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Avenga

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Everything posted by Avenga

  1. @Thousand Dollar Supercar That was pretty much my list of must haves when I was building the car, it was too low before so I raised it up a little bit, made it quiet and picked a nice wheel tyre combo. They are pretty much the same size as the tyres on my green Avenger, the rear are the same and the fronts are slightly smaller but on this one I did the opposite to my green Avenger and went inwards instead of outwards so I don't need any bolt on guards or anything. It's sort of crazy that this is running the same size tyres @Toddy415 Thanks. that is the deepest dish I could get on the cast wheels. I really like it. I am running a 16mm spacer so I could go even deeper dish on the back if I go to the forged version, but they are like $1000 each wheel so I don't think it is worth it. Looks pretty bad ass as it is. @NickJ Yes, that is the exhaust, it's further away than it looks in the photos because the steering column goes through the middle of the headers. I checked that and it's not getting too hot, the heat wrap helps. I think what it might have been is the type of rubber they used, it might have a really low glass transition point, I didn't see any signs of melting but it could have been enough to soften the rubber. With the stock Avenger, the exhaust is over on the other side of the engine, so it wouldn't normally even get warm, and they wouldn't need to put in any kind of heat resistant rubber. The rubber I made the new one out of has much better heat resistance.
  2. Yeah, and especially because I am running much wider and stickier tires than stock, and it has the extra weight of the V8 conversion. It probably would have been fine for a standard Avenger but not for mine. And it probably wouldn't have failed while driving, because my steering is actually super light as soon as I start rolling but it is really heavy when parking. So I think all those things added towards the failure. The new rag joint that we made is heaps stronger and has reinforcement, so that would probably be okay, but because I do track days and the likes then I don't want to risk it so I will go down the path of making a custom column with 2 universals.
  3. Thanks, Yeah. I thought they should have something to prevent total loss of steering. The old one just had nothing so I was parking the car and then just bang and the steering went totally limp. Opened the bonnet and the column had completely separated from the rack and was just laying down on the exhaust. So yeah, if that had have happened when I was driving then it would have been all over!! My other Avenger uses a rag joint like that although it is much older, I restored that Avenger 7 years ago and I don't think I replaced the rag joint then, so it's probably 40 years old and still going strong. This one failed after only about a month, because I brought it new when I built the wagon. Done less than 4,000KM
  4. So after 3 and a half months of waiting I finally got my wheels from Performance Wheels in Australia!! What do you guys think? So back to the start of the week. Finally got the call that my wheels had arrived so I went picked them up in the wagon All shiny and new. The fronts are closest to the camera The fronts are 15x7 ET+6 And the rear are 15x8 ET-9. I could go deeper, like an ET-25 but I would have to get it in a forged wheel which are really expensive, not sure if it's worth it. Test fitting the rims, everything clears and the offsets are spot on. Testing the fronts with some rubber on And the rears with rubber on Also had a bit of bad luck and a bit of good luck a couple of weeks ago. Bad luck in that the rag joint in the steering column catastrophically failed and I lost all steering, the column completely separated from the rack. And good luck that it happened while I was parking the car, and not driving down the road. I am thinking it was just caused by an inferior part. I brought it new from my local rootes group parts guy but it has no reinforcements, just plain cheap rubber. So I waterjet cut on out of much better rubber, so even if it does fail then it won't fail catastrophically because the reinforcements should keep it held together long enough for me to pull over. The long term fix is going to be to build a new column with 2 universals and no rag joints but that is going to take a little while to engineer. Also found that under some high torque situations, mostly parking or slow speed corners that the rag joint was flexing and bolt on the rag joint in the middle of the above photo was riding up and over the bolt on the column, making a clunky feeling so I replaced it with a button head. Discussion
  5. Sorry guys, I couldn't make it this month, the steering failed in my wagon and couldn't get it back up and running in time.
  6. A few videos from my trackday at Pukekohe. The car went really well. I didn't push it very hard because I only just got it all up and running so I'm not used to the car yet, but it was really fun.
  7. Sweet, I'll cruise over in my V8 Avenger wagon
  8. Thanks. I was a little worried going in to the trip with only having done 400 km in the car, but everything went sweet. Other than that fuel line coming loose then I didn't have a single problem. And that fuel line problem only took me 10 mins to fix on the side of the road. So yeah, very good first trip! looking forward to the track day on Sunday!
  9. Yeah. I'm pretty pleased with the economy. I was guessing that it would be a little less than my 1500 Avenger, so it's good to see that it did work out like that. It works well because it is such a big engine in a very light car so most the time you need to give it very little throttle I could get even better by going to a 3.5:1 diff but I will keep the 3.9:1 I have in there until after the Oldschool drags.
  10. I took fuel and distance notes at each fuel stop and I was getting around 12 L/100KM average. On the long motorway sections I got as low as 10.5 L/100KM but then on the windy fun stuff it went up to 14 L/100KM. Note bad considering that the best I can get out of my 1500 Avenger is 13 L/100KM on the motorway and tons more on windy stuff so I am actually saving gas by putting in a V8. There you go! Doing my part for the environment "Want to save gas? Put in a V8!" Auckland to Taupo 310km 37.5l 12.1 L/100KM Taupo to levin 288km 30.39l 10.55 L/100KM Levin to Wellington 108km 16.08l 14.89 L/100KM Wellington to Nelson 152km 21.41l 14.09 L/100KM Nelson to Nelson 156km 20l 12.82 L/100KM Nelson to Nelson 146km 18l 12.33 L/100KM Nelson to levin 289km 35.42l 12.26 L/100KM Levin to taihape 143km 17.78l 12.43 L/100KM Taihape 265km 39l 14.72 L/100KM
  11. Made it back from my road trip down to MoPars in Richmond down in the South Island. Here are some pictures from the trip. Loaded up the boot. Tons of space for everything. Installed a little ghetto audio setup. Just my UE Megablast cable tied in to the dash. Went down and gave the car a good wash because it hasn't had on since I started the project Had a little break down in Huntly First night stay was in Taupo The next day it was down to Wellington, then caught the ferry the next day Went down to visit one of my Avenger friends. Picked up a new tail light First day of the carshow. Bonnets up, V8 Avenger vs stock 1300 Avenger Went for a cruise out to Nelson lakes Day 2 of the carshow. The Avengers all lined up and ready to go I won the Furthest Travelled award for the 4th time!! The next day I caught the ferry back to Wellington. This is leaving the South Island The next day I spent some time in Wellington, did the Weta workshop tour then drove up to Taihape. The day after that it was time to do the Gentle Annie Highway between Taihape and Napier. It was an awesome road. Had one little breakdown. The fuel line came off the fuel filter. Just jacked up the car and reconnected it. At least it was a picturesque place to breakdown Got to Napier and drove up to the top of Te Mata peak. Great views Then drove out to Waimarama beach which was another great road Then on the final day I drove from Napier to Auckland, which was uneventful. Did a total of 2316 km over the 8 day trip. A total of just under 30 hours driving!! Not bad going considering I had only done less than 400 km before I left for my trip. Going to do a track day at Pukekohe on Sunday. Hope the weather forecast improves. At the moment it says it's raining but I don't really want to track the wagon in the rain because it is a bit of a handful in the wet. I'll just take it easy if it is raining.
  12. I’m doing a road trip down to the South Island. Left this morning, I’ll be away for 8 days so next burger fuel meet I will bring it along. Car went really well today. First big long drive. Drives mint.
  13. Yeah. The wagon was at Bygones. I changed stud pattern now so I can't run the chrome modgies anymore I was 4x108 and now I'm 5x114.3
  14. Talk about cutting it close. I finished everything on my list of stuff I need to finish before my road trip tonight, and I leave in the morning!! Not much of an exciting update, just tidying up the last few things. Did some road testing over the weekend and tweaked the ECU a little bit. I found that some of the settings like the overrun/deceleration fuel cut and idle had too much of a deadzone for my application. For example the overrun fuel cut was set to cut the fuel if the TPS was below 0.7% but the problem is that because the car is so light and the engine is so powerful, you are quite often cruising around at 0.1-0.5% throttle. My TPS is really accurate and stable so I just turn all that sort of stuff way down so for the fuel cut or idle the TPS needs to be below 0.1% now. Drives like a dream now, it has such awesome throttle response with the ITB's. Also did some tweaking with the brakes. Reconnected the booster and then wound the brake proportioning valve to the maximum reduction, which is 57% and the brakes feel really great now. Super happy with the brakes now. In other last minute things. Got the spare tyre fitted. Had to make little drop downs for the front because there used to be a 155 width tyre and now it is a 205. Still fits sweet in between the fuel system and exhaust. Put on some clear protective take where the air cleaner touches the bonnet. In real life you can't see it like you can in the photo Made a little rubber mat for the back so everything won't slide around as much on the trip. I also go on road trips with my friends and their dogs so it will be nice and easy to clean. Made a new bonnet stay like the one on my other Avenger And a little holder for it. Also went to a car show in the weekend. Got really good feedback. people were pretty impressed with how well everything fits in there. And YAY!! Road trip tomorrow. It's been an epic build and I am so stoked I got it all finished the night before I leave. Such a relief. Still more to do when I get back, like the proper wheels, but now it is time to enjoy the car!!
  15. So far I have only put one tank of gas through the new motor but it is looking like it will be more efficient than my green Avenger 1500. Because it is such a massive engine in such a tiny lightweight car then you find that most of the time you barely need to give it any gas. I will get a better idea of the fuel mileage over my trip but at the moment it's looking better than having the little 1500 with the dellortos. So yeah, I'm just doing my part for the environment! Save gas, put in a V8!! I wish I could go for raised white lettering on the tyres. That would look mean. I have BG Goodrich Radial T/A's on my Charger with the white lettering and they look cool. The problem is that they don't make any for my size rim. I am running 15x7 on the front and 15x8 on the rear. And 15 inch tyres are getting harder and harder to find. I run the same size on my other Avenger and I am running Toyo Proxy T1R's all round, 225/50R15 rear and 205/50R15 front. The problem is that now they don't even make those sizes anymore so I had to go Toyo Proxy4 225/50R15 rear and Toyo T1R 195/50R15 on the front.
  16. Hmm. Actually you might get your wish sooner rather than later. Over on the Avenger forum we just discovered that they made an Avenger Ute over in Uruguay. Imagine this with a 1UZ swap, some big lake pipes and big off road tyres. If I can find one then I am so keen to big one over to NZ Only down to Nelson this year. I go down to the Mopars in the South show each year. This year it's in Nelson, but next year it will be in Invercargill so I will be driving the wagon all the way down for that.
  17. The brake proportioning valve is just on the front circuit, it's a dual circuit cylinder. The valve I am using has a reduction of 0-57%. I did some more playing around tonight and I reconnected the booster and wound the valve up to maximum reduction and it feels really nice now. Haha. Yeah, sorry, it's almost done. One more nights work before my big trip down to the South Island. I still do have a few thing to finish off when I get back, like the proper wheels etc. But now it's time to have fun and drive the car
  18. I just have the fronts boosted but I found it was too much braking on the front so I have temporarily blocked off the booster. Now that I have the brake proportioning valve then I might try it with the booster on then use the valve to wind down the front brakes.
  19. WOOHOO!!! FRAK YEAH!! SHE IS ALL ROAD LEGAL!!!!! I'm going away to the South Island next Wednesday so it has been a mad rush to get it finished in time. Still a little list of things that I want to finish of but it drives really nice. I took it for it's first proper drive today and it is such a fun car to drive, stupidly quick and OMG does it ever sound amazing!! Got the cert plate back today, passed with flying colours. Here is the cert plate listing all the mods Got it's warrant of fitness. And registration First night back at home Here is a before shot, I love how you can barely tell I put the V8 in it. Such a sleeper. The big back wheels are pretty much the only thing that gives it away, they look so cool. Back in the garage with my other cars Other little updates. Painted the centre caps of the temporary front wheels. Doesn't actually look too bad now that it is all murdered out. Swapped over the front bumpers. The early Hillmans used a much smaller bumper than the late model Chrysler's. They don't bolt straight up, you need to drill a couple of holes then after that it bolts right up. You can see a good shot of the old bumper in the before photo above. Finished mounting the brake bias valve.
  20. Machined some wheel spacers for the back. The rear sitting at it's final width. Fills up the guard really well with no rubbing Did some last minute rust repairs. I'm not much of a panel beater but it came out pretty good. I will get the whole outside resprayed next year so it's only temporary. Also did some rust repair around the back, under the bumper on both sides Installed a brake bias valve. I have a bit too much front brakes with the willwoods. Decided to restore the front grille. It was painted solid body colour by the previous owner, which I never liked. Originally it would have been black and silver so that is what I went with. I started off by painting the whole thing black Then masking everything because I am going to hand paint it. Finished hand painting the grille. Looks pretty sweet. It back on the car Added Dynamat to the front doors. And the rear doors
  21. New plug lead set. Marked all of the old leads 1.photobucket.com/user/avenga76/media/1980%20Avenger%20wagon/IMG_6280_zpsv1syvd9h.jpg.html][/URL] The new ones were all numbered and comes preinstalled in the plastic holder that goes over the middle so they are real easy to install. Got the new tyres. It's getting harder and harder to find 15 inch wheels. Went for 225/50R15 Toyo Proxies4 at the back Back tyres on the car with the temporary rims Got the new temporary front rims. Need to paint that center cap black Front tyres fitted. I went 195/50R15 Toyo T1R. They stopped making most of the sizes in T1R, my other Avenger has 205/50R15 and 225/50R15 T1R's but they don't make either anymore. Front wheels on the car Offsets are pretty good. Might go out a couple of millimeters front and back. I raised the front with some new springs, it is sitting very high so I need to get more low. It was too low before so I am just going to keep dropping it until it looks and handles right.
  22. Configured the shift lights on my dash. I have them set to low RPM just so I can test if I like the pattern and colour. Pretty happy with it. So a little bit of a set back. Performance wheels over in Aussie have been giving me the run around so it doesn't look like I am going to get my proper wheels for probably another month or so, which will be well after my South Island trip and track day I have planned for October. So I had to go for plan C, which is by some other wheels that are the same size and offset, just to get me though certing and the South Island trip etc. They might not look as good but at least they will get me to the South Island and to the track day. I got some 15x8 steel rims for the back. They are the same offset as the Challengers that I will get eventually so I can just swap them over when I get the new rims. The front won't looks as good because I had to go for some ugly alloys to get the offset I needed. It doesn't look too bad with the steelies but because my other Avenger has steelies then I want something different for the wagon. The 15x8 with 225/50R15 fit really nicely under the guards. It is quite amazing that they fit under there. They are the same size as the ones on my other Avenger but I have huge flares on my other Avenger. Built a new adjustable panhard rod so we can tweak the back end a little bit.
  23. I went R154 in my 1UZ Avenger build for the same reason. I heard the W55-8's don't last. Loving the build though, it's good to see someone else doing a 1UZ engine swap at the moment. The photos with your son working on the car are choice, he looks like a pro in his tiny little work overalls. Looks like he enjoys it and perfect for getting those hard to reach bolts out Maybe I need to hire him to do some of the fiddly bits on my 1UZ
  24. Yeah. I was really surprised by the "Vacuum" hose not being able to handle a vacuum, it's sort of in the name so you would think it would be fine. I have replaced it with nice thick rubber ones so they should handle it better. I can't wait until I can get her out on the road. I have driven here around the yard a few times and even that is good fun. so it will be a blast to drive out on the road. Hopefully not long now!!
  25. Yeah, that makes total sense. I think I do. have the drums off the wagon but I know I had to steal one of the springs to put on the my Avenger sedan. I will check a look and see what state they are in and let you know.
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