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Okay soooo, DTech in Tauranga offered me some dyno time before the drags, see if we could squeeze a bit more out of it. Much to my surprise, it gained around 6hp over my road tune... By leaning it out considerably! It turns out that because my exhaust is so absolutely 100% miserably shit, the exhaust pressure is so high that it's skewing the wideband results. So my rock solid 12.8:1 on my sensor was actually reading around 11:1 at the tail pipe on the dyno sensor. So we leaned it out and picked up power straight away. Then some minor fiddling with ignition and cam timing gave some minor results, but the fuel was the money maker. Ended up with 141 whp @ 7700rpm. Stoked! Absolutely cannot wait for Friday now. Also it was so god damn loud in the dyno room you could feel the intake pulses hitting into you. lordy. This thing is going to slap dicks once its got a good exhaust on it.

Another tomcat added to the collection. This one is a pretty special 9j wheel looking like it's in NOS condition with centre cap attached along with a pretty cool Dunlop slick

Big thanks to @Stu for lending some drag tyres for Nightspeed this Friday. Super excited! More than I have been about car events in a long time. Full fizz! Replacement waterpump turned up today. Awesome.

Well that's a bit better. Truespoke Supremes in 14x7 reverse offset. Cost a f'n fortune to get here but I'm impatient.

Not a very exciting update. Its all back together and running. Though seems to be throwing oil out the captains side front cylinder... yay. Probably should have done both gaskets while I was there.... Hopefully an Italian tune will sort it. It has been sitting since 1998! While i'm waiting for exhaust bits to turn up. I put on some new rear shocks, and whipped off the front end to replace the super notchy steering head bearings, and fit new stanchions and seals. Races out and a clean: Painted up the triple trees so they don't look as ham: Forks in bits. The stanchions weren't rusty, they had worn through the chrome in one spot. So did need replacing. An expensive endeavor The early wings (75-77) had a weird 2 seal arrangement. The replacment seals only had one, hopefully that won't be a problem. We'll see.

I made a dumb cart! This car has no wheels. The proper wheels are a long way away, so it needs some temporary wheels. Especially because Panel McPanelbeaters will need to be able to move it around. After looking at a bunch of vids I decided to lazily over-engineer a cart out of wood, with two arms to attach it at the back where some of the rear suspension subframe bolts in, and just wedges between the front frame rails to give it some lateral stability. I got some annoyingly expensive M12 bolts with 1.25mm pitch long enough to be able to through some of mitre10's finest framing wood and test fitted them with the help of girlface: Turned on my granddad's old circular saw, put it down and used a hand saw instead, did some shitty drilling and screwing and measuring attempts, and after evolving the original plan a bunch I came out the other end with a cart! Three of the bolts even line up! It's a small cart and the footprint looks quite narrow but it's technically not far from where the jack stands would go anyway, and is quite sturdy. Most of the weight is in the back of the car too, so the cart is located quite far back. For the wheels I selected some nice big 100kg fellas with locks. The finest cheapest that mitre10 had to offer. I hear that the bigger the wheel the easier it is to move it around and the less susceptible it is to bumps. The weight capacity of 100kg per wheel or 400kg~ for the distributed load should be plenty, given that I can lift the front half by myself and the back half with a hand. So of course one breaks the first time it hit uneven concrete. This is also with me moving it by lifting the car from the front end, so there's even less weight on the wheel than normal. Nope, doesn't matter. As soon as it snagged on the crappy concrete while trying to rotate it crumpled faster than a hollow easter egg in the hands of a fat kid. Fortunately the mitre10 service desk guy didn't put up a fight and I got my money back. Then splurged on some smaller but 125kg wheels that looked and felt a lot sturdier. Non-locking but I was already paying significantly more for them. So that's that job sorted, and while I'm still trying to locate some new front frame rails the panelbois will at least be able to move it into their shop and get a start on it. I can sit in it and have girlface push me around, so I'd say we're probably over 70% done with the project now.

Then, resided to being down to only one project in the shed, a great deal on a bike ive always wanted to scratch the itch of owning popping up. A 1989 Honda NX650 dominator. The dominator was a faired, more street / city traily type bike made in the late 80's and 90's. the engine was an XR600 donk bored and stroked out to 650cc. Kinda a poverty back single cylinder, lighter version of the africa twin. Did I need it? no, did i buy it? hell yes. What its supposed to look like:

For the first time since... September... the car has moved under its own power again.

Dude that owned it has had it for 16 years. Road it all around the north island commuting for work. it was lightly dropped prior to his ownership hence the repaint of the fairings. it has been painted very well though and has stood up perfectly to 16 years of his ownership. 5 years ago it "developed a carb issue" so he took it to the stealership who cleaned the carb and gave it back and it was no better, being non mechanically minded and strapped for crash he parked it in a shed. 5 years later I know own it. It popped up on the tard for a super cheap asking price and i must have caught it right after listing as i just emailed saying ill take it and then the popped through a bank account, cash transferred i went to waipawa the next morning to collect. Luckily these things have a colt like following especially in europe where they sold in pretty big numbers, there is heaps of bits available and a plethora of information available. i soon found out that they are notorious for poor solder joins in the CDI which crack and give weird "carb like" intermittent spark issues. They don't typically die, just run like crap. I figured this was enough of a lead to bust out the craft knife and open up the CDI. after spending an hour peeling off all the silicone then using my sons kathmandu explorers kit magnifying glass i noticed 3 joins with cracked solder. I gave the CDI to Winny who is good with such electrical things and he reflowed it for me. i then slathered it in black RTV and gooed the cover back on. before trying to start it i thought id clean the carb as it was sitting for so long. Ive pulled apart a lot of carbs over the last few years, and this is hands down the dankest of dank. why the hell is it green! a good soak in degreaser cleaned everything up. I will run it through @Flauskis ultrasonic cleaner to make sure. I have ordered a new carb kit off wemoto and will do some common airbox / jetting mods for more hunu's while im at it. Fingers crossed the kit arrives soon and it will purr like a kitten. While apart i did some other boring jobs such as new battery, reset tappets and other general maintenance. keen as to get it re-vinned and hoon. Also, check out the old main jet after it was cleaned, were they running this thing on acid? Bliz

no wrapping paper sorry @HighLUXbut it did get a pretty bow. Cheers to doozi for sorting the decals last minute. Wee man was super cheesed and has done lots of putting around on it with me on the back getting used to the throttle. Seems to find it a lot harder to balance than a push bike, most likely cos it just weighs more than him. More practice and he will get there.

Planning on trying to get one job done every night... So last night a fitted up the front x-member.

Spotted this very very nice toyota in motueka. Just look at that lovely green paint. There's also a Yaris in the pic.

noticed this when editing video. worse than missing the odo roll over. 1019 runs.. And video of the above stuff

my alliexpress sound deadening turned up after 9 years .....so I vacuumed the car out and slapped it all in

OS is a good enabler.

These actually have a really flat underbody, which is part of how they get their surprisingly good 0.30 coefficient of drag Gotta have that slipperyness to get good fuel economy!

Oh man the ultimate Vitz fanatic (Pat Norris) lives in Nelson... I think that might be one of his cars? He's got like 20 of them. Including a full blown 1300cc class rally car which is cool as. If you ever meet him, brace yourself for some full blown vitz barrying

AC seems to work, that's my first attempts at alloy lol so hopefully can only get better from here

This pic gave me FOMO, have been on the fence about buying a TIG for some time, just hit the go button on one of these: https://www.onlinetools.co.nz/products/weldpro-tig200-acdc-pulse-welder Best value I could find with proportional foot pedal..... Big spend tomorrow on all the other bits and pieces, you're a bad man Raizer

Can confirm pats barrying. Spent a good 30+ mins on the phone with him.

+1 with me and genuine fluid. I've also used torco and its as thin as genuine and shifted waaay nicer than the other stuff that was in the box

All good, i just know that in every manual Honda ive had a fresh box of Honda MTF is like magic, especially in my old CRV that had just been serviced before i bought it with some mystery gearbox fluid and was very notchy and noisey, fresh honda MTF and it was like a brand new gearbox. Thread for reference https://nzhondas.com/topic/189765-reliable-and-accessible-alternative-found-for-honda-mtf/

Bulldozers like 3ph stick welders. Used 3ph stick welders are cheap and powerful. The worlds ya oyster in terms of cheap (for what it is) used industrial spec gear when you stump up for 3ph in your shed.

I like that you didnt even start with an RS as the base for this project, so its just the normal spec looks. Almost a shame its not full NZDM Poverty pack with the natural black bumpers for that maximum stealth.

Real estate sign underbody aero whilst your at it

Might want to give it a wash for better aerodynamics.

If it is anything at all like a Honda gearbox then the sychros will thank you for using Honda MTF. Otherwise Liqui Moly Top Tec MTF 5200 is apparently equally as good

What a treat!

Started on the frame rails over the Christmas break. Ended up using 50x50x2.5mm SHS. Should be plenty strong enough. Especially considering that I can lift the whole rear of the car by hand, with the diff removed. Finally decided on how to do the bends. Was going to get them bent, but have heard horror stories about bending square tube. The mitre cuts turned out pretty good, and both rails are exactly the same. Also plated the existing crossmember. This is tied into the original front leaf spring mounts underneath.

There was a bit of rust in the LHS guard, I got a 'good' replacement guard off trademe. Turned out the replacement guard was full of bog, so back to the original. Cut out some previous repairs. Still a bit of bog in there, but less and not as thick. Painted the inside of the guards and valance with 2K black. Painted the outside with 2K primer filler, top coat around the edges. Have bolted back onto the car to do the final bogging and sanding, too much flex otherwise.

Summer 20/21 - We didn't do a lot bar finishing body work and getting it all back in primer and painting the engine bay. We also put the motor in temporarily and painted all the front crossmember and suspension parts. Also started a new ITB manifold for it. Summer 21/22 - We did a final guide coat and block sand, then got it painted. Pretty happy considering we painted it all outside, over 3 days. It was probably too hot and too breezy making it a little orange peeley. Feels good to finally have it painted.

Today in the big smoke of Nelson I met 'Old Roman'.... Nicknamed Dave by many of his friends this old boy was truly enthusiastic about his Yaris RS * He's owned it for quite a few years now and loves it to bits. It has a sunroof that slides into the roof - apparently quite rare. Dave is a very practical sort of bloke and values a certain amount of comfort as he fangs about the hills in his road cart. Dave has fitted sheepskin seat covers. "fuck the added weight" he said. "when you get to my age and have spent a whole lotta time sittin' at desk drawing graphs your posterior needs a bit of comfort" "Notice the sunroof- its very rare in these cars" Dave says again. Dave has had many offers to sell the number plate but its staying with the car! His brother also owns a Yaris "but its not an RS" Dave proudly exclaims with a wink. "its also got the slightly larger wheels fitted. Its a good car. I use it for all sorts of jobs and crikey it can haul a load when needed" Yep - Dave's Yaris RS is a bit rough around the edges, just like Dave. But its a good reliable friend to him and for driving fun it certainly offers him much entertainment - just like Dave does for us. "Did I mention the sunroof? It slides into the roof. Very rare!" Yes Dave. Yes you did. Thanks Dave *Dave might not be his real name. But he does also own two Triumph Heralds and a Riley Elf. ** Also thanks to @Roman I am now spotting fucking Yaris's (yari?) everywhere.

Well that's probably sorted. I adjusted the tappets today then went for a decent drive, it feels pretty stout even at 9psi. It's heaps quieter and smoother, plus the 2000rpm clatter is gone. I forgot to mention that I stripped all my sets of rockers, chose the best set and got the valve faces cleaned up, this means it is a shitload easier to adjust now. I haven't red lined it yet but it is clearly much happier to rev with that cam than it was before. The clutch and gears feel a lot better too. I fixed a vac leak so that might help somewhat too. There is a slow oil leak from somewhere, but this could well be remnants of the half liter or so I managed to spill all over it like a cunt while changing the oil. The leak is not bad, if it's real then maybe its the new turbo feed pipe. I'll give it a once over in the next couple of days and tighten everything. So yea, I'm still a bit wary in case I fucked something up, but it basically looks sorted.

Its going back together slowly. As i'm cleaning everything up as it goes back together. I set all the valve clearances, and am giving all the covers a quick once over. Nothing too involved, ain't got time foe dat. Just a quick 400 and some autosol. Everything was so disgusting and stained. Its coming up nicely:

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

Not sure if this will eventuate to anything but with the joy of picking up another vehicle the mind always tends to wander and gets excited. As some of you may have seen in the 'Goes hard for what it is' thread, I recently picked up a 1994 Toyota Soarer GTT-L. Got it off this old boy operator at my work for an excellent price, I even offered him more but he was happy to let it go for what he was happy with. GC. He was the first NZ owner with 17,000kms on the clock and it's now sitting at only 76,000kms! Its running the early non-vvti 1jzgte and twin parallel turbo setup mated to the A340E automatic. It has the optioned sunroof, tems suspension, wood grain trim and rear air purifier system with the awesome digital HUD gauge cluster. Full log book of service history and wofs too, stoked as! Mechanically it is mint, veeery slight tick from the engine and I think the turbos are a little smokey (apparently these run ceramic turbos which are renown for de-laminating and going smokey). Interior is pretty tidy, only a small crack at the top of the driver's door card and some staining on the carpet and seats. The body however has seen better days - covered in tiny shopping trolley dings, scratches around the edges and pretty bad paint fade on the rear wing, bumper and roof. The plan at this stage is to do some minor mods, a general tidy up and roll as is. Then in the near future wind up the boost and slowly collect bits and pieces to turn this into a weapon. I've got a mate over in Aus that has a 600rwhp JZX100 who's been feeding me all sorts of info in regards on how to get an easy 400hp out of the 1jz. In reality I should be spending time and money on the Mazda but with it being stored over an hour away from where I live and not having access to work on it for the near future motivation is at a low. Anyway here are some pics of the Toyota as I received it. and the worst of the body.. it also has dents/scratches right up the left side of the vehicle.

Day 3 Morning Porika and Braeburn Tracks PM Back to Blenheim

Day 2 Mt Patriach and the Maungatapu Track

Yup been looking at that too - keen to hear your thoughts once you have had a bash with it

What happens in the woolshed stays in the woolshed

Just ordered a PULSAR 60mm wastegate to match the turbo direct from overseas 1/2 the price of the nz supplier. 60mm in my head sounds so fucking huge! Guess I'm not pissing around with a small engine though. If I can do a mid 13 second quarter with this combo I'll be over moon I'll be even happier if it does it without breaking the driveline immediately.

Due to popular demand from my own ego, pics of progress. Don't like them, I'll only get a big head. Started the weathering...

Bigger the range the better. Bastard setting cams up with a short lift DTI. Bigger the magnetic base the better too. Not a lot of crap on the market now. General standard is quite good.

Home safe and sound.

Got a the bonnet, boot hinges, front cowl, indicators and inlet manifold vapour blasted. Came up really well. Gave the blasted parts, guard and front valance a coat of epoxy primer. Found a rebuilt mk3 engine on trademe. No receipts so a bit of a risk, but better than the mk2 engine I previously had lined up for it.

Been kicking the tires of a few MIGs lately, mentioned to a customer of mine that I was in the market for a mig and asked what he would recommend on a minimal budget (he's a welding teacher at EIT), told me to go to BOC and check out the new Raptor ones and to name drop him. So yeah, this happened Chucked in a free 5kg wire and a pack of tips and also knocked close to $200 off the already discounted price!! Bunnings trip for some gas and I'm pretty much ready to make a mess of some steel ha! *fuck I need to give the old van a clean out one day soon*

Here's some afternoon diagrams to go with the morning graphs @yoeddynz So while I was trying to figure out the VVTI situation, I was trying to think if the crank being offset in the block helps give piston clearance for vvti (piston accellerates away from TDC faster?) The crank sits 11mm further towards intake side of the engine, relative to the centreline of the bore. I just finished some of the drawings to take some measurements from to try understand whats going on with this. So there's some weird shit that goes on as the piston accellerates at different rates depending on if its coming down or going up. (when rotated clockwise) When the crank is laying flat at 90 or 270 deg, the piston is a different distance up the bore for each. On the way up, it's 6.962mm higher by that time, than the way back down. Then also, the crank angle at which the rod is perpendicular to the crank, happens at an earlier time on the combustion stroke than compression stroke. It happens at 21 degrees above horizontal instead of 12.44 degrees. Maybe there's a better gas expansion ratio at this point, of the gas expanding relative to the combustion chamber volume expanding. So more force can apply on the crank. Or something else dunno. Either way it's weird shit. Also some weird shit happens around 90 deg of crank travel on the combustion stroke. Where the rate of accel does weird stuff. I'm guessing this is also something to do with having the piston exert more force on the crank at that position.

KPR's 10k rpm comments are in reference to... well... doing 10,000rpm I have no idea what would be the next weakest link. These rods come with ARP bolts and they state they are 9k capable / 600hp rated. It's all just guesses at this stage, there isnt a well established group of people revving Prius engines to 9k haha. It seems Thailand has the most love for turd polishing 1NZ motors. But the language barrier makes things tricky. And yeah the thing with porting the head is that you can increase flow but if you are already at 100% VE then you're not magically going to stuff 30% more air into the engine. But the thing is, fuel table generally indicates where the most airflow happens which relates to peak torque. So even when this starts to nose dive, you're still gaining horsepower. This is fuel map from an old tune on beams motor: The big hump of peak VE is at around 6500-7000rpm then drops off pretty sharply - but still makes best power past that point. (Weird wobbly shit on the graph is thanks to MAP as load source and possibly weird exhaust related harmonics with massive ports) Then look at the prius one If someone showed this to me without the rpm scale, I'd be thinking "Where's the other half of your fuel map? It's not what I would have expected at all.

So after driving this for a bit, I really found it way too rough. Maybe I'm getting old. Diff hitting floor etc. Was going to cut out where it's hitting and modify it etc, but want new wheels as well. If I'm doing that all that, I might as well 4 link it, and if I'm doing that, I might as well change to 4x114, and if I'm doing that I'll have to stuff around and shorten the diff to fit the wheels I want. Long story short, shit snowballed and now I'm the owner of a shortened MX5 rear end. (And still have to change to 4x114) Will build some new rails for the frame to sit under, and run them from the back to the rear seat area, and try tie them in with the original rails. Really wanting to use 40x40x3 SHS, to keep the subframe as high as possible under the boot floor, but everyone seems to use 50x50 for this sort of thing. If anyone has experience in this, will 40x40 be enough? The original rear "rails" are only monocoque, so surely 40x40x3 will be more than enough for a subframe to sit under. I won't be cutting much out of the originals.

Been tinkering away on this, engine bay is even tidier but I'm pretty hopeless and haven't taken any pics. However, I went for a drive the other night and took a few neat ones. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-196-2-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-1258-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-1219-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-1286-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr