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that moment you go to price a job and come home with another beetle.... so the midnight bug is most definitely up for sale now!

While Hannah and I were having a coffee yesterday morning we got out some old brochures for a read. I had bought this one from England ages ago as a bit of 'inspiration' while taking on the worst of the rust. I thought I would share the virtues of the mighty Viva HB Estate 'Space curve styling continues'.... 'Note the smooth, sleek line of the rear of the Estate with its fast-back tailgate'.... 'An exterior rear view mirror on the drivers side is regular equipment for all models'.... So many features... (btw..my Estate is a '90 de Luxe' model from which someone in the past has s

So as mentioned in the discussion I made it to the wof garage with no major issues. I have learned to ignore the temp gauge.. it tells lies. Maybe wrong sender for the cluster I'm using that's the old one from Viva one. The fuel gauge ain't working. The alternator light randomly comes on ..I suspect a bad earth. The speedo cable has now snapped at the other end ! But I made it and it was in good hands.. After wowing the tester as he's never seen an HB wagon before I walked off to do some shopping. I was hungry as and had a nice pie while I waited for the result. Whilst going sho

Hey everyone exciting times are ahead. After about 3 years of work, the old tina goes in for wof next week. I have been busy getting it ready, i have installed new seatbelts and stalks which add to the 4 star safety rating. I had a bit of trouble tuning the engine as i couldnt get it to run well but after weeks of google and buying a clear spark plug tuning thing it turned out to be a pipe on the intake manifold that needed to be blocked. Now it runs like a dream(well maybe a slight pop here and there) but better than no go. Drove it down the road the other day and it was awesome. Its a amazin

Woah mate. That's a very very very bad idea. The whole idea of a coil is for power in on the + side and a TIMED earthing on the - side. The test I described is only a way to check the coil is making a spark and not how it should be connected when it's in the car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All you will achieve with a full time earth on ether side is a fried coil or a wiring fire in the engine bay or under the dash. I think you need to start from the beginning. Hock up everything as it should be then test each stage in turn. You know the coil is capable of creating spark and you are seeing volt

As sure as the Tararuas gets higher than Manu above the Foxton plains

I bless the rains down in Otaki

yeah cool. interesting to see the machine, i cant help but think of this

So I've been reading up about lowriders. Apparently wrapping the frame is common, not quite sure I'm on the same page though: Just kidding obviously, however the frame is now covered ready for the underseal to be done on the weekend. So far so good with the progress. All going to plan I'll be starting on the airbag install next week! Tell me how lame my dad jokes are here: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/53628-bens-61-belair-talky-talk/page-3#entry1773980

Putting the wife through fertility treatment so money has been tighter than usual but managing to do cheap shit occasionally. I removed the bent grille in top center of the dash (is it for a single speaker?) Sent some bits off for gold zinc plating Drilled some holes in my fuel tank mounting frame as it's way too sturdy/heavy. Will get this gold zinc plated too Also did some trading and bought some fiberglass front guards (need to get these north from invers somehow!) And also a fiberglass nosecone that was made locally.

SO A while agi, I mentioned I jammed some white walls into the tires on this thing, using the white walling machine at work. Was my first time, was fun but took me forever. Anyway. Heres some pic of how it does some shit Basicly has a grinder, with a alloy Disc on it with sand paper glued on the outside, Once you have lowered the car tire onto the roller on the bottom, you find where you want to run it, and cut a small line into the side wall, not very deep or anything crazy, just to give the paint something good to key to I think. Then, once you have that done, you fill up the

Edit; oh thanks Tinypic..... FFS Well now... I have just gone and bought another Viva. This time its an HB wagon. YES!! I have been after one for ages and ummed and erred over the one that was for sale on Trade me up in Taupo about a month ago for quite some time. But factoring in transport to get it south put me off plus Hannah and I then ended up buying a MK1 Triumph wagon from Christchurch, a car we have always wanted for a long long time but had never seen one for sale at a sensible (read cheap) price. Then Shane, my viva HB mad friend in christchurch offered me his one. Its v

Hey ya. So recently I picked up a new project now my 52 Buick is complete – a 1949 Hudson Super. Story goes I was browsing auctions with no intention of buying anything just cyber tire kicking so to speak. “Hey a cool old barn find car has surfaced 45 mins away. Want go take a look?” i ask my better half. With a promise that we would go get something tasty for lunch we pile in the old 52. Walking up to it & seeing the fastback shape and roof that looks chopped straight from the factory the better half mutters “I wont say no if you want to buy it” ^^ what more can i sa

I was yarning to my boss about whether he might know of an CB's >300cc for sale and long story short he had this and I have this now As you can see, it has a skull and the tank is ugly and so is just about everything about it. However, it's a Honda and they can be made to look quite neat. I'm hoping for an end result in this kind of area. Top two of those pictures courtesy of TheBikeShed.cc, some neat stuff on there to stare at. I had also planned to pic up my brother's MC18 NSR today but he wouldn't answer his phone so none of that then. One day I'll have this on the r

So I had been checking most of the junk yards/parts places but no luck. The closest I got was an automatic AW11 but I needed a manual mount =/ I even walked though a mini swamp to get to that AW11: Rather then waiting around for someone to wreck an AW I decided to just buy one from overseas. Of course shipping would take a while but I had to do something. Anyway while waiting for it to arrive I got on with other work which could be done without the mount. Firstly I made a gasket for the intake adapter: After this I started on the wiring. While I am retaining the

I can bring mine for all to use if desired?

So lock in 1pm at Plimmerton weigh station tomorrow, rain or shine, or just rock up to Otaki Forks whenever and we will see you there! If you get there early and pick a shit spot, Ill get Niki to ridicule you. If its raining, im sure there will be enough tarps, marquees, tail gates, and vans to keep us dry.

The area I'm working in is only temporary anyway as my brothers CNC Machine will be in that spot. Exciting.

There's definitely some fiddle action going on in the corner.

cool setup. the flooring makes me think there is an out of tune piano in one corner.

Lol Engines.

Just read whole build thread. Bloody well done, love seeing interesting old cars rescued. Cool shape wag too...

Will be able to christen my new marquee!

I'm really glad we've timed this perfectly to turn up just in time for rain. Walked home in the rain yesterday, it was lovely.

oi neal whataya doin with the mk1

Still thinking about the tailgate approach. Need to acquire a spot weld drill before doing much more. Topped up the shocks slightly - interesting suspension design, the shock arms are the upper link and the armstrong shock sits horizontally. Disconnected the arms on this side to work it up and down. Both shocks look to have been replaced, maybe not long before this was parked up? Checked/cleaned the brakes on both sides and had a grease gun session on the front suspension. Wheels are back on now as I need to move it off the lift soon for suspension work on my daily (WO

As often is the way~ life and work are getting in the way of what i really want to be doing: saving this heap of steel from restoration. Time of the year i guess with Christmas fast approaching and clients suddenly deciding its the end of the world if XYZ isn’t done like yesterday. i just stand there baffled as there mouth is moving wondering to myself “yes all very good and nice but come on surely they must agree the old car is more important… LEADSLED GOD DAMN IT!!!!” Its really starting to get out of control. I take it for granted its completely normal and sane if not even healthy fo

Still haven't pulled motor for bottom end check, and considering it's running and nearly xmas I'll prob use it as-is till next year. No fuel gauge is a pain in the arse tho so killed some lawn today popping the sender unit out... I'd assumed the rheostat was koozed but it checked out fine, 10 to 100 ohms over full movement of the float, and all looked good... Then I realised the float was bloody heavy, yep holed - and so full of fuel it didn't slosh when shook. Put the hot air gun on it and had a cool fine jet of fuel spray out the very tiny pinhole. I SO wanted to light this...

better get round to it eh. puhuhuhu

I still have; one 12a sump, Nikki manifold, 12a starter, one 12a housing, Almost everything I need to build a up a typical 'fully rebuilt' 12a.....

Oh my, must have been some genius who built than bed to allow bikes to roll in beside it

Sweet wooden floor workshop!

Tick'n away

This is what screwed me at superlap! Filter bag on the fuel pump looking like a tea bag haha, damnit. Big thanks for Stu to get me a new fuel pump in time for drags, and Dave Sentra for helping me fit the new pump. Cant wait for the weekend!

The factory orange for the 1300 is a different orange. I'd call it more a blood orange, uh, orange, if that makes any sense. The Rx2 orange as above is far lighter in colour. Normally I'm not a red car guy (even though I have red cars) but I think the red works better with the black flares, etc.

A very exciting evening was had for us. We drove the wagon for the first time. In fact it’s the first time its been on the road since around 1999. I had been intending to have it ready to put through a Wof test on Thursday so we can hopefully take both Vivas to the Nelson area Oldschool meet in the weekend. But it turned out that my wof fella was booked out then. So I booked it for tomorrow and with that little carrot dangling in front of us we both set to work pronto to finish lots of little jobs. We almost had the list checked off but for fitting the bonnet, a side mirror and getting the w

Front is now the correct colour and done for now (bar reassembly, I'll let it set for a few days first). Refitted the swaybar and links with some new bushes. Bit of a mission getting those crushed enough to get the nuts back on. Went hunting for some grease nipples behind the brake backing plate. Found plenty of crud - maybe 50 years worth? I reckon there is a least a kilo of grease and dirt on the paper. There seems to be quite a bit of vertical movement of the hub on the swivel pin. Will ignore for now I think as addressing it means quite a bit of dismantling and probably new

Most 4x4 offroad campers that takes boats have a hitch mount setup that sits a tinny ontop of the camper. As for the suspension. Well when offroading the trailer tends to bounce around more so than the tow vehicle on rutted tracks. So a full on suspension is necessary if you don't want your camper shaking to pieces. Build an old school bus/motorhome and tow a small zook behind it. Or chuck a few scooters inside the bus for getting around.

Get 4wd. Add roof tent. Done

I'm an absolute sucker for originality, so I vote a respray in the original red!!

Ahh shit, my car's been vandalised:

so most of the cert process is finished now.. a few weeks ago I attended Drag wars for my first try since the rejig of the engine. first Run was a 14.3 @ 108mph Second run was 13.7 @ 106.8mph then the night was called off... Video here Picture here

Works been flat out this week so haven’t had time to get in the garage much. Engine is sitting waiting for me to pull my finger out and hook the trans up to it. And talking of the Trans. Its a 700R4 from Monster Transmissions worked up to handle 650HP & 600ft/lbs torque. Medium firm shift kit. Wasnt happy with the service from Monster trans. Order took 6 weeks to build, test and ship. During that time they didnt answer a single email and only a few Facecrack messages. Still it was very well packaged on the crate and looks to be of decent build quality. Time will tell though how i

I'm in Dunners weekend of the 17th and mother is visiting this weekend. So, why don't we plan on all being in Cromwell on the 17? January for their big arse car show? It's on the lake and a short walk away from the VCC parts shed which we can snoop around?

so i welded the tube back in place gasless again. and its fixed perfect. went for a drive to stragglers hot rod and custom fundraiser and the beetle went like a champ. has a slight exhuast leak that i was going to repair while i was in chch at hogans but yeah scratch that idea. ive got some j pipes here so il get my ass into gear and put them before xmas hopefully. but here is a picture of it the other day after going to stragglers also picked up my other beetle. so il end up painting my together beetle and selling it early next year once ive cleaned it up and re done the upholstery

Happy update time.. it runs! After chasing around electrical gremlins which ended up in a instrument cluster swap among other things I finished yesterdays efforts by filling the carb with fuel, pulling the choke out and turning the key. Two seconds later and it fired up easily. I'll get a video later. Couldnt run it for long as Id not filled it with coolant yet. I'm so happy. I'll be happier when Ive taken it for a drive and confirmed it has not got any issues like BHG etc. So going back a few days here's some things that have been finished.. First off. I finished the wiring and mounted th

So got the old beast going today and went for a drive. handling is horrible but that was expected lol. Vid showing it running. Smoky as its exhaust pipe is only like 3 feet long and in the middle has a big hole. And a walk around the old Hudson. orgional colour was Blue. someone painted it mid 60s. a bit of surface rust but on the whole its in pretty good condition. So the engine and everything under the hood will be up for sale soon once i rip it on out. Heck pretty much everything under the car will be for sale. Any restoration guys after parts let me know i guess. Alex

Thanks Roman! Thoman