yoeddynz

looking sharp! One day i'd like to get all the bolts done on a project. Would save so much time and be really satisfying!

This afternoon we finished behind the cab. Would have been done earlier but we decided to drain the cooling system, flush out the heater matrix and refill with new antifreeze. All bloody 23 litres of it! The heater was full of sludge- I guess being a nelson truck perhaps it wasn't used much? It was soooooo satisfying to back flush it and see all the crap come out! The heater works really well now! Anyway- here's behind the cab- still some detaiing to go in place yet... next job is ply the rear room sides. I hope the weather stays nice.

I'm sitting here having a well deserved cup of coffee. I had a bit of a drama last night with the lift up bedroom floor system. I rigged up four of mitre tens finest cheap zenith pulleys to the brackets I had welded to the frame ages ago in the build and hoisted away- once floor was as high as it could go i secured the rope and jumped outside to tilt the cab. But it hit the floor bottom!!! I was sure I had designed it with enough clearance so I took a look at the pulley system. The problem was that when they got near to the top they started to want to pull sideways instead of up. A new system was in order which I put in this morning. I have welded another bracket in the middle of the floor at the front and then made a bracket to hold the top pulley off the rafter. And I only need the two pulleys as its easy to lift. With this in place I can lift the floor right up with space to go. And now the cab tilts lovely! The scuff marks from the cab roof... So now its tilted we can put ply up behind the cab and stop cold drafts! woo hoo. I'm happy. Plus I could make a little window so I could sit inside with a cup of tea and look at the engine...

naaahhhh- you can do it ! do it for the team! Then we can all watch that way. It would be a cool conversion! And when it comes to wiring you just need lots of cups of tea- THAT is the secret!

So far 4 sheets of ply up in place- we now have covered the sides of front room. We will work our way down after doing the rear room. Then begin removing the pine and replacing it with ply. I will put up photos later on once more is done as for now its doesn't look that pretty.. but the ply will look nice once we have battens up and windows in place. Today it started to rain again so we have started walling the section behind the cab where the shower will go. This means finishing the 2nd floor out on to the roof. took a while to decide on design of opening- it has to be big enough to feed a bed into bedroom etc Its freezing inside with a the cold wind coming past the cab so it will be great to have this covered!

cheers dude- I'm a bit happier about it now- yesterday we fitted the first 3 of 22 sheets of ply! this time we are starting at the top and working down! Already feels cosier, The ply goes up one gazzilion times faster than the pine and this stuff will last. doesn't look as funky but will be smart when finished. Hmmmm ~ Flax. we used to have some massive flax plants in our garden. I remember making all that flax stuff at Whitney street school. memories...

not bad at all. They have that nice period sort of look about them.

Bloody rain! Not much done on outside. We went to Christchurch and picked up 22 sheets of 5.5mm marine grade ply plus some cedar for cappings. Oh and also a visit to Musgrove's to sift through all the reclaimed timber. Got some great Rimu and Miro for our door frame. The piece of Miro has the most amazing patterns I have ever seen in wood. Beautiful! I will put up a picture. So over the last few days we have been doing some work on the inside. As soon as the rain stops we'll start putting up the ply. Finishing the bedroom floor- some insulation. Insulation everywhere - this is important!

if you dont mind selling how much did you score those seats for? They must be rare as in nz!

sweet looking engine- looks sort of like a lotus twink. Cheers for fitting the tyres onto my wheels today btw! Is that a yank chevette badge? I like them seats too- sweet that they match the rears.

well ive learned a lesson or two. we were originally planned and budgeted to use ply before we got truck but discovered this siding so went that way instead. Money is an issue as far as we cant afford fancy woods. I thought that stain wood work well and it di on the faces but that didnt stop water entering the ends- next time we will make proper capping so the ends are not exposed. we are looking at doing the treated ply in a board and batten style. Or possibly use some western red cedar if we can score a deal on it....

yeah- that would be pretty heavy. Plus the pine will still soak up water/rot. Sad as it is we are gonna have to let the pine go and try and make the ply look nice. Maybe board and batten style. I'M GUTTED to say the least.

I like the old leylands. Lockeddiff. yep indeed high risk areas and already with the rain so far the windows are getting a good dosing! several things i have planned. I want to make rain deflectors every where possible. I dont know if thats the right word - hannah takes the piss every time i say it but what else should they be called. anyway- I want to make them to cover all windows and the pop outs plus some big ones to give etxtra cover around the veranda. EDIT. The pine is taking in water along other edges that have yet been protected. some bits are sodden right through. I'm in a state of depression this morning! We have decided the pine is getting removed and treated ply is going up. Money isnt the issue here but all the time wasted putting the pine up is!!!!!!!!!! pissed off and sad at the same time. We want a truck that will last and this pine wont. Its a real shame as we both love the look of it! Any alternative ideas welcome. alex

I put piazza under-garments in my chevette back in '93. The 'front' crossmember that mikuni mentions - just run a big drill up through body work and plate it at top i remember correctly. The piazza axle is 40mm wider then chevette one. Yeah- and the master cylinder needs a bigger bore or else it will have a soft (but effective) pedal feel.

you must have connections out there that you can score a nice truck cheap. I think a good idea that we could have done if we had more time to search would be to re-power a nice old school truck thats on classic rego. Saving more monies and having something old and sweet!

what he said.

Yeah- I'd love to check it out. where about's are you?

asyncronus? Does that mean offset? They are offset because one will be a dining room table and seating for 4. That will be opposite the wood stove and next to kitchen. The other one will have a sofa and is directly opposite the workbench. Then after a hard stint of filing or hacksawing i can stumble backwards and fall into my sofa with my cup of tea perched next to it on a little shelf with car and cycling magazines opposite. Heaven. You know your pussy's! They are indeed birmans. They are a breed in which we humans have bred out all the wild hunting instincts, skills etc so making them more soft, innocent, fluffy and cute. Very cool cats though. .

main thing was having the viva and not needing a chevette. Just wanting one. I love road trips too. I'd like to buy a ferrari dino 246 in italy and drive it a long way back to britain. But need to sort out some things, like money, before i do that....

some photos today- I always forget and then its dark. Nice waterproof roof of slid in popout and wavey rafters in background.... popout, workshop bench window and skylight... window above sofa area....

I was watching that chevette too. but all the way up there and I have my Viva that needs love. I love the vid- Brazil? I know they have a massive following over there for chevettes.

It did indeed rain today. But stopped by about 9 am. Coolio! How nice. So we bought some flashing to cover the join along top of the roof. Now roof is finished. While we were at the plumbers where we had also got a bargain deal on the Butynol roof membrane we had spotted a Rennai gas califont- exactly the same model I have fitted our 3 previous vehicles/homes. And it was for sale. We ended up getting a near new califont made in Japan not China for a bargain $200. Sweet- thats a saving of $380. WE HAPPY!

A bit of an update. Its set to rain for the next week or so off and on so hence we have been trying to get the outside cladding up. But first we had to finish the pop outs- these have been tricky. I would build these a different way next time. I designed them with only 5mm clearance between the sides of pop outs and the frame opening. Not enough to allow for odd bits of wood or any warping. All sorted now after more planing. Given how much they could be out with only a few mm wrong here or there they ended up fitting like a glove which makes me very happy! We have also fitted some of the windows in the popouts and they look great. When they are both pushed inside there is just enough room to squeeze through between them. Lucky I'm skinny. Not that it matters as once parked up they will be pushed out anyway. I have decided to make an opening window over the workbench- there is already a skylight above it but really good natural light over it is important so an extra window will work wonders. Opening because I'm bound to make a few smelly fumes - glue, welding, paint etc. Every so often we have to stop and give these little buggers a cuddle and that eats into our valuable building time...but its worth it! We have just enough of the wavey cladding to reach the base of where the batoned ply will start over the bedroom and 'entertainment room'. This too makes me very happy. I thought we might run out. We are looking forwards to getting to the ply stage as it will mean very quick coverage!!! Today we started putting up the first bits of wood on the front of the truck which is cool- covering up the green painted steel. We cant wait till its all covered and cosy inside. First thing we will install will be a woodburner! ;D Tonight Hannah finished the last bit of staining as its set to rain soon. Jobs we can do while it is raining will be building some more window frames and building the locking systems for the popouts. Plus there is my Viva to continue rotorising...

do you know if the lc shares the same share instrument pod as the hb torana? I have seen a few 6 dial dash's from lc's on aus ebay and they look the same as the 6 dial hb viva gt ones.

ohhhh they aint that posh! Maybe in the future when get my own lathe (one day, one day...) I could turn them out and push some bearings in but I dont think they will need it- I have drilled a small grease port in each one though. They roll sweet as under load.