_Matt

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Reminder that the next meet is this Tuesday!

I have made a private Facebook event for the next meet. I can invite anyone as long as they have a mutual friend and anyone invited can invite as well. If you want an invite send me a message and I’ll try and send you one. I think I can send them to your email or phone number.

Thanks to those that turned up! Was a Chevy (+1 mitsi) meet this time. I think it needs to have a Facebook event, will try a private invite only one next time and see how that goes.

I used all 1/2” valves and 1/2” x 1.4mm wall thickness aluminium tube for everything. The push to lock fittings seemed to work well with Ali tube and they haven’t started leaking yet. Only leaks I’ve had were from the 90° fittings that weren’t the swivel type, because they weren’t very tight, as I couldn’t get them pointing in the right direction. Also the water traps were leaking so took them out. Stays up overnight no problem now. The only other issues I have is the rear pops up way too quick with the 1/2” lines. Goes past ride height and then has to drop back down a bit. Goes too fast for it all to react and is uncomfortable. I did slide some 3/8” tube inside the 1/2” which made it a little less violent, but it could still be slowed down more. Front is perfect though. Also because I’m running the Accuair E -level, it monitors the ride height and updates it every minute or so. It started doing some wired stuff by dropping a corner randomly. Ended up disabling it and just pressing the ride height button when on flat ground to even it all out. Could of got away using a cheaper/simpler kit since I’ve now disabled most of its functions haha.

It made it in a few magazines recently. Performance Car in the 4 & Rotary Jamboree section. Petrolhead in the Beachhop section. NZV8 Beachhop Edition. And the recent NZV8 in the editorial. Had the transmission pulled apart and the forward clutch was burnt out. After waiting a month for the trans to be rebuilt and getting a price back, I decided my Dad could have the rebuilt one and I'd pull out the one that was bolted up to a dummy engine in one of his projects. It looked to be in good condition from the outside. Grabbed the bits I needed off my old one and swapped them over. Hooked it all up and put some new oil in. Went for a test drive and it goes way better than it has ever had!! Has been my daily for the past few weeks (sorry neighbours! The 6-7am coldstarts with the compressors kicking in must get annoying haha), haven't had any major issues! Have done over 1000km in it since the new trans has been in. Went out last weekend and took some decent photos of it.

Sweet, I’ll let you know what they reply with

I think a cop car did a loop around us just before security turned up and kicked us out. Plaza management seen the facebook event and sent out an email to security to get it shutdown. Was a pretty good turn out before that happened, maybe 20+ cars and some were pretty cool! Have sent the Plaza an email, just waiting to see what they say, otherwise we’ll have to think of somewhere else to go. Seen you parked up down Main Street, sorry we didn’t stop, didn’t know you were broken down!

Long gone, pretty much sold it exactly 3 years ago. Went down Wellington ways, he takes it to Manfeild quite often I think, I haven’t seen it since I sold it though. Sorta regret it as it was such a fun car but the money was useful. I’ll get another track orientated car one day!

Not a bad turnout last night, was more oldschool cars than I expected and not so much newer stuff. New meet up - 18th of June https://www.facebook.com/events/358214414899341

More than welcome!

I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m going to try and start these again haha https://www.facebook.com/events/2117971954946066/

Next meet: 21st of July 2020 Will start these up again and see how things go. Back to the plaza this month. Meet at the Tesla charging side of the carpark at 6:30pm. Facebook Event Discussion Thread

Yeah thought about removing them, looks easy enough, just need a new spot weld drill

I guess I finally got enough courage to fix the rest of the rust. Had plenty of spare time over Easter so thought I'd better do something and was sick of having a puddle on the floor each time it rained heavily. The rust hole under the wiper motor was the worst of it, kept putting it off because of the location and how tight the space is to get at. Ground the mounting plate off, the rust was a little worse than I thought it was gonna be. Made a patch to fit and then cut a much bigger hole. Took a few attempts to get the patch the right shape. All welded in, didn't come out too bad. Got a rust cut from Olds Cool Autos as the wiper mount was a bit past it after I cut it off. Carefully removed the lower skin and gave it all a sandblast. Welded it in place after testing the wipers still worked properly. Had to pull out the mig welder for the first time in a few years since i couldn't get the rear plug welds with the tig. Mig does plug welds nicer any way. The drivers door had quite a few holes on the bottom. Also had some tiny holes on the outer skin in the front corner, was easier to just cut that whole piece out and make a new patch. Made a couple of patches for the inner skin and welded them in, then brushed on some paint. Next made up the outer skin patch, welded that up and then hammered the edge over. The outside has a little distortion since I couldn't get a dolly in there properly to stretch the weld out, but nothing a light skim of bog won't fix. Another few patches further down which finished off the rust in this door. Was a good time to fill up the original side mirror mount holes. Cutting out 6mm diameter circles wasn't that easy! Underneath the fuel cap was some more rust coming through. Sanded it back and just the top needed replacing with new steel. Rust killed it all after patching it and then seam sealed it back up. Both A-pillars had some rust coming through, no holes though, so rust killed them. Still need to fill the antenna holes.

Got the intake all done with a K&N filter, looks pretty good I think. Took a guy for a drive that knows transmission things up the road and back and he reckoned the trans was sweet, shifting how it should, just the engine was massively down on power. Tried to diagnose the problem myself but I couldn't really figure much out. It was throwing error codes for the secondary throttle and knock sensors. Discovered the secondary throttle sensor was only used for traction control so I didn't need to worry about that one. Was hoping the knock sensors were just reading high because the timing was out, so I took it to Danny's Autos in Palmy to go on the dyno and see if they can tune it and figure out what's wrong. They got it on the dyno, they were just bringing it up to speed and fuel started pissing out everywhere. One of the fuel hoses going up to the fuel rail split, don't know if it just happened or if it's been like that for awhile, but we never noticed any fuel in the valley before, where as there was heaps in it then. So off came the intake and manifold to replace it. Whilst they had that off they had a look at the knock sensors and they had seen better days. The wiring pins were pretty corroded and the casings were cracked. They sourced some new OEM ones and chucked them in. They also found one of the breather hoses had a split, as well as one of the igniter modules was only firing 1 of 4 cylinders on that one side. So basically this has only been running on 5 cylinders all this time. Thought it didn't sound quite right haha. The steering rack also decided to start leaking power steering fluid out of a place the fluid shouldn't be. Beach Hop was the next week and the rack had to be sent to Auckland to be rebuilt. Managed to get the engine back together and drive it home on the Tuesday night and pull out the rack to be sent off on Wednesday. Luckily they got around to rebuilding it fairly quick and sent off again so it arrived first thing on Friday morning. Got a different igniter module from the wreckers off a SR20 and it ran waaaaaay better! Chucked the rack back in Friday morning and took it for a WOF, passed with flying colours, so went and got some rego and now it's all legal!!!! On Friday/Saturday the fuel pump must of came out about a dozen times, half of which were on the side of the road. Went for a bit of a drive and the fuel pump kept dying for some reason, thought maybe the wiring in-tank was a bit dodgy, replaced it all and soldered every connector, that didn't make much difference. Discovered that if I gave the pump a good smack it would start back up pumping a bit more fuel or just die completely. Decided to get another fuel pump from Repco and chucked that in. Turns out the brand new "genuine" Walbro pump I got off ebay was shit. Went sooooo much better again!! Took it to the 4 & Rotary Jamboree show and shine at Manfield on the Sunday and took home the Best Commercial Piston trophy. Then on the Monday took it back into Danny's Autos to get dyno'd. Made 100kw at the wheels which I thought wasn't quite right (should be closer to 200kw?), but he reckoned it was running right and just the reading wasn't that accurate, he had trouble getting into 4th, kept changing down, so had to do it in third and that was maxing out the dyno's rolling speed. It had good consistent 02 sensor readings. Took it up to Beach Hop on the Wednesday. Had no issues other than getting some brake fade through the windy bits between Waihi and Whangamata, we think there must of still been some air left in the lines. After that happened I was changing it manually between 2nd and 3rd gear through the windy bits, rather than just leaving it in drive as it engine brakes way more. Survived all through Beach Hop, including going up to Whitianga, Kuaotuna and Onemana as well as cruising up and down the main street lots, the rear bumper took a few scrapes, I think it needs some titanium stripes underneath! I think it was one of the cars that got some of the most attention. Managed to get all the way back down to Marton, then when I was overtaking up a hill, noticed smoke coming from under the dash, so quickly pulled over and checked it out. The transmission sump had either smoke or steam since it was raining coming off of it, also smelt very burnt and the oil was quite dark. My parents caught up and we decided to just keep driving. I then noticed it was revving at 3500rpm at 100km/h, where as it's usually around about 1800rpm. It was only changing from first into second gear and that's it, if I took my foot off the accelerator it would drop straight down to idle. It was a slow drive home from there at 70km/h. Next couple of days I pulled the trans out, pulled off the sump and it had quite a bit of metallic build up at the bottom and just smelt very burnt. I guess it's always been slipping, as to why it didn't make much power on the dyno. Dropped it off today to get a quote on being rebuilt, so hopefully it's not too bad. It used about $400 worth of petrol over Beach Hop, which I think worked out to be 15 l/100km. After driving it for about 1200km I have decided the seat definitely needs redoing, it's way too hard, would also be nice to sit a bit lower and further back as well. Also the accelerator pedal has your foot at too much of an angle back, so gets sore rather quick. Shouldn't be too hard to fix as the seat changes should help and just modify the pedal a little. Also the door latches + door seals are terrible, takes way too much effort to get them closing right. A softer door seal might help, and you can get bear jaw latch kits that are basically a bolt in thing for these which might be the go when I have the spare money.

Accomodation sorted, Chevy pickup is waiting for the cert plate to be put on, needs a wof, needs to be dynoed/it’s running on 5 cylinders and steering rack has been pulled out and needs to be sent to Auckland and be back. Gonna be close!

Decided I didn't like the stainless trim around the windows enough to keep it, so swapped in the standard one I had. Suits the style better anyway. Then I could put the inner windscreen surrounds in, as well as the sun visors and rear view mirror, but I don't seem to have a photo of them. Took the seat to the upholsterers and got some Mexican blankets put on. Will only be temporary until I can afford to get it done properly in leather or something. Had the center dash panel straightened and polished up, as it was a bit warped. Then I polished up the glove box to match. Cut up some black vinyl strips and put them in the low spots, still need to do the glove box. Got the engine back from being rebuilt. Was mint inside and no other damage other than the piston and conrod. Chucked it back in and assembled everything back together. Started first pop and ran very well! So bolted together the whole front end and put the bonnet back on after a long time it's been off. Made a new intake pipe to get in going in the opposite direction than the standard one. Made a coolant overflow and power steering reservoir, they both seem to work pretty well so far. Attached some peep mirrors onto the doors. I think they look good, although rubbish to see anything through. Bought some tyres, ended up with BF Goodrich's, 205/65/15 front and 225/70/15 rear. Apparently 15x8's with 225/60 tyres don't fit on the front of this without massively rubbing on the fenders. Managed to return the tyres and swap them for some 205/65's and got the wheels split and narrowed to 7" wide. Had it through the cert check the past week and everything was good! Had a wheel alignment and that also went well. Just waiting on the cert plate now and then can take it for a WOF! Drives really nice and smooth, although the transmission seems to be slipping. We think it has something to do with the secondary throttle sensor that doesn't seem to be working, so need to have a look at that.

Hey all! I'm after some accommodation for the Wednesday or Thursday night through to the Saturday night. A room or even a lawn to pitch a tent would be great! If you know of anything let me know

Yeah quite surprise how bent it was. The starter motor must be pretty good! I thought they did, shouldn’t matter too much as 99% of the time they’re going to be laying horizontal and the back won’t be opened very often. I’ll spin them around anyway Yeah just replacing the rod and piston. Have already sorted some 4.1 ones. Probably easier to just keep it all standard for now, thanks though! I put it on wet, it just really didn’t want to wrap around the flexi’s very well. Yup wore gloves this time after doing the headers without them haha

Learnt a lot in the past month and a bit. Main thing being that you should probably lube your fuel injector o-rings when you go to put them back in. Got the engine running, was only running on half the cylinders. Discovered there was no fuel going to the rear half cylinders, so decided to pull out the injectors. Took them into town and put them on an injector tester and nothing happened. Was told they can gunk up after sitting for awhile. So went off back home and gave them a spray with some cleaner and smashed them on the ground until they started clicking freely again with power to them. Got them all sounding really good, so in they went (without any lube, thinking back it should of been something that should of come to mind, but I guess I was just in a rush to get it running!), as they went in they must of torn the o-rings. I got the intake and everything back on and together and we started it up again. Ran mint!! So turned it off to see how it would start again, flat battery. Chucked the charger on, and then decided we'd put the wheels on, piece it a bit more together and go for a drive up the driveway. By time we got it together and off the hoist, a few hours had past and so had a decent amount of fuel past the o-rings and into cylinder no.5. Cranked it over and it didn't want to start very easily, so gave it a few more attempts and finally started up with a lovely knocking noise! We thought maybe it was just something loose in the bellhousing, as when we first started it we quickly realised there were no bolts in the flex plate to the torque converter. Anyway drove it up and down the driveway and then back on to the hoist. Decided over Christmas we'd pull out the transmission to have a look in there, other than the weights on the flex plate being ripped off by the torque converter there was nothing that obvious. Started the engine without the trans in and it still had the knock, which was a disappointment. Our neighbours Tony and Jason, who are a bit more mechanically minded came over on Boxing day after hearing that it wasn't transmission related, and went over everything they could think of. Eventually after a good few hours we narrowed it down and decided to check how high each piston is coming up by sticking a threaded rod with a nut on it and turning the engine over by hand. Got around to cylinder no.5 and it was about 5-6mm lower than the rest. Was obvious at this stage that we had a bent rod that was caused by hydraulicing the engine with fuel. Out came the engine, onto a stand, flipped over and then pulled the sump off. It was pretty bent! The crank smashed up the bottom of the piston, but other than the rod and piston everything else looked good. The engine is now at the rebuilders and injectors have been professionally cleaned with new o-rings. The buggered o-rings on the injectors. Since I had awhile off work over Christmas and the engine debacle halted progress a bit, we decided it was a good time to sand out all the runs in the clearcoat and give it another couple of coats with some flatter clear since I wasn't quite happy with the last stuff I used. Used some PPG autothane clear with flattening base in it this time. Was way easier to spray, looks waaaaay better, a lot smoother and a more consistent flatness. Also the extra coats covered the rust up a bit more, as before it didn't seem to be covered well in the rusty areas. With the engine out it was a good time to go through and tidy up a few things. Made up some stainless heatshields that cover the wiring on one side and the fuel and brake lines on the other. Also wrapped some of the exhaust in heat wrap to try and help keep some heat away. Ignore the plastic cable ties, the ones that came with the wrap were too short, and I'll change them soon. After trying to drain the coolant I decided it'd much easier if there was a drain plug, rather than having to disconnect a hose and having it run straight onto a crossmember. Next thing to do was sort out the fuel filler. Turned out the u-bends I bought for the headers were the correct size I needed, so took one of them, cut it to fit and welded a breather pipe on the side. Made a stainless pipe that goes from the 1 5/8" u-bend to 2" on the tank. Also added some gas struts to the rear bed lift up part. Whilst under the rear end noticed the rear airbags were only mounted on the bottom with bolts and no washers. This was mostly because the mount was so close to the diff tube and the airbag mounting holes had quite a small PCD, you couldn't fit much else in there. Came up with these plates that mount to the airbags with a countersunk screw and then have the studs stick through the outer of the slotted hole in the diff mount. Heaps of room to get a nyloc nut and washer now. Was running out of stuff that I could think of to do, so my Dad made a start planing and fitting the Matai wood planks that I bought quite a while ago. Fitted in they looked a bit weird being natural, too bright or something. Had some Japanese stain lying around that we tried and I quite liked it. So went and wiped that all over it once it was fitting well. Then wiped over some Scandinavian oil and came it out really nice. Got the windows installed, he still needs to come back and finish them off. The front window stainless trim doesn't fit as well as I'd hope it would, sorta sticks out a bit, but we're sure it's in there properly. Probably a combination of the crappy re-pro rubber and trim not being 100% right to start with, as I've heard of a heap of people having troubles with windscreen rubbers not fitting nicely on these. Supposed to be taking this to Nats in less than 6 weeks hahaha

I said I should post more often so they're smaller, but here we are, another big post. I didn't think I had much to post because the majority of it has been wiring and that's boring, so not many photos. Air horns are now fully plumbed up. Used one of my dads cast aluminium fuel logs and used it as the manifold which has the main inlet and then each individual line to each horn. Bought the biggest battery that would fit inside the box I made earlier. Then drew up a clamp for it, laser cut it from some ali and folded it up. Getting better at ali welding! Fitted back into the under floor hole. Bought some battery cables and hooked them up to the main engine power junction. Wanted a killswitch mounted somewhere, made up a bracket for it out of stainless steel. Decided under the seat was the best place that is still reasonably easy to access and hidden from sight. Made an aluminium glovebox since the original cardboard one had seen better days. As the dash is quite short, it would of been hard to tuck up the fuse box behind it and not have it being a eye sore. So designed the glove box to fit the fuse box inside out of sight, which also tucks the wiring up. Started with the air bag wiring as it was the easiest to do and I don't have very much experience with it, other than a couple of weeks work experience nearly 5 years ago. Once the airbags were all done and working, I made a start wiring the rest of it. Started at the rear and worked forward. Need to make a reflector of some sort for the licence plate light. Since the engine had already been rewired at some stage, it had it's own fuse box and relays ready to go. Decided to mount the fuses up under the dash, after extending the wires to reach. The relays stayed in the engine bay since they shouldn't need to be accessed as often. Had to rewire the starter relay as it had full power going through the inhibitor switch and apparently that wouldn't be good for the switch, so cut and swapped around some wires. Stole the power steering pump off of my parent's Mercury that also has a Nissan V8, since they won't be needing one for a while yet. Only just fits, the pulley is pretty close to the chassis rail and the tensioner bolt is very close to the crossmember. Got a new high pressure line made up by using the original fitting from the Nissan line and the rack end of the Jaguar line. Assembled the inner and outer fenders and then lifted them in place, to check everything still fits. The engine bay looks pretty nice (other than the ugly engine)! The accelerator cable needed a new bracket to hold it in place since the original didn't work that great anymore. Made up a V2 under dash panel for the ignition switch and other numerous switches. Looks better than the first one, it might end up black eventually I think, brushed stainless doesn't really match anything else. From left to right has the ignition, heater, fog lights, wipers and horn switch. Also charge and oil pressure lights. Made a stainless steel bracket to mount the tacho gauge under the dash. Also above it is the headlight switch. Had to make a bezel for it as the hole in the dash was 25mm and the switch was supposed to only fit in a 8mm hole. Park/indicators and headlights all wired up with some waterproof plugs. Managed to blow the 6v sealed beams in the fog lights, so got some new GE 12v ones from America. Made some stainless steel spacers for them to sit on. Need to get enough courage to drill some mounting holes in the front splash apron now. Noticed the transmission mount was broken, asked around and found Nengun.com had genuine new ones far cheaper than any where else I found. Bought some oil filter relocation sandwich plates, as the oil filter was nearly impossible to access with the inner fenders in place. Had to get a new adapter nut turned up since the supplied one was too short like they seem to be. Made a new mount for the oil filter plate since the one that came with it was pretty pathetic and weak. Then got some fittings and hose, cost way more than what I thought they would.

Yeah I thought about that, but my parents have a set on one of their cars that were the same brand and they were dipped to the left. Could only find that one place in America that sold them, so maybe thought they do rhd ones. Danny, he called in last week and was very happy with everything so far