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I've been loathed to do this, but the time has come to start an impala thread. Lots a trivial shit will be posted, as the bulk of the work has already been done on this car.

Not actually my impala...But I like this photo (for many reasons). I'll call this an aspirational photo...

Machined up this bracket to hold a period correct looking rev counter to the steering column.

Quite an odd delivery from the family parts horde this week via some friends in town for swapmeet. The original brake master, pedal and booster from the Datsun plus a front diff housing for the Niva. Also snuck into the crate was some interior trim I was missing and a boot badge. This is the only badge I don't have an original of. Without messing about I drew it up on the computer and hopefully will have a replica sorted by the time this one is due home. Also keen to try cast it, the geometry is quite challenging, but only one way to find out! Have been putti

Nutserts added to floor, then I bolted a tool box into boot tucked out of the way. It also helps protect the vulnerable rear quarter panels from getting dinged by lose stuff in the boot hitting them. Believe me...I've seen a beautiful HQ monaro destroyed by a trolley jack in the boot rolling around lose, after a spirited drive from Hamilton to the Mount!

Quite a bit has happened, I removed the rust holes in the roof, welded, and refinished the areas. Had a go with spraying through the gun, don't think the results came out too bad but it was done in a bit of a hurry to beat incoming bad weather. I also cleaned up the scruffy tailgate, the bottom is still made entirely of filler and will be a major to fix, so I'll follow a lead I have on one in Australia. First time seeing it with badges! This was pushed in bad when I got the car. I also painted the front lip to blend a little nicer with the bodywork. I spent some time and f

Long time no update. Car ran super well over summer, minus a little incident where I struck some slippery stuff (oil?) on the way up the bombay hill heading to Auckland for a classic meet. Long story short, front of the car hit the barrier, was lucky it missed the wheel and didn't swing the back end into it! 100km on full lock doesn't feel too good. About a week later we were heading to Leadfoot fest so had to quickly turn a repair around and get it presentable again... Slide hammer and a few dollys helped with that.

New overflow bottle, horn etc... and general tidy up of engine bay.

Cast some heater control knobs.

Only serious rust in this car, cut that shit out and patch her up. Luckily it's under the rear seat and won't affect the paint.

Wheel studs, needed to be longer as not enough thread engagement with mags on. Sorted!

@UTERUS listen to @Yowzer and ignore the other muppets. light bar on its own switch, not connected to the high beams is all good, even facing forward as a work lamp.

Ok, here is an answer with value for you: According to the WoF Virm, you have a work lamp. The work lamp is NOT considered a cosmetic lamp. Therefore it can emit light in any direction. The work lamp is perfectly legal as long as it is NOT operated by any switch that operates mandatory lamps. https://vehicleinspection.nzta.govt.nz/virms/in-service-wof-and-cof/general/lighting/cosmetic-lamps You happy now?

A little more progress. The side covers look BOSS!! Just ordered a bunch of other new parts, still a lot to do, all small shit, its just progress trying to figure out exactly what I need to buy. Next step is @kicker dragging his welder around to finish welding all the bits of steel together.

No it's not, but that's one way to come across as a bit of a dick.

Thought I may as well start a thread on this raging beast, a friend of mine (may have been on here once) moved from hamilton to dunedin and abandoned it on my doorstep. He had had it sitting for quite a few years. Is a 1600 with twin strombergs & extractors - the motor has had some unspecified work done, apparently from a rally car. Body is in pretty decent condition, original paint is extremely worn and has surface rust for dayz, only welding required is in rear arches due to 3/4 inch coating of oil everywhere else. interior is 5/10, seats & dash have seen better days. lots of new sus

Steering column "wiggle" sorted!

New master cylinder, flexible lines in rear, drums in rear got new slave cylinders and freshened up by machining the drums true, new pads in front, front discs machined etc etc...

Disc brake conversion tidied up...

Getting seatbelts sorted. Came up with this solution to keep the system vertically oriented. The certifier was happy with this...so rock on!

Boring shit Exhaust was rubbing on the bigger tyres. It's got a 255/45/18 in the rear...heat, hammer, and a little finesse...sorted!

We often have trucks in with many lights, as long as they're on their own switches to disconnect them from the highbeam/light circuit we ignore them at wof time.

Thanks for adding zero value as per usual

Decided to try and get this thing riding a bit nicer, previous suspension setup was a little soft and hit the bump stops a bit too often, and with the extra weight of a 4age it would of been worse. Went with a set of Fortune Auto's coilovers all around, since I'll end up chucking an F series or similar diff in and I have the skills to strengthen the rear strut towers. Picked up another pair of struts, cut them down and and blasted them. Wound them all the way down and the front ended up a little higher and the back's a bit lower. Might try and get the front down a bit mo

I love TVRs for the exotic-ness and the fact that they were always so hard to drive on Playstation1, I didn’t realise that there were affordable models around until reading this post. I had never heard of the Tasmin but now when I win lotto tonight I am going to buy one. Keep at it man, this thing is so damn cool.

Got a pic sent of this the other day. Nothing like an FMF chamber on a farm bike. Apparently it's rather nang-ey. Not long till this event happens!

There was a chunk missing here, I filled it with the TIG and ground a new groove for the gasket with a die grinder (Dremel brand sucks BTW, I've had 2 fail, threw it in the bin). Also added some wool and mesh into the baffles since it was off:

you're creating 2 things called IDLE, one in warningStates_t and one in rpmState_t you're also cant mix enums and defines like that. an enum is a set of numbers that increase by 1, so enum test_t {STATEA, STATEB, STATEC, STATED}; will mean STATEA = 0, STATEB = 1, STATEC = 2 and STATED = 3 etc so you're enums and defines wont work. What are you trying to do with them? you also cant have multiple variables with the same names... curState and oldState are douibles as you made one with rpmStates_t and one with warningStates_t. The compiler doesnt know/care that they are fiffe

Yeah, it'd be great if I could drive the damn thing though!

Still have a blockage somewhere in the fuel system but it is a intermittent thing. FFS. Anyway, got a WOF. Went to the Raza because Humber.

Managed to scratch up some suitable paints from the horde and now the badge looks much better than expected, time for a beer!

Quick fixer upper for one last hoon on Queens birthday.... Someone left coffee grinds in the fuel filter..... Yep, that sucks, tank is gunna have to come out, will be put on the winter list. Considering the filter is ~2 years old so I am going to just replaced it and let the rust be tomorrow Nick's problem. The alternator issue turned out to be an OK repair, considering I went about it the hardest way possible! The pulley is meant to have 2 flats that engage on the shaft, my guess is that years ago the nut got loose, was also stripped at some stage in its life to

This car has been a long time in the making acquiring, but being the descendant of an original Datsun foamer, it could be said it was my destiny..... The car being a 1972 Datsun 1600sss, the back story? well, take a seat..... 20 years ago the car in question was owned by a young man in Palmerston North, being an easy target it was stolen and taken on a joyride, thankfully once they had had their thrills it was abandoned to be recovered by the boys in blue, but the good luck didn't last, while in impound some scrots jumped the fence and stripped her of all the fancy sss interior,

Hey guys, pics of my recent build - datto 120y. running gear was sold as mini stock parts and I bought the bare shell and then later tracked down all running gear, interior etc. Had some rust which I fixed and after 18 or so months, went for its re - vin and passed. 12 days later drove it on its first proper drive from Wairarapa to Palmy for the Four & Rotarys Jamboree meet at Manfield //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/48815-120whys-75-datsun-120y/

Started painting engine parts, I am going with a black engine, with VHT paint you never know what’s going to come out of the can, it sed mat but it’s gloss, brakes rebuilt, surprisingly the shoes are still good

@Carsnz123 dropped a 6v bulb he had spare to me after work yesterday. Fitted and all works 100%.

I've seen it driving down the road, it looks like its sitting on the bumpstops from how it looks haha

So regarding the trans you can use a micro squirt to run the Toyota A341E which is super common behind soarers and surpas and a million things in the 90s. You will be able to setup a 1G bell housing and converter I’m sure they came behind 1G’s. The supra one shifts crisp and you can bang the gears, other ones from normal cars a more sad but you can get shift kits and shit. When I was messing with them there was no controller but the microsquirt trans thing was finally made and should be sweet.

Small win... 99% sure I can do my chassis swap as a modified production LVV assessed and not as a scratch built.... A series2 on a later chassis is an example given in this sheet.... https://www.lvvta.org.nz/documents/infosheets/LVVTA_Info_02-2018_Modified_Production_&_Scratch-built_Low_Volume_Vehicle_Definitions.pdf That makes me happy.....

Definitions of what is scratch built has changed last year https://lvvta.org.nz/documents/infosheets/LVVTA_Info_02-2018_Modified_Production_&_Scratch-built_Low_Volume_Vehicle_Definitions.pdf

In other news, as predicted this was a fkcn messy nightmare to weld but it’s looking okay now. Crack is gone and I’ve filled in the missing bit. Full disclosure, I could stick my finger through a big melty hole at one stage. But no harm in trying and it’s looking ok. Still have to die grind the gasket groove and shape the outside a bit more.

Just take the pics with a potato in low res lol

What size are yours? If they're 30mm tf125 ones should work.

Had another play with casting the badges after work.... Built a new mould using timber scraps Left the plaster a couple of days between each pour, the last few practice moulds had been too green and I lost detail removing the badge. Baked it out for 24 hours and then poured at about 200C, no bubbling/spitting at all. Not 'perfect' but so much better than the previous attempts and I have proved a few fundamentals for myself. Gave it a quick file and it fits the contour of the bootlid surprising well, considering the worst bits can be filed out or painted

The worn out sprocket carrier spigot on the rear wheel was fixed by a friend, he made everything true in the big lathe at his work and fitted a bronze bush.

Weld a bolt to it, heat will help loosen it up.

Resurrection Session 1: Missing sparks in cylinder number 6. Diagnosis = bad lead. Researched and found that VL Commodore RB motors have the right length. Not perfect, but close enough. Found bargain. Purchased. Fitted. Next went for a drive to diagnose further problems. Broke down. Pulled fuel line off crab and noted no fuel coming through. Luckily a strong and powerful rescue car turned up to help with a Jerry can that was rigged direct to the carburetor to return home. This worked fine until the Jerry can ran out. Ran the last 200 metres o

No one who's read that build thread will buy that brand now. It belongs in the mechanical failure thread.