Leaderboard

Took my mate for a spin just then and the exhaust flange ripped off a catseye on the road hahaha. Thats low Looks like the exhaust needs lifting up a tad innit FML

I’m having REunion withdrawals therefore I wound up the front suspension to a good spot and took the 618 out for a street fang. The Racing Beat 51ida loves the engine set up and I’m gagging to take it on a longer drive.

Repairs to the left front fender. Starting with this gaping hole in the lower panel. New outer skin. My first real use of MIG except very minor tack repairs to other stuff or the years. It didn't weld too well next to very thin metal. I had to weld at the coldest setting and do backside as well. Inner Welded up the antenna hole. No use for that anymore. Kept burning holes in the metal again until using some flattened copper pipe to back up the weld. Inner aft structure. Here it is compared to the other good fender. A somewhat complicated shape. The lower 5 inches or so have to be cut off. Repair iteration one. No good, try again... Second try, again no good Third try. It might do but will wait for weld to the fender after it can be fit checked in combination against a repaired 'A' post, sill, and with the door installed. Notice I've removed the remainder of the upper structure to get all the rust removed and work the numerous dents in the fender skin flush. What's not shown here is the random bouncing back and forth between various other small repair work when one area gets a bit challenging. On to the front of the fender... This got a lot worse as you can see once I wire wheeled it. A little patch panel beating work with a wooden form block and lots of hammering. Checking the fit and marking the cut line. Okay for first iteration. Welded in Then proceeded to fabricate a complete new forward inner fender structure These new floating nut plates aren't going anywhere. No tearing out of the single attach tab on the original design. Not that great of a view. It shows where the back of the inner fender structure attaches to the body shell. Then I stripped the paint, asphalt undercoating, body filler, residual rust, etc down to shiny steel inside and out. Plugged a few pin holes with weld. It will still need some panel beating and straightening later on. And of course reattachment of the aft inner structure. Finished with this fender for now. Next posting will be the left hand side 'A' pillar repair.

@Raizer dropped me off a couple of gy6 motors from his hoard. I was wondering if the wheel would clear the case and it does which i'mm happy with Chucked the pile of parts roughly together

LD20+T

So I've made progress of sorts on both the crx and the the shuttle. My friend jason came around and helped remade the crx exhaust for me. Its tucked up nicely and the muffler is actually level and nothing rattles which is a win. I pulled the gearbag out and that is currently at the gearbox shop getting a new synchro and the mfactory diff fitted. The shuttle went for a wof and failed on a leaking master (that explains where the fluid went) and a rear seatbelt. I found the seatbelt while looking for other stuff in my hoard which was great. I had taken the door card off when I parked it ages ago for some reason and when shutting the door I managed to smash the speaker. Que replacements for both the shuittle and crx. I also got a new head unit and put the shuttle one into the crx. I started putting sound deadening mat on the doors but ran out when I got to the drivers door so I'll have to get some more. I've also ordered new engine side plugs so I can make a new engine loom for the shuttle as i'm not too happy with the current one

here's my suggestion: 2013-ish FG Falcon Ecoboost. These are a 2.0 all alloy 16 valve Turbo, 270hp and I can't remember how much torque (lots!) coupled to a ZF 6 spd trans. You should be able to pick up a wreck for not much, I have seen a few go through NZ auctions for cheap. The engine is very short, and relatively narrow, turbo and inlet manifolds are tucked in tight, although the alternator hangs out a long way. And best of all, you are not cross pollinating!

Insert chat thread here...

Funnily enough I watched this a couple of days ago;

have been acquiring some bits for a while to build something radical, time to crack on with this

Pretty excited. Had the beetle running and let it do its own thing for a solid 30mins just sitting in the shop. No water trying to escape and make a mess in my shop, no oil leaks, nothing out of the ordinary and the oil cooler is good and the radiator is working well. Old mate matt said "all we need to do is get it starting when hot" and then it started up easy as normal start up. Fucken so happy! Such a good feeling.

This is my Datsun Bluebird "de-rustification" project. This Bluebird is a U.S. specification 48 HP left hand drive 1961 PL310. It is the same as 1959 and 1960 310s. It is much different with respect to the drivetrain than late '61 through '64 models with the 60 hp engine, all synchro transmission and beefier rear axle components. I've swapped in most of the later model drivetrain though. The overall project been on and off again for years, decades actually. I have 44 years of my ownership history that I can present separately in a discussion thread along with this build activity. Previous historical "major" repairs included bumping out the roof panel in the late 70s due to a prior owner rollover accident. The rust work however is relatively new since early 2018. Photos. My earliest photo of the car is alongside the aqueduct in the California San Joaquin Valley in June 1975 and then Pullman, WA October 1975 . The latter photos are current covering the inner and outer sill panels fabrication, fit and weld work currently in progress. As time permits, I'll go back a year and begin describing the work and discoveries along the way to date and continue from there. https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/60267-marts-pl310-61-datsun-bluebird-sedan/

If all goes to plan I'll pay for this heap in a few days. The current owner is a good mate who gave up on the truck some time ago. He's offered it to me at a very fair price so I hacked it out of waist high thistles a couple of days ago, found enough wheels to get it in the air, and got the brakes un-seized enough to get it rolling...in a straight line. Hopefully I'll get an ignition key this week which will mean I can unlock the steering. I'll get some batteries and see if she'll run. I know little about diesel engines so this could be fun. She's a 6.5 turbo V8, and despite looking pretty haggard is quite sound in the body and chassis. One of the worst things is the wheel size - they're 16.5 inch. Those are 33x12.5x16.5 tyres on both the wheels you see. The truck makes otherwise big tyres seem small. I'm on an island where WoFs aren't a thing, but I have no tools except my carpentry gear with me so I will be at the mercy of others. So far people have all said I'm mad (the truck has a reputation as a bit of a lemon around here), but they've all offered me gear too. Nice.

Had a rummage in the back of the workshop yesterday, theres a holden 202/3.3 blue motor we picked up down country some time back its complete with a dellow bell housing, Clutch, W50 toyota g'box, driveshaft , speedo cable and a set of extractors, this may be of use or if any of you other fine fellows would be interested, let me know

@tortronYup just the old rattletech though it runs beautiful as it should been 1 owner. Drove Huntly to north shore today and collected it, was supposed to have a blown head gasket according to a mechanic i pulled the thermostat topped the water up jump started it and it didnt get hot once on drive home. Not immaculate but really tidy inside and out has some imperfections which i think i will actually tidy up to make it properly mint. Itll get an Lsd soon then maybe a bit of low and some different wheels a bit later on.

There's a explorer at wiri zebra with a complete diff at the moment . 3.73 lsd @f100_dreamin

well now it's a new year and the girls have gone back to school .........it's time. so the old girl is off to blasting... hopefully we can lift it off the trailer once it's done and not sweet it off.

next up was the rod ends and steering box. I bought this lot (which includes wheel bearings and seals) and stripped down/wire wheeled this and I took no more photos except these.... the steering box is currently sitting in degreaser and needs multiple new seals, bearings and bushes.

My wife and i did some bonding over the beetle and got probably 1/3rd of it sanded down and smooth. Few issues with the existing body filler being applied to a completely unprepared surfaces but nothing major. A few more hours and we will be ready for primer And this week I skived off work so that I could hang out with @64valiant, work on his bug and do some on mine. I managed to get my beam adjusters welded in. First there was marking. then there was careful cutting (and some brace welding.. this photo is a bit out of sequence) Tacking and V grinding and welding...and more V grinding and then in the time it takes to make 2x floor mats it was done.

Stop putting ideas into my head bitches.

20th of this month guys! Dont forget!

Masked and ready for paint over the weekend

Dates for upcoming events Otautau car show: 23rd Feb https://www.facebook.com/OtautauCarShow/ Invercargill street sweet: Night of 23rd Feb https://www.facebook.com/events/1747733131993364/ Drive for life Teretonga: 24th Feb https://www.facebook.com/events/1885993108181950/ Balfour backyard beauties: 3rd March https://www.facebook.com/Balfour-Backyard-Beauties-215177068915681/ Lawrence car show: 23rd March https://www.facebook.com/events/349919978926549/ Classic car racing highlands: 6 & 7 April https://www.facebook.com/events/899990676867606/ Wheels @ Wanaka: 20 & 21 April https://www.facebook.com/wheelsatwanaka/

For sure the potential is all there, it just looked so right from that first fit up, it matched what I had in my head almost perfectly.

Gave it some love with a bit of paint Anton filling in the last of the little holes with a little bog All done with final coat, very happy with the industrial look

Started retro fitting a Pajero clutch MC to my firewall so we can convert the car to hydro clutch as the new gearbox requires in. 3D printed a spacer to make the distance between the clutch pedal and MC correct Also began filling any unused holes, and bits and pieces that weren't needed. Got to learn to mig weld during this which is something ive not really done before.

Well shit...... ive done it again $600 and its bloody tidy.

Been running the e85 for a few weeks now shes a fair bit thirstier with the big carb too however its mostly in tune. At extended doort it was running the float chamber dry due to fuel pump not having enough flow to it. Enter dual tanks...... Fuck this thing flys!!!

My $6 aliexpress ramflo filter finally showed up so can actually try get this running right on e85 and take it on some dusty roads without feeding it dirt.

So I had this at Hampton downs a couple of months ago for a race car track day. It went very well and is awesome to drive. Really good to get it on the open track and stretch its legs a bit, The sound it makes opened up in 4th gear is amazing. Towards the end of the day it started not running right, very much like it was lean so we packed up and went home. I pulled the fuel injection unit off to learn about it and try figure out what the problem was. It’s quite a neat unit that Dennis has come up with. It’s very simple in operation, with all the workings of a mechanical injection unit but the fuel doesn’t actually get injected in under pressure, it is sucked through the fuel nozzles by crankcase vacuum. The problem with it was with the diaphragms in fuel regulator units that are part of the injection system. After replacing those and putting it all back together it ran perfectly again. I’m driving this at Leadfoot next month, have a few more final jobs to do and then it’s good to go.

Bam & Bam - always a good feeling getting a fresh wof Quick change of wheels and much better

just a quick update motor is almost done ..just need to sort the throttle linkage (pretty much sussed) injectors (might get the factory ones cleaned or go later model) spark (going coil on plug from a later model) and last but not least headers ........going to make from scratch . apart from that Hydroprint Hq here in nz did the rocker cover and trumpets for me and i love it.

the parts truck is here. so is the american market wellside. pumped that I actually found one! However, since it was in timaru I ended up paying an arm and a leg to get the thing up here. it needs a lot of TLC to get her back into shape. I'm going to import a tailgate from the US, as the one I have is basically past it. The truck itself is actually pretty reasonable, with less rust than any other I've bought. I've decided not to chop her up. What it really needs is a full nut and bolt resto, a full strip, blast, the works. There isn't much to these things and they're easy to work with. This truck will be for sale in the coming weeks, with a flat deck runs and drives, these have the worlds shortest 1st gear, you may as well start in second and have a 3 speed manual. Thankfully I now have some parts that I've been missing (steering col. plastic, rear vision mirror, little trim bits). I now have the only RHD 521 with a wellside in the country. There is a white LHD US import 521 here, I haven't seen it in the flesh but came across it on googs. that's all for now input is appreciated :))

I did my apprenticeship on VT onward at a Holden Dealer. If you get stuck with something id love to pretend I know everything. chur Scott.

No point having all that power if the glovebox cant handle it. what a waste of money

The last few trackday events I've done, they have all been on very hot tracks in summer time... lots of grip for R888s which were coming up to temperature nicely, very quickly! Thanks to all this grip I've had, I've been able to wind the brake bias heaaaapppssss more rearwards than I ever have been able to previously. Which is awesome, it stops the car up great. Then, the Manfield round of Superlap... I was greeted by an intially damp, very cold track. First run out, feeling a little too confident... by lap 3(?) I still had almost no heat in the tyres, was pushing it a little too hard, and the brake bias caught me out. I spun off turn 1, ending up stuck in the kitty litter which was embarassing, and I felt bad for delaying the session while I was towed out. I went back to the pits, took a few winds out of the brake bias (it isnt adjustable in the cabin) Second session, wowzers! Track came up to temp nicely and the car was running great. I was still getting familiar with things as I've never driven there before. But had an awesome time. I was driving conservatively as I didnt want to be "that guy" that crashes twice in a row haha. Feeling confident lining up for the third session of the day, and ready to push a bit harder. I get waved out onto the track and my driveshaft makes a clunk noise. Try go forward again... same thing... shit. I head back to the pits, and it looked as though the hanger bearing had crapped itself, so the centre of the 2 piece driveshaft was free to flop around. It felt okay to drive "normally" so I said my good byes to friends at the track and went back to accomodation (Thanks Lachlan) I packed the car up and started driving home. I got about an hour out of Manfield, and driveshaft noise was getting bad going up a hill when it was under load - Boom! The front UJ broke, and the driveshaft went smashing around in the tunnel like a MFer! Lucky I had driveshaft loops in place or it would have made a bloody big mess. Once I got safely to the side of the road, and had a look under the car. It dawned on me that I am 6-7 hours drive from home, with a car that's fucked haha. About 1/2 an hour later, something magic happened! Some other competitors saw my car on the side of the road, and stopped up. They couldnt really help, but wanted to see if they could assist. Then some more competitors came past - this time with their track car on the trailer behind tow vehicle. They stopped up, unloaded their track car from the trailer so they could tow my car home - and drive their track car instead. These guys lived near Hampton downs, but drove all of the way to Glendene in the pissing rain to help me get my car home by about 2am. Which meant they didnt get back to theirs until 3 or 4am after a very long day. Absolutely blown away by the help. Big thanks to Jakke and Matt for being awesome well beyond the call of duty. Sometimes when you're up to your eyeballs in shit, and someone helps you out - The sort of thing you remember for a very long time. Some good memories and good friends, made by a bad situation.

Can't wait for that Molesworh - rainbow station ride #Facepalm

^ I did, and fitted an old one. It's been OK, though a little prone to fouling #2 on the very old points I have. I'll have a looksy at the points cam consistency with a dial gauge sometime, before I change points. (2 months later): Rinnnggginging <TOINK> brrrzzzzzzzzzzz. Uh oh. That don't sound right. It's running, but I'll bet a lamington it's taken a ring end again. I'll tear down in the weekend and assess...' I may be lime scooting tomorrow. Arai and hi-viz?

Hey guys make a decent offer on this just had a mate killed in a bike crash over weekend. I can't bring myself to look at it or ride it......