Mr.Mk1

60 miles down and it’s feeling pretty good, brakes are repeatable after having hard spots the other month while testing! 

The Speedo is accurate, fluke!

Odo passed 44444

Trans needs an educated going over, would like a second opinion with engine timing and carb adjustment.

Fuel and Temp gauges need tested, think I’ve fried the bimetallic strip while troubleshooting. Or the soldered wire somehow failed, because last time it was working, it’s was twisted together.

Will then see how far I get on this lot of fuel and check how accurate it reads when It starts to cough.

Surprising how sedate it is in the cabin with no carpet or anything.. I’m going to take a shitty Chang Bluetooth speaker to work tomorrow and see how feasible that is during the commute.

Happy household!

Finally (finely?) got it across the line yesterday afternoon!!!

Repair certifier got back to me, said he would drop in a dealer plate on Monday if I’d bring the car in Tuesday. It has laid-up insurance cover with Classic Insurance (great to deal with!) which means it’s not covered if it’s driving. I was able to change up to fully comprehensive and they only charged me a difference of $54 that gets me through to February which is when the laid up cover was due for review!

Went to start it Tuesday morning and the battery was too lame to crank it.. jumped started off the falcon and all was well again. Only thing I could think of was me finally tightening the clamps and found a bad patch of contact. Jiggled, sanded, no real benefit. Charged it at work while I was waiting to get the word to bring it to the shop..

Didn’t get word. 

The next day he said come over about 3, I text to say I’m on my way. Car started fine, turned off and on when I got there to test, nice! waited 20 mins for him to appear and had a chat, he was impressed and said it should be pretty straightforward from here. Went to move it over the hoist and it wouldn’t start. Good look.

Jumper-pack and parked, lime-scooter back to work just before close.

It sat at the structural repairer certifiers panel shop for almost 2 weeks, the Compliance guy was asking me how it went daily but I’d heard nothing and wasn’t getting replies.

He started pestering him on my behalf.

Get a call on Sunday nite saying as far as he was aware it was done and just needed to shore up the paperwork.

I didn’t hear shit till Thursday morning, he says he’s aiming to have it finished and round to compliance today.

Fuck yeah some excited nerves, still stressed out but on the edge ever since dropping off, no word.

Friday morning I get an email of a Read Recipt from a message I sent him 2 months ago so I figure he’s looking though my files and everything and today might be the day, but the compliance guy had openings early week and was alone at the end of the week, not to mention it’s a long weekend.

8:20am ‘it’s good to go’.

Now were short staffed at work but everyone knows the situation so I lime-scootered over, it’s all covered in panel shop dust but I grabbed it (wouldn’t start) dropped to Vince at i4Checkpoint. 

He was stoked to see it but said it’s gonna be here all weekend,sorry..but it’s nice and safe.

3pm he calls and asks me to bring a handful of cash a over and I can take the car to get some plates.

Well that’s a surprise!

Emptied the till and added to my walking cash so had enough, caught a ride with a sprint courier heading in that direction and paid the man, got the forms and jumper-packed me out the door with a WOF and a 17 digit vin plate attached!!

Few points to fix but I’d figured out some of them on the maiden voyage the other week.

Now I didn’t want to risk that battery bullshit again so went straight back to work, grabbed the Datsun and ripped round to the local AA, filled in the last bits on the forms and waited patiently (impatiently) for my spot at the counter.

One of the cheaper transactions from the Gubbmint and I was reg’d for a year and had some big gay white plates!

Rip back to work, and across the street to the battery place which had nothing under $300.

Remembered the Mrs has a battery stand at work so pinned down and grabbed a big Koba for much less, back to work in 5pm long weekend traffic, stabbed it in the hole and she’s been a honey ever since. Took it out to get dinner as well, all dusty and shit.

It was a fucking slog, absolute emotional roller coaster and doesn’t come recommended if your like me, but there was a hell of a relief driving it home completely legit and insured against the rest of the world. 
.phew.

Today I remedied the issues, fitted the swaybar, flared the top of the front guard where the arch meets the inner stay a little, repositioned one exhaust that was tapping the rail from time to time, fitted the front spoiler, washed and dried it, changed to mopar bonnet pin escutcheons and took some pics for you fine folk.

We’re by no means finished, I’m a serial tinkerer so I’ve left some jobs for later.

Have a scotch, I fucking am!

Haven’t done a heap, still waiting on structural repair report then we’ll be very swiftly into compliance.

My warrant guy has a Val and a Charger street stock so had lots of parts, he hooked me up with a sway bar to test fit. (A sway bar was a tick-the-box option for these)

The main mount brackets suit the K member profile great but the length wasn’t quite there. I work at Mount Shop, so had endless possibilities. I ended up with a Mitsi Challenger drop-link that I used a universal whiteline saddle clamp and D bush to clamp on the Radius rods.. they are bushed at the front and rigid at rear so plenty of support. Will drill holes and attach after compliance. 

Has since been blasted and painted, ignore my bundy long mock-up bolts.

The seat upholstery kit finally arrived from Canada on Tuesday so got straight into that this weekend. Everywhere in the states is backorder only and could be years, one place had a front set but no promise of me finding a matching rear so I found PG classics in Canada..they were the k my company to list a SET and only in one style. I just had to jump on it and I’m glad I did. It’s very well made with heavy vinyl and foam padded ‘inserts’.

The rear seat base was real legit,the only one.. but green. Easy strip down.. dad was going to send his hog ring pliers up but hasnt so far, so I pulled all the originals out, straightened and re-used with a series of different pliers.  Was a tiny bit baggy but I’ll live with it, can always re-visit down the line.. I also used up all my padding so..

The back was wasted, filled with vermin nests and wasn’t going to cut it. Ended up binning all the padding and making my own from foam sheet and a douvet cover folded in 3rds.

 

The front covers slipped on great but the edges were baggy and the whole feel was off so I dug out a big chunk of Auto carpet underlay I was saving and went to it. Worked so well! The foam wasn’t too bad but I added material to some low spots, made some 80’s ‘shoulder pads’ and glued underlay over the whole surface.

Then today the sun came out so reversed out the shed and wound the windows up and let ‘er cook so it can ease out creases and such, worked well but needs more time.

I’m super stoked, they are comfy AF and look so much better as-is and I know it will improve after a few heat cycles and some use! 
 

Today I finally sprayed the trunk inner!

Also more time spent on ignition timing and kickdown cable adjusting..trans works fine but nothing I do changes much so it must need adjustment elsewhere. Fine for now! New Timing makes it seem less prone to stalling and has unleashed a nice lope of unknown-spec cam. 
Just dotting i’s on a carpet set, seat upholstery kits and maybe wheel arch trim set in U.S.A. and Canada. 
 

no reply from repair certifier; week 2.

Spotted at the last NPD meet

More tinkering this weekend.

The kickdown linkage has never functioned in my ownership..they are pretty particular and mine was made up of different models.

When I read it can fry the trans if not adjusted, I brought a cable conversion kit to do away with all the metal rods and shit.

Makes quite a difference! Still some fine tuning to do while I get some miles on it but very easily adjusted.

Did some more seam sealing and black paint touch ups while I was under it. 

More rear brake fettling, feeling pretty good but again, needs more travel miles.

While it was jacked up in the sky I had the VIN guy round to have a wee pre-inspection and he was happy as. Reckons it might be through within a month!

Ive always been paranoid about side swiping the garage so I dug out a pile of Valiant mirrors we got over the last few years to add to the passengers side. Being that it’s the Valiant driver side, it has the wee remote adjusting toggle!

Turns out the base is different and the Val has a bow to it so I shaved down the base and made a new gasket, whacked some more holes in and we now have symmetry and safety in one!

While I had the door card off I sprayed some more cavity wax in the door and installed the wee gaskets I brought for the door handle. The other side will get done next time I have door apart.

Picked up that 2T scissor Jack I mentioned in previous post too

Since the last update she’s been for a few mile drive to the Sergio to fuel up and test fuel gauge which went well, the oil pressure sender changed from the gauge type can that was on the motor, to factory idiot light type - which works.

Dropped it down the road for a wheel alignment as per the structural repair and compliance process - paperwork squires and dropped off to the guy in charge.

Painted the exhaust manifolds - had planned for them to be only temporary and get some headers in the near future but the more I looked the harder it got. Wanted hooker headers but they dont suit P/S models, others run a pipe down under the drag link and compromise ground clearance  etc etc.

Rigged up a spare wheel and a wee tool kit, will pick up a scissor Jack too.

And a thing I didn’t know I needed until I saw it last week 

Woohoo, back together again like ass cheeks in high summer

Wet paint, satin not gloss

Also fixed that ham flare on the brake line so need to bleed again, then it’s onto the the wheel alignment to finish the structural repair stage and begin VIN and compliance.

Still here, toiling.

Its taken me about 100 hours to work though the wiring and get things working again. It’s all dead standard but old and dirty and.. American. Electrical is not my strength. I can figure most things out eventually with a test light and a multimeter I barely understand, but fuck me, this was a big climb. I’ve cleaned every plug, pulled apart every switch and relay, added grounds, unwrapped most looms. 

Very slowly things came back to life but the dash illumination loom just wouldn’t work unless I cheated it from another power source. And all but the right front indicator would work.

Very, very frustrating. Asking for help is a last resort for me, but last Sunday I called it and contacted a retro sparky..he said he’s about 6 weeks out.

I can’t really let things be so kept plugging away, and bugger me now the only thing I don’t have is a temp gauge and the heater fan stays on!!

I was testing the temp gauge with a random (new) sender I had and I hope it’s just wrong resistance or something but I haven’t been comfy firing up the car to op temp to check the proper one while the column is out and the dash spread everywhere. I got the same pulsing signal at the wire and the gauge so here’s hoping. 

Worst case she’s getting a capillary one and id add matching oil pressure gauge so I can see WTF’s goin on.

I have a new Speedo cable (didn’t unplug it and it yanked the sheath when I pulled the dash down), flasher relay (there’s two, one for hazards and one for indicators.. same part number but when swapped they flash at different speeds so one must be half crook) and a wee bulb I dropped and broke due any day then I’ll put it back together!!!

I replaced a weeping steering box seal too so that should solve the drip.

A trip down to the folks resulted in dad giving me his brake flaring set as mine was shabby as and I broke it last flare I did which happened to be the long front-to-back brake line..

It was a real hammy flare but I tightened it down and kept going for the deadline knowing full well I had to re-do it later.

The vinyl top guy didn’t cover the car so there is glue overspray jizz all over it, he tried to wipe the dash with wax&grease and fucked the paint. I’m really gutted, it’s such a simple thing to do and I figured a professional would do it second nature.

Edit: those bits arrived from US of A and are installed 

3 days after the last update I whipped the screen out and trims off ready for the vinyl roof install. 
Yesterday I got the call to drop it off and just collected it. Looks awesome, can’t wait to button it up again!

The Mrs took it to work and took some snaps

She was trying out Temu app (like aliexpress, free shipping) and wanted to fill the cart so I found some stick-on rubber universal spoiler and ordered. It was about $7.

Looks like I’d imagined, hope it stays stuck! 
 

It came in a 8.2 ft roll so the ends should relax and uncurl with time. If it doesn’t I’ll make some wee brackets to push outward 

Finally got the leaves reset 2inch and new bushes.

Gooder 

I got the rest painted on Saturday morning. Half sick and fully fumed out it was bloody hard to see what was happening but luckily it’s not all streaky, lol.

Again, the ground coat went on fucking gravy, topcoat thick.

I slapped some bumper paint on, spray bombed half of the trims + scuttle and grille.. they had faded from the3 year stint out in the sun. Number plates totally weren’t sprayed and sanded back. Also welded a stainless tailpipe on, visually made a big difference. 

still have to flat and buff it some time, tint the tail-lights & install the new rare spares outer door glass weather strips.. what’s left of the factory ones are as hard as plastic

Well I’m half way there.

The base coat went on BEAUTIFUL, like best I’ve ever laid paint. the top coat went on thick. Guts.. Thinned it more but cautious of runs like last time.

Ah well, can’t un-do it so put plenty on.

Got a sweet run on the front guard that will shave off but the car is pretty legit otherwise! 
 

Now to wait for it to harden and I can back-mask it and blast the roof, hatch and bonnet.

Disclaimer* I never gapped the panels, I just wanted it sprayed and to put an end to the god forsaken dust in my nice shed.. so we can line it up another time/winter

Finally collected the guard marker lamps.

Made new rubber gaskets, cleaned them up and fitted them..they even work!

Cake is iced!

Few crummy pics of the progress up to today. The bonnet is like making a golf ball smooth but at least there’s no rust in it yet! 
It got a good dose of spritz and needs a few more hours but the rest of the car is good.

Manda tidied up the bumper and scraped off the poorly adhered previous layers, it needs a wee plastic weld then it can be prepped too

Seems I forgot to update this over a year ago with some more cancer removal..

She loves a dump run, almost all I use it for lol!