NZGT4

HELP! I need a hand tuning my carb. The car wont start and its getting way to much fuel and I have a box of ciders sitting here if someone would mind coming and having a look. I've spent yesterday and today mucking around with timing/idle mixture screw/plugs and I've run of ideas on how to get it going. I'm in Greenhithe on the Shore. If no one is available to help are there any suggestions on a mobile mechanic that knows what they're doing with carbs? Cheers

Thoughts and ideas can go here //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/49473-nzgt4-1974-mercedes-benz-280se-w116-helga/

Bangbug mate, I could be very keen to get that rad off you if possible. I will rip out the old first and then I will try and get in contact with you about comparing the two and see if it will fit. I'm pretty sure the heater core is already disconnected but im not so sure about the exhaust in the cabin haha Defiantly going to get a flapper for it though

Say what you want about Helga, she can take it

Kia ora! Meet Helga, the newest edition to the line up. Just got it off TradeMe for a massive $500. Its an insurance write-off as you might be able to tell from the picture. The damage isnt that bad really, the radiator is poked (if anyone has a spare hit me up) and and the top rad support is pretty bent. It still runs just fine though and it sounds awesome! Straight six for the win! The plan for Helga is to be a paddock basher at my folks place and to also enter the Dirt Drags in October down Cambridge ways. If you own a 280SE like this one and you need some parts then let me know and I might be able to take it off as long as I can still drive it haha I've got a little to do list.... -Fix radiator/retro fit another one off something at pick a part -Weld the diff. Need all the tractions for on the dirt -Straighten up the bonnet -Strip the interior to make it light weight (hahahahahaha....... its a bloody tank!) -Mad max exhaust through the bonnet -Pod filter -Maybe give it an oil change -Any other suggestions? like I said before, if you need parts hit me up, I'd rather see them go to use then just get completely smashed up. If you have any ideas on what we can do to it then also comment. Cheers

Turns out that photo didn't work of the prices.....

Well its been about a month since the rebuild and the car is going strong. As the days get colder the cold start has begun to get a bit weird. It hunts for quite a while and sounds like a rotary. I'm not savvy with carbs so I think I'm going to have to take it to someone to have a looksie at it. Apart from that it goes great! I've just been through my garage and I've found a a bag full of receipts so I put it in a spread sheet and for those that are curious about doing a rebuild this will give you a very rough idea of how much it may cost you. All the work carried out by West Auckland Engine Recondtioners was the only bit of labour I paid for and if I rebuilt the motor right the first time with the correct piston rings I wouldn't have had to get the rebore etc so minus $584.37 which will give you a total of $1342.28. Red = Labour Yellow = Rebuild second time In other news I bought a Trisco 3 1/4" Tacho gauge and I installed it last night. The gauge only came with screws but I want to use that double sided foam stuff so until I find some of that I haven't bothered taking a photo. The next lot of jobs to do are.... (in no specific order) -New park light bulb -New rear window wiper blade (shorter then factory so I can fit a Beach Hop decal) -Clean car -Polish car -Reblack door frames -Fix blockage in rear window sprayer -Clean inside of the car out -Replace gearbox cross member mount -Replace as many worn out bushings throughout -Get a wheel alignment -Make headlights better (at the moment you can see about 20m ahead on low beam which is pretty dodgy. High beam isn't much better) -Reseal the windscreen (it leaks, fingers crossed to rust) -Media blast/prime/sand/paint the set of modgies and put on. Any suggestions for colour choice for the wheels are welcome -Get tints all around (35%)

It's been a couple of weeks since the first rebuild but I have since got the motor back in and running. I put the motor back in up through the bottom and I will admit a crane would have been handy. Anyway I managed and on Monday last week everything was is, I say Monday but what I mean is 2:00am on Monday morning. On Monday afternoon I was having trouble getting it to turn over and I spent another night trying to figure it out. I managed to get it running but it was really rough and it didn't idle. After giving up and doing some googleing I figured that my timing was way out so on Tuesday I borrowed a timing light off mtbtimr and I managed to get it running smooth within 5 mins. Turned out I skipped a tooth with the dizzy and was obviously to tired from Sundays long night to figure it out. Anyway it drives great and I've been playing around with the timing to try and get it bang on and I think I've nailed it. Driving to work last week it ran faultlessly and I even went through some great Auckland traffic and the was no over heating or anything. Oh and the exhaust note is bloody awesome with the resonator deleted. It pops and crackles on down shift and my mate with a turbo Altezza said when he was following me through the Coromandel hills he couldn't hear his car over the noise mine was putting out haha. As many of you probably know Beach Hop was on last week and we went down just for Saturday and I've already started thinking about wacking a big lumpy V8 into the wagon but I think the misses will leave me if I did. Heaps of cool cars and good times. With the rebuild out of the way I just need to clock up some kms on the motor then I will start giving it the beans. I've nearly racked up 800km since last week so an oil change tomorrow and I'm good to go. Just need a wheel alignment and then I can start focusing on the aesthetics of the wagon. I've got a few snaps of the rebuild and other stuff...... The new pistons I ordered were wrapped up in such a cool oldschool way These pistons are just OEM but 1mm oversized so I gain about 42cc and go from 1770cc to 1812cc! Whoop whoop more power and torque...... How the bore should look Motor going in I stalked one of the lads at work, Fliboi on here, and snapped a couple of pics of the two Coronas I also picked up a new trailer from one of my misses friends mums place. Its a home built trailer from 1954 and is in need of a fix up but it will be easy enough I reckon. When I towed it home one of the guards fell off on the road due to the rotten sideboard giving way haha Oh and at West Auckland Engine Reconditioners they had this wicked Interceptor That's all I've got for now

I'm 95% sure that the little radiator isn't the problem. Ive seen an evo, a sr20det van and a 4age starlet running them and they havent had issues. I did find out from the engine builder that the piston rings didnt have enough back clearance, turns out ACL sold me the wrong ones and I didnt check the back clearance. I gapped them but just didnt do the back clearance. Whilst im waiting for the block to come back ive been cleaning up all the steering components. Any idea on what oil to use in the manual steering box as it has all leaked out?

Not much has happened since it blew up. I have found out why I had the big failure though. Turns out ACL sold me the wrong piston rings and I didn't realise when I installed them on the pistons. ACL's part number was "PS1654-STD R/S MISTI 4G63". Now when I was rebuilding and saw the 4G63 I instantly thought hang on, that can't be right. So I checked the part number against the ACL online catalogue and for the Toyota 3T and it came up with the same part number. I continued on and I checked the gap of all the rings and they seemed within limits but what I didn't check was the back clearance of the rings on the pistons. This meant the the rings stuck out of the pistons but not enough for me to notice (first time rebuilding). I remember thinking that it was a bit hard to turn over once the crank and rods where all torqued up and I asked a couple of people and they said yea it will be with fresh rings. Turns out when the motor got a little warm on the motorway, the pistons must have expanded enough for the real damage to happen and forced the rings into the bores. I'm surprised that it got as far as it did. Lesson learnt thats for sure! I have managed to locate some oversized pistons from Bowden Engine Parts which is bloody fantastic as I didn't want to fork out for a set of forged ones. This morning though, I wanted to double check that I defiantly got the wrong rings from ACL. The rings are actually Grant Piston Rings from the US (ACL being the NZ supplier) and on their website the Toyota 3T piston rings have a completely different part number, P1450. I rang up ACL to have a rant at them and the bloke on the other end was pretty clueless so I shall ring the manager when he's in on Friday and give him a piece of my mind. I also checked the original PS1654 against the Grants Piston Rings Mitsubishi catalogue and it didnt even come up so I have no idea how ACL are running their show?? In other news, I was getting bored of cleaning parts whilst waiting for my block to come back and pistons to arrive so I did a wee modification to my exhaust..... The old And the new

Sorry man, i've got next to no spares for my wagon. Theres a dude on trademe selling a whole bunch of stuff but hes down in the south island

Last night I pulled the motor. I didnt have a crane and i wanted to try a different method so I dropped the motor and subframe down and jacked the car right up and slide the motor out. It worked well and wasn't actually harder then pulling it out the top. I guess it was relatively easy because I don't have power steering to muck around with so its just a matter of undoing 18 bolts. Anyway, I stripped the motor for a damage assessment and it didn't look too good. This is the number 2 piston that I lost compression on. If you look closely you can see the top ring is actually being held into its groove by bits of melted piston that has scrapped down and held it in place. Also note that some of the oil ring has disappeared. I wondered why the oil pan was looking so metallic. I dropped the block off to WAER this morning and they will do some bore tidying up and let me know what size pistons to order. I'm most likely going to have to get forged pistons (probably Wiseco unless I find anything different) that are going to be over sized. Whilst waiting for that to happen I will clean up the front subframe and I would like to take some measurements of the calipers and brake discs so i can keep an eye out at Pick-a-part for an upgrade. Oh and I'm now looking for donations or sponsership as aftermarket pistons are friggen expensive.

Yo dude. Just pm you about a garage. Im at base as well. If need be you can you use mine

What a weekend. Got the motor painted and pretty and installed and it even started first pop! Photos...... All looking good. Went for a test drive down to Bunnings after running it for a while and making sure there weren't any leaks etc. Had no issues with it and came home and checked fluids and everything was looking good. But life isn't that easy. I went to help my old folks this afternoon and going along the North Western motorway I had a lose of power and the temp was climbing quite high so I managed to get off at Te Atatu and limb down to a side street and it stalled as soon as I put the clutch it. Shit. Initially I thought I had seized it because of the way it stalled. Took the plugs out and just let it cool and turned it over a few time to get the coolant circulating a bit. Luckily a friend from the GT4 club lived near by (also the dude that did the machining for me) so I sheepishly drove over to his and we started investigating. I had a thought that maybe it was running to lean because of the colour of the spark plugs so we changed the timing a little to advance it. That didn't do it so we tried the old rag-down-the-carby-to-flood-it trick just to get some more fuel in there but it was still missing. Took the plugs out again and there was next to no compression in number 2. Not what you want to find out just after a rebuild. I gentle drove home on just 3 cylinders and I started the task of figuring out where I had gone wrong...... It sucks taking 10 steps forwards then at least 40 steps back. Took the head off expecting to find a melted piston or a valve that had bits missing out of it but nothing obvious came to light. But, the bores of all four cylinders are well and truly scratched/scrapped. Its easy to feel the marks with my finger which is pretty bad. Plans from here are to pull the motor (again), strip the block, inspect everything, buy new pistons (probably) and get the blocked re-bored. Money, money, money. Anyway onwards and upwards................