Mr.Mk1

Refer to page one, said I wanted to get a proper wheel for it.. Well I couldn’t believe it when one popped up in my daily trademe favourites! $500, buy now! I’d have liked to spend less (as always) but they are a bit skint second hand and are usually rooted. The aftermarket ones are over a grand and buyers have said they weren’t too happy with the quality. This presents perfectly for a used/driver car! Glad to tick this off. The factory wheel was all green, cracked and pretty ugly so a no-brainer to skip putting work into it. I’m a sucker for a skinny, big factory wheel. I got the passengers door under control and in primer, ended up putting the other hinge pin kit in it since it was off the car..it was pretty good but now it’s better and the metal-on-metal factor didn’t sit well with me. Broke 2 hinge bolts but managed to get the captive plate out of the door and into the vice..drilled out just undersize and picked the old threads out. Mate finally dropped my caulking gun back so I’ve seam sealed the engine bay. For a change I’ve opted for quick and thick production line style. I usually go overboard, mask and smooth everything and finish with thinners so you don’t end up seeing any sealant. I kinda dig being able to see it on this car. I’m leaving the character wrinkles in the bulkhead and things too.. it’s not a show car and I’ve had to remove and replace so much car; it’s cool to preserve Dodges slap-happyness where I can Made the filler for the front spoiler too..only 280mm wider than a Datsun sunny..lol Offered the rear bumper up for the first time, brought some new bolts, trimmed some of the rear valence for bracket clearance and it fit. I’ll bugger round and see if I can get it to sit tighter than factory.

When I put the tow bar on almost a year ago something wiring related occurred and the fuel sender failed. I couldn’t find one anywhere and got a universal sender and gauge in desperation cause I was dailying it and it was unrequired stress. problem was I could never get it to seal nicely and didn’t want to modify tank because id always prefer to keep this sort of shit original. As it spends most of its time tucked up in the back yard, it reeked of gas and just wasn’t cool. Mrs found a falcon wrecker out north Canterbury and he let us loose on a few wagons to see if any worked..found 3 variations but one identical, slung it in and Wooohooo 1/4 of a tank! also grabbed the last missing dash part..a tiny rectangular knob to operate the vent!

Don’t worry, Haven’t been resting.. we’ve now got the front guards, drivers door, valence and scuttle/engine bay bogged and first coat of 2K epoxy primer. Engine bay rubbed back ready for some paint.. I will go dark grey and terminate it along the guard edge and the seam across the firewall.. so it’s a neutral colour with whatever outer schemes I do down the line and I won’t have to tear everything out and hand sand it again which is aids. But not as aids as black enginebays. Other door torn off because it needs a good skim and it’s less back-breaking sanding flat as opposed to vertical.. always like to leave the car together as much as possible but I really hate this stage so anything to ease the dreadfulness will prevail. Bonnet rubber bump/rest kit arrived too (4 wee wedges that locate into edge of guards) old ones literally shattered, lol Interior guy sounds keen to get started next month nobody cares for bodywork photos so here’s a parting shot as I walked away for the evening. Chairs

I’d tell you if I’d heard anything!! I was peaking about waiting but now I’m bogging and sanding doors and front guards I’m occupied. Will hold off doing the rear end until I hear back.

*slap* Time to get back amongst your green machine again yet?

I did clean and clear the wipers and they still look tits. Boring update, but you never know who it might help. there’s no swage in my door and it relies on the crown for strength. I noticed when opening and closing doors to align them that the skin flexes way more than you’d like. Today I saw these on another forum and though it was brilliant and easy. 20 minutes later slam some epoxy glue on them & bolt them back up and they will stick to the inside of skin and spread the load..no silly cracked paint/undesirable distortion!

Blast’n’bits Vapour blasted my wipers, photos don’t quite do justice but they are like new..the satin finish means I’d never be able to clean them up nicely without polishing but vape to the rescue again, it’s just a magic process. There some finger prints I need to clean then I’ll clear them

Free bit of Weekend spent hanging/ aligning the doors, guards, valence and bumper for good. Pretty OK! Sorry the pics are shit, was in a rush. I’ve had this B310 panel-steel chin spoiler for years and finally bit the bullet and decided to run it. I could have gone Camaro style and had it inset, but the ends made problems when it came to mounting. We made the call to chop it, and the ends practically fit the sweep of the valence after all! just used a random number plate to fill the gap (lol) but it works well so I’ll make a bracket. Not finished but you get the idea. I took the 20 degree angle of the indicator to set the spook angle. And the tyres flipped and lathered in tyre shite to help lift the new-tyre scum and release agent Then, started blocking and bogging. Fucking Joy

Glad that’s sealed up! Can see the lumpy nature of the RH side now

Welded a couple of pinholes and cleico holes we missed, welded a patch in the drivers door..the rust had got in between the frame and skin and swollen outwards.

Napa absorbed Ashdown Ingrams, sockburn holds the most stock. Ask for Gav

Boot lid and front valence done as well, we’ve reached nudity milestone!

Picked up paint & supplies today too.

Since my back is already screaming, might as well do some more. I knew this side wouldn’t take long as all the shit paint flicked off and left nice primer layers exposed

one side down! lots of bog on the door, most of it wasn’t necessary..worked in my favour as I could plow into it and took off that shit EnameI at the same time but I smeared it around every other panel. ironed out a few lumps especially around the handle.

There was only one place doing a suitable rebuild kit for my brake distribution block and they can’t ship to NZ at the moment. You can get a whole new setup for about $300 delivered. I pulled it all apart to clean and be nosey and it’s only really o-rings and some cup seals so I took it to CBC and they were hesitant but managed to match them all! Assembled it last night and gave it a half assed polish, painted the brackets and caps. Looks lots better for something that nobody will notice. Wasn’t happy with the VHT job I did quickly on the dash top so went and got some nice stuff (Concept @ RJP) and resprayed it. Fried up on the front edge but luckily that’s covered by the pad. Had to then install the new vents! Made a start on sanding off that fucking enamel black, 60, 80 and strip discs to finish should see a result. It’s been a month since the repair cert guy came over, sent an email to see where he’s at so I’m still like

Marketplace comes through with the goods again, brand new 15x8s for a steal. I was planning on running steels or something more mongrel up front but couldn’t pass these up! Couple of tiny rust spots but what bloody Cragars don’t!

looking glass acquired! ouch, but kinda need one

This showed up in 7 days! And spotted this MF

Still kicking rocks around waiting for a reply from repair certifier, & bank gave us coin so getting a new shed but don’t know when..so can’t get too involved in anything. It’s a nitemare for an overactive guy. In the interim I spent way too much on some badges and dash vents, removed cleaned and lubed the door mechanisms, cleaned up and painted some badges.. Here’s a tip. Polish the shown face of the part, paint it and then use a fine rag on a ruler straight away to wipe off the paint where you want chrome again. My lovely Mrs scored me this awesome pink Johnny Lightning Coronet and it was the best surprise I’ve had for ages!

Well that was easy. The fucking main hinge is metal-on-metal in these things! Now both bushed. Drilled out the flogged end and pushed these in, trimmed off the excess + lubed up and it’s feeling lush. Dealt to some pitting along the bottom of the door while it was off the car and any crust from door jamb joins.

I’ve met with the local repair certifier and he’s meeting me at home in a week for a peruse..awesome to get the ball rolling. I can then sent it into town for another inspection and an NZ VIN plate too. (I don’t think the order matters but the repair guy now has all my paperwork) haven’t much to report really, still in limbo. my decals finally showed up from EBay but theres only a RH one and multiple smaller ones.. reading back, the description does actually say 1, but it’s kinda dumb as they are sided and the seller didn’t offer the other hand. Now I have a mint sample to have some made locally though! Door Hinge pin kit and 4x bonnet bumper pads have come in to Mrs work from Rockauto so I can eliminate the sloppy drivers door and align it nicely.. it’s alway a prick to shut and getting old/embarrassing quick. Better add a pic..

Better

Lots of dumb little shit done but not much photo worthy. I was doing more with the dash and washing the vents and discovered these wee knobs we polishable pot metal so I’ve given them a wee spruce up to brighten up..something. This morning I whipped the paint and surface rust off the roof and will get it into epoxy tomorrow.

shaft! You damn right. Hit it with Hammerite, and razor’d off the boot lid..Fuck it’s mint. Got some paint on A pillar trims and kick panels too