yoeddynz

cool Bus Tortron. Quite big. Is it diesel? I notice it has an extra set of legs to help it up hills.

Euron8 - I will contact you and tell you when to put the kettle on and pack the bong.

KK... - as long as you build it onto a deck or something that is 'bolted' to the chassis and not permanantly attached you can go for gold. Just need to stick within the dimensions allowed.

Tractor and trailer would be great too. And there have been some wicked old classy classic tractor units up for sale. Who cares if they are slow when you would only have to pay historic license fee on them. And if you get an old petrol one just run it on LPG.

Good progress last few days. Painting of the frame has started. Only on the front as that is what has been built. we had to get more steel- i made a bit of a balls up when adding up my list of steel needed and got it wrong. I thought the pile looked a little small...

The front end is pretty much all done including the framework for the bedroom floor.

Bedroom floor- to be hinged at rear so cab will tilt through...

The front has some shape to it which will help it avoid being too much like a wall being pushed through the wind. Which it still is...

Occupational Health and Safety would have field day if they turned up and saw my monkey antics. I have a lot of weld burns now- plus a general all over tan. The Marlborough Sun has been ruthless this summer! Too hot around lunchtime- the deck is like a big frypan.

The painting lady with hair now stuck together..

We will start working back now and it should hopefully go quickly as the rear is loads simpler. No need for careful bracing as there is minimal overhang out back.

Our biggest problem right now is trying to decide on the final design for the back. We have to allow for 4 bikes and we want a veranda. We need to allow for a door but also want to try and keep room for an upstairs chillout/reading room. So a rear door or possibly chop the deck out in one section and have a dropped down side door behind the rear wheel.

The rear will go out 1 meter from the deck and drop about half a meter.. maybe. Higher up it will extend a further 1/2 meter.

But I need to drive the truck out of driveway when the road is quiet too check what clearance there will be as the back wheel drop into gutter as it would be a bit of a shame if we built truck only to discover it doesn't like gutters!

So a few days thinking before we finalise design- which will definitely change anyway..

We also need to decide on the roof material. Going to Nelson this weekend to get some rafter wood from Plankville- hopefully something nice like some sort of hardwood. Will see what it costs.

WICKED! cheers for that! next time we in nelson - which will be soon as we need some other pretty wood for rafters etc - I will pop in and see Paul then.

The fella we bought truck off gave us Multispares phone number off the top of his head- he must ring you all the time eh? I think he got all the engine parts for the rebuild from you fellas but not sure. I know he just rings up and orders anything he needs and passes it over it to his mechanics. He still has several trucks - nissans? but I dont know if he his getting out of the business or passing it on to his sons.

I'll check it out- its a 150 bhp engine and it is a paper element filter. "the hino cyclonic filter system'...

Yep- I drilled a big hole in it And it will get filled with some waxoyl before being fitted back in place. It should outlast the truck now...

How much should I expect to pay for a new filter? I was going to try local BNT as they are well friendly and support local places that help eh!

Yeah- the old fuck who owned is a right fucking miserable bastard. But he seems to have looked after his trucks so thats all we care!

Mig wire ran out on sat night!!! so I put in an old mini spool of wire and then CO2 ran out

Not to be...

So Sunday we spent cutting steel ready for monday and doing some more sanding on cab.

Monday morning- new 5kg rool of wire and top up CO2- this time at a different place which costs 1/3 the price of hunting and fishing!!!

Back home and typical- the wind has picked up badly. Even with Hannah holding up cardboard sheets and being really careful its just too windy to weld- whenever I laid a weld down the wind would blow away the Co2 gas shroud and the weld would go porous.We only managed to get a few more sections up in place. Every bit added is making it stiffer and stronger. But the wind was just too much.

Bugger! Really pissed off as I just want to get this frame work up and crack on with it!

So after much being pissed off, kicking inanimate objects and shouting at the dog I chilled out. Hannah continued preping the cab and I removed the rusty as fuck air cleaner base. This job has to be done otherwise the airfilter will continue getting clogged with road dust.

I chopped off the bottom leaving the still intact lip. Then cut some strips of steel and tacked them round circumference. Then welded right round and added a base. Very thin steel tested the MIG but it did OK. I did it in section alternating from one side to the other so it would end up warping.

Hopefully the wind will die down overnight (its blowing a gale right now) - if it doesn't I'll be pissed off!

shit id almost buy another brumby just so i could buy those mags! nice.

keep sowing them seeds - this country needs it! And when you've finished the young lady then roll over and shag the sister too. But if your down in Ash-vegasI would suspect the brother has probably seen to the sister and she'd be too knackered. So shag the Mum - before her son does her. But be quiet or you'll wake the Dad! Unless the daughter already has.

There's always the dog as well....

Unless Pa has taken it to bed.

yep- it as simple as that. Are we sounding slightly old now eh?

Things have changed here for sure. When I went to primary school we ALL rode bikes or walked. And FAT kids got bullied because most of as excercised and were skinny little fuckers. At boys college you were not allowed to drive to school unless you were a farm kid and you could prove that you could not get a bus.

Now these days mummy or daddy take the kids to school in the car- hence all the fucking traffic! I noticed in CHCH recently how once school was back the traffic doubled! And the college not only allows driving but has made extra carparks. In fucking Blenheim which takes less than 10 minutes to ride across!

Kids not allowed to ride or walk to school now- because mums saying too many cars on the road vicious circle eh.

So kids are now ALL fat. And lazy. All getting driven about. NZ is now the third fatest nation in the world after USA and Mexico! Thats shocking given that we are considered to be such a healthy outdoors type of people!

Now wheres my Wurthers Originals gone?...I put them near my slippers....

cool- can I have one of those boxes too please!

This morning Hannah and I popped down to Cuddons to get some steel.

We rode our old bikes- because it was hot, sunny and bikes for short trips are actually faster with less stress- its all good.

It was all nice till some bitch towing a trailer to the dump didnt like Hannah being in the middle of the road waiting to turn right down a side street so she swerved her car towards hannah to scare her! Why/what the fuck? This is crazy behaviour!!!

I assure you that some folk around these parts are fucking way too many of their own family bloodline!

We had a ford transhit that would only manage 60. So we sat in left lane with trucks. Then we got E34 bmw diesel which would cruise all day on a hundred mph- but still people passed us!!!!

makes for great travel times!!!

But once in town people would cruise.

NOT here though. Drivers do speed up- if you come up to a roundabout and have a fair safe chance of entering it then drivers opposite speed up on it almost as if to stop ya entering! Whats all that about? They just need to chill.

Oh- and we drive a slow old hiace van-slower than trucks- but I'm always pulling over to let people past- but only one in ten will indicate a thank you! Just some basic common fucking courtesy please..

After doing a mornings work my knee which I had sliced open mountain biking last weekend started to swell and give me grief so I took off home. A coupla hours rest and then we started building the frame work. Painting the cab will wait until welding and grinding is done.

We managed to get one of the hardest parts done- the front over hang.

First off I levelled the truck out so our pet captive bubble would do its trick properly.

Then scratching heads we finally worked out the height of the first uprights. We want the cab to swing through so we keep engine access. after lots of balancing tricks with bits of steel we worked it out.

The little welder I brought over from UK that had done the marathon job on my RX3 works even better when its running off mains!!! very good penetration and clean easy welds- until the wind picks up. I had Hannah following me around with a sheet of cardboard to block the wind.

The forward facing 75 x 40 x 3 Rhs is bloody heavy but will do the job nicely. Its handy to have a big steel deck to build framework on before we hoisted it up.

Finally the framework was up and the bedroom area is huge!The cab swings through a treat too so very happy.

Tomorrow I will put extra bracing on where needed and continue on with front framework. Now to let knee rest.

bringing up old thread but since coming back here after being in uk for last 10 years (i'm half pom but all kiwi..) i must say that driving here is odd. People drive really fast in built up areas here but cruise on open road. And they will not ever let me out of a side street. But i drive a manky old van so i just pull out anyway.

plus the 'give way to people turning left if your turning right across traffic rule' is fucking crazy- its different to everywhere else in the world! Took me a while to change once in europe and now i'm having to learn over again!

It didnt take me long to fix em and cost me nothing but a smidge of CO2

Plus- its soooooooooooooooooooooooooo much more satisfying doing it this way! other than the rust they were perfect and work well with no wobbles or vibration on door.

I like the old internationals.. and old volvos.. and scanias, kenworths, macks, erfs, fodens. could have a whole yard of them but for lack of money and space

Finished all the welding on cab yesterday. Its all solid with no rust now

Today I cut out the rust that was making up the lower 1/4 of the wing mirrors. Then replaced it with new steel- quite a tricky job as compound curves but its turned out neater than I expected so i'm happy. I had to use my special 'vice and hammer bending machine'...

Now just a lick of paint needed and they'll be all sparkly.

Talking of paint- we did a run around the shops today looking for cheap paint to do deck and framework with- eventually we got $140 worth of enamel for $29 from Resene as it was a 'wrong tint special'. Expecting some horrid colour it turns out to be a dark British racing green colour- score! Anyway it doesnt really matter as it wont be visible but still a nice price. We also got red oxide primer reduced by $30 at mitre 10. So we are now sorted with the paint for way less than expecting which is always good.

I have got another days work at bike shop tomorrow so will now hopefully start steel frame work on Saturday....

this news sucks! Hannah and i watched wrc last year in england on telly and promised ourselves we would go see it when we got back to nz.

These are still cheap- far too cheap. a bit moore here but soooo cheap in the UK. they must go up properly one day...

Pug 205gti

and these will go up. I cant ever say I have seen an original un fucked one for a long time...

323 turbo 4x4...

and Brumbys should one day go up?....

And these are cool wee cars that will slowly go up...

Charade GTI

call me a nutter but I fucking love this too....

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/sh ... 187&page=1

cheers for the warning cruiser! we came across that when building the last one. Two ways about it- either use safety glass. OR use shutters over the windows.

When I was speaking to a certifier (peter wasney) he said that actually you dont need to bother so long as no one is allowed to travel inside the 'house' . I'm gonna check it out further.

Hannah and I have been looking at Trademe tonight and these two housetrucks have popped up for sale...

This one is very similar to what we want the outside to look like....

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motor ... -271493597.

Its got a nice simple pop out. Its a little bit twee inside but still fucking nice!

heres some photos off the listing so when it ends there will still be some photos for ya all to see..

And then there is this one which I just gotta say WOW... very effective use of slide outs and great space. Much nicer and more like a proper home than the big expensive plastic buses that rich old silvertops kick about in.

Its the exact same cab as ours but sitting on 20" wheels not 16". Plus bigger engine. Long overhang out back! Not that keen on outside but thats because I'm a flakey old hippie and I like wood. But it certainly looks built to last. Fucking fair play to the builder!!! good job!....

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motor ... 998781.htm

And once again here's some photos pinched off the listing...

Today after spending the morning building some bikes at my local bike shop (yawn- but its money and part time work is all I want right now) I finally got stuck back into the truck.

I picked up some free steel from my old work- Cuddons eng- and connected our newly filled co2 bottle up. And of course then the bloody Nor wester picked up! Great- so here I am making little shelters out of old bike boxes and cursing away.

But I love welding! Barefoot, tee shirt, shorts, typically stinking hot Blenheim day.I had the stereo cranked up to abusive levels. Heaven. Sitting at my liitle bench welding up the front wind deflectors with hot sparks landing on my feet but not wanting to move and disrupt my weld. Horrid as it sounds there is something nice about it. Its better than welding in boots and lump of hot slag somehow getting into my boot past my overalls and melting my socks to my feet... been there and hate that!

Anyway- I have almost finished all the welding to the cab- most annoying aspect of the afternoon being the bloody wind!

A few bits more to weld and then some skims of filler and make it all smooth for paint. We are thinking french blue like my first ever car- my old Triumph 2500. Should go nicely with the wood and look like a period old colour too. Bet ya the wind will be about for the painting!

BOC ( bunch of cunts)

excellent!

Yeah those $59 bottles look good value. How many kilos of gas do they hold?

My bottle holds 1 KG of Co2. Can any one tell me how many litres that is?

And how many kilos in a 'D' size cylinder?

I now have gas!

I made this little jobbie...

It cost me $11 for the fittings. Now I can pop down to Blenheim Hunting and fishing whenever I need to and get a refill. He even said "well now you know how i do it you can fill it yourself if i aint around"

Fucking top bloke and good on him for going along with my home made adaptor!

$74 for argosheild is fucking cheap enough. Maybe in the future when I'm doing more car welding I'll go that way but for simple RHS frame work co2 will do. Main thing is that we are now on our way and we are not getting shagged by the big boys wanting us to hire stuff etc.

Happy!

ok then- heres another Rangi engine- but this setup is rare in NZ..shit- its rare all over...

It was designed and made by Elford in Bournemouth. Mazda was completely happy with its quality and performance that they kept the full warranty for any new RX7s fitted with it. Its only a low pressure turbo - I think 5 psi?

Back when these cars were new, they weren't considered that quick as they fell off the production line. So Elford - who had raced a Mazda rotary at Le Mans with quite some success - removed all the emissions gear, original inlet manifold and carb and replaced it with a cast alloy manifold to which he bolted a Garret T3 turbo, which sucks the mixture through via a 1.75" SU carb. All very low tech and running on a fairly mild boost. Surprisingly enough, this setup works very well, producing about 15-20 bhp more than the original Mazda Turbo setup which wasn't available in the UK anyway.

In its original form, these cars were pumping out between 165 and 170 bhp; This car is mostly original apart from the exhaust and should be good for 175+ BHP as it stands. Interestingly enough, neither the suspension nor the brakes were considered worthy of an upgrade...

Very nicely made if slightly overbuilt. Lovely castings with lots of alloy for me to polish up. What I like about it most is that it is completely mechanical- very simple turbo with carb- and I like the SU carbs too. There is a 'black box' in the drivers footwell which has about as much electronics in it as a keyfob. It controls overboost and along with a rev limiter that cuts ignition.

This will sometime go into my viva - although I fear the big cast exhaust housing may foul the steering column

it wont make a brap brap brap sound... suits me fine then....will keep kids guessing.

argoshield is warmer and does give a better weld-hence you can get little warmers on co2 regs to warm the gas.

But you get less litres of argo per bottle plus its twice the price.

For simple strong welding that wont be seen on the truck i'll go co2.

I now know the thread size so next week i'm hopefully gonna make an adaptor so hunting and fishing can fill my bottle. Plus they are close to home.

mr bubblegoose - i would have taken you on the offer! But not sure when the next time is that i'll be down south in the land of bogans.

Yeah- soda stream would be fine for little jobs but would run out bloody quick eh for this job. Who the hell uses soda stream anyway? I havn't seen one of them ages!!! last time i remember seeing one was at a mates in 1983 or something!

do diving tanks use the same thread as other bottles (1/2" BSP I think?)