Mr.Mk1

Cats out of the bag now!

Not that I should have to make this post, but accordingly I need to clarify. Im not being made to sell, I dont need to sell. But I am, on my own accord, selling and moving on to the next thing. I tend to change cars every 3-4 years anyway. I lost my secure parking at work and that soured me the most as I’d always planned to drive the shit out of it.. I dont go anywhere in the weekend so it couldn’t be a weekend cruiser. Things have changed and it’s no longer a practical vehicle to own. Money in the bank is something I’ve never had, and if met with an opportunity, I’ll be in a position to pounce. I achieved my goal.

Just listed it on trademe yesterday, free selling!

Bloke up north had a fair few of the bits I needed so slid him some cash.

Only thing I have worth plenty. Don’t know how much will come out of the house sale these days and cost of small-time setting up again.

I finally got around to replacing the rear wheel bearings and seals as there was a bit of a noise from the rear. Still a noise so probably just the big ass tyres whirring away. The axles are mint as (bearing rides on the shaft. Prone to wear) and honestly so were the OE bearings and seals lol. I added a few brake hardware bits/springs. Kit I got wasn’t completely identical but the vital ones were. I also flipped the front spring hanger which drops it 40mm +. They have uneven studs so slot the holes each way and bolt back in! The oil pressure sender has failed and sends oil out through the terminal and down the bellhousing.. I have another due any moment. It’s going really well and kick-down not too bad! Last outing it got plenty of hammer down and it was great. Thank you for following along folks, it will soon be on Trademe

So when the mk3 Zephyr v8 project fizzled, the hunt was on for a rat rod body. She works at a V8 shop so we tend to hang out with older gents and the lively ones have rats & traditional hot rods that mostly cruise around the shows or let rip at private paddock racing and dirt track events which is our speed too! Half of the affordable bodies and projects on the market were rubbish on ute chassis, 4drs or British. My one stipulation was that it had to be of American lineage.. a real hot rod! Then this came up on TM, dollar reserve or something silly. The owner used to have Moorehouse Muscle Cars so he knew what’s up, but had decided to liquidate and concentrate on a couple of cars. The fact is was complete, going and local was huge for us, and for me.. Flathead Ford! I went and had a look one lunchtime and it had a good vibe. It was built by all the well known rodders in the area in 2006 for the upcoming Muscle Car Madness show but sat for the last 10+ years. The bidding got a bit furious and double what it had been sitting at for a week, but she got it for 12.5! The bloke said when building it, they stopped counting at $25k! Plates are dead but we got the ownership papers from the 70s! - cab stretched 6in so fatties can fit in - engine from 37 Tudor, 24 stud - rad and grille from 37 pickup - V8 3 speed and diff - leather re-used from 39 ford seat - trued ‘35 wire wheels (went through 30 odd rims to make a perfect set!) - 39 Ford front end, 30 Model A chassis - hydraulic brakes - 12ft aerial with flags - exhausts & RR shocks off a Harley - lots of funky old accessories, gauges work and good oil pressure. It fires right up with a tiny amount of choke (a push- pull from an aeroplane) and rumbles away like a fucking champ. It’s like driving a farm implement, way back to basics! The steering box had so much slop it was using both lanes so that got replaced! Means we had to run a different steering wheel, it’s off an old speedboat. It had no brakes when we got it. I tried to save it ( new master cyl) but it wouldn’t pump up. Its mounted below the cylinders so I had to make a sealed raised bleeder thing. Didn’t work, pulled it apart and found it hadn’t aged well just sitting. Got another and started getting somewhere but still fuck all pedal. They don’t have an oil filter so I got some flash Penrith shelley mineral oil made just for these old donkeys. once I finally got the huge 2in hex sump bung off, felt about an inch of sludge in the sump! Couldn’t put my flash oil on top of that so off came the sump. These things are simple as, but there bloody awkward and tight to work on. Foul words were said. Sump gaskets were almost fossilised but there was a swapmeet that weekend and managed to find a gasket and seal set! All back together and it was time for its first outing, Rust n Dust! We’ve been for a few years but never drove the track. A-framed out behind the XD, we had a fucking ball! Did everything it should, no damage and drove up the driveway afterwards. The brake pedal came right after some use too! Has been in Petrolhead and NZ Hotrod mags June/july! The community are great and always willing to help. The grille proportions are off and we picked up a factory grille shell but it’s tiny so we’d have to do a new radiator. I’ll trim are re-position the grill shell with the smaller radiator so we can chop and change styles. She wants it lower, which isn’t as easy as cutting springs.. but its really handy not having to be careful, plus Irishman’s rally requires some clearance.. pipe dream but would be a fun trip. The exhausts are a bit wack so some headers will make their way on when we find some Its Running 12v coil and bulbs but 6v generator so doesn’t charge..might pick up a later 12v setup one day but probably not.. dont drive at night!

Well, this didn’t pan out. We picked up the motor and trans and discovered it wasnt a 289 & C4, but a big standard single barrel 302 and FMX which sucked. sucked harder when we pulled the heads off and found 3 different pistons, signs of heavy detonation the melted edges off pistons, and a fucking great hole into the water jacket on one cylinder.. yikes. Pulled the pants off and saw bore skirts broken off 2 cylinders, some rod ends were double-nutted. Holy Dooley. It was running its standard bearings though! We believe it blew up, they tried their best to get it going again on the cheap and it did for a moment, then the hole punch occurred. The seller gave most of the money back but she was a bit over the project by then and wanted a rat rod instead. The car sold for what it owed us and became the new owners 29th zephyr he’s had..She’s in Southland now! Sorry to disappoint, will make up for it xo

Didn't need it, but too cheap & enough of it left, to leave it where it was. Dead reg NZ new 1955 Chevrolet, 6 cylinder manual. Probably equates to a 210 model offshore. The last rego label reads 1979, was a donor for a 57 being put back on the road since the 90s. The door cards, rear plate, air cleaner and gearbox are in the boot. The floors are poked, as are some corners, sills and roof. Nothing horrendous. Under all the shite there are GM rubber floor mats which will have accelerated the rot. My brother reckons he has a freshly rebuilt Blueflame 6 he inherited from a job years ago so thats what shall power it. Plan is to just source all the missing parts and make the exterior look complete, make it start and stop. In the meantime it’s garden art! Have scored tail light surrounds, front and rear badges and surrounds, some interior trim and a front flasher we weren’t missing but the guy didn’t want. Ive got a few things on, so while it’s hard.. I’m trying to keep it at arms length. Some cool rubbish found so far:

SO BLOODY GOOOOOOD! Crisp hi-5’s to the Yellowhammer crew, never fail to impress.

They were still 4 stud so perhaps not?

Update: new voltage regulator and we have charge!

Chocolate fish to @brocky41 My mrs has a mk4, 289 + kitted C4, was built in the 80s and on declaration papers. We recently rebuilt it oversize, alloy heads, isky cam,MSD etc..its snappy as fuck with old tyres. I think Bronco sump is the one you need to make life easier. Falcon brakes and such are easy upgrade. Theres a facebook page ‘V8 Only Cortina info, discussions and sales’ which is ozzy based but answers most questions.

Guilty of rotten valiant ownership too! Your new ride is a killer shape! Mine uses an instrument cluster voltage regulator that has a few prongs on the back and pushes into the printed circuit board. I tried two and no change. Its odd cause i thought the temp and fuel were both controlled by this. I have seen online a link to making your own using jaycar parts that supplies a real stable voltage. The fuel gauge seems to work fairly accurately. Temp, i never nutted that out.. Gauge sweeps when earthed, bypassed the wiring, tried a couple of senders in boiling water and no joy. The needle moved a smidge on a HOT day in 5pm traffic but thats the most ive seen out of it.. wasn't enough travel to get on the scale.

Back again with more worrys. When it went for the WOF he was struggling to read part if the VIN plate, i had a look and there was stain on it. Fuck, the battery has been overcharging and spraying acid about the front corner of the engine bay. Grand! More electrical gremlins. Got home and put the multimeter on it and was a bit shocked at what it was pumping out.. Our mate from american auto lent me a good alternator to test, went from all the charge to none of the charge. Waiting on a new Voltage Reg from Rockauto to see if that helps. Hopefully the battery isnt fisted cause its pretty new. Have cleaned up the acid burns and repainted things, added a battery breather. All cosmetic and nothing reached the outer bodywork thankfully. Not so long ago i discovered both field wires had broken off, this time my old solder repair had ejected entirely. I made a wee jumper wire and shit but its just too fragile, the brush holder started to crumble on install so ive binned this Alt. Onto positive news, i ordered a starter bendix and a set of rear shoe springs & hardware for bugger all. The starter used to rattle and sound like a belt sander winding down after use, now it sounds crisp! The one-way bearing was chooched and the outer sleeve had come loose. Theres lots of slop in these things.. if it gets noisey again ill add some more fibre washers and take up some slack