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.

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 

Got this off a friend, swapped 2 paint jobs for it, chur. 

Been off the road since 2006. dereg unfortunately. 

overall a very tidy car. very honest car, was briefly in the works for a fully worked 2zzge, dry sump. which is now removed and in possession of previously mentioned friend. 

I absolutely love these bugeye starlets. always wanted one since i first saw one, so wanting to keep this one forever. 

The plan is to just do a simple lumpy cam 4k with gillies, low and nice wheels. but i do have a fwd 4age sitting in the back of the shed, and naturally i recently bought some 4age to KP engine mounts to tempt myself towards that. ill see how it goes..

The story behind this one - Mum and Dad were on their honeymoon around the South Island in 1991, Dad brought this one home with him from St Andrews (just south of Timaru) - registration was lapsed when Dad brought it (lapsed in 1990) got parked in the garage and never touched. Some conjecture whether the car was driven home or trailered, I recall Dad saying it was driven home slowly with some sort of issue but since then have discovered it was potentially trailered home.

Believe this is a poly 313 with the auto (probably a 3 speed I suspect, but not 100% sure)

Pulled the radiator out last night to try and turn the crank by hand (everything was in the way to test it in there) - good news is it turns freely, plan from here is to get a carb kit & maybe some brake parts to try and get the thing moving and stopping to see what's wrong with it and asses the project as a whole.

That was great fun before my Daughter was born, However once she was here, as you can imagine a 2 seater sports car barely moved for months on end. So sometime near the end of 2022 we sold it for precisely what it owed us apart from Fuel!! Owned it for about a year, spent +/- $6000 on parts, maintenance, insurance and rego we sold it for $6000 more than we bought it for!! Cant complain about that!

Like everybody the past 2 years have been absolutely hectic, the Mrs. had a knee reco, I had heart surgery, now have a 2.5 year old, with anther on the way and have just bought a commercial investment property so we haven't really had time or money for a toy, until very recently! 

I have been wasting countless hours on various car selling sites looking for something that tickles my fancy that the Mrs. would allow.  I like wagons and with the kids and dogs I thought that would be cool, but "they all look like a hearse" was always the response. So it seemed wagons were off the table. I was back to square 1.

One night I was mindlessly scrolling Carsales.com.au and stumbled across this Jag. I more or less straight away said to the Mrs. "i think this is it" amazingly she wasn't completely against the idea. So a day or 2 later I called the owner, an old bloke called James in Rural south Australia and arranged a PPI at the 1 local garage in town 🤣. I was happy enough with the results, had a couple of oil leaks, the drivers headlight wasnt working and the oil filter was from 2016 were the main bits. 
 

This was the end of October. It took about month to organise the transport from Adelaide to Brisbane etc. Turned up 3rd Dec to my place. Glorious

Leaving old mate James place in Clare, SA

At the Shipping yard

They say to dream big, but I did the opposite and dreamed small. I've wanted one of these for forever, beyond stoked. 

Brought it home on the trailer as it is in need of a WOF.

Previous owner had 4 of them, and I think he named his Gary, and was calling this one Larry, but I think Barry suits it better (as in, "This is living Barry")

Immediate plans are:

- get it running right (seems to be overfueling, despite my love of OS cars, I know very little about carbs, so am going to enlist the wisdom of others)

- fix a small amount of rust on the rear passenger wheel well,

- fix the wipers (currently not connected to each other, needs investigating),

- and get it a WOF, then enjoy.

Short term plans:

- Interior upgrades (seats, steering wheel, gearknob, stereo).

- Headlight upgrade

- Roof racks for practical reasons

And then long term plans are to fit this with a Nissan Leaf motor stack and battery pack. Will be keeping an eye out for a whole wrecked Leaf to scavenge for matching parts, plus this seems to be the most economical way of doing this.

A brief measure up has told me that the battery pack will fit in the rear on top of the current floor in a cradle with a false floor on top.
The inverter and motor will fit in the factory engine spot, hooked up to the standard gearbox, but the PDM may need to be relocated due to height.

I'm hoping to do as much of this on the bench as I possibly can, so as to avoid time off the road at the risk of creating another long term project.

The plan is to use a Resolve-EV wiring harness and controller, though I see they are sold out at the moment, hopefully this is sorted in the future?

I know I am in for a steep learning curve but I am excited. Please feel free to add thoughts and helpful comments:

She's tucked up in the garage for now.  

-Hayden

I thought it was about time I started a thread on my Hako.  

Please go here to tell me your thoughts.....

//oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/51341-karol-shusbands-72-skyline-betty-the-hakopotamus-discussion/

There's not many cars that you can remember the exact first moment you clapped eyes on them. In this case it was June 2004 and I reckon it was likely to be a Saturday. I was probably avoiding doing something important and playing 'Gran Turismo 4 Prologue'.

I had unlocked the  bonus 'making of' movie and was watching all the JDM goodness when all of a sudden a car jumped out of the screen at me.

I had no idea what it was but I knew that I had to have one. It looked a bit like my mates 69 Dodge Coronet and was obviously Japanese. At this point in time I hadn't ever owned an internet so it was off to my parents house and I started googling '1970 Datsun/ Toyota/ Mitsubishi', etc and eventually found this picture on a site called jbskyline.net.

I then started reading up about Nissan Skyline GTR's and soon realised that I couldn't afford one.

About the same time I discovered Japanese Nostalgic Car and kev's car. No linky to post coz JNC is broken but this is the car.

Kev's thread was an education and I got my head round the K's, G's, C's and P's and the number 10. I also realised that a 2 door GTR look-a-likey was was I wanted in my life and at a stretch I could get one. Watanabe's were a definite and the car would be silver or even better, white.

So that was that. I knew what I wanted and all I needed to do was order one from one of the many Importers and It would be here in a jiffy.

Sorted ? Nope.

 More next time

Starters conked out and carb leaks but it dose run moved up drive ect can't wait to drive it

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. 

The day I got it home

No options ticked here, it had a radio blank and a cigarette lighter blank, and just a you have cooked the engine light instead of a temp gauge

I've taken the tray off and given it a cleanup/under seal. I'll need to do it again later. It didn't want to go up the drive without doing skids, 20 year old commercial tires are a bit shit in the wet.

I pulled the bench out and rangid in some speakers with only the finest mdf and cable ties I had

//oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/25725-the-cletus-mobile-vg-valiant/

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...

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. 

EDIT: Just adding this link

http://www.toyota-global.com/company/history_of_toyota/75years/vehicle_lineage/car/id60013044B/index.html

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.

It is sound as, owned by an aircraft engineer for the last 14 years and you can see he has been anal in a good way all over the car.

1981 1500cc

Lowering springs from the UK...?

Shocks modified for KYB inserts

Grooved discs front and rear

Rebuit engine '4 or 5 years ago'

All the alloy wheel caps!

Sports exhaust

Rebuilt and repainted rear suspension

Synchromesh on all the forward gears =-0

Minor rust around windscreen and front wings

Blown head gasket

average paintwork

'Smokes a bit on the overrun'

Aircraft grade rust treatment in all the boots, pockets and cavities

He had a rebuilt 1600 SOHC Tipo block and head he was about to drop in, but he gave up as he needed the garage space.

I may talk to him about this a bit later in the piece - he had worked the head, CC'd it and balanced all the pistons crank etc.

Got the X for $1000 as is.....!

Plan is to sort the head gasket drive it for a while and see what else is wrong - the smokiness may be easy to fix - will keep you updated.

Anyway, the wof ran out late last year, I still did some adventures through summer because, you know, the fear of actually being pulled over was of little concern! The rust issues were starting to rear their ugly head, and the engine thing was becoming tiring. FYI, it is actually surprising that, given time it will push the camper to 100km/h (@9000rpm) on a flat road, and up to about 40km/h it all sortof works, then goes downhill rather quickly. The 5R is still in good shape, but out she goes...

So one night standing around having a beer ole mate from the workshop across the road comes wandering over for a brew, asks if any of us have use for an old toyota V8 hes had sitting on his floor for about 10 years. At that point, the consideration of what to put in the camper became abundantly clear. Somewhat irrational, but on-brand and period correct. Its a 4V, likely from a mid-70s VG30/35 Century. Its carbureted and came with the 3speed auto (I really want a 4 speed to avoid needing to lower diff ratio). Conveniently, it has also had a rebuild and some tickling. Has had a reasonable amount of port work, and a cam, we pulled it down to inspect and fresh hone marks on the bores, all new gaskets etc. Has the factory 4bbl Aisin Carb, which I will keep. The price ws also right at $1200..

So I have just really started, cab is nearly off and engine is likely to be slotted between the frame rails this coming week. The Cab needs an extensive amount of sheetmetal work, someones been pretty rough, lots of fibreglass, bog, gaffa tape... anyway will send cab and panels off for sandblasting/epoxy prime and then commence that bit in good time.'

Plan is really just a sweet cruiser, nothing too extreme. Id like to keep it pretty quiet, so will run full twin pipes and 4 mufflers. Cab is going to be decorated in some sort of 70s/80s Toyota Orange. The Caravan body needs some loves too. A couple of roof leaks, a few rivets to be fixed etc. Have a new Solar panel to replace the tiny one on it. Also will rejig the kitchen a little and add in a better inverter, new fridge and new batteries and charge controller. Thats prob about it for now.. 

The story begins quite some years ago when i bought a datsun 620 ute of @Mr.Mk1. He'd rescued it from scrap. He also found a pretty fucked wellside tray for it. (Which is also rockinghorse shit 8n terms of rarity) it would seem i only have one picture of that truck.

It needed plenty of work, but the rego was on hold, and it was (mostly) complete. 

When josh and i did the mission down to Alexandra to collect it,  he showed me another 620 ute. It belonged to the landlord from whom his brother rented his business premesis from. Daily driven, and a real sweet honey. Because Alexandra is as dry as fuck with no foreplay, it was completely rust free too. (For what its worth, 620 are without a doubt the most rust prone vehicles on planet earth) 

Some time later, i learned that the elderly gentleman who owned that truck stacked it. And some time later it popped up as wrecking in Christchurch.  Hoping to get some parts, i shot around there. Where i met @Agent75.  The truck was still pretty rust feee. But unfortunately Shane had cut the radiator support panel off to make removing the engine easier. The inner gaurds were a little bit puckered, but it could have been straightened out.  

A deal was struck, and i dragged it home. 

Another mate had another 620 he wanted ro move on.  ( @I'm new here) it had been completely dismantled. And had some prettt cunty rust. So i bought that, and had a coachbuilder mate graft the inner gaurds and rad support panel off that cab onto this one. Unfortunately i have no pictures of this. I also picked up a pair of front guards off another mate. 

As i didnt get the nasty, underpowered, leaky, J15 with the truck, i opted for an S14 SR20 that i bought off @mint16.  With the gearbox attached, i had to make the centre of the rad support panel removeable. 

After id painted the engine bay, @fletch have me a hand to do the final engine installation. 

Because id slung the engine so low, and so far back, the sump had to be notched to clear the drag link.

Seeing as this chassis is the later model/last iteration of the 620, it was fitted with ball joints, rather than king pins. This is a wicked bonus, because i learned that if the top ball joint is swapped over, that D21 navara hubs and stubs are a bolt in affair. No more gawdaful drum brakes.  Best of all, a mate gave me a set for free. (Less calipers, which i then sourced of marketplace)  because im not a total broken arse any more, i threw on a pair of new rotors too. 

Discussion,

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:

Embarking on an ambitious project to build a Bugatti T59 Replica.

Should probably introduce myself, I'm colin, long time fan of old cars but have been without ownership of anything oldschool worthy for about 10 years now, but recently managed to snag what appears to be a decent DR30 at auction in Japan, it's yet to show up so time will tell if it's a patched up rust bucket or a genuinely good car. have previously had a number of R30 skylines, one '84 four door L20ET, one '83 Paul newman version Coupe (much regret losing that looking at prices now), an '82 DR30 RS2000 with a FJ20ET fitted, which is now somewhere in blenheim i believe, and a red coupe we put in someones paddock for storage about 10 years ago, which we now can't find, so if you find a mostly stripped red R30 coupe near Tai Tapu somewhere, sing out.

Plans for the DR30;

-Fix whatever rust and corrosion is stopping it from getting through compliance (I know f**k all about panel repair work which is crazy consider Ive owned a number of one of the rustiest Nissans ever made

-Cert for coilovers, appears to have R31house coilovers fitted, this could be a rigmarole in itself, given that no welding on steering parts is certifiable, and thats what these look to be, if you have any intel on that situation, please let me know!

-15x8/8.5 Watanabes, looks like ex-japan is the only option, as the right offsets are to hard to find 2nd hand

-Facelift tails (dear god these have got expensive since my last car, if you have a set floating around at a reasonable price, get at me)

-Some period correct front seats, similar in style to recaro fishnets, square shape, good side support etc, open to suggestion on this

-Drive it! I've been to car meets with friends etc over the past few years and that is far more accessible fun as I get older

Some pics of the car and some underbody stuff to give an idea of general condish, tried to buy a number of these, and they were all pretty rotten in comparison to this car, and for some reason this car we got for alot cheaper than we expected to pay, so i'm losing sleep over that, ah well. Yolo or whatever they say these days.

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