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and back in the hole. ive only run it for about 10 minutes but it seems much better than before. ill get a better idea tomorrow. 2020-03-10_06-16-02 by sheepers, on Flickr

Motor is back together with ARP head studs and vvti 1uz multi layer steel gaskets. So it's better than it was before. It's ready to go back in which may happen tomorrow.

Finished the other side 4-link mount. Bought some more wheels too. 13x6.5j SSR MKII's. Gave them all a beadblast and polish, still need some paint at some stage. Bought some new screws for the headlight trim, gave the trim and headlights a polish and assembled them. Made some new chassis rails out of some 50x50x2.5mm box section. It nearly perfectly slid over the existing chassis rails, which was ideal for plug welding it. The front of the rails/foot well section has gained 25mm of ground clearance now, which makes the sills and chassis pretty much flush, before the chassis was quite a bit lower. Also extended the rails to go all the way through the rear seat foot well and up to the rear chassis section. Should be way more rigid now! Cut out the floor that was hanging lower than the chassis rails and made some new panels and welded them in. The other side is a bit more work, as it will have an exhaust tunnel going through there as well. I should hopefully be able to tuck the exhaust right up above the lowest point. Once that's done the sills and chassis rails will be the lowest point in the centre section of the car. Might need to look at whether I raise the front crossmember or not.

After the prep there was some PAINT!!!! I took heaps more photos putting the windows and badges plus interior, headlights, bumpers (were a bastard to line up again) and all the other stuff back on but a bunch have corrupted so that's lame. So damn shiny!

Ok Just finished putting on the snuffleupagus. looking good so far! red is the dual plenum. blue new runs from all the other testing i done up there ^ somewhere blue: new plenum with correct runner length. green: weld elbows with dual plenum red : long ali bends with dual plenum pink: dual plenum bolted straight to throttles New setup wins everywhere. when back on the normal 13psi should get interesting

We needed a Family car since ive got a kitset family and dogs and small motorbikes, and everyone loves CC, so we never sold it and it sees alot of use. It CHONGS gas and has no performance to make it worthwhile. Needed new boots ASAP. I had my heart set on Hustlers but they got sold out from under me. Tridens look ham on Wagons but great on all other models, i wasnt allowed Cragar SS so it was to be 12 slots! 7in are common but pooze, these things need 8's and attitude. Que overpriced mags. What happened? Gotta pay the cost to be the boss. Im such a jew but made the effort to 'make' the look complete. The roof and door shuts are factory, someone has hit the sides and engine bay with CAT yellow, horribly. They missed most of the sills, sprayed over silicone on the bumper and then flatted off the sides but never polished it.. Its in pretty good shape. Theres a split in the bonnet skin, lumps on some doors but ultimately a good one. I already have a tin of 2K paint to respray it..Its a richer, slightly orange shade.Think NYC cab. Eagle eyed will notice we blacked out the trim around windows. Im not sold on it but its certainly not a bad move. The carb gave some trouble so was pulled down and cleaned, new accelerator pump. Gave it the usual, new fluids, rocker cover gasket, filters, plugs, leads, cap, rotor, points, vac hoses, heater hoses, heater tap, water pump, belt, washer etc. Its been on the road for almost a year now. Ill drag out some more photos in the coming days

well then this covid-19 kicked in and beach hop was no longer happening and i didn't have any idea when i was going to be moving into the new shop. so i mentioned to a few people that i was going to try lower the kombi, had a few things to bolt in and hopefully lower it. @Beaver @bobby1930 and @Geophy popped over and well bolts didn't want to come off which wasn't really an issue just meant the kombi would be in the middle of the shop till i sorted it. no real drama didn't know when i was moving. i had mentioned to a mate a while back With beach hop on the way i really wanted to mix the kombi up a bit and add something a bit different to it. other than it been a white box. I had mentioned this style to a mate a couple of times in passing and he said shit i draw that up for you. wasn't to much longer he popped passed work and traced the wheel arch/door and said it'll cost _ _ _ _ _ _ _ amount. i said hell yeah go ahead which i wasnt really fused about happening any time soon now that beach hop was off. but then covi-19 really kicked in. 2 nights out he turns up and slaps this on the side. and now the kombi is stuck in the old shop with new graphics on it and no wheels or suspensions till lock down is off or till i can lest get over there to bring it to the new location.

pulled the pin yesterday and painted the exterior. the basecoat went down beautifully. but i really made a hash of the clearcoat. quite alot of sags, and in hindsight, the lighting in the garage was shit so i couldnt see them forming and i think i was holding the gun too close. really took the fun out of it, however all it means is a bunch more colour sanding which ill tackle in a while once its gone nice and hard. on the plus side, the thing looks dead straight, really happy with the sanding job. have un masked it, which was a tour of all my fuckups, but ultimately itll come up awesome. the colour is amazing and i cant wait to see it in the sun.

Gave it a coat of wd 40 before I wrapped it, tried to keep it away from the seams as much as possible but it did the trick, theres a couple of panels that I didn't do but even they aren't as horrific as I thought they would be. The worst of the surface rust is here, But is pretty minor. The roof on this garage was totally poked so mum had some new iron out on last summer.. Soooo much drier in here now which I guess helps with corrosion. This door wasn't coated for some reason.. Still, not bad really, just surface shit. Another shot just because.. Fuck I've got too much shit..

currently still own this and its still not going... took it to kumeu last year running on 7 cylinders so after that i pulled it apart more. pulled the inlet manifold off as it was bent and had that machined and checked the lifters to find out of the 3 i checked were worn out or broken a spring inside. so motor out this is the second time now And took it to work and stripped it down And in the strip down process i found one of the headgaskets had been placed on the wrong way causing no water flow on one of the cylinder heads. if the gasket says front i don't know how much clearer the gasket manufacturer could of been. placed the block in the hot tank to give it a good clean out and gave the heads a strip down too then they were also placed in the hot tank too to which the block was placed in the tank for the 2nd time due to rust in the water galleries. once it came out i bead blasted the water galleries and the outside. then i dug some more of the stuck crap in the water gallieries by stabbing it with a screwdriver. and then went round the block with a finger file and die grinder to tidy up the block casting this did somewhat get abit over the top too. and die grinded the oil pick up mick bigger as are small from factory. then hot tanked the block again. And this is where the can of worms started

Looks like i should be able to fix engine back to pretty much 100%, lockdown spec The bad; it has spun 2 big end bearings, shells in pic below were worst. All the rest of the bearings in the engine look pretty tired as well. Crank isn't too bad, but would need a grind to be usable. plus seems it has already be ground in the past, so in the bin it goes. Oil pump hasn't let go or anything but some bearing material has gone through it, bin as well. from there onwards everything looks clean, oil filter has done its job Good news is I have a bran new crank and oil pump. Both are for another project Ive been collecting parts for. Means that goes back down the list, but rather have this thing running. Rods are all good. some very light marks on one of them, shouldn't be an issue. pistons and bores look perfect, although i haven't taken pistons out as may not be able to get hold of a ring compressor. Have managed to sort some new main and rod bearings, should be here early next week. Have also done the oil restrictor mod, to the oil gallery that feeds the head. keep more oil in the sump at high rpm Tl;dr : putting this junk back together with new crank, oil pump & bearings.

i might be making some progress with this. ive been vacuum bleeding the coolant system and then heat cycling it for about 4 days now and its taking a bit more water each time. the temp climbs a lot slower now and it almost can maintain temp. it still climbs with it sitting idling and the fan going but its a bunch slower. i will drive it around as much as i can as see how it goes. im also chasing a random intermittent coolant leak that comes and goes at the weirdest times. it coming from the bottom heater hose but it leaks weirdly, like when the system is at full pressure after its been running and its hot it doesn't leak, then it will drop some water over night when its cold. but not every night, its a bit unusual but ill keep fucking with it.

Colour went down on the backs of the doors and all the shuts today.

Had a crack at pulling the ding out of the roof without pulling the headlining out.. I bought one of those little 45mm suction cups from supercrap, they, are, shit. Couldn't even get any suction on a flat pane of glass let alone a flat panel. Decided to try the hot glue technique and initially it was shit too as it would barely hold on, then I discovered I had to warm the panel that it was sticking to as well now it sticks like shit to a blanket.. Had one more go doing it with the sca sucker and managed to pull half the ding out but that was it. That thing is shit. Welded a nut to a washer and glued that on, then screwed some threaded rod into it and made a rudimentary slide hammer. Works good but I ran out of time. This is the ding, have no idea how it got there it just "appeared" when I got it out of storage. This shot is obviously when I stripped it. And this shot is after I hit it with the strip disc. I did manage to push some of from the inside but the rest is to far up inside the structure to get to without removing the lining, not to keen on that. Today's effort, the bigger ring of glue is the attempt with the shit sucker. This is the first attempt with the washer that I heated up and melted into the existing glue, first pull definitely moved it but it takes 10min each time you reapply as you have to wait for everything to cool down. Works pretty well tho, I'll have another crack at it tomoz.

Now we upto date at last night. Got the bumper back on and the front end together with the lights on. Found a Fulton Visor from the states which was already green/patinad so matches the truck quite well i think! Got that on test fitted. Thats all the updates for now But with lockdown for the next month im planning on getting it all back together and to a stage i can take it for a VIN once we are allowed out of the house.

Suspension brace didn't fit with new plenum. probably could have made the plenum 15mm shorter and it would have. but good excuse to make lightweight version brace. Almost ready for test run to the wall of shame for the old one

It's nearly Spring..... No more water leak, been using it a bit between storms & floods an very nice it is too. Re-doing all the cracked rubber fuel hose tomorrow. Got round to painting the rear panel, pleased with it but will get some chrome trim to edge it. That's it for now /pic for Fred

The brakes were pretty mushy, so olm8 @JustHarry threw some new brake soft lines at it so the pedal had less sponge. The old girl was started and given a run but she was a bit asthmatic and had a case of the misses. A trip to Christchurch was needed to suss it out, so luggage was packed. Obviously there was a list of stuff to do to get things ready for a warrant but they were all abandoned when Harry saw the Weber 28-36 and intake manifold. We whipped the old off, modified the exhaust manifold due to the open top into the old intake (bit of flat plate robbed off another project) modified the linkages, fuel lines and slammed it on. At the same time I threw a new set of plugs, points, leads and rotor at it, and we sourced another 12v coil from an abandoned Toyota. Performance is now tortise-like instead of slug-like. The carb is running too lean so I assume some bigger jets will need to be sourced. It does blow big flames out the top though. The gearbox is round the wrong way. 1st / 2nd is where 3rd / 4th should be. I assume it's been a column change gearbox with a floor change selector fitted. Also likes to jump out of 4th gear, but a bungee cord should fix that. Next I removed 30+ meters of unwanted and additional Barry wiring, some projector spotlights and we managed to get all of the electrical stuff working. Need to find a indicator switch, or at the very least a two way switch for indicator function. This one is goosed. Also need to remove the Barry indicators off the bumper and re-wire the indicators into the park lights like factory next time I'm down. Note Barry indicators, and a bumper off something - not this car. Things I need to find: Rear Latch mechanism for the tailgate top part / and bottom part You can see where there has been a random door latch to hold it down in the past. Think we can do better. Couple of bits of trim and at some point a passenger door as it looks a bit sus. New windscreen seal for winter. If anyone has some parts or knows of a wreck hit me up. Pretty sure I have forgotten most of what I need. Also there will be a bit of rust work on the RHS sill that Harry is keen to take on and a misc list of other stuff before she's ready to be inspected. I've also been talked into installing some slam and Tridens or similar. A chair bowl to @JustHarry @Carsnz123 @- i5oogt - @76rolla_gurl

The clears a bit of a disaster really and reasonably gutted, so many things I'd have done differently in hindsight. But it's done. Drove it into the sun yesterday and it's not all bad news.

Last couple of weekends I stripped every last part of the front suspension down and prepped it for paint. Sent the steering rack for a rebuild and crossmember for blasting and powdercoating and got the crossmember back today. This Saturdays job is to paint all the bits and reassemble with new buses, joints, links etc. Should be tight as a goldfishes anoose once its all back together. Pic 4 Fred

OOOSH... I finally contacted cert man. I've got to get design approval for the rear subframe and the steering rack relocation. He's told me what forms and info sheets I need. I'm not looking forward to trying to accurately draw the rear subframe stuff. But here's some pictures of brake conversion, take two. I went with the subaru WRX calipers. The RX7 ones were much lighter, but too bulky so I'd have to have wheel spacers. All I've done to the calipers is sandblast them and chuck some WD40 on to stop flash rust. I still need to rebuild and paint them. The rebuild kit and caliper hardware arrived yesterday. The bolt holes ended up being all in a straight line, what are the chances... I've only made one side so far, it takes a fucking long time to band saw through 170mm of 25mm thick steel. I still need to round off the ends and make spacers to weld on(it's just got a stack of washers in there now). I freaked out a little when I found I had about 0.6mm of run-out! GOSH!! But I re-tightened the disc mounting bolts and did a better job of adjusting the bearing pre-load, now it's 0.04mm. I'm gonna blame Triumph manufacturing tolerances because I didn't touch the machined face the disc is bolted to.

Lockdown progress. Been truing the wheel while waiting for documents to load remotely in my slow remote office, and put tyre on it last night. Was worried I had no rim tape to protect tube but found some in my hoard of old bits... And what I'm starting with... Widened the front fork slots to fit the motor axle... And stretched the forks out a bit, they were around 86mm and need to be 100mm... And it's not going to look too silly... Clearance on one side slim but ok... But the other was touching... And couldn't slide a washer on cos there's a plug preventing the nut coming off. So bent a spring washer open, slid on over the cable, and closed up again... Old pedal was a bugger to get off, had to get grinder out... And MKS pedals look sweet in white... Adjusted crank bearings and put new seat on too, plus slight panel beating of front guard. Starting to get close... Wasn't going to put seat and pedals on, I like putting new bits on last, but not much else to do until I get rear wheel made up. Hope to get on that this week...

Bit of spare time, spent in photoshop and came up with something to aim for. Just do not look too closely.

she runs.. next step is a wof!

So started by cutting up a few 90degree bends. Then started to try replicate the orginal exhaust so the new exhaust will run in a similar path. Was intending on making some headers. But just decided to clean up the old factory headers for now. Coat of exhaust paint. Finished

Here’s the last exhaust I made for a VK commodore. Twin 2.5”. Made the mufflers/resonators as straight through louvred type. Sounded really good and not too loud.

Yanked the motor out of the red one, and swapped it into the white one, spent too much time on Instagram and ended up spending some coin to import some bits to make the jog cooler. sourced some bits from Yahoo Japan -8inch wheels (OEM is 10inch) -UnderCowl and Rear spoiler from Japan -OEM Yamaha Jog floormat -repro lower rear side panels Then lowered to a inappropriate ride height, and purchased a sweet helmet to suit the style.

With the wiring in the car pretty much done I put the front seat in. I need to check that the ECU missed the seat - Yes. Then there was the gauges that I had mounted under the edge of the dash board, I was worried that they would take out my left knee - again no problem, can see them as well, volt meter is not in line of site but that is not really important. I got into fitting seat belts until I ran out of bolts. When I was at Zebra wreckers a while ago I get a bunch of the factory low profile bolts which are going to the floor mounts. The ones under the back seat will use normal 7/16 UNF bolts. Here is my wife pretending to go for a cruise With the big steering wheel and 185 front tires the steering is not very heavy, should be fine when driving around. The column shift is fine, can only get Park, R, N, D, 3. I'm not worried about the extra gears. The neutral lock out switch on the torana column is fine, I adjusted it up a while ago.

I got talked into buying a wagon. It's green. It's been painted with a large brush. It doesn't have a wof, but luckily it makes up for all of that by leaking oil, yeilding much rust and having been owned by a tinkering Barry who liked to make 'improvements'. For anyone who cares (crickets........) it's a 1965 Hillman Super Minx Estate, with 1600cc's of asthmatic Rootes group cast iron, with 4 or the floor (that's an interesting story in itself as to why the gate is the opposite to the labeling... why is 1st where 3rd should be?) Green vinyl interior and 4 bald tyres. Of course it was in Christchurch. I'm in Auckland. So I sent some OSGCs in to negotiate on my behalf. Nek minute You can see some amazing indicators and projector spotlights already in this photo showing just how great the accessories were going to be. From there, it was put out to pasture with some other treasures in a field so that we could discuss the stupidity of buying it. Bad life choices link to go here:

Nah hes fucked it up Everyone knows holes in inner guards should be cut with a tin opener, cold chisel, or a very angry dog.

And because nobody ever has just one got it a friend

video is unlisted / not public. I also don't mind which date for 2021. I arbitrarily voted for the later one.

sooooo have hard a good push on this old girl to get it sorted well in time for the brass monkey in May. I dont want to be embarking on a 3000km journey on a super fresh build. One of the many problems i have in this tidy up is super thick grot yellow paint. I did some research and the plastic used in these fairings is ABS. i did some more research on how to chemically strip paint from ABS plastic and many places suggested brake fluid. Believing the internet i tried this on one side fairing and yea sure enough, it bubbled the paint and didnt seam to harm the plastic, so i tried a little more and stripped the entire piece, then bang, like 4 massive cracks in that one bit that i just put brake fluid on. sooooooo, more research and yes, brake fluid upon contact with ABS plastic causes catalytic embrittlement and internal stresses in the formed plastic part make it crack like fuck. gutted. at least its fixable, the whole part will now be more brittle but hey, ill try to always drop it on the right hand side. So that brings me to the next stage of repair, plastic welding. For those that know me, know that I'm fucking jewish. not the fun kind of jewish with the funny little hats and nipple tassles on my forehead, but the kind that hates giving away my hard earned shillings and six pence. I decided commercial plastic welding was too spendy, and these guards have heaps of plastic weld repairs on them already, like a fuck tonne, i dont know why exactly, but its probably got something to do with this photo the previous owner sent me: actually, its because it got ridden into the side of a garage, then written off, repaired, and re complied, but that photo is too good not to share. so i found a really handy hint on the interwebs, poor mans plastic welding. Lego is made of ABS, the same material as the fairings, and ABS melts like fuck in acetone. So take a $6 blue lego duck and jam it in some acetone: mmm lego slurry. just add more lego or acetone to get the consistency right, similar to golden syrup is bang on. then just V out the cracks and dab in the slurry. the acetone in the slurry instantly starts eating / bonding to the ABS in the fairing and makes a super strong bond, like full on two become one Gerri Halliwell show me ya tits bond i have found the best way to do it, similar to bogging, is to layer it up with thin layers, doing 2 layers to fill a crack. it shrinks a bit and forms a skin as it dries which makes the middle take way longer to dry, so thinner the better. it also gets quite a few air bubbles if you slap it on too quick. Its also handy for making entire new pieces and tabs and shit, took a bit of progress but got there in the end: So yea, just chipping away at that. Have also got the plugs almost sorted for the side covers, foam plug is finished and then layered with one layer of woven mat. I'm currently bogging these up to get to the desired finish before I prime and then lay a mold off it. Simply fizzing and the bung to see this thing come together and be a full on adventure barry.

Had a bit of a tidy up today so as to make some room.. Forgot to take a before shot but this pile of shit, Was all over this, Much like this, Under that pile of shit (and car parts) is another car.. Anyway, pulled some of the pallet wrap off that I covered it in to stop rust, And she looks pretty good considering the last time I touched her was almost 4 years ago, couple of bits of surface rust from a dripping roof but otherwise should be good to go. The only hold up could possibly kid duty in these strange times..

I've now pretty much wrapped up the "proof of concept" phase and took a few minutes to update my list of parts that will be used. In summary the list is as follows: Toyota 4Y engine out of a mid 80's HiAce using standard engine mounts cut off the HiAce cross member and glued on to the back of the Mitsi Starwagon suspension beam. Final fueling option still to be confirmed but is either going to be a single side draft carbie on a slightly modified inlet manifold or full LPG. Top hung side shift 5 speed gearbox also out of a mid 80's HiAce. Using a standard gearbox mount that is rotated 90 degrees and shifted slightly forward to clear the Thames chassis cross brace. Clutch actuator will remain hydraulic using the standard HiAce slave and the Thames master (I haven't tried this but if I encounter issues I'll revert to the HiAce master). Gear selection will remain a column shift using a column rod fabricated from the upper portion of the Thames rod using the Thames upper mount and the lower portion of the Starwagon rod using a fabricated lower mount. A second cable sourced from the Express will replace the Starwagon shift rod that connects to the gearbox. Complete rear axle out of a mid 80's HiAce fixed in place using a heavy duty 4 bar rear suspension kit sourced from a Hot Rod shop and fitted with coil overs. Drive shaft out of a mid 80's HiAce cut to the correct length. Mid 80's Mitsubishi L300 Starwagon complete front suspension beam, including all suspension and braking components. Mounted to the Thames chassis using fabricated l brackets that pickup the standard Thames mounting holes along the chassis rails. Mid 90's Mitsubishi L300 Express power steering rack fitted with the earlier Starwagon rack end joints and mounted using the original mounting lugs removed from the Express suspension beam and welded on to the front of the Starwagon front suspension beam. Mid 80's Mitsubishi front beam strut rods mounted rearward facing. Bolted on to the Starwagon lower suspension arms as per standard. Mid 90's Mitsubishi L300 Express stabiliser bar located in front of the suspension beam, with chassis mounting points moved 40mm inwards on each side to line up with the Thames chassis rails. On the suspension side the bar will be joined to the Starwagon lower arms using the mounting lugs cut off the Express lower arms and welded on to the Starwagon arms in the same location. Steering will use the standard Thames column, steering wheel, indicator stalk housing, indicator lever and upper mounting point. With the Thames steering box now deleted, the lower mounting point for the column outer will consist of a fabricated L bracket picking up the Thames plate at the bottom of the outer column and the standard steerign box mounting holes on the Thames chassis. The existing worm gear at the bottom of the inner column will be machined off and a spline cut into the shaft. A new universal joint will be sourced to attach the inner column to the steering angle box out of the mid 90's Mitsi Express. The shorter steering rod out of the Express that uses a rag joint to bolt up to the steering rack at one end and a factory welded universal to mount to the angle box at the other end will be shortened to the correct length for the Thames by cutting off the UJ and machining a spline into the shorter shaft what can be mated to a newly purchased UJ. An electro hydraulic power steering pump (final make to be confirmed) will be sourced from a wreckers to power the Express rack. All credit to go to Browndog for this suggestion. The Toyota HiAce brake master cylinder will be used in conjunction with an aftermarket remote booster setup. Smaller bits and pieces will be selected on an "as needed basis" when final fitting takes place. Hope I haven't overlooked anything major. Please shout if I have. With my list updated I figured it was time to drop the Thames back on to its wheels as I'll need my axle stands elsewhere for the next phase. It's not the greatest picture but this should give an idea of the final front ride height with the L300 suspension in place. The back is still standard Thames ride height as I haven't mocked up the back. The ride height difference is noticeable. Please forgive the manky front wheels. I still need to source metric lug nuts for the Dragways. Thanks for reading.

Also picked up a childens CRF50 earlier in the year, because fuck it, why not. Bought a big pile of Aliexpress parts then got distracted by, 1988 XL185S. Amusingly similar to the XR200 of my youth. Probably could be considered 'shed-find' condition. WOF expired 1998. Rego on hold. Looks better in photos but might be one of the nicer things I own. Carb seized, I might have been too mongrel un-seizing it, so it has a china carb now. Had the rear shocks tickled up/regassed. Bought a new front guard to replaced the crazed/brittle one. Might try for a WOF next week on the 32 year old, original tyres. Its a bit scabby from sitting in a damp environment, but I'm happy. IMG_20200224_180439 by John Bell, on Flickr IMG_20200310_174637 by John Bell, on Flickr IMG_20200314_124427 by John Bell, on Flickr IMG_20200314_114515 by John Bell, on Flickr IMG_20200314_114525 by John Bell, on Flickr IMG_20200314_125051 by John Bell, on Flickr IMG_20200314_125045 by John Bell, on Flickr IMG_20200314_130507 by John Bell, on Flickr IMG_20200314_130519 by John Bell, on Flickr IMG_20200314_130937 by John Bell, on Flickr

Earlier this year I went for a 4wd mission to scope new hunting areas and came to the realisation that I was choosing spots based on where the Niva could go and not where I wanted to go, the big barrier on the east coast is rivers, and the fiat motor hates water! We managed 15min up this valley before being forced to cross the river, issue with the twin cam is the spark plugs are located in the valley between the two cams, any splash of water is directed here which promptly kills the engine, normally mid-current. We turned around and headed home, on the way back I was pondering methods to prevent water but nothing was simple or failsafe. What I needed was a snorkel, diesel, raised breathers, longer wheelbase and bigger wheels........ With this in mind I set to work.... The snorkel was easy, pretty much bolt on Diesel pump to fiat twincam was tricky, but with a big enough hammer it went into place Bigger wheels needed clearance, overload springs were installed This all took quite some time, and the result somewhat best enjoyed with a cup of tea in hand Unfortunately i've replaced the Niva with a more suitable vehicle for my current needs. I have access to a garage not too far from home that once lockdown is over it will be tucked into, My mind says I should sell it and move on, but I can't bear the thought just yet of parting, its been a great toy over the years and really is a hoot to drive, sadly I just don't have the space for so many cars! Before parking up, I plan to carve out some rust to be sure there is no deterioration, parked up in WOF condition is the plan, ready to hoon should the urge arise.

Just finished the first week in lockdown, and I have been out in the garage working on the Mk1! Managed to get a lot done, and took it for a test drive yesterday. ( to Pak N Save for groceries of course! ) First impressions are good, it feels much better than before. The steering box conversion has transformed the way it drives - previously it had a tendency to wander around a lot, and the steering felt very "disconnected" from the steering wheel, there was no feel or feedback. It tracks nice and straight now with no corrections required, it has a reasonable amount of weight, but is easy to park. The Merc electro hydraulic pump which feeds hydraulic pressure to the steering box is getting noisier, so I will swap that out with another one I have tomorrow. The new exhaust sounds so much better! No overly loud, but has a beautiful crisp V8 rumble. ) The trans was playing up a bit, it was leaving in second gear sometimes. I adjusted the bands this morning, and that seemed to fix it. Brakes are still very average, solid pedal but requires a very hefty push on the pedal to stop. I think the brake booster is still playing up, so I will get another one when the lockdown is lifted and try that. Carb will need some tuning, it was a new Edelbrock (Weber) straight out of the box, so might need some rejetting etc. but it is fairly close. So still a few things to sort, but getting there, and overall very happy with it

somehow fitting a new grill turned into painting the front bumper. as you can see in the photos above it was a bit fucked and bent and rusty so i gave it a quick bash and flicked some paint on it. its a long way from good but itll do for now. it looks good in the photos but its pretty rough IRL. when i paint the whole car the bumper will get dipped to take care of some rust on the inside so i didnt bother going to far with it. 2020-04-02_03-56-43 by sheepers, on Flickr 2020-04-02_03-56-50 by sheepers, on Flickr

Warning: No actual work in this post! I found some pictures of an L200 I really like though, thought I'd put them in here to keep track of them as inspiration. I'd go for slightly smaller wheels, and probably a box style flare. I like the bar in the back though, but a smaller diameter tube and not orange. :-).

Some more photos of primer etc. The shiny pic is an old repair on the right front guard that we left alone.

Finished sanding the primer to 600gr, which brings this era of my life to a close. I don't really remember a time I wasn't sanding the crown, but I now have a very large appreciation to how many compound curves and just how massive it is. Celebrating with a double whiskey and now looking at the forecast to pick a suitable day to spray this once and for all! Cheers

Gave it a good wash after sitting around so long, might try raise it 40ish mm in the front to get it sitting level and have a bit more travel before the bump stops.

It is a bit of a hoot. I thought I'd gotten over my lust for getting another something like my old street legal RMX250 again. But have been looking at CRM250 again lately. Piiine. I'm a cheap cunt though. Took the 185 and achieved its first WOF in 22 years today. Straight through M8! Its so quiet you can really take in the serenity, and not upset the livestock. Although I did get a very non-committed fist shake from a broken man in a people mover, when I left the road at 50clicks and quietly, purred across some grass siding. I think he was torn between old man angst and confusion, at the mediocrity of my transgression. IMG_20200316_182613 by John Bell, on Flickr

It's taken me way too long but here we are at the next step. I've had great success through setting up a savings account I can't touch easily. Highly recommend it. Quitting smoking also gave me some extra funds to put in that savings. I still have a few bits and pieces to get but I'm really stoked to be looking at the piece of equipment that can get this thing back on the road.

had a play with the bead roller tonite , first bit of boot floor done