sr2

Yes word had it they presented a very convincing pitch and appear to have been the obvious choice to manage the repair certificate process. Full credit to them, (although I've yet to hear the MTA or the CRA's position on this). I've had no issue with the cert guys I've dealt with, most were car mad good guys like the rest of us. What does concern me is having a privately owned company not only implementing the certification process but writing the rules and regulations we are legally obliged to adhere to. It's both unprecedented and unchartered territory, I can think of no other privately owned regulatory body in NZ that has this level of autonomy.

Yes I've had considerable experience with the "angry little certification men" over the years with race car builds. If this was a Cert build as opposed to the restoration of a still registered pre 92 exemption car it would be far more structured (and the build thread would be a lot less fun to read!). I do however have my local WOF guy watching every step of the restoration process; as well as his business being (IMOP) the best automotive shop on the shore - he also specialises in compliance for imported classic cars. He's vowed to show no mercy if I stray from the restoration process. All parties so far involved are of the opinion that my dear old Rigamortice will live again, resplendent with both registration and WOF. Not wishing to get political but I suspect it is simply a matter of time before NZ is aligned with Australian VSCCS Compliance Certificates, as we have with electrical compliance, H&S, Fire Regulations, etc., etc. Having a privately owned business writing and certifying it's own legally binding rules and regulations is not only unprecedented in NZ, consensus of opinion in the industry is that it is unsustainable.

LOL, watch this space. (I have an ace from 1992 up my sleeve).

I love it, I could see the LVVTA having a prophylactic fit if you attempted the same in over regulated NZ. Long live automotive anarchy!

Thanks for the feedback guys, neatsfoot oil sounds like the solution for me.

The seats came our easily, plan is to keep them looking scruffy and original. The leather is cracked and dry - any suggestions on how we should be treat it will be much appreciated by both Rigamortice and yours truly. Love the old leather, the kapok stuffing, the springs and the wooden frame – not a modern staple in sight.

Thanks guys, I'll check out Por15.

I have to jump in here with a little history; the Vauxhall factory in Luton simply had the living shit bombed out of it by the Luftwaffe on multiple occasions during the war. (From The BBC) On the 75th anniversary of the World War Two bombing of Luton's Vauxhall factory, a Norfolk man has told the BBC about watching the attack as a boy. Fred Morrad, 83, lived in Luton during the war, where his father was an aircraft inspector at the Percival Aircraft Company, based at the airport. On 30 August 1940 at 16:50 BST, 51 bombs fell on the Vauxhall factory in about one minute, killing 39 people.Mr Morrad recalled how a friend's father died in the attack. "My school friend Barry Pitkin lived about 300 yards along the road from me. His father worked at Vauxhall Motors which had been bombed. His father didn't come home," said Mr Morrad. "It was during the school holidays, so when we went back nobody mentioned Barry's father's death. Young children then grew up very quickly." Recalling the night of the attack, he said: "My mother and I, as we looked up, could see a formation of about 12 planes high in the sky. I suppose they were about two miles away, and 10,000ft or so up in the sky. I climbed on the coal bunker to watch. "The aeroplanes kept steadily on although I remember one plane coming down as there were some fighters around them. "When my father came across he told us he had been coming out of one of the hangars as a stick of bombs was dropped across the airfield close to him. He was blown back into the hangar by the blast." Vauxhall archivist Andrew Duerden said: "The victims were aged between 15 and 71, including one woman, and 50 more were injured. "The main area hit was the gasometer, which contained gas used in the heat treatment. Although the factory was back up and running in six days - the gasometer was out of action for weeks. "Although Vauxhall was secondary to the Luftwaffe, if anything it was the other way round - the factory was very important to the war effort, building Bedford trucks, Churchill tanks and also did some fairly high engineering including development work on Sir Frank Whittle's jet engines." Vauxhall Motors World War Two Production Statistics: Churchill A22 Infantry Tank - A portion 5,640 Churchill Tanks with 2,000 spare engines. After the loss of most its equipment at Dunkirk in May-June 1940, the British Army only had 100 tanks remaining. Vauxhall was given the task of designing and producing the A22 within a year. The pilot model was ready by November 1940, and the first fourteen production models came off the assembly line in June 1941. Production of the Churchill A22 was shared with Vauxhall by ten other companies. Vauxhall produced the majority of the parts which were then assembled by Vauxhall and the other companies under Vauxhall's guidance. It is unknown the number of actual A22s produced by Vauxhall or the other companies. Other: 5 million sheet metal sides for jerrycans, four million rocket venturi tubes, 6-pounder armor piercing shells, and 750,000 steel helmets. Vauxhall was instrumental in the building of the first 12 jet engines built in Britain. The Luton factory did 95% of the work on these first 12 engines. Vauxhall also designed inflatable decoy trucks and string and canvas decoy aircraft. It also made tooling for the Hercules aircraft engine, and assisted in the development of the Mosquito, Lancaster, and Halifax aircraft. The GM subsidiary on mines, torpedoes, radiolocation equipment and bombs. Bedford Subsidiary World War Two Production Statistics: (5,995) MW 1-1/2-ton 4x2 trucks, (52,247) QL 3-ton 4x4 lorries, 73,385 OY 3-ton 4x4 lorries, and 24,429 OX 3-ton 4x4 lorries Back to 2021-finally got the gas tank out after lots of prying, wriggling and the indiscriminate use of some rather vulgar language . The smell of the gas left in the tank is akin to the aromas emitted from a rope sandal worn by an Arab swineherd who has been roaming the desert for the last year or two! It doesn’t look too bad but any suggestions on how to clean and treat the inside would be much appreciated. https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/49843-sr2%E2%80%99s-1947-vauxhall-%E2%80%9Crigamortice%E2%80%9D-discussion-thread/

Had a bit of a crawl around under the old girl. No issues with rust in the floor pan above the diff, good old Pommy “self-lubrication”! I did however spot some rust where the body is bolted to the chassis, the black shiny stuff is under seal from some years back. I can’t complain, this is the first time the body’s been off the chassis in 70 plus years. Looks like I’ll have to bite the bullet and flip the body on to its side. First job is to remove the gas tank…..lots of baked on crud. Couldn’t believe the gas tank was only held in with tech screws! I suppose in 1947 after WW2 all fittings and hardware were at a premium.

It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that I have to announce the untimely demise of “Mak” my favourite Makita angle grinder. Mak passed away (noisily) after a short illness, i.e. weird gearbox grinding noises and a hideously burnt and nauseatingly disgusting plastic smell (with smoke). Despite desperate attempts at resuscitation, Rigamortice and myself could not put the lost smoke back into him and Mak, succumbing to his afflictions has gone to join the Great Flying Spaghetti Monster in the sky. A more true and loyal friend no man (or car) could have, and despite having a somewhat “abrasive” personality Mak will be sorely missed by many. Overcome with inconsolable grief we sought condolence in the arms of retail therapy - and bought these. On a more philosophical note angle grinders are like guitars, a man can never have enough of them!

After a noisy afternoon with a wire a wire buff and a flappy wheel Rigamortice’s chassis got a couple of coats of CRC rust converter. Followed by a coat of Wattyl etch primer; jeeze the fumes knock you over… And two coats of Wattyl Killrust epoxy enamel.

Cheers for the info mate, did you have to modify the driveshaft?

Thanks for the input mate. Thought process was to start off with the 4 speed (as per the 1992 declaration) and then strip, rebuild and fit the 5 speed at a later date. Have to say I thought the mount bolt patterns were the same and the difference is only 12 mm, I'll check tomorrow, take some photo's and report back.

Time to make things look pretty and rustproof the chassis for its next 70 years. There was some surface rust on the rear of the chassis rails that needed to be put in its place. A couple of cups of washing soda crystals…. Add some water and connect a power supply….. Some hours later – rust soup! And no rust.

LOL, so you'd need a left hand thread inlet trumpet for the Southern Hemisphere and a right hand one for the Northern. What would you use for the Equator?

Dummy engine and box back in to fab a gearbox cross member. Now for the moment of truth – did I keep things straight through all the cutting and welding. 0.1 degree woks for me!

Notched and plated the new cross member for additional gearbox clearance. Added some bracing. Welding into big V’s to retain strength when I clean up with the flappy disc. I know I’m pushing the flexibility barrow here but remember this is an early 1930’s effort to use a "revolutionary" semi-monocoque design. I’m welding 3mm to 3mm and do not need a bulky weld to create stress points although I do need penetration and structural integrity. Keeping the welding down-hand when I can. (I.e. because I’m old, unscrupulous, and blind!). Filling holes… More Gussets. Then a bit of heat…. And some flappy wheel.

Discovered 100 x 30 cold rolled channel was unobtainable in level 3 lockdown so had to improvise with the grinder. Time for some measuring.. And some CAD, (cardboard aided design). Cut out some gusset plates, the reason for the curves is to reinforce & brace without creating stress points when the chassis flexes.

One of my favourite quotes is "youth and exuberance is no match for old age and treachery".

Decided I’d stick with the original concept (i.e. it worked) and put a 3mm 50 x 100 RHS cross member some 300mm or so to the rear of the tube I’d cut out. The external corner radius of some scrap RHS matched the internal radius of the chassis (sometimes you get lucky) so I thought I’d copy the original doubling plates More welding More grinding And a lick of paint. (I’ve found CRC Cold Galv paint makes a great weld through primer). Cleaned and primed the inside of the rails, Drilled some plug welding holes (the original doubling plates were spot welded). Stitched it all together and was happy with the results

Cheers mate, same applies to your thread - love your project. Been working hard on trying to adjust the work/play balance. Edited to say: I have a soft spot for old pommy shite and an obsession for "totally impractical solutions for problems that never existed in the first place". I suspect we are kindred spirit.

You may have noticed the bellhousing on my dummy mtr. /box setup. It’s an original Castlemaine Rod Shop Holden 6 to W50 Toyota that I found on Trademe last year. It looks like it’s never been on a car and the guy selling it didn’t have a clue what it was for. Best $30 I think I’ve ever spent!

Mocked the whole thing up again with the dummy mtr. /box and it was obvious we had a “fidn’t dit” scenario with the gearbox and the cross-member. My late 1970’s solution was a little rough to say the least. (Please be cognisant that this is some 40 plus years later). Quoting earlier in this thread … “I found a W40 Steel case 4 speed Celica box (very sexy in its day) and modified the Holden bell housing to accept it, problem was the main cross member sat where the new gearbox needed to be. I jacked the old girl up, put her on axel stands to keep the chassis straight, pulled the front seats out and cut the whole floor out from the B pillar to the fire wall to expose the chassis. I welded in a piece of 4” RHS to form a new cross member, cut a section out of the original cross member to accommodate the new box and extended the original inside chassis rails. A new floor made from 16 gauge Zintex was welded in and a pair of Triumph 2000 front seats were fitted" Yes it was butt ugly but hey, in its defence it did work. I know this is supposed to be a restoration but Rigamortice and I have decided a few tweaks are acceptable. Tack welded in some temporary stiffening braces…… … And fired up the angle grinder

Bit of a funny story behind the boat. It had been left in the Tamaki Drystack for a few years after the owner had lost interest. I was happy with my current trailer boat but when the Carver came on the market my brother & my wife's uncle (an old fishing buddy) said they'd come in as silent partners in buying the boat (we fluked it for almost half the original advertised price!). Great upgrade, hasn't cost me much to go from a 14 ft trailer boat to something that sleeps 5 people; the good ship "Aquaholic" is currently residing in the Milford Mariner just 2 1/2 minutes drive from home. The funny part of the story is the wife's uncle is 74 years old and my brother is overseas most of the time - guess who does all the anti-fouling and maintenance? I keep telling them the must have seen me coming a mile away! Not complaining though, its a great boat.

Thanks mate, been a a bit busy of late - and another friggin corporate job! Race car takes a lot of time - but what a babe. And the good ship "Aquaholic has needed attention. (We got it a shitload cheaper!).