hohocc

I've had some success with extending them fully (holding them extended with a clamp of some sort), smearing dishwashing liquid into the webbing, laying it out in the driveway then waterblasting what becomes a black soup out of the webbing. Probably try not to get water into the mechanism, and chuck it in the hot water cupboard to dry fully over a few days. Then plenty of silicone spray in the spring area. Doesn't make them new but seems to help to some degree.

Here's how to fix it if needed... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A595LR4SQpI&t=222s

According to the tube intake leaks at the manifold to head gasket and the manifold to throttle body gasket are common. Gaskets cheap on rockauto and the job is dead easy. Didn't fix the hesitation in my one though...

Excellent thanks that's just what I was after, cheers.

Camper/backpacker vehicle question... Yes I did search, found possible but not moderately certain answers... If I get a dodgy old people mover, whip some seats out, and make a platform to stick a mattress on for occasional sleeps, is there any future drama with WOFs etc? Not wanting a self contained camper, just a movable tent that will stay at places with toilets etc. Logic says no, but we are assuming NZTA uses such logic. I understand NZTA in the spirit of nannying everything have recently made life harder for horsetruck owners. Bloody good thing as they and/or their drivers are a menace. Hence my question. No horses will be involved in my mission. Either an actual answer or a link to an answer would be great, thanks in advance.

Spotted on faecebook marketplace in Chch: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/5090024871046811/?ref=browse_tab&referral_code=marketplace_top_picks&referral_story_type=top_picks

Doesn't happen to sound/smell rich when cranking does it? Almost firing but not quite?

If you do go the new battery route bigger and better is normally not much more expensive than bare bones minimum. Cleaning the existing earth straps is always a good idea. Adding an extra one if it's easy can't do any harm either. Sounds like you are making progress!

300CCA was what my old Hunter had in it's early days so your 325 is probably about what the Moke had when new. However if you do end up buying a battery there's probably bugger all difference pricewise in buying something a bit bigger. Hunter was much better when it had 550CCA. By comparison, my wife's Mazda 2 has 450CCA in a little shopping basket, admittedly there's more electric stuff in it than in a 70s British car.

Has she measured how much it's actually using? My stepdaughter had a similar complaint with her Starlet from a similar era recently. Trying to explain to her how to fill the thing up, then note how many km it goes and how many litres it took when she next filled it was excruciating. She hasn't done it, but has stopped talking about the amount of fuel it uses.

It would be most appropriate if you got a pic of your xjs parked across multiple hairdresser car sorry ev charging point parks.

Gabriel M55999 front struts for Corollas of roughly this vintage are $12.17 NZ on Rockauto at the moment. Sure there's some freight and Jacinda tax to pay but that's not a bad starting point. If they only last a couple of years she will probably have bought something else by then anyway.

Thanks folks, lots of good options here. Turns out I've got a spare distributor so will be able to convert that with the Stealth kit and still have the original as a spare. Like the idea of the new accuspark but am trying to keep the spending on a shortish leash. Appreciate all the info provided, cheers.

Sounds like the 25d4 was used in about everything british in the 70s with 4 cylinders. There's talk on an oz mini forum of a couple of Nissan options which sound of interest: http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1498 As mentioned above I could just put some new points in (may even have a couple of sets laying around), or lose the points in the current distributor, or get a new reproduction that's electronic. Or find the French alternative which is one that came out of left field a bit, will do some googling on that. Am still keen to find out about Japanese off the shelf (or more or less) bits that might do the job. Have had the car since new and the electric bits have always been fair to average at best, a few incremental improvements to ignition, starter and perhaps the alternator would go a long way in making it more usable. When I stopped using it as a daily about 9 years ago it had a bigger battery (550cca vs the original 300) and a water heater in the bottom radiator hose which made winters much more bearable. Really like the old thing but some improvement in practicality would be great.

Way back in this thread: There was mention of a Mitsi Lancer electronic distributor fitting a Billy Bunter/Minx engine, the words suggesting later Hunters had them from new, but no detail was forthcoming. A Nissan Bluebird CA20 dizzy was also mentioned but that sounded less bolt on-ish. After extensive factfinding on wikipedia (yep that may be a contradiction) it would appear Lancers in NZ in the early 80s had a 4g32 up front. Is anybody out there able to fill in the gaps and confirm or deny if the 4g32 dizzy is Hunter compatible? I've got a 72 Hunter and it's about time I got it roadworthy again, if there's an easy cheap bolt on alternative out there for the Lucas distributor I'm keen to find out about it. Japanese ignition from the 80s was clearly worlds apart from British 60s/70s. And assuming it's a goer, has anybody got a dead 4g32 they are parting out? Cheers.