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Bit of a mockup

Pretty well detailed now. Bearings, seals, cam timing, compression ratio all realistic. Now need to do waterpump, oil pump and drive to supercharger. Dont have drawings for any of that though so need to wait until the Bugatti Trust is open again.

Over to the mill to drill through stud holes. Dividing head to do stud clearance cutouts Repeat x 2 Will need a final hone when the time comes otherwise finished

So I swapped out the ancient genuine Toyota pads that obviously weren't up to the job with some Ferodo's and also changed the brake fluid to something a bit overkill. The brakes were completely different after that, so much better. They were able to bring the old boat to a stand still from 100kph in under 4 seconds consistently, and cert man was happy. I've been filling time waiting for the plate by making up new brackets to fit my old Cressida visor and throwing on some clip on white walls for the complete sleeper look! Hopefully the cert plate will arrive any day now and then I'll be hitting the road for some quality road trips!

Since a majority of the engine is modeled and most patterns have been printed I am going to move on to the car (since I dont have a workshop at the moment to do casting). The Ol' man has offered to have a go at making a chassis. I just need to provide him with tooling. The first approach is to try and make it using the original method. Which was to form sheetmetal over a mandrel to produce a C channel type chassis rail. The mandrel is out being manufactured now.

Got the new tyres put on the 10" for the rear over the weekend. Much better and less strech haha.

Righto, this might be the last update for the moment as it's about as finished as it's going to be for a while. Try and stifle your relief. The tub is sold. Got 400 quid for it which is better than a kick in the nuts. Better make the thing roadworthy again. Because of virus I can't get Steve to do the welding so nuts & bolts it is... Sanded the chassis & got a bit of paint on. Shiny. Chopped the ends off the box section, Painted & bolted down, mocked up the bed frame Run out of excuses to do the electrics so gave it a bash. I don't really get it but how hard can it be ? This was about the time I went in and had some food before I lost the plot & ruined it. One of Carol's pizza's & an ice cream later and I finished the job... They don't all come on at the same time normally, I'm not that useless. Liberated a pile of 1" roofing boards from my Dads barn, pretty fucked but did the first layer side to side & the top layer front to back. It's good & sturdy. Gonna add some tie down rings at some point. Good enough for the moment, would like a hoop, etc, but we're moving soon so I'm going to have to learn proper welding before that happens. Hopefully have a bit more in a few months. Chur.

@Mr Vapour worked his magic on the intake, carb and callipers My uncle has a aliexpress CNC plasma cutter so I hand drew a picture with some measurements and he did a test run Not perfect but that's why it was done on scrap steel. Will do the final product in 6mm ali. I also got a cheap chopping board to mangle into a spacer\gasket so there will still be some barry hand-finished factor

Disregard that grumpy old cunt, someone helpful will be along soon for ya. @fuel

First cuts on the casting. This was a serious brown undie moment holding the rough casting on some very narrow jaws boring out a rough casting at the other end. Bored out and head spigot machined. 3.5 inch bore Flipped over and cyl base machined

new bearings, rings, fresh hone and block decked, arp head studs. water pump, cam belt.. blah blah And done. runs shit under any load when cold, so need to look into that. but otherwise so far so good. goes harrrd

Got another triumph tr6 with the proceeds of the sale, that fits in the shed.

Yep I imagine this will be the case. We did, 3 GP Bugatti’s and was going to do the Mille Miglia the weekend before. Was pretty guttered when that was all cancelled. You just about could of. Chain driven blower might have to be in this cars future. Cyl time. The crowd I got the crankcases of had just done a run of cylinders and heads so I managed to get a set. It was far easier getting them sent a couple of hours down the road instead of to New Zealand that’s for sure. First issue to sort, the only boring bar big enough was a bit large for the toolpost. Couple bits machined up and welded together Should do the trick

Getting through the list quite nicely. - Secure LH Interior door handle (had fallen off)- Front park lights not working-LH Headlight dim- Aim RH headlight correctly- Wipers to work (Will prob do 12V Conversion- Secure RH exterior mirror (loose)-Replace broken piece in exhasut and mount muffler-Secure fuel line-Replace rear brake hose and hard line-Repair petrol leak at pump-Repair cert sign off for rust repairs-King pins-Play in drag link Half way through doing King pins, got one side done, the other side is being a right PITA. have been soaking it with CRC last few days. Need a couple of fittings to fix the brake related things which ill hopefully get today and then we will be away with that. Just trying to sort a 12V electric wiper conversion for it currently, nobody in NZ seems to have stock..

I couldn't find my black paint so "cast iron" colour will have to do. It was cold today so I soaked the paint can in the sink for a bit and heated up the brackets with the gas torch to warm things up new pistons and seals all re done sliders lubed up and new bushes on them. The old grease was hard as fuck and the sliders took a decent amount of force to get out. everything is nice and smooth now. Should be ready for another 40 years of neglect now. Ordered new hoses on the supercheap 25% off sale and they took nearly 6 weeks to arrive Ht leads finally arrived from aus today. I had a new cap and rotor in stock that I had hoarded so thats a nearly new ignition system. I'll order a male crimp to work with my existing coil and re crimp one lead to suit. I'll use the gm hei module and wire it so its internal advance isn't used as the dizzy has vac and centrifugal advance

Steady weekends progress, frame built inside ready for when the body comes off, and remade the boot lip

couple pictures from doing more assembly. starting to look good now

Windows pretty much fell out, (one did and it slipped through my fingers onto the concrete, somehow it didn't break) Its mostly pretty good except for the bottom corners of the front wondow, def needs new seals tho. Can also see where my sis side swiped a courier on the pass rear arch, can see above where Chris pulled it out somewhat. All fit on the back of my ute to be stashed under my house for now (along with tons of other shit) Not sure what to do about the motor, do I bother getting to see if the beetle motor runs or just rebarrel this one as it's the matching numbers engine, then rebuild the the beetle one and sell it for max profit.. Quite keen to get a twin carb kit for 3 more hp.

Spent a couple of hours this morning stripping the interior out so as to make it easier for Chris to do his magic..

Filled in the tops of the sills, few smaller holes and a larger gap in the front footwells to fill. Cut the front cross member/radiator support off the ls400. As i have ordered a aluminium 1954 Chevrolet radiator to fit in. and took some time to start fitting the fenders and bonnet. Picked up some mazda 3 wheels. 15x6 50p with 195/65 tyres. Old man has some 54 belair caps that fit them, or i will get some moon discs. Front wheels are still not tucked under as much as i would like. But with the guards pumped out a bit, some adjustable upper and lower control arms, and potentially changing the offset of the front wheels ~10mm. It should be fine.

This is what it would really look like

Gas tanks all done ready to hook up.

The door handle/arm rest is right up against the seat so feels a bit cramped. Removed it and made a little strap thing. Way more room now and can turn the window winder handle without awkwardly reaching around the door handle.

Decided to have a go at reskinning all of the doors for a few reasons.... - The rear ones are dented and too far gone to repair - I've been quoted ~$700 ea for reproduction doors ex UK - It takes AGES to strip the paint off (and I tend to use alot of stripper) without overheating the alloy - The skins themselves look easy enough to make - a roll and some folded edges, my pan brake is just big enough - There is quite a bit of alloy corrosion on the lower sections (alot of LR doors do this) - I have a super friendly alloy supply shop 5 min from my house who have 1200-H14 1.2 mm sheets in stock at (what I think) a very reasonable price. Will report back....

Pic dump..... Window seals have been leaking pretty much everywhere, Although I think this bit of rust is front the vent.. I think this floor has been rusting for a few years before it was parked up, its spent a long time outside in Brighton.

Spent the morning cleaning up the last couple bits to put the subframe together, had the sexy @Steelies and his good lady Ms Steelies call in and say hi, then @LoveChild made a surprise visit soon after. Bloody nice of y'all. Decided I need a bunch of gold passivated bolts to make it all look pretty so compiled the bolts I need to buy and hopefully I can find them all this week. Anyhow after doing all those bits and pieces I got onto the bit I was not looking forward to which was to clean up the shitty looking brake calipers and mounts. Broke them down to the individual components and proceeded to wire brush the living shit out of them. I was going to vapour blast them but I'm happy with the outcome especially at the low low cost of 90 minutes of elbow grease and this before and after doesn't really do the justice of how much nicer they look now. So anyhow after a morning of filth and grime, I went to Ms Steelies coffee shop and rewarded myself with the finest coffee in Wellington (Coolsville in Hataitai for those who care) and currently kicking back in my tracksuit pants and hoodie in front of the heat-pump pretending its an open fire. Enjoying a windless but brisk Wellington winter afternoon listening to podcasts with my pussy giving me the stink eye. Your pal, Dave

Took longer than i hoped, but job done both sides.

I managed to fit 3 of the new tyres last night. Stupidly I left the 4th wheel at home as I had separated it from the rest to sort tyre sizes a while ago. So I bolted on one of the originals just to be able to put it on the ground. The GN tyres look pretty lo-pro and sporty on it, but I don't think they look kosher enough for when it comes to on-road-inspection time.

Lower hinge area is a double skinned piece Inner reinforcing section first Then the outer part

One year later...... So shortly after my post I packed my bags (including a JAP crankcase) and hopped on a plane to the Uk on the big OE. I’m working in the vintage car world over here and have had some pretty amazing experiences. After spending so many hours looking at pics of cyclecars and the like it’s pretty neat to be at the events where they are running and get a real feel for them. One of the coolest trips I have been on was in Mark Walkers GN Thunderbug. A 4.2 litre Vtwin in a light weight chain drive chassis is definitely a good formula.... Some pics from the last year... Have many more to put up. With so many good vintage car events over here i need to get a car built so have been working flat out on the engine after hours and have made a fair bit of progress Cases bolted together and set up on the rotary table with a mandrel through the drive side bearing boss. Using the boring head to fly cut the decks Drilling and boring the cyl stud and follower holes prior to tapping 3/4“ 20 tpi cycle thread, mmmm lovely..... After all holes drilled and tapped and cyl base spigots bored Next up barrels

Now we upto date at last night. Got the bumper back on and the front end together with the lights on. Found a Fulton Visor from the states which was already green/patinad so matches the truck quite well i think! Got that on test fitted. Thats all the updates for now But with lockdown for the next month im planning on getting it all back together and to a stage i can take it for a VIN once we are allowed out of the house.

Managed to buy an original set of pistons and rods on ebay. Look in perfectly good condition to me! Good enough to use to get things going. Theyve been machined out for shell bearings already.

Another project!! loooong whistle boys here she is the stock agent special, the Country Calendar theme humming, fonterra payout whinging, river polluting, gate closing pinnacle of agricultural motorcycling. This bike was actually my dads, he purchased it in 1976 and delivered newspapers for the wanganui chronicle, and general pesting round the Rangitikei region. He gave it to his pal to look after for a while when we moved house many moons ago, ol mate wants it gone now so i have come to snap it up. According to jim the bike ran when parked, however that was many haircuts ago. Its sat outside for a very long time, The motor is seized solid, so it will need a proper birthday once we get to that point. Today i started dismantling it and taking stock of what it needs... pretty much one of everything. Taking it apart had its moments; plenty of snapped bolts, rounded out screw heads and a lot of rust. I have a lot of challenges ahead of me; the biggest one being finding a replacement tank. Ive seen some rooted tanks in my time, but this one is really up there... Yea that chrome will come up mint maaaaaaaaayte F Dagg Automotive and Farm Machinery Limited So this is where im up to. Once i can rig up a suitable stand for it i will proceed with final strip down. The fork uppers are fucked too so im thinking of swapping a complete Mudbug front end onto it. Parts in general are proving to be a bit tricky to track down for these too, ive found that these are very simila to the TS125 of similar vintages, only slight styling differences, and the addition of the Hi-lo gear box on the TC.

yeah mate count me in what about @sentra @locost_bryan @sheepers @rich1179 @Shakotom @ul9601 @Styles @cletus @Tumeke @Snoozin @V8Pete @tortron @Kiwibirdman @punkoutnz @SOHC @michaelme @Avenga @MIRAGE-MAN @Thousand Dollar Supercar @Ghostchips @Ghost @Hurmeez @Snorkpipe @xsspeed @The Bronze @The Dude @ae85 fiend @63Ragtop @MichaelJFox @rusty360 @Matteybean @66gt @Mr Vapour @Corbie @SOHC @sluggy @Sambo @Not-a-number @Taistorm @zep @f100_dreamin @Ashkellybarr @sleeektoy @rivalrx @dabuzz @mk2marty @shizzl @beachlander @mlracing.co.nz @Sourkraut89 @slacker.cam And maybe some others i forgot?

Meaty semi slick gets the big tick of approval from me.

Got my fender mirrors on today. Really happy with how they look. Spaced out the accelerator cable so that I actually get the carby to open up. Wasn’t even pulling secondaries on the way home. Now she goes pretty damn well. Will get onto gauges and tidying up some of the little odd jobs next.

Ahhh, I saw you this morning putting along Langley. Nice bike! Unless there is another one as tidy with a green helmeted rider. Disappointed I had had my headphones on so I was late to turn and see.

They should just make the auto <-> manual swap a cert item full stop.

Back into it today. next job is the fuel tank spill pan or fry pan. budget alloy pan from southern hospitality should do the trick.

I'm not sure if I've posted this previously... Its a T35 'replica', one of 3? Acorn Schroeder here in NZ, is actually a monocoque body an has alfa running gear. There are 'cappings' on the boat tail which you can remove to bolt in a roll cage https://www.allcarindex.com/production/new-zealand/acorn/schroeder/ A writeup on one of the other chassis https://drivetribe.com/p/kiwi-built-bugatti-is-art-on-wheels-ZU4S4mJsR8GBAFx-wDniiA?iid=FdBMFnhvT0KY6pfZnwkOQw Owned by a friend of mine, its an absolute blast to drive...

Honda wideboi project for floating over dat chonky gravel

Well, hell. Who would have thought that blocking a third of your radiator would make your car overheat? I obviously didn't think it would. Moved the cooler into the inner guard and made a cover for it up. I didn't take a picture ,you can use your imagination. I dropped the battery tray off to my friends at the truck painters who sand blasted and painted it for me. I bolted it to the inner guard as far forward as I could fit it, re did the battery leads, made a clamp and called it good. Its pretty close to the exhaust manifold but it doesn't seem to be a problem, much neater having the Battery under the bonnet. I pulled all the old battery box out, welded up the holes for the "P" clamps holding the lead and called it good. Cleaned the plugs, put some gas in the tank, primed the carb and got it going. Nice. Went for a very slow drive around the neighborhood, (slow speed driving was when it used to overheat). Result! the temp never went over 180 deg F. I'm so pleased with this! I spent about half an hour creeping around and not a problem at any stage. So that's phase one of the project refresh this out of the way. On to phase two. So to recap. Why did it fuck batteries? Because I crushed them into the bolts in the battery tray. Why did it run out of fuel to the carb? Because I put the one way valve in the fuel pump in back to front. Why did it overheat? Because I blocked the radiator core with a trans cooler. Lessons learned. Here's a couple of pics of some shit Aussie cars. Edit. The exhaust seems to be good, not hitting the floor, the front pipes are pretty close to the ground, I'll see how it goes. Also the smaller wheels and tyres are a great poor mans diff ratio change, it's much better off the mark, a bit shit at motorway speed but I have something to sort that out. . .

Last job before cert was the dash lights. I joined the tail warning & headlight warning lamps together to make space for an engine check light. The current symbols are etched onto clear plastic so I couldn't clean it off. My father in law came to the party with his new engraving machine that he was playing with over the lockdown. After he drew up the new design and calibrated it he got a great result! Only problem with a good job is no one will ever notice it And she's done! Off for cert to see what I've missed, hopefully it's not a large list!

This was our old wagon before it got written off

I knew it!

hit water at 6.2M i was a meter off my calculations, now to dig through the water and get a good drawdown rate for pumping water. deeper than it looks

Front end back together after a year and a half. Now she's out in the sun all the body issues are painfully obvious! I've got some rust to fix over the R/R wheel and in the boot, and the clear is coming off in sheets, but it drives sooo nice. It's like night and day from the old 5M, and definitely glad I went manual. I've still got a long list of small stuff to tick off before cert, but I feel I'm on the home stretch now.

flathead 6 rust as to be expected no rust here, no floor or sills either...