yoeddynz

Wow- I missed seeing this build and shit what a cool as car. I love the idea of bike engined cars. I was flirting with the idea of a bmw k100 engine (about 120bhp) in a hillman imp because both were cheap in the uk. But not here back in NZ. Anyway- the bmw layout would be better in a little front engined rwd car than an imp. The huyabusa engine looks so sweet in there. Are they fairly easy to get hold of? I love the way you have gone about utilising the starlet box for a reverse. so simple and so neat. Good on ya! Glad to see this coming back to life.

I got sick of my tired old Mazda engine mounts letting the engine move about on hard shifts etc so did some research on possible swaps. I found these Kelpro items... http://www.eziautoparts.com.au/kelpro-e ... 8152n.html They are made for Ford escorts and are only 3 mm longer than the mazda items but heaps stiffer being made from urethane. Cheers to Zac for sorting me out some Now the engine is solid as. Still enough movement to not let it shake to bits but but now under hard gear shifts the filter wont hit the wing, which has 15mm clearance, nor will the exhaust get overly twisted etc. Plus because my radiator pipes are fairly short I didn't want them moving too much and fatiguing the radiator oulets. An easy swap and satisfying little job. Other than that the Viva is starting and running fine as right now. So fun.

I'll happily come over from nelson just to give that a drive. Yep. As soon as we have our own pad I see it filling up with various old trucks.....

i.ve sold a few bits to wim while i was in the uk. Wim has loads of stuff stashed away but can be hard to get stuff off. He keeps changing his mind.. I wonder if the new 16x motor (whenever it comes out..) is the same diameter as the 13a or bigger still?

fuck yeah! That beddie is pure class! And yeah mr tortron- do it i say.

OH boy. The place we are staying at has just invested in awesome internet with solid as wifi. Can get perfect signal in housetruck. And its cheap. wow. No more bloody trips into town to catch up with the world at large!

Looking forwards to seeing this car in the flesh! stay in touch as to arrival date!

^What he said. Burning dirty sump oil is no good plus because its not designed to burn it leaves alot of carbon deposits which given enough time can break away and starting scoring the housings. Plus I have had the OMP (oil metering pump) fail on our first series 3 rx7 and we didn't realise until after a few hundred miles the engine failed due to excessively worn tips. With premix you always know the engine has protection. Adding 2 stroke is an extra bit of pissing about when filling up but I guess Mazda would never have sold rotaries if customers had to premix.

Wow- yep that looks like an idea. Hopefully the code stamped on the needle is visible without having to remove it but if not no real hassle. I just remember older SUs being a bit fiddly to re-centre the needle? Cheers for link.

I was thinking about that. I wonder how much needles cost and what range of sizes there are? Who are the best people in NZ to speak to about SU carbs and parts?

Any ideas on dates for Nelson? Flick me a PM with your numbers. I think Prozac is coming up too so might even get a small gathering. I have bought, tested and eaten from a great wee BBQ that sits in the evening sun between h/truck and the creek. Its awesome with whiskey involved I must say...hick

Are t50s/expensive hard to find these days? I remember trying to get one for a chevette 4age project in the UK and it was like looking for rocking horse poo. Maybe NZ has more of em?

OK- anyone else here have a wideband gauge running on a car with carbs? I'm just curious to see what readings other people are getting at idle. My SU seems quite rich- at idle its hovering about 11.5 to 12. The exhaust is not overly rich smelling (for a rotary burning 2 stroke mix..) and if I do the old lifting pin thingee the revs go up slightly and then drop back. Plugs are dark- not sooty and not wet or oily. Most driving has been around town which always tends to foul plugs up a bit on rotaries a touch. Tonight while Hannah was in the supermarket I decided to weaken the mixture just a tad. 3/4 turns out. Idle now sat at 13 but straight away I noticed that out of gentle corners it would bog a touch and the gauge would soar round to 16-18 (flashing red on the outer ring of Leds!! ohhh) Drove the car up to my bros about 2kms away and checked the plugs. Now the bent over electrode (don't know what that bit is called..) was light grey/almost white! Hmmm- dodgy. I have wound the mixture screw back in as I definitely don't want it detonating on boost. So my question is... do most carbs run slightly rich at idle to avoid bogging down ? Or maybe the fact I am burning 2 stroke oil premix (100:1) is fooling the wideband gauge a bit? What else could cause it to seem rich at idle but then ok further in the rev range. It pulls well as it is but when coast down hill it just seems odd to see the gauge reading rich when it should be lean off throttle. Maybe I sound just a touch anal eh but I do love tinkering and I really like to get engines running as efficiently as possible while running carbs. Plus I like to be able to drive along with the windows down and not smell a rich running engine. One day when money allows I may fit injection to this engine but by then we'll probably have a little austin 1300 or something Anyway- i love this little setup for its simplicity and looks well retro too.

Sweet!

cool . Yeah text me. I'll certainly be taking the viva down but alas truck wont be road legal. It costs to much to keep on the road if its not getting used. If we do another run to kaikoura next winter (best time to park up on the coast in a a copy house i reckon) then a meet must be organised!

Sweet- will do.

Always love these cars in white. Glad its still getting love and attention. I have grown to like the original series 2 rx7 alloys (13"?) withthe rims super polished and then clean black paint on the centre. edit; I forgot this is a series 3 with 114pcd. Hows about modgies..... (runs and hides.... )

Sweet! More the merrier! I reckon its gonna have to be after new years as all my weekends seem to be busy till then. Looking forwards to it though!

Sweet- well there's one I'm sure triumph man in Mot will be keen?

Hi all in Nelson area and Blenheim too. Who's about in Nelson etc and who's keen on a run to Kaikoura sometime soon? I was thinking a drive to Kaikoura for a saturday night BBQ at a beach. Take tents. Get the Christchurch boys to come up and meet for beers. Return Sunday. Would go via Blenheim so anyone there can join the convoy. No date set but was thinking either early December mid January? Any other ideas on local runs for Nelson peeps put here too. A good run would be over the hill to Takaka. alex

sweet! i'll keep you in mind. I'm still busy building a little workshop in between now working part time at stewart cycles (now avanti plus...yuck...)

cheers dude. We must get a nelson oldschool meet together eh! And i'm thinking a run from here to kaikoura to meet up with the chch boys.

Been driving the Viva about today and then this afternoon Hannah and I had a play with the carb to see if we could get it to stop bogging down at low revs. I thought it might be a touch lean and with the SU carb lifting pin pushed up it would die. Ended up turning the mixture screw 3/4 in. At this point when the pin was lifted up the revs would rise and then settle. Sweet I thought. But boy it was rcih and smokey out the exhaust and the wideband gauge was showing 11.1! With the timing light in place I checked it and it was bang on... but thats with it idling at 1000 rpm not the 800 it should be checked at.... Hmmmm:doubt: That 200 rpm was enough to fool me to thinking the timing was right but in fact it was actually set fairly retarded. I advanced it to where it should be at 1000 and then backed out the mixture to where it was orginally. Now with the lifting pin lifted it rises in revs then steadys out but with out the headache inducing cloud of unburnt fuel out back! Even better is I can stab the throttle hard down to the floor and it picks up sweet with just a teeny tiny hint of hesitation SU carbs usually give. I think the damper oil is about right. It certainly doesn't splutter and die now. I put the tools away and shot off down the road for a test drive. Wow- loads better. More responsive and no bogging! In third at fairly low revs I can floor it and it has that slight turbo lag delay then the turbo starts spooling up and the bonnet rises as it picks up sooo much harder then it used too in third. I can now pull away through intersections in 3rd rather than dropping it to 2nd every time. The stock standard old Mazda engine mounts are too soft and the engine rocks when coming down to idle which cant be helping the poor old carb float in its chamber. I've found some new Rover V8 ones that'll do the job and hold it steady. Will buy em next week. Much happier with it all now!

Yeah do that man. Get photos up- your little Anglia is a perfect example of a classic oldschool boyracer car, like what our dads would have built when they were young. And what's your name btw?

Took the Viva along on a Vauxhall run with some other Vaux fans here in Nelson. Went out to a beach and had a BBQ in the sunshine. Was very nice indeed. I swapped drives with Andre so I could try out his GT too. That was nice. It makes proper 'big engine with sidedraft carb' sounds! Photos missing...again.. damnyou imageshack. My Viva went really well and performed well for much fast ragging about while taking out others for drives. Doesn't seem to be using any oil but I'll keep a watch on it. I also went to the Nelson hotrod club annual swapmeet. Scored some really nice jump leads for a fiver! Oh and an old Australian 'Fast fours and rotaries' magazine from 1992 with some cool old conversions including a VW combi van with a 13B Mazda rotary slung out back. I love old magazines like that!