1972 S1 SNA Mazda 'Capella 616' NAB Series 1600

[karsaz.engineers]

what a mess, i know!
a momentous task, i know!
parts are super scarce, i know!

acquired it recently. car is mostly original (though very messy due to long storage/sheer negligence) with a few mods (including CNG installation and some other details - yeah yeah i know the steering wheel too) as far as i've come to knowledge, but then being my second ever mazda, what do i know

have been told that it has been parked 12yrs before it was dragged out, revved and made ready for a sale. looking forward to accomplish a few things and share the progress as it happens, as i go

a brief heads up: this is going to be a very slow resto (even slower than my mazda luce project), have others to address first

the whole thing on here would loosely be revolving around this 'long/slow' roadmap;

'interim' top end rebuild until a N/A 12a rotary/box conversion is arranged for (would consider QUADS later)
removal of that $hitty CNG kit
all new brakes
all new rubbers
all new trim
all new interior (original factory seats have rips and the flooring/door trims need to be redone)
all new lights (with rear beaver panel replacement for round/R100 tail lights conversion)
all new locks
all new ignition parts
all new suspension
factory wheels & hubcaps / AMG-CSA or rebel wheels (still undecided which set to settle for)
a couple of panels would need replacement such (as the rusty bonnet, may be more too)
and
a DC job to round it all up (budget permitting)

if you are looking for Factory Mazda Capella 616 1600 Workshop Manual, please click HERE

[ansarghani]

Subscribed without reading the details

[ansarghani]

Congrats!
The interior, at least, doesn't look too bad or molested.
pls share a few more pics..

what a mess, i know!
a momentous task, i know!
parts are super scarce, i know!

acquired it recently. car is mostly original (though very messy due to long storage/sheer negligence) with a few mods (including CNG installation and some other details - yeah yeah i know the steering wheel too) as far as i've come to knowledge, but then being my second ever mazda, what do i know

have been told that it has been parked 12yrs before it was dragged out, revved and made ready for a sale. looking forward to accomplish a few things and share the progress as it happens, as i go

a brief heads up: this is going to be a very slow resto, have others to address first

the whole thing on here would loosely be revolving around this 'long/slow' roadmap;

'interim' top end rebuild until a N/A 12a rotary/box conversion is arranged for (would consider QUADS later)
removal of that $hitty CNG kit
all new brakes
all new rubbers
all new trim
all new interior (original factory seats have rips and the flooring/door trims need to be redone)
all new lights (with rear beaver panel replacement for round/R100 tail lights conversion)
all new locks
all new ignition parts
all new suspension
factory wheels & hubcaps / AMG-CSA wheels (still undecided which set to settle for)
a couple of panels would need replacement such (as the rusty bonnet, may be more too)
and
a DC job to round it all up (budget permitting)

[karsaz.engineers]

Subscribed without reading the details

oh thanks but all the fun is in the details my friend, especially on this one, which happens to be the only known s1 capella on road with an original 1600 engine, in the country (afaik). but anyway, lets see how it unfolds, for all of us in general and unfortunately for me in particular

Congrats!
The interior, at least, doesn't look too bad or molested.
pls share a few more pics..

thanks. you want me to pour in all the details in a single read? patience my friend, for patience is a great virtue

[karsaz.engineers]

coming home pic from karachi - had to use a car career contractor
typical karachi car with lot of rust to expect - especially rear windscreen lip
note the bodges - vitz hubcaps, aftermarket suzuki (FX?) rear side view mirrors, aftermarket mudflaps
rear windscreen moulding corners in bad nick
rear quarter air-vents would need replacement as pieces seem to have chipped off
missing rocker trim below doors
missing rear quarter 'MAZDA616' badges

[karsaz.engineers]

coming home pics
clearly a deluxe s1 sedan as can be seen through features
missing bonnet lip moulding trim (thankfully the rest of 3 pieces survived, around fenders & on the stone tray)
grille badge needs resto as has been stripped of chrome finish.
thankfully the 'Deluxe' & '1600' grille badges have survived though not so lucky with the grill lining chrome trim (only two pieces survived)
front windscreen chrome moulding survived and in good nick
small rectangular front indicators, clearly another s1 feature, though look to be bad but are all there
front bumper would need replacing
side/fender indicators all there (same as mazda 1300/1500 for s1 capellas)
wavy doorskins, might need replacing (will see)
thankfully all the window chrome trim has survived and so has the rain gutter trim (which is truly a blessing - hard to find item)
passenger wiper arm missing
sits too low on the rear, the suspension would need tweaking back to a desirable height both for stance as well as performance

[karsaz.engineers]

with lots of blood, sweat and money - this could look something like this, in time (doubt me not, i dare you)
b/w this is my favourite stance pic of an s1 deluxe capella sedan (4 doors) - coupe version was tastier than sedan any day but then pakistan seem to have no capella coupe surviving (afaik)

[karsaz.engineers]

factory brochure for s1 deluxe capella 616 sedan

[karsaz.engineers]

some more factory original pics of 'herschel orange' mazda s1 deluxe capella 616 sedan as point of reference for those who are wondering what was factory original - though these pics are LHD but you'll get the gist anyway

[karsaz.engineers]

did i fail to make you fall in love with this mazda shape?
if yes, i am sure this video will be enough to make you fall in love with this mazda shape - though a capella/rx2 coupe but still closely related to a sedan

oh and the wheels on this rx2 coupe are rebels, which i am hunting for mine for over a month

//youtu.be/https://youtu.be/1wgFLTi5w0o

Link (youtube)

[karsaz.engineers]

dont get too attached to the boring 'capella' tail-lights. these are gonna go
rear beaver panel replacement is in order alongwith the tail-lights. its gonna get all exciting with R100/Rx2 round tail-lights/garnish in its own good time

[karsaz.engineers]

a cache of surviving / known mazda capella 616s in pakistan

in faisalabad - awaiting resto, pics from december 2014, was up for sale, requires a momentous effort though

again, in lahore - was for sale a while ago (february 2015), had 1c in it, again an uphill climb on this one if someone wants to restore it

in karachi - pic from 2007, dont really know where did it end for this poor 616. note the SSR XR4 longchamps on it though - very sought after wheels these

[karsaz.engineers]

the polished 13x8 AMG-CSA wheels that i bought to put on it, though these since have been claimed by a mazda friend in khi. i will be putting them on though, just to see how these look on it

[karsaz.engineers]

the NAB Series OHC 1600 has survived, so has the original gearbox and differential - though all messy and stuffed with CNG linkages, missing factory air filter housing and a couple of other bits. muck jobs to be eliminated soon, including the CNG kit which has been installed only a few hundred kilometers ago when the car was dragged out and revved after long storage, or atleast thats what i was told

a closer look at the engine, highlights the rusted bonnet, this is bad. karachi climate eats through the best of tins. though this could be worked (probably) but i am not willing to compromise on the final finish even though it would mean loosing the super rare s1 bonnet (one with actual vents)

[karsaz.engineers]

little history fill in on the capella

according to its return file, in february 1976, the car was a direct import by the owner in karachi via her daughter in the UK. was registered in pakistan in mid 1977. was used by the elderly owner for some time before it changed hands in 2002 was picked up by a mazda enthusiast in karachi who seem to have stored it for a long period, thinking he might one day restore it but in the end sold it and it passed onto another mazda nut who then sold it again in february 2014 to the current PO and then it was passed onto me in january 2016. but this history is not all verified as of yet as the hand changes from the original importer are little sketchy for now. but i am onto verifying the history and working on it still. will have more update(s) on history whenever i have any

this following 'mazda spotting' pic seems to be of the same capella when it was parked somewhere in hill park karachi back in 2015 whether if its the same capella, is still being verified as i have written to previous owner(s) to verify if its the same car. if its the same, i would know that the two POs are Faraz Arif @farazarif ? & Ahmed Nayyer (karachi) and if its not the same car, then we might have a "fifth" known capella which is still out there to be found and looks in a good nick too - even though the pic is from 2015

[karsaz.engineers]

i first spotted this particular capella back in october 2015 on olx. tried negotiating with the seller who wouldn't tone down his demand so i left him alone for good 3 months. then again in december, at the end of the month, i spotted the ad here on pakwheels again, still unsold so i tried negotiating with the owner again and this time we struck a deal. unfortunately, i fell ill immediately after and had to spend a week at the hospital before i was back home and ready to make the payment and transfer of ownership

here are pics from the first olx ad, then the pics from the time i tried negotiating for it the first time

and some 'during negotiation' pics - first negotiation attempt

the second negotiation attempt was without the pics, though PW ad had some new ones to show - condition further deteriorated

probably it wasn't wise to buy it out simply without seeing it in person but with these cars, you cant really choose because sometimes there are as fewer options as one or two. beside this one seemed to be the best available option on the market of all the capellas i have known all this time. so deal it was, without personally inspecting the car itself - a blind buy as hadn't known the owner and never had dealt with him. had to send him the money before my long contracted car career guy could pick it up and ship it to me while the papers were worked on for transfer of title

[karsaz.engineers]

ok now thats where things start to get exciting about the capella buy/project

hospitalized, needed something to do on the hospital bed as being hospitalized could be really boring affair at times
knowing that the deal was closed on the capella, i started hunting for whatever bits i could find for s1 capella, though i knew that the chances were more than just slim - i would rather say super slim.
rung a few ppl up until i hit a guy who lead me to a NOS stash of capella body parts - and all that from a hospital bed - imagine that!

though all excited by the discovery, all blind again, as the guy had no tech knowledge to send me pics etc. i sent him 50k and this is what i get to collect once discharged from the hospital as first lot of NOS capella parts for the project

in the pile you see in first pic above, following are included

NOS s2 capella bonnet x1
NOS s2 stone tray x1
NOS s1 front guards R&L x2
NOS rear bumper x1
NOS doorskins FR+RR+FL+RL x4 (all doors)

mazda jackpot!!!

[karsaz.engineers]

the polished 13x8 AMG-CSA wheels that i bought to put on it, though these since have been claimed by a mazda friend in khi. i will be putting them on though, just to see how these look on it

since the AMG-CSA were claimed by a mazda friend in karachi, i was on the look out for some other wheels to suit the capella
these new wheels were cheap as chips, so picked them up this morning
are 14x7-4x114.3, will do the 110 conversion to suit capella
should look something close to what the 2nd pic is about, once polished and finished
lets see how these fit with this offset but i am hoping these will be alright as these are 14"s as opposed to stock capella size 13"s

[karsaz.engineers]

rear windscreen chrome moulding looks all battered, especially the corners, but its not just the trim. i am almost certain that the rear windscreen weatherstrip lip is all rusted because thats one of the weak spots on the capellas and is prone to rust. knowing that car has spent almost all of its life in either UK or karachi, i know that this is one weak link that would need extensive repairs. will be confirmed once the windscreen is removed

rear bumper bar (not the removable corners) seems to have received some beating too and would need replacement (fortunately, i have a NOS bumper bar to replace it)

trunk/boot is missing the 'MAZDA' boot badge and lock, would need finding a NOS badge as well as locks set - difficult but do able. fuel flap looks ok i think the latch just needs adjustment. though i am not really sure abt its condition yet because it might be hiding some real bad rust spot under putty - again a spot on these cars which is very prone to rust

UK cars were almost regularly used in the 70s for weekend camping and this one seems to be no exception as it still has a tow hook attached to it which looks to be in very good nick. will take more pics of it and will share here later

though the tail-lights are in good nick but i am least concerned abt these as these will be swapped out for rx2 spec round tail-lights/garnish. once done, this is how the rear panel might look one of these days

[karsaz.engineers]

the s1 capella bonnet, looks all good at the outside but the bonnet hinges panel at the inside is rusted and hard to work on. but since i have already sourced a NOS s2 bonnet, i think this is addressed though i will have to sacrifice some originality (read factory feature) on the s1 but it should all work out nicely

here is a pic of s2 bonnet. note the difference between the pressings on the two, the s1, which has pressings+actual vents where as s2 just has the pressings (different style and location) and no actual vents