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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.

I'm going to suggest you divert this to Hamilton and come to the swap meet here in Hamilton and also come to my annual open day haha. Will not be able to attend now sorry. Edit. Will have free snags.

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.

Lucky enough to go for a ride in sheepers coupe at Toyota fest hapmton downs

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

All sorted. @427carguy to the rescue! Cheers Hogan.

Made my own catch can out of aluminium pipe with press fit end caps. Pretty happy with the result.

Yes , I have ef xr6 front springs/shocks in my au , brake hose brackets are the only thing you need to be creative with . Ba/f front rotors & calipers are a fairly straight forward upgrade while you are under there too

Clutch plate arrived and I installed it today. I've found some koni shocks cheap and they arrived last week. I took them into stocks and got them checked, turns out they have been revalved so score on that. I'll need to get new forks and top hats to fit the larger diameter shock bodies.

Yep that's fine. Probably better to get a bit of pipe put in, I knocked the guts out of one once and it was a cunt of a job and it made a mess and there's probably stuff you shouldn't breathe in. I spoke to a cat scrap bloke the other day and I think he pays 60 $ for a cat. Might pay for the job even?

lighten it till it breaks, then make it just strong enough

Thanks mate. Turns out the hobby car manual is actually pretty good (lol)...I wish I'd bought it earlier (being able to spend 10$ per relevant chapter makes it much easier!!!) I was even more impressed to see things like suggested tube and heim joint sizes... Really really important for someone like myself who genuinely has no clue and tends to oversize everything.

I have seen the results of this. It was not pretty.

Might do something about that if it becomes an issue, That has been shortened about 150mm. The accelerator cable is quite short so need to work out a linkage of some sort to the pedal. In the mean time a spare bike brake lever fits on the end, stick my thumb through the handle bar hole and I have a hand throttle so long as I keep my hand by my side and steer 1 handed. Kids aren't keen to drive like this which is fair enough, move your hand the wrong way and it starts revving. So I had a hoon with the kids trying to chase on foot, can get up a fair amount of speed in the back yard, managed to spin out = happy Dad Couple of little problems; 1 It is quite loud. 2 It needs a chain gaurd so it doesn't flick oily shit up my back.

So its been a long time with no progress on this, those of you in the digger thread will have seen some of the other stuff ive been up to but we finally got this off te truck today, Bit of a fuckin mission since both the big diggers are out out site so we went full Barry n used our bin truck gantry! Next i have to shift my bobcat and fire engine to this yard then we'll start cracking into getting the Kaiser moving under its own steam.

All sand blasted the new steel and ready for rear guards

Gather round children I'll tell you a tale... I'll try updating this thread as I go both for your own interest and my sake to document the build. Ive been crazy about diggers and trucks since before I could walk, and back when I was about 10 years old my dad took me up from New Plymouth to the Field days in Hamilton for my birthday. As we went through the gate one of the first machines I saw was what I later learned to be the Kaiser X4 Turbo walking Excavator. This thing was mind blowing back then, in fact I was so enamored I returned home and built one out of Lego which won me second prize in a contest at Toyworld (prize was a technic Helicopter which I believe I still have at the olds place). Anyway fast forward 20 years and through some searching I became friends with the man who back then owned my dream machine, since then hes owned several other versions. He sold it to a lovely guy up past Opotiki, so with some rough directions and a lot of hope I set off on an adventure with my poor girlfriend to find it. I knew it was up east cape way, past a school, over a bridge and up to the right "you can see the beach from the machine"... cant be that hard right?? First trip we drove right up the coast from Whakatane to a little past Waihau Bay, and up every road on the right that looked hopeful but with no luck. It later turned out we drove straight past it (behind a row of trees), and were intently looking at a shed full of things on the opposite side of the road!! Upon returning home I quizzed the old owner again, and he told me you could see it on Google maps Two more trips up there id not only found it, but found the owner and struck a deal. Yesterday myself, the missus and my mate set off to retrieve it.. How shes sat for 10 years:

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!!

Mine is a wagon so can't help on rears , front was about an inch lower than a mates au3 ticford xr6 but still has reasonable ground clearance so not really low at all by oldschool standards !

Today I received my Route 6 close ratio T50 from Japan. Bought in an auction with 25mm large T series axles and an LSD 3.9 diff head to go in this build mainly. It was listed as having a broken gear. Being the gambling man I am I took a punt on it and 4th* is damaged. I have some spare T50 bits that I could take in and probably get it fixed, but I also checked the gear ratios and to be honest I think I will just stick to the standard T50 and sell this one off! These go for good money for the racers, will look into getting this fixed first. Discussion //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/52401-pbaines-1971-toyota-corolla-ke25/&page=2

Fingers crossed it can be removed, I don't know exactly what the booster is out of so don't fancy sourcing another one. Will remove it and go from there I suppose...

@flyingbrick I bought a couple of chapters last night too, quite impressed with it really. As I need to lengthen the pushrod it looks like my only option aside from squeezing an OE booster back in (which will prevent the rocker cover being removed/ may not even actually fit ) is to have an engineer turn up a 1 piece pushrod. Provided the pushrod is one piece, constructed from suitable material and its diameter is appropriate to it's length I think this will be acceptable? First time I've dealt with this sort of thing so its all a bit confusing.

Just to give everybody an update. I splashed out and replaced the rear shocks and all the bushes with nolathanes, reinstalled the good set of springs with some 2" blocks. I thought the driveshaft didn't look as far in as the saggy springs let it go in but put it back on the ground and road tested. Vibration is back but not nearly as bad, probably 40% of the original intensity. It is also now only there between about 50mph and 60mph then goes away again completely. From here my plan is to get the driveshaft extended by 20-30mm and balanced and that should solve my problems once and for all.

Made some brackets for the ARB awning. ARB wanted $25 each for these. Took maybe an hour to make. I really wanted to just mount the awning directly to the rack towers but they are all ever so slightly at different angles and out if line because of the curve in the roof. Sits maybe an inch or so further out then i would like because I made them while the van was at my friend's shop. Had him do the transmission fluid and filter. Normally I'd do this myself but it requires dropping the exhaust to get the transmission pan off to do the filter, which is a pain without a lift (an hour job that takes all day on the ground). Fluid looked old but good so I'm happy with this transmission.

I work with structural engineers not mechanical.

Hopefully your timber's not nailed to some guys deck

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.

It was good to have a ride in this at nats. Bloody good in person

Wicked wagon man I'm currently building my own few years off looking like yours but its goof to see there's still a few of these around !!

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

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

but not as fun as twisting a throttle/riding a miniature train..

Mounted the solar panels on the roof and more sound deadening today. I'm really glad the van came with this TracRac Van rack, it's really well made, all aluminum extrusion and stainless. I've worked in ski shops and bike shops a lot when i was younger and have mounted quite a few racks so was really impressed with this even compared to Thule, yakima etc. They are ungodly expensive ($550 for three bars and feet) for a van ladder rack so i don't think i would have bought it if it didn't come with the van. Just some 1.5in aluminum angle for the panels.

I bet your arsehole took a huge bite out of the seat when that happened! I recall seeing a kp starlet at the drags with a ca18det and a 75 shot on slicks blow a front uni joint. It had hoops etc. But it still made quite a mess. (Tail housing of the cogbox was scrap metal only.) I took a gander under the back after it was loaded onto the trailer. I remember thinking, you know I should probably fit a hoop to my car one day. That one day never actually came. Which is probably why it's a requirement for cert. /wats cert?

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

Batteries on the frame... Took me way longer to drill, rivnut and bolt up then i want to tell... Lots of little complications. For some reason this whole battery thing took me a lot longer than i feel like it should have. Rebecca fortunately made progress on the sound deadening while i rolled around on the ground acting like a like a complete muppet. Did both sides, still have the roof and doors to do.

Some clever ideas. I'd over complicate it myself and it still wouldn't work as well as yours. Watching with interest.

Leadfoot Time - Part 1 The fleet for the weekend All set for Racing Me and Rod at the themed warm up party Lined up for Day 1's racing First Run - Done Getting the hang of it now End of Day 1 - Cool photo opportunity Brothers Reunited . Alan Mann Racing made the original car for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang , Gen11 Below

20th April then?

This wagon was super amazing.

tiny bit more progress. The weather finally started to turn around and we had a couple of days of +16 degree temperature, not bad for still being "winter". I decided to spend one of my lunch breaks at work and decided to fit the flat face head lamp lenses. Still need to order up my drivers side marker lens, but they are at least in and fit great. I also took a few minutes at work at fitted a new stereo. The car came with this old crappy Sony unit that was poorly installed where the factory radio was originally located, it also had an aftermarket cruise control unit mounted above that which looked hokey as hell. I picked up a spare gauge surround and am going to fill in the original stereo hole with a panel, mount a gauge or 2 in there, and a switch to adjust the electronic bolster in the Celica seat. I decided to pickup a new Kenwood stereo from work and fit it in the cubby hole below the dash in front of the shifter. Best part of the stereo is that it has programmable time delay for the rear channels, so I can tune in the stereo to have a surround sound feel to it. On a side note, all the replacement ignition components are on order and should be arriving next week, insurance inspection is done and insurance is going to be put on the car by early April. I'm thinking of getting some vanity plates made up, but not sure if I want to spend the extra money on them, or just register the vehicle and get whatever plate they give me.

Well, a couple of small updates. We managed to get the carb rebuilt, sealed up the crack with epoxy, slapped it back onto the car, fired up and ran great....for 10 minutes... It's still doing the same thing as before where it runs, but dies off after it gets up to operating temperature. This time, we decided to do a bit more diagnostics into it, and found that when it stops running, it's not due to lack of fuel, but lack of spark. We pulled the distributor cap off, it has a new coil, cap, rotor and wires, but it looks like the ignition control module and pickup are fairly old. I've got a new set of them on order, as well as a new distributor o-ring, so once everything comes in, we'll be pulling it out and rebuilding it. If that doesn't fix the issue, I'm not sure what's going on. Also managed to get a couple hours to work on the car this past week after work. I decided it was time to get rid of the disgusting original carpet out of the car and install my new replacement one. The carpet company gives A LOT of excess material, and even though it was "form fitted" it needed some massaging and a lot of trimming. After about 2 hours of fighting with it, trimming and punching holes in it, it was finally in. I still need to clean up some of the holes, punch out the holes for the seatbelts, the under dash box, kick panels, and the trim around the bottom of the seatbelt, but it's technically in. I did the initial install on Wednesday and haven't been back in the car until yesterday afternoon and the car smells a million times better. I also used some DEI spray-on Boom-Mat sound deading material on the floor pan to help seal it up and to reduce vibrations through the pan it's self. I've used it on a number of projects before and for the $8 per can I buy it for at my work VS $150 worth of materiel, it does as decent enough job. Next week's job is going to be fit the new flat-face headlights, hopefully fix the ignition system, and get on to making the patch panel for the rear 1/4 and the rear arches. Once that's all taken care of, I'll be plating the car and bringing it to my house and my buddy's house to do the rest of the work on it.

Minitubing started

Think all the panels are finally off that need to come off . Might see them going back on in next few weeks

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Few pics of some new panel work

So cool! I never knew any made it over here. have worked with them a bunch in Europe, just the ticket for snow at odd angles. It was pretty much the secret allowing us to build this thing

Has 8 little levers (4 down each side of drivers seat). What they control I have no fucking clue, get it running and play with it lol