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I've been driving this a bit, I'm pretty happy with it, it's goes and stops good, no steering feedback or anything. It's got a knock up front somewhere which I think is a shock hitting the cross member so I'll whip them back out at some stage and notch where needed.

I hated the dash, it epitomises shitty rhd swaps. Theyd cut up the LHD one then used a combo of builders filler, glass and what looks like grout to put it back together, then laminated over it with faux walnut duraseal or something. No Bueno. It also had a few spare holes.

so I found an NOS one on eBay and chopped that up to move guages across.

It started like this 

Then cut and glassed the back 

Then filled and applied faux woodgrain again and it came out like this 

Which is much tidier. Edging need tidying but it's way more better.

I also made some pockets for the lower springs to retain them a bit better, they were moving a touch and making noise every now and then, the ID of the Chevy springs is slightly over that of the cruiser pads at the bottom. So slapped these on, no more noise 

Van tune is good, I took it up coronet the other day, temps held steady at 700 egt preturbo ( fuel pump guy tells me I'm good for 850 ) at 13psi which gave me 50 kph all the way up which ain't bad, not too much smoke either. Plenty of scope for more if I add a cooler. I've set max boost at 15.

I was still not keen on the ride quality with the new shocks ( nor the missos funbags ), the 3am drunken brainwave looked like this :

So I did this 

But it came out looking like this 

So extremely aesthetically anticlimatic but it's sorted the damping. The boat rock style oscillation test with me hanging off the roof went from 3 rocks to under 1.

So perhaps mathematically 2 x shocks = 3 x more better.

Welp, I got the pump and injectors back, old mate said 3 were leaking and nasty, the pump is a work of art, not sure what got reused. 

Anyway slapped that all in and timed it with a timing tool i got off eBay, man what a rig, much better than trying to hold a dial indicator while turning the crank 

The difference in performance is major with the new pump etc, it pulls straight away and got up to 100k no sweat, egts were getting up there so pulled the boost back from 17 to 14 or so and will try that. 

I also put an exhaust temp gauge in, I got a combo one that matches the dash. I also found a NOS dash for it to replace the shit one in there 

  Also had a win with the slow start, after a ton of braining I ended up putting the meter on the fuel cut solenoid power line and sure enough, voltage dumped when it was cranking, like to 0 dumped. So traced the harness back and pulled fuse block out etc found a pin pushed back on the plug into the column that goes up to the key, happy days. It lights on the first bump of the key now like it should.

I've been getting some miles on this pig, it needs more power, it hates wind when towing and it was undershocked something wicked. Anyway did some camps over new years 

Twas good, wanged some adjustable ranchos in up front which dampen bumps out great, it still dives a bit but I'm guessing that's just lifted van life with a bit of travel and me sitting over the axle.

But towing boat home today the power was really pissing me off so I whipped out injectors and injector pump. Pump will get overhauled and output pumped up via a reshaped metering pin, and injectors looked spectacularly nasty so I'll get them up to trundles this week for some lovin too, hopefully this makes a big difference.

Also steering lock is shit, I hadn't checked the stops properly and it's not hitting the hub ones, just the box limits. So I've got a longer Pitman arm blank coming and will get it machined for a ball joint, itll be 15mm longer which should cure my problem

Still no word from the certifiers, I'll start hassling them again next week to try and get it looked at.

I got the trans back In yesterday, pump seal has chewed out when flexplate came loose which I should have checked.

I torque checked the flexplate bolts again too, no movement and no leaks.

I also got the high / low lever rigged up and got to launch the boat today on a shitty gravel beach in 4 low, monumental moment. I got permit to go up the shotover canyon to the pub up there with the misso and a couple of mates, van rules, especially amongst a row of hiluxes at the launch.

Ceritifier has vapourised and has missed a few appointments last week so not sure when I'll be able to get it looked at but there's a few that need doing in town so might try and pool together and get someone in

Welp, 3 steps forward and 1 backward up in here.

I got the shits with the flexplate setup and changed it all. The only reason I can come up with is that the counterweight grabbed off centre when I put it on then wobbled loose once I'd driven it. The bolts weren't bottomed out in the crank and came out easy, the spacer I thought was missing isn't used in cruisers and I never checked flexplate runout once it was all installed which might have told a story. Anyway back together and it's going good.

Did some at home camping past night, this is the groms hammock up front, she loves it, I wouldn't be able to get in or out of it.

The reason for the at home bit was we went to leave and my seat hinge snapped and fell backwards, and I noticed this on driveway 

It's trans oil and looks to me like pump seal has ruptured, I'm assuming I tore it messing with torque converter, fuck it all. I'll pull it again this week once new seal shows. 

I bolted and old chunk of trailer wheel arch to the jack to drop the trans in and out, works a treat 

It still looks cool buttfuck. Cert next week hopefully.

I got driveshaft in and got it driving good enough to start putting miles on it last week, calibrated Speedo, sorted some leaks and other small stuff and took it away over weekend, fuck it was good, electrical system and batteries etc worked a treat, it kept.charged all weekend with fridge running and lights on.

Went to mavora lakes for some fuckstickery, 30 odd grown men racing around on 100cc kids bikes, some of the best fun Ive had 

So it ran sweet, 250 odd ks then a thought I heard a noise coming back into Queenstown and pulled over, then heard a big noise. I assumed it was big end but got under it and I could move the flexplate with my hands. So called in a tow and got it home, I have to let the tyres down to get it on my trailer 

Pulled the trans, which I wasn't in the mood for after a big.weekend, and found loose flexplate a 5 sheared bolts.

I don't really know what's going on, 2 things are that theres no dowel in the counterweight and there should be one, and there's a spacer in the parts listing that wasn't in there. 

When I measured it all up the torque converter engagement all seemed right so I'll do it all again and see if I can nut out what's going on.

I can't see any damage to torque converter or trans so far thank fuck 

Few more odds and sods this week, the starting issue ended up being a fuel / air leak, these don't run lift pumps so lines are normally in vacuum. I stole an idea from some clever sausage and used clear tube to watch fuel flow 

Before  ; 

After ( sans bubble ) :

I got the trans crossmember done, ordered 2 mounts, neither showed So I just used a couple of big bobbin mounts for now 

It hangs below the transfer case and seems to work good 

Also got sway bar mounts made, they are on chunks of 50x25 and pivot point is level with radius arms mounts so hopefully it doesn't move forward and back enough to snap them, I cycled it a few times and it seems ok 

So here she is, just waiting on back driveshaft which should be here tomorrow avo, I might still get away in it on weekend if I can get some miles on it Thursday / Friday 

Close to concept I think 

Well she runs, it needs a shot of ether to fire for some reason, I think either fuel is bleeding back and I'm losing prime and it needs a lift pump or theres a big hole in vacuum system maybe ? I also need to read up on how auto choke works. Glow plugs seem to be working fine 

It runs fine once it's fired and restarts like it should. I got the front shaft in and went for a circle round the lawn, happy days 

My relay box for 4wd didn't work straight away so I packed a shit and tore it out, and have just put a momentary rocker switch putting power straight onto the transfer case actuator for now, I'm sure thisll screw the motor long term but it works.

I got a basic exhaust built, it's not loud with no muffler so will.try it and see, I didn't have enough bends to get over the diff and also couldn't be bothered so out the side she goes 

I also made a new trans crossmember,.Ive left the mounts mocked up for now until the new rubber centre mount shows,. hopefully Monday 

Also got most of interior back in and engine bay tidied up 

it just needs rear driveshaft and gearbox crossmember finishing now. 

I finally got the trans back for this, it's a hydro a442f and i got it ( rebuilt ) from A Automotive in Auckland, first in the phone book which hasn't been of any use for some time. But anyway it looks good and the parts list says it has a good going through.

I got it in place, had to reshape one crossmember which was fun lying on my back in the driveway

It's sits good and high, the whole thing looks much better with the transfer case hanging out the bottom 

I filled it through the dipstick hole by pressuring the jug, not smart but it worked a treat 

Then I made a dummy shift linkage out of rebar, I hate shift cables in autos, and it worked so good that I threaded it and painted it and in she goes 

I think I've got a plan for the centre diff lock motor, it turns both ways like a window motor and has a limit switch in the motor body.

So I made a box of wires with a couple of relays 

I also got the pinion angle set in the back and welded on the leaf perches and shock mounts, and got diff painted, will make new back brake lines as I'd rebent the stock ones and they look shit 

Hopefully I'll get it fired up tomorrow, then finish the trans wiring and then all I'm waiting is the gearbox rubber mount and a driveshaft, I'm planning on taking it camping next weekend but that may be dreaming