yoeddynz

cool- thats what i'll do then! snad the buggers down. Or get some old plates from someone and buy personalised ones with the same number...but then that costs heaps that way.... There must be someone out there with the old plates stamping machine ?

Is there any where in NZ that still makes the original black and silver plates?

I got time now to browse the cars and just checked out your thread - WICKED CAR. I cant agree more with the others- its really nice to see original period colours being kept and that your not wreaking it to make yet another rx3! What wheels are those last ones in the thread ? I love them. An old series 3 rx7 I had in england came with a Hurley engineering twin SU setup- look it up on hurleys website. It went really well- very very smooth with none of the 'secondrys popping open' lurch that nikkis have- plus it was far more economical. Some people laugh when I mention chasing economy on rotarys but it makes sense that with a nice setup you can have good smooth power but still get easy 30mpg. Especially with todays fuel prices. that said if your going bridgeport......

Last weekend some of us from exile rotorsport had a little road trip to Spa Francorchaps race circuit in Belgium- to watch the mazda rx8 race. We got back to Oxford about 4pm- phew...what a wicked weekend!!! My stats...rx3 did 1050 miles! not one single fault at all. Gave it some seriously hard caning on some good twisty roads and other times we cruised at between 60-70mph all the way. I managed 30MPG! those who say RX's aint usable...thats wicked figures for a '72 car that can do 130 and be caned all day long Loving this little car!!! We never got lost- cheers to Hannah who did some good map reading! But damned if could we find the campsite near Brugge! crap signs! But nice campsite. Cheers to those who came along- very nice chilled out little bunch and good fun to be with cheap beer is nice. belgiums roads leave a lot to be desired as far as surfaces go though.... heres some pics... Meet on thursday morning at M2 services in time for breakfest... lauchie on the BBQ... haydens beer glove.. fixing a carb KIWI style... race time.. nice..thats got our attention.. Dinner time.. I'm BRUGGE... bonnets make good towel dryers.. at campsite near Brugge.. Hannah and I had a great weekend and we want to go back to Brugge later this summer- whos up for it? oh and this happened in Lux... why so fast... ...was what luxyburger cop lady said to me through the window after I came around a corner way too fast and skidded onto other side of road next to cop car parked at an intersection! There were 10 or so cops lined up marshelling a classic motorbike run. Hannah heard one say to the other "arrest?" I replied to her that corner was too tight with no warning.... s--t was my heart beating fast!. I then said I just need to get back to other side of road. When others arrived seconds later from down the hill we just took off before the completely shocked cops could decide or not to arrest me for blatant dangerous driving! Boy was I lucky!!!!! Oh- and the rx8?...it started way back on the grid- 12 hour race. Maybe 35th place on grid... within 8 laps it was in 6th place!!! by the time we left(3 hours later) it was up to 4th and it had the fastest lap time. but at the 7th hour it caught on fire! fuel pipe or something. It was 15 secs behind lead car at this point. shame! It sounded soooo cool- it was definately the bad boy of the race- spitting the biggest flames and sounded more like an F1 car. so cool. alex

ouch. I'm gonna look for an old car if i dont bring back the 3!

cool. So what do you pay a year if it aint old enough?

is there free registration in nz if a car is older than a certain date? I can't remember.. Shit- i cant remember loads. Hang on.. Where i'm i?

I got a nice new front disc from alan bryer- he only had one left but I had another original un-machined low mileage one so put it in friends lathe and cleaned it up...my best concentration look... then fit them all shiney and new.... and fit new shoes in back- drums were fine! Drove car last night- no more juddering brake pedal and nice smooth stops. Sweet!

when i re- reg'd my old chevette i had to take to local wof station- a standard test. Then deemed safe i was allowed to drive it from blenheim to nelson with no plates. Got a cert (peter?) for mod's on the way and then at nelson vtnz place they gave it a more thorough test. They were happy to be looking at a nice old car for change. It passed easy and then i got new vin and nice new plates. Is there a age limit for personal imports into nz? I heard its hard to import anything newer than 92? I'm guessing my 3 would be ok as its an oldy and a classic? Can you import lhd cars?

yeah- there is a stupid method over here that calculates a cc rating for tax purposes! Its crap- they wont take mazdas official swept volume figure. So it also affects any one here trying to race a rotary as they get lumped into bigger cc class. On exile-rotorsport.com the fella's are constantly sending letters to dvla to get cars changed back to 1.2 or 1.3. Several have succeeded. Odd thing is that some rx8s got first registered as 1.3! Weird. Any way- i don't care as because i proved mine was built before 1/1/73 it is now tax free.

this just arrived in the mail... WOO HOO!!! wicked! No more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for meNo more tax for me

FINGS I DONE TODAY ALWIGHT!... I jumped onto some springs and calculated precisely what poundage they are with the help of my trusty sidekick Hannah and her amazing tape measure plus some scales. I then fit the springs I selected along with my 'Brand spanking new Konis' that I purchased from classicgarage.com- who happen to have loads of old stock konis etc I wound the damping adjustment in 1/3 from start - it affects the rebound only and that happens to be what was severly lacking with my car. I then took it for a drive and hey presto! It actually drives great- much much less pitching about and bouncing over every little bump. and the roll is reduced too- I actually found my self hammering into corners with joyeus (sp?) abandon So phone calls to Gaz today and chase up where my rear dampers are!!! Yesterday I had this fella in front of me... He works for a magazine...more on that later

thats good info posted there david. Cheers. The copper pipe sold here is fairly easy to bend. But legaly to sell it for brake use it has to be rated for the job. Its been used used for decades here and the industry seems very happy with it. Although nz appears to have become the 'land of rule books' i'm sure that equaly if something wasn't safe here in britain for general use then they would clamp down on it! Britain is following strongly after the usa in litigation stakes.ie.. Anything that could get someone sued if it fails will get removed from use pronto! The way i see it is that if the right pressure rated copper pipe is used and supported properly as you should with any brake line subject to vibration then it will be fine. Its also interesting to note that in most countrys race car drivers- particulary rally- prefer copper because in event of the pipe getting smashed by debri on track or rocks etc it will just deform but not split. This is all irrelevant to me anyway- if mr vtnz says its not allowed- it aint allowed! Alex'about to buy some bundy' davidson.

i'll just wait and see.. I'm certainly not getting bored of it thats for sure! Practical classics magazine are coming over on monday to photo shoot and do article for the 'readers restoration' feature. wicked ! I'm well excited.

yep-all matching numbers, i'm the second owner, i have original motor- a mates going to borrow it so we can get his 3 on the road for a road trip to belgium. And interior is all complete and original excellent conditiion. Head lining mint, dash top mint etc. I'll just have to wait and see what offers i get here, but in the mean time use it through summer and drive it like i stole it.

i would hope to get about 5k pounds. 12.5 k nzd todays rate. A fair bit more than its cost me to buy and build but they never come up for sale here so supply and demand eh. 12.5k nzd wont buy me much rx3 in nz but would buy a good solid viva or chevette with heaps left over to modify. But i love my 3. I must finish my viva so i can see how that is handling wise.!

your right. On both things. It will be a hassle and i if get ok money for it here then with exchange rate i could get or build something else cool. Your also right about me loving the car- not in a 'stick my willie up the exhaust sort of way though'... The more i drive it the more i get used to its shit but predictable and fun handeling the more i want to keep it. So i doing the homework now. If i dont get a reasonable offer here (and i'm not gonna chase silly big money thinking its a ferrari) then i might bring it back. Which is why this forum is so bloody useful!

yeah that bit of road has a well dodgy tight corner after the bridge- once took a mates motor bike out there- i wasn't used to riding big bikes and never knew how much ya have to lean them! I went really wide onto other side of road -almost into the ditch. scared me and the on coming traffic. Whoops. I fit some koni inserts i got sent over from the us. Put them in on monday and man- what an amazing difference! Waiting for rear adjustable shocks to get made by gaz shocks in essex. They are making 2 pairs -one for my mate who has a rx3 too. Photos soon.

i'd rather not have to lie as it most likely will end up getting messy. The guy in blenheim who used to check our sample welds for tickets is also a cert bloke for vtnz. I could try him. I'm completely happy with the structural strength and took good photos- removed all the rot and replaced with new steel. It has filler but only to tidy things up- i certainly aint a pro so had to give places a skim. Theres a really good cert bloke in nelson- cant remember his name but he wasn't anal- just realistic and fair. Did my old 2.3 chevette. I wonder if i can do a midnight run from lyttlton harbor to blenheim. !

fuck me this is getting shit- back in the day ya could do any thing to a car. Good ol kiwi ingenuity eh. Now its back handed money to engineers just to get a cert for a new fucking gear knob! How long has this welding thing been about? I'm a fitter turner by trade- might have to get my welding ticket again if that would help. Or just sell car here:-(.

the sticker thing he was talking about was in relation to me talking about how fucking anal vtnz is about regulations- which in turn was in relation to me questioning vtnz's rules about copper pipes. Tenuous i know but.. Anyway- maybe i'll just argue, quote facts- when mr vtnz complains about my copper pipes. This world is getting so complicated!

whats that - people were chrome plating their brake lines and the pen pushers have said its not allowed! Fucking hell- ya wont be allowed to fit stickers soon! Not sure on copper mix. Yeah- rx3 possibly worth a bit more in nz but i have to get it there first. In many ways i'd like to bring back some thing different. Lots of 3's etc in nz where as here its rare hence creates more interest. I fancy a lancia fulvia- that would be cool in nz. Bit slow though..

i'm gonna fill my suitcase with as many rx's as possible.

sweet- love vivas ! I have an hb i'm currently fitting a 1600x flo into. Plus we have a 4 door chevette i need to weld up. All Piazzas here in blighty are turbo so have linked axles- not as simple to drop in.. But most have lsds

bugger! Whats bundy tube? Its not a hard job to change- just a pain. And steel aint as easy to do lots of tight bends without decent tools. What about fuel lines? Mine are copper too. I take the point about cracking but must add.. The copper pipes sold here in blighty must be certified and is better able to cope with vibration. And steel lines crack too- seen it. Not to mention rust- from inside out when brake fluid is old and has absorbed water. I think if any pipes are done properly with secure mounts where appropriate all should be fine. Not having a go but given how long copper has been used with it all fine and dandy here in blighty to me its just another fucking case of nz's vtnz office geeks creating more work. So if i import it then i guess they'll ask me to change it all when it comes to the first new re vin test eh? Will i be able to drive it away from test to go do required work? I'm not sure if i'm bringing rx3 back yet- will see what interest/offers i get here first. Plus i'm still not sure on the idea of an rx3 as a daily without the constant fear of the light fingered brigade! Maybe south island is ok eh.. No car thieves there eh?