Member Rides - Peter Hetherington's RX5

 

Click on photos for a larger view

 

My car is a Marguerite white 1976 Mazda RX5 with a complicence plate dated 6/76 which would make it one of the first RX5 imported into Australia. I brought the car on the 8/2/2007 from a gent in Sydney who owned a business called MazFord, he had an extensive collection of early model Mazda rotaries and my vehicle had been in his possession for about 10 years.

 

When I brought the vehicle it still had the original complicence plate identified 13B rotary engine which is still in the car and running well. The RX5 was in very original condition with the Rotary Engine Anti Pollution System (REAPS) still fitted to the engine, original interior and exterior even to the point of having the factory alloys fitted with the (original equipment) Bridgestone RD106 tyres. The only real changes made to the car were an RX7 electronic distributer, aftermarket exhaust with extractors and the standard air-conditioning removed.

 

The 1976 Mazda RX5 came with a 13B rotary engine, which is a twin rotor engine of 654 cc per rotor giving a total capacity of 1308 cc, which is documented as producing maximum power of 101 kW @ 6000rpm and maximum torque of 163 Nm @ 4000rpm. My car is fitted with the standard JATCO L3N71, 3 speed automatic transmission giving the car a stated maximum speed in the gears of 80kph, 130kph and a frighting top speed of 170kph. It is fitted with power steering, four wheel disk brakes, Macpherson strut front suspension and a five link rear suspension with a live axle and standard differential.

 

It took me well over a year from the purchase date to get the car running reliably mainly because of all the issues that arise in a vehicle that has sat in storage for a long length of time. A contaminated fuel system was the main problem and also the most problematic; I have had the fuel tank out of the car on 3 occasions and finally seem to have the problem whipped. Another issue I encounter was when I went to get it registered in Queensland, I was advised that it was on the NSW repairable write-off vehicles register and I had to contact the Qld group who dealt with vehicle under this classification. I was dumbfounded because I had it checked by several body shops who advised me that it had never suffered any substantial damage. When I was finally able to contact the repairable write-off group I was advised that the NSW entry was incorrect so I was able to go back to Qld Transport for the 4th time and get the RX5 registered.

 

My main reason for getting the vehicle was to enter it into car shows but I soon tired of this scene and started looking for something that I could do with the car and get some real enjoyment from it after all the effort and time I had put into it. So that is why I have recently started running it in the Super Sprint Series at Morgan Park, Warwick. It may well be one of the slowest vehicles on the track but I enjoy it enormously and plan to continue in some sort of entry level motor sport as long as the car and I are able to turn up and run.

 

Z Car Club QLD ©