yoeddynz

I've just come to realise that Postimage has changed its domain name over from .org to .cc which has resulted in all my previous photo links not working anymore. This has affected this thread and all my others (most likely many other threads out there too ) Its like photobucket all over again! I'd use this board to host the photos but I also post my threads up on two other forums so easiest to use a hosting site. Bummer! Off to bed.

Except I dont earn as much. but not dealing with smelly teeth though

Imp time. Yay. We went on a road trip south to go to the OS nats. We were going to take the Viva wagon but instead filled the Hiace with Datsun 120Y parts and took them to the new Owner, Greg. With the van now empty we needed to fill it. What better to fill it with than Imp parts. So the next morning while the other oldschoolers were doing circles in some paddock somewhere we went back to this place... As mentioned way back at the beginning of this thread there were Imps a plenty. Not anymore because with the help of Will several have been pulled out, the rest too far gone to save. But there were still parts I wanted. So Hannah and I found ourselves out in the sunshine with our generator and an angle grinder removing stubborn bits. I managed to locate the item I was really hoping to find , the later stronger transaxle which seem to be a bit rarer here in NZ. Happy with that We also got some other parts including a bonnet which although pretty rusty is savable. Didn't take many pics while there. Having too much fun. Here's an Imp.. and another, but sideways.. We took some pics of the Imps that Will had pulled out a while back. Now at his place. The blue one here will be coming up on a trailer when I finish the Datsun 120Y... Here's the red Imp Will extricated with a crane... After all this fun we took off over to Akaroa to join up with all the party goers for the weekend. Among other things Jesus turned up to drink beer and watch a goat race rocker covers.. Back at home now and I assembled my ever increasing lineup of transaxles.. In between other jobs including the Datsun I managed to get a bit done on the shell. I started on what I reckon is the trickiest reair on this car.. the floor. Not having access to any cheap repair panels (the cars left at that yard are worse) I had to just fabricate the sections bit by bit. I'm never one for obsessing about originality, especially on areas that no one will ever see. But I still want it to remain as strong as possible and this area involves many pressed ribs. First off was this little bit that was already cut from the shell by someone previously. Not sure why though? There was some alloy casting bit above it, maybe for a speedo cable to pass through? I welded the section back in place. Lucky they hadn't lobed that bit away. I then cut out the front of the floor. Its a little bit worse for wear.. I made a new section. It was tricky and I was really happy with it.. Then I rolled the very handy stretchyshrinky thing over. I made a little piece.. Which allowed me to move onto the big tricky bit. Tricky because the ribs have tricky to define corners which are hard to measure. I had to get the measurements correct. If any were wrong I would end up with incremental error and it be horrible to adjust later on. Very carefully I measured, marked , folded. I even turned down the music (The Radcliffe and Maconie show since you ask) and got there in the end.. I welded it in and while Hannah braced the underside with a dolly (a metal block, not a Barbie) I hammered the front edges down to create the ends. Then welded it all all. Very strong indeed. From underneath.. and now a solid drivers side floor ... So just a little section on this side at the rear of the tunnel and then over to the other side! Phew.

Here's another update. Having finished off the drivers side sill I had to fix a few trailers and other jobs that came into our country farmers fixit shop. Then back to this car for a bit. Now onto the passenger side. First off- the inner sill... I really didn't fancy opening up the outer sill until this frilly inner was solid again so I cut out the frilly bit until it was replaced with air. A rotten section of floor turned into air too... Then I made an appropriate sized piece of steel and let it in. The floor bit can wait because I have what I wanted - a solid vertical plane giving back strength.. Now the outer sill. Not as bad as the drivers side I think... - Cue loud game show buzzer sound - Wrong... It all ended up in a not very sill like mess on the floor... Luckily the inner sill was solid except for a few little areas. For example - this one heading inwards into a naughty tricky corner area. Great. Nice. Thanks... This stuff was removed... I tidied up a few other areas, cut out an area carefully designed by Datsun to form a triple skin moisture trap at the base of the A pillar... Painted all the innards with Por15 and went to bed. It looks like this now... I'm really hoping to finish the sill off tomorrow. Then I can finish the floor on the Imp and swap the cars around putting the Datsun on the hoist so I can attack the rotten Chassis rail. Annoyingly we just took in another trailer repair job this morning and I foolishly cut the broken rotten drawbar off before I checked if my local steel store had the correct steel in stock. And they don't. Bugger. So now there's a large hippy caravan trailer thing right in the way, sitting between a Datsun I want to work on and an Imp I want to work on. I shall persevere... lucky Datsuns and Imps are small

Im going to stash my ugly windscreen wash bottle somewhere other than the bay when I do swap. So not to cause clutter..

I'd have thought the K8 one would have been the lightest? However I have a K8 one and from memory it does indeed look a little less cut away then that one of yours. I must check (for future V6 project plans you see...)

Yay for updates!!!! Boo for Photobucket destroying yet a nother really good photo packed thread! Yay for latest Lotus Twink. Please do tell all about the history of this engine- its a good one Looking good Andre. I bet you breathed a small sigh of relief when you found it only to be surface rust under that battery tray.

hey Steve- is that a stock flywheel you have there in that picture?

I got mine from blacks fastners. I don't seem to remember them being very expensive.

I shall hunt one down and buy it with all the money I have. So that's a no then Wish I'd bought that cheap one that was local to me way back then... but we all have stories like that.

Great! Have fun. I am now really pining for a 99 turbo in black....

Found this in an old mag I'd got from swap meet. Thought it best to share...

Spotted this in Motueka a day or so ago. thought of you. I know it aint a 99 darling but it'll do....

Your grinder will be your best friend

You've done well with your persuasion Bart. He seems well excited. I must say I'm pretty fucking stoked that it's staying within oldschool circles too. Plus it's staying in the south island so I'll get to see it about. Hopefully if all goes well I'm sure Greg will bring it up to blenheim when it's finished and let ma and pa take it for a Hoon. They are quite excited. I've insisted that Greg takes over the build thread once he has the car. I'll smack his bottom at hammer meet if he doesn't keep us all informed with updates.

Well this has been stashed away and kept itself quiet a while then eh? however recently things have had a shuffle round here in Datsun land and this little car now has a new owner. Meet Greg. Oldschooler for long time. He is a bit of a Datsun fan and kicks about in a CA18det powered 180b... This is him here.. (not the wombat) A fair while ago I had realised that the restoration of this car was not going to happen in a hurry under my hands and I should really find it a new home. The advert stipulation was that it was to be sympathetically saved and not just split for parts. I had a few people enquire about it but no one actually committed. Then Greg rang. He needed a new project in his life and always liked the shape of this wee car. I was really happy to see it go his way has his ideas for it are pretty much what Id do. Ie; Nice wheels (13".....), lowered and a sweet engine upgrade (13b PP brapper Greg!!! - joke. It has to be an LD28) Greg is gonna take it on as a project to learn some more skills from but to start with I'll sort out some of the more critical nasty bits of corrosion which are a lot easier to deal with having a hoist for starters. Then when he comes up here to pick it up (and deliver my 3rd Imp for me ) we'll do a few welding lessons teach him some hopefully handy skills to help him out the continuation of the repairs. So a couple of months ago (maybe longer..my brain is all muddled up by Imp projects) Hannah and I stripped the Datsun right down to an empty shell. This had to happen so I could get a proper look at the corrosion and not have bits in the way while dealing with it. Typically we found a bit more rot but overall is all pretty easy stuff to deal with. Surprisingly not rot under the windscreen. Very lucky considering the seal leaked and had all the flexibility of a Crunchie bar. I carefully packed it all into our van and we took it down to Gregs on the way to the Oldschool nats. We stayed at my parents on the way through. I just had to get a pic of them holding a wing from a car they bought new but until more recently thought was crushed and not seen in many decades.. Greg now has some stuff to sort through while I start on the shell. Now after having sorted through some other work and dealt with a spot of IMP fettling I started proper on this shell two days ago. First off... those sills. Yuck... I want to get some real strength back in place so then it can be lifted happily on the hoist without fear of crumpling. I started on the drivers side sill. There was a previous repair hiding in here... The rear lower wing that covers the sill looked like this inside.. It looked terrible inside the main sill but luckily once cleaned out the inner is solid. I Painted it in Por15 last night and continued on with the repairs today. The sill tops were really good and the shape was pretty basic too. So many spot weld holes to drill. I must get an air punch/joggler tool! Greg can grind the welds down so saving a heap of my time/money.. The rear arch bit was a slightly awkward shape on the car. Luckily the otherside, although rusty too, has kept its shape enough to copy. Then the outer skin of the lower wing (guard..) which is where I finished off with this evening. In order to stop the thin panel it attaches to above from warping I folded over a tight bend. This will add some stiffness there. The bend faces down so condensation cant collect. Its almost finished enough to start on the other side. I'll be sorting through the repairs so that once Gregs pot of gold runs out he can continue on with less daunting stuff

Now you're just a tractor driver?....

Just remember where you came from young man....

I'll guard it with my life... Might go look at another two shoveits tomorrow.... Maybe. Lots to do on other cars. Must. Not. Get. Carried. Away..

There was a power cut all day today. Bummer. No power tools. (no espresso machine either! back to the plunger) So why not instead give wagon a clean and assess the rust. Which we did. Cleaned up well and looks a lot better.. I'll have to see whats gonna happen as far as the vin process goes. My main mission was to just save the car from being split for parts/crushed (although the front seats are a perfect match in colour for my Viva wagon and they are so damn comfy!!!.....) with the idea that I could fix it up to get it back on the road, having a little fun in the process, then sell make a small amount of coin back for my troubles However if it starts to add up too much in extra costs and hassle I'll move it on to someone else who wants to take it on and keep it. There's enough old cars taking up space and time right now!!! So now its been tucked out the back of the shed so I can crack on with some real work (Ie; Gregs 120y..) . Those front seats will just have to be stored in the front of my Viva for now......

What? In a rusty old Chevette? So long as the belts are in good nick I'll be happy. I think if I was to have a stack that was hard enough that I snapped a belt in good condition I'd be more worried about the shape of my innards!

Its the car that just keeps on giving. Hannah gave it a clean out yesterday. Found $2.10. Then found what was thought to be a large rats nest under the rear seat base. But no... even better. Its our very own miniature Alien!.. I'm all fangs...

I bought a set at trade from Repco for a customers bedford truck. The price exceeded the value of several Chevettes I'll look for some secondhand ones...

Yes yes yes!!!! I always love following your adventures and I look forward to lots of entertaining stories in the months to come. Such lush looking cars too. Just be careful and don't let Keanu drive it...

790mm. Hannah, Kevin and I are learning all sorts of things from my collection of old Chevette literature this smoko break....