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A few people have asked why theres no thread for this vehicle. (Because the owner is so useless tbh) i showed some pictures on my phone to some people at Garlic nats. And one of them convinced me i should post them up. (Thanks @Sungai Sungai) The story begins quite some years ago when i bought a datsun 620 ute of @Mr.Mk1. He'd rescued it from scrap. He also found a pretty fucked wellside tray for it. (Which is also rockinghorse shit 8n terms of rarity) it would seem i only have one picture of that truck. It needed plenty of work, but the rego was on hold, and it was (mostly) complete. When josh and i did the mission down to Alexandra to collect it, he showed me another 620 ute. It belonged to the landlord from whom his brother rented his business premesis from. Daily driven, and a real sweet honey. Because Alexandra is as dry as fuck with no foreplay, it was completely rust free too. (For what its worth, 620 are without a doubt the most rust prone vehicles on planet earth) Some time later, i learned that the elderly gentleman who owned that truck stacked it. And some time later it popped up as wrecking in Christchurch. Hoping to get some parts, i shot around there. Where i met @Agent75. The truck was still pretty rust feee. But unfortunately Shane had cut the radiator support panel off to make removing the engine easier. The inner gaurds were a little bit puckered, but it could have been straightened out. A deal was struck, and i dragged it home. Another mate had another 620 he wanted ro move on. ( @I'm new here) it had been completely dismantled. And had some prettt cunty rust. So i bought that, and had a coachbuilder mate graft the inner gaurds and rad support panel off that cab onto this one. Unfortunately i have no pictures of this. I also picked up a pair of front guards off another mate. As i didnt get the nasty, underpowered, leaky, J15 with the truck, i opted for an S14 SR20 that i bought off @mint16. With the gearbox attached, i had to make the centre of the rad support panel removeable. After id painted the engine bay, @fletch have me a hand to do the final engine installation. Because id slung the engine so low, and so far back, the sump had to be notched to clear the drag link. Seeing as this chassis is the later model/last iteration of the 620, it was fitted with ball joints, rather than king pins. This is a wicked bonus, because i learned that if the top ball joint is swapped over, that D21 navara hubs and stubs are a bolt in affair. No more gawdaful drum brakes. Best of all, a mate gave me a set for free. (Less calipers, which i then sourced of marketplace) because im not a total broken arse any more, i threw on a pair of new rotors too. Discussion,

How about that wellside tray i hear you ask? Well, thats an ongoing saga. To start with, i had is sandblasted. Yep, she was a "bit" rusty. it must have been left sitting full of geass or the like i think. Anyway, i was somewhat worse for wear. Dropped it off to a mates shop, and he sid this with it. fast forward to lockdown, and i removed the floor. (It was fuuuuucked) I disovered this was a new Zealand made tray. (Possibly made in Timaru) they had a different profile on the floor, different wheel tubs, no swage around the whel arches to match the front. I replaced the floor with like for like. And a sheet metal mate halped me make new wheel tubs too. ( @JustHarry grafted these in) the same mate helped me reproduce the top edges which were also different. (Harry grafted those on too) Harry also grafted in wheel arches out of some fucked front guards to mimic what a proper datsun tray would have had. The tail gate is actually off a proper datsun tray, and its needed quite a bit of fettling to fit. (The NZ tray is a bit deeper) The tray is still a work in progress. Harry has opted to make new lower sections from scratch, rather than attempting to strighten the mangled mess that was there before.

You can see the grill just didnt look nice enough with the rest of the truck painted. So once again i called on Hamish to give it a birthday for me. And the grill badge likewise looked pretty used. I enlisted the help of @filthy one mrs (Gemma from twisted sister customs) to give it a birthday for me.

Ma te wa to Bill and whanau, then we headed home, with our van loaded up with other treasure from the shed(s) Forgot to mention i got jealous of her getting new car, so I got me one the same colour as hers on the way up. Given i had to drive this, Kirsty was driving the van the whole way home, she was none too pleased about it (But, yes it is better than my current 2005 Forester X its replacing in every way, thanks for asking - 2002 XT, totally stock, sub 200k and after a few wee issues (MAF sensor, oily connectors, new spark plugs) it really kicks when the whirly boi winds up!) Good Day in Welly before overnight sailing Breaky fry up in Kaikoura a quick stop to rise the north island off And about 3 days after we got home, this turned up. Used Classic Towing - worked out fine, but lucky both Bill and myself are home most of the time because the communication around changes of plan was a bit lacking tbh. The man can sure back a trailer tho. Its a fricken whale compared to my 'big' Fiat, an easy foot wider. Time to poke the bear First thing, remove the CNG stuff from the engine bay. Not only is it unfillable, the electrics are one of the layers of fuckery (the least bad to be fair, but also totally redundant), the tees that loop into the factory heater coolant lines to stop the regulator freezing up were corroded apart, and the carb hat gas injector thing made the air cleaner butterfly nut rub on the underside of the hood. 'New' heater hoses (from the old CNG line) and a bit of a wiring tidy up Fuel pump clean (no go in Feilding, leaks like a sieve now, still no pumping action), now bypassed with a clicketyclack, needs a rebuild kit (diaphram and gaskets) Carb cleanup, was pretty clean inside the bowls etc, works ok now, needs a kit too (tore a gasket) Sitting clean on the still very oily 173 Dizzy removed, cleaned and oiled, gap reset, but all the points, cap, rotor, leads and sparkplugs all look relatively low miles Changed the oil and filter (black and smelled like petrol but no chunks), re-crimped a new loose connections, taped some twisted wires, removed some vampire taps and chock blocks as well Put it back in starting from first principles (ignoring the marks, get cylinder 1 on compression stroke at as close to tdc-ish you can with a long thing in the spark plug hole, rotor pointing to lead 1) and it was about 90 degrees off where it was before - dizzy couldnt be turned enough to get the right timing, so i wonder if it had been tutued with before and the hassle of it not running well was why it got parked. Bill did say it had several minor issues needed sorting out and they got a newer, better car and he just stopped driving it. Anyway, buttoned up and after some further fine tuning it starts on one pump of the pedal and idles smooth. Not smoky (any more) Still no coolant or brakes.

Bit of colour went on too.

Now we know it runs, next step is to make it worth driving The interior was pretty good condition but there was a lot of evidence of rats eating and storing snail shells in the engine bay and mice droppings in the interior, but no evidence they lived there long, and the shed it was in wasnt water tight so it was all a bit smelly and musty Anyway, all needed to come out for a clean & deodorised the seats, throw away the original horsehair underlay and to make it easier to do a few other jobs, like... Improve the shifter opening, replaced the galv flashing and countersinks that dind really cover the hole with some alloy sheet (from the Sign of the Year! - now in 5 of 5 of our classic cars!) and a rubber boot - adding my first FIAT part Removed everything else and give it a good cleanup. Floor condition is excellent, no rust at all! 'New' Underlay (free second hand stuff) to replace the original horsehair stuff that was a bit smelly and flat. I think the front carpet might be ex-torana too, it doesn't quite meet up with what im pretty sure is the original HQ rear carpet. Both carpets are in nice nick, and we will cover the gap (which under the seats) with some cheap nylon outdoor carpet from m10 that we will also use for the parcel tray that is also unmolested by axe holes for 6x9s etc. Rear came up nice as well, car has a tan interior with dark brown headlining - class! Removed the steering wheel spayed the steering column black (was grey and still has the column change mech in it) and tidied the (omg its so janky!) dash up a touch, and the wiring behind it mainly by removing anything that has added in And then remove the dead weight out of the boot to make room for bodies and crates of DB Its easily 80kgs, empty Things will likley slow down a bit now, as from here its time to start spending money on parts, most likley starting with brakes which i have not even had a wheel off yet to even check what they are apart from being discs up front and drums out back) I suspect the weird too easy/dead stop half way pedal/no brake function issue is the piston is jammed halfway down the master cylinder, as there is no leaks from any soft lines, and lots of fluid in the MC.

Then theres the body work, So it began pretty rust free. But sitting around outside in Christchurch, a bit of cancer began to show. My coarch builder mate fabricated me a new drivers side sill, and @governorsam grafted it in for me. (As well a couple of other small bits) i dont have any pictures of this either. And one of the gaurds needed a patch too. Again no pics, but i got a panel smasher to come weave his magic. Id fitted the front guards, and they did not match the shape of the doors at all. Also i found that old repairs etc meant that the drivers door was beyond economic repair. And needed to be replaced too. So mister panel smasher had the guards fiting beautifully afternonly a couple of hours. I removed rhe back window, and dropped the headlining down so he could pop some dents out of the roof. (It had been a working truck in its former life) he did a bloody good job all told too. I told him, im not some file finish fuckwit. Its a datsun, and its a ute. You can use as much filler as you need to. Because i knew he wont use more than is necessary. I also said, u donr expect a show car result. If its good enough fo you, its good enough for me too. But as a tradesman, i also knew he would do a good job. The last car he did for me came out really really nice. After the panel smashing was done, a mate brought over one of those paint spectro camera thingos. We took a picture of the paint on the underside of the roof skin. This gave me the colour the trauck was when new. Most of the rest of it had suffeeed 40+ years of central otago UV degradation. Some paint was procured, and it was sent into @I'm new here work on a long weekend. Hamish really pushed the boat out with stopping all the repairs, before paint

The donor front/radiator support panel came from a farm ute, which had had an L16 repower. Some butcher had gas cut the radiator supporr panel out so they could fit the larger L16 radiator. I tidied this up as best i could (not very well) and got a mate to make me a custom Aluminum radiator to fit in the space i had.

[SHARN] The NZDM 620s all came with the quarter windows. And im not a fan. Im sure in the days when everybody smoked they were great for drawing away the smoke. But they leak, they whistle, and they offer another place for someone to try break in. The USDM trucks all had one piece door glass. A good while back, my dad gave me a heads up. " one of my mates is imporring a couple of boats from the states. Theyre being shipped out of seattle. If you want to get anything shipped diwn here for free, get them sent to qhere the boats are, and they can be put in one" So i jumped on SeattleTacoma craigslist. I found a guy wrecking a 620 KC in Seattle. And although i was fairly sure that the doors were the same between KC and regular trucks, i wanted to be sure. I jumped onto ratsun.net, and explained my situation/asked the question. Yeah theyre the same was the response. Sweet! But then i get a PM from a user on there named @bananahamuck saying his mate has heaps of that stuff, heres his number. (Turns out its the same Bananahamuck as the one on OS! So i ring this fella up, and he says yeah i got heaps of rusty doors etc. I tell him, ill need him to freight them up the Seattle. (This guy is actually in Portland) he says, oh, our shipping is really slow, and expensive. Ill drive them up there on Saturday. Im like how far is that? About an ahour and half drive! Fucking hell. I offer to pay for his gas etc. So i ring my Dad and get the address of where these boats are in the container. Turns out its not Seattle, its a place called Yelm. (Its actually closer to Portland) i email Ted with the address. He replys, oh i work in Yelm. Ill drop them off before work one morning. So a couple of months later i get the call that my glass is here. And after having them tinted, they went it beautifully.

On the way back the LF tyre was going flat fairly quickly, and needed some air every couple of hours. All good until Levin when the core of the valve blew out while I was putting the valve cap back on. Spare is an original 14" and doesn't fix over the discs. I think my plan for this situation was to put the spare on the back, and swap a back wheel to the front, but that would be a faff as the rear tyre needs to be deflated to get the Radir wheel off, then pumped up again from the air bag system. There happened to be a tyre shop nearby so I humped the wheel over there and got the valve replace (for free - thanks Advantage Tures Levin) Even thoug I just got a fresh WOF one of the mufflers gave up the ghost on our travels. It might have involved a bit of road contact but I'm not sure, these have been on the car since we got it in the USA in 2003, so notbad.jpg Got it off without too much effort, will replace both sides. After driving it a lot over 10 days I realised I have been ignoring a lot of small and not so small issues so I made a list.... have already ordered some bits off rockauto, so will pick away at this while we wait for a house sale.

A while back I spent quite some time making a sleeve to tidy up the gap between the steering column and the steering wheel. Problem was the top bearing just had too much play in it for my liking. When I pulled out the bearing I found it was a piece of pressed sheet metal rubbish that was close to impossible to replace. The solution was a trip to the local bearing supplier and the massive investment of $13.50 (and to think the “ever lovely Mrs. sr2” accuses me of being cheap!). I bought a large piece of mild steel round and chucked it in the Emco. I bored it for a firm fit to the OD of the new bearing. I flipped it over and cut it to size in the bandsaw… I then line bored it to fit the steering Column tube. That’s an end I cut off from an old column; you can see how light the original bearing was. I double checked everything still fitted…… …… and then turned down a piece of scrap water pipe to act as a cover between the bearing and the steering wheel. I then turned it down to the same OD……. …. Took the cover off and turned a taper at the other end…… All set to assemble……. (The tube on the left is just for setting it up). Checked it with the Triumph steering assembly…. …….some plug welding…… A bit of paint………… And I’m back to where I started, (story of my life!) but with no play in the steering wheel. The only thing I don’t like is the cheap, shiny, aftermarket “hotrod” indicator switch. To its credit it works well but looks very out of place - far too new and shiny for Rigamortice’s discerning taste. I’ll keep looking for something old and quirky to replace it with. Any suggestions gratefully accepted… https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/49843-sr2%E2%80%99s-1947-vauxhall-%E2%80%9Crigamortice%E2%80%9D-discussion-thread/

Then of course it was time to have a good look while cleaning it a bit, and taking stock So, its a 1974 Holden HQ Belmont Sedan in Orchid Red. Last wof/reg in 2001, so was on the road into Kpies early 20's around the same time i met her. Seems it also got the Torana front seats, maybe the centre console? Interior looks pretty good under the dust. Overall looks pretty straight and complete. Some rusty bits of course but not too bad at all for one of these 8s out back and 7s up front, massive CNG tank in the book gives it a rake. This car was a NZ new factory 202 manual 3 on the tree car. Bill bought it cheap from a guy who bought it to put the v8 that was in it into something else, or something - bought with no engine in it anyway The engine and box now in it is a 173 (2.8l) with a manual 4 on floor from the aforementioned rolled Torana, which had recently had a fair bit spent on the engine (??) It has a single barrel Stromberg and also has CNG. Only $4.20 to Whanganui! Took the plugs out and oiled the cylinders, cleaned the sparkplugs and filed the points and hooked up a battery. Neighbours come to assist. Many opinions were shared We managed to get it to fire off on squirting gas down the yap, but it just wouldn't keep running. The consensus is that the timing and/or the electrics are weird Brake pedal does nothing till halfway then hard stops, no braking action. Handbrake kinda works. Engine isnt stuck and clutch is free and gearbox goes into all gears. Bill is stoked it fired up, Kirsty is happy, and that it rolls at all is good enough for the transporter man. We push it back in the shed to wait for the transporter

Organized time off and ferrys etc and a cool 10 days hanging in Fielding. Real barn find! Her names on it so this must be it. We pumped up the tyres and had a general look around one day Then cleared all the stuff out over the next few days, did a lot of gardening too, Hooked it up to the van and pulled it into the light

This is not my car. Im just the low rate mechanic. What i knew about this car was: My Father in Law, Bill, has 'The Holden' in a lean to shed. Kirsty learned to drive in it, and shes always wanted it and Bill said she could have it one day. It has the engine and gearbox (exact details unclear) from the Torana her older brother rolled when he was 16 'dodging a rabbit' on a gravel road. Its been in the shed pretty much since they moved into the 'new house'. He used to bring it out sometimes to wash it but hasnt for a long while. She put her name on it a few years ago and sent me a pic. My first and only view of it till now. Then a couple months ago, he said 'come and get the Holden' So, we did.

Been working on the clutch plumbing. And welded in the lower steering column mount. And made the reliefs in the chassis rail for exhaust and steering shaft. I need to find/make some bracket type thing to hold three 3/16th brake pipes that need to run across the top of the firewall. As close together as possible...

I spent some time dicking round with the airbox as I didn't like the long studs coming up off the carbs, plus the carbs themselves seem to be mounted in a slightly different position and the airbox really didnt like sitting down in place. So I made a new baseplate that fitted nice and put some 16mm tube in there so the screws could clamp it directly through the baseplate. Its a bit cleaner looking too... Then I glued the windshield trim on with some extra and probably non standard fixing methodologies; I am missing the joiner bits but I might just poo the gap up for now once its cured in place. A new and marginally sexier fuel pump arrived and got placed; Ooh and here is my sexy top link what I made in place; So just the rear valance to make, plus probably a heat shield for the alternator as its still close regardless of the wrap. And the alternator light doesnt work for some reason. And I found another sneaky little rust hole in the drivers floor. I should have noticed it as there was a 20mm stalactite of bog hanging down underneath, but obviously I didnt up til now. There is an argument for step drilling it out to 25mm and calling it a drain hole, but I will make a closer investigation. Oh and I bolted most of the rest of the bits back on;

Went for a decent blat into town tonight. A few things to note before I forget. Cruises at 2200rpm at 100kph and has buckets of power upwards from that so the gearing is spot on. Maybe because Im used to a shitty old slow chevy but it feels like a rocket. Makes a weird noise for a second on startup. The sump is too low. Either I have to put in stock springs or modify the sump. @cubastreet got any spare sump pans? The oil filler pipe is now hitting the firewall so I have to modify that again. Second is a bitch to find from 3rd but I'll get used to it. It has enough torque to take off in 4th but I'll leave the clutch alone. I might make the aux water pump booster linked to the ignition as I forgot to turn it on. It's criminal me having this car and living 10kms from a decent corner. It wants to corner.

This is a picture of when i beought it home. Its a good pic because its in the sun. But the doors had just been thrown on to bring it home, and it grates me how poorly hung the door is.

A few hurdles... Only one side worked for the hoses. The next size up is 495mm long and sounds like it would work good. It's over $100 for the hose which is spendy. But for once in my life I want no joins in the radiator hoses damnit. So will just do it. (The non fitting side is currently 305mm) Then I've been making good progress on the wiring, a new roll of DR25 turned up so I finished the injector loom and tested it. Injector 1 - working fine injector 2 - working fine injector 3 - nothing injector 4 - nothing injector 5 - nothing Injector 6 - working fine I figured I must have derped the wiring somehow, so I pulled my loom back off and test it, traced wires back, blah blah. All seemed okay. Well, turns out that the wiring wasnt an issue, but the injectors are. 7 out of 10 of the BMW injectors are seized. BMW life! hahaha. No big drama, as it's probably a good idea to start with some slightly bigger injectors anyway. Internet says these factory injectors are somewhere around 248cc which might have been borderline for high rpm, depending on the deadtime. For interest's sake I will chuck these in Dad's ultrasonic cleaner and see if they unjam at all. Anyone got some suggestions on a good set of long pintle EV14 injectors? Over 250cc and under... say... 500. If there's some common 6 cyl car that is pickapartable I'll go grab a set. Needs the long pintle.

Phuckin sik uleh

Could not find anything for three lines that was available... Left front caliper, clutch, line to rear. So... yeh? Or nah? They are a loose fit. 5mm drill for 3/16th pipe(4.6mm?)

Made it up to Waihi Beach the Whangamata OK. Parked near the beach, and then in the slamfest on Saturday (bit damp that day). New paint is a big improvement.

Been doing more

Woah 2 updates in less than a year? I must've had too much caffeine. The plan is: Remove the intake manifold. Grind down the clutch master where it touches the TPS. Less sketchy than it sounds, its just a mounting tab for the old reservoir. I kept the master wet to cool it while cutting. Remove the throttles. Tidy up the mating surface between the intake and throttles. Drill out the threaded mounting holes for the throttles. The tapped aluminium was always a bit sketch, I never had the confidence to really tighten down the mounting bolts for the throttles. Grey RTV the mating surface, longer bolts with nylon locknuts on the back. Re-install the things. Hoon. So, intake off: Clutch master cut down: I did the things I needed to on the manifold, I also trimmed down the flange a bit to be less intrusive (compare with older photos): Back together: Aaand in the car: Results: Started first pop, was running like shit and my exhaust spat out more fuel than the last 15 seconds of a prepaid BP pump (not hard). Turns out you need your MAP hose connected (seen by my washer bottle/chassis tag in the previous photo... lol). I guess the vacuum gave enough fuel for it to run super rich, basically WOT fueling. On the first drive the car was fine. The cyl4 vac leak was gone as expected and I'd spent more time grinding out the inside of the intake manifold, so some of the weird whistles I used to get seem to have gone. Datalogs looked expectedly poor. I had some help from a very knowledgeable friend about some oddities in some analog sensor readings and we have determined I should probably both chase my grounds and make sure everything looks fine, and also change back from a hybrid SD/alpha-N tune to pure alpha-N, with a bit of analog smoothing on the TPS signal. This will help resolve the very difficult to tune accel-enrichment values and hopefully result in a better driving experience. Future: I think besides all of the constant fixing of past-me's neglectful corner-cutting, I need to really look into longer duration cams. I believe the 230/240 8.5/8.9mm values really aren't enough for the kinda tomfoolery I would like. As the ZL-VE cylinder head has really never done much more than haul groceries, nobody makes cams for it. Regrinds are in order and I will try to take as much inspiration from the NB VVT engines as I can. Maybe 270/270 9.5/9.5mm which purport to be fine for shim-over-bucket lifters. Realistically, moving to shim-under-bucket will cost more than the cams. I think my engine will become interference with the cams I'm wanting, mostly because the stock b6 pistons have the valve notches for the wider cam spacing (obtuse valve angle) and the valves being closer to the piston when at rest in the ZL head. Oh well, it'll be fun while it lasts!

If you're looking for something with a long pintle and a short time to spray, I might be able to help. Would need a nap between each injection event tho.

Regale me with your HQ related tales of triumph and woe, and ownership hints and tips here ^

I won't bombard you with 50 more Panel Barry Hakosuka photos but this one is a huge milestone. The majority of the fabrication and rear end structure have been completed and the final weld up is on! The chassis is now razor straight, likely straighter than when it came out of the factory. I can't remember the last time it had a rear end on it? It's been over 5 years for sure. The back panel you see there is the original one which he's using to get the correct holes for welding then will be replaced with a brand new reproduction item that I've provided. Onto the front and to my amateur eyes it doesn't look nearly as bad as the rear but I'll leave it to the professionals on that one. He will have a poke around, clean up what can be cleaned up and replace what needs replacing.

Front end pretty much back together

I ended up getting the belt rewebbed through Seatbelts4u in Auckland, that remedied the problem. Couriered it up on Saturday, back on my door step on Tuesday!

If you go to this page you can check any plate without drivers license etc Check expiry query (nzta.govt.nz) e.g. for that Trike

Tell me about - how you/brother/dad/uncle/cousin/mate used to have one Never had an HQ but did have an HJ(?) Wagoon - why my mrs is now tougher and cooler than me Always was - why big Australian cars with a mix of metric and imperial fasteners are better than silly little European ones that only use metric ( i had to dig out my very limited and mismatched Imperial sockets and wrenches that had been banished to the back of bottom draw of the tool box and put them right in the top bit ) Hey, at least they don't have BSW - where to get new parts easily/cheaply/locally Um, BNT? - why the second hand stuff on FBMP is outrageously priced and clearly owned by meth head bogans and how to avoid them Maybe try Invercargill area? - tips and tricks for hotting up your 173 using OEM + parts (commie inlet and exhaust manifolds? - the single stromberg and right angled log exhaust manifold offends me!)) I've got a couple of twin carb setups but never fitted them - can you bolt a 202 to the Torana 4 speed? Should be fine, I think the red motors are all the same - where to find a nice 202. In a rusty Landrover or CF Bedford - why do i even want a 202 (re-rego mainly), the 173 is probably perfectly fine, KPie doesnt really care (unless its a v8), and it wont be the engine from the Torana any more, You don't - where the fuck is the fill port for the CNG system on this car? (its not behind the number plate with the petrol filler) I dunno, but I made a brazier out of a CNG tank many years ago and it hasn't rusted away yet. Those things are stout.

The plan is to raise the house and the land around it depending on costs etc, but in the 2011 floods it had about 250mm of water through it and thats worst case scenario, so we're gonna go up about 4-500mm. Both properties either side have a higher ground level than us as well to we get runoff from all sides, but we'll lift the ground level higher than them so we stay dry..

Yessss! I look forward to progress on this one!

Right, some back story, It's a pretty convoluted novel... My apologies in advance. Roll back to 2020 while we were still finishing our place in chch, and Rosie's parent's had rented this house whilst they were having their new house built, the owner (Pete) had come up with a subdivision plan to split the property into two blocks, 320sqm (ours) and 360 for his block, total land area being 809sqm with the rest being taken up by a share drive.. The rear outlook was over farmland with a wetland directly behind us (unbeknown to us at the time it was to be part of a local subdivision and had plans to be filled in and 70 houses built there, the council had deemed it a wetland and unsuitable for building which was being contested by the developers.. Classic, they don't learn..) Rosie's parent's then decided they couldn't afford to buy it so they asked us and we said no. Fast forward to September 2021 and with houses going ballistic up here it became an easy zero mortgage option that we decided to pull the trigger on. So once we were 99% finished with the reno in chch we packed our shit up and came up here to rent it short term until the subdivision plans had gone through. 6 weeks later the first problem arose, fleas in the carpet (ughh) so we pulled everything up and de-flead the place, no sooner had we had everything back down then the first rains hit over Waitangi weekend causing said flooding from the wet land behind our place which is exacerbated buy Bartlett creek bursting its banks behind the wetland (another sharn in its own right) and a partial evacuation. But it went back down three days later and we shifted back in. Whilst all this was happening I had started to have second thoughts about buying such a small property (that flooded), and up came a property directly in front of the in laws with 7500sqm which we agreed to buy with the brother in law and offered a mill which they declined (greedy cunts took a mill two years later).. So we stuck with what we were doing. Around June/July a sunset clause came into effect on the sale and purchase agreement and in conjunction with a subdivision fee that Pete wasn't happy paying (unless we wanted to pay it) caused the subdivision to stall but he gave us the option of buying the property outright and while I was away Rosie gave him an offer that was to much and he accepted it. It was an exceedingly wet winter with near constant flooding from the wetland behind us and in August we had the biggest rains so far causing said creak to burst it's banks into the wetland. That flood came right up to the floor boards and caused them to cup. The only thing saving us was the fact that the wetland overflowed into its original drainage ditch (which the council has surreptitiously blocked with concrete causing more problems) but we evacuated, I made it onto the evening news and we pulled out once again. There's also a lot of stuff going on in the back ground with regards to previous large subdivisions being built on the wetland and associated problems but alot, if not all, the flooding stems from known council blockages and bottlenecks, with another subdivision being put in on the hill above us draining directly into the creek behind the wetland. This has been in issue since about 2007 and has been fought backwards and forwards ever since between the developers, council and local residents. Long story short the council and developers can up with a plan to put a bund along the creek and stop the flash flooding of the wetland, but it still will take a long time to drain as its all pretty low lying.. Our plans were to lift the house anyway and get out of any flooding problems.. But after pulling out again we put a couple of offers on other places that fell through and by May 2022 Pete came back to us with a plan to get a crane in to lift the house and put a new foundation in etc blah blah. We said instead of that well offer you 40k less and you can wash your hands of it, two months later he agreed (but for 35k less) and we struck a deal which was settled on Monday. So, plans are, move fences to expand our part and shrink the rental area right back, essentially maximise our space. Lift out house and land and renovate (to a point) both houses, put a garage in, master bedroom in its own building outside with the laundry etc with it. These are all big plans but it may be better to do the bare minimum and just rent both.. We'll see, anyway.. Pics. So this is the original subdivision plan, ours is the back house with zero parking, an easement right through it and the need for a second water tank only for firefighting. As you can see it's set up to prioritise the front house. Our plans, rough obviously, but move the parking for the rental up the front, by cutting a section of fence out and moving over to the edge of the pergola you can just see, in this pic the fence in the middle on marked in red but we've moved it to 1m from the rental which gains us 200sqm put in the garage/ carport and link the sleepout with a deck. The big red arrow pointing to the garage next door is where the zephyr and 121 are (in exchange for services).

The 202 were notorious for having number 5 piston shit the bed. Back when i was a kid, (and these cars weres all that old) nearly everyone we knew that owned one had that go wrong with them.

The most important first upgrade for one of these is a couple of lumps of 4x2 under the end of the bench seat on the drivers side to off set the years of sag. Also… ROAD PACER! Just saying. This would solve all of your 202 problems.

Just pump gas, E85 is just too much hard work.

Jesus! 2022 was my last progress on it! Well, after that update, we decided to sell our house. So I was frantically working on the house for about 6 months and then we moved, and the trailer doesn't fit in the new garage. So its been outside, in the grass since last June/July and its developed a bit of scale. Anyway @Duke Blackwood decided that he wanted it off his lawn, so he came up with a clever scheme that got it moved and forced me into working on it at his workshop. Yesterday I took a day off work, welded on some mounting points for a future removable tire rack and work bench, fabbed up a draw bar, and welded on the spring mounts. It was a pretty massive day in the workshop for myself, usually an office fairy... so today I'm pretty shot, to the point where my boss commented this morning on how tired I look Anyway, its finally going to be heading off to blast and paint, and then I will make it towable so I can at least move it around while I sell something to pay for the cladding.

They aren't long pintle, also they are the same injector as the non turbo just with higher fuel pressure

I was welding 12mm steel vertical and upside down, it's not like the gasless stuff or plain wire with gas. It doesn't seem to sag or drip.

Have done a few nights for the local structural/ heavy transport fella and he gas flux core for everything. Shits amazing for 5mm and up just melts in, heaps of penetration and no splatter. Weld speed is about twice that of solid wire, great for positional too. I brought a 5kg roll for home which I have played around with a bit, ill take a pic of the label tomorrow. Not something a normal person would need at home but for reskinning a truck bed or smashing out some portals for a building, super invaluable.

Collected from the paint shop on Tuesday basically a closed door repaint in the stock colour, nothing fancy Had a bit of reassembly to do, the bellflower pipes and the back seat and associated trim. Also had to find a bolt to fit one that went missing from the convertible top linkage (you can see the disconnected link in the photo above) Might have to hit up @ajg193 to make me a proper one as it is a special shouldered design. Looking it over the rear tyres looked a bit sad, so I pulled the wheels (which needs the tyres deflated) and got that sorted. WOF acquired today so have paid rego too. Just needs a bit of a clean up for the Beach Hop.

That does seem to be the 'correct' way to do it, but I've never had a decal fall off a matt painted finish yet. It all sounds a bit "Emperors new clothes" to me. Surely you'd start losing detail lumping all that paint on. Is there not something called decal fix or similar ? You could always get masks for the markings & airbrush them on....

In high school my best mate had an hq surf wag. 202 trimatic on lpg. It was good and cool. It wasnt as good or as cool as my other mates xw wagon. 4.1, 3 on the tree on cng (all of the cng).

- how you/brother/dad/uncle/cousin/mate used to have one - why my mrs is now tougher and cooler than me - why big Australian cars with a mix of metric and imperial fasteners are better than silly little European ones that only use metric ( i had to dig out my very limited and mismatched Imperial sockets and wrenches that had been banished to the back of bottom draw of the tool box and put them right in the top bit ) - where to get new parts easily/cheaply/locally - why the second hand stuff on FBMP is outrageously priced and clearly owned by meth head bogans and how to avoid them Coz I know what I got... - tips and tricks for hotting up your 173 using OEM + parts (commie inlet and exhaust manifolds? - the single stromberg and right angled log exhaust manifold offends me!)) Electronic Bosch Dizzy - can you bolt a 202 to the Torana 4 speed? Yes - where to find a nice 202. - why do i even want a 202 (re-rego mainly), the 173 is probably perfectly fine, KPie doesnt really care (unless its a v8), and it wont be the engine from the Torana any more, You dont, 202-tax - where the fuck is the fill port for the CNG system on this car? (its not behind the number plate with the petrol filler)

Sure can. Local to me to.

Tell me about - how you/brother/dad/uncle/cousin/mate used to have one - why my mrs is now tougher and cooler than me - why big Australian cars with a mix of metric and imperial fasteners are better than silly little European ones that only use metric ( i had to dig out my very limited and mismatched Imperial sockets and wrenches that had been banished to the back of bottom draw of the tool box and put them right in the top bit ) - where to get new parts easily/cheaply/locally - why the second hand stuff on FBMP is outrageously priced and clearly owned by meth head bogans and how to avoid them - tips and tricks for hotting up your 173 using OEM + parts (commie inlet and exhaust manifolds? - the single stromberg and right angled log exhaust manifold offends me!)) - can you bolt a 202 to the Torana 4 speed? - where to find a nice 202. - why do i even want a 202 (re-rego mainly), the 173 is probably perfectly fine, KPie doesnt really care (unless its a v8), and it wont be the engine from the Torana any more, - where the fuck is the fill port for the CNG system on this car? (its not behind the number plate with the petrol filler)

Nearly done with the wheels for the stug, just need to find that last bit of motivation. As we're nearing the end of construction on her, what is the best practice to weathering? does one finish the paint and then do a gloss coat and then do decals? followed up by weathering and then a sealing coat in matt gloss? Cheers

Rack in, u joint angles aren't stuffed.... Be it a touch short. Everything rotates and doesn't bind. Tried jazz axles, too long by about 10-20mm both sides, need to trip to pap and conduct some research. Passed pictures and vid to Julian cert man, so we'll see if this is going to the metal recyclers or not soon