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had a busy week and weekend, got the first couple coats of red on the car.did the bottom and the inside and dash area,pretty pleased with it, did one coat on saturday, missed a couple spots, worst thing that happened was sweat running out of my glove on the wet paint, bugger it! gave it a wipe with thinners and it came really nice on the second coat today. Got a few small runs but stoked with it. not bad for a rookie!

I have been looking around for a while for a new work truck, wanted to go old school and update it to modern running gear and some creature comforts. I didnt have much of an idea but liked the look of older Chev trucks, did some reading and looking and got to this point. Truck will be in the country mid April, it is currently running a 327 and manual gearbox, and pretty much stock apart from that. Plan is to get it complied with existing running gear then modernise a wee bit. I have an LS3 and 6L80 trans and all associated wires and mechanical stuff in my warehouse now (cart before horse) and maybe a front end suspension transplant from a later truck and a diff with a lower ratio. this one will be either a 4.11 or 4.56 ish I believe, so a bit on the highside. While the intention wasn't to start/have another project, Im quite fizzed up about it. Going to keep it stock looking, no fancy wheels or any of that crap. Will get some hand painted signage on it, I want it to look like it was always there.

The road to toytafest! Here's a pic to prove i made it, will post how I got there in the coming days

Snoozin hooking me up with a sweet photo shoot for NZ Autocar magazine on both my escorts Working his magic as the sun goes down Some rolling shots to finish the shoot Thanks Richie for the opportunity , great fun

Leadfoot Time - Part 2 Sunday Sideways Here's Leadfoot from behind the wheel Caught up with Tanner in the pits who was super friendly just like everyone else I had talked to over the weekend. Top Bloke Times are in and here's mine for the weekend Prize Giving time Cheers Rod , Shelly and the Leadfoot crew for a very memorable weekend One very happy Father , Son Duo

I've loved to piss and moan about how I think these are annoying and a stupid idea. But after having a driveshaft fail at 80ish kph on the weekend, Oh boy am I glad I had these loops fitted! My brake and fuel lines would have taken a hammering if not for these - They are a good idea, even in my case where all factory parts were used within factory power levels.

Only got a quarter into it before it started raining down here. Really happy with how it is coming along and fitting. Got to hate cutting holes in brand new carpet. It's sent out as a blank

I built my own triangulated 4-link for the Mercury. No tests needed, but I did use the specified sch 80 pipe (heavy car) and drilled inspection holes for the threaded ends. I did all the welding myself, including the adjustable ends. I do know the certifier through the Hot Rod club, so I guess he thought I could weld OK.

Has a good cooler, xr6 coon one. the turbo should be fine, it was in great shape when I put in on and I've never given it heaps. just make sure the cam cover vent is unrestricted and the seals will be mint..maybe take the top off that wee appletons bottle it's jammed into and leave it dangling inside it instead? I'm pretty amped youve doubled the chooch, I was too scared of cooking the back cylinder. That's the downside to running the petrol turbo manifold. If you do kill it, there's a reeeeal honey motor in the garage you can negotiate purchase of from rovers 8-D

Got the engine bay cleaned up and painted. The body is all paneled and primed now. Just about ready to paint, just a few small imperfections to tidy up and then wait for a sunny day to paint it. All my painting is just done a a outside shed I rigged up made from corrugated iron roof and plastic sides. Not perfect but defanatly better then painting outside under no cover

The local gasket place in new Plymouth do them all the time. They use a cnc cutter thing that is usually used to cut regular industrial gaskets and they just chuck a piece if copper in and trace your supplied head gasket. I think they quoted me under $100 for a 6 pot one

Manged to squeeze in a panhard rod today. may need a few tweaks, but should work. Will leave it half finished till get the coilovers mounted, to make sure everything works together bit hectic under there, yep.

Well hot damn it worked Things i learnt theres enough adjustment in the gauge to shift the range +- 40 ohms for fine tuning to a sender (i.e E can be shifted from 40, down to 0 or up to 80, and same with the F) The heating wire is ovbiously bloody small, but it looks to be about 50 coils i unwound 10 of them, and spread out the remaining along the bimetallic strip. and it appears that i have now adjusted the gauge to a full sweep over 90 ohms at around 10v, which seems to be what the gauge will see i the cluster. The bench set up i used was a bit rigged because i have the minimum of electrical tools, but in any case it seems to be proof of concept. i will have to pull the sender out and test it though its full arc to see how accurate the gauge will be in the points between F and E. Will post up a full walkthrough of what i did, because i cant find anyone modifying a bimetallic gauge anywere (dipole types look to be possible with resistors on the full and empty sides). I did find a case of a guy modifying the sender some how, and various senders chopped up and put into other units. But this method would appear to be rather cheap and easy

I've been chasing a crown ute since I moved to Aussie 5.5 years ago, I actually checked out a real tidy one the first week I got here but it was in Bundaberg, I was headed to Perth, and the motor was fucked, so I couldn't drive it. Seen a few come up for sale over the years but nothing local, and the few ones I knew of that were local were all either fairly rusty or there's one that's absolutely mint, with a UZ swap, but way out of my price range even if he would sell Then there was this one. I actually lived with it for about a year in a house share situation, where the house owners son had a bunch of old Toyotas on the property. This was body off chassis and set up on a rotisserie, but that's as far as it got. I talked to him about buying it at one point, but he wanted stupid money because it was pretty clean body wise, and it was an M powered chassis, which are way harder to find than the R ones in ute form Fast forward a few years and it's up on gumtree for a grand, so I whip around to check it out. It's been out in the weather for the last 3 years after he had to move it when his parents knocked the house down, the rotisserie ends are still bolted to it, and they're plonked on top of the chassis, with straps holding it on. There's a bunch of extra surface rust, but the only holes I can find are a couple in the sills. It's missing a driveline but I'm not worried about that. All the body parts come with, there's a good tailgate, rear lights and rear bumper. Everything else I can get from a sedan if they're fucked so I'm pretty happy I've got a shitload of work ahead of me, and I'm really struggling with deciding what exactly I want to do with it, but IVE GOT A CROWN UTE!!!! Gumtree pic, it's been at least 5 years since I first saw it, and it has never been this assembled in that time When I went to check it out I knew it!!! Poor Ken Clint has got a hoist, and didn't want to give up his rotisserie ends so he got the body sitting back on the chassis before I picked it up Hi my name is Matt and I'm a crownoholic And at home next to the girlfriends Celica Initial thoughts are sedan chassis (get rid of the leaf rear end), MS112 diff and front brakes (already have the diff), maybe 17" widened steelies, maybe 18" billets (but I fucking hate polishing wheels), tidy up the body and paint it, maybe bags, probably 3RZ turbo, but it's all up in the air at this point This is a fucking massive project, it's going to take years, and a lot of $, and there will be a LOT of questions and upskilling. Lucky you guys are awesome and know what you're doing when it comes to old rustbuckets! Cheers Matt

First post on here, so more testing how this works? Picked up Pete's velo bike. It has appeal, as I'm very much a 2-stroke fan. I've made similar projects myself in the past...and hopefully I can get this bad boy going again? Mocked up for inspiration, will get onto in as time allows. Kj

The Auckland Monthly Meet! Wednesday 19th APRIL the SECOND TO LAST Wednesday of every month. Save the date 7:30pm onward (but you can turn up earlier, no dramas mayte) A chance to catch up with fellow club members, talk with people you may or may not have met before and get your mouth filled with meat. Or not meat if you're that way inclined. Burgerfuel, Mexicali Fresh, Ajadz, Subway, Doolan Brothers etc. Corner of Robert St and Hurst St, Ellerslie See map. The DEAL$: FREE Drink with Burger and Chips Purchase (From the COKE range , excluding mini burgers) FIRST MEET?? If you are new to these meats here are a few points that may help; Most people usually show up between 7:00pm and 8pm-ish. We roll down to get burgers and whatever else is available whenever we're hungry. We sit around either at Burgerfuel or back up top in the carpark and continue the yarns. Remember its always a casual affair, a place to yarn to mates and make new ones. An Oldschool car is not required at all, but if you've got one on the road then bring it and show it off!! Doesn't need to be flash or special, As long as it's special to you And to be honest, only lame people would drive a boring modern daily driver there anyway. MOST OF THESE ARE COMMON SENSE. WE WILL PROVIDE A FEW GENTLE REMINDERS WITH THE NEW RULES BUT REPEAT OFFENDERS MAY BE ASKED TO LEAVE. RULES AND THE BORING STUFF!! Basically these are in place so we have a fun and friendly meet and leave the carpark clean and tidy like we were never there. Take your rubbish away with you or put it in a bin, Use the public bins downstairs not the private ones belonging to the business up top. Smokers please don't dispose of your butts on the ground! Please limit the ALCOHOL consumption. Its a public place and the Police/security regularly stop in and we don't want want anyone getting in trouble, We also don't want people leaving empties around. You are welcome to invite a few mates, but please note you are 100% responsible for their behaviour If you belong to other clubs and feel they might be keen to come check out our meet then that's cool but please see Threeonthetree, Shakotom or BDA780 for permission before inviting them. NO Skids or Reckless/Dangerous driving Please leave a space near the fenced off area clear for the cleaners and don't block them in if they are there. Park in a proper carpark! If its full then just use a bit of common sense and try not to park too many people in. Newschool cars please park to one side and be prepared to move if we get short on space. I have had to ask Newer cars to move and park elsewhere and will continue to do so. The old cars get first preference for parking. Don't be offended if you're asked to move your newer car to make space for something old. AU Falcons may apply for an Oldschool dispensation in writing, by sending applications to "Dave's Intech Compassion Klub" or DICK, 126 Grey Street Onehunga where they will be reviewed. If its raining and we have to park downstairs then new cars park upstairs or out of the way. The covered carpark is very small and needs to be OS only,! If you drive your Mum's Suzuki Swift etc than bring ya Mum. If you have any suggestions or input for the meets then PM Threeonthetree, Shakotom or BDA780 Thanks!!

Longest exhaust build ever! What a stupid idea it was to design it like this haha. So far has 5 pairs of flanges on each side if you include the ones at the end of the headers. Will have another pair after the diff as well. Got some flexi's and welded them in, as well as the rest of it. Need to put the tray back on now and see where the rest of the exhaust can run out the back. Made some mounts, after making them incorrectly to start with. Had the rubber hanging under tension where-as it should be compressing, otherwise it would most likely tear the rubber in half. Also made some gussets for the 4 link brackets since they didn't quite look strong enough. Might make some to tie in the other side as well. Need to make a start on the fuel tank soon. Any recommendations on an in-tank fuel pump to use? Don't really know much about them, 255LPH should be enough? Tank will be about 220mm deep if that matters.

Finally got some new carpet for her, after procrastinating for a long time. Ordered off eBay Australia and arrived in a week. It got the cats seal of approval and this is why I ordered new stuff.

Hahaha. Yup that's a fail. You will have to grab a new master cylinder and start again.

See here

Welded won't pass full stop. There was a lot of discussion on this somewhere on oldschool a couple of years ago. Also, you can buy the manual sections individually now online.

ON Nats 17 looks like this that's another 400mile's on the clock or 640 metric KM's Departed Thurs Night caught up with the Akl convoy at Ashhurst, gave @64vauxhall some cream for his special area then took them over the Saddle Road Credit to @Threeonthetreel for that image Friday went and watched them do this out in a paddock so I went for a jaunt down here (I won) Back to camp for din din's & the yummiest Meat soup and some refreshments Sat was Scavenger Hunt day, went & saw stuff and things then back to camp for Prizegiving & Rocker cover racing I placed 4th this yeah after a few tense knock out rounds 3rd to Trev oh yea dressups Sunday packup & group Photos then a hoon into Featherston to catchup / meet a mate then Long way home via a Lighthouse & some cool machines could Just see Max & Furiosa at the wheel of these Birds like it fin

It's all finished ages ago and the owner loves it. Takes it camping etc. Has now got some posh fold out tent thing on the roof.

To be honest, I should have cut the springs in half from the get go. I cut the springs for no other reason that to make it more pleasant in the shed to look at until the coilovers go in. The right side of the car is a bit higher than the left, I will probably end up with a height similar to the higher side. Not long until the engine goes in!! I also installed my new valance courtesy of Yahoo Japan. The tape is holding the paint/rust on. I decided on a new one as the one I had previously wasn't the straightest and would require some more. Plus I didn't actually own it...

New gaskets, and engine mocked up.

Nah it has a teeny single barrel thing on it It is quite good on gas round town

It used to be certed and road legal with that engine, not sure what has changed since though. Probably needs some of the interior added back too I would imagine, if I had enough time I would swap a complete interior in from my spare car and get it back on the road (but not much chance of me every doing that).

Been sharing these around a bit. Looking forward to a drive in the sun and a spin of the back wheels.

Tank now fully attached. Two pairs of tabs front and rear, split so one is welded to frame and the other to the tank. This way I can unbolt the tank if I so choose. Kj

And a waaaaayyyyy over engineered gas cap. But come on, its sexy eh! My OCD kicked in and I even domed the top because it looks better that way. Kj

I hear that a lot.

Added this sticker: Drove about 300 miles in preparation for beach hop, car ran flawlessly, drove to beach hop, car ran great again, after being here for a day or so, the want for a V8 has increased substantially, so watch this space once the weather is consistently bad enough for me to justify taking the car off the road until next summer,

Had some nice weather here, so got some of the panels painted. Iv decided to go gloss white. It will suit the more original look im after. Everything car related iv done is all just self taught over the years. Always trying to improve and get better. Restoring cars is just a hobby of mine.

New carb day!

In the weekend I fixed the divot in the roof. There was a high ridge in the back corner and at the time I decided it was more work than I wanted to do to fix it so left it. But something was crook and it got bigger after paint. so evened that out and sprayed it, also did under the bonnet, sides of bonnet and the inner guards and upper firewall. Could see the primer in the bonnet gap and it was bugging me. And GC nosco me his double sided tape so lobbed on the pillar badges. I toyed with the idea of centralising them and moving them up ala mazda, but went with the factory placement in the end. Im onto the final deluxe badge for the boot, will be a box of Woodstocks if it's right.

Discuss here:

Also her'es a few photos because I can

So the above list was remedied..........mostly, I may have missed 2 of the outer seat belt bolts, when I re-positioned the brake line to stop it rubbing on the airbag it turn out that I had moved it right into the path of the bump stop, I thought i had created enough clearance between the Tyre and the lower shock mount (I had shortened it by around 20mm when i did the rework on the shock angles) but still wasn't quite enough it turned out, And while i had stopped the bags rubbing on the diff, there still wasn't enough clearance so needed to sort that, so I: put 2 new bolts in the outer seat belt lower mounts, made a new brake line that ran onto the rear of the diff, as the original line couldn't be manipulated any more with out risk of kinking the line, as per Clint's suggestion I flapped disc'd the remaining thread that was stuck out past the lower shock mount nut, and gave the lock stops a tweak, I flapped disc'd down the weld seam on the diff and created an angled shim to sit between the top rear bag mount to roll it forward, not only did this create the clearance I needed it actually means that the bag is on a better angle when its aired out, that resulted in this: which resulted in a compliance pass, which lead to: Which mean we could get this: Pretty happy made my goal of getting the car legal for beach hop with 6 days to spare (must be an oldschool record haha), going to rack up a few miles this weekend before we drive it to Whangamata, pretty F#cking stoked to be honest, it drives great, nice and smooth, feels less boat like than it used to with the springs in it so I'm calling it a win!!

Cert not required if the OE gearbox cross-member has not been heated, cut, or welded; and the OE gearbox cross-member mounting to the OE body or chassis members is unchanged; and no replacement gearbox cross-member is used; and the OE drive-shaft(s) remain and is un-modified; and no substantial modifications have occurred to the floor or gearbox tunnel area, other than provision for gear-shift mechanism; and the braking system is not modified or changed, including the brake pedal Also, Cletus said " the trap is, if you put a manual spec brake pedal, pedal box, or mod the brake pedal, then it needs cert "

Its started, hours of grinding. Lower links. the tube adapters were for some usa spec "dom" tubing. machined them down a few mm to fit sch40 1 1/2 pipe. Have cut all the existing mounts off the diff and tacked the lower link mounts in place for test fit. will do the same with the top link before finishing and welding them. Lower link chassis mount, will be trimmed and braced more, as they will likely get a bit of a hiding Its kinda working. lower links look like they will be ok. still trying to find some more up travel. easy way would be to run the truck at a higher ride height, but want to make it work at stock height, to keep it stable as possible. current things spoiling the fun are: sump, alternator, engine mount and the floor..

I've been pretty slack, Perth summers are way to fucking hot for being in the garage. Finished stripping the steering and suspension today, it's all fairly tidy under the dirt, grease and surface rust. Am buying the parts new that I can get, inner tie rod ends could be a mission but all the other steering stuff is available, UCA bushes also seem to be a questionable item but I'm not sure if it's just a listing issue. Will clean up and paint the control arms, strip and check out the steering box, then clean and paint the front of the frame. So much parts to take up space! I measured up my old sedan chassis, not bolt on, and it was way more fucked than I was hoping, so I'm keeping an eye out for something with better front panels to grab, partly because I am missing most of the front end bolts and lights and shit like that. cheers Matt

Gone all Roman dave science with the link setup. plugged the numbers into a calculator Tricky to get all the numbers in the acceptable range while working around the chassis, engine and wheels that need to turn. main compromise is chassis mounts on the lower links will hang below the chassis rails a bit. but still will be a touch above the transfer case x member, so shouldn't be too much drama. had to do this to get enough up travel without the links hitting the chassis rails, and also to get the roll steer numbers down. The rear is pretty text book since there wasn't really anything to work around after cutting and modifying the chassis. Done it without using a calculator, just following a guide some geezer wrote. putting the numbers in the calc, looks like got lucky and nailed it. can dial the anti squat up to 100% with the adjustment holes. but this is how it's setup currently got some springs for the coil overs 175lb top 300lb bottom. both 14'" long. shocks should be at 50% travel with the weight of the truck on them.

Tridies for both cars. Both in 7" wide. Tridies added to the front. I tried to add them to the back, but the guard lips got in the way. Sheepers reckoned he'd had a little bit of experience stretching metal etc so I trundled over there. First he knocked the guard lips up using a hammer and dolly - the paint damage was inevitable, but we lucked out on the passengers side and only got a minor crack. Took it for a drive after that, to find the tyre was now rubbing on the INNER guard, near the top of the sidewall. The trusty hammer came out again, and the inners massaged then undersealed to ensure plenty of clearance now! Next up though, is to remedy that paint on the arch, and replace/repair a super fucked UJ on the half shaft, which made itself evident this afternoon. I'll probably do both halfshafts for peace of mind. //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/53732-snoozins-79-two-point-five-s-its-for-sporty/ <----------yarns

I thought i would have this going by Christmas but did absolutely nothing over the holiday period. Have got back into the swing of things now with the engine and gearbox back in place Ive removed the severely damaged dash in favour of one with only one crack in it, still keen to have that repaired at some point however ill leave it for now I have undertaken most of the wiring, this has taken me a bit longer than expected as ive tried to use the 1geu engine loom as a kind of adapter plug to the 2jzge engine loom plugs so have been slowly identifying each wire, a great tip i discovered regarding a ma61 ecu which turned out to be same on my 1geu ecu is if you pop the cover off the board is actually marked with the ecu pin out with labels that are relevant to the wilbo666 jza80 2jzge wiring diagrams, this drastically sped the process up as i was able to eliminate everything i didnt need from the plugs. You will see I've taken apart way more of the dash than i would need to, this was due to literally every piece of plastic being cracked from mistreatment, most of it i have undamaged replacements for but i feel there will be a few bits ill need to pickup or try repair in the mean time. I also noticed all of the plastic pipes for the heater have been removed and outlets taped up, not too sure what this is about but i have a spare heater and ac unit in stock so ill look at checking these out and restoring that! I thought i had struck gold with some monsoon sheilds listed on yahoo auctions japan as gx61 that were chaser specific with a small decal printed on them and came with all the clips and even the bonnet emblem which i was missing and the avante and chaser boot badges However it appears they were for a gx71 hardtop Luckily i was able to pass them on to someone locally who could use them and still use the emblem for the bonnet and the boot badges so not a complete loss Next mission has been the front bumper support. The face lift iron was rusted very badly but upon inspection the pre-face lift has the same core with a few additions of indicator brackets and a top piece spot welded on. These bits aren't too badly rusted on the toasted FL support so I've drilled the spot welds and removed them to weld on my PFL support which actually seems to be pretty good condition. Whilst all of this is going on ill fix the number plate holder tabs that always break off on these too Ill get a friend to weld this up today and then strip it all back and treat rust before painting in a flat black Ive just got the mx83 alloy radiator to mount and plumb in the engine bay, connect the electric fans, finish wiring behind glove box, reinstate dash, finish aligning headlights and fit the facelift front bumper and then off to toyota festival at hampton downs on april the 1st hopefully!

I took some quick shots this morning before work just in case anyone crashed into it

As promised! this is no diff, no front springs, but 100mm in rear (sitting on 100mm wooden blocks) and held up by the jack in the front (run out of blocks, but a little higher) so achievable ride height on springs in a 50 series crown. its purely for mockup, the wheels are so fucking shit, but came free with my hilux so will do for jobs like this. Definitely got me leaning towards 18's for the finished product though, but will be something a lot more traditional looking, billets would be nice but the stout taught me that I hate polishing wheels comparison height pic cheers Matt

So, I took this for a drive on the weekend. Still need to put a bunch of interior trim in, and go for a cert. It's dropped a cylinder somewhere in the last 5 months, hopefully that wont be a hard fix.