Mr.Mk1

Bugger all use In the last 6 months due to it living outside and being unsavoury To defrost/demist on the Colder mornings meant i was a bit surprised it needed another warrant this week! She passed but it needs love, so now I have a new pitman arm, idler arm and lower ball joints to install. I was kinda putting this off because I’d planned to convert it all to power steer (hard parts differ) but never really saw anything promising pop up in the market so have flagged that for now. Also want to put a urethane isolator ring on the coils to lift the front a little as it scrubs a lot. Need to put some clamps on some fuel lines, buzz up a hole in the muffler and see why rear brake is dragging on one side. All pretty straight forward! Since last update I had a go at repairing the bonnet.. the leading edge had cracked. When sanded back I found that some weapon has put a new front on and only welded about 1/3 of it. Their welds on the swapped portion of frame We’re shit too and breaking so gave it all a fizz along with trim holes in bonnet and guards.. it’s still shit and doesn’t sit nicely. Bonnets are rare in good nick for the XD and I didn’t want to spend ~$350 for a goodun...then one appears locally for $25 start no reserve! I won that un-rivalled and will collect tomorrow. Its missing some frame and has crust but much much more workable. The morning I won that another appears in the city and it’s in great shape but paint stripped and has pin dents in places. Someone else is bidding but if it stays reasonable I’ll try get that too and run instead. ..almost a picture less update and we can’t have that, so here’s crummy pics. (the gaps in bonnet are about 6-8mm) and a lockdown pic while I was doing a bit of everything and cycling between jobs.

Still enjoying trouble free daily motoring. finally did the shock bushes commented on the last warrant sheet. they look like they were cut on angles in the dark with a hacksaw! bit ashamed I didn’t notice when I did the diff swap. Or did i conveniently note it and forget?

Trying to get more project time in recently, all pretty sporadic and spread between many projects but all forward progress! yes, it took ages and cooked my back feeding tape into the fins to retain the Look of wound Internals and stuff kitted the calipers. Couldn’t get correct pistons Cheaply so matched by size To a Renault one and machined off bits off each end until they were functional. the listing had a typo and it ended up measuring the exact diameter 40.4, chur. also scored a sandwich plate. unboxed all spares and sorted the best parts, doubles and rubbish (Some of my ‘New’ rubber gaskets was perishing) so now engine is basically packed for the machine shop. Made a pile to sandblast and paint ( hubs, backing plates, brackets etc) brought another timing belt, I’d sold mine a few years back when a mate was in a pinch after hours.

Put the clutch fork together and pulled the starter apart to clean, paint and lube. Cleaned the outside of the alternator too, Years ago I tried pulling one apart to polish it (I know) and it went crunch and was ruined instantly.

I also got multiple ‘works escort’ Hillman imp front indicators and housings for something a bit different.

Still chipping away in the very, very background. Between the last post & now, it’s been decided this car won’t see the road again in my ownership. I haven’t even found a good set of black plates and tags in the 15 odd years I’ve had it! Im just going to build what I want and take it to hillclimbs, track days and car shows, take it to work once in a while. It can just be a LifeSize model that’s fully functional. The money I’d have to spend to get back on the road legally is equal to what I need to finish it. This way I’ll be enjoying it sooner for less. Minus the revin stress. I found an alternator and starter finally, a lead on sandwich plate too. I’d lost my skimmed flywheel from way back (I stashed it somewhere way too safe) so brought another and had it skimmed too. I do believe I forgot to mention before I left BNT I brought new bearings for each corner, caliper kits, pads, Uni joints, rotors etc. not knowing I was going into another parts job, I was able to score the bits I couldn’t get prior from the new place! I re-discovered another set of mint badges. And the build tag Despite having 2 boxes, I had no fork or carrier or springs. Springs new via Amayama. Split the Nissan calipers and cleaned up. Brake specialist thru work offered to blast them for me..I though that’s the last thing you’d want to do, but apparently no. I’ll save his generosity for a job I can’t do, and used my wee home kit to knock the crap off bodies and fully blasted outer shells.(body not fully, still paranoid). I filed off the casting marks too, kept me warm on a cold morning. Blew the hell out of them and brake cleaned, Flicked some of the leftover caliper paint (I was disappointed with on datsun wheels) to seal. Will be a darker gold when finished. 3 out of 4 pistons were shit and it’s an odd size of 40.4 I can’t get, so will use a common smaller 40mm and change the seal out of the Sieken kit I already brought + linish pad side to be same height as stock. The mrs sold her 302 so I got my engine stand back and hung the CA off it for motivation.

That’s a bad photo of a good headlining. lewis at tinwald canvas & upholstery had a pattern from a previous job so knocked it out for me. Standard as black, with all pillar pieces included

All back together and you can barely tell, lol.

Well that VHT was a fail. came out sandy brown despite the cap being pretty lush and yellow..spewing. Quick dash to Mega and I got some more stuff as nothing suitable at work or repco BRO! Not even close, looked like arts n crafts time sans macaroni elbows. Wasnt about to go and get a $40 can of hammer-rite gold cause it was suggested it was a lighter gold and it’s a bit of a gamble/Jew. SEND IT. Actually looks great in person. The back is smooth yet the front is stippled so it calmed it down nicely, and the shadow effect from inner of spokes helps. Gonna let them sit inside overnite and smash some clear tomorrow. Fine print on VHT wheel clear says 7 DAYS to cure. god damn it. Let’s hope it’s hardy AF.

My two go-to blasters were having machine issues and I was tired of waiting so I tried blast n bits. He was awesome! Not saying it happens all the time but he coincided his other missions and picked up + dropped them off, had them done in 24hrs despite saying he had a bit of a backlog. $30 cash per centre. the fine machined face I was hoping to preserve on ridges hasn’t shown up very well, maybe under the clearcoat it will accentuate, maybe not. Not the fault of the blasting process. It’s ok though, didn’t want to polish them as the barrels aren’t polished either..slippery slope. I like the flatter look anyway. It’s a sympathetic resto of some tidy old wheels. Then I ruined my already shagged back and shoulders hunched over the table masking them up. will totally paint/powdercoat and have the faces machined in any future. Gonna have a coffee and go spray them

You can’t hide, even in your modern toyota, haha

12 inch stockies on for a change, rides like shit but it’s ‘lively’

I need to decide what I’m doing with caps too, these conical ones are correct, but they look great without too. I tend to like a more traditional squarer cap if any?

Time to freshen up the wheels then. Silly me had a can of paint in the DG fridge during lockdown but didn’t think of it. 1983 edition! Cool that they bolt in and aren’t sandwiched.. was gonna mask the bolts and leave in place but they came apart lovely and fast. now i should get the spokes vaped to retain the factory machining marks

Chur. and can be arraigned I’m sure

i should man up and just get some, for the longevity of the cars sake

Yep, boot is the only leaky part cause I don’t want to spend $70 on a new seal!

Skeet skeet felt really good to finally drive it again, change gears, and get past 7000rpm. the falcon has been ok for daily duties but it’s not in the same league. Might need to sandbag it to get back to old ride height now there’s no towbar and less bog

I scored a set of Deluxe cowl vents too. I think I like the Coupe vents already on car better, but it’s nice to have an original option. They are broken in 4 and missing a fin but they are always haggard if they ever do pop up. Much easier to repair than the couple of coupe ones I’ve fixed previously.

Not sure I mentioned I have a NOS front screen from the defunct geraldine Nissan dealer? I got a B210 one too and sold that to recover cost. Still in the brown paper wrapping! the rear screen I have always had spare, but it’s much better than the old scratched one in the car.

Seals arrived from Canada, can’t wait to Chuck the screens in and go for a drive!