Subject covers all the specifics I know about trying to find the beast. It's for the '79-'82 Mazda 626, and its purpose should be self-explanatory from the name. Looks (from the drawing in the factory manual) to be a chunk of stamped/formed sheet-metal, but I've got exactly zero idea about what the dimensions, angles, etc. are.
No luck via Google or other search engines, and I've been hoping to find one through eBay for a while now, with no success.
Anybody got a clue where to locate one? Other than a Mazda dealership - The only semi-local dealership around says "Those haven't been available, even by special order, for years", but due to their complete and total incompetence with anything else I've asked them having to do with the car, I tend to not believe them as far as I can spit.
This would be the same crew of merry idiots who, when I asked what the proper size/type/etc to use was, insisted, over and over and over again, that the '79-'82 Mazda 626 has no "O"-ring on the distributor shaft. And worse, maintained that insistence even after I went out to the car, pulled the distributor, and brought it in to show them the old, worn out one that was allowing oil to ooze down the side of the block. "Somebody else must have put that there, then, 'cause they don't come from the factory like that" was the response at that point. IDIOTS! If that's so, why is there a very obviously machined-in groove for it??? Did somebody else put that there, too? (visualize the parts guy giving me a blank stare, and me leaving in disgust after a few seconds) Then there's their claim that the center-bearing of the driveline isn't servicable when I tried to find out what numbers I needed to order a new bearing - "You can't just replace the bearing. You have to replace the entire driveshaft as an assembly" - despite my dropping the factory manual for the car on the counter, opening it up to Section 8, Page 2, Paragraph 8-A, Sections 1 through 6 and Figure 8-5, and asking "Then why is the procedure right here in the factory book???" (The cited data gives both an exploded-view illustration and wonderfully detailed steps (but unfortunately, no specifications or part numbers) for removing, inspecting, and replacing *JUST THE BEARING*) The response? "Uh, well, nobody replaces just the bearing. It takes too long. We always just replace the entire driveshaft if there's a problem." IDIOTS!
Anyway, my apologies for going off on a rant. If anyone knows where to find oddball special-purpose tools like this one specifically (and I may be wanting more "toys" like it, since I'm planning on doing a *TOTAL* rebuild/recondition of a "spare" engine for this little beast of mine
*VERY* soon), I'd love to hear from you, either on the group, or via E-mail.Note: The current "password" that needs to be included in the Subject: line of any E-mail to me is "PopperAndShadow", exactly as you see it, either with or without the quotes. Without the "password", my filters send the message straight to the junk without me ever knowing it existed.