yoeddynz

I've got a large lump of Italian fiat sports vehicle exotica in for work right now...

Yeah waiting on mitsi nerd @bigfootthen....

Came with a load of bits in boxes in the Datsun we got. Not sure what it's off? It's in good nick with no shaft wear so could be useful to someone if I can work out what it's off.

Yeah its possible to fit the largest 3.3 litre Victor FD discs onto a viva front end if you use the victors lower arm, upright and hubs. I had that setup on my V6 Viva. But some of those parts are getting hard to find- especially the lower ball joint and the inner hub bearing is almost non- existant now. Its an odd size. When you ever come to needing bits just swap in the Viva magnum 1800/hc ohc front parts and discs. Only 12mm smaller but way way lighter and easy to get parts for. There are vented disc options that can be had using renault 21 discs etc- but you might not need that cooling on such a lightweight car- especially if you changed to a wheel style with more airflow eh.

Very sweet car. Will be such opulent travelling! Does the leather smell nice?

What a cool seven. Its a viva front end? Good engine choice eh.. Suitably oldschool looking. Your wife looks very young btw. But very happy.

Hey Bob. Ha ha - I bet you've noticed my complete lack of activity on the Viva forum eh? No updates as far as work or mods- it has just been sitting there , barely used even as a daily. Its probably feeling a touch unloved, jealous even (if one is to anthropomorphise ones car that is... yeah. The new objectual four wheeled love in my life , little Impy, has stolen the limelight and poor old Viva has been pushed aside ..) I did move it the other day. Once the engine had been wound over enough to draw up some fuel via the mechanical pump it started fine and everything worked as it should. It now looking resplendent in its new location, safely tucked in front of our house (truck)..... Poor thing. Left outside to fare the storm we had last night while Impy and the latest edition to the fleet, the Datsun 180b got to spend the night safe under cover. (please ignore the Ford Mk3 Viva clone - its just another job)... I am still planning to re-power it and still sitting on the fence as to with what. There is a snarling wailing gusty V6 looking up at me from one side while n the other side I can see a more docile but lighter more economical Mazda/Ford Duratec L4 looking up. Hmmmmmmm? However for the immediate future we might well buy a 1256 that @AttySlungGatty has sitting spare just to give the Viva a little more oomph on the hills. I must add this. The Imp was always meant to be just a quick fling. A little bit of fun on the side. Smaller, more lithe and entertaining then the Viva. I was expecting to grow tired of the sneaky outings at night on country roads while the Viva slept unaware. I thought I'd finally see the Imp for what it was, a fun and youthful but quite impractical bit of dabbling back into my younger years of car hooning and that I would eventually dump it to the next owner and go back to my faithful, honest and practical Viva wagon. But no. The poor old slightly haggard looking Viva just sits there and watches me as I go off on yet another hoon in that 'little cute, energetic car with the pretty paint'. Maybe the Viva really does need a new dress and a better set of legs to win me back? ....

I remember yarning to you about them at Hanmer a few years back and you were quite smitten. Glad you've scored one. Work tax write off? Please go on cruise north and pop by for a cup of tea then ruin me for all future perceptions of what is fast.

Tesla?

And i have just the thing for you then....

or pretend its british and go for a total loss system....

you could always fit a little sump and a scavenge pump that can be turned on when you attack the firebreaks, chasing down suzukis.

Yeah Id found a good vid here. Quite a bit of background noise but still an interesting watch... I'm quite keen on getting the bottom end of my A12 balanced when I strip it- anything to help make it all a bit smoother at high revs eh.

Back in the 90's I owned a series 2 and my brother had a series 2A with a Holden 3.3. We had some fun. Mine was completely illegal but my mates and I would throw a few litres of petrol in it and drive it through Blenheim and down to the river then spend the day getting it stuck and unstuck. It never let us down. Then I pulled the trans brake on when going down a small slope to a park spot so I could fix the service brakes. Transbrake locked up , landie kept skidding forwards and gearbox got destroyed. So I had to remove and re-build the complete box with many new bits. Was a good learning experience. I later sold it to some farmer. Reading your thread and seeing the pictures brings back memories.

I never realised there was already a discussion thread for this hence I created the other one. Can some helpful mod remove the other one? Anyway- great updates as usual. I would love to see the balancing process of your crank etc. Is there a chance you can organise to go watch the process and take photos? Make the bloke some tea, take him biscuits. We at oldschool will forever be in your debt and can make you tea in return...

Your tps woes... I've never needed to open one up but if it's a standard 3 wire jobby then I'm having a guess that they are just a potentiameter inside? If so then could it possibly just be a case of swapping the left and right wire so it works in reverse? But for all I know they might contain far more magic inside then that and us mere mortals should not be messing with them...

That last photo - both cars at sunset looking out to sea. Wow. Really nice. Cool pic. Do pop in on way down. There's an empty cabin here. Have a break and enjoy a kit kat. We are only probably 25min diversion from the west bank road heading south from motueka which is a sweet road to travel south on.

Glad to see you're still tinkering away with this. Still looks sweet as ever.

A fella in Wales builds his own Panzer tank... http://hmvf.co.uk/topic/35947-panzer-2-turret/#comments

Wow- its been bloody ages since I visited this thread. I may well take some photos, before and after spec, if folk are interested. Trees and landscaping growth has been mental. I'm loving it. The place has such a different feel now. Anyway- I went for a stroll up one of the gullies where I new there had been some damage from that Cyclone Gita. I had never gone up for a look siince the event due to the amount of thick mud and caranage to climb over. However the cyclone was two years ago and stuff has settled. I wasnt expecting to find such a massive slip. Its mighty impressive. I could not actually walk up the top half as it was too steep. I had to clamber through the bush up the sides. Perched at the top looking down- Wow! There are some huge trees up there. This we knew but now the bush has been taken away from the bases and you can see them.. phowarr! We have started poisoning all the large pines. I wish we had done this 5 years ago as suggested by so many more onto it folk. The trees are way too big to even consider dropping as they'll take out massive swathes of very very old tree ferns. The trees we have so far poisoned have already dropped their needles and are breaking down from the top. Its so satisfying. The extra light is amazing, no more needles on the ground to smoother and poison the floor. The growth of natives below is already very noticeable. Poisoning them is easy as, cost bugger all. We are so stoked at the amount of time for other better things in life (like riding bikes and hooning in cars) we have gained by not having to deal with these fuckers now I am sort of tempted to drop a couple of big ones (and get an arborist mate who we both work for at times to help- he has better gear). If landed in the right places there is some real good potential for some North shore spec trails to be had in the gully. Speaking of mtb trails- we have made some more and will continue to do so as time allows. Its a fun thing to do but not super urgent when we have an amazing mtb park full of great trails just up the road. The trails we have made certainly dont suit fatty lazy spec riders or heavy clunky bikes- very steep up and down. Which is what I like. Singletrack. I want to make more flowing fast ones across the property and our neighbours have given me the green light to make some runs down through their pines too. We have new neighbours moved in over the road. Hes into mtbing and is my age within two months , born in the same hospital! Really cool folk and we are stoked to have them join our valley. We want to make secret trails down from the park into our valley I'll get some new photos soon, once I've done the lawns (which look great but fuck me @ amount of lawnmowing in spring.... )

So Hannah and I took the Imp for a two day road trip. Part business and part holiday. On Friday we drove up to Lake Rotoiti, Nelson lakes national park. On the way we checked out some old classic cars a fella owns who wants me to do a load of bodywork on. The Imp drove really well. The sun was out and the music cranking (some ambient tunes from David Tipper since you ask). We had a good coffee and then a nice walk on tracks around the lake. That evening we drove through to my olds place in Blenheim. A nice day out. Here's some photos... Chilled out at my parents, a feed of fish and chips, wine. A grand way to finish a day. Following morning we set to head home. Filled the Imp up, did some maths and allowing for a very optimistic speedo we reckon on around 40 mpg. Not bad considering the gearing at 100kph. Headed home, sadly into rain as a cold front was moving up the Island. Drove long way via Picton and Queen Charlotte drive because narrow twisty roads and go kart car... Over the Rai Saddle, sitting with the flow of traffic. I give the car some stick to pass a motorhome up the saddle and then when cruising down the other side the wee car does that thing.... 'JOLT!' The car does a small but very noticeable stumble. Like a tiny rev limiter. For those that have tuned megasquirt, or maybe other EFI, it felt like when you click burn. "What was that?" Hannah asks. "Shit- I don't know but it felt like an ignition thing, not spluttering fuel thing" I reply. We both go quiet. I almost want to turn the music down and listen for any untoward mechanical sounds that might be there. But I don't. I'll play it cool. Don't worry. Don't get Hannah worried. It was probably just a... fuck. I don't know. I'll just say nothing, drive a little slower and whatever it was will be a memory soon. The silence is piercing. Now I notice every bloody vibration. I'm watching all the gauges like a jet pilot. All the time my mind is going through all possible scenarios. What could that have been. What if we breakdown? 3km pass. It seems ok. I start to relax. Only one big set of hills to go. I pass another rental car, most likely the scurge of the kiwi roads, a Nissan Tiida. I dont know because I'm still having a mini stress.. 'JOLT'. Here we go. This is happening. This time its for good. The car dies and I have to quickly think where I'm going to stop to fix it and quick before I slow too much and that silver blob I just passed drives up my bum. I spot a forestry road on the right, coast across to it (whilst trying to make it look like nothing is wrong so saving face for all classic drivers who get the "oh old cars are so unreliable...") I pull to a stop and the engine splutters to its last road driven rotation with a bang. Bugger. Remain calm. Reception on phone? Not a chance. Tool kit in boot comes out and we go through all the obvious things, concluding that it is indeed the ignition. Annoyingly it was the ignition module, of which I didnt have a spare. If it were points I'd have fixed it. Such is life. Luckily the rain had stopped and double lucky that across the road from the forestry road we parked on was a farm house. The kind farmers wife took us in, let us use her phone and fed us tea and biscuits. I called a mate out with his trailer. We have AA membership however its the basic cover that would have got us to a garage. I knew a Garage wasn't going to fix this and we'd still have to get home. Yeah nah. Stuff that. Mate turns up with his trailer and we have a choice as chilled out trip home. We fed him dinner and it was all good in the end. Big thanks to @Sanfiddy for rescuing us! Oldschool spec favours. I only took one photo of the day... So that was that. On Sunday I removed the dizzy and then the module. It fails the tests as predicted. Here's the troublesome module... Come Monday and at my local wreckers looking for a module. I dont want to spend $120 on a new one when I'm about to fit full engine management. No luck locally but we were in Nelson on Tuesday and I found one at a wreckers there, cheap too. Fitted it that night and brooooooommmmmm The replacement was a proper Hitachi module whereas the one that let its smoke out was a no brand cheap one. Even felt lighter if that means anything. I took the broke one apart and it looks like a little cityscape inside- heck it would scare a Barry used to the kettering system... I also managed to score a spare couple of dizzies, converted with accuspark. My bench looks like a bomb went off in a hitachi factory... I'll need to fix them up, check them out and then I could always have a spare setup in case. That is until I fill the Imp with boxes of electronics and then there's no chance Mr AA man can help me. It'll be like every modern car- useless when broke. In other news- this turned up from China the day we left for the lakes... Its a brand new Hitachi 306 clone, all for not much more then a full carb gasket set costs. I had ordered this before I had scored all the other Megasquirt bits. Anyway- I'm still looking forward to trying it out because my worn out carb is about as good as I can get it. The new one looks so shiny. I'll report back with my findings on how deep the quality goes...

Yeah that is a good price. I've bought loads of ply from that fella. Some good hardwood ply. Its all mainly imported and probably made from Orangutan blood but yeah...its cheap.

Is that ply stuff from the plyguy in Nelson? What's the width?

Wow. Finally I've caught up on this thread whilst at my parents place with their first world spec bandwidth because everytime I tried to load your cinema sized photos at home the whole of Internets in marahau would crash and I'd get angry phonecalls. Looking good. I'm gonna come out your way for a proper coffee and check out your massive tamiya bruiser kitset you appear to have on your driveway. We visited alister yesterday (he has about 5 different classic car jobs for us since we welded up his bus-I must have done something right He told me about your engine woes. Glad you've sorted it. Fucking top spotting and heads up from @Willdat? Buy that man a beer! Also went for a hoon around allisters farm in one of his safars. Fuck they are big trucks eh. Sounds nice.