Vintage Towing -- Testing the Waters
Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. Based on my reading, it sounds like you can give me a hand. You'll probably get a chuckle out of this request, but then I'd like to at least get a few serious responses.
I'm considering towing a small travel trailer with this little guy:
Some of you are probably already laughing at this point. A rotary engine in a pickup truck? Yup, Mazda put the 1.3L wankel in this truck from '74 to '77. They've never been known for their torque but they'll run high rpms all day long. Believe it or not, the '74 model had more torque and horsepower than any other mini-truck on the market at the time.
Ok, settle down now. Lets say my goal was to pull a 2,500lb travel trailer with maybe 500-1,000lbs of gear. Could it be done? I've seen images on the web of much smaller vehicles towing what appear to be quite large trailers. I'm not planning on driving up and down any boat launches and I'm content with the right lane on the highway.
The good news about the truck: The rear axle has a 4.3 ratio (the brochure above states 4.625 but that's a '74 model and I have a '75). At 65 mph I'm reving 4,000 rpm in 4th gear (there is no 5th). Mazda provided a very large oil cooler since oil is used to cool parts of the engine that the coolant cannot reach. A few upgrades were done during the restoration: full 2.5" exhaust with no emissions, front slotted/drilled rotors, rear air-adjustable shocks.
The bad news: The truck was lowered about 2" and I'm in the process of finding someone with a parts truck to provide me the original front coil springs and rear leaf springs since I have coilovers up front and a missing leaf in the rear. The clutch is new, but the flywheel from an RX-4 was used instead which I believe is slightly lighter. 110hp@6000rpm and 117ftlb@3500rpm ain't much to work with.
Upgrades I know I'd have to do...
* Original Springs
* Tow Mirrors
* Frame mounted class 3 hitch
* Properly rated tires (I already have 7" rims opposed to the 5.5" OEM rims)
* Trailer brake controller
* Rear sway bar maybe?
* More ponies under the hood (forced induction, porting, etc)?
As for the trailer I tow, I'll need...
* trailer brakes
* weight distributing hitch
* anti sway kit
* careful loading to ensure proper tongue weight
As for my own towing background. Sadly its limited to UHaul trailers of various sizes. I towed one of their dual axle box trailers with a 1990 Grand Marquis when I was in college. I knew nothing about towing but that car pulled it like a champ in overdrive at 70+ mph.
So what do you think? Am I asking for trouble? Or do you think it would be cool to see a vintage truck like this pull into a campground with a vintage trailer in tow?
I'm considering towing a small travel trailer with this little guy:
Some of you are probably already laughing at this point. A rotary engine in a pickup truck? Yup, Mazda put the 1.3L wankel in this truck from '74 to '77. They've never been known for their torque but they'll run high rpms all day long. Believe it or not, the '74 model had more torque and horsepower than any other mini-truck on the market at the time.
Ok, settle down now. Lets say my goal was to pull a 2,500lb travel trailer with maybe 500-1,000lbs of gear. Could it be done? I've seen images on the web of much smaller vehicles towing what appear to be quite large trailers. I'm not planning on driving up and down any boat launches and I'm content with the right lane on the highway.
The good news about the truck: The rear axle has a 4.3 ratio (the brochure above states 4.625 but that's a '74 model and I have a '75). At 65 mph I'm reving 4,000 rpm in 4th gear (there is no 5th). Mazda provided a very large oil cooler since oil is used to cool parts of the engine that the coolant cannot reach. A few upgrades were done during the restoration: full 2.5" exhaust with no emissions, front slotted/drilled rotors, rear air-adjustable shocks.
The bad news: The truck was lowered about 2" and I'm in the process of finding someone with a parts truck to provide me the original front coil springs and rear leaf springs since I have coilovers up front and a missing leaf in the rear. The clutch is new, but the flywheel from an RX-4 was used instead which I believe is slightly lighter. 110hp@6000rpm and 117ftlb@3500rpm ain't much to work with.
Upgrades I know I'd have to do...
* Original Springs
* Tow Mirrors
* Frame mounted class 3 hitch
* Properly rated tires (I already have 7" rims opposed to the 5.5" OEM rims)
* Trailer brake controller
* Rear sway bar maybe?
* More ponies under the hood (forced induction, porting, etc)?
As for the trailer I tow, I'll need...
* trailer brakes
* weight distributing hitch
* anti sway kit
* careful loading to ensure proper tongue weight
As for my own towing background. Sadly its limited to UHaul trailers of various sizes. I towed one of their dual axle box trailers with a 1990 Grand Marquis when I was in college. I knew nothing about towing but that car pulled it like a champ in overdrive at 70+ mph.
So what do you think? Am I asking for trouble? Or do you think it would be cool to see a vintage truck like this pull into a campground with a vintage trailer in tow?
