shizzl

PAC performance kit...so rotor tax x10.

Yes sir, dont tell the mrs. It was a 4k kit right there. It took some courage to put the drill and grinder to it. Mind you i only cut a small puece off it that isnt seen. And used a couple of self tappers to pin the 2 halves together for now. So shes pretty much ad it was. That was my goal for this one...do it better incase it gets damaged. Ill get some fibreglass moulds made of the finished guards too.

Current state of the conversion. Headlight buckets mounted, fine tuning required post breakdown for paint. Nosecone is 100 percent mounted. There is a small section i had to trim from the rad panel mount..not needed on this. Started trimming a guard to check fit up. Think ive found 2 rx3 guards to puck up on the weekend. Plan is to slice the front half off the rx3 guard and tetris it into place, then massage the b1600 body line to blend in at the top of the nosecone. Sat the bonnet on it to see where what and how. Its uncanny how the b1600 and rx3 body lines fall almost in the same place and a similar nose shape on the bonnet. It is very much in the no going back department now. Really wanna get the original photoshopped to see how itll look black. Im loving how aggressive this front looks. Next update will be the engine and driveline.

The OG ute, the day I picked it up. I think i ripped the seats out of my GSR to put in it the same day.

2022... I put the call out for a 78-84 b1600... Got a pm about one down in chch. It is an 83 with an 80 front on it. I let it pass due to ligistics. Ive done too many interisland vehicle purchases to wanna trade again. But then 4 months later i got a lead on the owner of the plates RX3UTE.. Asked if he was keen to sell, yup but at $1500. I ummd and arrrd.. left it for a bit. Got hold of the guy with the ute, "still there?" , "yup"... sold. Arranged for transport to Auckland, $1400 later..ouch. It arrived, and i was expecting a complete pile. It was fairly sound. Didnt run though.. But thats fine..i had my 12a to go in there. He offered to buy back the engine and box, so i won there. 3 weeks after getting the ute to the shop, i had the 12a and box in there. Made the purchase to get the plates back. It was ON!!!! RX3UTE is making a come back.

Four score and 7 years ago, no umm 20 years ago, I built my first ground up build which was a little more than adding wheels and nasty interior add ons. It all started with a Opel Monza that I happily swapped for a rough 1980 B1600 wellside ute, featured faded yellow paint with rusty wheels, no wof or rego as usual, and a very large exhaust leak. It was 4 on the tree and fun to drive. First mods were slapping on some 15x8s and blocks in the back. Gave it a one tone paint job aka primer. Drove it round for a year or so until some scumhole decided that they wete more entitled to own the wheels and things that were on it. In doing so they destroyed the sills when they dumped it on blocks. That was my daily driver totaled. Luckily i still had my GT bmx to daily to work. After seeing Andrew Smiths blown 13b B2000, i decided to put some love into it. I completely blew it apart down to the last nut and bolt. Had the chassis blasted and painted. Fitted a s4 13bt block with nikki carb. I got it fired up by myself which was amazing as i was no mechanic. A mates workmate offered me a genuine 12a rx3 nosecone for $250, so i grabbed that and set about doing a front conversion. I was actually surprised how i pulled it off. I got it all mocked up ready for a local panel beater to do the finish work. The bonnet chop would be the hardest bit to do. But when i picked it up from him, i was blown away. The driveshaft cost me more to have lengthened than what he charged me. Plus he primed and guide coated it for me. After i got it back home from him, i set about reassembling it.. fitted wrx seats, rx3 console gauges and some crude camo fabric everywhere. Andrew Smith rang me one day and said " fancy putting the ute on the dyno at the Nats?" Hell yeah.. its first public outing past my driveway. I remember driving up the motorway at night on the friday, cars were flying past and slamming the brakes on to have a look. Was pretty cool. After the nats i decided its time to paint it.. it was 2002, it had to be loud haha. So i went with Lemon yellow with a green pearl. I painted this myself in my driveway..my first ever paint job. It came out good with no runs. But it needed a cut n polish..i never did that. A month or 2 after that i got contacted from a guy up north who asked if i wNted to sell..he made an offer of $13k.. I reluctantly sold..and never got it certed. A year later i was up north visiting family, i messaged him to see how the ute was going. He offered to let me drive it. I was pumped.. finally got to have a legal drive in it. But he changed the wheels to oajero 18s, yuk.. Another year after that he called and said it was dead... he crashed it on its way to the airport to meet its new owner. RX3UTE was no more. I pined for it ever since. Tried getting the plates back at one point. But i didnt have the coin. This is where the story of the original RX3UTE ends. A lot of people hated it, thats fine.. I loved it, it was an accomplishment for soneone with very little mechanical skill, to build it themselves in a single garage with wharehouse spec tools. End.

Not many laptops etc are made with cd drives anymore. I went to insert the rx3ute build disc into my laptop... no drive...ugh Everything seems to be going the usb plug in route now I hate technology

Ill be creating its on build thread shortly as its quickly overtaking the hunter . Although that should be running over the xmas break.

Did a thing today.. Lost a stack of cash.. Got hold of Azhar and picked up a 12a RX3 nosecone set... so good, comes with the grille chrome, upper trim and eyebrows. Got back to the shop, looked at it..and went full send. It actually felt like i had done this before.. Haha.. Actually come together quicker than previous one. Upper is fully bolted on. Will bolt the lower to the upper and try my best to find a pair of rx3/808 guards to use the front 1/4 section for the flange. This will all be bolt on this time.

Whats the shipping times like from summit?

Like catching up with an old mate you havent seen in 20 years. I think its almost exactly 20 years to thr day that i sold RX3UTE.. Now i finally got the plates back in my hands, have a 3rd b1600, have a flying dorito burner... just need the nosecone and some balls to start the process. It all started in 2001 when i swapped an opel monza pos for a crusty un wofd b1600. I quickly got it down on the ground and chucked 15x8s on it with 45 profiles. Then i decided to primer it. For some reason i had an rx3 10a grille sitting in my shed.so i decided to cut the b1600 grille and slip the 10a grille into it. Was a fairly good fit tbh.. Looked good with the grille badge. I drove it like this for about a year. Until some knobjockey ripped it off on my lawn. Ripped out the gauges, steering wheel and wheels. This prompted me to do some work on it properly. So i pushed it into the little single car garage i had, and stripped it down and decided to put a 13b in it. Found a s4 13bt block and box. Got it in there and mounted, then found other bits that somehow fit to make it work..(s1 radiator and oil cooler, found lines to fit, found headers that fit).. it just worked. Then after some advice from Mark Julian at RES i had it fired up. I was stoked. Then i decided to do the bodywork, so i blew it apart, shipped the deck off to murphys panel in waiuku where they warped the hell out of the sides, and paneled up the tailgate with a rollpan etc. I deciddd i wanted a rx3 nosecone on it, so found one for $250 from a mate at pbms..gir home and lioked, measured, cobremplated, then cut..mocked up.. it will work!!! Then found another panel beater to finish the fitting..picked it up a week later and the whole thing was in primer and guide coat..he was a legend. So got it home and put it all back together, and had the plates on order. Sent it to RES to be tuned. Then Andrew Smith rang me and asked if i wanted to out it on the dyno at the nats...hell yeah i do. Its first maiden voyage on the road..no wof, cert or reg..no worries.. Once i got it back home that weekend i decided i wanted to paint it..it had to stick out, so i decided on lemon yellow with green pearl. It was retina burning bright. I got to the point that it was ready to cert, but for some reason i sold it for $13k instead.. I always regretted thag decision. Then after hearing it got crashed, i was devistated. But now i have my chance to get it back, and do it the way i want. Love it or hate it, it was one of the most unique builds back then. And im proud to have done that in a little shed with little to no tools or idea..i was dar from a mechanic back then.

Tbh ive never considered a ruptured oil line. Ive always run with elec gauges .. Had mechanical in the stockcar, but it came with a braided an line..was the allstar brand. Might go kill the wallet for some og autometer sportcomps

So cant run mechanical oil gauge? My ute used to have cowl mounted gauges..the ultimate throwback would be autometer gauges in chrome cups

CAUTION!!! This post contains automotive pornographic images, may not be suitable for workplace viewing. Discretion is advised. Picked up my custom radiator and oil cooler set up today. They even had a 16" fan that they mounted for me which hanges over the oil cooler, which would be ideal as the cooler is narrower than a standard rx cooler. Sat it down in place and it fits so well. The oil cooler brackets sit just off the chassis rails, rad cap neck clears the top of the slam panel. Top rad hose lines up perfectly. Lower should go well aswel. No heater allowance on this one. Oil cooler lines are going to be lush. The lower line (rear) goes directly between the engine mount and swaybar. The upper will only require 2 45deg fittings to be put onto a shorter line. Was $1300 but worth it imho. Also picked up a new ida linkage kit to move the throttle cab to the front.. Rear position would foul on the booster. Shes mint now. But i need to source an adjustable cable end that screws on.

Great feedback fellas... Any feedback on the saas stuff?

Thats the style im after. Ill give them a google

I have had many gauges to read various things over the years, mainly oil pres and water temp. I find most are fairly inaccurate or just super china quality. What gauges do you run, and do you rate its quality? Where did you source them? Im looking for something that doesnt look wanky with different light colours etc. Prefer a black/silver face and reliable.. 2" is fine.. not digital.

So had an opportunityi just could not pass up... Bought back my plates for my throwback build. This is the most important piece of the build. The rest can be recreated, but having its original identity is the cherry on top. The driveshaft goes off to beattys next week. Gearbox crossmember is done..used the original crossmember, and welded on new chassis tabs the same as factory, only 50mm further along the chassis. Have a custom radiator and oil cooler being made at the momentfor it too. Ill keep this buil in here seeing as yhe hinter has gone a bit dormant with a few wiring issues that are beyond me. This build is easier, dine it many times before

I’ll just leave this here… After toying with the injection idea I just couldn’t do it. picked up a pair of mikunis, slapped them on, hooked up the fuel line that was already there. found a wiring diagram for using the stock dizzy with a bim024 type module. found that the wiring I paid an auto sparky to do last year is cactus, so hotwired the module for now, pump isn’t running, great. got spark. Wouldn’t fire off tdc, so figured the module may have advanced it by up to 30degrees. Guesstimated that on the pulley. And pop goes the weasel. only ran it for this long. now can sort the wiring so shit works, finish a few other bits. order up a ae86 radiator. but holy shizzlnut, it’s way quieter lol

Carbs refitted for shitsngiggles .

No pics. but engine and box is back in the hole, new water pipe is spot on. got the headers mated up to the exhaust that was on the 12a. headers are 4-1 and collect into a 2.5” collector, then into a flexi, through 2 resonators and out to the dumpy. I don’t want the raspy tinny 4age twang that these can give with big pipes. also got the starter bolted up and wired in, so now the entire passengers side of the bay is finished off. only have the intake to fit up, modify a couple of wires once I figure out which terminals go where on the alternator. btw the 12a loom is a perfect fit to the 4age for hook ups. even got the oil pressure and temp senders fitted and wired without modding anything from the 12a. even put oil in it and spun it over by hand. still need to fill the gearbox and fit the shifter. progress is progress

Yay, finally received the final piece to the puzzle. heater bypass pipe, and it’s not rotten. now I can fit this up and get the motor back in the hole for the last time. still need to source a T50 clutch slave and pin. haven’t done much on this due to waiting on bits. got some tinkering done on the Ute though, engine mounts tacked in place, gearbox position sorted. Ready for the gearbox crossmember to be done and measure for the driveshaft. I’ll need to go back to a banging bolt for the rear oil cooler fitting due to space. So hopefully I can get a -10 an bango fitting for this. got a radiator and oil cooler to pick up for it, slightly narrower than the one that was in the hunter. that rad will stay in there to cool the 4age. wiring on the Ute is simple as, just a matter of redirecting some wires, fuel system is already done, utes use the same pumps as a s1 rx7, factory facet. picked up some black d window rims for it, 17x8s. Should look alright, bloody heavy though. I’ll need to order new door frame and window rubbers for it. but hopefully the hunter will be up and running fairly soon.

Bloody mongrel cars haha. anti seize for the win

Have you seen the urchfab 105e? Mushy pea green, that would suit it nicely

I once had a gearbox stuck on a dowel/spline. gave it a big clutch kick and she popped off