ThePog

This arrived and got smashed back into the hole; While all the seats were out I smashed a bit of black zinc in the cockpit to get it looking less patchy, then reassembled it all, forgot to take a pic tho. Then on to the solar panel, first bit was to cut and drill some mount angles to fit along the sides; Then i needed to mount the angles by drilling through the roof and I didn't want the holes to leak. Plus I also wanted the angle to sit off the roof a bit so that no water sat between the angle and the roof and corroded things, so I made these out of bits of tube I found and leftover rubber water pipe from a couple of replacements I did while the rad was getting fitted. The rubber is 5mm longer than the tubes so it compresses to the point it comes up hard against the steel pipe. Which appears to work, sweet; Then today I made this to seal the cable entry, my TIG skills are a bit rusty, but plenty good enough for the task at hand; Then I cut a hole and put some split plack pipe around the edge so the cable does not fret; Then I dragged the wires through and glued it on; Then I hooked up a bit more wiring, checked some things then flicked the switches; And it all just worked.... yay for me! I need to calibrate the battery monitor, and install the house/start battery charge thing, but basically that is it. The only things left are the curtains/insect nets and some shelving and storage. And a bike rack. And blank off a couple of windows. And no doubt some more shit I have not remembered.

I pulled that radiator out, it was pretty rotten. It is currently getting a recore at Richmond Radiators for an eye bleeding amount of money. I tried to find a replacement but there are very few of this model bus lying around. While I was there I pulled the thermostat lid off to see what things looked like and found not one but two thermostats! both were 88 degrees and fucked. Naturally the many places I rang to find correct replacements for it could tell me literally nothing. Thus I fully owned the internet and discovered that the space they each fit into is exactly the same sizes as a Nissan TD42. Hence from the links and info in a thread I found, I could make a call on what to stick in there, which is an 82 deg that will open first during normal running, then a 90 degree which will open when things get hot going over the Takaka hill. There will be a 5mm gap to the bypass poppet on both. Tell me if that sounds wrong, but holy shit i am now the worlds foremost authority on specifying thermostats on early ED33 motors, so basically you can fuck off. Actually no, please give many opinions. Here we have a radiator sized hole; After all that some exciting things arrived and i got to installing, firstly the 130Ah 12v AGM Batteries that actually fitted in the hole i made for them; The battery meter and chunkier switch for the fridge with a separate feed, as it is the biggest consumer of Ah's; The charge controller; A super tight, pro wiring job using many types of stuff; A fucking enormous 310W solar panel; Also a gas man came and sorted the hob, I can now die of CO poisoning in supreme comfort.

TBH if this is all I have to spend money on mechanically, I will be happy...

I have been chipping away at multiple things since the last update, a Fiamma roof vent is one of them; I finished up the stereo installation as well. I needed to mount a switch to manually switch it on and off so there could be sounds when parked up, plus for some reason that is not entirely clear to me I thought i had better make it so I can turn off the Aux/memory feed as well, After taking out the old stereo I realised I had two perfectly positioned switch holes for these functions, this saved me the minor hassle of making up a plate; Stuffed under that dash is a 24v - 12v convertor so the thing actually runs. Might try to find a sub for it one day. I bought a brand new 24v compressor fridge and installed this, then I made some shelves which will need something on the fronts to stop shit falling off; Then I laminated another layer of ply onto my bench top cos it looked a bit flimsy. Then I made a shelf that fits the other side of the gas hob that folds up and acts as a spatter shield when it it not an extra bit of bench. Then I refitted the glove box. Then I bought some curtain rail extrusion and fitted that all around. Then I installed an extrusion on the side of the bus to fit an awning at some point. I have also ordered the solar system, this includes an bi-directional VSR which means the alternator can charge the solar batteries when the bus is running and the solar can charge the bus batteries when the bus is not running. This will be very exciting. I think that control panel will morph into some other format when the solar stuff arrives. In other news I investigated the source of a suspicious dried out coolant looking patch on the ground, and it looks very much like the radiator is totally fucked and weeping/leaking from multiple points. Fixing this will be interesting as I imagine that brand new OEM radiators for 1980 Nissan Civilians are a bit thin on the ground. I am sure something can be hacked into there if needed. This fix will need to happen fairly soon I imagine, so I will take it to the radiator place and get an opinion. As you were.

Not specifically, but a mustang just wouldn't cut it tbh ?

Come in to Reco for a coffee then..

I see you turned into Spencer place today, I was making a coffee and heard some bogan shithead RX7 trundling up the road..... then I saw what it was and had a giggle, there is something totally right about that sound coming from this car. Congrats, it looks sweet in the real.

I have thrown a few more hours at the old fruit since the last update. Finished the interior insulation/lining/wiring, the lining was very time consuming... My eldest daughter is on a massive sewing malarky at the moment making pillows and such, so once the mattresses arrived I trimmed them down to suit the space and together we re-sewed the covers. She did a bloody good job too. The main bed width is 40mm shy of super king size, it is a lush and spacious area, I am looking forward to the first kip I have on this. We took it to the speedway on the weekend and lounged about while everyone else sat in their cars waiting to get out, it was mint. You can also see the start of the control panel for all the stuff that will be connected to the solar power. You can also just see those two black dots above the main bed - those are usb ports for night time phone charging etc. Must remember to install the bilge blower eh.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/toyota/electrics/auction-1195281207.htm http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=1192731825

So what would the deal with the ignition be? Apparently the vac stuff is deeply integrated on some versions...

Bit shit cos dark in the shop right now.

It is very tight under the engine cover. The other option is getting a Weber to replace the factory carb..

It does have all sorts of vacuum emissions bollocks on there, some of which is contributing I am sure. So the manifolds are a direct swap etc?

I have a 4wd townace ute with a 1.8 carby 2y engine. The engine is strong but the carb lets it down. We have fucked with it, the garage has fucked with it but it runs like a bag of shit, hard starting and a massive flat spot, plus it uses all the fuel.. A man on TM has a 3y injection setup, plus there are no doubt millions of 3y and 4y engines everywhere. So what i want to know is will that 3y injection setup bolt onto the 2y, or am I better off sourcing a complete injected 4y and taking the punt it will bolt up. Learn me.

PM me the deets, I am sure it can get sorted...

I have space if needed, whereabouts is the beast?

By a happy coincidence I has a stack of 25mm polystyrene sheet and the roof frame was 25mm box section, so the interior fitout has proceeded thus; This is more for sound deadening than anything as the special poo seems to do the trick, an hour in direct sunlight and the inside metal is blood warm, not egg frying hot. This all took a lot of time, each sheet needed at least 5 mount/dismounts before the fit was ok. The sheets then got a coat of polyurethane before final fitment. The lower sides have polystyrene behind them as well. And plumbing, and wiring. There are now some functional lights; Then I did a whole lot of tweaking to the stuff I had made for the inside to tidy it up/make it fit better, then I fitted it. Beds in place; The front mezzanine bed folds away so there is way more floorspace. I also made it removable so it can be a shelf if one of the brats decides tenting is a better option, here is hoping; Then the main bed stowed, this give a shitload of extra space. All the folding beds have space so the mattress can stay there. I will need to set up restraint straps when the mattresses arrive.; I also modded the rear hatch today so it closes tighter/does not leak. I also resealed the upper windows with thicker foam tape, silicone and some drain holes so water can get out if it does make it in. We took it to Rabbit Island again for the day, the best thing was lack of tyre rub going around corners, it is truly a GTR racing bus now.

I once put beeswax on a gun blued bike frame, it has lasted surprisingly well. You can thin out the beeswax with white spirit and rub it on, 3-4 coats and it looks like shellac.

Shit I m spending some hours on this. Finished the stabiliser thingy, all except for the swing away bike rack bit that will come later; I will use a block of wood so they don't need to go so low, but as it is it does the job. I had to mod the exhaust tip so it didn't get in the way of the movement. Made some new wheel arches so there is 150mm worth of wheel travel before the wheel hits instead of 50mm; Fixed a bit of rust where the floor joined the wheel well at the front; Then I painted the inside, first etch primer, then some super special stuff that has hollow glass beads in it. According to the data sheets and the internets, a 2mm layer of this shit is equivalent to roof batts..... It was a right bastard to get on, it clagged up the brush almost instantly, and took ages anyway. I had to find a short flat brush at the shop so it wasn't so painful. The finish is weird, a bit like sandpaper, but not unappealing. It will be very interesting to see if it has the effect I desire, ie, very little internal condensation. Time will tell no doubt. You can also see my sneaky extra ribs I chucked in there. This was because the first trip to the COF shop was absolutely deafening, at 100kmh all of those roof panels were banging and crashing like cymbals. I did this and chucked some seam sealer at it as well, the second trip was infinitely more chill. Today I did the last of the painting then cracked into the floor. I really wanted some mac or Rimu T&G, but everything was expensive. The slightly cheaper mac stuff I wanted to get was difficult as the man who does it would not return my calls or emails. Fucker. Then I called in to Hubbers Flooring on the off chance there might be some cheap leftovers, and lo! they had some laminate flooring, enough to do it all for the bargain price of $50. Fuck it I thought, that will do nicely. So today I cleaned up the lumps off the floor and smashed it; Looks good IRL, there was fuck all left over though. There are a couple of spots where the alignment was not super great and I couldn't get it to sit right, but overall it is sweet. Wiring next, then lining out, then reassembly, then many many more things. As you were.

I went to Takaka today and happened to call into the Opshop... However I couldn't find the manual The lady said she remembered it and thought someone had bought it a week or so ago. She thinks she remembers who bought it and said she would ask if he came in again, so I left my details just in case. I am disappointed, I was hoping to make a good day for you....

It got left out in the rain last night for a watertightness sit rep - and it leaks through the new windows and the boot. I will sort this pronto. I took everything out of the bus today bar the seats, this is so I can paint internally. This hurt my back so I stopped at lunchtime then had a nana nap. Then I made this bit of kit out of a mostly matching pair of sturdy scissor jacks I picked up from the wreckers during the week; This will be incorporated into a new rear bumper and prevent unsightly rocking from ..... from stuff that causes rocking in buses. I will find something to latch them up in place, probably a trailer type hitch thingy. Another thing has been added to the list of things to do after our adventure yesterday, it appears that there is only about 50mm of travel in the rear axle before the tyres hit the bodywork. This was apparent when taking corners at anything like speed, there would be a horrendous scraping noise and the smell of burnt rubber. So I will need to lift the tyre wells a little bit and maybe find some new shocks for it. It is generally pretty wallowy, not like a racing GTR bus at all.

The inaugural and exceptionally bare bones start of our bussing experiences at Rabbit Island today;

I discovered something awesome today, that you can buy friction welded fittings for polyprop tanks. I needed to add a bigger drain to the waste tank and discovered this at my watery shop. I made a tool to drive it in using my excellent die grinder; Then I made another one with significantly less unbalanced rotating mass, that one ^ went hilariously badly when I spun it up. Then I welded that bitch in and checked the water tightness... Then I realised I had put it in a stupid place that had chassis stuff in the way. I went and bought another fitting and welded it in in a much better position. I then dicked around with various minor things for a while.... Then I decided to take the old fruit for a wee drive; Legal as anything, including the registration change to a motorhome...this calls for a celebratory Mussel Inn Manuka Ale.

That makes sense, the roof height was ridiculous for any normal sized person, even my kids couldn't stand up in it... they do take after me tho.

Yea that would be good ta.