j.e.d.

Ahhhh the memories.. I did a XD that looked just like this on 12 slots way back when you needed to take your camera roll in to be processed.. mid 90's I think.. it was painted primer orange & had XF Fairmont doors so I could have central locking & electric window & mirrors.. lowered front springs, reset leafs by Archers who are still around today.. if I find a pic I'll scan & upload it. Great direction you're heading with this

At this time I started to think I’d like to move the car on as it wasn’t really my thing (I like old American cars more and had one that I’ve wanted to get my hands on for the last couple of years) so thought I’d chuck it up on TM and do a cheeky FB ad.... nek minit... So I got the cert plate on Saturday, chucked the FB ad up Saturday night, got a call Sunday morning from a guy who just had to have it, he bought it over the phone, flew up Sunday arvo with his mrs, came over Monday morning and drove the car back home to Wellington.. what. have. I. done. TBH I chucked it up thinking it’d take a week or so to sell and would let me take it to drag day but that was not to be sadly.. I did actually shed a little tear as it drove off.... just a small one. Ahh well, closing this chapter and on to the next. Stay tuned... (if you’re not asleep already)

After sorting the suspension I decided it was necessary to improve 2 wheeled traction (thinking purely about drag day), so a LSD head was purchased (needing a bit of work), but like everything it always snowballs out of control.. thought it’d be a good time to also convert to discs on the rear, so picked up a VN diff from Zebra at stripped it of its callipers, dust plates, backing plates and handbrake brackets & springs. Gave them all a tidy up (no pics of paint but you get the idea) Then dropped it all off the Brian at Diff Specs, where he nicely told me that the axles where still the original 25 spline and was impressed they weren’t buggered, so suggested I invest in some 28 spline to match the LSD I want to put in (snowballs...) that was back in September and cos of Covid (apparently) things were taking a while to arrive so I took the car to my first ever C&C and met up with a few like minded individuals along the way my car found a friend Finally in October (or was it November?) the axles turned up and I got it all installed so once that was all done, a call to our friendly Certifier was made and my car was heading in for a Re-cert.. not before it was used for towing duties while my colorado was in the panel beaters shop for a run in with a pheasant.. On the way to Clint After a couple of minor things to sort out it was all legal!!.. and a week before drag day so I was thinking awesome, drag day here I come!..

Ugh, now I hear about this? coulda save a few pennies if I'd known haha All good though man.. I booked this in a while ago with @cletus so she's heading in next week for the re-cert.. fingers crossed all will be straight forward

While the car was at Chris’s I asked him to weld in one of the exhaust cutouts I had laying around from when I owned the Camaro. Thankfully the diameter was the same at 2.25” and he welded it in the best place it could fit which was under the passenger seat. When I picked my car from Chris the exhaust was open through the cutout as I had no cap for it (only the electric flap which isn’t ideal) so I drove noisely home.. not that I minded one bit. Drove like that a couple of times as I really liked the sound of the open pipes, but figured I better sort the hole in the exhaust before I get pulled over. Grabbed the exhaust gasket and used it as a template on a steel plate I found attached to the bottom of an old boat winch.. used one of the existing holes and it all turned out pretty good I thought Bolted it up to my spare cutout to see how it looked and was happy with the result So bolted it up under the car and now it purrs like a kitten

Long time no update, but rest assured stuff has been happening. One of the major issues I had was how low the car was.. couldn’t go over anything that remotely looked like a bump in the road for fear of leaving the lower skirt of the front bumper behind, and I do prefer having it on there than not so I set some things in motion. First up was the purchase of some 20” rims thinking that’d give me the slight (about 18mm) clearance I needed from the rims that were on the car originally. The rims came with a 40 or 45 series tyre which I preferred as I don’t go for the thin strips of rubber on most big rims, but unfortunately this didn’t clear the bottom of the spring perch Lower skirt taken off in this pic as I had an altercation with the olds' driveway angle This made me not overly happy as I was after an easy fix for my clearance issues.. so with this turn of events it started me on a journey into the realms of adjustable suspension. I was looking at different kits online and came across Chris at Suspension Tech. Went and had a chat and settled on fully adjustable setup with bilstein shocks. (Sorry for sideways photos) All in all I’m very happy with the result. The car sits better, and handles far better than it used to

Thanks man, I get that.. maybe I'll just chuck a cutout in with a bolted blanking plate instead.. Only wanna put one in to be loud at old school drag day.. won't be fast, so need to be loud to make up for it

Hey man, big thanks to you for posting about the Davies Craig digital thermo fan kit as that gave me some direction of what to go for for my electric fan install.. cheers!

Exhaust cutouts.. okay, I’ve read that they can be legal as long as they’re not electronically controlled in the car and have a blanking plate over them which you have to physically get under the car to remove (for the likes of going to the drags). Has anybody installed (and done this to) an electronically controlled exhaust cutout? I’d be keen to get some feedback on it and pics if possible.. I’ll only do it if it’s possible and certifiable when I get my suspension done. @cletuswhats your line on this? (sorry if it’s been asked before, search turned up nothing)

I've got an AC HQ 202 race cam I just chucked on TM cheap if you're interested (probably a bit late now TBH but oh well)

Just an auto o/d which I’m happy about. I get old and all I want to do is enjoy my drive sometimes

Had a cursory look at oil levels and air filter one day and discovered something not to my liking.. the air box to the throttle body only has this tiny opening to feed air into it. Going along the lines of more air = more go, I started to look at where I could run some ducting to said tiny opening. No clear path was apparent in the engine bay around the radiator so figured the best way was from underneath.. it was at this time I saw @sheepers post on the hole he drilled so thought I must be on the right track. I grabbed a length of ducting from work that they used for sawdust extraction and figured that’ll do the trick. Tiny hole at front of airbox: The airbox had this hole already in the base and below it there was a factory hole about 20mm diameter directly in line with this in the inner guard.. very handy for lining things up: Unfortunately I don't have a metal holesaw so resorted to many tiny holes and a file.. came up pretty good & gave a it a coat of rust kill paint on the edges: My wood holesaw worked well in the plastic though: Poked the ducting through the hole Slipped perfectly over the brake duct hole in the front spoiler (will leave it like this for now): View from under the guard: Then all back together like nothing happened. Silicon pipe between the throttle body & airbox looks dubious but not sure if it needs clamping or not.. its a snug fit:

Thanks for all the comments so far.. much appreciated.. Along with suspension upgrades will be a bigger diameter rim as I think a car with all this extra padding requires some balance.. Here is a test fit I did:

Yea I don’t get it either man.. but in saying that, my partner is Peruvian and she just doesn’t understand the kiwi culture and love for Aussie cars.. anything with a bowtie symbol on the front though she’s all good. Hmm LSA conversion sounds like an idea. Suspension is the biggie on the list I’ve got lined up in the coming weeks though which I’m looking forward to

Feel free to cast all your valued opinions right here

Righto.. first quick easy mod.. when I picked this up and spent a couple of days getting to know her, I soon discovered how damn heavy the bonnet and boot are to open due to the body kit. The boot is still on the agenda to be done (fibreglass rod works well for now), but the bonnet was a straight forward fix. Onto eBay to buy this kit from a supplier in Aus. The only thing I did differently was flip the struts compared to the information I was looking at because of the angle of the head at one end suited it being fixed to the bonnet end rather than the guard end (in my humble opinion) Struts in a box: Starting point: Replacing the hinge bolt on either side with one of these: Then the same along the guard.. third bolt up from the front gets replaced: This is where I chose to have the angled head of the strut. Probably could have been on the guard mount, but visually it looks better this way for me: And the end result. Bonnet latch needed a slight tweak for the bonnet to release a lot easier but I don't think that was related to my install. Well worth doing this mod I reckon!

Here is my new borderline oldschool mode of transportation. Admin please feel free to move it if it doesn’t fit the “oldschool” criteria (maybe too much plastic perhaps). But anyway, previous to this (after my 74 Camaro) I had picked up a 47 Chev coupe, but struggled to get into it so did a deal with a guy and swapped it for this (much to my partner’s disgust). I always enjoy having a car that’s actually on the road that I can enjoy and tinker away with. I’ll probably end up getting another project, but in the meantime this thing is kinda fun. I have plans to personalise it a bit more to my needs.. some I’ve done, and some I’ll get round to it when funds allow, but in the mean time this is her:

Or convert to chain drive? size of rear sprocket might be smaller that the belt drive one you have on there & may clear more. I'm a fan of chain driven Harleys though.. no concerns of belts breaking in the middle of nowhere, and with doing that on my old bike allowed me to run a 180 rear tyre

Good stuff! (I'll be absolutely amazed if all this Harley action doesn't make me go & buy something stupidly inappropriate)

I think it'd be more cost effective to do what you've done - buy a complete bike & customise from there. You need to get back into yours.. it'd be great to see it finally sorted man

I’d have to agree with you there.. when I built mine from scratch (2004-2011 from memory) I stopped counting the cost, but worked out it got up to around $20-25k In the end. It was a fun journey and I often catch myself reminiscing and wanting to do it again , but I remind myself of that cost then let it go haha

Hey mate, this ^^ is exactly what I wanted to do for the CAI for my commodore under the airbox running a flexi hose from the front spoiler. You reckon there should be no hassles come WOF time? not a structural part of the car & all that? cheers

I did the black cover sanded fin look on my Camaro.. I liked it a lot

Will do.. I’ve looked at the list of Repair Certifiers and the closest is in Papatoetoe (I’m in Drury) are all certifiers much of a muchness? Or can anyone recommend someone who can come to me? Cheers