yoeddynz

Yeah its a bloody good steering wheel lock I brought over from the UK. Rather than have someone breaking in and trying to nick the car I always hope that this will put most little shits off. It only takes 3 secs to put on. I've not seen these sold in NZ?

Ha ha...and so begins the north islanders getting their shipping orders in.....

Yeah its bloody awkward to drive. And cold to the touch in winter. Must remove UFO....

We decided to take the Viva for a spin over to Kaiteriteri to se the olds who are on holiday there. I wondered if I could squeeze the bikes in. Didnt think I would but I tried. The boot fits one easily. In fact it can almost swallow two bikes. Put one on the back seat and one plus all 4 wheels in the boot. Bloody chuffed I can take the bikes in the car but I will still look for or build a tow bar in the near future. I new it was gonna be scorching there so in order to protect my split free dash I thought I'd better make a sunvisor. Popped to the back of work where we have loads of bike boxes and found a nice Raleigh one for the period touch. Hey presto cheap classy sunvisor.... Today I spent time drinking coffee and fitting new carpet. I started with some really nice insulation left over from my brothers house- sort of bubble wrap in alloy foil. I taped it in neatly so to create a smoother surface for the carpet to lay over. Got some new carpet at a nice price locally. It pretty much finished but I need to get the two footwell mats edged and get a heel mat sewn in. If I can get some cheap edging I might use mums solid old Pfaaf sewing machine but I'll inquire how much they would want to charge first. Its so bloody nice to have proper carpet in now and along with the insulation its much quieter!!!! I'll have to start washing my feet now...

Hiya Chris. Yeah I would have seen you but your all the way down there and I'm all the way up here. I got them for 125 each fitted and balanced as fella who works there owns a 12A powered HA Viva. I think thats an OK price ? Yeah they were balanced and came up good. I'll top the pressures up and try that. Yeah they are directional and pointing the right way. Still have the little knobs to wear off so more skids then.....

moral of story.. Buy secondhand tyres. but i struggle to find this size. I shall report back when they start to feel better.

Cheers aircooled but my nuts should be fine. I'll double check them just in case. Kpr- the Viva uses a similar 4 link setup with triangulated top links. The bushes are soft so this might compound the effect. A mate in Scotland with a modded HB Viva had neatly fitted a Panhard rod and said it makes a big difference to stop the sideways movement. I'll give the tyres more time to get better and double check all bolts, nuts, bushes etc. The tyre pressure they put in was about roughly 33psi. I wonder if thats too high and at speed the tyres are getting a rounded profile? They are crashy when hitting bumps. I used to run 28 I think. Will try a drop in pressure.

I got new tyres for the rear of the Viva. I think fairly decent quality Hankooks (Ventus V2 concepts) in 185/60 13. As soon as I left the tyre shop and headed back to city centre along bypass at 100kph the car felt really unstable with the rear end shifting about sideways as if it was tramlining badly, following evrey ridge on the road or like as if there were bloody strong side winds. A couple of people have said that its the waxes and silicone on the tread that needs to get worn off and another told me its the little moulding spikes. I've done about maybe 200 kms in car now and the spikes are now little stumps. The car still feels 'drifty' like as if the rear suspension is all soft. I seem to remember the only other time I have ever bought new tyres years back, some Yokohama A510's? for my old supercharged mr2 and they felt shit until the tread was half worn down and then they were great. They only lasted 10,000 kms of spirited driving on the back though. Is this all usual for new tyres? - are they always shit for a few thousand k's? I'm gonna check all my suspension bolts are tight tomorrow but the car was fine until I had bought the new tyres so I'm pretty damn sure its them.

That dash looks sweet. And the steering wheel too.

Ahhh, so thats where I went wrong....

Kiwi rotary seems to be a better forum with less 'brap brap, mean pulse bro, drill ports and hoes' going on than Havoc but sadly it seems pretty bloody quiet on Kiwi rotary I'm hoping that more classy rotary powered cars like this will slowly make it on here. What's refreshing about oldschool is the vast range of cars, builds and crazy things that go on. Ages ago I felt that there used to be a bit of hate going on for rotarys on here but I have since learned that its in fact just a general dislike for many of the knobs who end up driving them. At the end of the day a rotary is just another bloody engine with good points and bad points. Oddly my Viva build doesn't really get much interest or much feedback on places like Ausrotary or rx7club I think just because its simply not a Mazda?

Ha- I knew you would post on this soon Zac. Any luck with those cars you mentioned?

Fit some modgies...... Joke.

Flapper? Mudguards?

Once its started and running fine whats next on the list? How close will it be to getting cert'd? Will this car be at the nats?

They look perfect.

How wide are those wheels?

I know its against the norm but I now prefer the shape of the Rx2s over Rx3s- even after having owned the 3 coupe. The shape of a 2 is so much better in proportion. And normally I'm not a big fan of 4 doors but the 2's pull it off. I would lovvvvvvvve a Fiat Dino coupe and both being Bertone designed I can see the similarity between them and rx2 coupes. Beautiful. Who polished the carb body?

Got a nice Viva SL grill from Andre who owns the red GT. He had it as a spare. I put it on yesterday and it looks so much better then the standard budget grill. I'm well happy. Also got 2 new tyres and got the best one of the old fitted to a spare rim so now I have a matching spare. sweet. Cause I'm always such a tight barsteward this is the first that I have bought new tyres in about 20 years. On way back from tyre place on bypass the rear end with the new tyres felt loose- like it had flats. I've since been told its the new tyre syndrome. The car will be riding on all the little moulding hairs and wax/silicone needs to get scrubbed off? Feels bloody odd!

Yeah- check your door pulls.

Classic trailer time. You could haul a wheeled stationary engine with that. Why? I don't know but would be cool.

cum-door pulls......

Flintstones

Just remember- you're an important man when you drive your triumph.