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New owner speaking. Picked her up in Rotorua from the owner who bought from Mr.Mk1. Car was running pretty rough, had been out in the weather so rust was seeping back. Will be updating as we go. Going to get the a15 running strong, rework the suspension, wheels and tyres and otherwise get the car back into good daily condition. We can then make an assessment on the rust and next steps.

Slow progress on the exhaust, but I've manage to cobble together a 2-1 section that is nearly equal (Still needs about 75mm more, on the wiggly side) After the 2-1 join it'll revert back to a single 3" pipe and a single barrel muffler for now. Here's a neighbor's horses awakeness test with the 2-1 mostly finished. I think I've cured the 3 cyl sound at least. So its a good starting point, can hopefully fine tune it from there without having to stuff around with that part anymore. Will just have a single 3" pipe from there back, and a single barrel shaped muffler. Theennnnnnnnn I need to get some air filters on at some point. Now that I know what the runner length is going to be, more or less. can plan an airbox. After an extensive amount of fucking around with test prints and so on, have got an airbox shape sorted. I'm thinking the red backing plate bits will be alloy plate (less the radius shown) then can hopefully get a nice hidden detail with cap screws coming in from the back (rather than studs) It took 30 something hours to print the two parts, not including the 2x failed attempts due to powercuts. I was initially planning to just print PLA and then wrap in carbon. But, I think I'll try make some proper molds this time and try get a nice surface finish. Then maybe just wet layup on the inside. not sure yet. Just get this bit finished first. Sanding sucks. Please ignore the fact that I say this is about fitting air filters, yet have no obvious way to fit an air filter to this so far.

/ Update. Yea i did nothing but bolt the on headers and sat the intake on, to see what it would look like finished with loom

Finally managed to launch it properly, high revs and slipping clutch, hooked and got my pb for this car

Still abit to do but this weekend its done a couple small drives with touch wood no issue

So I was wondering when I set the boost controller to hold 15psi on the gauge it was sweet as, then when I checked back at the ecu logs it was reaching 22 and a bit psi. Puts glasses on, oh that's not 15psi on the gauge. I'll probably set up spring pressure, a setting at 1bar and higher boost at the current 1.5 bar. Anyway it goes pretty good, and power down grip is impressive, compared to my old starlet. i changed to my slightly bus spec steering wheel, fitted my harness which has the crotch belt, as the 4 point just felt weird, and epoxy is setting on my additional roof mounting.

Loom basically done. changed some of the split loom after this picture. as the ali special stuff is super thin, crushes and looks horrible. Coil / hot side stuff is heat sleeved. the xlr connector down bottom by ecu plugs is for dyno wideband connection Getting pretty close to first start up. shimless buckets showed up, so top end is all together properly now. e throttles and stuff all work. engine turns over and has oil pressure. Just waiting on a few more bits, then rest can go together made this dipstick tube that doubles as the oil return for the vvti Have room on this setup, since no fuel rail in the way. so the lines do a sneaky sneaky around the back Had a bit of a shitfight buying injectors, not naming any names NZAIRFITER / DSR TURBO massive sharn what happened. But bosch group the flow rates of their 980cc injectors with a little dot on the side , red, yellow, blue. I asked for them to be checked before sending them out. Yeah nar sends 2 red, 2 yellow. red ones can flow up to 7-8% more than the blue and yellow somewhere in between. I wont bore you with the details of the bad customer service, but was basically stuck with them. please dont buy anything of this guy The link can do pretty cool injector test. so ordered some measuring tubes off aliexpress and rigged up this abortion with one of the bike rails. conveniently they have clips to hold the injectors in the rail and i can run deadhead setup on my fuel system. This is all attached to the fuel system and ecu in the car Test run on the bike injectors. they flowed nice and even. pretty good for some 10 year old injectors that have been kicking around the floor of my shed. but they are a touch small to run as single set of 4. the bike runs 8 injectors with the 980's in the rail wide open test (100% duty) for 30 sec. (double the time about 900cc/min) red, red, yellow yellow Just as bosch states the 2 red ones on left flow more than the yellow on right. about 4.5% difference. real world (roughly) if you tuned the engine at 12.5:1 afr. you would have the far left running at about 12.3afr and the far right running at 12.7afr. not great, not end of the world. unless you got unlucky pair that far right injector up with a cylinder that wants to run leaner than the rest. Next with little math i simulated the engine running at about 8500rpm for 1 minute at about 40% duty. since this engine will never see anywhere near 100% duty. though may get lucky and they would flow closer to each other at lower dutys Still about 4% different down at that duty. Yes the math doesn't math, as they should be flowing around the 360cc (360ml) mark, going by the wide open test. The next day after the petrol fumes wore off i realized i didn't account for the the inejector deadtime. so real world with the right deadtime numbers, that would be at about 28% duty. Done another test at 80% duty also, with similar results, about 4% difference Will order a pair of yellow dot injector off someone who is less retarded, as thats whats in the starlet. flow all 8 and match up 2 sets for both cars. so not all is bad, the starlet might get a set of better matched injectors out of it as well

Fuel line nearly sorted. Just the return to do. The top idler mount I made was fouling the end of the fuel rail exit for the fitting to go to the regulator so I dug out the original bracket and fitted that. Belt is still correct and plenty of room for the fitting. Can't really remember why I made that now. Never mind all's well that ends well. Filled the cooling system yesterday and still no green on the garage floor. So far so good. I better pump some trans fluid into that as well shortly.

Just gone & done more damage to bank account..... & bought a caravan ffs. needs a coat of paint & a wof

Just been taking this out for very short rides so that each time it'll get easier and more intuitive. Not be tempted to get cocky and carried away. The road from ours to Kaiteriteri is ideal for practicing cornering this bike on. Really twisty, lots of slow speed corners. There's some traffic lights for a section of road where there's slip damage from the winter storms. Ford Ranger waiting at the lights. I was in nice relaxed chilled cruisy happy place as I rolled up to stop behind him. 'Please don't wave me through on the green light' I started thinking. He waved me through. I had to pilot the supertanker tightly around his truck and felt like it was gonna drop, leg out to catch the weight. Ooof - that pinged the hip flexor. Then fumbled the gear shifts as I rode away, stressing that I was now going to be holding him up. But actually it was fine. Panic stations over. I forgot how much quicker even a slow bike can be than a normally driven car. Stood up on the pegs and shook out my leg then relaxed back into it. Cruising through Kaiteri and I heard a clack clack clack like I'd dropped something or ridden over some plastic. Couldn't spot anything off the bike. Kept going through along the beach side and turned at the boat wash. On way back through a bloke was waving a big bit of plastic at me. It was a part of the fairing that had dislodged. Rolled to a stop and explained how previous owner had chopped that bit to suit highway pegs I've removed. Could see where the plastic screw tab was broken and still on the bike.. So that's now been glued together. There's quite a few loose bits of fairing not fitted together quite right. I'm hoping the cambelts will turn up soon so I can take it all apart, swap them, do the clutch slave seal (its slowly weeping and I have to top up the lever ever couple of days) and then put it all together correctly. There's a few 'added' wires I want to remove or tidy. Generally check it all over. I wanted to get a photo of the bike on the beach near the carparks. But more than that I didn't want to be that man who got his 400kg bike stuck on the beach. I'll have to locate some other spots for suitable 'out on a ride photos' But I can post this here. Actually lowered - not AI. They look great in white.

Whilst I'm waiting for the cert man to come look at the Chev, I have dragged the boat back into the workshop to get some progress made. Just a shame I have bogan ADD it seems as I worked on anything but. Did a big clean up and then worked on a seized junk 15hp evinrude which was from the tip and an old 5.5hp seahorse circa 1961. Oddly enough they weigh the same. For the Johnson I stripped it down and changed the coils and managed to get spark. Even got it to run on laughing gas but although the fuel lines are clear, it won't run. So likely the carb is rooted. The 15hp was pretty easy to get unseized and after cleaning the points and plugs, it fired off nicely. No water flow though. I can see where the PO gave up and that's after installing a new water impellor but the housing looks defective from factory. I have ordered a new one and hopefully will sort it.

Now I know what to do with this that I've had for way too long, build stock with scale caravan!

I have been struggling to get this fitted for months, glad I went with a regular size seat not the next size up as it’s a tight fit, now I’m not looking forward to have to take it in a out many times to fit the next lot of things

So the old man came over yesterday and pointed at things tested the points, no continuity bit of sanding still no spark went into the shed today and noticed the dizzy resting on the guard 🫣 chucked that in and hey presto we have spark can of petrol and cranked over filled the shed with smoke but it wants to run! now to check fuel tank and pump etc pretty sure there’s a carb kit somewhere too https://imgur.com/a/lP2RcBJ

As you can see the chassis and under floor is really dirty and had lots of surface rust that you would expect from a 53 year old car. I have really, really pushed the boat out and i took the body off the chassis. I stripped all the rust, dirt and crud of the chassis and bottom of the car then I painted it all with an epoxy primer. I've been working late into the early hours every day for two weeks to get this done. In a completely unrelated story my neighbour owns a blasting company that does underside blasting and painting of cars and trucks, and I highly recommend him. The company is Blast All LTD. Toby is a fucking gc and I've seen his work and is top spec.

Decided to mount the cab ford F150 style after finding a prothane kit on Amazon for $38 delivered. 4mm plate for the chassis parts 3mm for the cup washers that will get welded to the cab

Heartbreaking few days in the garage. My wife was away for the long weekend, so made a goal of having the shell painted - roof, rear quarters and guards. Worked 3 days solid. All started pretty well: Skim & block: Highbuild: Sand to 400 grit. Everything was nice and flat Then I put colour down. The roof was okay, a bit dusty, but what I'd expect for a garage job. But holy fuck balls, everything else was orange peel and runs. This is probably the worst panel. I know I've fucked up the mix or gun settings. I'll have to sand it and do it again. But right now I can't bare to look at it. Caaaaarnts.

More groundhog day road tuning, change log verify repeat im now back up at 10psi and its happy as no knock easy roll in to timing. I cheated a bit and convinced a tuner to spill the tea on what these things like so ive skipped a massive amount of fucking around im overly safe as he runs similar mapping too 20psi on a stock bottom end. Previously I ran the Paris Hilton tune rich retarded but spicy in all the wrong places. It now runs a stock portion of map with a few extra degrees of timing in the off boost areas to make it punchy then timing ramps downwards to 8 degrees advance by 3300rpm holds then climbs again by a few degrees as it gets to 6400rpm, under boost its commanding 11.5-12 AFR its rich thats what I'll focus on next. Ive got some glitchy stuff in wideband logs at idle to about 2000rpm where it straightens itself out. Likely an earthing issue or an old sensor (its seen some stuff) Its safe logs well its not knocking and bit on rich side. So more driving time is needed.

the sellers spiel of what its got, verses the things it ain't got, Awning Spare tyre doesn't match the other 2 & a period correct tow vehicle.

Another batch of bits from the sandblaster including a few front suspension bits that have been holding up progress Everything will get a coat of the same metallic grey 2 pack enamel except the wheels, they were originally white but still not fully decided, could use some leftover white from the Datsun or go completely different, too many choices! Back on assembly and the front upper wishbones are slightly difficult to assembly as there is a sequence to follow, as usual the universal stack of large sockets got me through. Semi rebuilt the front brakes, i've never serviced them but they've had all the abuse so assumed they would need seals and pistons, strip down was very surprising, both cleaned up like new, only really need new dust boots that I damaged removing. Interestingly, they are a two piece design, pressed them apart, blast and paint on the cast iron and ultrasonic bath for the aluminium body. If you haven't got a 3d printer in your workshop, do try it, blanking caps are quick which makes masking for blast and paint easy, no tape! From this To this between blanking caps and custom press tools, its paying for itself in time/sanity saved at a rapid rate. Found full parts catalogue online so printed out a copy to sit alongside the workshop manual, the exploded diagrams beautifully compliment my terrible labelling of ziplock bags. The big plan of having it running by the end of this month has all but disappeared, a large parcel of important parts is currently tracked as in NZ but stuck between Customs who say they have no interest in it, pre-cleared entry and NZPost who say Customs have it, Being that they both operate out of the same building its quite disappointing, not to mention how 25kg of car parts just vanishes.

All fixed!

After a bunch of hectic late nights I got everything sorted and car on the trailer for drags. Passed scruitineering and ready to roll! I had a whole bunch of hectic late nights and was starting to question my sanity for trying to get to drag day. But I did it, and that in itself put a big grin on my face. Cool stuff first... Banged out some big rpm! Almost got to my initial goal of 10k rpm and nothing blew up. The quarter mile times were slow as I wasnt trying any launches yet, and gear shifting was still a little problematic (or maybe the driver was) But made some cool noises! My main problem of the day, and what made me call it a day after only 3 runs. Was that the ethrottle motor on one side was shutting down sometimes. What makes this doubly bad, is that this was the bank that has the TPS that my fuel map runs off. So when the throttles start to shut on that side only. The other bank runs lean and gets a bunch more timing pumped into it. Not good. So decided to call it quits before I damage the engine for unfun reasons. I suspect that the reason it had a problem, is my ethrottle motor bracket started warping. This yellow bracket was only meant to be a dimensional test piece. I finished printing an incredibly solid version from PETG-CF, that finished mid day, on day before the drags. Unfortunatley I found that the only reason the yellow one actually fit, was because it could flex slightly. As it was actually 3-4mm out. So there was no way my other one would fit, and I didnt have time to print another. So I was lucky that it still ran at all and I could get some passes in. For my 3rd run I tried putting my drag slicks on, and had the launch control setup. But ethrottle packed up almost immediately so it bogged off the line and just died. I definitely need to put a better final drive ratio in. First gear was going to 70kph, 126kph in 2nd, then crossing the line at 8700rpm in 3rd. I'm not making use of any of the good gears in a J160 box! I dont think a 4.7 will make enough of a difference so I'll look at ordering a 5something at some point. It will probably pay to get some brand new driveshafts made when doing this, as the shaft speed is going to become considerably higher. On the whole though, super stoked to have made it there, and made it back with a car that still goes. I've got some problems to sort, but they're all sortable. Keep plugging away it!

I’m back, with another tale of scatterbrain and determination! Stoke the fire and Settle in with a choice beverage. With my whole life situation completely different to a year ago, having no decent old schooler to drive ( ‘82 isn’t my speed)..I felt I’d lost my identity. The late 50’s GM range had really taken my fancy lately. Not so big on the Chev range, but Oldsmobile/Buick/pontiac/Cadillac for sure. They are big, ostentatious and dripping in space-race atomic era mid century modernism. 58 was the year they could legally have twin headlights, which give them a meaner demeanour I reckon. The 58 Buick line had THE MOST polished trim you could get on a factory motorcar..just nudging past the Cadillac. Id been chasing 58-59 mercury and Edsel wagons but not finding much, and after studying the GM’s, the fords didn’t have the same edge I was after. Mopars are sick but stylistically a few years behind.. I needed a 195* this time. Marketplace scrolling start of June found me this 58 Buick special in Rotorua. Shit pictures, vague description. Its was 8k. Not looking too bad, don’t really want another project. Saved. I toyed with the idea of a 64 wildcat coupe that was local, complete and running. Needs some rust and compliance. Easy. Not the end goal, but something old and cool to cruise with a [for sale] sign on it. $13k and getting cheaper. But I couldn’t get past that 58. I did a deep dive and I couldn’t not have one now. Shame nobody had one for sale. One bloke had a Century but his neighbour had first dibs and ended up with it. However, he said he may know where a diff was. Start of august I Started asking questions about the marketplace 58, met with short unhelpful answers via the wife. Do you have any more pictures? Are car specific items Complete? Hows the chrome? … We’ll get back to you in a week or two. No rear seat, driveline. Best to get a container. Container hire and shipping $4k. And likely to turn up looking like a mixing bowl. Nah. End of august, how are you going with those photos? … Whole time I’m silently obsessing, looking for parts and generally in a frenzy with no decent info. Then I was searching random related things on trademe and found it actually listed on there, 6k and auction ending in a couple of days! No bids, one extra photo though! From the q&a section I found out the wheels were actually gone, gone too..bugger. More should I,shouldn’t I. Max Anxiety etc. With no bids the Auction ends, I’m thinking it will be reposted, no worries. Can always message the marketplace chat and sort something later if not. But Hot damn, now my shipping budget has squared up. I ring him and eke out more info, cracked screen…Totally stripped further than original photos. “Hire a container”. Ding. The seller has offered fixed price @ 5k’ A few days until offer expires and I’m searching the world for a screen now because that could be a deal-breaker for compliance. Found one, about $1500 landed. Looking like I’ll be running a small block chev and a 10 bolt as the Buick stuff is rare. September 1st, paid in full. Ok so I’ve got a few quotes from Wise Move.. I’ll fly up, drag it out and assemble it, fly home and someone will transport back to chch. I’ll have a wee tiki tour while there. The cars in a container on axle stands in a storage facility. The parts are in a house bus project at a transport yard other side of the lake. That’s fine I’ll rent a van and there’s a few towies in town. The big pisser is these cars were about the last GM to have a torque tube..the trans bolts to a tube containing a driveshaft that bolts to the quirky big diff pinion. Panhard bar and a couple of radius rods running forward to a mount on the torque tube itself. I’ll never find one complete and it’s common in US for people to do open driveshaft conversion with a Pontiac diff. I’m aiming for easy compliance process so want original gear or period correct..think 283/powerglide/10 bolt and make it look like factory? Same as a chev would have had. NZ got a fair few 58 checks. Message a few sellers, form some plans but still a bit early for this level of organisation. so I’m thinking marketplace again, change it to Rotorua with a 400km radius: get an old diff and strop it to chassis, buy some wheels which will be different front to whatever the back end would be. Doesn’t matter just needs to roll for shipping. Or shoot to repco for hubs and stubs and an engineer for some pipe.. make a trailer beam, some workshop will let me weld that quickly. I haven’t seen under a stripped 58 and don’t really know what to expect so won’t be able to sort much until Saturday morning. Maybe a couple of sack barrows from Bunnings to get it out of container and onto tow truck? Marketplace again fills me with hope - a lady selling parts from a 56 4 door special. She’s got a whole driveline,springs, radiator, refreshed 322 and a Dynaflow trans..it’s only 8 hours driving to get to levin & back but it will solve some problems. Much research revealed that it’s a pretty different setup. Have to run a smaller motor as trans won’t fit the 58’s 364, unsure if the tube will be too long or too short. Motor is 5k which isn’t bad but how will I get it in the van and out + into the chassis at the other end. Let me know when you are ready and I’ll book flights etc and come straight up: 2nd october “can do Saturday 11th” Turns out he’s actually crook so this wasn’t a priority despite being all I could think about. Woooo! Fights, accomodation, rental van, airport parking all booked in quick succession. Good ole oldschool, post asking about Rotorua residents gets me in touch with Gaz who’s got a spot in his shed just out of town. I met him once at OS nats, shitfaced. Fucking legend! This was a huge help, as I was picturing working on gravel outside in a yard or driveway I hadn’t yet found. A few messages with Gaz, They are out of town that weekend lol… but the shed will be perfect, there’s a couple of jacks and a set of wheel dollies under the cortina. YES! Teed up a towie, all is good I pour a bag of bikkies into several bowls for the cat, pack some tools, head torch, fruitcake + a gedder dun attitude and fly up Friday arvo. In the rental, straight out to grab the Dollie’s. Blown away by the facility and setting! Trying to dial in the towie and he says he’s off to ozzy, might be able to get a fill in. Scroll marketplace again for the millionth time: Nailhead, Buick, chev wheels, HQ mags, diff, 283 v8, 5x5 rims, whitewalls, wire wheels.. (There’s also the lingering thought.. these use wheel bolts, not nut and stud. Some online things say one side is LH thread. If I don’t have any/enough that could mean derailment of any plan! welding a rim on?) Had a bit of a look around, ran around Waiotapu geothermal place an hour from closing time. Wicked! I’m pining the adventure now. The motel is fuckin grimey. Cheapest non-hostel room available but the road noise is horrific, hasn’t been updated or cleaned properly since the 70’s and the water pressure is wack.. booked it partly cause There’s a hot pool on site. Trying to dial in the towie and he says he’s off to ozzy, might be able to get a fill in. Cun+y. Hours pass, hes ghosted me. Rang another place and got the after hours lady, was going to check in with the guy on call. He rang and wasn’t too put off, said he’d ring in the morning. Up early after a shithouse sleep, grab two post off-cuts from the garden of the motel to use as blocks, and meet him and his son at the storage yard. Fuuuu, shes definitely stripped out. Has parts inside it but most are his sons! Some tins with nuts bolts brackets screws etc which look imperial.. He puts some wheels of his on the front, a dolly with wood stacked on under the middle-back of the chassis. It’s moving well! Where’s that tow truck at? Gave that number another call and he reckons he can have a guy there in 20. Sweet as, sort through the parts..Japanese vs not Japanese. Finally get a better look at this thing, it’s actually pretty fucking decent! More rust than disclosed but nothing scary. It’s bloody straight apart from RH sill having an indent and the front of the 1/4 has been pushed in a tad. That wasn’t a surprise, could see something was up in the initial photo. I might have won here! Truck shows up, initial fears allayed ‘just send it bro’. It winches on the pull-out bed fine. Looking janky but secure, I follow him out to gaz’s and nothing falls off. ART IMITATES LIFE/ foreshadowing Disembarking was a cinch on flat ground. Now off to the bus to get the rest of the parts. Oh Lordy Hey fuck these panels are really good! Jesus, there’s a set of hubcaps! Van loaded, his GMC loaded and we’re off back to the shop. Everything but the inner guards is now scattered around the shed, I’m on my own and I’m a pig in shit! Umm nothing is labelled. Nothing is bagged or labelled at all Ugh I tiredly yet excitedly pinballed around all the boxes taking stock and making piles of related items. Started sorting nuts bolts screws washers into groups, then splitting into sets. Right, I’ll start with windows and doors.. that shits pretty generic. About 5 hours of putting together/taking apart/distractions/adjustments and I’ve got glass in and moving. Doors hung and clasping. The rear glass rolls down and then pivots back real stylishly to tuck inside the body..fizzing Shagged and dirty I head back to the motel for a golden shower-spec wash up and some cans. Hot tub? so I investigate and it’s locked.. no relaxation for me. I message that guy who had a 58 century he sold to his neighbour. The diff in question was still available. Has the tube and a trans x-member too. Well…. What are you up to tomorrow, I’ll come and get it? I made some ear plugs out of wet napkin paper and get a better sleep but Up early and on the road, weather sucks so not much sight-seeing happening. I arrive in Napier, meet up. Holy fuck this is a massive diff! Some weird wasp stings my neck but it didn’t come to anything thankfully. Spot 5 wheels in the corner, investigate, turns out they are chev 15” with massive balloons on, but the centre bore fit the diff so a deal was struck. He threw in an old air cleaner he had no use for too, rapt. Back to Rotorua and 4 more hours assembling before retiring again. Hot tub locked again. Dang Trunk lid assembled and on, shes looking like a veee-hickle. How rad that the dealer badge was still amongst the parts! I’ve always wanted one. Thats a place in Manitoba, CANADA! Must have been their summer car cause it’s way more sturdy than it should be! The title is Washington state. Monday morning I shuffle in and sling more parts on, add some wheels..WTF the hubcaps fit hahaha. Much fitting and unfitting and now the dash is complete and all the trims around window secure. Many of the trim clips are rusty/snapped or missing so I can’t hang all the cool shit on for transport unfortunately. The diff is now under the car. Would you believe, it’s the one sold out from under my car originally! The snipped handbrake cable and brake lines confirm. How good! stuff piles getting smaller. Do you even have a factory 5kg Sonomatic valve radio..thought so Peep the details in the side flash! I spend what seems like 2 hours wrestling the torque tube through the frame and lining up internal blind splines 300mm inside the diff pinion. The uni joint is fuckin cooked and the yolk was flopping around so it was pretty shit for a time. There’s a hole for greasing; filled with a bung so I could get my finger in and try guide it some. Started with long bolts and pulled it onto the spline then subbed out the bolts to shorter and repeat until married! Talked some shop and assembled the headlights/buckets/rings/bezels. One side was like brand new, was bizarre. I get a call from the motel saying they are upgrading water system so wont have any hot water for the week and did I want to stay or transfer to another place in town. There’s also a takeaway right across the street so they are getting my money. TRANSFER ME BABY! I showed up filthy and he understood I wasn’t going to come right with a cold shower so I moved into town. Instant stink of durries when I opened the door (smoke free suite), it was tidier but not by much. BUT they had a fucking spa in the room so I filled that bitch and soaked away my pains, I was feeling it after a few days of rolling around in the car and under it. Would have been lush to have a dart in that spa but didn’t want to push my luck. Instead I messaged a guy from a hot rod classified page that had a motor and trans out of a 59 for sale for ages. Listed as stuck piston unknown trans @ $1500 id be a fool to pass that up now I have the rest of the driveline to suit. It’s a rare factory 4 barrel so it can Chong more gas and still be slow, moving 1800kg of Buick. Awesome! Now I could take the van up to Hamilton and collect it but that’s pushing myself a bit far. Plus 300kg of dirty old cast iron making its way through the side of the rental would be frowned upon. Also, hard to get it out of van and into the car at Gaz’. Tuesday morning First thing, I had picked up the inner guards from a bloke in town and grabbed some huge bolts for the bumpers. Went to town hanging the front sheet metal and all the bits and pieces, wrangled the rear bumper up and on, same with front. Put together the marker lights and grill..160 chrome squares influenced by the designer looking at knobs for his new kitchen Reno! Shits heavy. By about 4:30 I’m relatively happy with progress, 6 boxes are empty; flattened for recycling and the last bits condensed into a couple of plastic crates, stainless trims methodically placed around the car so as not to chaff on the journey south. Had a sweep up, back into town..spa time nigga. Going back and forward with the transporter guy the last few days wanting to know the earliest it would be ready and he goes cold. Said I’d have it ready about 11. That’s ok there’s other guys quoting around the same money. I’m peaking out a bit ‘cause the she is up a gravel drive and across a bit of paddock then down to a lush pad but car needs to come out on a bit of an angle. Wednesday dawns and I go grab a 4pack of strops, head to partsworld and see if they have any coil springs I can put under the back..I used those aforementioned fence post offcuts but there’s a stud coming out of the body at the top and a stud on the diff housing..both accept a retaining plate. The wood was harsh and it would probably shake the car apart again on the way home if it didn’t split it into kindling. First thought was a couple of rugby balls? But the stitching terminating on the ends, the studs would probably penetrate and pop. Mr. man at partsworld wasn’t as onboard as me with my ‘i need a pair of random coil springs’ request, said they only did Mazda but he went and had a look and returned with a set, including rubber retainer isolators and one end was progressive/tightly wound just like Buick! Fuck mate I’ll have em. Chur Well they actually turned out to be perfect! Might even run them permanently..time will tell if an airbag makes its way in there instead. Used my strops to hold hood on (old mate can’t find the hinges at the moment), another around the torque tube to the X of chassis, and one pulling rear end back towards the bumper..having no trans mounted means the whole assembly could shimmy forward and tyres chaff the body. Not a biggie but nice to try avoid it. Message transporter at 9:30, good to go. No response. Sat here writing this whole blurb until he messages to say hes been out of service, can’t do it but a towie mate will.. he’s on his way from Hamilton. Ok cool, this is something. Mate rings and explains he hasn’t got the winch trailer but if there was a vehicle that could help tow it up ramps it would be a go. Hmm an added level of fuckery but let’s do it. He arrives around 4, we push it out and turn a bit, he’s backed in on the rise. Planned to tow it up with the van and come alongside the trailer and truck. Van has no tow hooks and the plastic bumper is fair flush with the diff..flag. Go pinch the diesel side-by-side and it’s all go, car rolls beautifully and it stropped down. See ya in a couple of days hopefully! I do regret not taking more before pics but I was on a mission and it will come apart again. Most of the car is virgin and remarkable for age. The rust has entered the chat in the front of inner sills, front floor pans, spare wheel well, rear of trunk. Behind the trim on front of front guards, Plus oddball hole on side of hood and beside tail lamp. Has also sweat a bit behind the side flash’s. Might be deep enough pitting to need a patch. Quite manageable. I do need to concentrate on the besties Hakosuka so will try limit myself on Buick .. but we all know how that initial dose of enthusiasm goes! Discuss:

Few busy weekends between now and the end of march but if timing works out I'd be keen. +1 vote for dairy flat bakery, there's also plenty of parking at weekends on Kahikatea flat road.

Good chatting to you today Aaron. Hopefully you'll suss out the new oldschool format, find this thread and get stuck in.

The maroon Vauxhall Wyvern has abit more class

This!

Yea think im going to leave it off

Cheers man will do

will measure toyota CR30 Liteace if i remember....... seem to think it will be in the ballpark size-wise

Paid! Also @Mof should i be ontop of booking tent sites along the route ahead of time or you reckon i can just bring cash with me and wing it? Also are there any beds available at the farmhouse for the thursday night or am i relegated to my tent a day early like the street rat i am? @Gyrocket said he would cover me for trailering the gizzy boys bikes down.

I actually still have the bike. Flick me a message. Maybe we can work something out.

I'd suggest to meet a little further up the road by the dairyflat shops. The bakery there is bloody awesome and has won a heap of awards. Also I don't have anything oldschool at the moment but might try link up if things work out. It has been a long time since making it an OS meet.

Another pick a part mission Remembered the chain guide) idler is held in by two M6 pins Made up the pickapart pin removal tool 9000 Got the head. Ruc were about 350 thousand km and I found about 6 grand of receipts in the van so someone cared about it. Bores looked mint and still could see the cross-hatch but getting the block out is Def too hard basket. No Drilled passages for the oil feed or drain so not worth the effort Made a start on the oil filter gubbins but the exhaust was in the way and I was too hot and bothered to go get the sabre saw to fuck it off out of the way so it can stay there

Another plus 1 for no bumper here

Mate, I'm loving the look of your car without the front bumper. And while I'm at it your engine and gearbox choice are spot on. I'm enjoying watching your progress so please keep the updates coming.

I started the morning off by fitting my new interior lights. I've soldered little male and female spade connectors on each light wire so they are easy to remove if need be and the wiring is all wrapped in spiral bind to keep things neat. I then had a quick smoko and headed through to town for my hot date at the exhaust shop. They ended up moving the flange joint to just after the two into one split on the intermediate pipe and then replaced the section of pipe up to the stainless steel muffler input. They also found a leak on a previous weld just after the muffler which I'll stick my hand up for. Note to self ... Flash mate, your gasless welding is far to dodgy for exhausts, so just dust off your wallet and take the bloody van straight to the professionals next time.... you cheap bastard.

On the front diff now and this aint good. Open to ideas on this one although will need to run it by the cert man. Perhaps some weld on hangers and boxing in the chassis on the inside? K10 front hanger C20 front hanger location K10 rear hanger C20 rear hanger And for a laugh check out the rear spacer. Looks like something thrown at Road Runner off a cliff.

I have only done one with hearing protection and my head is already splitting. Going to have to put on my big boy pants for this one as I have about 50 more to go. And so I remember where things go, this is what I'm taking out:

That's awesome it fits so well. can you reclock that type of starter to get a few degrees more space?

Heres a lil scribble of my ruff idea

Heres a link of latest lil update if interested cheers

Well I ignored it for 6 months, but the ‘rust forming in rad support’ that was commented on the last WOF sheet, failed to fix itself. I bashed the support out today and reassembled, the under-bonnet was a month back. i was trying to hold out to do the roof and all other repairs and paint it again before it’s next warrant.. But life got in the way and it’s been non-stop. I decided I needed it back in daily use ASAP. The datsun club nationals took place on labour weekend so the Mrs and I raced up and had a thrash round the private Rodin track with about 40 other cas. Went real well but brakes faded. i had a Frankenstein speedway A15 carb on I borrowed from Brendan. it was great fun on cam but temperamental around town and flat-spotted before climbing to the moon. Now I’ve got the twins back on but seems flat. I snapped a throttle cable and had another made.. it has a totally different feel and probably needs investigating. I put a brand new set of tyres on it too. They are nice, same Nankang AS1 as before but not shot and cracked!

Today marks one year since Bart and Karl delivered this specimen unto my driveway. Seems like longer? Been a funny year. Good journey, plenty of highs and crushing lows but it goes good, looks decent and I have all my fingers, so. Recently lowered it more in the front, electronic dizzy conversion with appropriate coil, sorted a genuine ignition barrel, new gas cap. my mate wants it for a wedding car next year so that will force me to cut and polish it after fixing a few bits where things fell on it or it fell on things (bonnet fell on engine crane, cracked paint, and lamp fell on guard, sharp dent) will be good have the peel gone fer good. good journey with good group of fellas, I thought I’d spruce it up and sell it down the track but it’s good fun so I doubt that will happen!

Good day today, lots achieved and a cracker day for it. As you always do, I hoped it would spray out immaculate and I'd never have to touch it but it ended up a little peely and some shit stuck in it. So I'll have to cut and buff it, I really hate doing it but. both my repairs on the mounting areas for the cowl vents cracked when I screwed in, bit gay but not super phased. Very jazzed on the original front, looks so much better than the plastic grille. while I was waiting for it to flash off I replaced the diff pinion in the pontiac so double project win. tomorrow I'll crack into painting the pillars and doors satin black in and out then wham on the new rubbers I got from basis and hang the doors back on.