yoeddynz

Shit yeah !!!!! I'd love that and did drawings of an idea after first walking to the ridge but before we actually bought the land of a mono rail with self powered Recaro seats. I'll see if I've still got the drawing. Then started thinking about miniature railway. I think I'd started a thread ?

Hiya and cheers. the hatch was made by one of old boys at that workplace while I was away on holiday. He did a great job. As for the paint job.. not sure on cost but it would not have been cheap. There was a shit load of prep work and a lot of paint on there. You can always message the painter- Shane at Custom Colours, Nelson. he has a face book page here... (copy and paste url into search bar?) https://www.facebook.com/Custom-Colours-Nelson-727054040699835/?ref=br_rs Alex

They'll be over head. Not talking really heavy stuff though. It'll be sensible amounts. Honestly carrying anything up our hill is tiring so even if its just a few lengths at a time I'll be happy. I guess if I had to take something chunky up I could make a simple dolly and tow it, thus keeping the weight down very low. I took some more photos this morning and will post them up soon...

Yeah the thought of rolling it is scary enough.. it's a chunky monkey. 220kgs smashing onto a skull etc. I can see why people get fucked over when they roll one. So yep.. it will certainly be a case of trying it out on the main track we intend to use it on and see what it's like. I've barely any quad riding experience so won't be going in Gung ho like. Try it out, get a feel and evaluate what it might be like with the layout changed. If we decide to just leave it alone then I'll still add a basic roll cage with some rack to carry timber. Only two main corners to go round and both are easy as. So I won't be risking sideways tipping. Main concern will be going downhill. Had a looksie at engine. Only appears to be one stripped thread and it has come supplied with three thread repair inserts. Plus I've got the right tap for them. Sweet ! It'll need a new head gasket. Repco? Motorbike shop? Trademe ? Hmmmmmm time to shop.

Oh yeah- it would be easier as far as work involved. But a trailer wont work with the corners, plus I want a tipping tray, a rack up top and a more usable quad. Basically build a simple load lugger that suits our application. Forward control means we have more weight and grip over the front axle for up hill and we get a longer tray for the given wheelbase. It will only be our feet over the front. our backsides will sort of reside over where the current h/bar is. Im not at all worried about losing attack angle on the front because there is no where that we need super amazing bank descending/ascending abilities. A trailer will stlll probably happen as well, but as an extra. I will draw some sketches but today its entertaining uncle time and bbq/beer consumption time. Edit; oh plus.. i want to build my own creation so there is a whole lot of fun and challenges right there.

Yeah. I laughed when I read in a recent bike mag review of latest honda about the Powersteering. I thought Wtf !? Ps on a quad!! But actually even on this just pushing it about its hefty enough. With two people up front on soft tyres it'll definitely be needed. Plus if I add it at the head tube where the h bar currently rotates through I can take all the stress off what ever mechanism I use to transfer the h bar movement backwards.. be it cables or rods. And I could cut the bars down in width. I've also toyed with the idea of a rack and pinion but it only moves a small amount.

For ages Hannah and I have been after some sort of vehicle as a means to get stuff up to our ridge top for a cabin build plus for lots of other carting shit about the place. I had originally been thinking of some sort of tracked vehicle. Years ago, like 22 years ago, I worked for Doc for six months on the West coast. Among counting Kiwis, penguins, painting huts etc I did a lot of track work. On one of the tracks we had use of two power barrows. Honda powered things and quite cool. I learned quickly that on the way back from dumping a load of gravel you could stick it in reverse, stand in the tray and ride it backwards. Great fun (at 10kph...). So my idea was to get one of them to modify. But so spendy and so slow. We have three neighbours in our valley who have got the side by side farm thingees. What are they officially called? Anyway.. they are cool and I want one. But again..not cheap. Plus they are a bit too wide. I started thinking about adapting a quad bike. I want to get long lengths of timber up easily, plus, in true Kiwi fashion, I want to build something. It’ll be fun and I can design it around what we need for here. So for yonks Ive been looking on TM for a cheap quad to rip apart. Something beyond usual economic repair, like a rusty or damaged frame. I asked and left our number at the local motorbike shops, asked our neighbours to ask about among the local farmers etc. Nothing turned up suitable or people still wanted space ship money for something I was going to chop up. Then my uncle rang me. His mate had a 1988 Honda Big Red ( or otherwise known as a Fourtrax) TRX 300 AW that had been sat a few years with stripped head studs but otherwise in really good condition and on a trailer. He wanted a grand for it with the trailer. He sent some photos. It looked good and he knows the bike well so a deal was done. My uncle delivered it today and its good. It has really good tyres and the owner had had the wheels galvanised before having the tyres fitted. Which is nice. The frame has only really got light surface rust in places. The plastics are good although faded and the seat is good too. Rear brake works but front fluid is down. I suspect the wheel cylinders have poorly seals and they have emptied their guts out into the drums. The engine is clean, although in two halves. The cylinder liner shows no wear and the head looks good. Apparently the owner couldn’t get the plug out as it was seized in. He broke the plug so took the head off. Freed the plug but in replacing the head stripped the stud threads in the block. Or something like that. I dunno. I’ll just fix what needs fixing. Heli-coils or what ever is better. I know there are different options out there for thread inserts and I have no experience so any advice welcome. Until I have a better look I cant say what the holes are like. So our plan is roughly this. Sell that trailer. Make some coin back. We don’t need or want it. Fix the engine, clean it up, run it a while and ride it. Try it out on our tracks. Probably roll it and break something/someone. If it goes hard for what it is then I’ll strip it back, sell the plastics, seat, tank and any other stuff we don’t need. I want to lengthen the frame from the engine forwards by roughly 200-300mm, heavier springs up front if possible so it can take the extra weight of having a forward control setup. I have no plans or need to drop it down into river beds and no need for crazy attack angles so having feet over the front wont worry me, so long as I protect them. Rough ideas at this time are to utilise the existing handle bar with all its controls. It will most likely need powersteering added from a later bike, maybe with an electric pump? Or are they full electric assist? I have no idea on how quad bike systems work. I could use gear box cables from old fwd cars to control the gearshift. Or rods. Its unlikely in use on our land to see much more than second gear anyway. Build a lightweight steel frame over the front to take a basic bench seat for two, a roll cage with a rack on top. The extra wheel base will move the engine weight back and that combined with the forward control layout will allow a tipping tray on the back. We have a lot of fire wood sitting already to come down and many, many trees for future cutting. A decent tray will be handy. It has a good tow bar as well so a future trailer will certainly be built. I shall draw some sketches and post them up. It has till now been totally just me and my grey matter rummaging up simple ideas in my morning day dream slumber. I’m totally keen on any advice. I think once I put some sketches up you’ll all get a better idea. For now here is a photo of what we have… I can see it now.. it'll work perfect as is and I will just leave it alone, build a trailer. But shit.. where is the fun in that!!! So tempt me with neat ideas

Just drop another rod down inside the oil cap as a spare. You only need four but three will actually do. Remember- its not some silly toyota. Its British so it will run happily on oil alone.

You're doing well son. Doing well. I've had my stint. I hand the baton over to you.

Oh .. need to change thread title (remember.. my powers have been revoked by the bossman)

I'm keen on cable bay. But I don't know whats there? I'd guess there are at least picnic tables. Otherwise we might have to rough it... maybe take folding chairs etc etc. Or rely on Dylans mobile bbq and entertainment facilities

Yeah im keen on bowls again.. I wonder if they have closed up for the year? Could try a different club but that one was lush plus its a great drive to get there. Hell.. racing over Takaka hill to go to lawn bowls. That's living right there!!! What about cable bay or somewhere else for a meet? Oh also we found a good meet spot- Kaka point at Kaiterteri. Good parking, lush views and picnic tables. Heaps of space to throw a frisbee or go for a swim at breaker bay. Or go further afield and do a run over to Collingwood for lunch? And when? After Easter for nest meet?

Ha! I was more thinking a light all alloy V6. But hell.. I dont think many piazzas come up for sale at all now. That seems fairly cheap? If its cert'd then does that mean it can be made road legal?

Damn its looking good. Piazzas... I always used to see them only as parts bins for Chevettes and sadly that's the way many have gone. Now I see yours and think 'wow.. I'd like one of them' With a V6..

I used a carbide tipped lathe tool to cut a mirror for the Viva wagon. It was messy but it worked. Discovered however that I cant do corners... so I rounded them with the angle grinder... even messier. Rtv hid the edges....

It looks so lush. I was very tempted by this myself but.... no spare coin. Maybe one day.. but by then they will finaaly be hit with Mazda tax and out of reach.. Anyway- I have this that I'd bought in the UK at some random swap meet. Might be of help! I want to keep it but totally happy to post it up to you. You use it/copy it and when finished post it back. PM me your address.

Just roll down the window, leave it in second gear and cruise. Wave friendly happy waves at the angry people. It's what I do in my wagon. Smile. Tis no time to be angry... we'll get there eventually.

Awesome!!!! I love this sort of money saving. I always look at tool chests that cost anything over several hundred to thousands and wonder who would spend that sort of money on a bloody tool box on wheels. Rich folk I guess. Good job man. Looks so tidy! You blatantly need a bright red F40 to park in there for sweet photos.

^ This...I think might possibly be happening. I have now got the setup returning from the rails to the tank and the over flow on the surge also returning to the tank. We took the car for a drive to the big smoke that is Motueka. Nothing really wrong with performance and every thing is smooth but with noticable noise from the main pump. I thought it might be low tank volume as I only had 7 litres left. Filled the tank up and noise still there. Got home and climbed under car with engine running. Surge tank is only jus warm to touch so that problem was solved. However the main pump has a noisy cavitation sound. So as much as I thought my Carter lift pump was the boss and was pumping heaps of good volume, the main pump can obviously pump even more. But why the cavitation sounds when the tank is full??? Is the main pump for want of so much fuel that the lift pump cant supply that it then starts to draw air through the overflow pipe which enter the tank nearer the top? Well luckily its going to be a piece of piss to re-route the rail return back to the surge and then block off the extra inlet I had added onto the fuel tank. With this done I am hoping that the surge tank wont get so hot either, having discovered the blocked filter and replacing it which will should give the lift a new lease on life. Plus in other news, related to the above as I thought it was the hot fuel issue causing it, I have fixed the heat soak surging. 1 minute of table changing on that Mat correction thingee before we took off and it seems to be sorted. Having left it outside the steel merchants while I picked up supplies and then outside the supermarket later on and neither time did it lean out after startup. Sweet! I will play with it some more as I think I can get it even better. Interesting to watch the air temps changing with use too. Anything from sitting at 25 degrees when driving along to around 45 degrees after the car has sat for a while turned off. The new table here...

Yeah Ive been reading up about this and it seems that heatsok is a common problem for IATs. This is my setup- the sensor is under that big pipe just down from the elbow (ooooohhhhh...about right above that big black hot radiator thingee..).. The sensor, a GM one from a V6 commy, was originally in the airbox on the commowhore. I figure they do that to avoid heatsoak issues. Smart. So yeah.. I could move it away but I might try playing with the table first as its easier. Plus I like the fact the sensor along with its wiring is hidden (which is why I put it there in the first place)

Going back to my long term problem of lean out surges after a hot start.. OK I have had another look and scratched my chin. I think I have worked out how the Mat correction thingee works! This is my current table... So what I think is happening is this.. Say I drive to the supermarket. When I arrive I turn the engine off and go do my shop for the finest sausages and beer one can buy. Meanwhile as I'm inside picking between dark malts and Ipas the heat inside the engine bay soaks into the big alloy tube between the filter and the TB. The IAT sensor positioned just down from the TB gets warm itself (even though its plastic its still going to warm up). I return with my goodies and start the car. The ECU now sees a much higher temp than what is actually getting drawn into the engine and pulls some fuel out. Lets say it thinks the inlet temp is 50 degrees. According to the MAT correction table above it will pull 10% of fuel. Hence the engine runs lean for a minute or so until the pipe and the sensor cool down. Then it slowly returns to normal. So If I play around with that table and alter the graph so it doesn't pull so much fuel I should see improvement. Considering my car is N/A and we never get much above say 35 degrees on the hottest days here then I should be fine doing this. Is this correct? I will try it out and see.

As promised... look at that paint dry.... Battery box is all done. Forgot to take photo of wooden lid and a strap to hold it down, made from the nylon belt from some old endura bike shorts. I knew it would come in handy one day.. I couldn't resist..I had to cut open the filter for a look. Wow.. Ok.. so yeah.. that'll be a bit blocked then... I refitted the tank, added a new line so now the fuel rail return runs straight to the main tank and the overflow from the surge tank runs into the other new tank fitting. I ran the system through to clean it before connecting to main rail feed. Started car.. ooohhh. Much quieter and seems a bit smoother. Popped the car outside and plugged the laptop in. Watched it warm up and waited till it was off the warm up enrichment. Idle was tad out so a tweek here and there. Its better but more importantly it should remain consistant. I still have the lean out idle surge in the first half minute after starting the hot engine when its been sat a while. I have suspected for a while that this might be due to heatsoak from the hot bay/radiator area into the inlet pipe where the inlet temp sensor sits. Maybe it sees a much higher temp and alters the mixture? I dont know? The temp sensor is plastic bodied and insulated from the alloy by some foam. Hmmm. I need to work this out as its annoying. Some one suggested ages ago to turn off the 'use inlet temp at startup' feature.. but that would only affect the fist startup and few seconds after? Its starts fine as is, hot or cold, but just starts to stumble up and down for a half minute. Any ideas? You can tell me here... Anyway.. I decided that the car was a bit dirty and was due a wash. The evening was warm so Kevin the cat and I gave it a clean. Kevin actually only played in his bowl of water, chasing sticks. I cleaned the car. I might even apply some wax on it in the morning since its so clean...

Its 1/4"- same as the stock return as what was in the mazda the engine came in. Anyway- its all much betterer. I'll update the thread

Nathan right. The lift pump, being able to flow more than the main pressure pump, should fill the surge tank and then over flow back into the fuel tank. There should be no pressure build up within the surge tank.

I'll have to draw a picture. But not right now.. its late and I have a movie to watch.