B3200 PreRunner Build.

B2300 PreRunner Build.

Hey guys,

A couple of months ago i was going to buy a new work truck, but i got to thinking.... new truck means new payment. I gave it some more thinking and decided to spruce up the ol' Mazda. Its a 95 B2300. I was doing some research and I immediately got the itch to build a prerunner style truck. The reason i say "style" is i live in florida and its pointless to build a full blown prerunner race/street truck, plus its my work truck. Some of you could care less about my truck but id figure id post every now and then to keep your guys posted on the updates. Should be a cool little Mazda.....

So i started off by purchasing some wheels and tires. I got a new set 15" "D Shape" ProComp Rock Crawlers wrapped in 31X10.50X15 ProComp AT's (got a good deal). I ordered them and should have them in a day or so. I was just going to buy some lugs and call it a day but i had the idea to keep my old lugs and freshen up my OEM lug caps. I hope they fit on the new wheels. They were pretty ugly so i painted them Jet back and cleared them to match the black powder coating on the Rock Crawler wheels. Should give it a clean look. Here is a pic of the freshly painted caps.


I plan to get a nice bent Ibeam kit with 2" wheel spacers or nice long travel kit to give it a nice stance, but im not 100% sure which way i want to go. Don't want to go cheap and regret not saving my money and getting something nicer for suspension. So i opted for some 2" derlin Coil Spacers so i can run the 31s with a decent stance with out worrying about rubbing.

Leveled out.


While i was on a painting spree i decided to paint a few more things. So i decided to take my tail lights, 3rd brake light, conner lights and smoke them out. I do not claim to be a world class painter, but design and manufacture Carbon Fiber and i do a lot of clearing and painting things black. So there done right. I wanted to give them a nice smoke look and not completely black them out (so the PD stays off my ass). Heres what i got.

Front conners.


3rd light.




Tail Lights.




I couldn't stop there, my grill was looking really rough and oxidized. I had some flat clear laying a round and sprayed it black and used flat clear to give it a factory look. Im not a huge fan of chrome, so i lightly* smoked out the Mazda logo to give it a black chrome look...





I took my front bumper off, im a pretty decnt welder/fabricator and iv decided to build my own front bumper, rear bumper, and "Prerunner" style "Tiregate". Iv always liked the look of the tire gate but 1K is too steep for a truck that is worth as much. Im one to do it right and iv done a good amount of research, should all come out nice. Im hoping to start on the front bumper this week. I do alot in the Carbon Fiber industry, i haven't seen anyone have a carbon fiber skid plate so i think im going to make one. May make one for the Tiregate too.

IM a big do it your selfer and want to make most of the parts if i can. Other than that the "To Do" list looks like...
~Bent beam kit (cheap or nicer kit)
~Tint the windows
~Bed liner
~Make my own Carbon Fiber hood
~Make a few interior Carbon Fiber parts
~Newer Ranger Seats
~Bulged Front fenders (modified to fit the Mazda)
~May paint the truck Black
And im sure im missing a few other things....

Ill keep ya posted!
~Shawn

Shawn@BMS said:

Hey guys,

A couple of months ago i was going to buy a new work truck, but i got to thinking.... new truck means new payment. I gave it some more thinking and decided to spruce up the ol' Mazda. Its a 95 B2300. I was doing some research and I immediately got the itch to build a prerunner style truck. The reason i say "style" is i live in florida and its pointless to build a full blown prerunner race/street truck, plus its my work truck. Some of you could care less about my truck but id figure id post every now and then to keep your guys posted on the updates. Should be a cool little Mazda.....

So i started off by purchasing some wheels and tires. I got a new set 15" "D Shape" ProComp Rock Crawlers wrapped in 31X10.50X15 ProComp AT's (got a good deal). I ordered them and should have them in a day or so. I was just going to buy some lugs and call it a day but i had the idea to keep my old lugs and freshen up my OEM lug caps. I hope they fit on the new wheels. They were pretty ugly so i painted them Jet back and cleared them to match the black powder coating on the Rock Crawler wheels. Should give it a clean look. Here is a pic of the freshly painted caps.

I plan to get a nice bent Ibeam kit with 2" wheel spacers or nice long travel kit to give it a nice stance, but im not 100% sure which way i want to go. Don't want to go cheap and regret not saving my money and getting something nicer for suspension. So i opted for some 2" derlin Coil Spacers so i can run the 31s with a decent stance with out worrying about rubbing.

Leveled out.

While i was on a painting spree i decided to paint a few more things. So i decided to take my tail lights, 3rd brake light, conner lights and smoke them out. I do not claim to be a world class painter, but design and manufacture Carbon Fiber and i do a lot of clearing and painting things black. So there done right. I wanted to give them a nice smoke look and not completely black them out (so the PD stays off my ass). Heres what i got.

Front conners.

3rd light.

Tail Lights.

I couldn't stop there, my grill was looking really rough and oxidized. I had some flat clear laying a round and sprayed it black and used flat clear to give it a factory look. Im not a huge fan of chrome, so i lightly* smoked out the Mazda logo to give it a black chrome look...

I took my front bumper off, im a pretty decnt welder/fabricator and iv decided to build my own front bumper, rear bumper, and "Prerunner" style "Tiregate". Iv always liked the look of the tire gate but 1K is too steep for a truck that is worth as much. Im one to do it right and iv done a good amount of research, should all come out nice. Im hoping to start on the front bumper this week. I do alot in the Carbon Fiber industry, i haven't seen anyone have a carbon fiber skid plate so i think im going to make one. May make one for the Tiregate too.

IM a big do it your selfer and want to make most of the parts if i can. Other than that the "To Do" list looks like...
~Bent beam kit (cheap or nicer kit)
~Tint the windows
~Bed liner
~Make my own Carbon Fiber hood
~Make a few interior Carbon Fiber parts
~Newer Ranger Seats
~Bulged Front fenders (modified to fit the Mazda)
~May paint the truck Black
And im sure im missing a few other things....

Ill keep ya posted!
~Shawn

Click to expand...

I guess Im a minority but I like chrome. however, black chrome is the shit. good looking truck, keep us posted on the work in progress

That paint work looks great man, what kind of paint did you use for lights? I would be a little aprehensive about the Carbon Fibre skidder though. Metal will bend and buckle but as I am sure you know CF has a tendency to fail catastrophically when pushed past it's limits. I would hate to have the CF break and drop a critical component down. Other than that, top notch work Post up more pics when you can!

Are you planning on changing your gearing at all? I'm runnin 29s and everything feels decent, but 31s may put too much stress on the drivetrain

MountainMike said:

That paint work looks great man, what kind of paint did you use for lights? I would be a little aprehensive about the Carbon Fibre skidder though. Metal will bend and buckle but as I am sure you know CF has a tendency to fail catastrophically when pushed past it's limits. I would hate to have the CF break and drop a critical component down. Other than that, top notch work Post up more pics when you can!

Click to expand...

For tinting the lights i used Dupont Clear mixed with a little* Dupont black. I sprayed this with a gun incase you didnt catch it. As for the Carbon Fiber Skid plate im about 99.99% sure it wont ever get any REAL use. Im in the Carbon Fiber industry, so if it breaks.... no big deal to make another one...

Shawn_248 said:

Are you planning on changing your gearing at all? I'm runnin 29s and everything feels decent, but 31s may put too much stress on the drivetrain

Click to expand...

I think im going to be ok. iv seen quite a few people who have the same truck (or ranger) running 31s with no issues. Remember its going to be a work tuck. Probably wont see too much serious off roading.

Ill keep you guys posted, should have my wheels tomorrow and im going to my metal supplier to get the metal for the bumpers.

~Shawn

i run 31s on my ranger, stock gearing. they run pretty well, however, i would like to regear to 4.10 to regain the stock acceleration and initial burst.

The verdict it in. Tires work out great. No major power lost. I recommend them.

Well i got my wheels and tires today. I have to say they look better than i expected on the truck. I wasn't sure if the OEM Mazda lug covers i painted were going to fit on the wheels but they did and they match pretty well. Im happy with how they turned out. Just need and alignment now.







Im hoping to pick up the materials for the bumpers and tire gate tomorrow. More soon...

~Shawn

Looking good. I'm stoked to follow this build.

I went and got some 1.75 120 DOM tubing and plating to start my bumpers and tire gate. Should make some headway on the front tomorrow.

This it the direction im going with.


This is how i plan to do the rear bumper. Pretty basic.


Im also going to taper the rear of the bed and roll the edges so there no sharp. More soon....

~Shawn

All you have under there right now are the derlin spacers? A should look cool with the bumpers

Correct, just the Derlin coil spacers. Im not 100% sure but i think im going to do a +4" long travel bent beam set up with 4" coil springs. Should give it a nice stance with out a tall look.

~Shawn

Well i got some work done on my Bumper. I like the look of the Boxed in frame mounted bumpers. I think its cleaner and stronger. I see that most people weld the bumper to the frame. But Im going to power coat it and i just want to be able to remove it when i want. Mind you this is my first bumper, but iv done my home work.

Here is the boxed in part of the bumper cut out of plate steel.


Next I welded it up and drilled my holes.


Then i cut the OEM bracket off the frame and placed the new boxed in bumper mount and drilled new holes to match.


Now i installed it using 1/2" nuts and bolts.


I have recreated the other side as well. It was a lot of work messing around and getting the correct angle and shape, but i think its going to turn out nice. Hoping to have it mostly completed over the weekend. Stay tuned...

~Shawn

this looks like its going to be a sweet little truck, gl on the bumper

Well im about 75% done with the bumper. I think its turning out really nice. I think i found the reason why most people weld there bumpers on... With out a jig, the bumper became harder to reinstall every time i welded something. I knew that was going to happen but i took my time and overcompensated for the problem.

Anyways here is the front bumper so far, just need to add the outer support tubes, skid plate, cap off the ends, add my Hella lights, and powder coat it black.

Sorry for the bad picks, it was dusk and couldn't find a good setting on the camera so it looks fuzzy....





(Card board skid plate )


Its been awhile sense i have welded this much, got myself a nice little tan... Enjoy!

~Shawn @ Infinity Carbon

Looking good Shawn, you gonna make the Carbon Fibre skidder? That'll be awesome looking, I've always liked carbon fibre. Expensive, but wicked.