NickJ

As chief engineer of wheelbarrow alignments, I take my role preserving even tyre wear very seriously!

I currently spend a substantial part of my working day reviewing documentation for building quite complex machinery, this is not only for our assembly team but also to satisfy various directives and certification standards from around the world that we are subjected to. Biggest learning is not to do the usual human response and try to control every detail, the art is in conveying the design intent of each particular assembly without constraints, be that tooling, process or parts. For example, if I put down 'torque fastener to 200Nm' I then need to ensure there are torque wrenches available at that station, they are then subject to quality control, periodic inspection and calibration, Additionally, I will need to justify why that torque is specified so that the next engineer understands why that is stated. If the above fastener is not structural and once loaded could fall out with no il-effect, the effort above is quite wasteful. Whenever i've tried to be fancy with describing a process, it has backfired, not in a physical failure, but in restricting movements without rewriting existing documents. I would say it is clear to everyone here that in an effort to define a mudflap (noble intent) this is rearing up to be quite an own goal. While arbitrary rules also hurt, in the case of the mudflap, what is the intent? is there real harm from lack of full coverage? Your pics Cletus seem to shut down the whole discussion quite visibly, unless rally flaps for all?

After asking about castor wheels to build a chassis dolly, ol @RUNAMUCK fires me a message "I have a local mate with a 510 rotisserie he might loan you" #projectcreep Quick drive across town with a box of beers and this was in my possession Did I mention custom fabricated for a 1600! Will need modification for wheels to allow moving it in and out of my shed, but all the bones are there and legit, down to ball bearing pivots! All this has as expected pushed any chance of a quick turn around to be a very hopeful proposition, but i'm not giving up just yet, will dive into stripping parts with fingers crossed. First job down, got sidetracked while throwing a some epoxy about on another project and popped the windscreen out, gotta say i'm pretty happy with what was found. The only rust under the seals and it barely qualifies as surface rust (even for a Datsun!) Also shows the three colours the car has been, factory tan, dark blue and the current red. Next move is strip the interior to store away safely and then drop the drivetrain.

A+ job mate, massive milestone down!

Shit, they are way cheaper than the last time I looked! Might grab a set for the table saw as a test run Thats actually not a bad idea instead of locking castors

Estimating the body to be ~300kg so will need 100kg+ castors to be safe which are $50 + area. Getting up to that price range I figure the wheel dollys leave me with options later on.

Not far from my daily rounds, could take some pictures? Technically I could take it for a hoon too, but i'm not really qualified to assess anything other than what the cab smells like.

Getting my hands on ~60m of scrap 35x65 rhs with the plan to build a chassis dolly/rotisserie for the Datsun. I want to be able to strip the suspension and still push it in and out of the workshop for the dusty/muck work. Cos i'm a cheap c&*t, whats the most cost effective solution to getting wheels under it? While i'd like to have large locking castor wheels, that would far exceed the current investment of $0. Best idea I have come up with so far is a set of tyre dollys because they will be useful once the resto is complete.

+1 for decent welding supplier and they will be able to crimp the lugs for you. They have the hard wearing double insulation cable, most electrical places don't.

Yeah poor guy is one cog short down conrod so just pulls over and lets them pass, then takes it all back under brakes, so cool!

I was sent this by a mate a few weeks back, something about the shame of being passed off the grid by an imp.. Sounds good though

As expected from any man well versed in the intricacies of British motoring engineering, I was asked to park on the street.

Awesome start! Can you buy the raw extrusion and corners for the expedition style wholesale? surprised to hear the parts are that expensive.

Love the work as usual, especially Kevin's ramp! Word of warning, the mixer looks suspiciously similar to the budget friendly version we purchased during our reno which I just replaced this week due to a crack in the cold water hose. We couldn't justify the cost of a fancy one during the build 2 years ago, but the upgrade is definitely worth it in hindsight.

That looks like the ticket, cheers! Had a look at mil-spec ripoff sockets on aliexpress, coming from working with Amphenol mil-spec daily nothing on there looked moderately capable of surviving so something legit is welcome! Actually keen to have a look, the original loom comes through this boot, not excited about making additional holes in the firewall where possible so if I can get an idea of size/bulk and get it to fit in, thats a bonus! I already have a good selection of crimp tools and plenty more at work, no worries if I need to buy another pair, I convinced myself years ago tools are a totally different budget........

Look forward to hearing every detail of making an agent squirm, dealing with them was the worst part of house buying for us, they all came off as openly dishonest without even trying to hide how much they were ready to rip us off.

Finally got the throttle body adapter plate port matched and dropped it on the current motor for visual motivation Started a quick spreadsheet and have rapidly worked out I need ~45 individual wires running through the firewall to operate the motor and the usual electrics (lights, wipers etc) most of these are because I wish to move the fusebox and relays into the cabin. A quick estimate and this looks to be about 55m of cable.... For ease, putting a 50pin connector on the bulkhead looks to be the way forward. Rather than threading each wire, I can wire the loom on the workbench, any suggestions for a bulkhead fitting thats not $200 mil-spec?

Awesome thread mate, so good to see these old cars with a story getting rebuilt. Out of interest, do you know what flavour Datsun pistons they are?

Cos agreeing on a date is next to finishing a project for difficulty, I'm gunna open the bids with Thursday cos its next on the list after Wednesday

Another +1 for enjoying keeping up with your Fiat talents, passed through dunners on the weekend and was hoping to spot them from the main drag! Keep up the A+ restos!

Nothing too wrong with the merc engine, but you've got my attention, what stage cam would you recommend for the drillport?

Totally agree, if it passes all the key inspections I think it will get skimmed, the ports cleaned up, reassembled and matched with new flat top pistons in the block. Just don't want to get all carried away and excited until I have confirmation it is healthy enough to continue with

A while back I came across an L18 in pieces on marketplace, turns out the guy had started a build which got put in the back of the shed for 20 years and forgotten about, I quickly took possession and promptly forgot about it too! Late last night with the aid of 40% off spring compressor from Supercheap I stripped the head down, cleaned up the pieces and sorted them into an identical container to the L20b head. Both will be dropped off for a decent clean and hardness test, I will then crack test them both to figure out a build plan for the new EFI motor. Both heads have the same sized valves and exhaust ports while the L20b has slightly larger intake ports. The L20b head (top) is an "open" combustion chamber U67 casting while the l18 is A87 casting with the closed "peanut" chamber. With both the L18 and L20 blocks sitting there, i'm unsure which combo to go with so secretly hoping one of the heads is shot to cut down the options! Once the top end is sorted out, new pistons, rings and bearings will be ordered, I have a few different cams sitting on the shelf so need to research if the markings mean anything or if a re-grind would be beneficial to the overall plan.

And another shot from last week, this one is growing on me and may have to have printed larger.

Do those guys deal to the public? 500g of chromate would need a few more resto projects to consume!