Mr.Mk1

I had Lets Get Graphic re-make my side billboards in proper vinyl..much better! Accordingly the duraseal peeled off the adhesive and then they had to thinners off stubborn glue..oops. Took it for its biggest run out to rangiora MCM show.. went great until the needles wiggled and it stumbled then the Amp gauge read drain. Parked it up and left it until the trip home couple days later, it did it again but didnt hinder the journey. Few hundred metres from home it backfired and the needle came back to life and it was charging again! By the time id washed it and drove back in shed it wasnt charging again. Tore it open and spotted a broken field wire so i soldered it back on and not change. Weird. Fucked aroubd with tests and bypassing things, external reg tested ok. Left it with a customer whos a sparky, could tell he wasnt into it but said hed take a look but his test bench wasnt working. Few weeks passed so i went and grabbed it back. He did say the wire sheath looked like it was degrading and it might be earthing. Put my pick under the other field wire to tweak it into open space and there was no pull resistance..broken too. Was a bit awkward but soldered a new wire in between the broken ends and threw it back on, Amp gauge working! Then it stopped. Decided it was the centrifugal forces throwing it out and the wee bare wire patch was touching so dripped epoxy glue in/on to make a protective sheath and its been great since. Will get another Alt cause its pretty fragile and old.

Beautiful!

Yep, had it apart and lubed, moves and springs back now. its a bit cheap feeling but has chrysler part numbers on the weights. Well see how it goes next tune.

That sounds a good compromise eh, cheers. Im trying hard to keep it all stage one so i don't fall into the V8 trap of upgrade this but need to do that and that and this too, may as well get a shiny one. When i do fall, id be starting with MSD dizzy and box, nice leads, extractors, alternator and starter, new bolts, etc Went for a test drive to bunnings today and it felt great, responsive, smooth and best yet..fluids retained!

Made it to an Oldschool meet! Was a nice wee catchup. We went for the tune up with Wayne at Pitstop Burnside. Started well but ended quick when he noticed the dizzy advance weights were seized so not much point tuning around that or tearing it down after 5pm the week of Christmas. Was hooked up to a huge scope what was $45k in the late 80s. Tech as, even used a stylus on the primitive touch screen! Found my timing was 10deg retarded not 10 advanced.. either my timing light is fried (my mate had an incident when he borrowed it) or the dizzy hold down clamp wasnt tight enough (possible, cause its in a cunt of a place and can only get a click of the wrench each swing if lucky) Was lean and lumpy at idle + rich everywhere else. He sent me home and said to get a Bosch GT40R (my rad MOPAR coil was like 30 years young) gap the new plugs tighter and maybe a set of leads (if they show more than a max of 1300 ohms. I tried 10 times and couldn't get a reliable reading.. they aren't old but are an ugly colour and stain easy) After pulling the dizzy apart and lubing up to see if mechanical advance comes to the chat. Well the next day i was off to get a new coil after work, missed my slot in the 5pm traffic and it got hot. Was stalling, idling at about 250 and really hard to start again and wouldn't run unless pedalled. One was peaking at 100% panic mode so as soon as it fired i slammed it in gear to keep moving, tyre screeching. Did this 5 times and then saw smoke. Props to the Koba battery, it got reefed on and kept coming to the party. Decided to slip into (the same carpark i did when the slave cylinder failed in the bluebird) to cool it off and saw a big ole trail of trans fluid. Hmmm. I think the lurching into gear fatigued the trans cooler return line brass fitting. The mrs came to the rescue with the XD and we towed it home on the short rope and it took YEARS off my life. Next day i rolled under and started taking the cooler bundy off, with all of the 2 inches of space available ,about 2NM exertion and it snapped off flush with the trans housing. *foetal rocking* Driveshaft out of pinion, trans mount out and lowered down for some access. i knew an extractor was a dumb idea cause they use outward force but fully had to try. Cut itself a new thread but nothing moved. Then it spun. Oh god. Air ratchet on reverse with pliers forcing outwards didn't catch. Big guns employed, drilled a hole in the (welded on) socket and attached slide hammer. Didn't appear to make any headway but when i marked it with vivid it did show outward movement, onward we go then. Thank god. Put a slice in the fitting with a wee cutoff Dremel disc to try and use a blade driver but the brass shattered as soon as you put any pain on it. Last resort drilled it out but tagged the alloy case and thread a little. Fuck it, ran a tap through whatever was remaining and wound in a new fitting ( mrs poached from a used trans at her work) with my good liquid thread sealant and left it for 2 days. Re-installed everything. Fired up and re-set timing after pulling dizzy down and inspecting/lubricating/gapping. Topped up trans fluid, none flew out again! My xmas present was a moon-style bare foot pedal for the dip switch and Im hell stoked! I had one my brother gave me when i was a kid but probably sold it off. Tidys up that area loads Re-scheduled for the tune up next month. Rapt im not doing any damage, its just not optimal. Knew it but needed to hear it from a pro

The rear garnish was a sticking point. Its a flat sort of anodised finish but parts are buffed off, stained or flatter than others. Im loathed to send it out anywhere so i hit it with some reversible rattle can black then masked out the 2 indents to break it up a bit. I think i like it! Might be a different story if the bumper was re-chromed

Its a really, really frustrating time. I inserted trim into rubber and periodically wrapped masking tape around it help hold while i wrestled the screen in. The tape will usually break when the glass gets pushed against it. Some areas will ping out but at least its not the whole damn piece. Helps to get some spare hands

Done a few more miles, got Automan to have a look at my kickdown cause it wasn't shifting into top until 2300. He said i was on the right track but should change my bracket so it pulls more true. Did so, did some adjusting and its much better but not mint.. ideally need to get the timing and carb bang on before nailing the trans. It was greasy out so I tried to do a bit of a stall skid, big rev then it started running like a shitty 6 cylinder and barely idled..fine when cruising though. Convinced it was a vac leak i tried all sorts but couldn't find anything, so pulled plugs to check, all 8 good, installed the set of new plugs i had already at the same time. Tried a few things, noticed a choke linkage had over-centred but wasn't until i pulled the dizzy out and re-set the points gap that it improved.. odd cause it wasn't noticeably out. Also took carb apart and cleaned, so much shit in the bowls! Now its going well again, but found it locking up the front brakes real easy last time i drove it. Backed off the hottest rear drum and shortened the M/C push rod a touch, will test drive shortly. I grabbed some generic steel-rimmed weather strip and installed between outer of door skin and glass all round to mimic factory. Didn't want to spend the big $ on direct fit X USA. Now the glass doesn't rattle or risk scratches from old clips. My carpet set showed in Auckland so i shot out and grabbed a roll of underfelt before it arrived on tuesday. Turns out the bloody carpet already has some attached! Started install last nite, all finished this morning.

I tightened the kickdown a smudge and it’s shifting a bit earlier which is sweet. The timing needs double checked by someone who speaks 8cyl more fluently

Ok good to know, I’ll twiddle with it and see if i can clean it up a bit.

Southern classic spares hooked it up with jellybeans, sticker, air freshener, rego label holder and even new arm rests. The blown out originals are sharp as shit! Always awesome service and quick.

I converted to kickdown cable as the linkage was slogged out and wasn’t sure what it came from. I’ve got it set at a 1:1inch of movement at trans and carb. Trans was pretty clean inside with a new filter but I replaced it anyway, didn’t go any further inside. Cheers j.e.d, I sure will be!

I’ve never played with autos before, but comparing it to the valiant/Falcon 6 cylinder cars I’ve had, it shifts a bit late and unrefined. I should hook up a tach and SEE what’s happening

60 miles down and it’s feeling pretty good, brakes are repeatable after having hard spots the other month while testing! The Speedo is accurate, fluke! Odo passed 44444 Trans needs an educated going over, would like a second opinion with engine timing and carb adjustment. Fuel and Temp gauges need tested, think I’ve fried the bimetallic strip while troubleshooting. Or the soldered wire somehow failed, because last time it was working, it’s was twisted together. Will then see how far I get on this lot of fuel and check how accurate it reads when It starts to cough. Surprising how sedate it is in the cabin with no carpet or anything.. I’m going to take a shitty Chang Bluetooth speaker to work tomorrow and see how feasible that is during the commute. Happy household!

Finally (finely?) got it across the line yesterday afternoon!!! Repair certifier got back to me, said he would drop in a dealer plate on Monday if I’d bring the car in Tuesday. It has laid-up insurance cover with Classic Insurance (great to deal with!) which means it’s not covered if it’s driving. I was able to change up to fully comprehensive and they only charged me a difference of $54 that gets me through to February which is when the laid up cover was due for review! Went to start it Tuesday morning and the battery was too lame to crank it.. jumped started off the falcon and all was well again. Only thing I could think of was me finally tightening the clamps and found a bad patch of contact. Jiggled, sanded, no real benefit. Charged it at work while I was waiting to get the word to bring it to the shop.. Didn’t get word. The next day he said come over about 3, I text to say I’m on my way. Car started fine, turned off and on when I got there to test, nice! waited 20 mins for him to appear and had a chat, he was impressed and said it should be pretty straightforward from here. Went to move it over the hoist and it wouldn’t start. Good look. Jumper-pack and parked, lime-scooter back to work just before close. It sat at the structural repairer certifiers panel shop for almost 2 weeks, the Compliance guy was asking me how it went daily but I’d heard nothing and wasn’t getting replies. He started pestering him on my behalf. Get a call on Sunday nite saying as far as he was aware it was done and just needed to shore up the paperwork. I didn’t hear shit till Thursday morning, he says he’s aiming to have it finished and round to compliance today. Fuck yeah some excited nerves, still stressed out but on the edge ever since dropping off, no word. Friday morning I get an email of a Read Recipt from a message I sent him 2 months ago so I figure he’s looking though my files and everything and today might be the day, but the compliance guy had openings early week and was alone at the end of the week, not to mention it’s a long weekend. 8:20am ‘it’s good to go’. Now were short staffed at work but everyone knows the situation so I lime-scootered over, it’s all covered in panel shop dust but I grabbed it (wouldn’t start) dropped to Vince at i4Checkpoint. He was stoked to see it but said it’s gonna be here all weekend,sorry..but it’s nice and safe. 3pm he calls and asks me to bring a handful of cash a over and I can take the car to get some plates. Well that’s a surprise! Emptied the till and added to my walking cash so had enough, caught a ride with a sprint courier heading in that direction and paid the man, got the forms and jumper-packed me out the door with a WOF and a 17 digit vin plate attached!! Few points to fix but I’d figured out some of them on the maiden voyage the other week. Now I didn’t want to risk that battery bullshit again so went straight back to work, grabbed the Datsun and ripped round to the local AA, filled in the last bits on the forms and waited patiently (impatiently) for my spot at the counter. One of the cheaper transactions from the Gubbmint and I was reg’d for a year and had some big gay white plates! Rip back to work, and across the street to the battery place which had nothing under $300. Remembered the Mrs has a battery stand at work so pinned down and grabbed a big Koba for much less, back to work in 5pm long weekend traffic, stabbed it in the hole and she’s been a honey ever since. Took it out to get dinner as well, all dusty and shit. It was a fucking slog, absolute emotional roller coaster and doesn’t come recommended if your like me, but there was a hell of a relief driving it home completely legit and insured against the rest of the world. .phew. Today I remedied the issues, fitted the swaybar, flared the top of the front guard where the arch meets the inner stay a little, repositioned one exhaust that was tapping the rail from time to time, fitted the front spoiler, washed and dried it, changed to mopar bonnet pin escutcheons and took some pics for you fine folk. We’re by no means finished, I’m a serial tinkerer so I’ve left some jobs for later. Have a scotch, I fucking am!