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For the rest haha; https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.389399857850769.1073741849.340084572782298&type=1&l=49b3d2074a

Lets go for a weekend drive sometime in the not too far away time frame.

A few of my potato pictures, click through for bigger sizes etc. Pining to get my actual old car back on the road now after seeing this turnout! _22A6917 by GuyWithAviators, on Flickr

Gave up on the eagers, even though I said I wouldn't! So got me some sweet 205 whitewalls. Got wheels sandblasted and painted silver.

Saw this joker who'd grabbed his friends and gone on an adventure to distant lands.

Waitomo

Getting a little depressed at lack of progress so took the day off work to get some shit done. Re-torqued intake manifold, fitted carb, adjusted kick-down cable, tightened exhaust flange, rechecked header bolts etc. Then made up earth leads and attached to block and chassis (I always run a strap between engine/chassis) and knocked trans cooler clip back into shape - the top pipe has a bit of rubber round it as it was a little loose.. And put driveshaft back in, noticed diff has been leaking and should probably replace universal joints, but that can wait till I'm mobile. Shaft looks much better painted... Also fitted plugs (with anti-seize on threads) so I could look at routing the leads. Started by roughly placing them with cylinder numbers attached... Then fitted clamps on the loom bracket each side. These MSD leads are looking pretty good, like the bendable boot for clearing the headers... Didn't go too far as want to work out the neatest way to route them at the dizzy before cutting them... And fitted oil/fuel filters, fuel lines, and coil. Also tidied up oil pressure sender connector etc, and fitted alternator and brackets... And made up a bracket for the oil catch can, might need a couple of 90 deg fittings for neatest hose installation, but pretty happy where it sits... So really made some progress, much easier when you're not snatching the odd half hour before/after work in the dark. good to get a lot of the fiddly stuff out of the way, and also had a bit of a tidy-up in th'shed. Best day at work I've had in ages...

whanga pub lady lets ya know not to park under trees coz the pack of roaming feral goats in the township stand on them to reach the trees spec.

Ohura

I think it's already been recommended but the AvE channel youtube has some fantastic tool reviews. Dude is merciless and buys new tools, takes them apart, gives you a pretty honest opinion and then puts them back together. Great humor too.

Good to put another face to a name. Was keen for sharns but had to get home.

some pics of my hq

I recommend doing a night at whangamomona hotel, there is fuckall to do but have beer with the locals and they do a lush feed. Also drop in to the lavender farm on the taumaranui side. Bonus points for pics of Austin in Ohura and Matiere

A+ turnout

Bit of a shit day rallying. Ran a bit wide into a tight blind left hander from top of 3rd gear. Turns out there was already another car in the same spot. Bounced into gutter which tipped us on the drivers side and slid into the back of their car. Rear tail light came through windscreen. Next step is to figure out how far we need to go to fix it. Will be getting a new cage but not sure how much of pillars etc is usable. First crash. Definitely a learning experience. Fun times. Will upload some videos later in the week of some of the good bits.

So got bored and needed something to tinker round on. I was after an old Datsun ute (1200 or 521) but this popped up and was complete. After a few texts to the owner and him not wanting to budge on price, his Mrs had finally had enough of it sitting round, so he gave in. Plans at this stage are getting it running sweet, sort the brakes, lower and probably widen the steelies at this stage. The stud pattern is 5x110, same as volvos and some saabs apparently. Holden torana wheels fit as well (5x108) Anyway pictures.

Early request for mataura works pics

This is a great read. I drove the company mondeo turbo diesel wagon from Stratford to Taumaranui a couple of years ago. Epic road especially on a Wednesday morning. The only other traffic were camper vans who were very courteous.

She asked me to move because I parked too close to the back door and she wanted to back her van up closer to it.Also, man the road from Whanga to Stratford is lush. I thought there was something wrong with me yesterday driving from Waitomo to the coast - the road there seems to be designed so that every corner makes you think its trying to spit you out. Whanga to Stratford makes you want to press on. Went Waitomo to Piopio on the main highway, then went Aria - Ohura - Whangamomona - Stratford. All good except for grading the crown of the road a bit with the bottom of the car between Aria and Ohura in places. Bumped into Fletch outside a friend's place too. E-famous spec.

I recently bought a Hitachi rattle gun and drill combo kit. Came with 2x 5ah batteries and charger all for around $850. Can't beat that value in my book. 250Nm is pretty good but struggles with uber tight stuff. MarKku's Makita gun was rated about the same and seems to have a bit more grunt/different impact motion and got some of the tighter stuff undone a bit easier. In saying that this was when mine was brand new. Seems to be going better and better the more I use it. Having same batteries for rattle gun/drill is amazeballs. Never thought I'd use the drill but its the best thing I've ever bought for the shed. Talk to Markku. He knows everything about this subject.

I calibrated a Hitachi rattle gun that was used to tighten wheel nuts on a v8 touring car at the end of the season found it averaged 17nm. Scary shit. One of shitter maybe? Not sure. Thank god they hit it with a torque wrench after nucknucking.

Pictureless update this time. So after the previous work I encountered some more problems engine-wise. The rumble ended up being the water pump letting go. So I replaced that with a new unit. When I replaced the water pump I discovered one of the pipes on the thermostat block was corroded past the point of being usable so I had to replace the thermostat block. I also replaced the thermostat and alternator belt. I replaced the ignition leads and distributor cap after getting a shock. I transplanted the vacuum advance unit off my old points distributor from the Sprint onto the 3K as the vacuum advance wasn't working. The choke now works properly. I made it half way down my road when the car just stopped. One of the LV wires on the ignition coil had fallen off, so I put it back on and screwed the nut on tight. The carburetor is still running the original 2K jets so it would be nice to track down a set of 3K jets as the car runs a little too lean when starting up from cold - needs more than two pumps of the accelerator before turning the key. I replaced the seal between the oil filter mount and engine block with a Genuine Toyota unit. It started leaking straight away, so something might not be flat (I scraped off all traces of the old pile of gaskets). I'm probably just going to smear a little goop on each surface and hope that will stop it from leaking. I straightened the back bumper and repainted it, but I will probably need to do it again and this time use as much bog as was originally on it as it looks pretty average up close at the moment. I probably faffed around and did other things that aren't springing to mind right now. But the car is currently running and driving well.

I have got two Hitachi guns. Both half inch. I highly rate them both. The smaller one is good for the majority of stuff (used to be auto sparky) and it's nice and light. The big unit is a bit on the heavy side but I have rattled quite a few crank pulleys off no sweat with it. I'll find part numbers when I get home

It's not what you're after sheepers but I picked up a 12v corded impact driver a while ago. Good for people who don't have an air compressor or don't want to fork out for a battery version, just hook it up to your car battery. It works a lot slower but does a good job for cheap, think it was around $35 from bunnings, manufacturer claims 260nm

I should add that its super handy, like change your life spec, to not have to manually undo/do up every bolt

I hope Chris R pops his head in here He uses a fairly new Hitachi battery operated rattle gun. I've used it a few times too and it's a good mix of manageable size, affordability and strength.

Ingersoll rand 20v if you want top end. Amazed at the size of bolts that could crack. Just look at it:

Nope. Picking up the Mrs from her work and dragging her out for romantic date night of pizza and beer with you lot.

I inadvertently did the forgotten highway once, had no idea where the fuck I was and next to no fuel thanks to the wife, awesome road/gravel pit to drive though looking forward to seeing pics of an Aston Martin out in the wild, I condone your willingness to travel anywhere/everywhere in this

That would be great man! Appreciate it. Im off back to NZ next week for a week, so will PM you when im back to sort it out.

I wish I was there just to witness that photo in person.

It's such a POS. Doesn't have rain-sensing wipers, auto headlights, cruise control, memory seats.

doesn't even have wanker wipers.

Bowt time I made it to a meet, see you chaps there! My wheels got a cursory clean... Aaaaaand good to go! Can't wait to check out some old school radness

Previous owner said it had an oil leak from the sump gasket which had managed to get oil all through the engine bay, I took a gamble that the sump seal is fine and it was the main seal that was the culprit and flicking it everywhere so took it to bits. Getting the radiator out was a cunt due to the mount setup but one it was out of the way getting the front of the engine off was easy except for cracking the crank pulley bolt Gross and oil everywhere Winner winner chicken dinner! The seal was hard and worn out with little to no contact with the crank pulley to hold the oil back Got the front cover off and replaced the seal then gave the enginebay a hell of a degrease I wasnt sure if the EFI manifold was going to fit the engine bay/clear the seat but a rough line up where it would sit and measuring the most forward high point on its roughly the same dimensions as the current carb and manifold, only bit that might be difficult is air intake off the throttle body needing a 90 degree bend coming straight off it

Rover still isn't ready, maybe next month.

I'm going to try to cruise in. First time newbie and stuff too. Just gotta put some seats in the old girl when I get home and find a can of engine start.

Last winter I finally got the engine back together. I chucked a heater in the garage and got started prepping and painting the engine. The gearbox was worst because the paint was flaking off and it took ages to remove it. Did the whole lot with spray cans but it turned out pretty good. Plugging all the holes with silicone seemed like a good idea at the time, but was a nightmare to remove. What do you guys use to plug the holes? //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/53286-dodgypetes-1980-mini-1275gt-discussion/ Finally found a use for the old seatbelts. .....and ready to go back in the hole!

I'm actually going to be able to make a monthly meet. Hooray. Also Neal I have a magazine with an SD1 article in it / on the cover for you, it's making my house yuck so I'll give it to you.

So have been busy getting through the cert list and nearly ready to go for a final check and hopefully a cert plate! Did a before and after comparison of the engine bay from when i bought to now: Massive thanks to Toby at BOP Polishers for the polishing, Mikey for the painting, Spun by Hutty for the trumpets, Eze Auto Electrics for the wiring job as well as Lakes Automotive in TGA for the hours at night helping me get shit sorted! Also Greg aka 64Valiant aka Midnight Upholstery was working for every hour possible before beach hop to get my car done amongst others, But wouldnt let me leave the shop till he gave the boot a quick trim. This is only temporary as have made a panel to go around the airbag tank and will trim this and the side panels to match the seats, Have bent up some 3/8 alloy hardlines for all lines going into the valve box to tidy that up and theyll be off to Toby for some polishing also. Should be sharp in theory! Talk among yourselfs http://oldschool.co....westpala/page-9

Getting a few small jobs done over winter. Wanted to build a new front diff mount as the Datsun factory setup is a pretty crap design that allows the diff nose to lift under load. I had hacked a factory mount up and doweled it (essentially making it sold mount) but that was not overly ideal so had another crack at it. Thanks to Mike for the idea on this style. Cut up the factory mount and built a jig to keep diff aligned. Welded in steel tube that fits a poly bush I had floating around. All mounted up. Holds the diff nice and solid with no lifting issues and also makes diff easier to remove as just slide out the main bolt. Next job was the exhaust. The car came with a nasty old press bent 2" system that I have always wanted to get rid of. It hung way low and looked shit. Decided to go with a 2.5 inch system which is way overkill for my engine but what the hell. Hoist makes this job 1 billion times easier than trying to do under the car. I wanted it tucked up as to the body as possible. The system that came with the car only had 2 hanging points and was one piece so wobbled like crazy and was a mission to get on and off. New system is to have multiple hanging points and be 3 piece to make removal easier. The headers I stole from Craig had a reducer taking the outlet pipe from 2.5 to 2 inch so I simply cut off the reducer and added a 2.5 inch flange to match the rest of the system. Started with a small straight through stainless rear muffler and added a angled tip that looked OK. The rear muffler has 3 mounting points so it is nice and solid. Then worked my way forward, trying to keep the piping as close to the body as possible Went with a basic straight through resonator mid system. Once happy with the layout I added flanges so that I can take out the middle section of exhaust to gain access to diff etc. Then cleaned up and painted, knowing it will burn off 30 seconds after starting the car. Came out OK and sounds better than the old one so I am calling it a win

there's also this later on

Spent half the day following up from yesterday with the help of my mrs and Alan from MotorElite. Continued stripping back the transmission and cleaning up/scuffing back the engine and intake manifold. And an action shot of the man himself. And here's where we're at.. Crap lighting and phone pic but we've left the lettering on the side of the housings with a brushed finish and yet to throw some wrinkle paint on the housings but damn it's looking good! Cheers, Tai

Oh dear. Why the fuck do people do such shitty stance shit shit with great cars It looks fucking terrible.

So pickapart listed a Hiace of the same series had just arrived in the yard, I need some new front panels as mine are chooched under the front bumper from eating curbs in carparks etc. Turns out the ones on it were worse than mine but I did have these gems on it which I grabbed Super mint and a bargain at $24 for the pair, although one is missing the strap that holds them to the door frame so Im on the lookout for a replacement. Also I have a dancing flower and a waving cat on the dash just coz

Havent done too much to the wagon. Was using it as my daily for a while whilst the Mirage was WOF-less. This car is no longer a suitable daily driver with the cams that are in it. Makes for horrid peak hour driving. Added a boost gauge to the dash. Was a bit surprised as I thought the wastegate had a 12psi spring. The gauge was bang on 10psi (probably +/- 2 psi accuracy) Wanted to fit a boost gauge as I had a drag meet and wanted to raise the boost to around 14psi Took the car to said drag meet. Track was slippery. Didnt set any ET records but did finally crack the ton. 102 MPH with a crap time. If I had traction I may have got a PB. Oh well. And I made the wagon unofficially official It now has no WOF and the little shop I used to go to have got their act together. Which is good for me because it forces me to get this certified. That is all

Put wheels back on and did some skids...

Few pics from the above show... Ditched the headlight covers after they fell off! Have to re-attach them betterer! Heaps of pics from the show here! http://southernaussiemuscle.co.nz/Event_Pages/150328_Muscle_Mania.html