doullama

Sorted that lot out, just need to present it for a wof now. Enjoy a tour of the block

Have painted the floor & boot of this thing - in suprisingly good condition. Went for a burn around the neighborhood - went very hard for what it is and is quite fun to drive. Makes me wonder what is lurking under the rusty rocker cover - decidedly quicker than an alpine I drove a couple of years ago, and sounds vicious for a shit british 4cyl at idle. Found it was getting a bit too warm - thermostat was jammed, don't know why I have such awful luck with them (actually I do, cars don't get run enough) - binned that and let it idle for half an hour, the next run around the block it ran like a pack of bsa's - the rear two spark plugs are fouling terribly due to overfueling at idle and don't clear easily. Investigating the strombergs it seems something is awry with the rear carb - even with the mixture screw up tight it is still far too rich - a little black smoke etc. Ancient fuel in the tank probably doesn't help. Needle looks a little pitted so will remove carb from car for further investigation. I tend to avoid taking carbs apart but the strombergs seem simple enough to be worth a tutu, may as well learn how to centre the jet, check the diaphragm & float, lose tiny parts & ragequit etc. Did consider changing to a mysterious but clean single carb from parts-heap but the accelerator setup has been modified for the twins so a bit hard to justify at this stage. If it behaves itself the car may just get its first oil change in two decades. Other things to do - replace leaking heater bypass hose, new fan belt & swap some perishing fuel lines + filter. Maybe rig up a pcv rather than road tube

I found these gems in a pile of parts, are covered spotlights ok for the road? Obviously the vehicle wont be driven at night. What are the odds of them working I wonder

Weaselled my way into a few weeks in the sunshine, have rudely awakened the slumbering British cars. Just about finished tarting up the avenger- have ordered an essential buffing machine. Am now thinking of getting better seats - the dash is rekt, wonder how much of a c*nt swapping it would be - would transform the car

Thought I may as well start a thread on this raging beast, a friend of mine (may have been on here once) moved from hamilton to dunedin and abandoned it on my doorstep. He had had it sitting for quite a few years. Is a 1600 with twin strombergs & extractors - the motor has had some unspecified work done, apparently from a rally car. Body is in pretty decent condition, original paint is extremely worn and has surface rust for dayz, only welding required is in rear arches due to 3/4 inch coating of oil everywhere else. interior is 5/10, seats & dash have seen better days. lots of new suspension bushes in it which is nice. bodges required: weld rear arches where needed, sand & seal surface rust fill old badge, aerial holes etc muck around with ignition, it is totally pre-bodged and doesnt turn off with key until an electrical load is introduced i.e brake lights, horn (which to be fair is pretty funny) ideally obtain electronic ignition from chrysler. minimise ridiculous oil leaks put seats and dash cover on to cover wrecked originals wof treat with disdain as not proper leyland product. feel free to question my sanity on this thread, updates will be fairly slow as im only home a few days a fortnight!

UC sunbird/toranas need them to stop the bonnet cracking around the latch, i'm not a fan of the aesthetic but it beats random bonnet attacks

I wanna know more about these Lifepo4's now, unlikely to get one as free batteries are hard to beat but they sound pretty interesting - surviving long periods of disuse would be a big plus

I'd second what bling said, lap joins are inferior by nature so if you use them, use weld-thru primer and seam sealer to exclude air/water and thereby delay the rusting process. They are much quicker/easier than butting in though.

also you need a larger battery for boot mounting to overcome the resistance of 5m long leads. Id just get a good quality battery that makes the most use of the available space, don't forget height too. CCA can be a bit misleading, it is unlikely that you'll need to wind the car over for 30 seconds in subzero temps after all. I've used tiny jap car batteries which would be lucky to have 200cca to start ancient v8's, they'll generally wind over fine - just not for very long. With a modern injected engine (or a well tuned carburetted engine) with a modern efficient starter & electronic ignition this won't be an issue.

$1927 seems like a bad number for a battery. What are the dimensions of the battery space available? I moved the radiator of my marina over 30mm to accommodate a 600cca battery, simply due to the fact I have a supply of free 3 year old 600cca batteries. Could always relocate to boot but that should be your last option. If your car has less accessories than the donor you can most likely get away with a smaller battery also.

Looking at u.s conversion vans: I see as part of entry cert they must now (from '16) be lvv certified due to the removal of bracing when installing side windows, fibreglass roof, dodgy seats & seatbelt mounts etc. Does this also apply to the many vans that are already on the road? These two are my current candidates, dodge is already lvv certed (and has 318) and ford is a heavy vehicle therefore exempt (and has 460 + uncle Rico vibe) both 14k with no bites for a while/ripe 4 beatdownz. Was just wondering as if so there must be hundreds of vans due for some wicked spendy work

7k from a townace - made from 83-07', easy to carburate if that's your style etc. Would love to obtain one myself as a sly upgrade from 4k. Around 80hp of ohv fury

and ended up swapping for a chebby turck, in pretty good nick, RHD and 94k miles. Is 350/th700r4, was LPG at some stage so has been converted to carby. Certainly gets up and marches, sounds the tits too. Also has canopy for camping missions. Will never be mentioned again as not really OS (89) Great leyland support vehicle

did a bit more work to van, wof'ed and put up f/s to the great unwashed, here's a pic for posterity

you've come a long way baby, not really happy with my paint-job, bit orange-peely but oh well, better than it was. Reassembly almost complete, just need to install stereo, get rid of fake whitewall things and get a better drivers seatbelt, hunt down front bumper rubber thing + carpet the rear. Put styley brown doorcards on which suit well, along with new weatherstripping. Even has a functioning rear hatch handle, and vastly better rear bumpers. Swapped to a smaller oil filter to eliminate start-up rattle. Really needs its o.g suspension put back in, not a fan of having to crawl over obstacles + I assume the swaybar was removed due to incompatibility with lowness, have a 1 ton one to put on, gotta have that RTS after all. Don't intend to keep this van long, just sick of its bs haha