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Picked up a pair of trailer guards, aka wheel tubs from a solid GC today. just sat them in place where I think they’ll end up, or there abouts. stood back and admired the look, quite like it. still need to trim to fit snug once it’s all decided.

I managed to get the driver side welded in. Man, that took some time. By the time I clamped it in place (the easy bit) then put the 4 bolts in to hold it to the boots sheet metal. Then used some metal screws in between the bolts to hold the sheet metal to the shock mount. Then welded the bracket to the boot floor and the chassis fish plate. Once that was welded in I had to fit and weld the top plate which sandwiches the boot floor between the two. I made the top plate a little smaller in size so when I welded it, I was welding to the weld and bottom plate so I could use a bit more heat. Same procedure with bolts and screws and then welded it in. Welding went well really (well I think), though not that easy being folded in two inside the boot for some of it. Should have taken the pic before I sprayed on the weld through.

I’ll see you lot in a couple of hours

Replaced oil pump with other unit I have with the SQ Engineering additional relief valve spring setup to bump up the pressure, we seem to be good! If that still doesn't give me good pressure at all times i'll flick the cam caps off and have a measure up New Speedo drive is in so I've now got a work speedo Think that's it really, time for cert? Bumper is back and looking absolutely insane if you compare to what it was previously!

Another email from panel Barry come through recently. He's been spending time cleaning up the sills and preparing for the final weld in as well as getting all the welds in the rear floor/boot area ready to support the rear end going back together.

Hanmer car show

I think I might know what the starting problem is... Pretty sure that should be something over 12VDC. Charged it for another 24hrs with it disconnected from the car and still 9.8V. This has dropped at least one cell, probably shorted since it had none volts before I charged it. I haven't checked the alternator voltage but I'll get a new battery and check it then. The car could still have a short draining the battery but easy enough to check if there is current draw when I fit the new one.

Highway transport sorted. Will be there in the morning.

I thought I better get myself some new shocks. Looks like the use by date is up for the original ones. They did give me the ability to work out what I needed to do and also gave me the top mounting bracket. I didn't want to carry on with the shock mounts until I new they were going to mount the same way. Most replacement shocks for the Avenger are just the usual pin type mount. Gaz have made them as original, Cool. So now I know they mount the same I made up the passenger side mount. Still needs to be test fitted and trimmed a little. The drivers side I have ready to weld in once the weld through primer dries. Well tomorrow really as all this cutty grindy weldy stuff makes you thirsty.

I had Lets Get Graphic re-make my side billboards in proper vinyl..much better! Accordingly the duraseal peeled off the adhesive and then they had to thinners off stubborn glue..oops. Took it for its biggest run out to rangiora MCM show.. went great until the needles wiggled and it stumbled then the Amp gauge read drain. Parked it up and left it until the trip home couple days later, it did it again but didnt hinder the journey. Few hundred metres from home it backfired and the needle came back to life and it was charging again! By the time id washed it and drove back in shed it wasnt charging again. Tore it open and spotted a broken field wire so i soldered it back on and not change. Weird. Fucked aroubd with tests and bypassing things, external reg tested ok. Left it with a customer whos a sparky, could tell he wasnt into it but said hed take a look but his test bench wasnt working. Few weeks passed so i went and grabbed it back. He did say the wire sheath looked like it was degrading and it might be earthing. Put my pick under the other field wire to tweak it into open space and there was no pull resistance..broken too. Was a bit awkward but soldered a new wire in between the broken ends and threw it back on, Amp gauge working! Then it stopped. Decided it was the centrifugal forces throwing it out and the wee bare wire patch was touching so dripped epoxy glue in/on to make a protective sheath and its been great since. Will get another Alt cause its pretty fragile and old.

Not much of an update really. i ended up ordering a set of air ride nz’s notch kit that he had in stock. Listed as an 8” notch. i roughly sat one side in place, I figure it allows for a 70/80mm bump stop on the diff in this position. Had a play around with the air system layout on the other ute. It will all sit below the deck floor. And each compressor will have a water trap before the tank. the valve block can mount to the factory spare wheel mount. Looks quite good like that however, a deal came up on marketplace that I thought was pretty good. A “showtime” bag fitting kit for $250. this included everything in the photo below. Chrome 9 port tank, pressure switch, compressor, 2 gauges, solenoid, 10 switch controller, 3/8” and 1/4” air line, 8 x 3/8” bag solenoids, a bunch of air line fittings and a full set of bag mounts (cup type). I will use these solenoids, fittings, airline and tank. i won’t use the switch block and compressor, gauges and upper bag cups. this means my valve block, switch panel will be redundant ( this is a full kit minus bags). I can potentially buy 4 more bags to make another full kit (single pump). the air management system I will use is an air command air8000 system that has 8 presets with a digital display. i only need to figure out a way to lock out the system while it’s driving. maybe a wheel speed sensor somehow, this will be wired through the air8000 alarm circuit which locks the system when set/armed. I’m sure that will work. i slapped the tail lights in the tray for max visual, so stoked. Just need to finalise that concave line now. i fly out to Japan in 4 days, so nothing else will happen until after nats. i would like to hunt down a nice steering wheel while im over there.

Tailgate 99% done. only have some minor fiddling to do on the concave fold line. Might need to make a shaped sanding block for it. then sand out the 80g scratches ready for a filler primer. i also played with spacing the balljoint to achieve a better angle. tried a 9 degree wedge (achieved by washers). this got the crossmember to 20mm clearance. id be happy with that, but still don’t like the idea of the bj being close to maxed out. so I decided to pie cut a set of arms (I have a spare set on the parts ute). cut it to gain a 10 degree change. balljoint sits neutral at ride height and very nice at full lift and full slam. crossmember is on its tits. Now it’s time for some c notch action. with the frame currently sitting at 90mm with the diff on the frame, a 6” notch should be sweet. I will set bumpstops to max out to the legal scrub line or whatever it’s called. think it still equates to 50mm clearance “legally”. doesn’t need to be smashing the frame into the ground. I needed to get the body into final prep before I head to Japan next week. So pretty stoked so far.

I'm a bloody farmer now you fucking ignoramus. Anywho, The heater drive motor has stripped a gear and thanks to the Nicksparky I got a new drive motor. Also the AC compressor I ordered had the wrong pulley on it so I had to swap the new bearing into the old pulley. I didn't want to smash the new bearing with a hammer so I machined the pulley away from the outside of it. Once I got the old bearing out I chucked some metal glue on the new bearing and pushed it into the old pulley. Jobs a goodin

lol sheepers spends 5 mins in south auckland...

Gutted to be missing out on today, enjoy pesting the lower South. Looking forward to the pictures. Meanwhile I will continue humping this stuff while working for the man. You don’t know anyone that has any need for it?

Got back from Japan with my little UP Garage purchase. fitted it as soon as I got to the shop this morning. Dayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyymmmmmmmm

Well well well, another day of progress, well , a couple hours anyway. knocked the nubs off the welds, etched, then set about throwing mud at it. actually hasn’t taken much except where the previous body guy has just filled instead of pulling the corner out to align with the other side. not much left to finish the filler off, used about 400gm of filler with most of it going the floor after sanding. almost ready for paint. Just need to see if I can “delete” the inner guards before I lay colour. No pint going back and doing it after paint.

So I recently sold my XD Fairmont (below) and bought a 'new' 68 Mustang. I got it sight unseen off Trade me from Christchurch and thought 'I've watched a lot of Roadkill, but really what could go wrong'. The car is a factory C-code V8 which is a 2 barrel 289 base model but it has power steering and 3-point seat belts so a bit of an upgrade. I think the vented bonnet and fog lamps are an add on by a previous owner and also the dual exhaust with 66 GT cutouts in the rear valance. Luckily I made it home to AK with no major issues but being fussy I have made a list of things to sort. Shudder at anything over 60MPH 'Digital' steering at highway speeds, mint at low speed Rust in both A-pillars and possibly C-pillars as well. Not sure how it got a warrant on the first but the second could be a reaction to the lead filler Scrape marks in the left rear tyre sidewall. Probably scrubbing before they rolled the guards but again not sure how thing passed a warrant no washers. The squirters are missing and the pump has no electrical connection. Again, warrant Strong smell of petrol fumes with a full tank. Ripped driver seat Drivers seat does not tilt forward no trans kickdown rear windows don't wind down Probably some other stuff I've forgotten but a bit to keep me busy.

And a permanent roof tent. Nice work on the interior, huge improvement.

More positive caster makes a big difference, a lot of cars of this era had minimal or even negative caster settings from factory, with wider wheels and tyres they are not great to drive

Despite my best efforts. Sadly I will be doing a Blake jones and turning up on a not shitty old motorcycle. hey cheesing to ride bikes with some gcs tho, will probs try take heaps of pics vids etc. wondering if anyone has any spare accom in waikaia? If not I will biff the camping setup in. Looking forward to a few liquid sandwiches at the waikaia pub watching @RUNAMUCK run 15psi sharning about hilux surf rear windows !!!

Those teddy bears are spinning pretty fast.. I think you should call it 107.8 fwtb instead of 107.8 fwkw

Refreshments procured!

I'm quite looking forward to riding a bike with suspension this weekend after cutting around on my slammed out C102 for the past week. It wasn't much fun on gravel, but does skids with a bit of perseverance, haha.

Some small car enhancements, as opposed to some small car enhancements: Prius rear-view was vibrating a little on the trapezoid mount on the windscreen. This is a toyerda. We don't need that crap. we have other crap to enjoy. I got a bit of random skanky hose, put a scallop cut in one end to nudge the mirror stem. Boom. I now have crystal clear view of the cops following me who have zero interest in the Prius I'm driving. I'd cut down an window shade for the Dai, but it's missing a sun visor to hold the passenger side, so I hot-gooed some left-over Neodymium magnets to it. Now I don't have to bother fixing the actual problem:

Went to hanmer motorfest for the day. Only took a pic when I filled it with gas

P.S Wednesday night racing still goes hard The 2023-2024 La Vida crew IF any Tauranga OS boes want to come out and give this a go - flick me a message.

Also shit I forgot to mention that I put the rear bumper back on. This was harder then it sounds but basically I pulled all the brackets apart, soaked them in evoporust for a few days then painted them all. I beat most of the dents out of the side bits and then bolted it all back in. One of the mud flaps was broken in two so I welded it beck together with a soldering iron using cable ties for welding rod. Is it good as new? No. Will it last a thousand years? Also no But it's back on the truck and works until it doesn't so I'm calling it a win.

Now to enjoy it

Some things fell out and that's ok

Today i pulled an 11.5 hour mish to go collect this thing. Loading cars that dont roll can be tricky. But it went better than expected. Came with a lot of tidy parts. But theres also a fair bit missing. (Including plates and tag) (the old rego number is etched into the window though. And it comes up in car jam. Theres been more work done to the undercarriage than i expected. Has a full C notch done. And the mounting points for the 4 link look to be there. Theres also lots of extra stiffening done to the floor. And fuck all rust. (For a datsun) it also came with (but not pictured) front guards and bonnet. These have been tack welded together. (The guy was planning a flip front)

Bspeed tosco cover now on

A small update. I did get it all welded in and I am pretty happy with it. Of course, I finished it off when the temp was hitting over 32deg which was not the best day to pick to finish it. You need all the protection you can get when doing overhead welding. I had to repaint the firewall anyway as that is where I got some fish eyes. But I have changed my mind on the colour and have decided to go non metalic. I found a pic of a Mini Copper but could never find the colour (which floats my boat) it was painted but I found this link to matching paint from a photo. I will depend greatly on where you select the area of the car you are trying to find the colour. I gave it a go with the Mini pic and this is the closest match I got. Looks pretty good to me. I will get some mixed and see how it looks. Anyway it's good fun having a play with it. https://www.resene.co.nz/swatches/colourmatch.php#:~:text=To get matching%2C either enter,to get your colour match. Colour match was from the bonnet.

Mainly done. I need to weld in a small piece to fill the hole you can see in the pic's. It's that shape to give a bit more clearance for the odd square corner of the Honda engine. Also, another piece to fill the tight corner up on the right. It will make a little shelf but will be ok. I am pretty happy with the welding. I seem to have good penetration and not too much build in the main. I have taken a few high starting lumps off but it won't need much more. Some filler will be needed to smooth of top join (I suppose I am allowed to being sheet metal), but I still need to weld that from the inside as well. I think it is coming along well. Far better than my first attempt which was not so good but still gave me a stepping stone to doing a much better job the second time.

As if after 25 years fixing shit I needed a reminder of how to fault find I noticed smoke coming from the right side on the motor way. After googling likely causes and thinking head gaskets or rings or valve stems I thought, 'what did I muck around with last?' Red shit everwhere. I had tried to tidy up a trans cooler liine that was getting squished and caused a major leak. A new bit of line later and hopefully no leak or smoke. Also got a reminder of why I don't like Supercheap. 'I'm after some ATF' "what is your rego?' '68PQNY' 'Mustang?' 'Yep' 'Manual?' 'Er, no. Auto' 'ok, ATF Type F' Me not trusting him much now 'can I just Google that to check' 'sure' "open Google' 'Do you want the Supercheap site' 'No, just Google, type in C4 Trans fluid' much dicking around later confirmed F Type fluid 'I didn't see it on the shelf, can you show me' He grabs LS trans fluid 'That's not F type, have you got any F-type?' he asks a mate who checks and says 'none in stock' Yeah, good chat lads.