Leaderboard

After that was welded in I made up a skin repair panel, tacked it in place and folded it over. The fold didn't turn out great but I should be able to skim the edge with a bit of filler and it should sort it out. It's a similar story with the skin patch too. Because of where it is there isn't really an opportunity to get a dolly behind it so it warped a fair bit from the welding. It was also a bit heavy gauge steel for a skin which didn't help. If I were to do it again I'd probably weld the skin patch in first so I can beat it a bit then weld the inner panel in afterward since it's not as crucial to get it straight. The right way would have been repairing the inner panel and fully replacing the door skin so if anyone has a cheap mk1 escort door skin replacement panel available let me know and I can do the whole lot properly and feel much better about myself. Either way, there's good steel in there now and no issues bog wont fix. Now I'm going to sack up and tackle the guard issues.

floor. its glued and screwed and it feels really solid. the bit in the bathroom will be some hardy board shit that is like concrete and the rest will be ply with solid timber over the top 2017-06-29_05-02-41 by sheepers, on Flickr

A couple of photos from the last Moped NZ ride in The Mount. Pining for this round in AKL.

Rule of two strokes: does it have compression? Yes... It will run

When I got home from work tonight, this was waiting in my driveway Came up on Facebook last week, price was right so I grabbed it. It looks like a mess but it's way too good to wreck so it's going to be a long term fix up project. It's an '87 NZ new one, so leather interior, LSD, intercooler etc.

Managed to sneak in a mid week session in the garage and got the upper control arms refitted. And there is nothing like a good comparison pic to make you feel good about your efforts. This weekends job is to remove the lower control arms, torsion bars and radius rods. I have never taken the lower arms out of a Valiant before so I decided to consult the bible. I can tell that Dad never removed the lower arms or torsion bars because the pages in the manual are clean (almost like new). A little different from the more frequently visited pages. Removing parts that haven't been disturbed since 1963 is always fun so good times ahead!

that is the pupper. stumpy tailed red healer, or cunt as she's more accurately known. bricks can get fucked, this ain't no fucking warehouse conversion you hipster. and yes getting the thing to this stage is choice. 2 kilometers of timber gets delivered on monday. they are going to frame it on site. they couldn't get the pre-nail frames delivered in time so they're gonna punch it up on the fly.

Should have mine ready, keen!

I got some semi sealed today but got the wrong ones. I think I got the part number 1 digit off. I was all set up with by Barry table and ready to go. The old headlight wasn't quite sealed.. There is a spot of rust starting so I'll wire brush it and flick some paint on at some point. Like any Barry I can't resist a good dumpster dive and got a few rolls of cable when work was having a clear out a while ago. I started making up a loom for relays so I won't burn out the factory wiring. I'll grab some new headlight plugs and fuse/relay holders when I get the correct headlights

I decided double crimps were a bit shit/too hard for someone to replace later so I got some new relays today when I got the correct semi sealed beams. I found the relay bases I got ages ago so it'll look slightly less shit. The cable is way overkill but if you want to go silly and put 1002 bulbs in it'll take it and not melt anything. I've ordered another fuse holder to match as well as I've lost the others. It was also cheaper to get headlight plugs with wires rather than get three crimps and a piece of plastic. I could of saved myself heaps of time by getting china sealed beams but I like having headlights you can see. I pulled some of the wood paneling off in a attempt to pull a wire through for the reverse light. Ol' mate has glued/lined the whole van with polystyrene so if/when we sleep in it it should be less cold

The plates were sulphated so I put a tea spoon of epson salts into each cell and it broke it down straight away, silicone the top back on and gave it a boost charge and its now at 12.9v, I don't have a load tester but I gess it should maintain at least 12v with the headlights on for a bit?

just wire it without the cap and give it a kick to get it going in the desired direction

you probably wont see a huge amount of difference from the outside. it'll look like our house has been freshly painted and has a new roof but it probably wont contrast tooooooo much? our new house still lines up with the gutter lines and its designed to look like a state house from the outside so we'll see. there is a capping flashing on the roof that transitions between our new roof and the neighbours old tiles but thats quite common too. i guess we'll see when its finished.....

I received an email from photobucket yesterday, saying 3rd party hosting on my account had been temporarily disabled. Basically they want me to pay $399 to restore this service- they can get f$#ked! Please bear with me while I reload the pictures in this thread. Bastards! Edit: pics uploaded to the OS website, normal service has resumed. photobucket go fuck yourself!

So being a gearbox down I needed something that would stand up to a little bit of a hiding. So off I went. To Silverdale. Straight to Hellbm haha. Ray sorted me out with a zf 5 speed and I went to work to install it. We ran into a few hiccups along the way. Between the m50 and the gearbox sit a lightweight M20 flywheel and m20 6 puk clutch. So using the m20 release bearing resulted in multiple slave cylinder failures (because I didn't know what I was doing wrong). A simple measure up and sure enough the combo was too short, causing the slave to "over extend" and burst the slave. I then did a little research on the issue i was having and the answer was on the internet 1x BMW e21 323i release bearing 21 51 1 204 525 was ordered from Gavin @ euroItalian (great place to shop), and that was it. Driving once again. Seems simple and quick when i'm typing this up, but it took a while... I had other stuff on the go while this whole gearbox drama was happening... good stuff! Making sure i can fit big tires at the ride height i want the e30 to sit things were done to make it fit Oh and I moved house sometime between all of this So of course my mates had free reign in my garage (Blasphemy warning) I had a deadline given to me. There was a E30 meet being organised in Taupo and I was super keen to attend but I wanted to be a little different, so I started hunting for flares. I looked at the options from the states but they didn't really do it for me. I wanted something a little more "JDM" but my wife being the great person she is had bought me a birthday present... the flares I had on my eBay watch-list. And with the magic of the internet, THEY'RE ON! (255/40R17 all round, Photo credit : Sam Boucher Photography) I met some fantastic people and their cars at the meet. It was really heaps of fun! (some stolen photos from Facebook) More soon

Shit on a BW35 and put it on that guys doorstep

Is that good or bad? (Just googled answer...cheers) Just did a quick test to check that caliper geometry is right, Success!

been busy but heres pics of concrete 2017-06-21_03-22-28 by sheepers, on Flickr 2017-06-21_03-24-34 by sheepers, on Flickr 2017-06-21_07-59-25 by sheepers, on Flickr 2017-06-21_07-59-12 by sheepers, on Flickr

Seriously good bikes ! Jam a YB100 motor that bolts in and you got a seriously damn good bike !

I got the cap off, one half of the battery top is a cover for the 6 cells and its super glued on but pops off easy, just for fun I am going to try to revive it.

$100 cash hard and fast? But seriously quite keen.

This isnt too bad, use the drill to drive a wood screw into it, then pry it out

Was a good meet last night. Good venue, good beer, good fire, good staff, good punters, good yarns, good drive there and back. Who owned all the OS cars that turned up and left later on ? I spotted an Avenger, aw11, Starlet, escort etc. They turned up but never came in? If you're one of them owners and reading this then please do pop in next month and join the table. Don't be shy and sit out in the cold. All we do is talk shit and we are pretty damn chilled

Have always thought OG spot was shit because we were away from the cars during A lot of the event. I don't show up these days anyway but change is good

gas cutter?

Stoddard Rd, give it a trial. Top work on finding another option.

Voted Stoddard. It might be busier but at least the cars will be somewhat in view and not tucked out of sight behind the building. I believe BNT also has a scrap metal bin full of old brake rotors and discarded bellhousings that could be awarded to the pesky resident of Ellerslie for his efforts at chasing us away.

So the only option was to arsehole the whole lot and start again. Banished to the wall of offerings And a pretty new one from palmside I think I'll call it there for tonight. We'll pick up the tale again sometime tomorrow.

Twas a Super Minx. I pulled the door dent out enough for him so he could put his window up. Unusual, as I thought Mustangs usually crash into crowds.

A mate of mine saw a crash there, older guy in a new mustang backed into a young fulla's maxi or something, holy stereotype.

Had to make another steering column tube since the first one was too long and the spline didn't stick out from the end. Also made the slot for the shifter longer so it has more gear selection. Laser cut a mount out of 12mm Ali for the steering column, needs a little bit ground out of the main mounting hole as it's a bit small and the triangles could also be polished more. Have also polished the shifter/indicator part of the column, looks heaps better than the silver paint. The steering columns going to be the flashest part of the whole truck haha. Done a bit more to the dash, has come out really well, very happy with it. Wasn't sure how well this would turn out, but so far it's turned out mint. Can't really see from the photos but I also fixed the left gauge surround, as it was terribly deformed, the front face was flared out a bit/not flat and out of round so the gauges didn't fit. It's pretty good now, just has a small rust hole that needs fixing. Not looking forward to welding it as there's so much!

On Friday night my brother and his mate helped me get the engine removed and onto an engine stand. We pulled the sump off and 3 of the four big end bearings were damaged. So this week it's off to the engine reconditioners... In the mean time I'm getting stuck into the interior. During the couple of short drives before it finally died I noticed the truck had a lot of rattles and road noise. The carpets needed a shampoo so I started stripping the interior so I could line all the sheet metal with a sound deadening material and get the carpets cleaned. I've just finished the cargo area and it has made a huge difference already, it's noticeable just working on it. Previously when you tapped on the rear quarters they would ring like a steel drum, now there is just a solid thud. I can't wait to drive it again!

Logic tells me that this should work, but part of brain is not convinced? Logically, the geometry of the caliper is pivoting around the wheel centre as everything is on a fixed radius. So it shouldn't ever bind...well I think that's right? It's a bit of a mind fuck, as the wheel moves twice what the leaf spring does. But I'm sure this caliper is neural??? Ahhhh...hope I'm right??? Other than being crippled by uncertainty, I'm pretty happy with the overall concept. A disc braked leaf spring front end on a velobike. Everything will get a tidy up later, but time to move on to the next challenge.

Got to my sister's house in Wisconsin and took the opportunity to wash and wax the van. Really trying to protect the paint and get the dirt off the roof. Also took everything out and vacuumed it. If you live in an area with trees, especially pine trees, it's good to take the black plastic trim around the rear door off and de gunk it every once in awhile, otherwise the lip on the roof under it rusts away. She didn't have a ladder so washing/waxing the roof was fun... Also added in a propane detector. I carry an 11lb bottle inside the van and this was recommended to me. Apparently it's illegal to have a commercial RV with propane without one in the USA. Seemed like a good idea. It's behind my fridge and wired directly to the aux fuse panel so it's away on.

exhaust fitted today

Managed to find some time this week to finish tidying up the upper control arms. I got all carried away and gave them a couple of coats of paint and then took them into work and pressed in the new bushes. Looking very flash now. I am going to take the good advice of OS Valiant gurus and do the lower arm and radius rod bushes as well but that will be next weeks fun.

new pad skids have been discussed. it'd be pretty hard to get the car onto the pad. imagine the catastrophic fuckup if it went wrong and the car ended up in the old floor framing! so no, we're not doing that.

brb

Motivation was definitely lacking this weekend and bugger all was done. telling my self it's to cold for epoxi to cure properly haha drew a crude wiring diagram. was going to incorporate it into the factory stuff but CBF with that shit storm, also means if I got to sell the setup it's all complete and can literally bolt into any 4cyl car. Picked up a fuse & relay box off Ali for 10-15 bucks from memory, seems well made. thermo switch for the rad for $7.76 think I've got some relays and fuses from a car a wrecked so that'll save some $ just need a fan and rad, maybe use the Aw11 one for extra free bonus. be sick to build the whole system for less then $500 fucking wheel bearings gone again. Going to get wheels rebalanced and a wheel alignment. If it happens again I'll haft to buy daily, piss' me off cause aside from that it's been a trooper of a daily

Bit of a lazy day, didn't do a lot. But did achieve a few small steps all leading in the right direction.

that right there is a corgi faced douche bag.

I wasn't going to start the suspension work for a couple of weeks but I had some time this afternoon and decided to get stuck in. @Valiant was kind enough to send up his homegrown upper ball joint removal tool and I was itching to try it out. I tried to remove the joint with the upper control arm still installed in the car as a couple of members had suggested but it was super tight and I had no hope of moving it. I think this was mostly due to the fact that I was only using a 1/2 inch drive breaker bar and a 3/4 drive adapter. It might have worked if I had a proper 3/4 drive breaker bar. I persevered for a while but I was afraid of slipping and damaging the front wheel arch or guard so out came the control arm and I decided to go big and get some proper leverage happening. The control arm bushes require replacement to I ripped out the guts allowing me to pass a piece of round bar through. Next I held the removal tool in the vice so I could hold the ball joint and had a go at turning the control arm around the ball joint. It took a couple of good swings but I heard a delightful little crack and the joint started to turn in the control arm. Once it started to turn it was easy to remove the joint using the breaker bar and removal tool. After giving the control arm a bit of a clean up I installed the new joint. I had a bit of fun getting the joint to screw in straight but a couple of OS members who have done this job before told me to expect this. After few false starts the new joint started to screw in nice and straight and actually went in fairly easily. While I have the removal tool in the workshop I think I will do the other side so I will see my friends at BNT tomorrow and grab another.

A Rokon trailbreaker would be cool.

Turns out I was lying about it being a treefiddy. I had a look at the build plate and figured out all the codes. It looks like its a povo pack with a few extras. 305? TBI explains why it started and drove so nicely. A01- WINDOW, TINTED, ALL SHADED, W/S A12- WINDOW, RR, STA BACK DR A51- SEAT, FRT BKT PASS, DRIVER A57- SEAT PASSENGER AUXILIARY, ONE, FLDG B3W -TIRE ALL P205/50R 15/N BL RIPE ST TL KW4 C5S-GVW RATING, 6600 LBS C60- HVAC SYSTEM, AIR CONDITIONER FRT MAN CONTROLS D1V- GEAR, SPEEDO DRIVEN D20-: SUNSHADE, WINDSHIELD, PASS SIDE D45- MIRROR O/S, SST E24-WWR SIDE, CARGO, HINGED E5Z-SPEEDOMETER ADAPTER (DELETE) E60-?? E9Z-SPEEDOMETER KEY (DELETE) F59- STABILIZER SHAFT FR, GU6- AXLE REAR, 3.42 RATIO G50- SPRING REAR, HEAVY DUTY, VAR 1 JB5- BRAKE, POWER, DISC/DRUM, 6400 LBS K19- REACTOR SYSTEM, AIR INJECTION K60- GENERATOR, 100 AMP LOD- ?? L03-5.0 LITER V-8 TBI ENGINE MX81-?? M40- Turbo Hydra-matic Transmission NA5-EMISSION SYSTEM, FEDERAL, TIER O NL7-FUEL TANK,I25L, 33 GAL N33-STEERING COLUMN, TILT TYPE N40 - STEERING, POWER, NON-VARIABLE RATIO SLM - ?? V37 - BUUPER, FRT & RR, CHROME V73 - ANTENNA, FIXED XET - TIRE FRONT, P245/75R16-109S BW R/PE ST TL AT YD3 - FRONT AXLE, BASE EQUIPMENT FOR SCHEDULING, GVW PLATE YD5- ?? ZET- ?? ZW9-B0DY EQUIPMENT, BASE BODY OR CHASSIS ZY1 - COLOR COMBINATION, SOLID Z53 CLUSTER, INST, OIL, COOL, TEMP, VOLTS 12U-?? 62I- INTERIOR TRIM, LT SADDLE (I) 62V-TRIM COMBINATION, VINYL, LT SADDLE (V)

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..

Perhaps that's more of a Shelbyville idea.

Photobucket sucks balls. Can't be bothered updating the pictures, and without them this thread seams pointless. So revised; long story short I've made a hardtail harley motorcycle. Started with nothing, now looks like this!