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My impala was missing a knob. No one likes being knobless, so I thought I'd treat it to a brandnew knob! A Google search or two later and I was shocked at how expensive it was going to be, $30USD + $25USD postage!!! WTF!!! That's like $100DNZ. So I thought about turning one up one the lathe, but it would've looked too perfect. Then I remembered casting metal for small projects about 20 years ago when I was a student. So I thought I'd give it a go. I really wanted to capture the imperfections of the original. Original old parts have a certain amount of soul to them...new parts often don't. So here's how it went down: DIY sanding board. $2 cuttlefish from a pet store. It's that white shit you'll see budgies pecking at inside their prison cage of broken dreams and mental hell. I cut it into two halves, and then sanded each half flat. Next push in your original work piece as much as possible. Take it out, scrape away some of the indentation...repeat...repeat...repeat, until it's nicely sitting halfway in. Now match the otherside the same way. You'll need to cut a pouring funnel into the top, to get the metal in. And hard to see, but I cut 4 very small air vents on each half, to let the air out. Then I pinned the mould together to keep the alignment of the two halves squared away. Time to heat up metal. I'm using lead free pewter, same as jewelers use to make rings and necklaces etc. $14/100g online from a craft shop in Auckland. I only needed about 20g...but at that price, I thought I may make something else later? Melting it is as easy as it looks. A $2 shop ladle that I tweaked with a panel hammer to put a pouring spout into. And a blow tourch. Pouring the mould. Opening for the moment of truth...fuck yeah, nailed it first pop!!! Yeeee-fucking-ha!!! A quick tidy up, dremel a slot, buff up on the polishing wheel, scotchbright to dull it down a little to match the original patina...booyah! And what it's all about. Installed in the car. It competes me! I'm so happy with how its turned out.

Not really a project cause it's already got the mods I was going to do to a stock one.... just needs tyres Good fun though. Makes good doort/brraaap noises

Got a new look for the Beat

So today in true OS styles we grabbed the oldest tractor we could find and did this,

Perhaps to avoid any confusion, we should all have patched jackets with a logo for "A group of unassociated riders who happen to all be going this way"

The boys from ITM dropped this off today, Looks like I'm gunna be busy tomorrow.

Holyyyyy cr@p.... I just got a phone call from an unknown number, it was Stephen Fleming's partner!? She said he is the same guy and she said he most likely does have paper work for the car since he never throws anything away. He is a busy guy so she thought she would ring me to let me know the good news, that he is the person I am looking for. What are the chances. I can't believe that worked and what a nice lady to talk to too. Still can't believe it. I'm also being made redundant, which is less useful.

Hello and welcome. Due to popular interest in another small bike endeavour, this year we plan to not do what we've done, and do do, what we don't done. This has been on the want to do list for a little while, but thought it was a bit hard logistically to link it up with anywhere else on small bikes. After looking at things a bit closer, it seems doable while staying off a lot of the main roads. There are some sections unfamiliar to us, but if Google says you can drive there, we can drive there, there is one place Google says you can't drive there, and we're still gonna drive there. The date will be 2019 Nov 29, 30 and Dec 1. Still over 3 days this route appears shorter than previous East Cape trips at about 540km, but I believe there to be significantly more gravel so your average speed will be down a bit overall, exact route might get some fine tuning if we manage to get some recce/expert advice. An estimate of the gravel portions of this ride comes to ~250km. Play along at home here https://goo.gl/maps/w5Z1CH4tkfX5SiyR9 ride '19 final by John Bell, on Flickr Day One, Nov-29. We believe day one will be the most taxing. ~200km. Starting right off the bat with ex rally stage Stanley Road. From there we head over East over an ex-rail bridge, through Awakeri and over Matahina hydro dam. Decent gravel stretch on Pokairoa Road, head past the Kopuriki store ,Galatea area, and further south to the borders of Te Urewera. Onwards onto rougher roads through Ruatahuna and finally to stay at Lake Waikaremoana Holiday Park (or nearby). 2019Day1 by John Bell, on Flickr Day Two Nov-30. This is easy day, from Waikaremoana out to Gisborne. ~155km. Hopefully some opportunity to look at hydro power stuff. Back roads, maybe lunch at the Tiniroto pub and hopefully more gravel. Hopefully time for recreation on getting to Gisborne. I'm not particularly familiar with much this days ride. 2019Day2 by John Bell, on Flickr Day Three Dec-1. Medium day. ~180km. We sneak out of Gisborne parallel to SH2, gravel on ex rally stage Whakarau Road in the direction of the Motu village. From Motu its familiar going on another ex rally stage to the Bay of Plenty coast. Through Opotiki, and headed back to the starting point via a few bonus squiggly gravel bits. 2019Day3 by John Bell, on Flickr Fuel is probably less available then up the cape, I reckon less people too if thats even possible. Less food opportunities also. Night one will likely be a frugal, quiet one, pretty sure theres no pub or restaurant there. Save party time for Gisborne. Theres proabably more to say, but its early days yet. There'll be a lot to discuss, but if you could keep the complete spam to a minimum for those looking for info. Holla at cha boi. Okey, Not everyone on the list has usernames, they might be real people outside of the internet. 27-11-19 @johnnyfive @Vintage Grumble @MopedNZ @GuyWithAviators @Shakotom @cletus @tortron @datlow @keltik @Truenotch @TimShadboltfan27 @WankBankA100 @BLIZZO @MaxPower @Dolan @Mitch.W @Tumeke @Tumeke's brother Brett @UTERUS @Ned @RUNAMUCK @Atex Lee Dan Shannon @Deano Mike @mark105 @Geophy @Duke Blackwood @Geophy's Dad @peteretep @Beaver @Archetype Lance/Julio Ryk Chris/Tofa @anglia4 @anglia4's Dad Paul ThatSlowGuyOnTheRuckus/Dan @slacker.cam @sentra Entry form now available, please ensure you have accommodation secured at Waikaremoana before completing form, as this will be the limiting factor for numbers.

And a bit of this. Had to knock off early though, got to clean the car to take my mates son and his girlfriend to the school ball. Tomorrows another day.

I quite like where this is heading ! Will be quite the death machine with that motor and you riding it

Planning meeting underway.

i got a better idea, drive them to the ball in EA wagon, wearing your pirate costume, and ramble on to the kids outside the hall that the EA is a future classic and a high quality Australian sports wagon, and that they will be the most desirable car in NZ. then they will look back on that night years later, being like, hey remember that old pirate dude at our high school ball who told us EA falcons were the next Mustang? he was right all along. /ling

Havnt really achived much with any project, waiting for Spacy engine to arrive but have beadblasted rims, painted and fitted new tyres (thanks to mr Mopednz Callum) Chaly is waiting for parts to arrive, Dax is waiting for funds for parts, DJ1 is being used daily but will possibly be sold once spacy is reliable

The SS sold last night for 4.8K. Someone got a pretty sweet deal, as 3 to 4K will fix all the issues and then they will have a rock solid ute with nothing to worry about for another 200,000km. Beats paying 12k for one with 250,000km on the clock, which is on the brink of needing 3 to 4k spent on it in the very near future. Basically works out at 8k versus 16k...half price. But for me, I just want to move on and this was my way out of it. Now time to start thinking through all those ideas i have and making shit happen.

Shingle Shenanigans Forest Frolics The Urewera Undertaking The Dicky Tour Hot Cock Calamity The Urewera Taint Tickler The Grand Gravel Gala Sauteed Snag Stunt Road Rash Romp Amazing Anus Annihilation Adventure Eastern Bay Vagrant Voyage

I’m going to start the bidding with “The Burnt Penis Ride”

Jesus, Cape ride V1 had 20 pages, V2 had 85 pages, a lot of spam admittedly. Yet to come up with a name, or date, but Waikaremoana Loop in late Nov, early Dec, is what we're working with at the moment. Need someone to come up with a witty name. Only bits of road reused really are Motu Road. Looks to have a lot more gravel. Hard balls day one, shorter day two, medium day three. Brainstorm names go ride '19 proposal by John Bell, on Flickr

Made some progress tonite with my good mate Mush sorted out the cutting and welding for the pipes. Done !

I've gone front to back replacing all the old low pressure fuel hoses. I chopped the engine bay fuel lines a foot shorter to tidy it up, and I found a nice spot underneath for the filter. The fuel tank pickup hole is tiny at 45mm, but I've managed to fit the new electric pump to the pickup and squeeze it through. I've ordered a bulkhead terminal for power, then it's just pump wiring and the fuel system is sorted... Thanks for watching!

Te Urewera 2 Wheel'd Terror Need to make TS go again or fit road kit and suspension lift to the PW80

Id love a springer front. Looks dope man

You’ve heard of the Cold Kiwi, but this year will be the first “Hot Sausage”.

Got some longer forks lined up for it. Stock Harley Springer to the left for scale. Havent had final welding so I cam tweal the height a bit. Will run the springer with a drum 21 " front

Handy wee thing, 22 holes in under 2 hours.

Went and saw the good folk at Steel and Tube to see what I could scrounge in their pile of stuff out the back. They had a bunch of 250 and 300 steel purlins and a whole lot of top hats that I could score for beer. So I started designing a shed in my head around this.Will be mildly unconventional but functional. Also the urban sprawl is getting even closer to me every day so this will be a bolt/screw together set-up so I can pull it down and take it with me. Day one we did holes for the poles.

If you hate the car and can't see the way through, sometimes its better to ditch and run in my experience. Feel way better after the fact too.

if its a m3 engine and m3 box and matching m3 driveshaft and its not modified and you can prove it, correct.

Yes pls

So 4 things needed to fix for cert (1) Wheel alignment - print out emailed for cert (2) bump stops on the rear struts - done (3) speedo stickers made as my calibration is 17% out. (4) hand brake cable - we tried spacing them out however the rear sections are just too long. I’m booking it into a professional outfit hopefully next weekend so I can get custom hand brake cable made. Then thats cert sorted and compliance also as I need a working handbrake. It’s only money aye

haha I'm sure you know about the Jeen's bug that was built and sold by Marco a while back ? http://fueltank.cc/blog/1974-jeans-beetle Thing is dope. Love the cosmic rims. Thats what id build if I find another late model standard

Ok the shop is finally ready to take van to carry out a few bits of welding and getting engine sitting in the bay, will update when I get it back, progress!

Its now at the panelbeaters getting the worst of the rot dealt with, not sure what their exact timeline is but it should be getting close. That pic is post blasting and looking at the others he sent me, its actually in pretty good shape for a Datsun that hasn't moved for 30 years

My partner just suggested some kind of variant of sausage sizzle for the name.

Yeah im predicting 60km max

Meh, you did more to it than I did, haha.

So what do you do when you are heading away on holiday in a month and have lots of un finished projects? Make a weak attempt to sell parts? check. noone bought said parts so its time to get a frame to fit said parts into. enter cub frame which @Raizer extended and added some rake, And my fxr150 motor Motor looked really close to fitting, this spacer needed trimming trimmed a bit off the corners to clear the breather and a bolt Fucking bolt in mayte as you can see in that last photo the sprockets are a fair way off lining up. One idea I had was to try and move the motor sprocket inboard a bit but that'll probably end up interfering with stuff. So I'll just have to get or make a wider swing arm. Has anyone got a spare c50/c90 swing arm I can butcher

So, legally and accurately it does require cert. Like I said. Just because you can get away with it doesn't make it legal.

Ling post, but I still remember how you looked in the next day. There's people in palliative care who don't look that sick. (Made me feel heaps less hungover )

So this happens when you leave random carparts in reception at your business by mistake: And I received a care package from @KPR :

Ooooooooh someone said gravel and off roading/self sufficient? giz also it was actually @RUNAMUCK who mentioned something in spam causing me to mention it to you @MopedNZ

There are 3 power stations up there.

finally got the windscreens in and polished up some more chrome fitted that and decided to give car a wash.. drums are binding so thought fuck it n washed with bucket in garage I wanted to wash to refit car cover. Heres some pics. Haha gotcha Thanks for looking

Cert recheck today Passed the drive test and the 5x 100km brake test too. Let me tell you it was loving the fang today and performed spot on. It was the first time going over 50km haha so I had my beady eyes on the temp gauge The only remaining things to do are: 1) supply the alignment print out (repair cert person has this so will need another copy printed) 2) add 2 rear bump stops - ordering tomorrow from a George Stocks 3) tighten hand brake (this needs to be done for the compliance also) 4) the speedo is out 15-20km. I need to apply custom stickers to the speedo corresponding to the correct speed increments eg 120km is actually 100km Legal cruising is so close I can taste it.

More slow progress. Got all the side trim on the car. Between panel beating the trim (looks good from 10 feet away), polishing, making new clips and then fitting there is about 16 hours invested. Side trim, picking the best set Polishing machine. A strangely satisfying way of killing a lot of time. I had the bonnet spear and the bezel for the lock rechromed by the bumper repair people in Onehunga. Both came up like new. Bloody expensive pass time getting chrome done, especially when the old stuff is badly pitted. The door windows are in on the drivers side, again took bloody hours. There is an order that the windows go in and its different front to back. The other side hasn't been done yet, the channel that should be welded to the inside of the rear door frame is missing. This is a door that I bought repaired and the channel must have been taken out to fix some rust and never got put back in. I have a new one folded up and am hoping that epoxy glue will be enough to hold it it. Since the car is painted I don't want to be welding the door frame. I am also looking for a good front Quarter light window for the passengers door, the frame on mine is falling apart with rust. If any one knows of one please send the details my way.

Triumph mechanical fuel injection adapted to fit would be a saga

Loose as Al's Mum.

So Easter Friday the Middy went out an left me at home with the kids (who are on no screen time for Easter) so while they played outside I played in the garage, found another great use for the hoist separated the trans and motor then used the hoist to lift the engine off the k frame an trolley I built so I could get it on the engine stand. Dropped the sump to have a quick Nosey inside, which further confirmed my lack of service history there’s a reasonable amount of sludge, there was also a random small washer pulled a big end cap off crank and bearings look good all in all pretty happy with the condition. Should make for a good build to finish the day I returned to stripping underseal pretty happy with the lack of rust I’ve found

Got an exhaust that releases more of the ringaningding Had a 94 jet in it, I got a 96 and a 99. Put the 99 in and it seems to like it. It goes much better now. Went up a hill at wot for a bit and cut ignition, pulled the plug. Looks ok from what I can find on the internet? @Raizer what you reckon?

Wow I put a battery in this, Started and drove it! Even washed it. Motivation is increasing...