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Well, not quite running by the weekend. I've ticked a lot off the list, but still need to get fuel stuff sorted properly. The main thing that I've been scratching my head about has been fuel rail mounting. The bendy rails looked like they would work okay, but the mounting tabs were in a bad spot. I tried the straight rails, which is an easier shape to work with. However the rails hit the runners before they could go in far enough. Then I remembered you can buy little extension caps for injectors. So I bought some of these and now it's good with the straight rails. But then I've still needed to figure out how to hold them in the right place. It looks like hanging some brackets from the front of the throttles will work best. I was originally planning to get these cut from flat plate, but looking at the price for printing and not too bad. So I've scope creeped some complexity into the shape, so my car looks more like a tower crane or something. (Actually can barely see any of this from the top when engine is together) After printing 6x trumpets and fitting them up, I also decided that was a total prick to try and get the screws in and do them up when you have to try and do it from the sides. So I've added some holes through the trumpets so you can get a long allen key through. I've chamfered the holes so hopefully they dont whistle. The little round dingus on the right hand side of the picture will be what holds the cable for ethrottle on that bank. I will need a few more test prints to figure out the right position and angle. Then I'll send all of the brackets off to get printed.

@kiwi808 Has your account been hacked? There are no recconendations of Monsta Jay Ports in the above comments. Something seems off.

Finallllyyyy done painting, this time I took it real easy on base coats, light 1st and just wetting the following 5 or 6 coats then 3 coats of clear, will show car in daylight when I've got a moment

the marks where the apex seal springs dug into the underside of the seals weren't in any sort of alignment, is it normal for them to wander around a bit? one coolant gallery was completely blocked with scunge bearing lining looking a little thin? would this run again? all in all I'm glad this engine came apart TBH

I should add that at this point I showed the car to my wife, who hadn't seen it since I took it to the workshop. she was confused and said it looked the same as it always had? Suddenly understood that this is why some guys date other guys

I was up bright and early this morning. Left home at 6am and headed down to Hervey Bay which is about 140km from home. Stopped on the outskirts of the town to gas up and spent a bit of time cleaning the bugs off the front of the van. Reached the show 10 minutes before kick off and the place was already buzzing. Probably about 150 vans in attendance. Heaps of Holdens as one would expect here in Straya but also a few of us with something different. I parked up next to a ratty VW splitty that was bloody well done and probably one of my favorite vans attending the show. Majestic Vanners were the organising committee and they did an awesome job. Entrants had the option of entering for just the show and shine or also for the Van Nationals Concourse. I entered the nationals just for a hoot as it was only an extra $5 entry fee. The highlight of the day for me was getting to meet Phil and to finally see his CF Bedford van in the flesh. It is even more stunning than it looks in the many photos that I have seen of it over the years. The murals are a fairly recent addition and have taken the van to the next level. This van is no trailer queen and Phil drives it all over the country to attend van shows. His next trip is across to Western Australia for a show that is taking place there. The gathering wrapped up at 2:30pm and I got home around 4:30pm. All in all a magic day spent with really great people. The prize giving dinner is scheduled for tonight at the campsite where most of the vanners have been staying. I took a heap of photos which I'll drop into the panelvans thread over the next few days, but in the mean time here are a few that I thought you folk would appreciate.

wife is alternating between "you'll never get around to getting it back together" and "I HOPE YOURE NOT DOWN THERE WORKING ON THAT CAR"

And that is that. Down the road she goes. Disappointed that I just didn’t have what’s needed to finish it off. New owner is likely to join up and continue the thread on.

Musings from a non rotary expert… Those bits of metal do look like water pump vanes. If your current water pump isn’t missing any they could have been in there for a while? If the water pump was toast that might explain the gunk build up. At least it can be cleaned and sorted. The gunk around the bolt might be a sign of a dodgy water seal? Hope it’s not a crack? new bearings are not that expensive. Or weren’t last time I brought a pair for the FC. Retailed at $62.75

This program took a short break whilst I built a bathroom in the garage. Which isn't finished yet. But I did a few more little jobs on the datsun. I put in the new door handles and bezels in. But the best thing that happened is that I fixed the heaters desperate need to always blow hot air. The r32 A/C controller has a diagnostic mode in which you can get info on the various sensors and it can recalibrate the blend door positions. In the diagnostic mode I was able to get the temp control servo to move, so I knew it was capable of working, it just didn't want to. The 3 sensors that it said weren't working were the ambient air temp, the sunlight sensor and the water temp. It thought the ambient air was negative 30 degrees. The sensor is long gone from my car but the wires are there, I bridged them and hey presto the car thinks it's 40 degrees and will now turn the hot water tap off and blow cold air. Very extra good. In the extremely clear and well framed photos you can see the white control arm is in two different positions, which is obvious in the great photos. Obviously.

Made this exhaust. Twin pipes out of a single cylinder. That's how to complicate a simple problem.

well my waterpump has all it's gubbins and looks kinda new so we can guess what happened to it's predecessor found the last apex seal tip so that's all the seals accounted for. the engine is a bit of a mystery, it looks like it hasn't been apart in an extremely long time, except it has new-ish looking aftermarket apex seals, but theyre Rotary Aviation seals which I wouldn't have imagined would have been fitted in Japan, which should mean that they were fitted here, but that's the sort of thing that would surely be mentioned in the ad (and survive a few ownership changes) "yeah mate she's just been fully rebuilt" etc so it's got aftermarket 'high performance' apex seals; "Designed for high performance race, street and track cars, they welcome the abuse of high turbo and nitrous abuse", except the car is running the stock turbos and doesn't seem to be particularly aggressively tuned, that someone went out of their way to fit, probably since the car came to NZ - so within the last 15 years, even though it somehow looks like it's never been opened, and they never told anyone about it, and most of the emissions shit is still on the car, albeit bunged up in various amateurish ways, even though the engine has obviously been out, which would have been the perfect time to remove all that crap, especially given the RACE APPLICATION APEX SEALS BEING FITTED fucked if I know?

20 years ......20 years. Is that even correct? I'm just hanging around here until you finish this...😆.. Not sure if I have another 20 years.

let's see what I've got lying around Could be the next big thing? "Yeah baby she hits full boost by 500rpm, then it's nothing but wastegate noise, allll the way to redline"

3rd update in a single day. Really didn't think i would have time for this between lawns and kids but here we are. Dummy grill and template in place and marked up ready to be attacked with the router.

Sorted out the last of the little jobs to finish off. wipers - check washers - check swap brake and tail light feed - check only things to do now is the bumper brackets (finally found them). and decking. so I decided to run the gauntlet and drive to Hampton Downs, passed atleast 6 cops just along Mercer-meremere. it drives so damn good. Smoothest ride and the 12a just hummmms along at 3000rpm @100kph.

Hit it with some colour but wasnt happy with all the imperfections. So ended up sanding back the three top planks (which are at the bottom) and respraying them. Now the planks above it have nasty overspray so I'll have to wait a few days for it to go off and have a look at buffing out the overspray. What a way to run a railroad!

Micro update. Mounted these clamps holding fuel lines and earth cable. I'm probably going to reprint one as I'm not happy with it. I used petg and tbh I've always relied on the factory prusa slicer settings but I have never been happy with the outcome so might have a fuck around with it. I do love these little brass heatserts.

So while I have had it on the hoist I’ve been looking at other things that might need doing. I found one of the engine mounts was looking pretty sad, so decided that while the trans is out, it will never be easier to whip the engine out and clean all the sludge off everything. Who knew the engine was blue! While I’ve got it out I’ll do some jobs that will be much easier with it out of the car. I’ve got a new water pump, fuel pump, gaskets, thermostat, plug leads and power steering hoses.

I’ve been exclusively working on everything but the esky, however more parts came in from oz. Beautiful gear, got from Ross directly. Could have achieved this result a bit cheaper but it’s nice and black, not purple or some other gaudy anodising. Cam and crank trigger kits and Cherry sensors with mounts. To find and buy a good new OE crank pulley wasn’t much cheaper than the basic line Ross does! I got the race one ‘cause I hope to abuse this engine and it might sit around a bit like a race car and shouldn’t degrade. It’s well known CA/RB cam angle sensors are a bit ham so not even entertaining the idea of using factory. free sticker woooop

I got two of the proper runners wrapped. I didnt have enough sleeve to do all 6, and, it wasnt working very well anyway. So went back to regular CF fabric. This worked alright. I ended up with a lot of creases from the bagging process to compress it together. Not pretty but they are super strong now. Good enough! Then the absolute legend Stu has helped me out yet again. All of the flanges and base plates are now cut. So I will pick them up early next week. I cant wait to get this all together! From here, I will get all of the lower flanges glued on to the runners first. Then bolt them all to the base plate. I am printing a jig that aligns 3 of the top flanges to the correct spacing and orientation. So the 3 top flanges will slide/glue in all at once. I really want to avoid any possibility of the throttles being misaligned relative to each other, so hopefully that works well enough. Another long term problem that I've had, is how to run dual ethrottle. A friend of mine has given me a long term loan of a G4+ Thunder ECU. Which will be great! There's a small amount of depinning/repinning required, but it's largely compatible with the G4+ Xtreme pinout of the first two plugs. He's not a member here, but, thank you very much Mike for helping me out. Apart from dual ethrottle, it has some extra features over my current ECU which will be fun. However currently the focus is to just get the motor running again, and get back to the dyno with new intake and test some runner lengths. Cant wait to see how it goes.

After selling the Alto Works, there was a tiny little nugget shaped hole in my life, so I had no choice but to fill it with another Kei car. If you were following the previous Alto from the start, you might remember this one from here. Long story short, there was an auction (maybe an estate sale? Can't recall) a couple of hours north of where I live, and when browsing through the list of what was going to be available, there happened to be a Suzuki Alto Works listed. Weird thing to have in a barn, I thought, but hey I'm keen. I went up to view and bid on the car, and as soon as I saw it, I fell for the little nugget. Who couldnt love that little face. It'd been off the road for 11 years at that point, and had been sitting the whole time. The interior was foul The exterior was also filthy, top to bottom, so it was hard to get a good gauge on the condition. Poking around with my torch though, I found a couple of spots that needed attention The front of each sill, where the jacking points should be, had some rust, including this hole on the passenger's side. The boot lip had been trapping moisture under the seal too, and rusted along there (and causing a leak into the boot) The only real damage to the exterior, other than a couple of small dings, was this dent in the front guard. I suspect since the door hinges are bent, that the door over extended forward, damaging both But otherwise it appeared fairly solid, and most importantly, mostly complete No one knew if it had run, when it last ran, or if it was previously a good runner. I found the keys on the keyring in the car next to it, so moved them to the Alto, but otherwise it was all an unknown. The auction rolled around, I did my best but ultimately got outbid. For me, the risk of the unknowns at that point were just too great, so I kept my top bid reasonable. Fast-forward almost two years, and I get a message from a friend saying, "I put out looking to buy a Kei car, and got offered a car I read about on your very blog. It's too much of a project for me, but do you want me to put you in touch?" Heck yeah I do! So he passed my email on and the owner dropped me a line "Hi, I have a Suzuki Alto Works for sale, would you be interested in a project" Of course, I held back my excitement and asked for more details He came back with a couple more details, but more importantly a couple of photos Undeniably the same car, car club sticker and all. Unfortunately, he also mentioned the engine was rust seized, and had been sent off to a rebuilder to be stripped and assessed, which resulted in it being declared completely kaput (and a "$10K" quote to rebuild it). I replied asking for more information about the engine damage and condition of the car and heard nothing but crickets. Me, being me, couldnt leave it well enough alone. The damn thing was rattling around rent-free in my head, so 7 months after I heard nothing back, I flicked him a quick email asking how he was getting on with the Alto. "Good timing, I was just thinking I should do something with the car or get rid of it" After a lot of back and forth, the stars aligned and on my way to the track in the BRZ the other weekend I detoured an hour or so out of my way and went to look at the little nugget. It was pretty well as expected; the front of the car was all in bits, the engine was spread across a few shelves, and the car was looking a bit sorry for itself. On the plus side, he had cleaned the car inside and out, and honestly, the interior clean alone was worth having him win the car in the first place instead of me The engine was pretty dire, but we'll get back to that later. Anyway, it all checked out, everything was there, the rego was still on hold, and after going away and doing some more research into what on earth I was doing, I made an offer. We settled on something in between what both of us were thinking, and a friend of his was roped in to bring the car and multiple tubs of parts down to me. Yesterday the car arrived. Here is my latest project, Nuggie, the 1990 Suzuki Alto Works RS-X CN21S I had been super anxious all morning, but actually seeing the car roll up on the trailer, looking ridiculously small, just wiped all the anxiety away and replaced it with excitement. Whilst discussing the transport with the transporter beforehand, we had been coming up with plans to get the car off the trailer and down into my garage, since my driveway, although short, is very steep. I think in the end it was going to be a case of using the winch on the van to winch the car down into the garage. But thankfully that didnt matter. As it turns out, not only does the handbrake work, but so do the service brakes. So with a little push, the Alto was off the trailer and I gently guide it down into the garage using the handbrake to control it. We unload all the parts, and after bidding farewell, I stand back and see the Alto in its new (temporary) home Theres a couple more spots of rust than I could see at the auction (one of them is the front edge of the bonnet in the above photo, seems to be a common spot), and the paint is flat as anything, but it will hopefully polish up nicely. I won't do that yet, I want a good before and after in the sun. I couldnt help but check out a couple of the cool little things about the early cars. One of them is visible in the photos above; the vertical door handles. These were only on the early cars, as they later replaced them with normal boring handles when they decided safety was more important than being cool and added side intrusion bars. This even necessitated changing the quarter panels since they have cutouts for your hand on the vertical handle cars. Cool handles Boring normal handles and "safe" doors. The front seats are pretty wild too. Such late 80's vibes You can actually quickly remove and flip the shoulder support on the backrest, for either higher or lower support Another early feature I'm a big fan of is the super retro dash and the gauge cluster, both of which got "modernised" in 1991. Moving on, spread across the tubs were all the engine components, and now that I had time to have a decent look at them, it was grim The main journals on the crank are very unhappy There are a couple of less than happy valves too. I suspect even if the engine didnt drink a bunch of water that it wouldnt have run very well with a burnt valve But the block is the least happy I'm looking into options currently, and have a potential lead on a complete engine that would be a better base to rebuild, otherwise I could bore this block out and use oversize forged pistons. We'll see. Either way, I want it running fairly quickly (without compromising too much, I want it done properly), so have a roughly 6-month plan to be back on the road, and I want it out of the garage within a month or two as I'm very limited on garage space. Parts have already been ordered, and I'll be making a start on the rust soon. Plenty more to come. Keep on moving.

Updated entry list. It's looking great Total entries 51 Total Paid 13 # Full Name OS Username Car year / make / model Entry Fee Paid? 1 David van der Haas Roman 1983 Toyota Carina $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 2 Gavin Gardner Gavin 1974 ford capri $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 3 Daryll Anderson Bigfoot 1979 mitsubishi Lancer $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 4 Ryan Gardner 1980 ford Escort $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 5 David Parr Born_Disturbed 1985 Mazda Familia $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 6 Mike Geater Gator 1982 Toyota Starlet $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 7 Liam Shanker 1990 Toyota MR2 $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 8 Rob Comez 1975 Toyota Corolla $80 - Single Car PAID 9 Cody Robertson 98 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type R $80 - Single Car PAID 10 Ryan Kapur N/A 1991 Mitsubishi Mirage Cyborg $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 11 Greg Mather 64valiant 1969 Volkswagen Kombi $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 12 Jason Sayers DATJASENZ 1972 Datsun 1200 Coupe $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 13 Joshua Curtis 1996 Mazda 323 $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 14 David Munce Muncie 2003 Holden Commodore $80 - Single Car PAID 15 Dan Cruden 1986 Mazda 323 $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 16 Matthew Gill 1981 Corolla $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 17 Luke bakker Vk304 87 mazda rx7 fc3s $80 - Single Car PAID 18 Luke bakker 1973 Holden Torana LJ $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 19 Zane brown 1973 Datsun 1200 $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 20 Scott Curtis 1987 Mazda Etude $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 21 Kyron Campbell 1974 holden hq $80 - Single Car PAID 22 Anthony Mitchell 1967 dodge coronet $80 - Single Car PAID 23 David Torckler DaveT 1977 Vauxhall magnum $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 24 Neil Marshman 1970 Mustang $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 25 matt henderson Bigmatt4 1979 escort van $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 26 John Wilson 1963 C10 Chev $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 27 Michael Dixon Mustang $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 28 Rhys Knauf Rhyscar 1991 Toyota Levin $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 29 Tracy Ridly N/A 1967 Plymouth $80 - Single Car PAID 30 James Brindle 1992 Toyota Mr2 $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 31 Brent Graat 1990 C33 Nissan Laurel $80 - Single Car PAID 32 Anita mann 1979 VG Valiant $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 33 Ryan Finx 1996 Toyota Starlet Glanza V $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 34 Phillip Weston fuel 1991 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 35 Chris Read Chris r TBA $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 36 Daimon Ellis 1966 Ford Cortina mk1 $80 - Single Car PAID 37 Simon Peryer 1963 Ford Cortina $80 - Single Car PAID 38 Russell Marsh 1987 Toyota Corolla. $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 39 Peter Brook 2002 Daihatsu Hijet $80 - Single Car PAID 40 Oliver Groube 1989 Honda civic EF2 $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 41 Jackson Purdie 1996 mazda rx7 $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 42 Michael Jordan 1990 DA6 honda integra $80 - Single Car PAID 43 Tony Steer 1994 Mazda 323 glx station wagon $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 44 Joshua mikkelsen Ford escort 1600 sport 1979 $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 45 Brandon Geaney 1970 chev nova $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 46 William Adams Terminator 2 1988 Nissan Fairlady 200ZR $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 47 Jay hessell Cant remember off hand? 1975 vauxhall viva $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 48 Shayne Bowled Mullet Motors 1971 XY Wagon $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 49 Jay Simpson TESLOL 1978 Tesla Model S $80 - Single Car PAID 50 Jono Billington 2003 Toyota Corolla $80 - Single Car NOT PAID 51 Sam Thomson 1995 Suzuki Cappuccino $80 - Single Car NOT PAID

Ta. I ended up tightening a couple of cable ties around the far side of the clamp and the housing so belts and braces etc. It made the drive no worries so it's up to the cert man to give me a looooooong list.

Reckon it will. Have done similar with regular epoxy on several occasions and seems to work.

It may be artificial but it’s definitely not intelligent….. Any fool knows ALL Imps should have flat sixes

Summers coming mate.. cant wait to see you on the water

Cleaned the carb. Reassembled. Doesnt start. I will get a mate to run it through an ultrasonic cleaner just in case...

or just get vy ss remakes (20s) just quite spendy tho

Great news really. For the cost of some Mazda water seals and oil seals plus a good session of cleaning things it could well be sorted and back on the road for summer hoons. (or if doing it correctly you can use the correct sized electrical cable for water seals and liberal application of squirty sealant - must be red of course)

Weather has been fine enough to open the shed door this morning so i have sorted out the seat height and roughly marked the wheel tubs. Need to put a small dent in the tubs to fit the brackets nicely and allow the pivot to actually pivot. Gave them a test sit and the angle is ok. Need to condition the leather though as some parts have shrunk and are pulling things out of shape. Pivot heights are the same which is the bit that counts. Since i left the lower brackets in my toolbox at work, I pulled out the vinyl samples I had sent out a few weeks ago. Have chosen a colour and not the one i thought I was going to like. Then I dusted off the old sewing machine, has survived storage quite well to be honest. Didn't fire it up today just wanted to double check everything was how i remembered it. Not bad for 1974 vintage. Thanks Nan.

Gaz has stepped up, huge help!

Also took it down to the Pocono mountains last weekend for an event

starting to look a little bit more purposeful now although really I just dropped the body on it I removed the (cant remember what it's called) air bypass doodad on the inlet manifold BECAUSE RACECAR, printed a cover for it which happens to look exactly like the wrinkle painted manifold. leading some to believe that the manifold itself was printed, a falsehood that I made no effort to dispel on the ground that it made me seem very talented also made a box for the ECU which is a speeduino thing that I grabbed for the starion a million moons ago. It slots in under the battery tray. it was constructed by a shifty foreigner over covid so my mileage may quite literally vary this is the original front water neck, relocated to the rear of the head. I garked it out with a dremel machined it to accept the stock thermostat. clearance is still extremely tight i also bought these lovely cannon plugs because I wanted to have a quick-disconnect loom, only to realise I dont need them as the rear of the engine and most of the loom actually sit inside the cabin anyway and it would be trivial to unhook it from the ECU directly this is just a quick update as I realise I've also done quite a bit of other bits and pieces but not taken photos. I also have begun to notice a considerable decline in quality and standards as I slip into 'git er done' mode

Just ticking some boxes before I head away for a month shortly. Quite excited to have my Quickjack that arrived during the week, definitely old man friendly when bending down to do bits and bobs. Today I was really just setting up the Quickjack and also planned to rebuild the radiator as it's a bit crusty. I'm not sure what would make this pattern of bent fins on the front though. It looks like it would be fan doing that but if the fan hit it then there would be impact damage? Surely it's not air making this, weird. While removing the radiator I noticed a rattle.. apparently there were rocks inside my radiator. Anyway I setup the paint booth and worked on the rebuild with my favourite tool, seems like it turned out OK. While I was waiting for that to dry I cleaned up the intake manifold ports a bit just of grime and oil that was in there. In the real world probably makes no difference at all but it looks better. Try as I may I cannot get off the shit on the mounting face though. I had a think about the PCV system while it was all apart and thought the blanking plate that I could use may be similar to a wastegate block off panel. Unfortunately it seems like the bolt holes don't match the usual type of block off panels. I could get something made up but ultimately I decided to just "rebuild" the catch tank thing that sits in there and I'll block off the ports. No pictures but I managed to figure out why the driver side seat rail wasn't mounting properly as well so now the driver side agian has 4 bolts holding it down. Passenger side still 3 so that's a job for another day. When I get back from Japan I'll crack into putting this puzzle back together if I still remember how it works.

Progress report from Gloss Boss Total strip back. All filler shown has been removed and redone after these pics were taken. Gave me absolutely no clues as to what colour it’s gonna be. Reckons it’ll be done in a fortnight. Told him no rush, whenever. I’ve done no more to it as I’ve been working on the 4.0ls clutch (cap screws for the clutch touching the intermediate plate) and modifying/creating holes for the lower 4 bolts that attach the bellhousing to the sump. Throw that back together tomorrow, fire it up and send a vid of it running to its new owner. It’s going into a XF ute, 4 barrel and all

Honda =wof again no issues Chev = wof again no issues Falcon= had a tidy up and a bit of rust fixed,paint touched up, a diff bush = wof again HD= got some upgraded suspension and fork seals etc, head bearings goosed so front end rebuild time ,then wof Currently having a conundrum on finish, I had to get a new lower tree because the steering stop was broken it polished up OK but I think I'll blast and paint the fork legs and trees black Or get vapor blasted Or polish all of it I think I'll paint I black as I have no imagination and painting things black is my go to . And I don't like polishing things Also when I removed the fork springs someone had used a couple of 3/4 sockets to preload the springs ,lol

The focus over the past week has been on general cosmetics in preparation for tomorrow's van show down in Hervey Bay. Lots of cleaning and polishing which has been good. While I had the front door cards off to give the vinyl a damn good clean I decided to give the front doors a bit of TLC. Cleaned the paintwork up as best as I could. Then grabbed my rust proofing gun: I was able to sneak the nozzle pipe down a small gap between the inner and outer skins and proceeded to load each door with a full litre of Septone. Kept the centre panel nice and clean so I could slap a bit of sound deadening on. Closing the doors feels nice and solid now instead of the old "jam tin" feel they had before. I'll report back on the show tomorrow night hopefully with a few photos.

Stoked with the progress and how it’s looking lately. The guys working on it are doing a beautiful job, far better than I achieved with rendition one of this car. Lucas alternator has been changed for a more compact Toyota unit to clear the new exhaust manifold. Engine back in, brake lines and handbrake sorted, all guards on. Next steps are to get the wiring in and get it running to test everything, then disassembly. All going well next update will be the test run before disassembly. Thinking Honda championship white and repainting the enkei wheel centers gold… 14 years and counting, hope to have it ready for our wedding next year.

just came across this fun project i did a few years back.. (replica ish of what i made as a teenager) the Vbrake adaption was due to not getting the bike with any brakes, so cut them off the cheap donor bike lots of bodges on this one, I think starting with one of those 20" mountain bike frames would be the go (back wheel/derailleur /chainwheel etc would fit for starters) wheelie at walking pace is the result.. (this bike ended up scrapped due to a mate left it in the rain too long)

FUCK YOU Ai. It is completed! I've just got a few little bits to finish.

Enough meat in that housing to tap a thread and throw a banjo fitting on there?

Broke down in worse places before. A mate must have terrible timing as he drove past me a minute earlier and I asked him to turn back and tow me. He thought I was kidding. The press in inlet fitting popped out and fuel went everywhere. Lucky it didn't catch fire. I used some JB weld to put it back in after sanding the fitting to rough it up. Does anybody know if this is going to hold? I might wrap it with some wire around the hose and tie it off to hold it in place as a secondary measure. I have to drive it for LVV 50kms tomorrow so I hope it doesnt burn down. I put two extinguishers in the boot just in case.

Sooo, being naive, I thought I could do a good paint job 1st time around, I sprayed it and came across several obstacles, one I did not wipe the whole thing 100% and had a bunch of small fish eyes, but I managed to catch this and wipe the whole thing again much more thoroughly before continuing. 2 my sanding was not 1000% and some light sanding shows through some of the base. Three because I had 2 different shades of primer in some areas they also show but this may have been rectified by more coats.. Four, my gun setting were not ideal and I was getting some runs, blotchyness and un even coating, which by the end of spraying I had dialed out and I got a pretty good feel for spraying uniform. 5 I had some dust contamination but really not much. six, all is not lost, I used 500ml of the 2l paint, but now I have a car in one colour, everything is much more visible and now I can wet sand the whole thing again at 800 grit, and my theory is the next time around I will be much farther ahead, all panels are straight...exept the rear bumper which is wavy on the top ..but im not filling that up with bog... And if anything the sanding should easily smooth out the light scratching, and I have a feel for spraying metallic, should have around 5 more coats left in paint I estimate 3 or 4 should do it, and I'll do clear straight after.

This is a bit of a different project for me, and my first real try with carpentry. I set the goal to make a workbench using all wood joints - no nails/screws. Every piece means something: Rimu (laminate top) - recycled from 1880s biscuit factory Rimu (frame) - from a large beam left in the garage when we bought the house. Rata (laminate and legs) - saved from the lintels from a greenhouse I had to take down (the beams were heavy) Macrocarpa (frame) - milled from a work colleagues house site overlooking Otago harbour. Wood vice (Record 52 1/2) - ex Otago Girls HS (c. 1950s) Blacksmiths vice - from my pops workshop (still more restoration needed)

So I used that to make an updated version of a 'Solar Engine' - saves solar up in a cap, turns on for a moment when there's a worthwhile store of energy (think cat toy motor, enviro monitor etc)

My syringe of lead solder paste arrived with a broken plunger. This did for the 1st day But it took me a couple of days to mull over a better solution Sustainable, reusable and an excuse to get/make a wee wood lathe

The most 'fun' bike I have is a 1998 Triumph Speed Triple. Big pipe, Power Commander, Ohlins suspension and a noise that summons demons: The indicators are from a Triumph Bonneville America, and replaced the pathetic small LED ones that came with it. I like people to see the signals...... I bought this Union Jack radiator cover that (according to the advert) fits 'early Speed Triple': It doesn't even fit where it touches! So it sat on the shelf for a few months before I got brave.

Rawr XD

2 sets have some up in the whole time I’ve looked. One set I missed out on and the others had like 6 previous plates against them and smelled fishy. This way it’s stays a 1969, and all the money saved on reg wof cert insurance repair cert etc etc can be spent on shiny and fast bits instead!