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Here’s what a weeks wages before tax looks like. At least I’ll never have to touch it again I guess

Finally got round to taking it down for compliance. There were a few other minor issues, back brakes dragging, handbrake needs improvement, one ball joint not great, and front windscreen doesn't have the standard mark and the speedo bounces round at low speed Biggest issue is I had never got a repair certifier involved before it was painted. I have got a certifier involved who has been really good, fundamentally it is OK except for a repair that was done above the rear hatch. I have spoken to the panel beater about it. He is booked solid until after Christmas. Over Christmas I should be able to get the inside of the floor fully painted, sound deadening in and carpets fitted. That should cut the noise inside right down. It is fun to drive round, I might have to put a better fan on the radiator as it gets hot sitting still, no problems as soon as it starts moving. Not a lot of space on either side of the radiator.

Two weeks I waited to hear the verdict on the case. Before I took the car off the road for the rust and paint mission, the oil leaks had pissed me off enough to pull the engine out and take it to a local mechanic for new pushrod tubes and any other seal he could bung up. I remember him telling me the case was cracked behind number 3, the thinnest part and hottest running cylinder, and the heads were toast. We he was fuckin wrong about the case! Unbelievably it's only on its second over size now, so happy as finding a good base to build is getting hard these days. Even more amazingly, the crank is still within standard spec and even the center journal with the munted bearing only needed a light polish. The dude even said " he can't remember the last time a crank came in,that didn't need machining" guessing lucky! But I do always change my oil regularly, every 3000miles or six months as you should on these old clankers. I set about cleaning up the case. Using a small brass wire brush and turps. Will need to make sure all the galleries and shit are clean before it goes back together. Also go as well as the crank bearings, which are machined to fit, new big end bearing in the rods, new cam bearings and a full engine seal kit. These however, have been quietly waiting their turn under the bench for a long time. Soon my pretty, soon.

Finally got booked in for the recheck on the cert ........... and it passed. Has little temporary tag thing on the engine bay and the really cert plate will turn up sometime. Then it can go to be complied. Cert process took 8 months, mainly due to look downs, availability of parts due to ports of Auckland cluster fuck, certifier being busy because everyone is building cars instead of spending money going overseas and my own lack of motivation. Little things like Americarna, Beach Hop and going caravanning for the 9 days of the 2 long weekends earlier this year also didn't help. I also washed it for the first time, first wash in 26 years, and yes it did leak. Its had about 6 or 8 cleans with McGuires Ultra Rapid detailer to the water beaded up beautifully. Really looking forward to putting some serious miles on this car, apart from the heavy steering at parking speeds, it drives like a late model car.

Got the diff and fuel tank out tonight, so started having a quick mock up of things. Seems like everything will be pretty well placed, and not hang too low. It will be getting raised another 20mm from these photos, as haven't cut anything yet. Will be about 10mm above sill height, so pretty happy. Would have to channel the boot floor if I wanted to raise it any higher. Also should be able to squeeze some 13x8.5 wheels under the guards too. Last photo is the look I'll be aiming for. (Different model, I know)

Pull the engine out with the loom attached, its really quite easy. The engine side of the loom disconnects from the dash loom and ECU in the center console, and then pulls through a grommet in the firewall. I think the engine bay fuse box came out with it too.

thats done, now gotta figure out how to get it shifting off column, as it now doesnt have linkages and such on the ps box

Put the ps box in, it bolts up just fine, just needs some panel work done in the cabin to bolt column housing onit is now adjustable got me a rivnut gun and some steel rivnuts, this van diddnt have a swaybar from factory, but it had the holes in the chassis and it so happened they were the perfect size for m8 rivnuts, so i put them in and it bolted right in, bushings are new too so thats an upgrade. Also went through and swapped out bad ball joints with good ones, and greased everything up..

And laid down some black. Gave all the bushes, which I replaced earlier in the year, a clean and fitted with fresh grease. Also spent some time cleaning up the threads on the shackles and lower shock mounts plus the fasteners to suit. Some of them were pretty manky. Got it all back togethor and threw the has tank back in too. Good way to finish up a nice evening. Excuse the wheel nuts on the shock mounts, I had no m12x1.5 nylocs at the time.

Have been prepping smaller jobs inside underfelt cut for floor and hoodlining, plus foams, spent ridiculous amount of time trying to get seat mechs to work correctly(still not 100%). Major part is its now finally at the painters, spent a day yesterday helping prep underside, good things to come

I'm a big fan of the fawn and green interior

So, I sold this thing last month. Mostly trouble free motoring. It now resides near Dunedin. New owner bought it unseen and flew up same night and drove it home.

GET A ROTOR!!!! who remembers hearing that being yelled out in town?

As I was reading I was dreading that it was going to get to, 'I sold the rotary and the datsun'. Sweet ride! Look forward to more pics

let me do some checking - I know of one in Methven, well I actually own it but haven't seen it in about 4 years and don't know what has happened to it. It've kept the rego on hold but it also has rust etc. A mate has it but has moved, his wife was getting sick of it etc so I need to find out whats up with it. 1982 GSR 1 Jap import - no power steer or electric windows, motor supposed rebuilt ~2000km ago by previous owner but hardly run in the last 10 years.

Yea I have been picking away at it, I can't believe how much shit is attached. I guess that's the price you pay for raw power.

you have to unplug all the plugs on the engine eventually anyway. so may as well just do it that way? toyota makes all the plugs different, so cant get it wrong on if just go full retard and dont label anything. shouldn't be that hard to pull the engine and box out together. just time because lots of stuff to unbolt on silly fwd. took me at least twice as long to pull the 20v out of my corolla than in rwd format.

The other one is here with a set of bodgy repairs, exclusive warranty! (excludes damned near everything). Will cost beer.

Smashed some epoxy down and probably covered my shitbox daily laser in overspray

Still have a few brackets to weld on, but needed to get some paint on the rear end. It was a nice day Saturday just been, so got it stripped and prepped.

Tracked down a bunch of little stuff to suit the facelift swap. Newer style headlight/corner light connectors, and a few random clips I was missing. Also got a pair of guard indicator lenses and mounts which were a bit faded and dull. Hit them with the mini-buff for a few mins each and got some shine back into them.

Priced up supremes today. It came into the country on some but they were long gone.

I have since has a chat with a man who knows everything about Hilux rear ends and have been assured that I can use any axles from any Hilux or Hiace. Now I just need to find the widest one possible!

So I took the case and crank over to Qualitat for their air-cooled guy to check if the it was viable to rebuild. Wasn't holding out much hope as this is 40-50 year old chunk of alloy that I abused on a daily basis. Took the opportunity to clean up the rear wheel well. Made these from some scrap alloy I had. Marked up a that's about right spot. And cut some massive triangles out of my nicely painted engine bay. Drilled hole and popped rivnuts in. Left the edge rough to hammer over the frame to strengthen the panel up. Both bent to shape and countersunk for mounting, the plan was to drill and tap the frame for the covers to attach with but was thinking about using VHB tape. All this work is to make installing the carbs and manifolds easier, it to about 10 minutes to put the engine in last time, and two hours to tighten the four nuts that hold the manifolds on.

Shizer it's been a while and cringe at my old posts. Anyways, I chucked a blanket over this and shut the garage while I did other things for a couple of years. Lockdowns meant pulling the blankets off, I got it running on the factory intake so was motivated again. Rear screen rubber in, stainless trims fresh and polished, random clips from russia and its now airbagged using accuair control with airlift struts. It drives well around the hood and I'm slowly getting more confident on going further. I never drove this car so was a big moment. Next on the list is sorting my rear wheels as they are a bit wide for frame laying and then a bespoke itb manifold from Mr Whitley tune. Pic courtesy of Simon when it was picked up a few weeks ago. Il take some when I get the trims back on.

The seats came our easily, plan is to keep them looking scruffy and original. The leather is cracked and dry - any suggestions on how we should be treat it will be much appreciated by both Rigamortice and yours truly. Love the old leather, the kapok stuffing, the springs and the wooden frame – not a modern staple in sight.

So the week before last I decided to do something about it. Looked through my pile of scrap and left over building materials and proceed to build a little storage shed which is right next to the pool. It's cunningly disguised to look like the fence that I built a few years back.

Over time the poor old Thames has turned into a bit of a storage shed the biggest items being our pool loungers which is a pain in the arse. Being red there is just no way that we can leave them out in the elements, so muggins here has to lug them out and back in every time we feel like lying by the pool.

I have to jump in here with a little history; the Vauxhall factory in Luton simply had the living shit bombed out of it by the Luftwaffe on multiple occasions during the war. (From The BBC) On the 75th anniversary of the World War Two bombing of Luton's Vauxhall factory, a Norfolk man has told the BBC about watching the attack as a boy. Fred Morrad, 83, lived in Luton during the war, where his father was an aircraft inspector at the Percival Aircraft Company, based at the airport. On 30 August 1940 at 16:50 BST, 51 bombs fell on the Vauxhall factory in about one minute, killing 39 people.Mr Morrad recalled how a friend's father died in the attack. "My school friend Barry Pitkin lived about 300 yards along the road from me. His father worked at Vauxhall Motors which had been bombed. His father didn't come home," said Mr Morrad. "It was during the school holidays, so when we went back nobody mentioned Barry's father's death. Young children then grew up very quickly." Recalling the night of the attack, he said: "My mother and I, as we looked up, could see a formation of about 12 planes high in the sky. I suppose they were about two miles away, and 10,000ft or so up in the sky. I climbed on the coal bunker to watch. "The aeroplanes kept steadily on although I remember one plane coming down as there were some fighters around them. "When my father came across he told us he had been coming out of one of the hangars as a stick of bombs was dropped across the airfield close to him. He was blown back into the hangar by the blast." Vauxhall archivist Andrew Duerden said: "The victims were aged between 15 and 71, including one woman, and 50 more were injured. "The main area hit was the gasometer, which contained gas used in the heat treatment. Although the factory was back up and running in six days - the gasometer was out of action for weeks. "Although Vauxhall was secondary to the Luftwaffe, if anything it was the other way round - the factory was very important to the war effort, building Bedford trucks, Churchill tanks and also did some fairly high engineering including development work on Sir Frank Whittle's jet engines." Vauxhall Motors World War Two Production Statistics: Churchill A22 Infantry Tank - A portion 5,640 Churchill Tanks with 2,000 spare engines. After the loss of most its equipment at Dunkirk in May-June 1940, the British Army only had 100 tanks remaining. Vauxhall was given the task of designing and producing the A22 within a year. The pilot model was ready by November 1940, and the first fourteen production models came off the assembly line in June 1941. Production of the Churchill A22 was shared with Vauxhall by ten other companies. Vauxhall produced the majority of the parts which were then assembled by Vauxhall and the other companies under Vauxhall's guidance. It is unknown the number of actual A22s produced by Vauxhall or the other companies. Other: 5 million sheet metal sides for jerrycans, four million rocket venturi tubes, 6-pounder armor piercing shells, and 750,000 steel helmets. Vauxhall was instrumental in the building of the first 12 jet engines built in Britain. The Luton factory did 95% of the work on these first 12 engines. Vauxhall also designed inflatable decoy trucks and string and canvas decoy aircraft. It also made tooling for the Hercules aircraft engine, and assisted in the development of the Mosquito, Lancaster, and Halifax aircraft. The GM subsidiary on mines, torpedoes, radiolocation equipment and bombs. Bedford Subsidiary World War Two Production Statistics: (5,995) MW 1-1/2-ton 4x2 trucks, (52,247) QL 3-ton 4x4 lorries, 73,385 OY 3-ton 4x4 lorries, and 24,429 OX 3-ton 4x4 lorries Back to 2021-finally got the gas tank out after lots of prying, wriggling and the indiscriminate use of some rather vulgar language . The smell of the gas left in the tank is akin to the aromas emitted from a rope sandal worn by an Arab swineherd who has been roaming the desert for the last year or two! It doesn’t look too bad but any suggestions on how to clean and treat the inside would be much appreciated. https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/49843-sr2%E2%80%99s-1947-vauxhall-%E2%80%9Crigamortice%E2%80%9D-discussion-thread/

Have been driving this fine automobile daily just for a change, has been pretty neat. important upgrades such as a new radiator cap and hatch struts have been performed - I was a bit sad to remove the o.g hatch struts, while useless they did have "indecipherable Cyrillic CCCP" on them which is always a redeeming feature. Am yet to figure out how to turn on the headlight wiper/washers. Found another Lada in the wild today, no owner nearby but if I see it/them in future i'll let them know I have 2 rattlecans of mixed paint for their car!

It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that I have to announce the untimely demise of “Mak” my favourite Makita angle grinder. Mak passed away (noisily) after a short illness, i.e. weird gearbox grinding noises and a hideously burnt and nauseatingly disgusting plastic smell (with smoke). Despite desperate attempts at resuscitation, Rigamortice and myself could not put the lost smoke back into him and Mak, succumbing to his afflictions has gone to join the Great Flying Spaghetti Monster in the sky. A more true and loyal friend no man (or car) could have, and despite having a somewhat “abrasive” personality Mak will be sorely missed by many. Overcome with inconsolable grief we sought condolence in the arms of retail therapy - and bought these. On a more philosophical note angle grinders are like guitars, a man can never have enough of them!

Porn, swanky wanky filter unit... Not cheap, but it does do the job. Just need some k&n spray for it

The body swap is done. Reasonably easy with the help of a few GCs. Gave the chassis bit of a clean, probably could have done a better job but hey, better than nothing right!? Plugged everything in with the theory that it would all turn on and start without a problem. It almost did. Just had to fix some dodgee wiring on the engine bay fuse box. That got power to everything, it cranked but wouldn't start. Started thinking the worst but my brother who's an auto sparky found the issue pretty quick, a broken earth to the ECU. Got it started and was stoked. But failed to remember that the radiator wasn't back in and connected and the trans lines pissed trans oil everywhere FFS amateur! Haha ahhh well, needed new fluid anyway.

Radiator and heater hoses completed. Even clamped off. Got a drive belt, but alas, too short.. Got my bits to complete the wiring.. 6 way fuse block with bus bar. Will run my fan, ign and fuel pump from this via relays. Got a fuel filter to fit too.

After a noisy afternoon with a wire a wire buff and a flappy wheel Rigamortice’s chassis got a couple of coats of CRC rust converter. Followed by a coat of Wattyl etch primer; jeeze the fumes knock you over… And two coats of Wattyl Killrust epoxy enamel.

Done a bit more wiring stuff. Chucked the battery in it, was keen to see if the clutch was working. Had it turning over in neutral, then in 1st..then tried with the clutch in..... Yay no movement.. Then tried letting the clutch out.. She's snappy, but works. So then I got keen and tried firing it up.. She ran... Too fn loud though. Exhaust is next on the list.. But it runs and moves... Pumped Now I need to figure out how to wire up this fan relay and temp switch.

Didn't have a pontoon frame fall on your head? Lol, nah just looked Coregas site still says bunnings has it

Muff placement is on point. Managed to refit the rad and oil cooler, chucked the headers back on, sussed the gauge wiring. Only have the tach wire to extend over to the coils and make up a new alt harness-easy peasy. Really need to straighten up the shifter because it fouls on the centre console in 5th and reverse. Almost touching in 3rd and 4th.

Lame updates: fizzed some metal back into the battery tray and painted it with nice thick paint! Also stripped the pinstripes off the bonnet in preparation for sanding and some satin black 2K both sides. Hit the wiring loom with a thinners rag and wiped everything, cleaned up the terminals etc. sucked! Will tape it again as I put it back in. Blasted more clips and speed-nuts + painted, spend some time on the bench grinder wire wheeling nuts and bolts, painted inside the dash where it was a bit crusty from rodent piss. Cleaned up and painted the bonnet striker catch and voltage reg bracket. Made some gaskets for the inner guard splash guards, more to go. And in fantastic news, I jumped on some wheels for the back! Just the size rim I wanted and the BFGs are pretty perfect..hard to get used to these old man profiles but they will suit it wicked

Started running the fuel line up with P clips, fuel pump is mounted (only tek screwed at the moment) Floor bulkhead is drilled and grommeted ready for cabling. Have some nice plugs coming so that I can bin the butt connectors. Also got the s1 rx7 speedo cable to work with the hunter speedo unit.. Mega bonus. Also glued on the water pump and housing. Bottom rad hose is sorted, just need to sort the upper, plus the heater hoses. Plan from here is to now pull the motor and box. Clean and detail the motor, fill the box with oily stuff. Button up all of the engine bay wiring with decent connectors. Also fit the driveshaft hoop too. So close

I'm just going to put this here

Picture less update... But had the dizzy and modules off to a sparky who is only 2 doors down from the shop, he checked it over and gave the all clear to 2 out of 3 modules.. Chucked the dizzy in with some eyeball timing, some crude wiring with jumper cables etc, tipped in some fuel.. A few cranks and it popped into life.. Had it pulsing away for about 30seconds before shutting it down. Then virtual high5 fist pump pat on the back dealio, then started going through the hunter wiring. Made a new dizzy loom. Ran the gauge wires to the sensors. Only need to connect an Acc power source to the coils, reroute the alt wires and make up a new starter cable. Have ordered the rest of my exhaust components and a driveshaft hoop. All gaskets for the water pump, carb manifold and exhaust. Need a ton of P clips for the fuel line so I can finish that side of it off.

And as proof that it doesnt always run like a bag of dicks, here it is after cleaning the plugs, giving it more petrol and letting it warm up a bit before taking it off choke.

Dude, that shit is sorted. It drives like a new car. Cheers all, your input is genuinely appreciated.

took it down today for the recheck on the cert. All good......exccept I didn't put a heat shield between the brake line and the exhaust, I even looked at it when I did the other side .....dumb ass. Also it failed the brake test. by the 4th stop it had run out of brakes so fail. The pads that are in the calipers are probably 30 years old even though they haven't done a lot of miles. They have managed to be on 3 different cars. I don't know if they get worse with age or weren't that great to start with. I'll get them relined with the flash new material and working properly. Then I can adjust the back brakes to work properly using the proportioning valve. I had to reduce the back brakes because it was loci=king the back wheels up first. The certifier has driven it further than I have because he has to go for miles to get to an open road where he can do 100ks. He did say it drives a lot better than he thought it would.

Mrs Flash says cheers Joker. Its not really relevant to the build thread but she ended up both National and Regional Champion in her racing class that year using my road car to finish the second half of the season. There were some additional adventures along the way including a blown clutch on my road car at the same track where the accident took place with Mrs Flash undertaking a 700 km tow rope trip home behind the 924 which we still owned at the time. She is a gutsy lady but can be pretty high maintenance in the garage department. When our next door neighbor first saw the wreck and heard the story he said "Thank God my missus loves sewing"

And the final reveal.

With the assembly almost complete and the car back on its wheels, it was time to fire it up and get it out of the shed. The side skirts still needed to go on at this stage.

I also did a quick tidy up of the engine bay before re installing the engine and gearbox.

With the suspension coming together nicely my focus moved to the motor and gearbox which were looking decidedly tatty. I stripped off all of the ancillaries and gave the whole thing a tidy up.