yoeddynz

Thread dredge @mattj Hannah saw an anglia, with what she was pretty sure sounded like a rotary engine, when she was running in Kaiteriteri today. Was it yours Matt?

Ohhhhh ok then..

What @nzstato needs is some Barry mounts!

I must add that it took me like three hours to finish the shading on the upper lip. It probably my best drawing ....

Yeah I like these. Nice selection sir. One of the better modern wagons out there imo. I'd also like an original low mileage mint first gen subaru legacy turbo wagon (or sedan) like what used to be everywhere, popular at skifields. Saw a minter black sedan in Nelson the other day. Noice! I can't remember the last time i had seen one.

Like maybe i could weld several old push mowers with the front of their guards removed onto it eh?....

I see that. But I shall pretend I didn't see it and continue on with the many numerous unfinished projects I already have. How very un-oldschool of me....

Its lovely... However getting anything other than an alaskan mill up to the trees in question is a very hard ask. But i do know a local with a boat that might be interested in that engine!

With ample sawdust for mopping up after engine blowups.

oh swoon Yeah the neighbours over the road would love that....

Biggest ones will all be poisoned and what we've done already are falling apart. Already heaps more light and little natives springing up all over the place as the last ever round of pine needles rots away. Its magical and every tree i see dead is a whole lot of time i can put towards more important things..like building cabins and a replica toyota TS020 for doing the shopping in.

Make it so it cookie cuts a star in one go. Then they'll look cool and stack nicely. But mainly because you'll have an excuse, as kk hinted, to run something like a 18 litre v16 detroit 2 stroke.

Heat soak between pipes had been questioned on my Imp build by some worried Imper in the UK. I dont think its a big issue and neither did @NickJ because they were only just touching however I still got paranoid so spaced them apart with wedges of 3mm rubber strip (because I'm tight I think I actually used strips of old radiator hose)

Yeah @cletus there are a few trees that i might attack with an Alaskan mill but most of the trees are in a prick of a location, really seriously fucking big, messy and would just cause far too much damage to the native bush surrounding them. Its just so much work and effort when I'd rather do other things. But some planks from smaller trees in easy to get spots could be neat although like barts pointed out not that durable untreated.

Did some more pine tree poisoning today. Now dealt with 116. Most of them big fuckers. Found the largest yet. Just wow.... Also after digging a trail tranversing across the top of one of the big slips we found a sweet way down a spur. dug a rought trail and removed a fair bit of Himalayan honey suckle and sussed out a really sweet line down through the pines then off into a big ferny bowl which could then have a track sweeping side to side, big bermed corners. I took a video but 3 mins of walking up a hill his hard to make exciting. So here's some pics sort of showing the ridge through the trees down the spur. Another 20 or so tress to go up this spur then three more ridges to do. Will probably have killed the drill by then.

Is the struggle to brake effectively and pass the test with larger wheels purely down to the extra leverage the bigger feet have over the stock brake size - rather then it being a weight or extra speed thing that upgraded trucks like this are usually having a cert test for?

Bit of a sad update on my little wagon. Its soon going to a new home I'll miss this wee car. Its been great fun, tootles along fine, goes hard for what it is and has been bloody reliable too. However I have not been using much due to that slutty little minx of an Imp taking my fancy. Now if I had to choose one car that was to be the only car to keep for ever and we didn't have the old hiace van then I would probably keep the Viva, modify the fuck out of it as I had planned and make the most of its usability. But I have a van for usability and little Impy the minx is just such a hoot to drive on twisty roads (and will hopefully soon be very much more so but that is another story....) so the wagon has to go - because I am not Barry enough to be a car hoarder and I don't like seeing cars fester. So the wagon found a new home quite quickly. Its going to a fella up north who has just retired from being a fireman (funny that - because my other Viva went to a Fireman and I am also a 'part time' fireman.... @RUNAMUCK you have been warned. I see an old Vauxhall in your future ) The fella getting it already has a few Vivas so he knows them well. Wagons are a pretty rare thing so not surprised it got snapped up quick. Anyway. I stole the Turbos from it. I have been eyeing them up since the Imp came to me with my old widened Viva steels that didn't actually fit the imp properly. So a plan was hatched way back then. I re-painted the steels and had the tyres from the turbos swapped over. I had a spare set of stainless hubcaps I have been saving. On with them and wow ! I reckon it looks bloody superb but then I always did love the widened steels on my other Viva. I also nicked the Recaros from the Viva because they really suit the Imp better (little spoilt brat of a car) and the Mx5 seats were bolted back into the Viva. Its been a fantastic journey and I'm sure the story has entertained many of you along the way. But we only have one life and well... things move on. I do really hope that the next owner looks after this little wagon and it continues on being good at what it is- an unpretentious useful little daily classic I'm off to watch a movie and have a cry. You can send me happy thoughts and discuss what Viva Bart will be getting here....

Oh hey- I am late to the party sorry. Where should I put this plate of yummy egg sandwiches? Yes to the A15!!!! They slot into a Viva super easy and look ike they were meant to be there. Possibly a bit lighter then the stock Viva 1256 too. I have a friend who has converted several Vivas with Datsun engines and he reckons they have often passed through WOFs without even a question from the tester. Probably easier nowadays as most young workshop folk dont even know what a Viva is. There is an HC wagon up local to us in Motueka. Old boy owns it. Has a datsun 1500 fitted and he fucking loves it. Does not take much power to make a Viva fun on a twisty road. Whatever you do keep the weight down from the front end- adding heavy engines into the front of a Viva (or chevette) ruins the nice turn in they have as stock. You can work around it but better to just keep the weight down.

There's a local autosparky in town that has a dust covered clear packet containing a roll of self adhesive LED lights for $60. Even the price tag is faded. I'd guess its been there since the day that sort of thing was invented. I lightheartedly told the owner with a smile that you can get these for about $5 on TM or from Ali. Barry wasn't impressed and said "well go get them there then"

Great work and always an interesting read. However....I think you might just need some new gloves...

Lol at gasket. Did they actually quibble and reluctantly drop the price? Barries.... It's looking good. How sweet would a 12a beerkeg look sitting low in that bay with a tidy Ida carb......

Oh yeah! that'll do it Yeah those latest pics above loaded straight away no hassle.

What are these 'G's you speak of? They sound like something you get in a town? I'll usually try to keep my photos down to around 1280 x 1000 etc which seems fine, though a bit grainy. then save the mega sized pics for the fancy photos.. like photos of cats, sunsets. anyway- enough country valley copper line life grumbles.. For my pcv setup I deleted the holes on the drivers side cam cover then added a new inlet pipe on the very side of the cover by the servo. I attached a small rubber hose to that pipe which ran down the firewall and had a bit of mesh over the end. I still sucked the crank vapours out via the pcv on the passenger side cover, through a catch can I made, filled with stainless wool and then to the inlet manifold. This seemed to work fine. Catch can not pictured here but that's the pcv location outlet...

How big are your photos file sizes? They must be huge? When I try to load your thread it crashes the entire Internet in the top of the South! Looking forward to seeing the update... In about 3 weeks once my steam powered internet has loaded the pics.....

Wow- those wheels. Swoon They look sweet!