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Finished machining the last two castings. They are dimensionally the best ones so far. Surface finish not as great. Need to tune the feeds and speeds since its a harder grade material. Did billet Cam boxes and Follow Fingers. The followers are from EN36A and need to go through a few more processes. I need to have cams made. Theres guys in the UK that have been working on developing cams for this engine for the last 20+years and have a good profile to use. So ill go with that. I also used their high lift follower profile rather than the original. Once I have cams I can line bore the cam boxes to suit. Ive sent out the Follow Fingers for copper plating. Once theyre back I can remove the copper from the running faces the send them out for case hardening. Then ream and hone. The 'Follow Fingers' are cool. They're not a rocker as such, theyre a 1 to 1 finger that is basically taking the side load from the valve. Seems to be what is done on sports bikes and F1 engines. I was originally thinking I could so Valve Buckets but once I got into it it was pretty obvious they would be too heavy due to the spring diameter. That would mean changing springs, how its oiled etc, it was starting to re invent too much.

Heads back from shop getting intake seats cut done a diy head skim on the mill. this old junker head was surprisingly straight. .04mm pretty much cleaned the whole thing

It's been a long time between posts. at the end of last year I thought it was time to do something about the sponge suspension. I went to see Anthony at race shocks specialist in penrose and let them work their magic on some new struts. The logo is a super unique strut design. So it had to be custom made. (BC do sell coilovers but very expensive just for fronts when you include shipping from the uk.) We came up with a plan to make bilstein body's fit the logo knuckles. I've decided to drop it a further 20mm at the moment to try 5kg front springs and got some cobra springs made for the rear also in 5kg. I can't recommend cobra springs in chch anymore. Their service is exceptional and super fast turn around for a custom part. Subaru legacy rear shocks I'll start at the os drags. Car obviously ran fine as it's basically the same as hoping on a motorway on ramp. Last minute decision. I decided to run the new wheels I purchased, the aero disc with a a539 175/60r14. One thing I noticed on the drive to the track was that when de accelerating at motorway speed the car felt really twitchy but when accelerating was fine. Ended up going a tiny a bit faster than last year with a blistering 18.1. Did well in the dyo but played it too safe and lost out to Simon in the Cortina. The following weekend was the last hd auto day for the year. Didn't do much more prep other than adding a bit more stiffness to my adjustable sway bar mount, cleaned it again and put gas in it. I decided to take a van load of spare wheels because I wasn't feeling super confident in the new setup. First time out was crazy. The lift off over steer with the narrow 175 on the rear and maybe a combination of new stiffness basically a completely new car. I was trying to work through it driving wise picking up my balls and no lift but boy that got me into trouble. I had a big oh shit moment on turn 5. That was enough to make me re think and change set up before going back out again. The decision was made to put 20mm spacers on and the 185 nevovas on the gram lights. Which made a world of difference back to more controlled. After that I had parked it up over summer, hit a few coffee and car meets and that was it. Until just recently it had been living outside I finally got the ute out of the garage and gave the logo some time in Dry storage. It had always had a soft brake pedal. Eventually it worked but always once you where at the bottom of the pedal. with 13/16 master I can only assume it was soft for the old nanas that drove them. Honda hrv came with a larger 15/16 master cylinder that bolts directly in. So down to my local friendly pick a part and pulled a master and got a rebuild kit from repco bolted it up and tested it. Big difference, feels great. a lot firmer and more up top. So last minute decision to go to the track and test it out. Once again needed to gain confidence in the car so didn't push it super hard. Didnt even check lap times just went and had fun. Ended up having a great day with an awesome set up with Rhys and the family. For me growing up as a track kid watching my dad race, its cool now seeing the circle of life repeating. Now it's at the stage where it feels like it needs more power. Ive got a few months till os drags so a re power is on the cards. To be continued...

Dragged home a replacement block from my engine rebuilder. Ive seen red motor passageways that look way shitter. Anyway into the garage it goes. First thing was to sort out the timing gear. I have been left stranded by the fibre one shitting the bed a couple of times in the past.

Finally got around the putting together a video of the day. Bunch of random clips/highlights but gives a good idea of how it goes.

Bump

So, about that pile of windscreens. The original or windscreen #1, last seen intact about the time it came back from the sandblasters, (who took a considerable amount of care to keep protected from blasting) met its end at my fumbling hands when I decided to remove it to be sure a rust patch wasn't creeping into something larger. This really stressed me out as I assumed finding new one may end up being a high dollar import. In a stroke of luck, the local auto glazer got me a new one for what could be considered pocket change compare for what I was bracing myself to pay. Feeling relieved but also cautious, that was installed with new seals and trim. Unfortunately...... while excitedly trying to seat the trim which did not like seating fully in the new rubber I pushed just a bit too hard cracking it in almost the same spot as #1 but from the other direction. #2 seen in the naughty pile over the back got a whole lot worse due my very lack of fucks to give removing it. Queue a very embarrassing phone call to the glass man to ask for another, but yes, they did have another I could pick up, write that down as stupid tax I guess. This made me much more cautious and observant the second time around, what I think happened is the new rubber wasn't shaped to the bottom of the frame like the old was that I had removed a number of times, this meant the screen was pushing hard against the top and in a position it didn't want to be in all made worse by me trying to push a seal into a grove it couldn't fit in. Second time round, noticing this and taking care to seat the screen down, everything went together just like in the youtube videos. Stupid rushed mistakes make for good learning? I did get to enjoy one moment from this episode, windscreens make a wicked noise when tossed into the concrete pit at the dump.

Finished.

Swapmeat. Need I say more? Come for the longest running o/s event. Just like every year, it’s the first weekend of August. Friday night shenanigans at the ‘Ding Hotel. We've locked in the Lounge Bar again - a bit further away from the pokies but it's choice. Saturday til noon attendance to the Swapmeet itself hosted by the Palmy North Hot Rod Club down at Manfeild, Feilding. Best place for speedway sauce covered hotdogs and Jag IRS parts. Entrance fee is usually $10 and Automotive only swapsite $25. Bring ya cash. Saturday afternoon adventures at TBC. Likely to be a cruise and/or a mystery shed visit. Saturday night take #2 at the Formal Brown Tie Dinner accommodated by the Mekong Thai Restaurant, Feilding (formerly known as Lee's Family Restaurant). Note, BYO wine in bottles and/or anything else that fits in one. Strickly no goons. Last year we followed on at the Ding Lounge Bar again but TBC/open for alternatives. Sunday morning at some cafe but if you were man enough to party hard then you’ll be in no state to eat. It's a book your own affair so ask around the crew and figure out a plan that works for you. Book your own accom, sort your own ride! T-shirts and stickers TBC! Who’s ken?

Type T solex - typically off an 18R-GU engine. A full diesel soak wont hurt it, they are designed for fuel. pop the top cover off and clean out all the jets with compressed air or brakeclean. Bottom accelerator pump diaphragm may need replacement too. I have restored a few sets - vapour blast and new gasket kits/replate everything.

Thabks for that. Doesn't help that i have no real idea what i am clicking on. Is a lot more user friendly than freecad though. Just have to unlearn some habits as it seems SW does a lot of things automatically that i had to learn to do myself in freecad. Next thing to learn is how to add a plane on a set angle to an existing sketch. Youtube should be able to help for that though.

Solidworks is pretty shit for editing scans, you can basically only bring it in as a graphics body which cannot have operations performed on it. I have been told that fusion360 can make an stl in to an editable body, but I tried once and it/me was fucking useless. You best bet is Onshape, it imports an stl as an editable surface with certain limitations. But you should be able to create other surfaces and cut the scan with them, or do mutual trims etc. Just make sure the file isnt too big otherwise you will be there for a long time. I have found Bambu studio to be pretty good/quick at reducing scan size without losing heaps of detail. You just ignore the error when it is a meter bigger than the build volume.

Old huckery diff mounts are now axed off and I’ve stripped the layers of retro paint off and primered the centre section. I need to buy new mounts and have them welded on along with a nut to help fix the soft brake like junction to hard line. oh and in other news, Simmons are sold….. 14x8 MINT Tridens are in the shed and I have a excellent set of Eagers coming up soon. Will buy new 9” drum brakes circa $750 and have new bearings pressed on the axles. I got a used 750 Holley DP also.

Other sides done.

I have never been happy with this engine. The vacuum leak like dramas I mostly dialed out of it, but this weekend I went to take it for a blat and starting it made it sound like timing was way out. It eventually started but I drove it into the workshop. Going to replace the engine with a known working one. Blardy shitty holden reds I dunno... Radiator has seen better days. Might replace. Might take the mounts out and try and lower it to get to the bellhousing bolts so I dont have to pull the interior back out.

Hello welly boes. Made a stupid lowball offer on a 2009 fiat 500 and somehow old m8 accepted. Problem is, unless I can pull some shit together for next weekend, im tied up til mid July to come get it. The seller reckons hes not in a rush for me to pick up, but dont wanna push it. Anyone free to pick up and hold for a month or so? Its all completely drivable. Its manual as well if its any sort of useful info. Just states "wellington city" so fuck knows what suburb yet but I'll find out. The fizza in question Chur my mokos.

I think you will find it is 2121 Or is it, what is the model code?

The angled plane was for something else, not the scan. Have not tried onshape, i dislike the lack of privacy etc. Not that anything i do is cool or would be worth copyrighting haha. Current project is making a tablet mount for my daughter to clip on side of her bed. So i dont have to wake up early on weekends she can entertain herself. Onto mk3 so far, gets easier each time as i learn slowly from each round of cockups.

Are you trying onshape? If so getting planes in place is kindof more difficult than sw, although you can make a 3 point plane from points on the scan which can be useful for orientating things

Ok, finally after 3 years figured out why I have shitty IAC control out my genuine IAC valves (3 of the fucking things) turns out the all had undersized pintles so they weren't actual sitting on the seat just moving in and out of bore. For first time it now starts without throttle. Such a small thing has been an absolute prick to solve. Its feels weird the car having this control its basically like ive been driving it carbied all this time. Zero feedback to pcm its been me feathering throttle to make it do stuff.

Making a start on the clubsport couch got all my measurements just need to get some box section and make it happen

So the other side got the same treatment, during which the door was hung on the top hinge so that it wouldn't look silly before the channel was welded in place, we found that the door jams weren't far off but the tolerances were generous and once its in the place it can't go forward or backwards that much anyways. I was keen to get the shell out back home before last xmas and me going off to Nam. So I got my trusty steed and the trailer and I got it home.

Those chrome type days make me nervous aye. Seen a few incidents where someone has put 100 points into horsepower and 5 points into suspension and brakes. Then had predictable outcomes, sometimes involving Gran Turismo style braking into turn 1.

Took the car to Hampton downs on the long weekend. Almost no prep as I had a busy week at work, but I got there and had an enjoyable day with the family popping by, before heading off to Nana & Grandads 5mins down the road which was sucg an ideal setup. Car ran well, worked through a few setup and basic changes, and learnt lots. Bonus to pit alongside Nick and Taryn, share some yarns and tools! Love the mantra behind the simple fun the Logo provides - intentionally the opposite end of the scale of the Levin. I thought the car was pretty fast, and it puts a massive smile on my face. Managed a 41.5 as my best time - didn't really go there to set any times, but it seems to be an OK pace. Quick Summary: Small track didn't really suit the C60/17" tyre gearing well, so basically used 3rd gear the whole track - but stayed in lift the whole time. Made me want a final drive kit. I found that being a gear higher than in a lower powered (i.e. 4age) car worked well - using the torque to pull out of corners rather than upsetting it with another gear change shortly after the apex. This is consistent with my learning at Manfield - something I need to adjust my driving style for. Had a few oil related cuts - tweaked the RPM limit tables a bit, but didn't want to go much further without properly understanding the data. I suspect I'm getting oil surge (all the corners except for 1 were the wrong way for my sump so good test at least). Played with rear swaybar a setting after the first session was a little slippery - but in hindsight, I could have left it because as the tyres heated up, it was manageable and gripped well. I'm starting a notebook to record all these setup changes and findings at each trackday. Brakes were the hardest thing to figure out, with too cold/no bite, then overheating - I don't feel like I was getting the most from them (which I think I figured out). NO MORE TYRE RUB!!!!! I was soo relieved about this - still have PTSD from that job, not ken to do again anytime soon. Soo now I have no more tyre rub... I can drop it another 15mm if only doing track stuff. Road height currently. Quick lunch time brake bleed. Need to revisit my brake bleed setup with some better hose, brake cleaner etc. After the trackday I found a loose fitting on master cylinder that was causing the issues - although not leaking enough to be noticeable. Home in one piece. Can't ask for much more than that. The more I drive this, the more I want to drive it. So next step is to focus on getting authority card and start out cert process, along with the odd low-key track day to test changes. Would love to street thrash this car on the regular. Will do some kind of cinematic compilation in the next wee while. CBF right now.

Alright so this is the final in my punishing Car is up on stands series of posts. (maybe) Video first then nerd stuff second After all of the headaches and frustrations I've had from persisting with ethrottle. I'm finally starting to see some of the rewards. My ethrottle tracking is stable and reliable enough that I can start doing some part throttle tuning decently. Ethrottle makes it super easy because you can make it so any pedal travel over 20% limits the motor to 20% throttle, if you want to tune the 20% row. This engine has been real fiddly in a few areas at low rpm and low load where it goes atkinson cycle and/or transitions out of it. I've also got some bank to bank imbalance. Although that's annoying, it's at least consistent now. So I'll just build a compensation table for it. It might seem silly having the car up on stands compared to driving it or going to the dyno. But using the wheels and gearing as a flywheel allows you to reach some low load and low rpm spots that are very hard to get to otherwise. I spent some time going through the 3%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 50%, and 100% rows and the interpolated between. So it's good enough to take it for a drive without any surprises. It hasnt had any issues with vibration etc causing problems anymore which is great. Some of my previous VE improvements were a little misleading, because it had jacked up the injector spray time to pretty much fully open. Which doesnt flow proportionally as much as 85% or whatever. So with the new intake, diddling the ports a little bit, bigger injectors and the new exhaust setup. This is the full throttle VE table differences now that the motor is tuned back to target. Pretty hectic at 6500rpm for reasons unknown! But it does the same thing every time. Maybe adjusting injector timing or VVT angles will drop the number there to something more realistic. Supposedly you can estimate power increase by taking between 50% and 90% of the VE increase as % of power gained. So splitting the difference and on the basis of 75% of VE increase = power increase, it's probably maybe looking something like below. I'm guessing the 6500rpm thing is some sort of weird VE oddity and it wont actually make power peak there. I will be annoyed if it's peaking at 6500 on the dyno next time haha. Will be weird to shift to the next gear and end up with better power... If the rest of it is somewhat accurate, will be happy. I'm circling the drain towards having smaller and smaller problems to resolve which is great. I'm currently mucking around with the VVT PID settings a bit more, as one side is still oscillating slightly. Then both exhaust pulleys are a bit sluggish to reach target. This is what the intake is doing while cruising: PID stuff is annoying to figure out, so I've just taken a log of the results and dumped it into chatgpt along with my existing settings. It's given me some new numbers to work with, hopefully it'll hone in on some good settings in fewer iterations than using my potato brain to guess at it. I took the car for a drive up the road and nothing fell off, and all of my rockers sound like they are still in the right place. So, in the context of this absolutely snakebit project that is a huge win. Haha.

The hard foam was coming away from the plastic bracket under. Fuxed.

After a little more work to get it ready, it was time for Nuggie to venture out of the garage and onto the road, for the first time since at least 2012. The first job was to torque up the hub nuts and stake them. I jammed the brake pedal down, and then torqued them to the required 200NM-and-a-bit-more (the spec is 150-260NM). I then used a punch to stake the nuts so they can't come loose Whilst there, I also jacked the hubs up and torqued the swaybar end nuts too. Another quick fix was fitting three new wiper blades. One of the front ones was missing, and the rear was perished. I went with 450mm and 350mm for the front, and 350mm for the rear. Moving to the headlights, I wanted to remove and replace the brackets that the light units attach to. The RH side was OK, but the LH side was rusty, and the corner garnish was holding on by hopes and dreams As it turns out, the dreams were dashed, and the bracket came off with the garnish when I removed it The bracket is held in with one bolt on the slam panel, one nut in the engine bay, and two more nuts inside the wheel arch (liner needs to be removed or the front loosened). With it removed, I could wire brush the surface rust and give it a quick shot of black zinc The new bracket was then fitted into place, without the lamp or its mounting hardware. The bracket for the garnish is on the bottom right, sticking forward. I cleaned the bracket up and gave it a coat of black zinc, to hopefully keep the corrosion at bay. I replaced all the headlight adjustment screws and the plastic blocks they go into. I didn't replace the springs, and I probably should've; they're a bit ugly. The garnish was refitted. I had to recover the plastic grommet from the old rusty bracket If the mounting screws are good, the light actually just slips over them and then twists into place. This one on the car was wrong; the washer goes behind the light. There's no way to remove the light unit to change the bulb. This is the correct fitment After replacing the other side too, I gave them a quick setup, but I really need to align them before I try to take it for a WOF, at least to get them in the ballpark. With those replaced, I could refit the bumper, once and for all this time (or for a while, at least) I sourced some of the correct screws for the top edge. These have a step in them, so the head of the screw doesn't crush the plastic This is what happens when someone has replaced them with normal bolts in the past, the plastic splits With that done, I could finally install my new wheels and get the car on the ground for the first time since I got it, way back in October. The new wheels came with some Nankang AR-1 semi-slicks. They're a tad wider than the old 165 width tyres... They'll stay for a bit, just because they're near new and do the job, but longer term I'll get rid of them and fit the correct size Yokohamas. The 175/50R13 has slightly too small a profile, and the width is a tad extreme. Not to mention, an 80 treadwear tyre is madness for on the road. I won't lie, I'm pretty happy to see it off the stands and on its own wheels The Suzuki Sport Type-C wheels are perfect for it. I like the original mesh wheels, but mine are in very poor condition. The car was completely covered in thick dust, and still needs a good clean, but I used some waterless wash and got the worst of it off. The glass all got a thorough clean too It looks better than it is. I really need to clean it and then give it a machine polish. This is also the first time the engine bay has been completely together As a small side note, having looked into what the solenoids on the firewall are, one is something to do with the auto trans (only fitted to autos), and the other is the idle up valve for the AC. Neither of these are fitted anymore, so I tried blocking the pipes off to see what happens I'm not sure if the ECU will throw a code if I actually remove them, but we will see. So far, the car starts, runs and idles better than it did with them connected. It's no longer trying to fight the idle up solenoid, and relying on the cold start valve for the cold start idle up, and then the actual idle screw for warm idle - how it should be. Anyway, I connected the battery, turned the key and away the engine went. Good oil pressure, no noises it shouldn't be making. I jumped in, and for the first time, I drove my C-Chassis Alto Works. Because the engine, brakes and clutch are all minty fresh, I was taking it easy, keeping the revs down and minimal boost (it's hard, it comes on boost at the twitch of the foot), and lots of engine braking to seal the rings. Despite trying to give it an eye-lignment before I left, the alignment is well cooked, so the car was a little wayward to drive, but that is an easy fix. Everything did as it should. The gearbox is a little noisy, but nothing I wouldn't expect for its age, and it might get better as I use it more - No grinding through. The engine responds well, feels nice and strong, the turbo makes boost, and it makes all the right noises. I'm very happy with how the initial shakedown went. Now I need to pull it to bits again, replace the rear arm bushes, give it an alignment, touch up a couple of spots on the body, and then I think we're ready to go for a WOF and see how badly it fails. Of course, we got some shots of the car out of the garage. The last time it was out here, it had no engine and was being pushed into the garage. I'm hoping the reverse rake gets better over time. I'm hopeful that it's because the front springs haven't had any weight on them, probably since about 2012, when it came off the road. The lower profile tyres won't be helping the look either, but I can't do much about that right now. What a cool wee car.

The sumps came out of the molasses and were clean as a whistle. Exposed MANY patent numbers on the bottom of the trans pan, lol. Ordered black diesel-heater ducting for the other sizes required, installed sweet as. The Bailey channels showed up, was a perfect fit on the divider side, had to spread the latch side channel out as it was too tight but lush AF now. Ordered exhaust gear, one of the multi-bends is due tomorrow..never got close to chance to get started but was nice to have it for the long weekend? Right, rust time again. The sill was creased and with no good way to get at it, I had to chop it out. Thats the crummy stuff I can’t get at with the chassis under’er. Hoicked some pieces out of the rear wheel tub to replicate after work. Id say that should be dialled next weekend.

Hey team, small useless update. My boy is now at the point where he hardly fits / doesn't like being in the rear facing seat so he's been upgraded to a front facing and my daughter is in a booster seat. The consequence of this is now the whole family can fit in the Jag. You wouldn't believe it but the rear seats are basically useless for any human with legs so this stage will only last a little bit, but weekly family drives are on the cards for the next little bit. Which I guess is the whole point. Apart from that I took it out for the night recently, and somehow started it then locked the keys in as we were loading up bags into the boot. Very awkward. In the city with no tools and an old english car sitting idling in a underground carpark, locked.... With some rapid googling I came up with a plan. I went back to the hotel too and stole a bread knife and a metal coathanger. I managed to undo and remove the passenger side mirror, this gave enough access with the coat hanger to manipulate the lock mechanism open. So there ya go, jags are reasonably easy to get in to in a pinch! 👌 Cheers

The 4m40 is not a good motor is does over heat once u have done more then 250,000km on it and it does freak cylinder heads easy and it’s not good for towing, off-road, or anything if it had over 250,000km bc u will spent $9-$10k (AUD) on it for it to be rebuild or the cylinder head replaced

Fun afternoon in the shed sorting out the Homer Simpson spice rack spec battery tray, was a last minute abortion addition back when the twincam went in that I didn't really want returning and new technology makes it much easier to sort. 3d scanned the left side of the engine bay, engine and carbs on top, firewall to the right, inner guard bottom with the front diff and engine mount on the left. Mounting points to pick up are the two studs in the firewall and one bolt hole on the engine mount which is not at all square to anything. Not to mention its bit of a tight fit in there between the engine mount, intake manifold and top wishbone mount. Throw the mesh into CAD and draw up something that misses all the important stuff. Send the pattern over to the CNC router and let a 2mm end mill chomp out a shape. Quick diversion to the bead roller on the way over to the folder, a quick weld on the MIG, fire on some rattle can and there we go Picked up the battery and a selection of oils this afternoon, can't be far off starting up eh?

As per usual with this cursed machine, some good and some bad. Haha. My ethrottle bits turned up, and they had accidentally printed them out of stainless. So they're way heavier than expected. Not only that but they were absolutely impossible to try and drill or tap holes into. I broke a few taps, then just tried drilling. Ended up melting some drill bits. Anyway, they're going to reprint them for me from aluminium. But in the meantime I fitted them up so I'm not stuck for another 6 weeks waiting. Looks kinda weird but they are working great. Next thing, I finished doing a 1-2 pipe over the diff. Was a bit fiddly making space for 2 pipes but everything's good. Then checked for leaks and what not and back to the usual jack stand hoons. Doesnt sound quite how I want it yet, but I am sick of doing exhaust work and just wanna go drive it. So thats the next plan! While its up on the stands I just need to add a few heat shields and move some lines to keep fuel stuff a bit further away from the hot pipes. But hopefully not too long until it's good to go.

UPS van came through with more goods from OldBuickParts Starter relay, battery cable junction box, steering coupler, heater duct in a diameter I couldn’t get here, + some body mounts. I was going to make some mounts work from off the shelf rubber pads but soon realised that was stupid and to just buy the thing.. Didn’t want poly bushes which are easily available and cheaper. In other news, I made some rubber gaskets for the lock and handles from some nice sheet id hoarded..last few cars I’ve assembled these seals perished really fast, ‘don’t make them like they used to’ etc. Started rust repairs! Have finished RH front of sill, opened up the LH + made the thick sandwiched reinforcement, along with the inner. (When I say finished I mean 90%, the other 10 happens when I take the floor pan out and replace, giving full access). I need to hack off the outer sill and planish it..it’s been a bit smooshed, then I can zap it all together. Made a piece for the kick-panel area but ran out of weekend. Have done some homework on the Bailey channel situation for the doors and I think I can make something from Basis work. Fine print on the proper stuff ex USA reads ‘comes as a rigid strip 72in long’. Fuck shipping that. As fate would have it, a rusty 57 Buick super 4dr HT showed up at work so now I have an excuse/opportunity to make duplicates of the repairs and I’ll be sorted at home too.

not bad

I've got a weird old car and now a weird engine in it. This is fine, but sometimes it would be nice if there were a whole bunch of other people with the same thing so we could compare notes. My existing process has been a lot of trial and error at trackdays to get the car handling nice. The problem being that over the course of my ownership, at best I could probably get to a track event 2 or 3 times a year. So it's hard to get a feel for the effect of subtle changes. My new engine (not track tested yet apart from drag strip) revs a lot higher than the old one. Which is problematic for my existing gearing. I've got a 6 speed box but now 2nd gear will run right to 130kph which is fairly stupid. So I've been considering my options for changing final drive ratios. It's all well and good looking at the graphs and numbers, but I dont think this gives a particularly good idea of how the car might feel. So I've setup my car in a simulator to try and get a general feel for how various changes might impact it. The PC game called Assetto Corsa is very highly moddable which is great. There's no Toyota Carina model in the game. But each car essentially has all of its important stats set via a series of text files that you can edit. I've taken the base model of an AE86 coupe and then revised it to the known details of my car which are slightly different for wheelbase, weight etc. What's cool though, is that using Chatgpt/codex I can have it sift through a whole bunch of real life data, to input into the game to refine the model. I figure that if I can tip as much real life information into the simulator as possible, I'll get a baseline that is as close as possible to reality. So any changes that I make from here, will have a reasonable chance of being realistic. I've got four pretty good sources of historical information about the car. Corner weights, Dyno results, ECU logs, and GPS data. I've fed the dyno results image into chatgpt to build the power curve of the motor in the game. Then it's used the corner weight info to set the weight distribution and overall weight. I've fed my ECU logs into it, as these have a very good record of gear shift times, engine free revving rate, coast down rate etc. Then I've fed the GPS data in. From which it analyzes average corner speed, low corner speed, high corner speed, braking rate etc. To develop a tyre model for the car based on real life data. Then also total braking force. I had a really good laugh when the best lap time I've managed after about 30 laps in the game so far. Matches my PB in real life. How this has been useful: I was initially thinking that I would need around a 6:1 final drive ratio to make all of the gears usable. But with some testing it was actually incredibly annoying, as it needed a lot of mid corner gear shifts. I've found that my diff size (Toyota F series) has an off the shelf 5.3 ratio that is commonly used for off roading. This is looking like the best overall compromise and gives a top speed of around 220kph which is plenty enough for an Toyota made out of bean cans. My car has always been very softly sprung compared to what other people run. I believe this is because I've had an excessively stiff front swaybar, and I've just made the rest of the car work around that. So I've been using the sim to get a feel for what sort of front spring rate might pair well with a softer bar. It looks like going to around a 200lb front spring will work really nicely. Or at least be a very good starting point compared to a stab in the dark. I cant wait to finally get my car back out there again, and see how the new setup works out. On a more modern tyre and with the new engine, should be a few seconds quicker than a 1.21 hopefully. It's felt well worth the effort of a few rainy days inside to get the car setup this way to test some iterative changes and see what's worthwhile or not. Unsurprisingly, putting a grippier tyre on seems to be exponentially more beneficial than any other slight fiddling of suspension settings.

Did I get a fair bit done this week? Yes. Did I start but not finish WAY more aspects? Oh Yes Got an organiser and sorted nuts bolts screws washers etc as opposed to piled into tins as they were; flash. Fuel line ran, had a shit of a time trying to find the route down the chassis, and the hardware to suit the holes..turns out they had rubber hose front to back with special clips that never made it to me! That won’t do in NZ anyway, ffs Never too late to start saving weight is it? Nutted out the heater and vents, hooked everything up and made a list of the (4!) sizes for the flexi tubes to track down. Found homes for some of the random brackets. Picked petrified sealer, dumdum and some corrosion, then brunox sprayed spots to put a halt to that until paint O’clock. Got up in behind the dash and cowl too. Chopped out the second row body mount braces from the floor to gain access to symmetrical rotten bits on inner sill. Have dumped them in the molasses to chooch. Measured up and Templated the pieces I need to make. A couple of mousepads provided the right thickness for replicating tail lamp and marker light seals. Pulled the tail lamps apart and cleaned, polished etc along with spiffing up the biiig outer housings. New screws This was the exhaust outlet side so was fairly tarnished in comparison. Got into the front markers too, split the whole assembly down to polish shiny bits, scrub lenses, mend some broken hardware, metal backers in molasses tank. Doors got a good scrape and vacuum inside then brunox’d, did any surface rust in jambs too, nothing to hide from repair certifier. Pulled the vent windows apart and polished, fit new rubbers and back together they go. Turns out the iddy biddy strip I was supplied needed bonded to the OE steel backing that has hold-down tangs, so had to snap off the plasticised old rubber first. Went to Rare Spares and pickApart looking for suitable Bailey channel but didn’t score.. vent side has polished beading on each side and the striker side is uber wide as the window has bonded chrome frame running in the channel. Basis might have something or I sack up and get the real, much darer stuff off ROCKAUTO. Also got the main outer weatherstrips fitted. whipped a door handle out to have a key made for them as too, the trunk lock. Motor dropped off to Frontline to see if she’s a contender. Front UJ and output housing dropped to MS Coombes to see if they can make a bushing work and see about sloppy staked joint. Left the spindle with them too incase they can make me a new LHT nut. Had some OK shock bushes in the hoard so stuffed them in the top of the rears. One was torn and dog-eared, looked ratshit. Quite a spot to get to when assembled so. I’ve just spent another weeks wages on more bits from OldBuickParts I simply can’t shake this ‘do it factory’ mindset I’ve got and fuck me, it’s hard on the well-being. Eg, run fuel line front to back with some P clamps like a human, or spend a day searching the internet and online manuals to see how it goes for the absolute fear of squashing it or having to do it again..sandblast and paint some clips that sorta work and find matching nuts and bolts small enough to clear the clip but not pull through the OE holes.. only to simply pop rivet them. Shrug Cummon you dysregulated cunt, stop making big jobs any bigger.

Sweet! Would love to get it back under the car but then I got to thinking perhaps I should run fuel line and exhausts and all sorts of things while it’s easy..

Fuuuu, that will give a man Drymouth. Ultimate sketch, too many stacked items prior to this photo, to gain height of about 770 but it’s all I had and I got away with it! Had the engine crane with a strop round the back, worked well but allowed some ass-clenching sway at times when working on the front. Frame is great as expected, some wee wobbles to tweak back from previous shady jackwork but they are moving happily with a kissa butane. Will strip and clean, fire some paint upon it and reattach the completed suspension this week. Trans went back together. There’s a leftover wee needle/rod that I found stuck to the scarf magnet on My vice.. I’ll re-read my manuals but it doesn’t seem to be mentioned. While the trans kit was awesome, Unfortunately was missing a seal or 2 which id have thought pretty important so I’ve made some inquiries, there’s one on EBay but it’s a bit dare. Still great considering how hard it must be to source these bits now. Always Disconcerting to have lots of leftover bits but kit covers many years and iterations of Dynaflow. (‘58 actually had a orphan version that’s very expensive to rebuild, remember mine is from a ‘60) I also had to remove a thrust washer that looked important to get the right end play so I might revisit that, but for now it’s all in one piece again and not precariously spread all over the shed.

Before I drag the chev into the workshop I'm doing a clean up. I have so many bits left over that it's clear I need a tender. So was hoping to open it up to the peanut gallery for ideas. 10ft or smaller Wooden Preferably outboard powered Be dragged behind the whaler over the cook straight and if that shits the bed, is able to get me home. So that means cool hydroplanes are out. Any ideas?

Just ticked off the 3rd track day over the weekend. We had a good 6 weeks between days so I had a bit of time to try out improvements. First thing was trying to tackle the aggresive left front tyre wear by killing the understeer and body roll. I asked a few fellow fwd racers and they all said stiff rear / big bar. No factory rear sway for the logo this meant anything I did would need to be custom. I already had a rear sway bar from integra but it was only about 10mm to 12mm so didnt feel it was worth making it work because the difference wouldn't be noticeable. I was poking around the garage and I came across the 24.5mm torsion bars from my Narava. Then came across some honda fit sway bar links. Opened my parts drawer and found some starlet sway bar bushes. Started with making some mounts for the bar to mount to the axle. Originally wanted to mount it underneath facing forward but fuel tank was in the way. Facing backward and underneath fouls the panhard as it goes through its travel but the closer it is the arc of the arms doesn't interfere with the panhard. So I made mounts that mount it about level with the bottom on the back face of the axle. There is just enough room between the axle and panhard for everything. That was the trickiest part after that finding mounting for the body mounts was somewhat easier but still unsure if where I've actually put them is any bit legal but could cut them off and make them bolt on. (Just tacked in photo) When testing, I was finding the bar was shifting to the left potentially due the arc of the panhard when going over bumps. I've since put some bolt up hose clamps that seems to have stopped the problem. Also doing test drives it's now started lifting rear wheels when cornering hard and entering driveways. Other notable things I changed was trying out some semi slick ish tyres for the front the are pretty meaty but seem soft and they are cheap. So of course I needed another set of rims which of course needed a complete restoration. So blasted the centers and had Arrow wheels take out the buckle and weld the lips and re polish. Then painted the centers in gloss white. The improvements are definitely noticeable I can now keep my foot flat in 3rd gear going into t3 t4 at Hampton club circuit. I was lifting before entering previously. Just feels so much better all round. Could definitely do with a heavier front spring to stop the rear wheel lifting so high (was told almost 200mm high) but still in the testing stages and still managed to consistently be doing 46 seconds (dont know what it was before never had lap timer untill the last two sessions of the day) All in all everything was good had a small event with the hub nut starting to come loose but thankfully that was found quickly. Looking forward to the next day later this year going to take the winter off to do some other things while weather is crappier.

Here is some photos. Couldn't fit them all in one post It's a honda so it has to have a wrinkle finish rocker cover. Also while engine was out I did cambelt and water pump. The timing Marks were a bit confusing but looked into it online and found the timing Marks on the back of cam gear line up to the head while rocker cover is off. I guess it's so you can see while engine is still in the car. Did the sump gasket while it was on the engine stand. unfortunately I couldn't get the shifter linkage off the gearbox so I painted it with a zinc coating and clear coated it. Kept the axle ends in to stop overspray getting in the box and them blacked them after. Note: brand new genuine Honda dipstick.

Haha gran turismo 2 irl. Sorry I didnt realize that was you at the start. We could have chatted about kingcab's. You did a great job of waving everyone to the line.

Hopefully everyone was thinking I was engine swapping the logo. If you have seen anything that I've worked on in the past you will know my skill set is make something pretty before actually working. Then worry about the driving/functioning later. The logo has fallen somewhere in the middle. (Currently) at this stage we are on track for the drags next weekend. Here are some photos from the past few weeks Thanks for looking

Bonus pics My son loves this car.

@Sunbeam injected. Awesome little car. Bit soft suspension from factory feels bit like it's going to tip over. Bigger tyres help

Quick post. •Exhaust fixed •New genuine window mouldings arrived (fronts only, rear is discontinued) •Wheels painted •Tyres fitted Pictures

Every minute of this car has been enjoyable. Reminds me of my teenage years working on the driveway, basic mods and exciting. This weekend waterblasted the under side and gave it a good scrub. Chucked the new springs in and the adjustable panard bar. The finished result is just temporary till I get my tyres fitted to the new rims but is starting to look less nana spec. Photos don't really do it justice on how much lower it is. About a 40mm drop. One tiny con is now the exhaust is hitting the sway bar. Thankfully that's not too tricky to fix. Thanks for looking.

No point having all that power if the glovebox cant handle it. what a waste of money

Regular winter Programming commences this month. 7pm Wednesday 17th June at Spitfire Square out by the airport. Discussion Thread: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/Chenery/