yoeddynz

Wow -everything is happening in blenheim all at once. Shit the farmers won't know what to do, pub bar might be 2 deep - and then there the air show this weekend as well. tis all happening!

I think I might have some- yeah I'll try it after checking carb out. Who does su parts in NZ?

Cheers man. Hey just been reading up on su hif carbs and there is a vent tube for float chamber.... which I had put a little cap on the seal it and stop shit getting in there I think this may be the problem and cause of erratic fuel delivery eh... I'll try it again tomorrow hopefully. The other thing I might check for is a leaky float.

Ether? come again.. I think I have some but its reserved for landing/snatching my next lady. Hang on- I'm getting my gases mixed up...

Ha- not yet I'm afraid. I just updated thread. Carb problems... But fucking glad it started first pop (for a second)

Ok- well it starts... sort of. In fact it started on first turn of the key after I had finished building the oil pressure up and turned ignition cut switch back on. But wouldn't run for more than 1 or 2 secs. With the choke pulled right out it ran for about 5 seconds and sounded good but then died. Then the SU carb would flood. Then it wouldn't let any fuel out through jet. then it would flood. Just to confirm it was fuel related I checked the ignition and all leads produced good enough sparks. I must buy new leads though, I'm using manky old ones, all I could find at the time. Next I checked the compression. My tester isn't a proper one for rotaries though which will give a reading for each face, its just a normal type which will show the best of three faces per rotor. I was getting about 90+ psi which seems fine. So the carb jet is blocked and or the float valve is acting the goat. Carb is now off and I'll have a look at some point tomorrow. Anyone on here have experience with these HIF SUs- I think its the same as on metro turbos? Did we in NZ get them? And where can I get rebuild kits in NZ for Sus? What sort of problems should I be looking for inside the carb specific to SUs? Im glad the engine started anyway! And its sounded nice and quiet ....from what I could tell. I hope I don't go out in the morning to find a big pool of oil/coolant/blood under car or something silly as right now I'm going to go to bed happy. I must say its strange to be starting a rotary without the usual stamp stamp on pedal and then start then blipping throttle for a bit till it warms up like with webber and nikki carbs I'm more used to. And its nice to have the engine back where it belongs- not in bits under the bench And big cheers out to Dave (avenger tiger) for driving all the way over from Mapua to help me with engine placement duties - good man! And thanks to Hannah for awesome pizza at lunchtime.

Engine is all built now. Hannah helped me with it and we built it yesterday afternoon- I bought some Hylomar universal blue jointing compound for the plate to housing faces as it doesn't set hard and allowed us to take time. Hannah getting sticky fingers.... This is the first rotary build I have done. It went well and was quite fun/satisfying The best bit I think was tightening the through bolts up and seeing the 0.75mm gaps between the plates and housings where the water seal O rings were holding them apart close up for a nice tight seal (hopefully...) It was tricky getting the middle plate in place- Hannah had to pull the eccentric shaft up 1" while I moved the plate into position. Looking back now I think it would be much easier just to have put a block of wood on table under shaft to lift it the required height but hey- thats learning eh! The worst bit was the bloody woodruff key for the oil pump- I kept getting pushed out as I tried to slip both pulleys on at same time with chain attached. Speaking of oil pumps- I had bought a later oil pump from a 12a turbo engine- it has 17mm wide rotors in it rather than the 12mm wide ones my engine had. I stripped both down for a quick looksie and my old ones show scoring from sucking up some crap in the sump- I would have thought the oil would go through the filter first..Nup. So I made sure the sump and underside of block was well clean inside before finally mounting sump in place. I also modified both oil pressure regulators- the front one I added an 1/8th" shim under spring and the rear one I took to a friends garage, used his press and squashed the top down. Both these mods will give 80-90 psi rather than the stock 60ish. So with my high flow pump and upped pressure the engine should be a bit safer for its increased power output. Front regulator... Rear Regulator... For the oil pump to front cover feed I fitted a .5mm thicker O ring then the standard Mazda item because the Mazda supplied one only just sits proud of the gasket. I have read of problems here where the oil pressure can force past the O ring and so dropping overall pressure. Some people fit the cover with out the gasket to squash the O ring more but I don't think there is enough of a step in the casting to hold the o ring in place under high pressure where as with the gasket fitted and surrounding the o ring it cant go anywhere. Tonight I gave the new centre plate a matching coat of colour ad went over the whole thing touching up where the paint had chipped while it was stripped. I'm using Resene water based enamel. Its more flexible to cope with expansion plus its resistant to petrol, oils etc. I'm curious to see how it'll hold up. Dave (avenger tiger) is coming across tomorrow to help fit the engine back in place- hopefully we'll start it up!

i think the victor 3.3 discs on mine are 10"- same as hpf firenza. Geoff- Do you know if princess calipers work on them too?

Thats great news then- cheers! I will do my best with all the bits there.

Today it rained hard so I spent some time in the truck cleaning the rotors and checking all the clearances... The side seal to corner seal clearance is meant to be be between .002" to .006" but one several I have maybe .002"/.003" more. I have played musical side seals and swapped them all about to try and get them best I can but with out going out and spending money on new seals (not an option as my money tree as died long ago) I am going to just have to deal with it. The way I figure this engine was a runner before it got frost bite and had it not had a broken casting necessitating a strip down I would not have known about any little issues like .003 extra clearance...Fuck I bet there are loads of rotas out there plugging away with all sorts of massive amounts of clearances that Mr Mazda man in Japan wouldn't be happy with.... So I gave up worrying and did something far more important. I polished the housings up... While I did this Hannah sat near the woodstove and built me a new wheel for my crossbike - she had a little helper. We have pinched one of mums kittens to keep us company.. I then gave the seal grooves a nice clean out and anywhere else that needed it like all the scum that had sat in the bottom waterways. I will give the front and rear plates a quick clean and tomorrow I will hopefully begin the buildup. I have some new seals from Mazda (fucking rip off artists) and will drink many a cup of coffee.

Cool- another Viva. I think its a great combo and I think I would have put a 4age at some point had I not got my 12A turbo so cheap. See here for another with 4age. viewtopic.php?f=17&t=25967 Ask Geoff about what works suspension wise. The front springs are fairly easy but as ya know those rear springs are trickier to find ones that fit. I think geoff has a set of 3.3 victor front hubs and brakes like mine- about as big as you can go on 13"s and should make your car do nose wheelies. Your sills look similar to the ones on my ex-race car vauxhall 'vulga'. I agree that once its low on wide steels they should look fine. Kudos to you for saving a rusty Viva btw. Most would scrap it. One day they may even be popular! I'm watching this one! Keep the updates coming. alex

that above is a nice truck.

Oh yeah i forgot to say thanks for mag when on phone. I like the fella who put Bedford TM cabs on kenworth chassis. I found this didn't sell last year. But no price or photos. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motor ... 435760.htm Edit; heres a F12 tractor unit for sale... http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motor ... 610577.htm

Wiki says.... 'The Volvo F88 was a heavy vehicle introduced in 1964. It was a particularly advanced vehicle for its time, with an all steel constructed cab at a time when some British manufacturers were still producing wood-framed with alloy panelling vehicles. Also, unusually for the late 1960s, it was available with a sleeper cab with additional space behind the driver where a bunk was fitted. Power outputs ranged from 260hp to 318hp DIN (290bhp BS AU 141)with an 8 or 16 speed gearbox. This was another major selling point, as a typical UK 32 ton articulated truck of the time made do with a 180hp Gardner and a 6 speed gearbox. The extra power made the F88 a particularly fast truck and it gained instant popularity, thanks also to its unheard of levels of road holding and driver comfort, with fully adjustable seating, heater and radio. A derivative of the F88 was the G88 introduced in 1969, which was basically the same vehicle but with the front axle fitted 30 cm further forward to allow greater axle spread, necessary to increase the gross vehicle weight in Sweden up to 52.5 tons. The G-version was sold mainly in Sweden, Norway and Australia. The fact that todays trucks are built over exactly the same receipt as the F88 proves that it was decades ahead of its time. The last F/G88 left the assembling line in 1978. The F88 today is regarded fondly by many as the first of the modern generation of "driver friendly" trucks, and in Europe is recognised as "THE" classic truck, with examples in good condition worth a great deal of money'..........I guess this is why I cant find any for sale?

Hmmmm like this.... Or this....

I always was a big 'little' fan of F10 and F12 volvos. I always thought the G88s looked old. But now that i'm a big boy I like the G88s. In fact they look cooler then F10. I remember when I was about 10 sending a letter off to the Volvo importers in NZ and getting loads of new sale brochures for F10/F12s. Wow- what treat that was getting them in the mail!

Oh man the wicked old tractor units you could get to tow that. I'm thinking like old 70's Volvo or old ERF's etc. Park up and then rock about in the truck. Or a Mack like such.... http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motor ... 039596.htm

Now I have finally got computer working again I just had a look at that link. That is a cool house! Done out in a nice style too I reckon! Is it missing some wheels on inside back? Should it have 4 'pairs' of wheels?

There are some bargain trucks out there too....ripe for the picking.

Yeah those holes were there already- some sort of emissions thing I think. I think its where in certain conditions air can go from the port into exhaust to help get a full/clean burn. I hardly ground up- more just smoothed off the transition. And I only went down as far as the bottom of the runner. It really was just a clean up. I'm glad you think it looks good. I was a bit nervous at first as I have seen photos in the past of some shocking porting jobs. Sort of why I didn't want to get too carried away...

I have now got a replacement housing and centre plate. The fella I got the plate from had scribed mild ports into some engineers blue using a proper stencil for me to follow and I had a go at my first port grinding Here is a standard port on one side of the replacement centre plate... It was much less of a drama than I thought it might be. For starters it was just a extension and smooth out job- not a big bridge or anything. It was quite fun actually! I made sure I didn't get carried away and I didn't take the runners out due to the lack of longer die grinding bits so I smoothed out the top going up to the mark then smoothed the transition from the bottom of runners to port. The standard ports had some quite sharp edges and some quite big steps. At least they are now a closer match to the front and rear ports. Finished port... There is some corrosion around where the inner water seals presses against the surfaces. After grinding I gave the plate a really good clean and also ground the casting marks off the outside for a nicer appearance once painted. Then I carefully painted some Dinitrol rust convertor into the corrosion marks. I'll leave that overnight and then I'm thinking of putting metal bonding epoxy into the pitting so I can sand it down smooth and then there wont be any pitting under water seal. The pitting appears to be on each side of where the seals sit- not directly under except maybe in one small area. On Monday I will order a full water seal kit from Mazda and begin my first build. Quite enjoying it- I was dreading all the cleaning of the parts but the engine is actually already very clean because it had only done a few miles since its last rebuild. But I'll go over everything, clean it all carefully then piece it all back together. I have recently bought another oil pump with the 17mm deep rotors as this engine had the very early 12mm deep ones. This will give me more oil flow plus I'll shim the oil pressure regs to bump up pressure too.

Its quite nice. Its well cosy but the bloody rope seal on wood burner is worn and there is a big slow burning log in there. Every time the truck door gets opened it creates a vacuum in truck and pulls smoke through seal. Its a touch smoky in here now. Smells like sitting next to a campfire. Must buy new rope seal tomorrow before we die from carbon monoxide poisoning.

'Dealing with crack' One of the rafters has had a crack since day one. I plated it from behind but it has grown since the wood dried further. I took the plate off and filled the crack with Araldite epoxy... Then jacked it up till the gap closed. I will now leave overnight and re-plate it with a bigger plate. We took our carpet off cuts to this old retired couple today to get edged. Soon we'll have some lovely cheap rugs. Note; fire is blazing. Ohhh I love chilly nights. Its so cosy in here. I have moved my Vivas rotary engine parts inside so I clean them in the warmth with good music and plenty of tea. Bliss.

Hannah found this in the house- I know its not a real substitute but at least it wont break hearts.. Some friends who I used to work with in a bike shop in Oxford, UK that now live in NZ came over from Nelson for a visit in their new bedford camper. Sooo cool. very cute. It drives really well- frst time I have driven a CF. We spent today mountain biking and I'm now very tired! One of the little jobs I have done in last day or so is to replace the very rusty bent piece of steelattached to the chain holding up the spare wheel. It has rusted so bad that it was all twisted and I wouldn't want what feels like 60-70kg of wheel dropping onto road. I beefed up the new design and has a fail safe I have padlocked some more chain around wheel to chassis. I tidied up the wiring for rear lights. I'm now on the hunt for some old lucas 581 style rear lights such as on the series land rovers. I missed out on a brand new full set- forgot to watch auction finish and someone beat me by $5!!! : I'll continue the hunt. If anyone can help with cheap landie lights....

Cheers Dave- yeah I thought Sinead would be gutted as when you guys visited I remember Kitten spent ages smooching with Sinead. Can we borrow your 'plump' cat Lotus for a while so we can get our cat fix? Lotus wouldn't fit through our gate so would be safe from cars! Yeah Duncan had some beers in him alright- quite funny. We spent 3 days in Takaka looking at land - man the place rocks! Such a chilled vibe. Found a big 35 acre section of old Rimu, Totara, Beech forest bordering Abel Tasman park not 15 mins from Totaranui beach. The truck woulld possibly just squeeze down access road. If only we had the money eh!