Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 08/31/20 in all areas

  1. First things first, was to strip the horrid interior, and remove the front end to see what I was facing. It's been off the road since '03, where it appears someone had begun a teardown of the front suspension for a rebuild, but instead gave up, lost some important nuts, and roughly bolted it back together. Front steering joints had been unbolted, which made transporting it a mission. However this problem is fixed, and it only needs some new bushes/brake bleed to be operational. I sourced a brown ute bench seat (ute's have headrests and sedans/wags don't). Much harder to do than I had anticipated! But it's improved it 100%. I also found a premier wood dash facia, and a nice black dashpad that needs some straightening. I took the column apart and have restored all that, ready for reinstallation once my interior is black. Should give a much nicer feeling once I get it back together than mouldy, faded and split brown! Next up, I installed a 202/trimatic that came from an HZ ute. Runs nicely, and didn't take long at all to swap in as most of the engine mount bolts had been lost. The car didn't come with a driveshaft but I've managed to find one which is great. I took a look at my rad support panel to find that rust had gotten the better of the lower section, as they so commonly do with these. A replacement rare spares panel and a few hours later and it's as new. Spent today chopping away at the body, but also got keen to tackle the exhaust and get that setup. @MACKAZ did me a deal on a 2 barrel inlet/headers which is awesome, for now the 2 barrel setup will wait for the future but I thought to fit the headers as a start. However I didn't consider that these (probably commodore) headers may have fitment issues and found that they hit the firewall when I tried bolting them on. Some cutting and welding later and they fit and the exhaust is done. Fuel tank is full of 17 years of water/varnish mix and to be honest I'm not sure the engine enjoys running on it but nonetheless goes. Need to pull tank and drain, the lovely folk at holden didn't install a drain bung for me. The car as it sits. These come apart so easy, it's super good. Painted my steering wheel up and came out better than I thought. Hopefully it doesn't wear too bad.
    9 points
  2. More sanding and prep work. Picked up some rebuilt princess 4pot calipers and fiesta side mirrors. I was originally going to run chrome bullet mirrors but these provide a greater surface area and will match all the black trim. Painted behind the grill black and painted the calipers and brake parts. Is there any performance advantage to ditching the brake booster?
    8 points
  3. Took it for another quick blat down the local river. Still haven't been able to find a log manifold to rig up an O2 but jammed another 10% of fuel across the map and pickup/idle is a bunch better. After fixing that sandtrap now bugger all leaks. Need to put in some carpet to quieten the ride and get a road cover made.
    8 points
  4. So not the most lush update but the rear wiring loom is in and the light quality is some much better. Wiring images up first. Jiffy plugs, these things are awesome. All terminated Installed. Light quality so good. Fuel catch tray, work in progress.
    7 points
  5. so now my list of keeping wifey happy jobs is nearly done, It is time to get this thing on blocks and actually rebuild the brakes Summer is coming and there is no RUC on an Anglia (500km a week in the deez is getting a bit old)
    7 points
  6. Quick job to get these frames sprayed with epoxy. Using a kit from United paints, suits me well and good $ point. Going to drop into Bunnings today to get some seam sealer but doing any final tweaks to get the skins laying right. I've kept all of the old skins I've pulled off as they make handy patterns for making replacement skins - still making sets for people as I get enquiries.
    7 points
  7. Reassembled carb. Went well until I went to put the base plate on. FUCK!!! 2 bolts short. Tore shed apart looking for them. No dice. Was googling what thread they were and found this NO wonder I couldn't find them, they were never there. So.... Try again on weekend
    6 points
  8. Plugged some shit in and fired it up.. Didn't go hard cos it's not time yet so this is just jogging things in the setup program for LinuxCNC. The cable lengths are all wrong, will need to sort that. Need cable trays quite badly too. X axis needs the belt tension backing off. Still, pretty stoked with how promising that looks.
    4 points
  9. Great news everybody! Things are going swimmingly. Air cleaner modified and painted. Cold air duct fitted. Vapour line made out of inch tube, painted and fitted. Liquid line run as neatly as I could. Tidied up the boot, fitted the tank, splashed some black paint about. everything ducted up. Fuel cap is done. Best of all. It's a runner! Fired up straight away. I'm super pleased! It only took a three months/A decade.
    4 points
  10. Sold my GX toyotas and acquired this gold HQ kingswood, tastefully equipped with a 202/traumatic. Reg on hold was the main selling point, plus I decided it looked reasonably solid during a hastily organised nighttime inspection. Got it home and dug straight into it! First to go were the VC commodore plush front seats, I've never sat in something so comfortable in my life but they're definitely not staying. After looking it over a while, I've found a few areas that need reconstruction but overall it's pretty solid for what these are. Standard bog spots around the place but overall a great base and something I can have on the road reasonably soon. For the next year or so I'll be keeping with the 6 cylinder powerplant, however next year I'd like to go for a V8. I have a few ideas but not letting them get the better of me at this stage, hoping to have this down to beach hop in November/OS drag day in December. Plan is simply get wof, tidy paint, wide steelies (or period mags potentially), and a few other mandatory wag bits and it'll handle daily duties as work's close/why not. cheers Gross under the bonnet. Inner guards are at the blasters, and this motor has been swapped out in favour of a good runner. The interior, with a hacked dash and VC seats before I stripped it.
    3 points
  11. got a few things done .....painted the guards and bolted them on properly , found a horn (that worked ) and bolted that on..got the grill and lights from the rusty wagon and cleaned them up ..painted the grill and light mounts..straightened one of the bumper brackets and bolted that on.....starting to look like a car......oh and some indicators thought i would pull the front subframe out and go over it .....glad i did. it was only held in with 3 bolts ..NO NUTS and 2 out of the 4 subframe to chassis bushes ...also found the steering rack to be held on with 2 bolts (same side) and 1 cut brake hose..and no sway bar mounts......just the sway bar so found 2 new bushes and 2 pretty good ones...bolted the rack on ...put some better hoses on ..found all the nuts and bolts to bolt the subframe back in and sway bar....to be honest all feels nice and tight. even bolted the brake lines on. rear end next
    3 points
  12. Very sad to hear this. RIP Darryl / Sumo.
    3 points
  13. Thanks, yeah it's only taken a few years, this base keeps the monitor at 30 degrees to the wall. My favourite feature you can't even see, tucked cable routing, as that's where the cables come through the desk. Task bar aligned not so great for such different sized monitors...
    3 points
  14. Had a solid weekend on this, I now have all the belts attached and tensioned up, plus all the servos mounted. It all moves pretty freely so I guess in the next day or two I will hook up the control stuff and see if it will move...
    3 points
  15. Ended up going with signal orange 79. It's an original color for an escort, but not this van. Sampled a blue and a different signal 77 orange but settled on this. Have been spraying it in sections. Engine bay, interior and inside of the doors. Still a while to go before I can spray the outside but its certainly progress!
    3 points
  16. Another exciting day was had here at Rough & Ready Restos. First off the Certification Engineer paid a visit and we spent a good hour going through the mocked up modifications. He is happy with what I have done thus far. There are a few bolts that need upgraded from M8 to meatier M10s, some extra locking washers needed here and there and a few extra gussets that need to go in when the final welding is done. But overall a good result. He has also ticked off the proposed steering column modification as long as I get the welding crack tested. He was also able to provide me with good advice and guidance on a few other bits and pieces, so I am very chuffed. One item that I will need to revisit is the size of the sway bar which he reckons is over sized for the vehicle and is likely to make for a very stiff ride, so I'll put some more thought into that. At least I can now violently execute my steering related fabrication with relative peace of mind that I am moving in the right direction. After he headed off I figured I would spend the rest of my morning puzzling out a cunning plan for the second of my gear selector cables. So what I need to do is connect a cable to the eyelet at the end of this arm :
    2 points
  17. yeah for measuring how compact the roads are. was gona do it for a summer jerb once @RUNAMUCK, i like old stuff. The 1950s and earlier were a H&S wasteland. I know its radioactive just cos of its age, i wanna know if i want to store it in the shed or in my undie drawer
    2 points
  18. 2 points
  19. So I’ve been chipping away over the past weeks. So much done but still so much to do! Managed to get the whole rear end dialed Just need to cap the upper arm boxes (can’t decide if I should make removable or just weld them on) Caliper brackets made and calipers mounted Made a start on the sump as the factory lower pan would have sat 40mm lower than the crossmember made an intake pipe by stretching a 3” tube over a 3”-5” sch40 reducer. Bit of grease and the press did the job Trying to decide header layout also Fixing up some back yard rust repairs, it’s only a seat time car but you gott make it look good atleast once So I’m getting there slowly. Going to try get fuel tank/lines in and dump done by next week as the loom should be ready to put in then. Will be good to fire it up. with only 5 days left of regular employment, the aim is to get this completed before my nomadic stint in the bush over summer
    2 points
  20. Have sprayed a few more items. Battery tray, all door jams, bonnet and had redone the engine bay 'bubble' because it was easier to do the whole thing then to fix a couple of runs. Couple of areas had to be touched up as I didnt wait long enough between coats and had solvent boil. Aligned the rear doors for final assembly before paint. Will put some seam sealer around the hinges to lock out any water. Put in the new door pins on the drivers door and sealed in the drivers guard. The sealer is a soft material that will provide protection from the wheel well but wont 'glue' the guard on permanently. Originally the guards are welded on but I've decided to reattach it with sealant and bolts. Will align the passenger door with new pins then I can start prepping the body for paint. Also made up a new base plate for the subframe and welded that on.
    2 points
  21. Discussion here ahhhhh the other mk3... as some of you know i bought a parts car for my 4.1 mk3 im building ...this one when i got it. i stripped every part i needed from that car done to the loom ,nuts and bolts and even the pre facelift dash... i did put the facelift dash back into it tho. i then added some seats i had sitting around and some random wheels and sold it off to a mate as he just had to have it......it meant that i got most of the parts for my 4.1 build for nothingin the end. as it sat when i sold it. (minus lights and grill....at best it was a good rolling shell) and i did get the bonnet for it as well.. so some weeks later my mate asked if i knew any one that would buy as he just couldn't be arsed having a car around that didn't run....i knew it was a good car and just needed a facelift mk3 or a mk4 or a mk5 parts car and it could be put on the road pretty easily....as reg on hold.......(origanal black plates) registered with the mighty 1300 xflow tho......not the big block pinto....bugger... i had sold my mk2 to another mate so i bought it back.....and put it in storage and kept an eye out for a parts car..... now i had seen a few around but they had been parts cars for others and i didnt want to have to find screws ,missing nuts and bolts ect ect....i wanted something complete that had never been pulled a part..........so i could pull it apart and then i found it on trademe the almost perfect parts car for my parts car ...i say almost because it doesnt have a 1300 and manual box......its an auto pinto.. so i won the auction and the car was in invercargill i had 20 days to collect...and we did that yesterday... a mate bought a fwd fiat ducato (ex ambulance) converted to transporter on tuesday and we decided to drive it to invercargill on Saturday....so we loaded up a vc valiant to take done for his mate got up at 5am and hit the road....the lights died just after asburton ...fixed that. the auto played up going into dunedin.....fixed that (kinda) .got to invercargill and droipped the vc off....drove back out of invercargill to pick up the cortina that was 3 feilds deep off the road in a barn....no tracks just knee lengh grass and massive mud holes where the 2 hedges we had to pass were.( the guy had a tractor but it was broken down next to the cortina we only just got the fiat in there we had to gun it threw the mud full on duke of hazard style ...he showed us where it was and asked us to shut the gate and buggered off.....justb then it started pissing down we tried to air up the tyre and only got 3.....winched it onto the truck and then backed the truck under cover to strap it down....had to strap the bonnet down as well and the rear door..as well as the passenger sided doors.....then we tried to leave....but wet grass,pissing down rain,fiat fwd ,,,,no lsd or locker just the 1 tyre fryer ...took us and hour to get threw the 1st feild and didnt stop till we hit the road....broke a head light,,ripped the sump guard off .....shut the gate and headed home.the auto was having a fit....by the time we got to gay old gore we had it sussed flick it into neutraland back into drive and it would select the next gear......down shift worked ok ish.. so after 1200 ks 17.5 hours door to door its back at my mates place and here is the little sweet heart. 1 careful lady owner ..never been raced or rallied rolled bowled or arseholed...has been on the road since 84 i think i know right ...what a wee darling .but its all there on the inside and what all i need....even put a battery on and all the lights work the motor turned over but wouldnt fire....sorry about the long read but cheers
    1 point
  22. All good. Glad the bits have gone to a good home. Looking forward to seeing this on the road.
    1 point
  23. Cheers @Kiwibirdman for sorting me out with some wide steelies. These will be perfect for my wagon. Getting a balance tomorrow and that's the wheels sorted! Mint. He also sorted me out with a new 3 core V8 rad for next years motor swapping endeavor.
    1 point
  24. Only a small thing but makes difference. the screws have been replaced. Please see the photo NO.4 and you can confirm that the screw head and master cylinder case are at the same level which means the cover doesn’t hold water and prevents getting rusted.
    1 point
  25. yeah i have an old watch, ww1 trench watch and about that time they absolutely gobbed the radium on, so its likely pretty hot.
    1 point
  26. I rummaged around in my box of spare bolts and found a really neat bolt that will work perfectly. It's an old seat belt bolt and the smooth portion of the shaft is the ideal length. Chucked a flat washer into the mix and all I'll need to buy is a nyloc nut so I can leave it a bit slack to aid rotation. Bolted it all together and I'll take the win for now.
    1 point
  27. So I dug out one of the gear selector cables from the Mitsi Express donor van and it has a cable end that looks perfect for the job:
    1 point
  28. Super cool wagon. I have a set of 14x7 and 14x8 widened steel wheels that would be the business. Send me a message if you are interested.
    1 point
  29. Sweet wag. I am a big fan of the HQ - HZ wagons. See you at Wagnats!
    1 point
  30. After doing some garden work yesterday, I got rewarded with some more quality time under the Thames this morning. With the gearbox end of the gate selector cable largely sorted I thought I'd start off by looking at the column shift end of the same cable. In order to push on this cable it would need to enter the pivot arm from the right. I temporarily clamped the cable into position and a problem was immediately apparent. The underside of the driver's side foot well doesn't have enough space to facilitate a lazy bend on the outer sheath resulting in a very stiff cable movement. So this option isn't going to fly. The only other option is to mount the cable so it enters from the left. Whilst this will allow sufficient space for the cable to make a lazy bend, it has two knock on effects. First challenge is that by running the cable this way it will be pushing when it should be pulling and vice versa. The second challenge is that the cable will be on the opposite side of the gearbox to the selector arms. I lay on my back thinking about my options for a while and then I had a light bulb moment. With the lazy bend the cable sits next to the left hand chassis rail and moves freely, so it's obviously happy in this position. So if I were to run the cable along the left hand chassis rail and then took another lazy loop crossing the gearbox just aft of its tail, not only will I then end up on the correct side of the gearbox, but I will also be pulling from behind when previously the cable should have been pushing from the front. Win and win ... I think. I'll just need to fabricate a different holding bracket for the cable at the gearbox end and will also need to factor in the additional cable length required when I get the cables made up. With a bit of luck I'm hoping to attach the new bracket to the gearbox housing somehow which would make me happier too. I tried to upload a picture of the failed option, but the upload failed for some reason so I'll try to share the picture later. Thanks for reading.
    1 point
  31. I'm the kinda psychopath that wants the task bar aligned, lol. That circular monitor stand is cool
    1 point
  32. So now I'm not super tired and throwing toys out of the cot I had another look. My barry jet holder was leaking fuel past the jet so still running bad. I chopped the plunger off the solenoid and the jet fitted nicely which was good. Ground off the terminal and cap off the solenoid Pushed out the wiring and crap Chopped up a bolt and chucked it and welded it to seal it up Still needs tweaking/tuning but that'll be fiddling with the wideband later. I'll make up a throttle bracket, weld the exhaust hangers on and go for a longer test drive
    1 point
  33. Spent the last few Weekends making a new front lower cross member and Radiator support bracketry. Radiator is a 1954 Chevrolet style aluminium one. It is 2-3 inches further forward now, and now the bonnet doesn't quite close. Should be easy enough to fix with some light trimming. Fitting a transmission cooler and a large enough battery is going to be fun.
    1 point
  34. Sorted out a lot of bits I need for the next stages, good to find most of them and get things sorted. Crawled under the back end for a look at the leaky diff... I know the brake lines need replaced, that'll happen as soon as the wheel alignment is done. Also dragged the trans into the garage and inspected it, noticed the rear mount was perished so ordered another one, pretty common item, carried in SCA and Repco... And pulled the diff cover off for a cleanup. Needs cleaned, painted and dents taken out of rim... After wire brushing the cover, bolts and drain plug, I just brush painted everything with durepox, came out ok really with a thick mix, will trade again, easier than setting up the spray gun... So I'll put that together and fit new front seal when things are dry...
    1 point
  35. Well it worked pretty good! Only real defects are on the face with machine allowance. The volume of the chill block didnt really seem to matter so I think going forward I'll size them to at least 100% of the volume that needs chilling.
    1 point
  36. Got the next one ready. Now have 4 chill blocks, 4 risers, 2 main in-gates and 2 small gates. One of the chill blocks didnt pack very well so we'll see what happens there. The sand around that area is pretty thin so theres a chance itll get super hot and fall apart. Bigger problem is I had an issue with the sand strength for some reason and it cracked when bolting up. Hopefully it doesnt fall apart when filled!
    1 point
  37. managed to arrange a mate to dig the other mk3 out and bring it home i cleaned out all the parts i pulled from the rusty wagon and had a huge cleanup in the garage its not to bad....small bit of rust in the rear valance ..not going to look to hard had it up on the forklift and the underside looks good....so the plan is to put it together and just rattlecan the bits that arnt black ........black and try and get it all legal and on the road for the new year...... miss driving a cortina or i should say miss having a cortina i can just in any time and go for a drive...so i might just start with checking the nuts and bolts in the rear end and front subframe.....then put brakes on and get them working.....then put a loom together and put that in. on a side note ...i bought a new daily driver to replace the mk5 (wanted one for agers we almost bought one brand new when we lived in the uk).... kinda glad we didnt as i would have been disappointed with the check engine light coming on everyday lol. but its a mk1 ford focus st170 ..and its fun as fuck to drive....huge brakes front and back (going to pull off and try on the cortina 300mm front 280mm rear)...quick rack steering ..recaro seats...factory 17s ..close ratio 6 speed and a cosworth played with 2.0 zetec with 170hp....the check engine light never puts it into limp mode so its cool...ive fixed most things but got one more to do... ...make you want to drive like an asshole.
    1 point
  38. Well here it is ! After working away since picking this up in December last year in a bit of a state here's my version 1 of the Mazda. Car was a mess when I got it so we've been busy in the shed with the deadline of Chrome Expression Session this weekend. Couldn't have done it without a heap of mates an legendary business's! Steve at The Shed Rust Repairs for the rust work Tony for the panel and paint Hayden at Jokers Wild Kustoms for hijacking the car and getting it running while i was away at MCM Marc at RE- Wires NZ for fitting it in for coil repairs ASAP after dyno V1 Mark at Revolution Engine Services for locking me in a last minute dyno tune tomorrow Toby for polishing the wheels and trim Andy Duffin at 3 Rotor Racing for sorting a new spoiler last minute before paint Grant at Cooper Tyres Waihi Beach for heaps of tyre fitment swaps and a last minute pre chrome alignment Jimmy T for painting the dash topper and gauge surrounds @64valiant at Midnight Upholstery for retrimming the dash topper Gav at Precision Workz for redrilling the wheels and fab work Super stoked on the finished result
    1 point
  39. Bit slow on progress lately. Removed the factory springs on one side, to see how much suspension travel the factory struts have. Looking at buying some boss airbags to weld onto them. Its motivating to see it so low again. And the rear wheel being too far forward, doesn't look tooo bad this low.
    1 point
  40. While trying to sort out the seatbelts I test fitted the rear seat. it still fits, but the chevy rear window, and parcel tray is lower than the lexus. So the Seat sat up in the glass. Pulled all the leather and foam off. Bent the frame to new shape using some homemade tools. Re-trimmed, and should be sufficient. Still look too big and plush for an old chevy. But the comfort should be an ok compromise on looks. Front seat Fitted too. This is raised all the way up. Goes much much much lower. Our Certification man came around to have a look at all the projects. From what i hear, he was stoked and shocked at how well this was all working out. And is happy with progress and future plans
    1 point
  41. So not much to see here but I did manage to get all the supplies I need to complete my test wiring of the tail lights. So here is one of the finished light holders. Learned all the pitfalls of using this wire / plug / sheathing which is good because I don't want to make any mistakes on the balance of the car wiring.
    1 point
  42. And so the journey begins, I have gathered most of the supplies I need to get on and do the wiring job, bearing in mind I have no automotive electrical back round or experience this should be entertaining. My experience only extends as far as fitting audio systems. So step 1, complete the High Performance Academy club level wiring course online. (I recommend this to anyone wanting to know more about the fundamentals of EFI wiring. Still a few blanks as they don't delve deep enough into other wiring systems that are basic functions in most cars. Luckily I have VERY basic needs. Not too many electronics in the old boy. Materials. Will be dealing with all the lights on the car and upgrading them to LED to help with power distribution as the car has ALWAYS suffered from electrical gremlins. So I began right at the back rebuilding the rear light holder with new wiring and lights. Still waiting on a shipment of DR25 before I can terminate the lights at present but that shouldn't be too long. Factory vs rebuild
    1 point
  43. Yay no wof needed in covidistan... ... you can reg,no wof
    1 point
  44. Once, in the shed, the parts removal begun. Quite surprised at how little steel there is inside the sills. Next up will be to drag the chevy out from behind the hoist, get it on the hoist above the lexus, and cut the floor of it out.
    1 point
  45. And I still have this car. Just lacked $ and motivation. I still have no $ but I do have some motivation. Going to start it up in the weekend WOF Check.. perhaps
    1 point
This leaderboard is set to Auckland/GMT+13:00
×
×
  • Create New...