jackeo21
-
Posts
298 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Everything posted by jackeo21
-
Gotta love folks like that, all the stuff you need is so close, yet so far away at the same time. I may have a lead on a wellside, but I'm waiting to hear back. Would be over the moon if I could sort one.
-
You got thirsty right, has basically emptied my jerry can just in test running. I personally like the L20B, however it's a really tight squeeze, and I wouldn't be able to use my column change if I swapped it into the good truck. The later '70 '71 and '72 trucks had L16 engines from factory but these sat a little lower I believe (lower deck height etc).
-
Thanks! Had never seen one before. After hours of google searching for info on a "Datsun 521", I had to have her. Yep, as others have said she was a $1 reserve on TM. Had been parked for the better part of two years, fella had resto-plans in mind for it. Hooked it out of a barn in Waihi, towed it home with the valiant in torrential rain...an activity best avoided on such a day! Took it to a car wash place to remove the rats house and small mountain of rat shit deposits amassed on the battery tray. Everything looked pretty good at this point! The blue started to shine again. Then once it was home I started to take a look over the old girl...and the lovely automotive butchery only found here in Aotearoa really began to show though. Shop that last had it found that the L20B didn't fit, so the whole trans tunnel was hacked out to accommodate. Bumper brackets don't fit on the 720 chassis? cut grooves in 'em and bend 'em! Rubber cab mounts? Never heard of those. Sit the cab directly on top of the wiring to ensure a good ground. They also thought to cut virtually every panel in order to get the cab to sort of fit the chassis. It's rough! Might have been a decent job if some slightly higher cab mounts were used, unfortunately due to rough mods and standard jap truck rust this cab is basically past it. She is basically being used as a parts truck to save the white 521, which has a much tidier and straighter cab, and better bones. I knew there would be some repairs involved in this truck before I bought it but with the amount of butchery and bog/rust/hidden secrets it's just not worth it when I have a better truck to use.
-
I got another one! Couldn't resist such a perfect opportunity, one came up for parts locally, and there was no doubt that I needed to have it. As it turns out the cab is better than the blue one, so with some parts mixing and matching I should have a truck requiring minimal work. Has all the bits I need, including a mint and complete dash with rare radio blank plate, all the knobs n switches, og steering wheel, mint seat, and a host of other cool bits the blue truck's missing. It's running the original 1300 w/4speed column manual, however future plans include swapping this with the L20B from the other truck. Unfortunately this would result in a loss of the column shift goodness. Both trucks are now half stripped down. Plan is to get the white truck road worthy and daily drive it for a while, until I find time and $ to do everything mint. Cheers!
-
Build: Suggest me things! The plan is to get it on the road, and then tear it apart and do everything properly (engine & bay tidy up, chassis cleanup etc...) Cheers
-
I've finally managed to score my first Datsun... ...a rare 521 Pickup! Just got this home the other day, and have been stuck into it trying to get it to go, but the Auckland weather has other plans. So far, I've washed the mountain of rat poo out of the battery tray, and removed the rats nest above it, thankfully with no rats to be found. However, the little buggers have had lots of wires for lunch, rendering the ignition useless. This is the first thing to be re-done. The plan is to get rid of the farmer spec wooden bed on the back and get a wellside for the truck, to make it more of a "pickup". It's running an L20B, that doesn't actually run. Spent today playing around trying to bypass all the shit wiring, but to no avail. Sparks at the points, but not at the plugs. Replaced dizzy cap, coil, leads, and... ...nothing! Have heard that these L series dizzys can pack up when they feel like it, so I'm just gonna replace it (preferably with elec. ingition). Hopefully that gets us up and running. Engine has a mean looking set of extractors, and twin Hitachi SU carbs, so I'm hoping that it has a bit of "go" to it. Came with a spare diff with an Alloy head that turns out to be an LSD which will be lots of fun :)) Really straight truck for what it is, shouldn't be too long before we're on the road. Better photos when it's not raining. Cheers OS, Jack.
- 15 replies
-
- 24
-
-
Back to a single carby now. Just runs so so much better than it did with the twins - I'll save these for the rat rod mini. So far the only thing thats not stock on the engine is the cylinder head - which may yeild a few more horsepower over standard, but I'm picking it wont be anything worth noting. Found a few photos of the car before it was pulled apart too! These were taken about 1993 at the previous owners place in Chch, before the car was purchased. A bit of reading though the folder provided by the old gentleman informed me that the car was actually destined for Japan once it had been done up, as were the other 3 minis on the lawn (of which didn't make it to Japan, or even off the lawn, in one piece anyways). Anyway, something had gone wrong somewhere along the line, and the car, with it's awful, runny, thin as anything, expensive for 1994 paintjob was sat in a shed for a good 20 years. When I got the car many parts were missing, much to the surprise of the seller. But I was informed the car had bounced off many workshops prior to me owning it so the parts have probably been spread all around the country. Here are the photos of the car before it was pulled apart. Must've been fairly neglected as it had only done 55 thousand miles when the photos were taken. The seats still look just the same! They'll be going in the rat rod mini instead of the skip. The door hinge pins had been replaced with bolts. Also thought I'd upload photos of the Green MK1 I bought off the same guys lawn. This car was purchased for 2 grand in the early nineties, driven 112 miles from Hamilton to Auckland, around Auckland for a few days, then parked on the lawn, key still in the ignition and window open, for 24 years. It left the property in 4 main bits. The motor in it is the restored one going in the MK1. Enjoy people. Let me know what you think, and do we have any thoughts on a roof colour? Choosing between a basic white, off white (or old english), or something a little different, like a nice metallic white. Cheers Believe it or not, the engine in this car started right up the following day. "A little rust in the boot - pretty normal for minis"
-
Right! The bottom's painted now. It looks pretty nice in person I'd say! The main thing being is that its now properly protected. Etch primed, undersealed, 2K primed, followed by the 2K topcoat. Might be an unnessary amount of steps but I've been using it as a practise pad for spraying different paints. So far so good! The wheel wells will also be painted blue, and the engine bay is next in line. Once these are painted, my restored steering rack can go in with the fuel/brake/battery lines & floor bungs. As far as the engine goes, it runs really really nice now! Silent as anything, I reverted to a single HS2 as per factory as the twins were just dumping in so much petrol that it wouldn't run well at all. Going for a more factory approach I suppose. All that it needs now is for me to clean and assemble the carb, and put on my better dizzy cap. Next steps with the car, is to assemble the front subframe, repaint the rear subframe, and continue on with the bodywork. Bodywork being completed it can be painted and assembled. Brand spankin loom & other parts coming within the next few weeks so amped for that. Exciting times! Cheers OS folks. The new family member begging for a turn on the rotisserie, she'll ave to wait her turn. (see what i did there The paint I used. Awesome coverage, well priced. Surprisingly very very heat resistant. Had it on the exhaust manifold surface where it bolts to the head and when the headers were pulled after some very high temp runs it was still on there just fine. Comes in a sweet range of colours too.
-
I guess shes lookin about time for another update! Didn't realize it'd been quite so long since the last one For a start, I've managed to get a whole lot more bits for the old girl. Found some twin leading shoe front brakes which should make stopping a lot less scary! And have amassed a large collection of 850 engines as "spares". I stripped the entire underside back to bare metal and laid on some black etch primer, followed by a generous coating of underseal to seal the floor off from the elements and hopefully quieten things down a little. The next step for me here is to paint the bottom of the car the same colour as the rest of the car. That brings me to the second thing on the list, paint! Have chosen the colour "Florida green" which is a BMC colour found on Austin Healey's. This will be two tone against a white roof. Although it's titled "green", I'd say its more of a turquise/blue colour. I have also managed to get the engine running albeit with some difficulty. It starts and runs but has a bad vacuum leak from somewhere and I have no clue as to where the leak is actually coming from. Have replaced 3 inlet/exhaust gaskets with no luck. Next step would be to just change to a single HS4 for easier tuning and less maintenance. Will soon get into panelbeating the dents out of it and have it painted hopefully by the middle of next month. The underseal job - came out much better than the pathetic amount applied in 1994! And the colour scheme on a healey I saw at the brit & euro show the other weekend, deciding on an off white roof or a more moden brighter white roof. Even had Toyota's "pearl white" in mind!
-
My bad! Have been so caught up with so many different projects that updating this here page became a second priority (then a third, fourth...). I'll post an update on the projects page soon. So far, the entire underside of the car has been etched and under-sealed, I've found a full set of seats, twin leading front breaks, engine goes now, colors chosen (will elaborate more on these things on the other thread). Been very slack on thread updates, but will try my best to provide monthly updates, or maybe even more frequent updates. Cheers mates Jack
-
So what do we think of the engine colour/mags/seat choice? I've got a little before and after of my 850cc engine. It came out of a car that was on a lawn for 25+ years, ran briefly, and then underwent a restoration. I'm hoping to have it running in the coming few weeks, provided all goes well! Before, as it sat in the remains of the poor little '62 it came from. And after, as it currently sits on my workbench awaiting a radiator and some carbs/assorted bits. We're getting there!
-
I really need to invest in one of those! I have decided to just bolt my head on and see how we go, my boss has done this exact head swap onto an 850 and claims to have had no worries at all. Worst case, I can get it machined up, but for the time being I'm just gonna run it. I've heard those books are a must have!
-
Things have happened I've recently been on a bit of a buying spree and have ended up with a variety of cool stuff such as, A full set of 5 "compomotive' mag wheels with 4 centre caps. These will get new tyres as the aquajet's on them are basically stuffed. Thought they looked quite neat and are a step away from the usual minilites or hotwires, steelies, etc... Depending on the cars colour I'll either leave them gold or do them black and polish back the spokes. I've also managed to pickup a full set of seats out of a 76 clubman. These are factory black seats and are a heck of a lot comfier than the mk1 seats! As these are fitted with springs instead of old seatbelts and perished straps. Even though they aren't period correct seats for the car, they'll do until I find some cleaner MK1 interior. In other news, the motor's changed colour! Yes yes, I know its not even close to the original colour, but you can forget paying $43 a tin for original coloured paint (that, imo, doesn't look amazing anyway). I have instead opted for a rather vibrant green from my favorite engine paint shop (bunnings). I think it'll brighten up the engine bay a little so im not fussed. The motor looks one heck of a lot better than it did when I started and most likely wont be in the car forever. So far its had a full gasket set thrown at it, a reconditioned gearbox, 1100 head, twin carbs & cooper exhaust amoungst spark plugs, points & condenser, the list goes on.. Planning to have both the front and rear subframes completed by the end of the month, so that I can move on to the body work. And speaking of bodywork........ We have built what is probably one of the sketchiest body rotisseries in existance, but, it does the trick. We've been hammering away getting the floors nice and straight again. Whoever panelbeated it and painted it before I got the car did a miserable job. The car has paint runs left right & centre, has terribly alligned panels, and the thinnest coat of paint in existence. And yes, that black patch in the middle of the car is supposedly the "underseal job"... Not to worry, as we plan to strip, etch prime, and reseal the entire underside of the little mini. It's a good thing we got to the car before it got any worse! Cheers all, that's me till next week. Jack.
-
I've bought some go faster bits as seen in the main project log. Only thing that has me confused is what to do with the cylinder head. Do I raise my compression up by getting the head milled or bolt my bigger head straight on but have a low compression ratio of 7:9:1? I'll need to do some more research and come up with a measurement to take off the head if I choose to go that route. More to come tomorrow! Jack.
-
Time for some go-fast bits! After a bit of searching around I managed to pickup a pair of twin SU carbs on a genuine cooper S manifold, accompanied by the 12G202 head, which supposedly flows much better than the original 850 head. A few months ago I also scored a full cooper style exhaust system including LCB extractors that lead to a single muffler in the rear. Of course, I couldn't wait to test out my new bits so I threw them on a thrashed (had a really hard life) 850 and attempted to tune my twin carbs. Long story short this didn't really work out as my manifold is missing its locating rings (which should arrive tomorrow). This meant that I destroyed two inlet gaskets, which created a huge air leak, and ultimately prevented the motor from running properly. Instead, it started up, revved until the valves couldn't let it go any harder, before quickly calling it quits and turning off again. Doing this multiple times with different gaskets yielded the same result. However, it gave me a good indication of what the car will sound like! The situation with the cylinder head is quite tricky. The standard compression ratio for an 850 is 8:3:1, which I understand is fairly low. Throwing my 12G202 head on there, which is from an 1100, will drop my ratio to 7:9:1! I believe this is really low, and am debating whether or not to get it milled, or to leave it as it is and bolt it down. Some say to bolt it on, some say to bring my compression up to 9:1 by removing 4.1cc from my combustion chambers. Has anybody put a 12G202 head on an 850 engine before? I'd really love some advice as cylinder head machining and compression ratios are new to me. The neat part about the twin carbs would have to be the interesting air filters. They're called a "Pressmaster" and are New Zealand made. Not sure if they're a rare piece nowadays, but they look neat. I've never seen them before. I've also ordered a heap of new bits which should be arriving tomorrow and will allow me to make some more progress on the engine. Cheers, Jack
-
Progress Progress... My plan of attack is to get the front & rear sub frames + the engine completed by the end of the year. On my college budget this will be a stretch but I think I'm capable of getting it done! I have new lower arm bushes, engine stabilizer bushes, cv boots and dust covers all ready to be installed. Yesterday engine paint was brought. It's not the original engine color (or even close really) but I think it's an improvement over the standard military looking green engines that minis came with. Certainly brighter than what the cap on the tin said! But I'm liking it. The car isn't being restored to complete factory spec, so I'm not too fussed. I picked up another complete 850, this one's a 1964. Whilst it runs, its been run hot, and hard. Plus its really sludgy on the inside, so it'd probably make a good rebuilder, but for now it's provided me with some really good parts, namely a generator that's dead silent when it spins (quite hard to find quiet ones!) and a tidy starter motor, both of which I have restored. So far, I've got most of the front sub frame parts painted and ready to go back into the frame. The rear sub-frame is virtually finished bar one brake hose! Wish me luck. Jack.
-
Cheers for the input fellas. I'm personally not a big fan of body colored steels myself. Have always wanted wide steels in semi gloss black (on any car really) but not sure this is the right way to go with my little MK1. Roof will definitely be white (probably old English white) so I could possibly do my rims (and grille depending on how rusty it is when it gets here) in the same white as the roof. I may go against wide steels due to them needing to be certed..? Have seen a few mags that I like the look of, so might go in that direction. I've been collecting a wide variety of mini pictures as inspiration but nothing has really well and truly sprung out at me yet. Very on the line about doing a modern Metallic blue from a new BMW mini and doing a sort of restomod job or going for an old school, period correct colour and keeping the mini close to, but not 100% standard. Luckily, the interior is very neutral. I've got the early black and white "fleck" seats with black vinyl edging, and black carpet, so I don't need to worry about contrasting colours there. More updates soon! Jack.
-
Yep, I reckon this will be the plan. Many people underestimate the little 850's, but I've always had a thing for them, and the plus side is, they're really plentiful and cheap so there's definitely no shortage of parts. I now have 2 complete engines and one parts engine. Good stuff! That means I've got a backup engine or two in the event of a failure. I believe Aussie got a version called the "sports 850" which was an 850 with twin SU's and a better exhaust system that seemed to have a substantial impact on the cars performance. One website claimed these "sports 850's" could do 0-100 9 seconds faster than standard, and the top speed went up 11k's an hour. Not too bad! Will need to go and check the diameter of the exhaust system I got from zebra. I know that the center port on my extractors is quite a lot bigger than the port on the head.
-
Right! I've made a good start on the mechanical's by getting into the little 850, and the front sub-frames. The engine is rumored to have traveled a mere 40,077 miles since it's birth in early 1962. It even had its original cast iron water pump and fan belt! I've deconstructed it enough for my liking (Short Block, the crank doesn't need to come out), and as soon as the gaskets and assorted new bits arrive it will be going back together. No lip on the lifters, bore, or any other parts. The clutch has a ton of meat left on it, and I didn't even snap any of the bolts off in the strip down That's always a plus! The grand plan is to give the engine a big birthday, new gaskets, thermostat housing and thermostat, water pump, hoses, fan belt, paint up, plugs, points, leads, extractors and a better carburetor. If the engine is anything to go by, then I'm expecting the gearbox to be in great shape too! As far as subframes go, I'm happy to have a pre '64 Mk1, as 1964 was the year hydrospastic suspension was introduced to the mini. Since my two front rubber cones sat still for 23 odd years, they've been naturally compressed and are holding their, so I'm expecting the car to sit a little lower in the front. After we construct a rotisserie, the body will be properly rust proofed and under-sealed. Then paint will follow. Even though I can understand doing a period correct colour, there aren't many solid colors that I actually like. I'm liking the looks of the light metallic blue on the new BMW mini's. Was thinking I could do this with an old English white roof for a sort of modern take on a classic (old mini with a new mini colour scheme kinda thing). Anyways, I don't currently have enough money to splash out on paint at the moment so I have plenty of time to think! Cheers -Jack
-
Yep, I do have a set of extractors and a complete cooper exhaust system but I was worried about it being too big for the tiny little ports that the 850 has. Tempted to just use it and see what happens, I doubt it would be too much of a problem. Whilst I want to cam the 850, I've seen mixed reactions to this on the net, some say to get the engine line bored for 3 cam bearings, others are okay with running performance cams on the standard cast iron journals that the 850 has. I wasn't planning on dumping a ton of money into the 850 as it would be more financially economical to start with something a little bigger (1100, 1275...), but for the time being, I'll be sticking to the 850 as my college budget holds me back from the big bore engines
-
Follow the build here:
-
G'day All, Figured I may as well make a little project log thingy for my newest project, a '62 Morris Mini Minor. I picked this thing up not too long ago and have been getting stuck in with ambitions to have it done early next year. I've been on the hunt for a MK1 for ages now so I'm super stoked to get into it. The car had been stripped down and semi-restored some 20 years ago by the previous owner, but never quite finished. This has led to the paint deteriorating, and heaps of parts disappearing over time. This prompted me to buy a '62 parts car from some guys lawn for its engine/interior bits/suspension parts. I've got almost all of the parts for it now! Its just a matter of painting it and getting it back together and on the road again As far as plans go I'm still not totally sure what color id like it to be. Wheels can be changed to suit, but I guess paint's a different story. Was thinking something along the lines of a light metallic blue with an old English white roof, wide steels/mags and a mesh sun visor for that retro mod kinda look. Something that could be taken back to original spec if need be. Was even thinking of doing it black or just standard white, but I'm not too sure. Cheers guys, looking forward to getting more involved on the forum. -Jack. -The 850cc engine in the front end of the less than fortunate parts car. 25 years of sitting on a lawn didn't stop it from running - it fired right up the day after it fell out of the van and onto the driveway. Wasn't seized, and has only done 40,000 miles. Just hoping that the 850 will be enough for me to keep up with traffic!
-
jackeo21's 1983 Mitsubishi Mirage Panther II - Discussion
jackeo21 replied to jackeo21's topic in Project Discussion
Thoughts on the wheels? Was thinking of blacking out the inner parts but decided to go for the original colour scheme.- 21 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- mitsubishi
- mirage
- (and 1 more)
-
jackeo21's 1983 Mitsubishi Mirage Panther II
jackeo21 replied to jackeo21's topic in Projects and Build Ups
Restored the Right Front Wheel today. Spent about 2hrs on it and I think it came up really nice. I decided to paint the inner sections of this one. I used engine enamel silver (hard wearing) and clearcoated it. The face of the rim was sanded with multiple different grits of wet & dry sandpaper, and buffed up with some polish and "silvo". I also gave the wheel well a scrub and a quick coat of matte black to bring it back to life and prevent rust. Hope to get started on the rear wheels tomorrow. Once the wheels and wells are done I'll move onto the engine bay. -Jack- 5 replies
-
- 5
-
-
- mitsubishi
- mirage
- (and 1 more)
-
jackeo21's 1983 Mitsubishi Mirage Panther II
jackeo21 replied to jackeo21's topic in Projects and Build Ups
Bit of an overdue update, Finally got her wof and rego sorted! And shes able to retain the black plates too. Today I had a go at polishing up a wheel, what an improvement! Only 4 more to go... Not much else has been changed but I hope to get into the bigger things soon. I'm on the lookout for a drivers seat and a rear bench seat. Also need to get that clarion radio sorted.- 5 replies
-
- 6
-
-
- mitsubishi
- mirage
- (and 1 more)