Nominal

Heh, tractor grips for style win!

I think I'll just stay out of the mud holes until it dries up a bit.

Have 'test driven' some more. Now has mud and grass all over.

Picked up steel selection today. Need to bend up main rollbar when I get back from travels.

It's plenty slippery down in the grass right now

New, improved, with actual floors and other bits. Test thrashed in paddock. Got stuck, got unstuck. Found that some proper mud tires would be a help, but $$$ constrained.

Upside-down commy bumper.

Had to wash most of the mud off.

OK, two new wheel cylinders purchased and fitted. I dislike dicking around inside brake drums, especially auto-adjust rear brakes with have 8 springs, two cables, two stamped metal doohickies, the ratchet adjuster, handbrake lever and , and a handbrake trasfer plate

Lol, yeah, anyone got a machine gun for sale?

It's a bugger to drive in a straight line right now, couldn't get it back on the lift properly. Picked up a better tire from a shops junk pile on the way home today, so will see if I can get that fitted when I pull the wheel cylinder.

Concur, especially with a turbo involved.

Some harnesses seemed a good idea. Seats are from the commodore.

Got the engine wired with all the original loom. Have left all the unneeded bits (like lights) in place, but haven't put anything but the EFI main fuse in. Even managed to use the commodore fuel lines and gas tank/pump. The wagon tank is an awkward shape and size but I kept it for budget reasons. Gauge panel works. Fired it up like this.

After tidying up the wiring and mounting a few bits and pieces I ran the brake lines (using shortened commy bits again) and had a bleeding session. One of the bleeders broke in the rear brakes (shit!) but the front brakes work OK (or enough for a couple of laps around the driveway any). Sounds good with no mufflers, might leave it like that. Doesn't drive well with flat tire though. And it was raining. Looks a bit mad-max-ish.

Still a few things to do

- fix brake

- need some floor plates

- Rollbar and upper harness mounts.

- Front bumper (I have some 4" pipe for this)

- Might need a restrictor plate for the engine!

Pulled the mighty 3.8 from the Commodore. Kept all the plumbing and wiring in good shape so I wouldn't have to dick around with changing/replacing it.

Somewhere around there should do it. Had a minor cock-up with steering box clearance (only found after the mounts were welded in) but sort that by spacing the steering box out a bit.

Commy seats and steering column. Picked up 6 six-stud wheels of TM, probably less than scrap price.

On a budget, so cut and shut the two-piece holden driveshaft into a single. Machined a spud to align the two parts before welding it together.

Also needed a spigot adapter for the diff flange to centre the two different diameters up. I redrilled the L200 flange to suit the commodore pattern.

Have had an urge for a paddock hack/beach buggy for a while. Picked up the L200 rolling chassis cheep from TM. Collection was interesting. It had been stored on top of a shed in a wrecking yard, but since they put it up there a year ago with a forklift some new sheds and a fence had been built and there was no way to get it down again. They had to borrow a crane truck from up the road to lift it off, and dropped it straight onto my trailer.

Next thing was a suitable engine. I have a couple sitting around (Holden 6, 2T, etc) but didn't want to subject these to thrash duty. Auto preferred for build simplicity too. Finally turned up this dereg (but running/driving) turd. Had already been subject to skid duty by the look of the rear tires.

Needed chassis shorter, so gave it the chop by about 500mm

Pipe is just there to see where driveshaft might be a problem. Also welded the diff while it was off the chassis, and took a couple of leaves out of the springys.

*fingers crossed for you*

It's just steel. What do you think the spring shops do?

You can pull the springs apart and re-arch them yourself if you want to.

A couple of ways:

Easy

Hard: Put the leaf down on a couple of steel blocks with a gap between them, and smack with a heavy hammer on the leaf above the gap.

Work along the spring from front to back. Make sure you mark out the starting curve with chalk or something on the floor first.

I need to do the rear leafs in my Holden, getting saggy after 40 years. One day!

I didn't know that wood was a good material for supercharger rotors!

Depends on what you want to do really. I have this old clunker (built 1939) but wouldn't attempt anything really high precision on it. The price was good though, it was local, and it is a decent size. Had to borrow a forklift to get it inside (bit tricky as the lathe is longer than the door opening). Also needs 3 phase power. Came with some tooling, 3 jaw, 4 jaw, and face plate.

I mostly use it for making steel mounting bushes and such, where I need a nice central hole.

Have a read of this link for some perspective.

http://www.mermac.com/klunker2.html

No updates for a while. Have been tinkering away on various bits. Found that running the correct AFM (I had a couple sitting around) made a big difference. Had to adjust the mounting though as the connector was in a different location. Have done some more of the basic wiring (Alternator in particular). Doing a bit of panelwork at present as the budget is a bit tight, and this doesn't cost much.

The front bumper is lowered so I've been making/fitting front guard extensions.

Have these wheels on it temporarily, as I found one of them has cracked welds, making the whole set non-roadworthy. I needed the steel wheels back off this from my other car. Don't fit well, but look kind of neat.

Packard welded into a tank?

I'm trying to resist the temptation to just drive up and down the road every day

Engine and box in chassis for test fire, before the body went back on.

Coming together

Front suspension. Brakes have been upgraded since this pic. Still need to do something about bump stops.

Rear brakes, 626/telstar discs slip over Hiace axles easily. 200sx calipers with integral handbrake mechanism

Quick 'closed road' test

Damn intercooler piping keeps coming of the throttle body. Packaging is tricky with the upturned direction of the TB. I'm not sure if it is boost pressure, or the engine shifting on the mounts that is the issue, maybe a bit of both. Will have to try a better clamp there I think.

SR20DET, 5 speed, standard injection, standard turbo, front mount 'cooler.

Front suspension is clubman/locost coilover style, with Cortina uprights and escort rack. Front brakes are Cressida discs, Subaru calipers on custom hubs.

Rear is 5-link with coilovers on Hilux axle. Rear brakes are discs using 200sx calipers.

Finally got to take it for a quick drive down the road

Lotsa fun. Going better now that I have the correct MAF on there. A bit scary-fast actually with no door etc.

T>

RPU = Roadster Pickup for the acronymly challenged.

Long term project, but at least my wiring and plumbing skills are sufficient.

Currently sorting brake plumbing.

Discussion

Yeah, it had extractors which I cut and shut to get at the starter motor once. Plenty loud for a paddock basher.

I had a Chevette years ago that had an 18R-GU motor. Lotsa fun. Sold it though, last seen in lower grutt about 10 years ago.

T.

Someone mention Chevette parts?

Don't think there is much good left on it though...

T.