Here is the car as bought a couple of years ago. Powered by it's original 1600 engine with 58hp. She's no rocket ship so I will need to get it going a fair bit better. 

At first I was going to rebuild the engine with a head porting job, Cam , more compression which should get it to approx 90hp. Then had thoughts of Supercharging or Turbocharging it but have finally decided to repower it with a Honda K20a engine out of a Accord.

I have done some lowering of the car as they sit so high in the front especially, but  still another 50mm  needed. It seems the combined engine gear box weight of the Hillman unit will be quite similar to the Honda engine with the Toyota R151 gearbox. 

Also a couple of photos for some inspiration of one done before with a lot more mods than i will be doing.

With my whole life situation completely different to a year ago, having no decent old schooler to drive ( ‘82 isn’t my speed)..I felt I’d lost my identity.

The late 50’s GM range had really taken my fancy lately. Not so big on the Chev range, but Oldsmobile/Buick/pontiac/Cadillac for sure. They are big, ostentatious and dripping in space-race atomic era mid century modernism. 58 was the year they could legally have twin headlights, which give them a meaner demeanour I reckon.

The 58 Buick line had THE MOST polished trim you could get on a factory motorcar..just nudging past the Cadillac.

Id been chasing 58-59 mercury and Edsel wagons but not finding much, and after studying the GM’s, the fords didn’t have the same edge I was after. Mopars are sick but stylistically a few years behind.. I needed a 195* this time.

Marketplace scrolling start of June found me this 58 Buick special in Rotorua. Shit pictures, vague description. Its was 8k. Not looking too bad, don’t really want another project. 

Saved.

I toyed with the idea of a 64 wildcat coupe that was local, complete and running. Needs some rust and compliance. Easy.

Not the end goal, but something old and cool to cruise with a [for sale] sign on it.

$13k and getting cheaper.

But I couldn’t get past that 58. I did a deep dive and I couldn’t not have one now. Shame nobody had one for sale. One bloke had a Century but his neighbour had first dibs and ended up with it. However, he said he may know where a diff was. 

Start of august I Started asking questions about the marketplace 58, met with short unhelpful answers via the wife. Do you have any more pictures? Are car specific items Complete? Hows the chrome? 

…

We’ll get back to you in a week or two. No rear seat, driveline. Best to get a container.

Container hire and shipping $4k. And likely to turn up looking like a mixing bowl.

Nah.

End of august, how are you going with those photos?

…

Whole time I’m silently obsessing, looking for parts and generally in a frenzy with no decent info.

Then I was searching random related things on trademe and found it actually listed on there, 6k and auction ending in a couple of days! No bids, one extra photo though!

From the q&a section I found out the wheels were actually gone, gone too..bugger.

More should I,shouldn’t I. Max Anxiety etc.

With no bids the Auction ends, I’m thinking it will be reposted, no worries. Can always message the marketplace chat and sort something later if not.

But Hot damn, now my shipping budget has squared up. I ring him and eke out more info, cracked screen…Totally stripped further than original photos. “Hire a container”.

Ding.   The seller has offered fixed price @ 5k’  

A few days until offer expires and I’m searching the world for a screen now because that could be a deal-breaker for compliance. Found one, about $1500 landed. Looking like I’ll be running a small block chev and a 10 bolt as the Buick stuff is rare.

 September 1st, paid in full.

Ok so I’ve got a few quotes from Wise Move.. I’ll fly up, drag it out and assemble it, fly home and someone will transport back to chch. I’ll have a wee tiki tour while there.

The cars in a container on axle stands in a storage facility.

The parts are in a house bus project at a transport yard other side of the lake. That’s fine I’ll rent a van and there’s a few towies in town.

The big pisser is these cars were about the last GM to have a torque tube..the trans bolts to a tube containing a driveshaft that bolts to the quirky big diff pinion. Panhard bar and a couple of radius rods running forward to a mount on the torque tube itself.

I’ll never find one complete and it’s common in US for people to do open driveshaft conversion with a Pontiac diff. I’m aiming for easy compliance process so want original gear or period correct..think 283/powerglide/10 bolt and make it look like factory? Same as a chev would have had. NZ got a fair few 58 checks. Message a few sellers, form some plans but still a bit early for this level of organisation.

so I’m thinking marketplace again, change it to Rotorua with a 400km radius: get an old diff and strop it to chassis, buy some wheels which will be different front to whatever the back end would be. Doesn’t matter just needs to roll for shipping.

Or shoot to repco for hubs and stubs and an engineer for some pipe.. make a trailer beam, some workshop will let me weld that quickly. I haven’t seen under a stripped 58 and don’t really know what to expect so won’t be able to sort much until Saturday morning. Maybe a couple of sack barrows from Bunnings to get it out of container and onto tow truck?

Marketplace again fills me with hope - a lady selling parts from a 56 4 door special. She’s got a whole driveline,springs, radiator, refreshed 322 and a Dynaflow trans..it’s only 8 hours driving to get to levin & back but it will solve some problems. 

Much research revealed that it’s a pretty different setup. Have to run a smaller motor as trans won’t fit the 58’s 364, unsure if the tube will be too long or too short. Motor is 5k which isn’t bad but how will I get it in the van and out + into the chassis at the other end. 

Let me know when you are ready and I’ll book flights etc and come straight up:

2nd october “can do Saturday 11th”

Turns out he’s actually crook so this wasn’t a priority despite being all I could think about.

Woooo! Fights, accomodation, rental van, airport parking all booked in quick succession. Good ole oldschool, post asking about Rotorua residents gets me in touch with Gaz who’s got a spot in his shed just out of town. I met him once at OS nats, shitfaced.

Fucking legend! This was a huge help, as I was picturing working on gravel outside in a yard or driveway I hadn’t yet found.

A few messages with Gaz, They are out of town that weekend lol… but the shed will be perfect, there’s a couple of jacks and a set of wheel dollies under the cortina.

YES! 

Teed up a towie, all is good

I pour a bag of bikkies into several bowls for the cat, pack some tools, head torch, fruitcake  + a gedder dun attitude and fly up Friday arvo.

In the rental, straight out to grab the Dollie’s. Blown away by the facility and setting! 

Trying to dial in the towie and he says he’s off to ozzy, might be able to get a fill in. 

Scroll marketplace again for the millionth time: Nailhead, Buick, chev wheels, HQ mags, diff, 283 v8, 5x5 rims, whitewalls, wire wheels..

(There’s also the lingering thought.. these use wheel bolts, not nut and stud. Some online things say one side is LH thread. If I don’t have any/enough that could mean derailment of any plan! welding a rim on?)

Had a bit of a look around, ran around Waiotapu geothermal place an hour from closing time. Wicked! I’m pining the adventure now.

The motel is fuckin grimey. Cheapest non-hostel room available but the road noise is horrific, hasn’t been updated or cleaned properly since the 70’s and the water pressure is wack.. booked it partly cause There’s a hot pool on site.

Trying to dial in the towie and he says he’s off to ozzy, might be able to get a fill in. 

Cun+y. 

Hours pass, hes ghosted me. Rang another place and got the after hours lady, was going to check in with the guy on call. He rang and wasn’t too put off, said he’d ring in the morning.

Up early after a shithouse sleep, grab two post off-cuts from the garden of the motel to use as blocks, and meet him and his son at the storage yard. 

Fuuuu, shes definitely stripped out. Has parts inside it but most are his sons!

Some tins with nuts bolts brackets screws etc which look imperial..

He puts some wheels of his on the front, a dolly with wood stacked on under the middle-back of the chassis. 

It’s moving well! 

Where’s that tow truck at?

Gave that number another call and he reckons he can have a guy there in 20.

Sweet as, sort through the parts..Japanese vs not Japanese.

Finally get a better look at this thing, it’s actually pretty fucking decent! More rust than disclosed but nothing scary. It’s bloody straight apart from RH sill having an indent and the front of the 1/4 has been pushed in a tad. That wasn’t a surprise, could see something was up in the initial photo.

I might have won here!

Truck shows up, initial fears allayed ‘just send it bro’.

It winches on the pull-out bed fine. 

Looking janky but secure, I follow him out to gaz’s and nothing falls off.

ART IMITATES LIFE/ foreshadowing

Disembarking was a cinch on flat ground. 

Now off to the bus to get the rest of the parts. Oh Lordy

Hey fuck these panels are really good! 

Jesus, there’s a set of hubcaps! 

Van loaded, his GMC loaded and we’re off back to the shop.

Everything but the inner guards is now scattered around the shed, I’m on my own and I’m a pig in shit!

Umm nothing is labelled. Nothing is bagged or labelled at all 

Ugh

I tiredly yet excitedly pinballed around all the boxes taking stock and making piles of related items. Started sorting nuts bolts screws washers into groups, then splitting into sets.

Right, I’ll start with windows and doors.. that shits pretty generic.

About 5 hours of putting together/taking apart/distractions/adjustments and I’ve got glass in and moving. Doors hung and clasping. The rear glass rolls down and then pivots back real stylishly to tuck inside the body..fizzing

Shagged and dirty I head back to the motel for a golden shower-spec wash up and some cans. Hot tub? so I investigate and it’s locked.. no relaxation for me.

I message that guy who had a 58 century he sold to his neighbour. The diff in question was still available. Has the tube and a trans x-member too.

Well…. What are you up to tomorrow, I’ll come and get it?

I made some ear plugs out of wet napkin paper and get a better sleep but Up early and on the road, weather sucks so not much sight-seeing happening. I arrive in Napier, meet up. Holy fuck this is a massive diff! Some weird wasp stings my neck but it didn’t come to anything thankfully. 

Spot 5 wheels in the corner, investigate, turns out they are chev 15” with massive balloons on, but the centre bore fit the diff so a deal was struck. He threw in an old air cleaner he had no use for too, rapt.

Back to Rotorua and 4 more hours assembling before retiring again. 

Hot tub locked again. Dang

Trunk lid assembled and on, shes looking like a veee-hickle.

How rad that the dealer badge was still amongst the parts! I’ve always wanted one. Thats a place in Manitoba, CANADA! Must have been their summer car cause it’s way more sturdy than it should be! The title is Washington state.

Monday morning I shuffle in and sling more parts on, add some wheels..WTF the hubcaps fit hahaha. Much fitting and unfitting and now the dash is complete and all the trims around window secure. 

Many of the trim clips are rusty/snapped or missing so I can’t hang all the cool shit on for transport unfortunately. 

The diff is now under the car. Would you believe, it’s the one sold out from under my car originally! The snipped handbrake cable and brake lines confirm. 

How good!

stuff piles getting smaller.

Do you even have a factory 5kg Sonomatic valve radio..thought so

Peep the details in the side flash!

I spend what seems like 2 hours wrestling the torque tube through the frame and lining up internal blind splines 300mm inside the diff pinion. The uni joint is fuckin cooked and the yolk was flopping around so it was pretty shit for a time. There’s a hole for greasing; filled with a bung so I could get my finger in and try guide it some. Started with long bolts and pulled it onto the spline then subbed out the bolts to shorter and repeat until married! 

Talked some shop and assembled the headlights/buckets/rings/bezels. One side was like brand new, was bizarre. 

I get a call from the motel saying they are upgrading water system so wont have any hot water for the week and did I want to stay or transfer to another place in town.

There’s also a takeaway right across the street so they are getting my money. 

TRANSFER ME BABY! 

 I showed up filthy and he understood I wasn’t going to come right with a cold shower so I moved into town.

Instant stink of durries when I opened the door (smoke free suite), it was tidier but not by much. BUT they had a fucking spa in the room so I filled that bitch and soaked away my pains, I was feeling it after a few days of rolling around in the car and under it. Would have been lush to have a dart in that spa but didn’t want to push my luck. 

Instead I messaged a guy from a hot rod classified page that had a motor and trans out of a 59 for sale for ages. Listed as stuck piston unknown trans @ $1500 id be a fool to pass that up now I have the rest of the driveline to suit. It’s a rare factory 4 barrel so it can Chong more gas and still be slow, moving 1800kg of Buick. Awesome!

Now I could take the van up to Hamilton and collect it but that’s pushing myself a bit far. Plus 300kg of dirty old cast iron making its way through the side of the rental would be frowned upon. Also, hard to get it out of van and into the car at Gaz’.

Tuesday morning First thing, I had picked up the inner guards from a bloke in town and grabbed some huge bolts for the bumpers.

Went to town hanging the front sheet metal and all the bits and pieces, wrangled the rear bumper up and on, same with front. Put together the marker lights and grill..160 chrome squares influenced by the designer looking at knobs for his new kitchen Reno! Shits heavy.

By about 4:30 I’m relatively happy with progress, 6 boxes are empty; flattened for recycling and the last bits condensed into a couple of plastic crates, stainless trims methodically placed around the car so as not to chaff on the journey south. Had a sweep up, back into town..spa time nigga.

Going back and forward with the transporter guy the last few days wanting to know the earliest it would be ready and he goes cold. Said I’d have it ready about 11.

That’s ok there’s other guys quoting around the same money. I’m peaking out a bit ‘cause the she is up a gravel drive and across a bit of paddock then down to a lush pad but car needs to come out on a bit of an angle.

Wednesday dawns and I go grab a 4pack of strops, head to partsworld and see if they have any coil springs I can put under the back..I used those aforementioned fence post offcuts but there’s a stud coming out of the body at the top and a stud on the diff housing..both accept a retaining plate.

The wood was harsh and it would probably shake the car apart again on the way home if it didn’t split it into kindling.

First thought was a couple of rugby balls? But the stitching terminating on the ends, the studs would probably penetrate and pop.

Mr. man at partsworld wasn’t as onboard as me with my ‘i need a pair of random coil springs’ request, said they only did Mazda but he went and had a look and returned with a set, including rubber retainer isolators and one end was progressive/tightly wound just like Buick!

Fuck mate I’ll have em. Chur 

Well they actually turned out to be perfect!  Might even run them permanently..time will tell if an airbag makes its way in there instead. 

Used my strops to hold hood on (old mate can’t find the hinges at the moment), another around the torque tube to the X of chassis, and one pulling rear end back towards the bumper..having no trans mounted means the whole assembly could shimmy forward and tyres chaff the body. Not a biggie but nice to try avoid it.

Message transporter at 9:30, good to go. 

No response.

Sat here writing this whole blurb until he messages to say hes been out of service, can’t do it but a towie mate will.. he’s on his way from Hamilton. 

Ok cool, this is something.

Mate rings and explains he hasn’t got the winch trailer but if there was a vehicle that could help tow it up ramps it would be a go. 

Hmm an added level of fuckery but let’s do it. He arrives around 4, we push it out and turn a bit, he’s backed in on the rise. Planned to tow it up with the van and come alongside the trailer and truck. 

Van has no tow hooks and the plastic bumper is fair flush with the diff..flag.

Go pinch the diesel side-by-side and it’s all go, car rolls beautifully and it stropped down. 

See ya in a couple of days hopefully!

I do regret not taking more before pics but I was on a mission and it will come apart again. Most of the car is virgin and remarkable for age. 

The rust has entered the chat in the front of inner sills, front floor pans, spare wheel well, rear of trunk. Behind the trim on front of front guards, Plus oddball hole on side of hood and beside tail lamp. Has also sweat a bit behind the side flash’s. Might be deep enough pitting to need a patch.

Quite manageable. 

I do need to concentrate on the besties Hakosuka so will try limit myself on Buick .. but we all know how that initial dose of enthusiasm goes! 
 

Discuss:

We are planning to do the Daybreaker Rally in 2014, there is a clause in the rules that still state that the co-driver can drive some of the stages if they want. So we are doing stage-for-stage driving the car. Neither of us have any rally driving experience, only rally experience is servicing stupidly custom hayabusa starlets so doubt that'll be much use to us... so will be an interesting learning curve considering neither of us can read notes so will just do the rally blind at this stage. 

Got the car cheap from down south where it had been running for a number of years. Mechanically pretty sound few bits and pieces we have had to sort but all in all its pretty good. Car just needed a birthday really. A lot of things were done really hory and the interior was a sight to behold.. A bit of TLC is what it needed. 

It has a COD (certificate of description) which means we can run legitimately in the classic class and also gives the car a bit more value. 

As we got the car

got rid of the racetech 100's that neither of us could fit our fat arses into and mounted the seats from my circuit car. only just fits in there theres a 10mm gap between the seats and each seat just clears the door on the outside of the car. 

This is what we are aiming for the car to look like by daybreaker;

took it for a skid at the farm to test it all out. Goes bloody well! the 4K in it is grumpy as hell got a massive cam, dellortos and revs out over 8K so were pretty happy with that. Has a AE86 diff (TRD plate diff), gearbox and front struts with Bilstein shocks all round so handled it all really well. Was super tail happy so after this we put it on the alignment machine; turns out it was toeing out by 8mm.. nothing a angle grinder and welder can't solve!

So the strip down begun, just to tidy up everything as there were bits of rust, birdshit welding and general horiness in quite a few places. our aim was to tidy up the inside and do everything right. As well as sort out the crunchy synchro's in the gearbox which hindered us while testing 

Some of the good bits..

grp 4 inserts in the front

Some of the shit, starting to strip the whole interior of paint ready for a full respray (check out how dented the floor is - this has been a rally car for quite a while!)

Tidying up the struts

Jase (ekezetec) made me some new footplates

Discussion Tread...

and bought a 'new' 68 Mustang.

I got it sight unseen off Trade me from Christchurch and thought 'I've watched a lot of Roadkill, but really what could go wrong'.

The car is a factory C-code V8 which is a 2 barrel 289 base model but it has power steering and 3-point seat belts so a bit of an upgrade. I think the vented bonnet and fog lamps are an add on by a previous owner and also the dual exhaust with 66 GT cutouts in the rear valance.

Luckily I made it home to AK with no major issues but being fussy I have made a list of things to sort.

• Shudder at anything over 60MPH
• 'Digital' steering at highway speeds, mint at low speed
• Rust in both A-pillars and possibly C-pillars as well. Not sure how it got a warrant on the first but the second could be a reaction to the lead filler
• Scrape marks in the left rear tyre sidewall. Probably scrubbing before they rolled the guards but again not sure how thing passed a warrant
• no washers. The squirters are missing and the pump has no electrical connection. Again, warrant
• Strong smell of petrol fumes with a full tank. 
• Ripped driver seat
• Drivers seat does not tilt forward
• no trans kickdown
• rear windows don't wind down

Probably some other stuff I've forgotten but a bit to keep me busy. 

picked it up a few years back. as an unfinished project, had a 20v 4age sitting in the engine bay, a pile of parts in the back, and looking pretty rough. heres what it looked like after i picked it up: 

after closer inspection , turns out the 20v was rooted. so it was binned and replace with a 16valve smallport:

at the same time the engine mounts were redone and gearbox mounted. then a hilux diff, sourced from a local car dump, was modified and installed along with ae92 brakes. king springs and shorter kyb shocks, went in the front. the rear got shortened stock shocks and some cut nissan sunny front springs. 2" stainless exhaust was made from 2nd hand stainless complemets of fonterra. the coby extractors were choped up, and modified with old exhausts from the car dump. made into a much better 4-2-1 set. along the way when i could be assed, some of the rust was fixed.

this is where the project slowed right down, since panel work sucks. but with car running and driveable it. various panels missing and doors that wouldnt shut. it made for some amusing late night country road driving. 2 seats a steering wheel and an engine was enough.

finally after a few years pissing around and bitching at the bro to paint it, it had a new coat of paint:

the plan was to finish putting to together, then go for a cert. till i decided it needed some quad throttles. deciding to do something a bit diffrent, a varible runner setup was made. along with fiberglass duct/airbox, new radiator installed, stock ecu was replace with a lem g3, and tuned:

car was booked in for a cert, but cert guy canceled. at the same time i wasnt too happy with the suspension setup. so had yet another stupid idea to do a coil over setup front and maybe rear. front setup was first, along with choped up ep82 camber plates and some rca's:

with that complete. i currently have some 100mm holes, cut in place of the original rear shock mounts, and some 100mm tube sitting in place for the rear setup, more to come.. :

got on my flight to Auckland today 

Did I mention I start my new job on Monday, smart idea guy 

MK 1 Zephyr

289 c4 auto and Wolseley diff, tilt front and holden front end.

I hope to replicate as much as I can but won’t be running the holden front but will do a tilt front.

Discussion: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/43506-nominals-1964-mercury/

We've had this car since 2003. At the time I was working in Indianapolis for a few months, and looking for another car to bring home (at the time I also had a '69 Lincoln in NZ). I did a lot of looking online, but only inspected a couple of cars. The first was a "rust free" late 60's Galaxie, which was a bit too rusty. The second was this one. Something about the colour and chrome combination was very attractive.

As bought, it had been on fire, with the air cleaner burnt up, and a large burn mark in the centre of the bonnet. The PO told me it had backfired through the carb, setting fire to the filter. He had got it running again with a cleaned up (or replacement?) carb. It would only drive in 1st and 2nd gears though.  After a quick test drive we decided it was too cool to pass on so bought it.

We were still in Indianapolis for a couple of months more so brought it back to the apartment complex and parked it in one of the garages. Like most US accommodation there were many rules in place, including some banning working on cars on-site (seriously). Managed to get the gearbox shifting by fixing the vacuum line routing. Also took the hood off to get it repainted. Otherwise I just used it locally and to/from work when the weather was nice.

Outside office with stepdaughter (who now has a 2yo child sheesh) and missus.

Engine as bought. 390ci Ford FE which is stock AFAIK. 2 barrel carb for economy (ha ha).

When we were due to come home the car went on an open transporter to LA, then into a container via Steve Curle. It arrived in NZ a few weeks later and after coughing up the $$$ to officialdom came home. It had survived the trip fairly well, only getting dirty. The gas tank was hanging out (I suppose they drained it at some stage) and one tank strap had gone awol. While the tank was out I repaired some rust in the body mount in the trunk. Some genius has filled it with epoxy.

After fixing that, fitting a high-level stop light, and swapping the low beam lights for some that dipped to the left it passed the VTNZ check to be road legal.

This Bluebird is a U.S. specification 48 HP left hand drive 1961 PL310. It is the same as 1959 and 1960 310s. It is much different with respect to the drivetrain than late '61 through '64 models with the 60 hp engine, all synchro transmission and beefier rear axle components. I've swapped in most of the later model drivetrain though. The overall project been on and off again for years, decades actually. I have 44 years of my ownership history that I can present separately in a discussion thread along with this build activity. Previous historical "major" repairs included bumping out the roof panel in the late 70s due to a prior owner rollover accident. The rust work however is relatively new since early 2018. Photos. My earliest photo of the car is alongside the aqueduct in the California San Joaquin Valley in June 1975 and then Pullman, WA October 1975 . The latter photos are current covering the inner and outer sill panels fabrication, fit and weld work currently in progress. As time permits, I'll go back a year and begin describing the work and discoveries along the way to date and continue from there.

https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/60267-marts-pl310-61-datsun-bluebird-sedan/

Moving over my project from the club-k forums to make it a bit more public for those interested.

So it started when I brought this 1984 Toyota Starlet Racecar, I wanted something I could drive to the track, while still being safe during racing, hence the roll cage.

It came with a 2L Altezza 3SGE BEAMS engine with the 6 Speed box, already in it and a really good build history from the original owner.

Sale thread here has some more details: https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/38220-fs-1981-kp61-starlet-race-car-certifed-homologated/

More to come...

driven it a bit and now its time for a bit more power and some low.

Evo9 turbo

Link

going to need this as i am going to stay single cam

pick of the unmolested engine bay

discussion you say?

http://www.oldschool.co.nz/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=24369

Long time no post. 
I've had this car for a long time, so it's not really a new project. 
However, it's been dormant for the last few years while I've been mulling over options for a new engine.

New motor Criteria:
-Capable of big rpm 
-less weight than beams motor 
-newer motor / alloy block 
-Be nice if it bolts to a J160 without adapter

These are some of the engine options I've been going back and forth between:

1NZFXE NA 
Probably a bit too slow for a ~950kg rwd car... But maybe alright with a diff ratio change. Would definitely be the lightest option.
Lots of room for activities with intake etc! 

1NZFE+turbo
This would be great because it would achieve nearly everything I want (lots of rpm, a power increase, less weight) 
However I do prefer NA motors for ease of working on but also tuning is more fun I think.
This wont bolt up to a J160 directly, so that's a headache not present with some other options.
Also the exhaust runs down the drivers side which is a bit annoying.

Bike motor 
I am keen to do a bike motor project, but, I think this isnt the right car for it. Too big/heavy.
But how cool are bike motors? Built with amazing ports, mega rpm, and sequential box that can shift near instantly. 
Bloody good. It just really excites me to buy a 10 second bike and turn it into a 14 second car haha.

Have you considered a 2ZZ
Yes, yes I have. 
Pluses to this are that it's lighter than a beams motor, VTEC! and built from the ground up for lots of rpm. 
Good power potential. 
Downsides - motors are hard to find, that arent either clapped out from high km, or needing to buy a whole car to get an engine. 
Needs a bellhousing adapter, exhaust runs down the drivers side (steering column/brake master cyl annoyances)
Niteparts is currently working on fitting a 2ZZ to AE86, really excited to see how it turns out.

2ARFXE or 2ARFE 
This is a big late model 2.5 liter 4cyl motor that's gaining popularity for modding. 
The FXE version uses the same tricks as the Echo motor, however, the factory cams have some pretty decent lift and duration unlike the 1NZ.
So it looks like the popular cheapish option is to use a second intake cam in the exhaust side, then you've got 270deg cams with 11mm lift. Pretty sweet. 
Downsides? It's a tall bugger. I'm definitely not wanting to do anything that requires cutting the bonnet. Might not fit. 
Also, it would be weight neutral rather than losing any weight from front of the car which was one of the goals. 
Since it has quite a long stroke, it probably cant rev as high as I'd like. I'm more concerned about engine sound/feel/revvyness rather than outright power.
It's a good option, especially if it can bolt to a 3S bellhousing - but being rpm limited to 7500 or something. Blargh! 


So, yeah. Those were the options I've been considering and trying to decide between. 
However while browsing through Dodson's trademe site for cheap big block 4 cyl FXE engines I spotted something interesting that I'd not considered...
A new challenger appears! 

4GRFSE 
Now this is a bit of a WTF option but hear me out.
The 4GR's big brother, the 2GR. Is a 3.5 liter V6 that is commonly swapped into MR2s etc, because can bolt up to a 3S bellhousing. 
However most of the 3.5 liter versions suit having the motor tipped over for east/west config.
I think you need to buy a Lexus motor to get the RWD config motor, and uhhh yeah. Lexus tax.
The 4GR is the 2.5 liter direct injection V6 from a Toyota Mark X, which is setup for FR config.
It's got a rear mounted sump, which by eyeball should easily fit behind Carina crossmember.
Also, they're cheap and readily available as Mark X are a fairly common car.
Why not 2GR for an extra liter of displacement?
Well, the 2GR makes good power but it's got a big bore, big stroke, and will be rpm limited on factory pistons to less RPM than I'm willing to settle for.
The short stroke and smaller bore of the 4GR motor means pistons/rods are lighter and the mean piston speed is considerably lower at a given rpm.
To be honest I've never really considered a V6 because I think a 4 cyl motor is more in keeping with the spirit of the car. 
But when you look at the numbers, there's no way to get an off the shelf 4cyl motor that has a big enough bore and short enough stroke for mega rpm.
Even the tiny 1NZ has rpm disadvantages compared to it.
Another interesting aspect, is that since this motor is DI only from factory. It doesn't have any injectors in the ports, which usually seem to result in more angle on the port. 
In this case the DI injectors are mounted below the intake ports, so it's got STEEP intake ports. Another good sign for high rpm.
The downside is that as per every DI only engine, the intake ports clog up with shit. Solved by converting back to regular injection.




Still thinking "why a V6?" (boooo)

I think it's going to be possible to get a semi reliable 10k rpm from this motor. 
Honestly how many engines are capable of running to 10k? How good is that.
If these numbers stacked up the same way with a 4cyl motor, I'd use that. But they dont.
Also to remove any doubt of this motors absolute peak performance potential this son of a bitch has a modern day TVIS equivalent. shit a brick.



I've come to realize from the echo that revving the absolute bejesus out of something puts a smile on your face for longer than outright power does.
This motor, the bottom end at least, should be 10k rpm capable with considerably less stress on the motor than any other option from the Toyota stable that I can see.
Here's some graphs, because, well, it's my thread and thats how it goes.

Bore size
4GR is about middle of the range for bore size, which is a good indicator of piston weight.
Keeping in mind that piston area goes up non linear to diameter, so only a few mm more can mean a considerably heavier piston.
pistons will definitely be a a fair chunk lighter than 2AR or 2GR options.



Stroke length
4GR has got by FAR the shortest stroke out of options.
Nearly 8mm shorter stroke than a 1NZ.
Considerably shorter stroke than a 2ZZ, which is a pretty good benchmark for a high rpm capable engine.
God damn delicious!


Compression ratio
Lower than some of the options, nothing beats the 1NZ!
However 12:1 is still awesome, the fact it's a non hybrid factory engine with CR that high is great.


Rod length
(Thats what she said)

2AR has the longest rod, but it's also got the longest stroke. 
Apparently the 2GR and 4GR have the same rod length, which would mean the 4GR block must be more compact. 
Good news for keeping the engine height down a little.
Nearly 10mm longer rod than a 2ZZ.


Rod/stroke ratio 
The highest the rod/stroke ratio number is, the straighter the rod stays when travelling up and down the bore. 
So less side loading on the bore. This is generally considered a good thing for high rpm, and it also changes how long the piston dwells at TDC and BDC. (higher number favorable for more rpm)
An S2000 has a rod ratio of 1.82:1 
Having a 1.92 rod ratio is god damn glorious for high rpm from a factory engine.




Mean piston speed 
Rather than picking an RPM and listing the mean piston speeds, I've chosen a mean piston speed (4500 feet per second) then shown how high each motor can rev when reaching this number.
The 4GR does wees over everything else. 
Keep in mind that I'm revving 1NZ to 9k currently, which would be same piston speed as nearly 10k with the 4GR. (4GR will have a heavier piston though to be fair)




Sooooo yeah. 
I think a 9500-10,000rpm motor should be doable, as there are big cams available.
If so, it will be friggen wild.
Well, there are big cam and stiff valve spring options available for the 2GR - but I'm not yet sure if these will fit the 4GR.
Looking at pictures of the head gaskets, it looks like the 4GR has the same bore spacing but just bigger gaps between cyls.
I've bought a motor to test fit everything initially. It's not much of a gamble as they're reasonably cheap. 
I'm hoping things will all work out, but there could be some issues yet.
Good thing I got some practice using a hand drill to modify engine blocks with the 1NZ. Might need these skills.
Here's a few pics of the next modern Toyota FE motor I'm planning to turd polish into oblivion. 





I'm super excited about this! There's still a zillion reasons why it might not work out, or something doesnt fit, or blah blah blah. 
But if it all works how I'm hoping, it's going to be cool as hell.

So I've always wanted an XY Falcon. If you'd asked me when I was a kid what my favourite car was, I'd have told you it was a Phase III GTHO. 

When I was growing up, a family friend had an XY Fairmont in Bronze Wine, which I thought was the coolest thing ever. He'd bought it off the original owner circa 1975, who was a customer of the Ford dealer he worked at. He'd use it to tow the boat to the holiday spot we'd camp at every Christmas, but other than that it didn't get out much. It was a factory 302 Windsor car with T bar auto, and over the decades he'd added a few '80s go-faster bits, and those awesome Sampson Industries 'Magnum' jellybean mags. This is it: 

This car kickstarted an obsession with X-series Falcons - I was probably the only teenager reading Australian Muscle Car magazine. Trouble is, by the time i was old enough to own one they were past the point where they were cheap, and for one reason or another they always stayed out of reach. I had planned the ultimate XY build in my head - Bronze Wine or Nugget Gold, 14x8 Cheviot Tridens, and a 351 Cleveland (or at points, a 250 2V with triple Webers, just to be different). No chin spoilers, no stripes, no shaker. I looked at a few Falcons over the years, but none of them were quite right - really, it had to be a Fairmont. To make things more difficult, it had to be a wagon (because no matter what sort of car it is, wagons are the best).

Life moved on, and several other project cars took up time and money. Until one day, this came into my life:

It's a November 1970-build XY Fairmont wagon, making it very early in the production run for an XY. Originally a Monza Green 250 six with a column shift Cruiseomatic, it's since been fitted with a 351 Cleveland on LPG, FMX trans and a disc brake 9" rear end from (presumably) a Landau or P5 LTD, based on the rear calipers. The idea was to build the Fairmont wagon that had lived in my head for years. Sadly, the family friend/uncle with the bronze Fairmont passed away a couple of years ago, so this is also going to be a bit of a tribute to him. 

This car looked good from afar, but up close it was far from good. Like any old Falcon, it's had its fair share of shit repairs and bog over its 56 years of life, and because it needs a repair cert these will all need to be fixed properly. The engine swap hasn't been done all that nicely, and it's also lost nearly all of its Fairmont-spec interior, which is a shame - everything was covered in grey vinyl and early 2000s hydrodip, and someone had swapped the factory bucket seats for some electric couches from a Mitsi Diamante. These, along with the skull decals went straight in the bin.  

Like I said, it looked good from a distance, but that bumblebee-spec colour scheme was hiding many sins. It doesn't look like it's had any of the rust cut out of it, rather it's just been plated over (so it keeps rusting underneath). Someone has hacked out most of the boot floor and fuel tank area as part of the LPG conversion, and there was a suspicious row of pop rivets along the passenger's side sill seam. There was nothing for it but to start pulling it apart and poking at the flaky bits with a pointy screwdriver.

As it turned out, while some of the patches were welded, the ones in arguably the most important parts of the car weren't:  

This is the LHS torque box, which someone's just pop riveted some roofing sheet over. 

That was just a prequel, though. Here's the passenger's side sill:

It's all fucked, and needs repairs to the upper and lower A pillars, rear wheelarches, rear quarters, tailgate opening, D pillars, fuel tank well, load bay floor, torque boxes, sills, front K-member, etc. 

Wish me luck...

Anyway, have kinda aimlessly been messing about with them. 
I’ve slowly developed something resembling a plan involving yet another car but more on that later. Here’s some pics!

And this is the reason - welcome to my XY Fairmont 4.1L column auto bench seat

It's an ex South African car and the body is bloody amazing. Interior needs new upholstery and I want bucket seats...

Plans - to keep it Fairmont and just add a few of the GS touches such as:

- XYGT lower lip spoiler

- XYGT fog lights

- XYGT square based aerial

- XYGT wing mirrors

- XYGT gas cap

I picked it up 4 days ago from up north and drove it back to Aukland with a faulty brake booster - only a couple of hairy moments.

The first port of call was for me to remove the classic trident (tridon) mags and wack on my 14X8 12 slots and NEW 245 50 14 eagers.

Discussion thread

https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/forum/11-project-discussion/&do=add

Firstly, some history. Last year I bid on this car on Trade Me. It was being disposed of by Turners along with a whole bunch of other stuff from a private car museum in Blenheim, some of you probably remember it. I have been pining for another Fiat 125 for many years now as my first car was a Teal green 1973 125 with high back seats. I copped a lot of flack from my high school peers at the time for driving a "Lada" Philistines...  Anyhow, I did not win the auction, a Fiat collector from Hawkes Bay kept outgunning me and the Finance Minister was not happy for me to gun back. Wallowing in self pity for months after, I got a random phone call from said collector wondering if I was still keen on the car, as he already had several minter 125s and had just bought an Alfa he has been chasing for 20 years. A deal was done and he also offered to store it for me until I could arrange to get it back to to South Island because we were in the middle of moving South from Taranaki. I am very grateful to him for giving me first refusal and for being very helpful.

Whilst being transported to my new home, about 25km short of the destination, this happened.

The truck was involved in a fatal accident in Amberley. A local and well known businesswoman driving her Old School Civic crossed the centreline into the path of the truck and was unfortunately killed. I could scarcely believe it when the dispatcher told me.

Discussion

1966 C20. Got it on the road a few years ago but have never really liked it. Changed engines a few times and gearboxes too. But even if I baby the throttle it gets 23l/100kms and anything resembling a warm day sees it overheat at idle and the gearbox hate life. So out come the 350 small block and 700r4. 

It is still a fun rig in spite of the flaws and apart from wof sheets being in the pages long for stuff considered fine six months ago let alone things considered fine 50 years ago, I do enjoy using it. Being the C20 it is a 3/4 ton (a few kgs under the COF limit) and has long trailing arms in the rear with coils and over rider leaf springs for when it is carrying a load. Of which it does often. 

I nearly went for an Isuzu 4BE1 mainly because it had similar torque specs to the chev and one wire hookup. But I have since decided that I need to man up and put in something cooler. Seeing as I haven't been about to find a Detroit 353t, I'm going outside of my comfort zone and putting in a BMW M57 3l straight 6 turbo diesel. 

i bought this thing off Tom @yetchh about August of 2018. it was at my house for about 13 hours until i shipped it up to Denham's house in Wellsford, which then became Chris's house.

and there it has sat for the last 7 years. ive seen it twice since then. each time just long enough for me to forget how much work it needs. 

today NIck the sparky gave me a hand and we drug it out of its hole and now its in my workshop.

why.

why the fuck do i do this....

anyeho, i have no fucking idea what im going to do with it (apart from sell it, that's a definite, im not keeping this thing) it goes, well it did 7 years ago. 

its got a 5MG and its manual. i have no idea what box is in it.

it looks way less shit in the photos than it actually is. it has no boot floor as is the fashion. paint is really fucked and there is some rust spots in the roof that need fixing. 

not much rust anywhere else which is nice. 

fuck. 

It all started with a Opel Monza that I happily swapped for a rough 1980 B1600 wellside ute, featured faded yellow paint with rusty wheels, no wof or rego as usual, and a very large exhaust leak.

It was 4 on the tree and fun to drive.

First mods were slapping on some 15x8s and blocks in the back.

Gave it a one tone paint job aka primer.

Drove it round for a year or so until some scumhole decided that they wete more entitled to own the wheels and things that were on it.

In doing so they destroyed the sills when they dumped it on blocks.

That was my daily driver totaled. Luckily i still had my GT bmx to daily to work.

After seeing Andrew Smiths blown 13b B2000, i decided to put some love into it.

I completely blew it apart down to the last nut and bolt.

Had the chassis blasted and painted.

Fitted a s4 13bt block with nikki carb.

I got it fired up by myself which was amazing as i was no mechanic.

A mates workmate offered me a genuine 12a rx3 nosecone for $250, so i grabbed that and set about doing a front conversion.

I was actually surprised how i pulled it off.

I got it all mocked up ready for a local panel beater to do the finish work.

The bonnet chop would be the hardest bit to do.

But when i picked it up from him, i was blown away. 

The driveshaft cost me more to have lengthened than what he charged me.

Plus he primed and guide coated it for me.

After i got it back home from him, i set about reassembling it.. fitted wrx seats, rx3 console gauges and some crude camo fabric everywhere.

Andrew Smith rang me one day and said " fancy putting the ute on the dyno at the Nats?"

Hell yeah.. its first public outing past my driveway.

I remember driving up the motorway at night on the friday, cars were flying past and slamming the brakes on to have a look.

Was pretty cool.

After the nats i decided its time to paint it.. it was 2002, it had to be loud haha.

So i went with Lemon yellow with a green pearl.

I painted this myself in my driveway..my first ever paint job.

It came out good with no runs.

But it needed a cut n polish..i never did that.

A month or 2 after that i got contacted from a guy up north who asked if i wNted to sell..he made an offer of $13k..

I reluctantly sold..and never got it certed.

A year later i was up north visiting family, i messaged him to see how the ute was going.

He offered to let me drive it.

I was pumped.. finally got to have a legal drive in it. But he changed the wheels to oajero 18s, yuk..

Another year after that he called and said it was dead... he crashed it on its way to the airport to meet its new owner.

RX3UTE was no more.

I pined for it ever since.

Tried getting the plates back at one point. But i didnt have the coin.

This is where the story of the original RX3UTE ends.

A lot of people hated it, thats fine..

I loved it, it was an accomplishment for soneone with very little mechanical skill, to build it themselves in a single garage with wharehouse spec tools.

End.

Background

I'm a beginner to this whole thang, with nothing more than YT and a strong desire to use power tools to make something shiny and cool again. Half a year ago if someone told me in the future I'd be working on restoring a car... I'd either not believe them, or ask them for lotto numbers. Yet here I am.

I saw this float on and off trademe for a few months before snaffling it up with an eye towards full or mostly-full restoration, then going where the wind takes us from there.  I adore the look of these machines and the idea of breathing life into a sad old car really appeals to me for some reason - this thing already has a soul, and a much stronger connection than some rando import, and I've never driven it.  

So what is it?  A 1983 Mitsubishi Starion GSR-X, automatic, top trim, all-original (what's left of it anyway), with a 2.0 G63B turbo engine.  It was** driven into a garage 15~ years ago and the distributor and battery removed before the previous owner bought it to restore with his son.  He didn't do anything more than turn the drive shaft and wipe the gunk from the ID plate before his son lost interest and it sat in his garage for another year.  Then we bought it.

My partner and I (which in practice so far means mostly me) plan to restore it slowly over the coming years as time and money permit.  I'll just use 'I' going forward to make it easier.

The state of it

Here's a pre-anything walk-around.

It has a lot of missing or broken stuff.  The interior is in a right state with absolutely munted carpets (found some old KFC bones under a seat), super-dehydrated leather, tiny bits of missing trim, sun-bleached buttons etc.  Fortunately some really important stuff is OK like the dashboard but the pluses are few and far between inside.  Maybe most importantly, it doesn't smell.  I suspect time is to blame for that (see chicken bones, full ash tray, evidence of mold, etc)

The exterior is much the same, with surface rust spots, dents, minor collision damage in one corner, some broken or missing trim pieces, non-functioning boot latches, saggy bumper plastic, distressed window trim, missing driver's wing mirror (only had the one) and incredible amounts of bog.

The engine has a couple hundred thousand km's on it and seems OK I guess.  A couple of hoses could use replacing but nothing serious.  The vacuum lines have had someone monkey with them at some point which is going to be a PITA to figure out - but I guess I didn't know what a vacuum line was a couple months ago so once again, patience and time.  It seems like everything else is basically intact - most emissions stuff, A/C seems ok (can't test it yet obvs).  It arrived with oil well-below the 'low' mark but the oil itself looks fine.  The cooling system is 95% brown 5% water.  There's evidence that some oil gaskets probably need replacing.  Fine, fine.

What isn't fine?  

Plenty, but I'll start with the biggest issue.

They took the distributor out and put it on the passenger floor.  Okay, whatever, google can help me fix.  The problem: it's not the original distributor.  There's no vacuum advance on it, I don't think it is for a turbo engine, and most importantly I have no idea where the connector hooks up to the wiring harness. I learned from a young age that square pegs don't go in round holes and I haven't found a square peg quite like the one on the dizzy.  

Okay, fine, google can help right?  Maybe I can just get an old original one? Lol no. Google has not been my friend.  I can find a million different replacement distributor caps, water pumps, blah blah but for some reason finding a solution for my problem has left me truly stumped. 

1. Buy a new OEM one.  Sure, but that's >$500 USD and I'd want to be very sure I know what I'm buying before I sink that - like do I want part #MD001631 or #MD066837? 

2. Buy a salvaged, rebuilt or aftermarket one which specifically suits this engine.  I'm cool with this, but... I can't find any.  The closest I can get is stuff for a 2.6 G54BT (as a reminder I have a 2.0 G63BT) which supposedly is too short.

3. Buy a different but compatible engine's dizzy.  How do I know what's compatible, and suitable for a turbo engine?  For all that the internet holds I've found this to be surprisingly tricky to find any info on this sort of thing.

4. Decipher the secrets of the distributor I've been given and see if I can't just Make It Work™ for now - though I'll probably want to get something more suitable in the future.  On this I am stumped.  There's simply no place I can find that this thing can plug into.  The best spot I've found has a round connector with 3 pins vs. the distributor's square connector with 4 pins.  I'm really hoping I've just missed something obvious but my hope there is dim.

I've spent the last couple of months entering endless google search terms and asking in fairly obscure places around the internet to no avail and this (aside from money) truly is my greatest blocker right now.  I want to try and get the engine running, however poorly, before I get it out - partly because this the last chance to hear it for a while but mostly so that I know if I've broken something when reassembly time comes. 

So if anyone knows anything about wtf is going on please let me know because I'm going a bit crazy!

Now a few of you here already know the answer. Don't be a silly sausage and spoil the fun. Let the others play guessy games. I have tried to take some shots that only cars nerds might recognise. Lets start with this...

This one never saw any combat action (not that many made it out of America) but apparently it was used in the building of the Alaska Highway.

After the war it became a council truck/ snowplough in Canada and the came to the UK in 2017-ish. 

This is what it looked like upon arrival

The bloke who bought it was tempted by the silver screen & painted it back to army spec for the " Masters of the air" mini series. Bit of a shame really.

He did some work on it but it was never really a restoration. Sadly I've lost a lot of pictures & videos but you'll get the idea.

So the time has come to get it on the road properly. I've done some miles in it but it's a bit of a handful as is, especially with no indicators, brake lights & barely any mirrors.

It still fires up fine

And I've cleared some space & moved it over so I can get round it. Brakes need bleeding. wiring needs doing & hopefully the mirror situation is in hand.

Having been under/over/inside it recently, it has become clear it wasn't originally a tipper. Various, but not all the right parts have been fitted but there's still stuff missing. I'm not sure if I should leave it or turn it back into a cargo truck. Biggest problem is that the levers for the bed are where your right foot wants to be for the starter & the throttle. 

I've got size elevens and it's hard work not getting caught up.

Anyway, my plan is to civilianise it again. Nothing more than some paint & decent mirrors really. Maybe a couple of marker lights and an airhorn. I made a model of it with the intended paint jawb. I'll let the sea air add the rust...

I'm hoping to get it out in the lanes & cause tourist mayhem before the summer holidays are over.

Thank you for your interest.

Finally got my hands on another old-school car after much going back and forth on several other choices.

Car arrives in mid-May.

Has a 2M and 5 speed but will be swapping out for modern drivetrain later on.