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Just been to dashboard restorations to collect the repaired and rare T-Dash my car came equipped with. They did a killer job on it, but the $2k invoice definitely hurt a bit, had to be done right though as it's the first thing seen when you sit in the car., also bought new repro chrome dash trims to finish it off nicely

Last update for a while probably. I am so chuffed with this car at the moment. I love it. It rides well with the new shockies, runs well and the wideband is sweet for keeping an eye on stuff, its just done a trip to kaikoura and back flawlessly with my mate and his MGB. I'm gonna drag the missus triumph out now and work on that and hopefully just be able to enjoy this as is for the summer.

Made it to the drags! Man it was overcast but steaming hot today, during staging I was getting 60 degree IAT, then down to about 40 by the end of the run. Was like a sauna in the car with the windows up and no fan or anything haha. Anyway, my best overall time was 14.74 @ 94.6 mph with a 2.572 60 foot. I had my fastest trap speed earlier in the day when it was cooler, did a 95.58mph. Which was funny, although I was slower quarter time, I ended up trapping faster than the V8 SS Ute that was in the other lane Was an awesome day, so much fun! Only issue was the alternator detentioning itself a bit. Clutch got a bit soggy after some burnouts. Despite everyone telling me that I shouldnt run a standard clutch, well guess what? Yeah they were right. So basically, yeah, my launches suck. Definitely need to abandon 185 wide front tyres if I'm going to further my drag racing career haha. I reckon there's a few more MPH in it with a better exhaust, as I'm still running the standard pea shooter system. Will work on things some more and head back! Hopefully they will run night speed again, so I can get some cooler IATs. Maybe need to look at better partitioning and heat shielding the intake from the engine bay air.

Had some professional photos taken on Friday as a bit of promo work for @jeffsemporium Really happy with how they've turned out

In an effort to fix the reason for its failure to proceed, it was time to drop the gearbox and pull it to bits. I had my suspicions as to why the axle popped out a couple of months back, so opened my wallet and ordered all the seals, bearings and a clutch needed to make the gearbox reliable. The early turbo boxes like mine have an additional Achilles heel, the Type A Torsen differential center. These are known for shearing the flange the bearing is mounted on and ruining the diff. Not knowing if this had happened to mine did play at the back of my mind a lot, but I wouldn't know until the box was out if it was any good or not. The alternative is to find a Type B center from a later turbo car (620ti usually, and almost unobtainium in NZ) or upgrade to a bulletproof Quaife center, at significant cost. I chose to wing it, and not order the diff initially, with the hopes my Type A was still good. I had some reason to hope it was OK, and it wasn't just cost. These cars were well known during their reviews for having really aggressive grip characteristics due to the very agricultural Type A diff center. It was very grabby and pulled hard. A true ditch-finder. I really wanted the car to have this characteristic, as it's part of the charm of the 220 Turbo for me. Other than playing musical cars occasionally, the Tomcat hasn't been driven due to the risk of further damage, and/or becoming stranded again. The other night I swapped the Marina to the other side of the garage and pulled the Tomcat into the garage ready for some surgery. You know this is going to be a serious job when for the first time since I got it, the tool trolley is dusted off and used for tools, not for storing junk. The first job was to remove a bunch of things that would be in the way, such as the battery and its tray, the air filter and pipe, and the cold side boost pipe. Next, the clutch cable gets disconnected. This was a bit of a pain, you need to pull the cable end out/down slightly and slip the wire through the gap in the lever and then the cable pulls free from the bracket. Next was the reverse light wires And then the ground strap needs to be removed, down on the front corner. Around the back, the speedo cable needs to be disconnected. This has a rubber boot covering a spring clip. remove the clip and the cable pulls out of the sender. Unfortunately, my sender is seized in the gearbox and won't pull out, so I'll deal with that later. Whilst there, the starter needs to come out too. There should be a bolt on the top, and a bolt/nut on the bottom. Mine was missing the bottom bolt, clearly, the previous owner thought the top one was good enough. You don't need to remove the wiring, there is enough slack to rest the starter up the front on the battery tray bracket. Next I lifted the car up on Quickjacks and set about draining the oil. A couple of clicks as something metallic hit the bottom of the container made this job very reassuring. Despite doing literally 2-3KM on the oil, it was very dark and had a lot of floating "organic" material (old burnt oil, as I found out later) in it. I drained this through a cloth to see what came out... Well, it wasn't bits of bearing like I expected. Looked much more like bits of teeth.... The shifter assembly was next. This is held in place with a bolt on the front of the steady bar, and a roll pin through the selector UJ. I knocked the roll pin out with a round punch that was slightly smaller than the hole the pin is in To completely remove the assembly (as I am, to also replace the UJ pins and bushes) there are two bolts in the rear mount too. Remember to remove the shift knob first, so the shifter can pull through the rubber boot. The steady bar on the bottom front of the gearbox needs to be removed. There is one bolt through the big bush at the front and then two bolts holding the mount to the gearbox Both axles are next on the list. To remove these I removed the lower arm bolts from the front subframe, disconnected the swaybar from the lower arms and then removed the front tie bars from the lower arms. This allows the lower arm to pivot away on the balljoint and let the hub swing out enough to allow the over CV to be removed from the hub. The Inner CVs popped out from the gearbox with a quick jab of the pry bar. The RH one (the one that popped out previously) was very easy to get out, as if the circlip was not engaged...) Unfortunately with the shaft removed it is clear the end of the splines was damaged when it popped out, as they are worn almost complete smooth. The Circlip is also very worn. In comparison, the LH shaft has very sharp splines. Before going too much further, remember to losen the big plug on the end as it is done up tight AF. I used a large hex socket and the rattle gun, and even then it took a bit to crack free. Do note there will be oil behind this plug and will drain when removed. The rear stabiliser mount needs to be removed next. There is one large bolt through the gearbox side of the mount, and then the bracket has two more bolts to remove. These are easy to access from the front of the car The front mount needs to be unbolted next. Before you can do this you need to support the engine. I used a engine support bar over the top, bolted to a spare hole in the head, but people tend to use a jack with a block of wood under the sump. Now the two bolts through the gearbox can be removed, and the one down through the top of the mount (far left of image). This cover over the mount is a real bastard. I can't see any way to remove it with the coolant pipe and turbo in place. Since I already had the tie bars off, it was only a further 4 bolts and the whole front subframe comes down, front mount and all. It needed a good cleaning anyway. This also makes it a lot easier to remove the gearbox as there is more space. I'd recommend removing it. Before you can remove the final, blue, bolt, there are two more on the back of the gearbox that need to be removed. Be careful, because once they are removed the gearbox will start to move as it's only being held with one bolt at the top. I find it interesting that other than the blue bolt, every other bolt in the bellhousing serves a double function, either holding a bracket for a mount, or the starter. Now, I'm bit of a weirdo so I wouldn't recommend how I got the gearbox out. I'd recommend using a transmission jack and maybe a second person. The gearbox isn't too heavy, but it's weighted really weird (diff is heavy so it tilts backwards). I put the jack under the gearbox, and undid the blue bolt. With one hand I reached through the starter hole and held the top of the bellhousing, and with the other I manipulated the jack. It came free from the engine easily, and then it was a case of lowering the jack and guiding the gearbox down. Once down, I rolled the gearbox onto my creeper so it could be transported to my dedicated gearbox stripping area at the back of the garage (or, a workbench that is strong enough, which I cleared for the occasion). Oh hello clutch. Your days are numbered... A quick lift up onto the bench, and this is what we have. A Rover PG1 gearbox. Quite a small box, considering. The crucial label, showing its a legit 220 Turbo box And the small light as the end of the tunnel, signifying the Type A Torsen center The bellhousing is COVERED in grime. I believe most of this is from oil leaks above the gearbox I also believe this little bastard is the source of the low oil level. One of the lowest points in the box, and covered in oil inside and out. A new selector shaft seal will be fitted (and hopefully a new boot if it arrives in time). Chunks inside the RH side of the diff. I'm not sure if these are from the shredded splines or the diff internals More chunks behind the big plug. Just a sign of things to come First view of the diff bearings. Popped the seal out and had a look. Some more metal chunks behind the seal, but the bearing cage (brown plastic ring) is intact. The other side was more of the same So, no broken bearing cages as I had expected. Now it was time to lift the casing off. Remember to remove the reverse gear idler bolt And then remove the speedo sender (if still fitted) and reverse light switch. After that, gently pry the casing up. It will still be held with the circlip inside the hole the big plug was covering, but we need to put some tension on it. And then using a pair of circlip pliers, spread the circlip apart whilst lifting the case. Some wiggling should have the circlip pop out of the groove and rest on top of the bearing. It'll be obvious when its come free. The case will just lift off now. This was my first glance at the internals of the box. Everything looked more or less as expected, except the magnet... It's been working hard! It's hard to see but the casing is also coated on the inside in brown, burnt, oil residue. This box has been treated badly for a while I stripped the casing by removing the reverse gear assembly, shifter and then finally the main gear clusters. Before I could remove the diff I needed to remove the speedo drive. This is very seized. It took a lot of WD40 and hitting with punches and chisels to first get it to rotate in place and then pry out. I cant seem to completely remove it, but it was enough to clear the diff. With the diff removed, I could confirm both of the bearing flanges were intact. It was promising, but the relief was short lived. Back to that in a moment, first, the bearings. That's some unhealthy bearings! I suspect all of them have suffered both with low lubrication, but also had metal going through them. This is a good thing though, I have replacement bearings on hand. It also confirms the noises I had been hearing, especially in neutral. Now, the bad news... the diff is buggered. Not in the way I had expected, no, that would be too easy. For some reason there has been an internal failure and there is a significant amount of axial play in one half of the diff (the side the axle popped out of, which is no surprise). So sadly that is the end of the Type A Torsen diff. I don't know what has happened, or how it happened (low lubrication is still high on the list) but something is seriously flogged in that center. I haven't quite worked out if all the metal is from the diff or not. I had a good look around and the only other damage I could find was a small chip out of the pinion gear All other gears have all their teeth, the needle bearings spin smoothly, and the synchros arent burred over. As there was no noise when I drove the car, I think I will knock the sharp edges off the chip and continue using it. I can only suspect, that with only 113,000km on the clock, if the oil had been kept topped up, this gearbox would still be fighting fit. But sadly no, it falls on me to open my wallet and get this thing back on the road. It has been suggested instead of throwing money hand over fist at this thing, that I either sell it for parts or scrap it. I can categorically say that no, neither of these things will be happening. This car, although neglected by a couple of previous owners, is a good solid low mileage car. It will always need more and more work to keep it on the road, but you have to expect that with a Tomcat (or 90s Rover), but it would be a travesty to see this thing scrapped and there aren't enough around to pull another one off the road and part it out. So, for now, everything is at a dead halt. I need to order a Quaife diff, and a new RH drive shaft or inner CV. Until they show up, the car is stuck taking up precious garage space and other than cleaning, there is nothing more I can do on this job.

Came out pretty good, not perfect but much better than it was, difficult to paint on the hoist but it's wof'd again.

the injectors i got for it are those ones with a cap on the top and a cap on the bottom to adapt them to different types of fuel rail and different lengths. dont get them. i fought the fucking o rings in the caps leaking for days. if the injector has even a tiny bit of angle to it as you ty and install it they leak. fucking piles of shit. managed to ruin a base seal and i dint have any spares so i had to improvise. i had a larger and thicker ones from a nissan so i set about making them smaller on the od and thinner. 2021-11-21_04-17-12 by sheepers, on Flickr 2021-11-21_04-17-04 by sheepers, on Flickr 2021-11-21_04-16-48 by sheepers, on Flickr 2021-11-21_04-16-33 by sheepers, on Flickr 2021-11-21_04-16-26 by sheepers, on Flickr with that done the only thing left to do was relocate the oil cooler and fit some fans to it. the only fans i could find that were small enough but still waterproof came from the states, they weren't expensive but they took a bit to get here. the oil cooler is now mounted on the side of the chassis rail between the engine and the rail, behind the steering rack. ive been driving it around with a thermocouple in the oil cooler just keeping an eye on the temps. its pretty good and drops fairly quickly as soon as your driving as there's a bit of air flow. so anyway i made a bracket type setup and mounted the fans onto the oil cooler. all i need to do now is wire in the relay and they should work. im back on the dyno on Tuesday so yea, lets see what happens. 2021-11-28_05-10-37 by sheepers, on Flickr 2021-11-28_05-10-31 by sheepers, on Flickr 2021-11-28_05-10-22 by sheepers, on Flickr 2021-11-28_05-10-14 by sheepers, on Flickr

Did some more poking about today. All the gears and all the synchros are (thankfully) in good condition. No chips or missing teeth, so it's only the pinion that has suffered. Sadly I found a second chip on the pinion so thats toast, currently looking for replacements now. The 5th(?) gear was hiding a nasty secret too. The needle bearing had worn into the surface it runs on, so I will need to replace that. It should be smooth like the RH side (it has a needle bearing on either side of the flange in the middle) An almost nekked shaft. Everything needs a damn good clean, there is glitter in everything, and your hands come away black when touching anything. Wallet is open, the next step is going to hurt a lot. Now to wait for parts.

Fucking finally

There isn't that much heat transfer from manifold to the air when full nang. not enough time/ length / surface area. kinda different story with intercooler. @Roman where is your iat senor ? Do you think the sensor heat soaking? looks like the iat start to drop a bit in the burnout when car isn't really moving. just some aiflow though intake. assuming you were running with your airbox on? maybe having the sensor right down close to air filter as possible, if its not there already, would help the situation / do a bigger burnout, maybe half track then back up. since basically pro import car im sure the track officials will be fine with it. then you'll be good to go. Edit: also on that note ^ when i did a big burnout in the kp, it always trapped faster, which i thought was weird. until started playing with stuff on dyno, which showed with hot oil vs cold oil can be a significant change in power

abandoned lockdown project, i think welding was a bit out of grasp for last guy 1972 local built tilting trailer pretty not ideal tilt set up, but its lasted since the 70s springs were toast new deck was also toast because it was rubbish untreated packing ply no more nails together back bit has some rust in it custom camber in the axle, rest of chassis looks good other than the draw bar, but its probably ok hit it a bunch with a crowsfoot and it didnt make any holes needs some wheel nuts that fit Today i removed most of the deck. the front section is ok 18mm ply, threw away the "guards" that were self tapped into the deck, gently pulled on the angle iron trim he had started on and broke all the welds off the surface. cut off the old spring perches, they dont appear to be originals as there is the remains of some old ones still on there. Fitted some 750kg ish springs and new perches, i figure even 3 gn125s is only 330 kg, and i had these springs and some 1200kg ones already, not putting sides on it so wont be carting cubes this also had the added benefit of lowering the deck a couple inches i have chucked on a bit of 4mm alloy treadplate that isnt a good shape/size but will figure something out, will probably go grab another sheet of 18mm ply. needs about 66cm of ramp to give a good run up for bikes, think i will make some up and have them slot in for storage behind the wheels should just about get it good enough with scrap pile bits goal is basic flat trailer that can carry 2 bikes, more tie down points than i would ever need, a box for tie downs. would be nice to be able to store it creatively out of the way, on its side or something

Yeah I dont know what's going on with the sensor, I've used this same sensor previously and it's been insanely quick to react. Like almost instant with throttle. But the last few I've used have seemed sluggy. Maybe that have a glass coated thermistor and the other ones were exposed. Maybe I shouldnt buy aliexpress IAT sensors, who knows. hahaha. Yeah ideally I'd just be able to clamp the IAT reading to ambient air and ignore the heat soak from staging. As its 100% fake news. For next drags I might setup the IAT sensor as a general purpose one instead so it wont affect the tune. The IAT sensor is down near the pod filter on the back side of the intake tube. Towards the end of the day I turned the radiator fan on full time to keep some airflow going. On the launch and burnouts man there were some big smacking sounds coming from engine bay hahaha. A few times I thought an axle might have popped out. I think pod filter hits the bumper, but also sounds like the engine mounts hit limit of their travel or something. Currently standard rubber in the mounts with shore A 60 polyurethane filling the gaps. I think maybe I need to do some full poly mounts, and maybe go shore 80 for the rear one.

In desperation for a quick thing to do, I spotted the rear trim in need of attention. Previous beanbag hadn’t removed it when he bombed it enamel black and there was mis-masked bits all around the edge. I hit them with some paint stripper on a modelling brush (using wire wool was a go-to but it polished the alloy this time) then masked it up and sprayed the satin black indents. I realised I had no unmasked before shots, so imagine most of it faded like above. In structural repair cert news, my brother was putting another car though and had a bust up with his usual guy who’s attitude went to shit along with his ethics,professionalism and interest in the hobby. So that ships sailed before he even looked at Dodge. it’s coming home on Tuesday where I’ll try my luck with the local guys after Xmas. If they can’t get on board without having previously inspected it prior to repair (we have hundreds and hundreds of reference photos before/during/after) then I’ll just finish it the way I want it and drive it regardless.. life is short and the world is fucked. I have a windscreen on order but it sounded like February before it would arrive dang it.. that’s all that would be missing if I were to throw it back together for muscle car madness (my deadline from the start) but with this covid passport atrocity I won’t be able to attend anyway. In shinier news, Here’s a fellow bee my Mrs saw at Kaikoura hop!

This is what I was up against with the IAT situation, just looking at some logs. IAT approaching 70 degrees while staging! So because I've mostly tuned this during colder conditions, I've been on the conservative side of things for high IAT for knock related reasons. I've never seen IAT anywhere near this, usually because car keeps moving while I'm doing anything fun. So I think I need to better shield the intake from engine bay heat, but also there's not necessarily much I can do about it if the car is just sitting there for minutes at a time. I'm only running about 25 deg max advance, but it's pulling out 7 deg in first gear because of heat. So I'll try get to a nightwars next time, assuming they start up again at some point.

I recently bought this one: https://www.onlinetools.co.nz/collections/welders-1/products/weldpro-tig200-acdc-pulse-welder Pretty sure its the same machine as the bossweldTS200 (looks identical, just a different color). It seems fine, haven't used it in anger. But HF start is lush. Has 3yr warranty. Has provision for foot pedal too. And the unit itself is tiny. Makes it easy to store when not in use. The booklet that comes with it is a bit ham, can just use the boss weld booklet from the boss weld site. My only issue with it is it highlights how terrible my hand-eye coordination skills are. Can't just poo stuff up like a mig. lol

Can't change my mind now... I also removed the spring mount and chassis rail as it gets in the way of one of suspension mounts. I'll be making a new chassis rail on the inside, that boxes in the corner between the floor and the wheel well which will wrap around to join to the sill. That will tie into the new box section between the towers and the new front subframe mounts. Those two panels either side of the spare wheel well will become chassis rails to tie the framing at the rear of the boot with the strut tower box section and have plates inside with captive nuts for towbar mounts.

I'm in agreement with this statement. I don't care where we go, I'm coming.

Oh I also dropped $500 on stereo gear to get my stash of stuff installed, walked into cash converters on weekend and scored the triple pre-out head unit I needed for fuck all the fitting kit and fascia cost more than the stereo.

Been a while..... headers and intercooler setup are on back order but will be on the way after Christmas Not a bad way to drop 2.5k but should see 250kw easily by cranking the boost up to moderate levels with some headroom.

Painful bill, but man that dash looks incredible!

Dude get a engine dampner thing, they transfer all the vibrations but can just hook it up for the drags. They work amazing on FWD shit like this to stop the dreaded flappy engine.

Also Ling, my Honda yesterday over about 2min 45 seconds at Golden cross hillclimb. Rpm plus iat and speed. Also I have a pair of used 225 45 15 nankang ar1 for free if you want them.

A follow on question, how accurate are tachos? Obviously your eyes can't actually see micro variations in rpm and translate that to a number, but how close is close? I found this EK Civic tacho is is pretty darn close. I'd hazard a guess that if I used this unit it would not be that noticeable. I laid it over the Gemini one.

C02 ring around outside of inlet to blast freeze the whole thing, start each run at -60c have seen a wrx with double walled intercooler pipes before for this exact reason.

Another long and drawn out mini project completed on the car yesterday.. fitting mags! I’m normally arse about face when it comes to wheel selection and this car is no different.. I saw a pair of 15x10 Weld dragstar copies with 295’s back in January which I liked the look of so proceeded to buy them in the hope they’d fit the car. Little did I know the hassle involved in trying to find a matching pair for the front. Test fit showed me they fit with about 10mm clearance to the leaf and the guard lip. After no joy sourcing something local, I managed to stumble across a company in the States that sold something close to what I had. 2 months later these turned up. At the same time I ordered another pair of centre caps as the ones I got had the brand “eight” and the new ones were different. Even though I ordered chrome centre caps, the two extras I got were grey.. too hard to send back, I got creative and swapped the centre of the caps over to my chrome ones to make a matching set. Next job, fit tyres as big as I could get on the new 15x7’s (only managed 205’s as the top arm ball joint got in the way) and get them all fitted up to the car. Looked good, but big problem number one came up when I drove out of the tyres shop with the rears rubbing on the inner guard constantly. 8 months go by, and a chance conversation with a guy about the leafs brought about the suggestion of using helper springs to raise it up.. picked up some Load Hog spring helpers and got to work. I’d previously flipped the shackles to try and gain some height but I felt that made it worse so I flipped them back. Flipped shackle in the background, proper setup in the foreground.. One side installed.. Gave the inner guard a little massage while the wheels were off. To fit these rims is a process as well, I need to loosen off the bottom nuts of the shocks to the end of the thread so I can angle them up into place.. not ideal.. but they’re on! The Load Hogs lifted the rear about 30mm and that’s all it took for no more rubbing for the most part. Sharp uphill corners rub on the outer wheel still, so I’ll need to massage the inner guards a bit more. Also I’ll get a pair of HD shocks or maybe even some HD air shocks to jack it up a little higher and stiffen it up as well as it still rolls somewhat. I consider this a win for me though, and I love the look.. always been a fan of 15’s and 295’s. Funny thing is a couple of weeks ago I came across a full set of these style mags for sale so I snapped them up as they were 15x8 & 15x7 with the 8’s having 265’s so that’s an option, otherwise they’ll go on another project I just picked up. 295’s are the way to go for me though

Not heaps of low down torque but that makes it quite nice to ride imo. It seems to me that if you stay in the 1500-4000 range it is quite sedate, smooth, is still quick enough to get ahead of traffic etc If you use the other end of the tacho it goes pretty good though. I'm quite keen to run it at the drags, apparently they are good for mid 11s stock with a lighter rider, I'd be pretty stoked if it could do high 11s with a fatty on it

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

Boot all painted up now too, for a complete novice like me, it was pretty tricky getting into all the tight areas , but came out pretty good overall imo.

Some filling/blocking priming underway, coming out way better than I imagined

Fairly productive weekend. Got some new cu-ni hardlines made for the b2000 on thursday/friday afternoons, and Saturday I welded the brackets on to suit the new flexi hose I picked up Friday. @piazzanoob spilled butter chicken in my Gmc, then gave me a hand to bleed the brakes & clutch, so thats a big peice of the puzzle ticked off. Also gave my daily (which I havn't dailyed in 5 months) Laser wagon a birthday, and got the Cambelt/Waterpump done as well as a service which I finished up tonight. I also brought yet another shitbox to occupy space I don't have, in the form of a T2 city. Its a fucked rolling body, but will make for a good mezzanine ornament or garden art...

Arent you double dipping by multiplying the axis by both MAP value and VE?

Does anybody have experience with the Bossweld TS200? Looking for an AC/DC Tig welder for fabrication work at home.

Yeah to had to swap in the guts from a later model speedo to make it work. Was from an st202 celica or something like that. The odo came with it, and I lost my trip meters. The tacho worked just with the addition of a resistor, from memory.

@ajg193 I have actually no idea how to read your graph. Do you have anything that shows temperature change along x length of pipe at a certain temperature? I've gone out of my way to isolate/ insulate the shit out of my intake. Be interesting to know how much a waste of my life it was

Glad to hear it was worth sending to dashboard restos. Took my cracked dash pad to upholster with my interior told me to take it home and send it to auckland and do it properly first time.......open the wallet up for a bit more of a reaming haha

yea mate, I'm super happy with the quality, had another crowd do one previously and it looked shit - sometimes just gotta pay the $ and employ the best to do the job

On my shit box starlet with long steel runners there is pretty significant heat transfer at full nang. That alone is good motivation to change to plastic trumpets on a short itb setup. /Ling

Window washer rerouted to mist the intake Probably don't spray methanol on the outside of it tho

For the face you could have someone 3D print it exactly how you want it to look.

Well, everything has arrived now, and the car has been pulled into the garage..... guess the box will be coming out sometime in the near future.

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)

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.

Assuming it filters the air or removes it from your environment I would imagine so didn’t you say you had high levels of metal in your blood or some such?

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

So I got another jalopy, I was searching for a decent triumph sedan when I saw this Lada for sale on marketplace. I thought "Hell, I haven't seen one of those for years!" so promptly went and got it to ensure I wouldn't miss out on the soviet driving experience. My impressions of the car are that it is great - for a car from 1970, by the time this one was made in 89' it was woefully obsolete. I understand they kept making them until 2010 in russia, and 2012 in egypt! The car had been in one family from new, and had been outside most of the time - very little rust and the interior is fine, but the paint was sunbleached to almost white from its original dark beige. I am rather enamored with its factory tool kit, with the tools all stamped cccp. I scoured the oxidation off a bit of the paint and found a good match, repainted it in the driveway, now just need to paint the windowframes black, swap the tyres onto a sweet set of fiat ward rims I found, then have some sweet proletarian adventures.

Stripped and sandblasted the strut.

Fastforward to this weekend. Lay under it out in the sun for a while on Sat thinking about the notch in tank x-member for diffhead and figuring out shock setup. Ripped the tray off and got stuck in. Got the tank x-member notch done and gusseted before days end Sat.

Threw the pedestrian deflectors on too because doors mirrors look ghaeeeyyyyy Also, extra points for old stock nz post rego label pouch..

Right, the wallet hurts, but everything I need to rebuild the box is on the way (except a replacement diff, fingers crossed I don't need one). New bearings (steel cage where possible), seals, bolts, clutch, everything. Then once the box is done, I can start fixing the other issues with the car...