kws

Never really bonded with it, or enjoyed driving it. Effie was the better car to drive, which is a shame.

The Mini adjuster doesnt have clicks as such, its a threaded screw with a squared off head. Bit of a shit to adjust, but i did it as per this video and afterwards the handbrake worked mint (didnt work beforehand and the adjustment was way out) which is usually a good indicator the brakes are adjusted well

Well the time finally came, Tess is now with her new owner. I know I have been quiet for the past month or so, but funnily enough, I had been driving Tess a lot recently and she had been completely solid and reliable, so there wasn't a lot actually going on. I have also recently started a new job, so been flat out working. Tess had been advertised for sale for about a month, with a lot of interest, and two people claiming to be "getting the money together" to buy her (and one of them even viewing the car and loving her). Recently a third interested party contacted me, offering to swap his boat for Tess. Unfortunately I have no use for a boat (or anything to even tow it) so declined the offer. Instead, he chose to list and sell the boat, which happened fast, and that freed up the cash to enable him to purchased Tess. It all happened very quickly, and Tess ended up on a trailer to her new owner up in Auckland, yesterday. She certainly got some looks from passersby, and it's easy to see why. Stunning. Brent from Classic Towing (big thanks to him for taking good care of her, again) was the lucky fellow that got to transport her again, so it was a familiar sight, albeit, just a bit different. She didn't need blocks to help her clear the ramps, and she started and drove on easily (unlike last time, where she just didn't want to start). Unfortunately it sounds like she had some teething issues with the new owner, who had her delivered this morning, but I'm sure she will pull herself together and play nice soon. So that is Tess. Its been a wild ride, and I have sunken a lot of time and some money (just shy of $3000 in parts)into her, but she should be a good sorted example now. I'll miss the noise, and her stunning looks. I will have some parts available for sale once I sort through my spares, so keep an eye on the SD1 Facebook page in the next couple of weeks. In other news, Snicket was dropped off at VTNZ yesterday for its re-registration inspection, but I'm still waiting to see how that goes. They're really dragging their feet, for what should be a quick and simple process. It's almost like someone who books in and pays a couple of hundred dollars, doesn't get priority... I also have a flight booked for Monday, to pick the new car up from Hamilton and drive it back, so keep an eye out for that one. I'll be posting that trip on Instagram as I hoon down the Island, with a post to follow. I leave you with a couple of videos of Tess I took for the new owner Good bye Tess, please be good for your new owner.

I adjusted them both perfectly last time, so im hoping there will be something obvious going on when i take the drum off. I have also heard of the brake hoses internally swelling, so i have a pair of them on the way. I think the inspector may have been a bit more understanding if it had done more than 10% of the work lol. Gravel/quiet road could be the go....

Its nothing too unexpected, except for the brakes. I had a feeling the rear arms were flogged, because taking a corner hard would result in the rear tire contacting the inner guard.... and it shouldn't do that. I've ordered parts, about $600 worth, and have someone that will ream the bushes for the rear arms for me. I may need more parts, but thankfully unlike the Rover i can get them locally, so isnt too much of an issue. Realistically, for a car that has been off the road for a number of years, and seems to have had some questionable treatment when it was on the road (not to mention I suspect it was being used as a parts car before I got it), I don't think the list is too bad. No rust anyway, which is great.

So my Mini failed its rego inspection on a rear brake imbalance, with the LH side only doing 10% of the work. obviously not good, and ill strip it down and see whats up, but what im stuck with, is without rollers, can anyone think of a simple way for someone at home to test for an imbalance? I'm guessing no, but it's going to be a pain to take it down to VTNZ again to see if it passes or not.

Its been a while, but I finally got around to taking the Mini down for its re-registration inspection so that it can be driven on the road again. Unfortunately the inspection was a fail, So I need to sort these, A new lower ball joint (will do the pair) A new rackend, which isnt available, so a new steering rack >_< Rebuild both rear radius arms Replace both rear shocks (apparently there is play before the cones compress) And fix the brake imbalance (LH 10% / RH 93% - Almost nothing from the left), which may be the hard one to do. I don't recall any obvious leaking etc when i last removed the drums, so will strip both down, clean the lot, and replace the rear hoses when I remove the arms. Hopefully there is something obvious that needs to be replaced. I'm not looking forward to the work, and only have 20 working days to sort it all before i have to pay again and have a full inspection.

I can also now confirm that this information was sufficient for VTNZ. They would prefer you used one of their special Stat Dec forms, but saw no reason they couldn't accept the generic one signed by a JP (yes, that's how they said it, "couldn't see why not" ). They didn't specifically need anything but the Stat Dec and printout from NZTA about the black plates.

Right, so I took the Mini in for a re-rego check on Wednesday at VTNZ. The car was ready for pickup today, Friday. Cost was $229 and the inspection was a strict WOF inspection. My car has failed on a few things, but i have 20 working days for a recheck. The recheck MUST be booked in first. If you miss that deadline, you must pay again and have a full inspection again. Any brake work needs to be signed off on the included declaration, with receipts, but they are happy for me to do the work and fill it out myself.

The engines appear to be have been made by Toyosha. Without knowing exactly which model Toyosha engine is in the MB1500, the best i can do is this site, https://www.southern-global.com/index.php?route=information/information&amp;information_id=8 Either 49-58NM or 59-68NM depending on model HTH.

in/on what? The info is bound to be out there

On a similar topic, and I haven't searched because it's just come to me, if you built a scratch built car, And registered it now as new, does it need a cat fitted?

The old Barry at VINZ that the receptionist threw onto the phone was also adamant that there was no difference in the process for pre and post 1991 cars, despite NZTA making it clear there is (and VTNZ confirming they abide by that also, with a lower cost (sub $300) and less invasive inspection for pre-91 cars). I would avoid VINZ Lower Hutt like the plague if youre looking to re-rego a classic car.

Slowly working on getting the Mini registered. Been calling around, and have determined the vtnz is the way to go, and Vinz are rip off cunts. Vinz trying to charge twice as much as vtnz, and take twice as long.

Could you use grease and a punch to hydraulic it out? Much like you do for pilot/spigot bushing

Crazy small world. Saw this on the truck in Lower Hutt he other day, looked awesome.

Yeah im going to look into a small filter like that, to go inline in the hose. I doubt it will be an issue again, as i suspect it was an issue from back before i got the car, but best to protect it anyway. I have created a small drip loop in the hose before the sensor, so the sensor is above the hose, and angled the ECU slightly downwards (so the sensor can self drain) I have heard though that running a filter on a MAP line can slow the response of the sensor?

Further to the last couple of posts, driving Tess I still noticed a small hesitation coming on throttle. It was a lot better, but still there. The next logical step was to remove the ECU and inspect the MAP sensor, and see if there was oil in it. Sure enough, upon inspection, there was indeed oil in the MAP sensor. Lame. I tried soaking it out with brake clean, and sucking it out with a syringe, but still couldnt clear it. The trick was to turn the ECU upside down, and gently heat the MAP sensor up so the oil would thin out, and then gravity just drained it out drip by drip. I cleaned up some surface rust on the ECU bracket, gave it a quick shot of paint and reinstalled. Testing confirms the issue appears sorted, with no hesitation coming off and on throttle. The throttle response is now snappy and the slight rich mixture it had when coming on throttle is much lessened. Great success. Now to start my new job so I can afford to fuel the beast again.

Rear track is 1510mm, car width is 1770mm

Just pondering. The rear axle and torque tube setup on SD1s is pretty average (LSDs are uncommon and expensive, no provision for any sort of swaybar, the torque tube splines wear and are NLA now, and they dont handle much torque) If one was to want to swap to a conventional live rear axle, from something else a bit more common, can anyone that of one that might fit with minimal mods to mountings? I know the hilux axles were a common swap into things like starlets. I dont know if those are still the go to? Im guessing shock, spring and radius arm mounts can be added to most live axles to suit the SD1

It did work, somehow. You bleed the two together, and then you bleed the third one afterwards. Three nipples, and not even the good kind.

Belong to new page. Anyway, The other interesting fact, is that there is no oil in the hose from either the plenum to the tee, or the hose from the tee to the FPR, or for that matter, in the Tee itself. Only oil in the MAP line. I had a think about this, and suspect the oil has been in there for longer than I have had the car, as when i first got it, the MAP vacuum hose was on its own nipple in the plenum (someone had drilled it out to add a new nipple); when i swapped plenums when i first got the car, the replacement only had the standard single outlet for the FPR, so i teed off and connected the MAP to that Tee (the same as i did when i converted Effie to Speeduino). Thus, i can conclude, that the oil had been in the hose for ages and it isnt new. Its only either gotten thicker and started causing issues now, or had congregated somewhere in the hose and blocked it.

All your base...

Whoop

Derp