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Its looking more like a car now!

Got a lot of CAD done this winter. Radiator: Diff/Axle Rear end assembly. Just external. Fuel Tank: Bulkhead/Steering: Gearbox: External

The body work was difficult. Far from complete but the overall dimensions are now 'close to' correct.

Got myself another car to add to the collection. Still got the 911, the GTR and now got another japanese legend to add to the stable. Plans are wheels, intake and see where we go from there. Everything else seems rather expensive since you cant just crank the boost up. Overall it goes pretty hard for what it is (which is harder than I expected)

Unsure how you upload a decent amount of photos these days so this is the best for now

Boring but necessary update, have bent up and run new 3/8 fuel lines in preparation for EFI conversion, horrible job without a hoist, but had to be done. Have managed to retain the original line for now too, so can still run it with carb until ready to switch over. New lines just left long in bay until I can position the high pressure reg once purchased.

Good day on the dyno engine run in went well few teething issues with the e throttle PID control making 190rwkw just under 9psi of boost, running a bit of water meth up top rapidly dropped the intake temps from 35degrees down to 24. Will dial in some more boost later once clutch has bedded in properly. Time to get a wof tomorrow and enjoy it.

Our usual Friday night cruise followed by burgers at the beach.

Jumping forward a war I just picked up an "anzac". Welsh built between 1947 and 1950, a cheap, reliable, and austere watch for the average man of the commonwealth. The Morris Minor of watches, who wouldn't love one. This one is a single owner, the gentleman's first watch in fact. They have a 5 jewel pin escapement, which is a fairly low cost but serviceable movement. Certainly there are many still running today with next to no maintenance (Morris minors) and still getting within a couple of minutes at the end of the day Also It matches my morrie too

Did ~800km over Waitangi weekend with @Geophy to represent commercial corner at Wagnats. Other than some underwhelming headlights and wipers making late night driving through torrential rain and gale winds rather difficult, it went without a hitch. Nabbed best non-wag, such an esteemed honour.

Wow this muffler is super quiet. Amazing how much it’s changed the sound and volume considering this muffler has only a 2” piece at the front that opens to baffle and the rest is straight through. Got quite a different Subaru growl to it now too. It’s a different car to drive at open road speeds now.

Yes, 4.5mm is too close. It bangs the floor vigorously when traversing bumps. So I have undone everything again and extended the hook eyes I fabricated for the rubber straps and meddled with some angles and I now have about 10mm. Also, no leaks. Also also it might be a smidge loud. I know, I know but I’m closer to 50 than 40 nowadays and I have enough hearing loss from hundreds of hours in a Cessna 206. Don’t need to be more deaf.

Been copping a lot of grief from many people lately about leveling up. So here it is! I dragged out the old 4/71 blower from the original RX4, and plans are being drawn up Been 20 years since I certed this on a car Stay tuned for a possible return....

Well I wanted 275's out back they fit around all the moving parts but poke out a lot I can get a bit of pull on guards to cover them. But might see if I can find narrower rear arms as there surprisingly is heaps of room on inside. Looks pretty hoony

My stupid wheel nuts I bought for drag day actually look alright because the wheels are so deep.

I'd replace them just so that people will be less likely to have an accident with me. Making it harder for people to know your intentions is just a bad idea to me. They won't give way if they don't notice your little side blinker going in full sunlight etc. People on the road are bad enough as it is. So making it obvious where you are heading is handy lol. No idea what your car is either, but if it's new enough to have frontal impact shit, then maybe that would be an issue too.

Been chasing what i thought was an exhaust leak from my down pipe/ turbo vband, turns out the manifold had a decent sized leak, pretty easy fix and should be all sealed up tomorrow, with a resonator and the muffler its still bloody loud though, have tried plugging the exhaust tip with increasingly small pipes for wof but no luck... So im looking at repacking or getting a bigger muffler now

The prep continues, I find more mistakes, and keep preppin there’s a photo of the aforementioned g6, lightly wet sanded Started with my LHF guard. I put the paint on too thin here and rubbed through. id have rather caught it at this stage, rather than be buffing/polishing super thin clear that won’t last against the UV rays I had runs of doom on this side, this would’ve worked had I put more coats on. Buzzed the doors and front guard down with 240, and remembered to get the door jambs this time Masked and taped up Unfortunately I added thinners when I was supposed to be adding hardener - i managed to save it by adding the right amount of hardener and a bit of primer until it was at the right consistency. Then when painting some numpty didn’t clean off the gun properly. Got there in the end though without too many runs I’m going to block the primed panels with 240 for a super flat finish and then go over with 320 DA and 400 wet. We actually used this method on a super stock purple S13 owned by an elderly gent at the shop I worked at and it came out mint. and so it begins! except my sandpaper sucks dry so I’m using 240 wet. It’s more laborious.

I know exactly what you are talking about https://laidtex.com/collections/liquid-latex

You can do it ! I hate painting tank tyres but practice makes perfect, or at least passable.

I personally don’t like doing this on slip joints but beggars can’t be choosers. Also I have new rubber hangers so I thought I’d accelerate the stretching process. Yes, that’s an old battery..

More progress photos, also got the calais dash in and working and modified the dash switches to a series parallel resistor ladder for cruise control inputs

Been busy getting everything back together, got it all running again on the monsoon and run the cam in with new lifters after finding a cracked lifter face. Alot of work into building a custom cam pickup for sequential triggering built the new wiring loom for the xtreme and fitted it all up last week, made up mount for the LS coils, adaptor for the e-throttle and mount for the pedal. Off for dyno run in time and tune tomorrow

I've been trying to track down the source of an intermittent steering "clunk" for a while now and yesterday I finally got a chance to chuck the Muzzy up on my mate's hoist for a good look see. It didn't take us long to identify the source as a worn ball joint on the power steering valve -this being the only ball joint that I haven't replaced thus far. Using a photo off the web the offending ball joint looks like so: So first thing this morning I pulled out the centre link that incorporates the power steering valve and ... yep... my ball joint is well knackered: Ended up ordering a steering valve ball and stud rebuild kit from Sydney Mustang which is winging its way to me as we speak, but I thought I'd get a head start by stripping the nasty thing down. Gave everything a good clean and now I just need the new bits to arrive.

Bit of an update as requested. See Discussion thread for a 'Life' update. My dad finished a second set of chassis rails (gotta both have a car right!) They were actually done close to a year ago now! Time flies! I came across some original Bugatti drum brake backings and pads. Not sure if theyll be useful but atleast theyre a cool to have. Finished a lot of proper detailed CAD on the front end. Wheels, hubs, axles, springs, hangers. The wheels are 8 main pieces, big radial spline onto the rim. They dont look easy to make!

Chassis update: I managed to make it back to NZ for a bit, a couple of months ago, to have a go at this chassis building thing my Dads been raving about! Turns out it is actually hard work! Hes just finished both rails! I just got a bunch of machined parts done. Spring mounts and braces that go between the rails. Just have two sheetmetal braces to figure out then all of it can be bolted/riveted together (with a few more holes and some tweaking I'm sure!)

Talked with Michael Anderson from the Bugatti Club Australia a few months back. Good guy to talk to. Heres a copy of the article for those interested. Originally published in The Bugatti Bulletin Vol 73, August 2021. Reproduced with the kind permission of Bugatti Club Australia Inc.

Lol, I didn't even think of that. I note that you know though. I suppose it would be this section then that would need to complied with.

Yeah nah, they don't need to be on the bumper but you need front facing lamps

@j.e.d. Here's a few recent exterior pics of my 63 from over the last four months or so in the Seattle, Washington area. My dad bought it in 1967 and passed it on to me in 1999. Stock except for dual exhaust and aftermarket radio. Rain or shine it gets driven. Cruises smoothly at 70mph on the interstate. Guzzles at 14 mpg. Paint is original Ming Green metallic except for spot repairs years ago to lower rear quarters, sills and hood. Interior, not shown, is a bit shoddy and needs new front bucket seat covers (currently t-shirts wrapped around the seat backs, that sort of thing). Most recent work was the replacement of the cam bore plug on the back of the 352 FE engine after it had come out, got tangled up between the block, adapter plate and flywheel and punched out a chunk of the bell housing...

The power steering looks familiar. My lines looked older than yours but were in really good condition apart from being burnt on the header. My new lines look exactly the same as yours, standard aftermarket I guess. I am still a bit paranoid about burning and melting the lines so I added fire sleeve. Clearance for the lines is a prick. I also had to replace my power valve and ram as both were stuffed. I never did answer your question about the alternator. I think it was a single wire technically as the extra wires were for the electric choke not excitation or regulation. I have heard since that single wire alternators sometimes don't come online without a few revs. My current setup gives me the 'belts' light until blipped a few times.

Thanks for that man, appreciate the insight. Plan was to take the head to a machine shop anyway, so I'll do whats mentioned above. If the block becomes a real headache a friend of a friend mentioned they have a good block in Wellington, so might have to start looking down that path.

It's the shit for painting canopy framing on aircraft models - Let's you run a super fine line that's dead straight and then Boom! Peel it off and you'll be the envy of all the kitset Barry world.

Is Maskol still a thing? Clear liquid latex in a bottle, slather it on then when it's dry, run your blade around the edge of the wheel and paint to your heart's content. When the paint dries, peel the Maskol off and you're done.

Mirrors and monsoon sheilds on. test drive to try and sort a few noises out

Well, here's that build thread you were asking for haha. Long story short, caught wind of a lovely old chap needing to move this cheap as his house/garage had been sold. Has been sat since 1990 when it got its last WOF, rego on hold etc. Bit of rust in the passenger footwell but nothing terminal so far. Photos of where it was liberated from; Me crawling around it (Yes I also bought that amplifier) The previous owner said it wasn't parked up for any reason but we'll get into that. SITREP; motor seized, clutch master zero pressure, brakes similar, all hoses/fuel lines are brittle. Did some mean things like push it and grab a gear, rock it violently in gear with a couple lads but she wasn't budging. Got it on a trailer and hid it at a good friends house in the wood shed; After letting it sit a couple weeks with penetrant in the cylinders we tried to give it a nudge again, but no dice so I decided to pull the head. I'm not your most mechanically inclined but I can follow instructions. Those eagle eyed viewers will notice the 'keeper' clips for the valve springs have gone for a walk, I found two floating round the rocker assembly, one still half attached and the rest.. well.. I will check the sump at some point. I can't see anything bent or FUBAR but I'm no expert, keen to hear your thoughts. At this stage, I have the carbs at home with me for a birthday, then likely send head for grind/clean/etc, get the cylinders moving after a couple more weeks of soaking in ATF/penetrant, replace HG, reassemble and hope it does things. Anyway, keen to hear your thoughts!

Had my 1st drive of it tonight that where I'm currently upto wof is booked in for Friday so fingers crossed

How good!

New digs, same shit Getting a bit fatigued of the old girl. Being putting off certain jobs due to time constraints and possible skill issue. Decided best course of action is screw the rust, I need to drive this Acquired a second g200w off @CUL8R in much better condition. Need to spin some broken bolts out and give it a good clean down, after I'll buy the needed gaskets and assemble then drop in the hole. Can atleast start the motor in the car before sorting the gearbox. Speaking of gearbox have one lined up ready to be pulled just outside of Amberley, just waiting on the right time to go out and grab it plus find some pocket change in the couch cushions. Anyway here's some photos for the thread

While I waited for primer to cure I made a start on *all* of the dust and orange peel in the painted panels with wet 2000 soft block, then menzerna aggressive cut compound, carpro denim pad and wool pad. I probably won’t paint like this again: got It flat, all the dust appeared to be taken out End result: im happy with results, but I think there is dust in my base, as it can be seen. Old workshop was dusty. Perhaps I should look into “colour sanding”.

This year guys can we try and be more self sufficient, carry all your own gear. Last year we ended up with so much gear in the support vehicles they were stacked to the roof! This year we just can't be doing that, they're going to need to travel light just to try and keep up with us. Plus I reckon it's more of an adventure if you can do it on your own. The support vehicles are there for breakdowns and bbqs, and imo we're very grateful to have them. Just to give you an idea, if you're not sure, this is the gear I took on the recce in April. That's 3 pairs undies, 4 pairs socks, thermal top and leggings, 2x long sleeve sports type shirts, 2x sports type t-shirts (one has some merino in it), Polar fleece jersey, jacket and pants rain gear, and a beanie. (Toothbrush not pictured)(also towel, I just remembered) And that all fits in a 30l dry bag easy (Last year I also had small cooker, gas canister, small pot, and freeze dry meals in there too) I'm obviously not including motorbike jacket and pants because I'll be wearing them, and some of those clothes ^ So that and 2 person tent and bedroll looks like this Backpack has camelback and snacks. I did have a tank bag but that was mostly tools, phone charger, and lunch but you won't be needing that. It can be warm in the valleys and cold up top on the ridges. I ended up wearing the thermals, long and short shirts, Polar fleece under bike gear, and rain pants over bike pants. (The bike pants I took were a cotton Kevlar cargo pants so not warm to begin with. And it was April, I don't know if that made a difference) I try avoid cotton t-shirts, they soak up sweat and will make you cold.

And on that age of truck, you can remove the front inner guards. Been there done that though and it's a cunt of an idea, mud, water, dirt and rocks get everywhere

Have fitted spot lights, heated grips, USB port and foldable mirrors. and safety duck. new tyres should be here next week

Also replaced the EGR emmision plate for the more shaped green bros one...Irked me way too much. Top half of manifold ( 'dynamic chamber' and factory throttle body/greddy intake tube etc) are now surplus to requirements moving on for reasons I will divulge another time..all that frikkn hard work vapour and reassemble/mod throttle body wasted Also a change of direction, twice the fun perhaps?

It's a toasty 32 degrees Celsius in our part of the world today, so a perfect time to visit this place: To get this done: And I then enjoyed a cool ride home. My DIY a/c hoses are holding up so far. Time will tell how long that lasts. I'm getting a bit of a/c belt slip, so some adjustment is called for, but apart from that all seems good.

Real impressed at Marsh motorsports turn around at this time of year, only a week to have it all ready to go, bored, honed, decked, crank crack tested & polished, ring gaps and bearing clearances set and the rotating assembly all balanced Got the bottom end all assembled need to find my cam card to dial that back in. And cause I'm not busy enough already have decided to go full sequential and drive by wire throttle with a link xtreme so now onto new wiring loom build and setting up a custom cam sensor for sequential sync signal

And heres a genuine trench watch Belonging to Percy Lloyd, a grocer's assistant of Hokitika Given to him by the invercargill railway shops There's only 1 Percy Lloyd that shipped out after 1917, and one in 1916. He went to France as a rifleman. He slipped on some ice on a trench duck board near "la butte" (Which could be several places, I'm trying to decipher 100 year old cursive and shorthand, it says he was taken back to "la butte, so i dont think its the hill full of germans) while carrying rations, and sprained his ankle bad enough to get sent back to London. Died 1985 Very neat, there's plenty of trench watches out there, but having one that you can place in a specific trench at a specific date is a bit special

Chassis update. My Dads been working away on this in his spare time. Many press tools, dies, hammering and probably injuries later a chassis rail is formed! Looks like the real deal! Pretty impressive. The other side should be a lot easier, so he says This is how you make a 40Ton backyard press to do some final tweaking.