yoeddynz

Still chipping away at various jobs about the property. Going to post up some before and after shots soon because its looking neat as compared to 8 years ago. This spring and summer have been perfect for plant growth on the block and the bush is really coming away well. We've just started the process of a new shed build. Tore down the old tin shed which we'd built and parked next to the housetruck when at the campground in Nelson, which then got carted out in two halves to the bushblock all those 7/8 years ago. New shed will be about 5.5m by 5m and be mainly to house the Imp and most of our pushbikes plus anything else currently in the workshop that's not for engineering/work related. It'll be nice to have a safe warm place for the Imp and not have to ever leave it outside in the harsh sun or the wet (because when it rains here its usually pretty good decent rain - and because the Imp is British that rain eventually seems to find its way in somehow) We want to style this shed like an old country workshop. Iron sides and roof, timber front, big timber doors. We've got quite a bit of materials already so its not going to be a big spend job. Just priced up concrete which delivered out to here from Motueka will cost about $240 for 1.5m3 of the stronger 25mpa stuff - still seems pretty cheap? I'll get some more pics soon but this was last week just as we started tearing it down. Found so many bloody paper wasps which luckily never seem to be as aggressive as normal wasps - of which there's very few about!

yep and they are pretty cheap to get set up with. Plus much betterer for those pesky hard to get to corners where you need to have the tungsten set out quite far.

yeah and this. One of the ones with the little ball. Plus check the regulator diaphragm is backed off enough so it works but without releasing a massive splurge of air each time the welder opens its gas valve. Hard to explain what I mean but mine was set really high so the flow meter had too much pressure against it. If that makes sense.

I've got a pedal and started out with it but it was annoying. Then a local hot rod builder friend (who's a very talented welder) told me to ditch it and learn to weld using filler speed etc. Took a little while but it's way better for car stuff and awkward welding jobs where your upside down welding box section furniture together etc etc. You can't use a pedal in any of those situations. I reckon keep practising and master the welding without extra amp control. Then when the time comes to do really neat Instagram spec tarty welds at the bench you'll find it a breeze if you decide to use a pedal.

This one? soooooooo quick off the line. Good driver too- I think he won the series.

Great result!!! Congrats. Going from that photo looking up at the sill/floor area it looks pretty solid! (bar a tiny hole in what is a collection point for road dust and damp) These imps are made from good quality and quite thick steel from what I've seen.

From what I have read in the past using a richer coolant ratio actually decreases the rate at which heat can be pulled off from the system. (something to do with the fact that water is more efficient at absorbing heat than straight coolant) In NZ we get more than enough frost protection from a 30% mixture, plus easily enough corrosion protection. Not too mention the antifreeze costs of running 50% over %30 - just thinking about that starts to boil my Scottish blood. More pressing issue for you is what to do about that worn steering wheel leather!...

@xsspeed You know that K11s are where its at.

Cool car bro. I love the hubcaps. Widened steels whilst keeping them would look sweet. But that fake grill. Horrid. Glad to read that's going. Looking forward to following progress on this. Hopefully an Imp road trip south soon. Must catch up.

We all have a story about the cars we should have kept bro. But be happy that you still have time to invest in the next big thing. K11s

...and also. Black zinc is awesome. Like Mof said - easy to touch up and it actually lasts pretty bloody well. Cheapest place I have found it is still at mitre 10. I too use a lot of it.

Ahhh yeah - very good point. I remember the pains you went through to make sure you could fit...

you wont fit.

man some of those roads we went on for coromandal nats were sweet!

you say now...

Thanks for all the updates. I love this thread. Great read. Looking forward to seeing what you do in Golden Bay.

Good idea for RWD applications if its under the tunnel! This one however will be pretty easy to get to because I'm going to keep a removable cover on the parcel shelf, what is currently covered by the fiberglass box that goes over the Datsun engine.

Yeah I've got that covered. I had looked at that and thought much the same. So the feet that support the main base it are quite big and solid as. Im also sticking with this older model that has a bleed nipple because I've read that quite alot of pissing about bleeding the later ones when retro fitted.

Cheers. Yeah I'd be totally fucked without a lathe or that little drill mill. I would love a larger knee mill but luckily the old Taiwan special has seen me through so far

Next step in the puzzle was to sort out a clutch release system. I had a couple of options that could work. I could use the stock Subaru fork but it was not ideal for two reasons ; 1: It would need a the release bearing carrier adapting to take a larger diameter bearing that would suit the Honda pressure plate fingers. 2: Its pivot location, being a centre mounted fulcrum point, would require a slave cylinder that pushed it towards the front of the car. This is because originally the Leone the transmission came from uses a clutch cable. I'd being using a hydraulic slave and it would have to be mounted up high, over the engine. Probably clash with the underside of the parcel shelf and would definitely look ugly there. Option two was to use the Ford Mundano concentric slave cylinder I have had stashed away for ages, acquired with the Duratec engine I was going to fit into the Viva wagon many moons ago. This certainly seemed the most sensible option because it fitted into the location almost perfectly... The pipes even pop out through the Subaru release fork hole like it was made for it... But it was still going to require a little work. First off is that it has a flat bearing face, made to suit curved diaphragm spring ends. It was also too small in diameter to suit the fingers. So a lump of steel was plucked from the store... There was just enough room between the bearing face and the 'slidey hub' bit that the bearing hydraulics slide in and out on for me to machine a locating stub onto the bit of steel... With that being a perfect fitting locating point the other side was machined with a radialised face to suit the flat fingers. The end result looks like this.. This will be stuck in place onto the release bearing face with something like loctite 601. It cant go anywhere anyway. Next issue was fixing this whole unit in place and making sure its dead square to the input shaft centre line. Luckily the units bore was larger that the stub/shaft?* that the Subaru release bearing carrier slides on by about 2mm. It also so happened that when pushed on as far as it would go it allowed for just the right amount of movement of the release bearing, plus a bit to spare. So I machined a thin sleeve with a lip at one end to suit.. This I made a nice snug fit onto the stub/shaft thing and the Mundano assembly slides in place snug, thus making sure it all remains square. I assembled the lot together and checked it all with the transmission bolted in place. Looks good.. The initial throw of the release bearing will be adjusted at the pedal, which will now require me to either use the Mundano master cylinder (plastic..yuck) or machine/ sleeve my Imp one (actually the same as a landrover/most trailer brakes out there..) to suit. I'll look at that when I get to it. Next step is to bolt the assembly in place. The Leone box has splines cast in around the stub base... ..but luckily enough room between them to glue some blocks in place so I machined some alloy down to suit.. Because I knew the assembly was perfectly straight and in line I just needed to give enough clearance on the blocks to allow for some epoxy. I drilled and tapped the blocks to suit, mixed up some of my favourite JB weld and filled the chosen cavities then slide it back in place. Then let it set overnight.. The next day I tried the original Mundano rubber boot for the pipe exit. It almost fitted. I sliced 5mm out of its width and it was sorted. Not perfect looking but it works and cant be seen once the engine is in place anyway... Phew. Done. At this point I really did have a feeling like I had made it past the trickiest bits of the engine work required. But for some possible baffles around the oil pump pick up and maybe an anti surge plate (not that the Goldwing engine has any as stock) I think all the required mods to the engine are done. I felt like having a cold beer. So I did. Then pondered the next jobs to do. Which was to look at where I would run my cooling pipes and finalise the position of the oil filler tube.. In order to properly work through some routing ideas I had to plonk the heads back on. With them in place I might as well have some fun, bolt the transmission on and stand back with my beer and gaze at it all. I took some pics. I'm pretty bloody happy with it how it looks and I really did get a mojo boost looking at it sitting there as a complete unit waiting to go in... Its so neat and compact for a flat six.. Man I'm looking forward to having this setup in the back of my Imp! What's nice to think about is that while there's still a big load of work to do these next jobs will be super fun. I'm especially looking forward to making the ITB arrangement to suit and doing my best to create a really clean looking engine bay.

Spotted this very very nice toyota in motueka. Just look at that lovely green paint. There's also a Yaris in the pic.

what was i wearing?...

JB weld to rule the world. But hang on- is that some sort of JB weld putty? Looks like quicksteel/minute mend. The stuff I generally use is the JB weld epoxy - two little tubes. Its quite runny and not at all like a putty... Or have you instantly become the master of forming JB weld mountains?

I should have told him it would look better with a roof rack.

Oh also - speaking of Yari..I parked next to this (not so little) beasty yesterday... Chatted to the owner who I think was more of a 'spender' than a tinkerer, not interested in what I was doing to the k11 and the conversation how special this car was, his wifes Yaris and the rest was all about his other car, a bmw supra with a chipped motor and 455 bhp. I dont think he understood the concept of having fun playing with shit cars on a limited budget. Fucking cool car though. But how small are windows becoming!!! Check out the amount of glass on the k11 compared to the slot on the back of the Yaris. I think its one thing that makes k11s/other older cars so nice to drive in town is the fact you have great vision everywhere.