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WOOHOO!!! FRAK YEAH!! SHE IS ALL ROAD LEGAL!!!!! I'm going away to the South Island next Wednesday so it has been a mad rush to get it finished in time. Still a little list of things that I want to finish of but it drives really nice. I took it for it's first proper drive today and it is such a fun car to drive, stupidly quick and OMG does it ever sound amazing!! Got the cert plate back today, passed with flying colours. Here is the cert plate listing all the mods Got it's warrant of fitness. And registration First night back at home Here is a before shot, I love how you can barely tell I put the V8 in it. Such a sleeper. The big back wheels are pretty much the only thing that gives it away, they look so cool. Back in the garage with my other cars Other little updates. Painted the centre caps of the temporary front wheels. Doesn't actually look too bad now that it is all murdered out. Swapped over the front bumpers. The early Hillmans used a much smaller bumper than the late model Chrysler's. They don't bolt straight up, you need to drill a couple of holes then after that it bolts right up. You can see a good shot of the old bumper in the before photo above. Finished mounting the brake bias valve.

diff and engine set up

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Mmmmmm, strawberries, frozen yog, fresh WOF, and a blast on country roads!

Borrowed the special tool spring compressor from Mr @EURON8 to jam the springs back in after popping everything back together with (some) new bushes. I left the other upper wishbone bushes in place as they were fine really, and replaced only the lower ball joints. The tire rod ends seemed pretty new too, so left them as is also cleaned up the front calipers, just a dissemble, clean and paint without removing the brake lines. I said up there i didnt want to go too low, but then i slapped myself upside the head and did as per the sedan 5.5 coils Also found a broken connector on the dizzy to HDI wire so re soldered and heat shrunk that, and then reset the timing a bit more advanced. Seems to run much better now for both reasons. Then a test utilization to a mates place to steal some gravel for a garden project. and to settle the suspension. Doggo loves ute Pretty happy with the stance and feel of the front suspension now, about 2" lower but still supple even with the lot shorter springs and new shocks. Rear is still very stiff but went well with a load on, and the rattly noise is still present. I think it may be a bearing in the gearbox or something. also stuck a 'period' sun visor sticker i got of TradeMe for $5, i did a fucken terrible job of it in the windy dark it looks like its been there for years.

Discussion: https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/57479-hyperblades-kp61-racecar-beams61-discussion/ Moving over my project from the club-k forums to make it a bit more public for those interested. So it started when I brought this 1984 Toyota Starlet Racecar, I wanted something I could drive to the track, while still being safe during racing, hence the roll cage. It came with a 2L Altezza 3SGE BEAMS engine with the 6 Speed box, already in it and a really good build history from the original owner. Sale thread here has some more details: https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/38220-fs-1981-kp61-starlet-race-car-certifed-homologated/ More to come...

Rust is listed as a spare part in the Haynes manual. Reading through this makes me miss my mini.....

A good trick is to adjust the shoes , then pump brake pedal and adjust all over again to centralise the shoe. The smaller the drum generally the smaller the notches on the adjuster , so a couple of clicks out can mean heaps of imbalance. Standing the glazing off the drum with emery tape by hand can also help bed the new shoes.

Scrap it

Handbrake test on gravel might give you an indication?

I can also now confirm that this information was sufficient for VTNZ. They would prefer you used one of their special Stat Dec forms, but saw no reason they couldn't accept the generic one signed by a JP (yes, that's how they said it, "couldn't see why not" ). They didn't specifically need anything but the Stat Dec and printout from NZTA about the black plates.

Weird that it's on the same day as their normal event

Hi guys. It's been a while since last post. The car has been performing great and I'm still getting out an about in it, mostly on weekends. There's always something on at the local track every couple of months. I really wanted to get back onto the forum after growing somewhat tired of facebook and all the crap it can add to this hobby. Anyway... as far as developing the car. I have learned that gearbox ratios are very important. The W58 I have is quite low in first and second gear and a bit of a gap to third. Typical of road ratios. Well, a 600hp XR6T i've not been able to beat at roll racing finally fell behind me the last time out because I rolled on in 3rd instead of 2nd. 3rd has much longer legs and I didn't lose the speed changing from 2nd to third. So I looked into close ratio gear sets for the W58 and turns out they are available. At a cost of around $4500. Needless to say, the CR gearbox can wait. But gee it would make a difference. Also, the temptation to add more power has gotten the better of me. I have bought a used HKS GT2835R-56T , it's a Garrett GT3071R with a back cut rear wheel so it fits in the T25 exhaust housing. Compressor wheel will go from 47mm-60mm 62 trim, to 53.1mm-71mm 56 trim and more importantly the turbine, from 54mm-47mm 76 trim to 56mm-53mm 90 trim. I'm aiming to add around 30 or 40hp so 330~340hp at the wheels. My current GT2860RS is pretty much out of puff @ 300whp. At first I was going to fit a 67mm GTX billet wheel, effectively turning it into a GTX 2867R. It could probably make that extra power but nowhere near as efficiently as the GT2835R-56T. The larger turbine is where the benefits will come from. A larger set of Siemens Deka injectors will also be fitted. Jumping from 60lb (630cc) to 80lb (840cc) I took it to the drags a few months ago and it went 12.75 @ 113 mph (2sec 60ft) . Hoping with the new turbo and tune to crack into high 11's. If not I will just live with it because any more power will result in problems like gearbox failure, clutch failure, cracked block etc etc. So here's a pic of the car launching when I ran the 12 with 205 60 13 rear tyres. I was only able to achieve low 13's with 185 60 13 tyres, as soon as the 205's went on it was into the 12's. I might put in some 3.45 diff gears with the 185 tyres which would work out about the same as 205's and 3.9. Cheers

My Jag has finally been returned to me! The bill was very scary , because.... I ended up having to cover the funeral expenses of the mechanics who decided to try their luck in the next life. And then the rest of them went on trauma counselling / bereavement leave*, so the job took two months... I listened to the survivors tell their tale. Every nut and joint put up a fight and had to be soaked overnight, the whole rear subframe ended up coming out, and it was all because someone had apparently installed the handbrake pads upside down! This allowed the pads to move such that the backing plates were grinding away at the discs and starting to chip bits off. Jaguar changed the rear suspension for the last four years of XJS production, moving the rear discs outboard. Can't think why. After having not exactly the kindest introduction to the costs of old British luxury grand tourer ownership, I've made myself a new t-shirt design out of owners manual images: Still, I can't say I didn't warn me. And now I have nice brakes, a new WOF and reg and my 'zorst volume is turned up! What does an AJ6 ('the other Jaguar engine') sound like with half its mufflers removed? Not as good as a garbage Rover straight six ironically, but stay tuned! * Not really. Nobody died. Geez.

The throttle linkage is very shit, i think its from the (131?) donor car the twin cam came from and has been hacked in, rubs on the hood latch and rattles a lot. So very shit. Had to cut it to get it out. I was happy to make it inoperable. $18 Pile of likely looking bits from pickapart, mostly from a Toyota AE82 hatch Firewall cable mount just tucked in behind the loom hole, worked out perfect Had to bend the pedal a bit to suit the curve of the tyre well/firewall, and still could do with a bit of tweaking to get it sitting just right but stoked. Carb end worked out well too but will probably need to remake the cable mount a bit stiffer sooner rather than later but it got dark/no photos. Test drive tomorrow,

New plug lead set. Marked all of the old leads 1.photobucket.com/user/avenga76/media/1980%20Avenger%20wagon/IMG_6280_zpsv1syvd9h.jpg.html][/URL] The new ones were all numbered and comes preinstalled in the plastic holder that goes over the middle so they are real easy to install. Got the new tyres. It's getting harder and harder to find 15 inch wheels. Went for 225/50R15 Toyo Proxies4 at the back Back tyres on the car with the temporary rims Got the new temporary front rims. Need to paint that center cap black Front tyres fitted. I went 195/50R15 Toyo T1R. They stopped making most of the sizes in T1R, my other Avenger has 205/50R15 and 225/50R15 T1R's but they don't make either anymore. Front wheels on the car Offsets are pretty good. Might go out a couple of millimeters front and back. I raised the front with some new springs, it is sitting very high so I need to get more low. It was too low before so I am just going to keep dropping it until it looks and handles right.

Configured the shift lights on my dash. I have them set to low RPM just so I can test if I like the pattern and colour. Pretty happy with it. So a little bit of a set back. Performance wheels over in Aussie have been giving me the run around so it doesn't look like I am going to get my proper wheels for probably another month or so, which will be well after my South Island trip and track day I have planned for October. So I had to go for plan C, which is by some other wheels that are the same size and offset, just to get me though certing and the South Island trip etc. They might not look as good but at least they will get me to the South Island and to the track day. I got some 15x8 steel rims for the back. They are the same offset as the Challengers that I will get eventually so I can just swap them over when I get the new rims. The front won't looks as good because I had to go for some ugly alloys to get the offset I needed. It doesn't look too bad with the steelies but because my other Avenger has steelies then I want something different for the wagon. The 15x8 with 225/50R15 fit really nicely under the guards. It is quite amazing that they fit under there. They are the same size as the ones on my other Avenger but I have huge flares on my other Avenger. Built a new adjustable panhard rod so we can tweak the back end a little bit.

so its about 1 hose 150mm long away from having a bmw idle air control system ready to go on a old school 250 xflow. the bmw IACV (same on e use with these ITBs on the m3) using my trusty grinder and drill i made some brackets (about as engineering as i get ) found a place to mount it all and cover up the old fuel pump hole at the same time. welded the IACV pipe and painted it black and all in place just got to get a hose

started playing with the factory bmw idle air control system today .. so i flipped the ITBs upside down to make life easier to work on. (normally in the bmw they would have run this way but i wanted them all on the underside to keep it cleaner) and grabbed the factory bar for the idle air control and cut it up as the ITBs have been made to match the xflow inlets. i also removed a few things not needed and just keep the factory inlet.....and i swapped the ends over to keep it cleaner. i had some stainless that was the same size diameter as the inside of the rail so perfect.....cut them up and slid them into the tubes as far as i can for strength flipped it back to where it should be and its perfect ...just need to weld them up.

OK so a bevvy of parts arrived from the states in the last couple of days. Heaps of electrical bits and a rear guard plus an aftermarket conversion kit for engine mount (so no longer need my home made one) Also my parts bike arrives from Dunedin on Sunday night, plan is to rip into full mock up on Monday and Tuesday. Maybe even try and kick it into life next week before full strip down and paint.

New inspirational photos of a Deluxe cub WITH a full rear fender... mmmmm mmm yummy

one of the pioneer box speakers blew , possibly because of the aliexpress head deck, so swapped the woofers with the 4" sonys that where hanging out the door cards when i got the truck. they were not exactly one of pioneers best efforts so nothing of value really lost, the mid range 'speaker' is just a plastic moulding. New JVC mechless head unit delivered for <$90, sounds pretty good now, i reckon at least 3x better than the $30 aliexpress special. This is what success looks like. Yes, that bed is coming into my house, not going to the dump.

According to the FSM, spring details Wishbones inclusing spares from a 125 sedan Judith crushing the old bushings out TOP 125 (post vinegar bath) and BOTTOM 125P lower wishbones. Grabbed one from the spares to swap out the bent one. They are the same length but away bar attachment is quite different (125p has a big square hole for drop link vs 125 has 2 holes for a u-bolt), so rather than cutting the other one, i heated the bent one with a propane torch and smashed it with the sledge and now its not quite as bent. that went in the vinegar bath for a few hours Wow! - vinegar bath for 2 days + water blasted. Clean one was worse then the still rusty one when it went in. Vinegar seems to get under the rust and it just blasts off like dirt. Recommended! 8l of vinegar was $14 Welded up the engine mounts on the cross member - they were not really loose as had i thought, but this should stiffen them up anyway Coat of rust converter then primered pretty sure none of this was the source of the noise, but there were a few little things that have been sorted now or ticked off the mental 'possibilities' list, and the front end will be tidy and tight when i put it back together with mostly new parts over the next week or so.

Some of my Ebay stuff has started arriving too, This sweet (english) factory manual (most of the engine pictures are from the Fiat 1300/1500 manual and the body stuff from the 125), it is however missing any electrical diagrams, which is the main thing i actually wanted And a 1:43 model. The canopy and pizza cutters didnt last long Weirdly the number plate is almost an exact match, only 1 character is not shared.

Then today at work we were all sitting around laughing about what the hell id bought and I thought I'd see if it was seized or not, didn't have very high hopes, but, it turned pretty freely, stoked! Then the obvious next step was to see if it started, cleaned up the plugs and points and hooked up a Jerry can to the fuel pump and it took a few tries but it eventually fired into life, soon after I had a gander and found someone had fucked with the throttle linkages and they were all round the wrong way and pointing in all directions so hooked them back up to what looked to be right and then it actually got off idle! Been thrashing it round the yard after work this evening. Shit it's a hoot to drive and runs so damn well too!! Have a video or 2.