Popular Post SR ROLLA Posted May 21, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted May 21, 2013 I was briefly on these forums years ago, when I had a 1977 KE35 SR but since then I have been living carless in London for the last 6 years, lurking about the forums to get my old car fix. I moved back at the start of the year, so it was time for a new old car. I got this Galant Colt GTO at the start of Feb in really good condition. It had a bit of a refresh in the 90s including respray in the original colour and the addition of louvers and a sunroof. It's my daily drive and I think that the sudden increase in usage was a bit of a shock to it's system and lots of bits and pieces that were close to giving up started to go. It was running quite hot and starting to leave a few oil drips on the driveway. So I had to sort a few seals (tailshaft, crankshaft, rocker cover gasket), a heater hose and add an electric fan. But of course fixing one thing leads to others crapping out so I then had to fix a small leak in the radiator and get the water pump reconditioned too. Also needed a new Alternator with external regulator so got that taken care of at the same time. Anyway, pics: Definitely needs more low and a few little bits and pieces like window seals could probably do with replacement but for now I'm just enjoying driving it. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted May 21, 2013 Author Share Posted May 21, 2013 Also, when I went to pick up the car the previous owner was like "oh yeah, it came with some wheels too, they're in the boot." Wasn't expecting much but they are actually kind of cool oldschool jap 2 piece wheels (3 piece, welded?). 6-J 13 from 1977 according to the sticker on the inside by 'Uni-Pex Parts Division' Never heard of Uni-Pex before, does anyone have any info on this brand? Couldn't decide if I liked them or not so I decided to refurb them and see how they look, split them, clean up the centres, polish the lips and replace all the bolts. Here is a before and after of the first wheel: I think I like them, so will get some tyres on and get them on the car at some stage, any recommendations for tyre size? Chur. Also, discussion here: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/38426-sr-rollas-1974-mitsi-colt-gto/ 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted May 26, 2013 Author Share Posted May 26, 2013 Some pics of the interior and engine bay from the original TradeMe listing: And another of the interior/dash: 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted June 6, 2013 Author Share Posted June 6, 2013 I took the louvers off the other day. They're handy in summer for keeping the car cool, but make it a pain in the ass to clean the rear windscreen/see anything behind you. I think it looks a bit more slick and streamlined. Also making slow progress on the wheels, some more before and after: 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted September 11, 2013 Author Share Posted September 11, 2013 Not much been going on with this lately, just lots of little bits and pieces. Installed an alarm/remote central locking, new stereo. I think the stereo looks pretty good (better than the silver Kenwood tape player that was in there anyway), suits the style of the car well. You can see where I put the LED for the alarm at the bottom of the second pic Managed to get a new indicator lens to replace a cracked one. Apparently near impossible to find, after months I eventually got one by fluke — PartsWorld in Timaru had one that the label had fallen off, so they didn't know what model it was for but the part number on the lens matched the old catalogue number and it's a perfect fit. Not flawless condition, has a couple of scratches but no cracks and it polished up nicely. Before: After: I've had a few more bits and pieces arrive lately. Top rubbers and brush seal strips for the side windows and then this little NOS item from the States: My rubber steering wheel is a bit rooted, the rubber is soft and collapsing, so I was pretty pleased to find this proper leather replacement for less than the cost of getting my one re-wrapped. Also, while the car was clean I took it out for some night photos. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted September 11, 2013 Author Share Posted September 11, 2013 Bugger, after a little more research/holding it up inside my car I have discovered that that part number is for a GTO steering wheel but not my GTO steering wheel. I have the kind on the left, this new one is the kind on the right — thinner spokes, longer cut outs with a big horn in the middle instead of 3 horn buttons on the spokes. Should have done more research before hitting 'buy' I guess. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 Quick update, been driving the car heaps, it's pretty cool. New brush seals installed, much softer and nicer than the petrified old ones. Got another set of carbs from good dude willy_monkey on here. The plan is to strip them down, clean, rebuild then swap off for the current ones. Got a new dash cluster (mine has a couple of small cracks around the screw holes). I'll clean it up, redo the woodgrain vinyl strip and replace all the old bulbs (perhaps with LEDs) so I can actually see the instruments at night. Exhaust has detached halfway along so it now exits pretty much below the drivers seat. Sounds very rowdy. I'm going to take the opportunity to get some extractors and redo the whole exhaust. Tuck it up nice and high for when some lowering happens too. It's developed a weird intermittent fault where sometimes it wont start, just clicks like the battery is dead flat but if you just try a couple more times it starts up fine. Only does it every now and then, so far there is no discernible pattern or circumstance that makes it happen. Here's a pic so this post isn't totally pointless. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted September 18, 2014 Author Share Posted September 18, 2014 So I bought a whole spare engine for it's extractors, super cheap from a dude who rolled his Colt. Never hurts to have plenty of spare parts I guess… Turns our the extractors were pretty rooted, cracked in a couple of places and evidence of some previous repairs. So I got a set made up, they look like this: and the rest of the exhaust replaced, now 2 1/4 all the way through, lets the Astron breathe a bit better. Here's a terrible photo: with a nice little double tip: The whole set up sounds great, really nice rumble without being stupid loud. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted September 18, 2014 Author Share Posted September 18, 2014 Also, I got sick of the squashy steering wheel so upgraded to this: And this morning some total dickhead was too distracted admiring my car (he claims) that he drove right into the back of it. I was pretty unhappy to say the least. Luckily he was only going slowly, there doesn't appear to be any significant damage, the bumper is snugged up a few mm closer to the body. I'll take it off and make it's all nice and straight but I think it should be fine. Should be addressing the low properly in the next couple of months as it's still rolling at original nanna spec height. Will get new wheels at the same time. I put the weird Uni-Pex wheels on for now, they look okay, but not great, definitely need more width/less tyre wall. Lastly, I really need to get the carbs cleaned up and tuned, anyone know a good carb place? Around New Lynn, Avondale-ish way would be good, or anywhere between there and town where I could drop it off on the way in. Cheers. http://oldschool.co....mitsi-colt-gto/ 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted March 5, 2015 Author Share Posted March 5, 2015 Had a couple of little bubbles coming up under the paint on both doors so I decided to get them taken care of properly along with some small patches in the corners of the boot. We found some old, braised repairs in the doors which weren't real hot, so ended up replacing the whole bottom edge of both doors. I got them to roll up the front guards at the same time too. I had the repairs left in primer because I'll be repainting the whole car soon, sprayed a quick coat of rattle can matt black to weather seal the affected areas for now. So I currently have this sweet custom paint job: mmm.. bogan. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted March 5, 2015 Author Share Posted March 5, 2015 I got a spare set of GS badges for the guards and had a go at tidying them up. Polished up the faces, gave the flaky paint on the sides a gentle wet n dry sand and then resprayed the black. Came up pretty good, the plating is still lightly pitted but they look a lot better than they did and better than the ones currently on the car. I'll swap these on once the new paint job is done. Before and after: Doesn't look like that much has changed here but the difference is a lot more apparent in real life. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SR ROLLA Posted June 23, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 23, 2015 Lots of little bits and pieces lately, been collecting parts: some spare chrome trims, a couple of interior pieces and some badges – a rechromed boot badge and a NOS rear quarter badge. Also got some nice new black carpet. The carpets aren't moulded, they're all just shaped flat panels, like lots of mats, so it was easy to cut new pieces and get them all edged. I'll get some pics when the new carpet is in. More excitingly, I decided on a fairly extreme fix for the little tears that were starting on the base panel of my driver's seat. The metallic green colour was going to be pretty impossible to match, so I got a set of slightly tatty seats from a Colt GSR, sporting several shades of green and got them recovered by Greg (64valiant) at Midnight Upholstery. Super recommended, they came out great, can't wait to get them into the car. Before: And after: Decided to try something a little different with the back panels, I think they came out pretty cool. Greg was super easy to work with, real nice guy and the quality of the job done is excellent, definitely check him out for any upholstery stuff you need. 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SR ROLLA Posted August 6, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 6, 2015 Slowly been getting the interior back together — new carpet is all in, seats are back in, looking great. I have finished restoring the dash and centre console and started to put them back in. I managed to source some 3M Di-Noc from an Architectural finishes place to replace all the faded old 'woodgrain'. It came out pretty well, if I do say so myself. I prefer the straight grain texture to the swirly walnut style that was in there before and the colour match with the steering wheel is spot on, which is nice. Old: New: 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted August 18, 2015 Author Share Posted August 18, 2015 So now that I've given the old girl a nice treat and the insides are pretty much all mint it's about time for something to break as a way of saying thanks, of course. Started to present symptoms which suggested a blown head gasket. Took the cylinder head off with the help of a friend who knows what he's doing (I mostly don't) and took it away to an engine reconditioners to get it planed and the various bits tarted up, replaced etc as needed. Naturally it was not that simple and today it turns out the head is cracked between the valve seats. Bugger. So I'll be needing to do something about sorting a replacement sharpish. I have a 4G51 from a Colt 1850 sitting in the shed, so I need to see if that will fit, fingers crossed they are the same. Some pointless pics: Also decided to give the rocker cover a bit of a polish while it was off (and I was still feeling some love for the car, before I found out I was rooted). Not perfect by any stretch but looking better than it did before. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73mitsubishigsr Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Hi there, The cracks are fixable i have got them welded up on cars i have had in the past and you will find the head off the 4g51 won't fit. Cheers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted December 18, 2015 Author Share Posted December 18, 2015 oops, been a while. So I got the head off the spare engine, got it checked over and smartened up. Everything mated up sweet except the exhaust ports on this are the round version — the original head had the square ports. The ports all line up but the mounting bolts are in a slightly different place so the flange for the headers required some slight modification. Here's the new head in place: And everything back together and running: Been going again and used for daily driving for a while now, with no signs of issues so far, fingers crossed that's it (until the next thing). 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted December 18, 2015 Author Share Posted December 18, 2015 Another cool thing (and reason for lack of progress, until now) is that I sold up and moved to a new house — with a nice big double garage with a workbench. yay. Also, time for an early christmas treat from the land of the rising sun. what's this? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 So this is what that is: Got it from Yahoo Japan for cheep. Seems to be in really good condition, one small crack on the back which I'll fix up, then give it a good clean and a repaint. It feels a lot more solid than the earlier grille, like I have on the car now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 The height adjust screw for one of the headlights was bung so while I had the grille and everything off I took the opportunity to make it all nice and clean and black. Before: After: Much better. the headlights have always been a tiny bit on the piss — the lines are not quite vertical/horizontal. They can't be rotated though because there are little tabs on the back of the bulbs which correspond to slots in the headlight cups. Am I missing something? Discuss here if you have any ideas. Cheers 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted February 15, 2016 Author Share Posted February 15, 2016 So, headlights are all sorted now thanks to some pro advice from GTO expert dwlee — on closer inspection the cups, which look pretty much identical, have a 'type' number, a 1 and a 2 for each side. So it looks like these have been installed exactly wrong for the whole time I've owned it. Much better now: At some stage I'll get around to converting to semi-sealed. It's not driven at night much so it's not a big priority right now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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