

Then of course we'll get onto the important things..Like a bigger fatter blowier turbo, hehehehe...

Personally I think, that for a car this rare, in the condition that it is in, and only 127000 original km's on it, we did bloody well for $3500aud

Watch this space..
 
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The BF chassis Familia turbo models had the B6T, not the B5T like the previous generation.

Your 8V 1.6L is the B6 SOHC, while the B6T is a 16V DOHC, thus the difference in valve covers.

This Cabriolet you have is RARE. I want pics as well.

Here's a translated Mazda Familia history page about the BF chassis cars:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mazda.co.jp%2Fhistory%2Ffamilia%2Fhistory%2Fhistory6.html&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=en&safe=off&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools
 
the early (square style headlights) BF does come with the choice of the E3, E5, E5-T, B6 (DOHC), or the B6-T engines

if your registration papers say its a 1.5 than that's what it probably is... and all of the E engines were SOHC 8 valve engines driven by timing chain, hence why the valve cover looks bigger than the SOHC B engines

wiki sucks for any mazda info, so take what's on there with a grain of salt.... in fact, I don't even mention or recommend that site for mazda n00bs

anyhow, the E5 pretty much sucks as far as performance... although the motor is stout, there's basically NO parts for it, and being that it only has 2 valves per cylinder, the head can't flow worth a damn! get rid of it if you can and swap in a B6T that can be found in the laser or the later (slant style headlights) BF... yeah, you can probably find an early BF with the B6T but there's less of those around than the later BFs with that engine! besides, IIRC the early BFs have smaller turbos than the later ones did anyway
 
KK, here are a couple of piccies.

Basically, we're going to run the standard donk till next tax time, but in the meantime it'll be getting the body cleaned up and resprayed...

familia1rt3.jpg


familia2lk6.jpg


There ya go, our little beastie..

Any thoughts on colour? Nothing too exotic, gotta watch the $$, hehehe..
 
Have to do my Wayne's World on this one... Schwing! Schwing!

Great car Bardan and Cruella, and I second the pearl white idea. :)
 
BadKarma said:
Have to do my Wayne's World on this one... Schwing! Schwing!

Great car Bardan and Cruella, and I second the pearl white idea. :)

so basically a respray of the same colour it is now? lol

Also, any ideas on where i might find a brand new canopy for it?
i suppose online is as good as any but im sure one of you guys would have some better ideas on where to start looking than we do besides others might want to use google as well so we cant got tieing it up indefinately :P
 
not that it looks anything like it, but it reminds me of the PT Cruiser Convertible (turbo, "roll bar", hatch, 2 dr)
 
Except for the crappy rear end that looks like its sticking its @$$ out for everyone to f*ck. Although this is older, it looks much nicer.
 

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