~Slideways~

Engine bay: Less engine and less bay: Glass out, the frame is remarkably rust free. Except for the one spot which was where the water drain would have been: Previous owners idea of "rust repairs": Almost ready to pull the engine out, just the rear engine mount and a couple more bolts on one of the driveshafts. The manual says to remove the engine out the bottom attached to the subframe and hubs etc as one unit, but I needed to cut the front panel anyway plus I want to keep it rolling. Will be welding it back in or making some brackets depending on how the bike engine sits in there. The lower panel will definitely need to move for clearance I think.

Dammit, the guy with the 4wd carib diff looks to actually be from the earlier 4wd Tercel which is an S series diff, the wrong ratio and no lsd option. Back to searching for an AE95 then.

It's hard to know, being maybe 250kg lighter than a KP Starlet you'd think it would put less stress on it but on the other hand it's a 190hp/12,000 rpm engine (limited to 11,600 in 6th apparently). 178hp without airdam, but still. The ZX12R has about the same torque as a 4age, while people upgrade the KP diffs with 4age conversions. I had a 4agze in an AE86 years ago and the T-series held up fine (T50 not so much), no LSD though so single spinning inner wheel all the time, so less stress I guess.

I'm a bit concerned with the smaller C/W and probably smaller axles. It is a light car but I don't want to have to worry about it all the time. T-Series should hopefully be a good compromise. And LSD's are easily available. The AE95 diff guy surfaced again so hopefully have some measurements this weekend.

Browsing Yahoo auctions and came across this little slot car model, how cool does that look.

I came across that same 2.2 ratio, wouldn't work too well for this I don't think but would be useful for something. EDIT: with 175/50/13's (so I can fit Civic brakes) and a 2.277:1 diff it would be geared for 276kph at 11,000rpm... lol. And about 4000rpm for 100kph 2.929:1 would be 216kph at 11000rpm And about 5100rpm for 100kph

Whaaaat! These have a solid rear?! Very surprised it didn't have IRS at this stage. Will do some research thanks.

The width is good but I don't think there are any ratios to suit this.

Started on the rust repairs, spot weld drilling. 1972 Honda wasn't very consistent with the spot weld positioning:

Time to get this out of the little garage at the bottom of the property, the house is built into a hill so the back section is multiple levels. There is a 'grass driveway' to get up, I thought it would be fine since it hasn't rained for a while. Nope. 27hp grass skids and the best I could get to was 3/4" of the way up, it doesn't look steep but it is: Oh and it started fine after sitting for ages. Look at it, majestic: It got dark so I gave up and got the Safari lined up to winch it up. Top of the hill with winch rope leading down to it: My view watching it drive itself up the hill: Let it idle outside, not sure why...the engine is coming out anyway. My boy wanted to know how to write my name with his chalk, but only the last 3 letters. Cool. In the garage with the other car I should really be working on.

Yeah that sounds right, still doesn’t make it 1325 though so I wonder where that came from. I’ll wait to find out the pcd and bolt count then I’ll need to shorten it.

The guy got back to me about the ae95 axle and he measured 1400mm drum to drum which is wider than the random internets telling me it should be 1325mm. 1325mm sounds very narrow for a normal sized car. AE86 T-series is 1410mm so 1400mm sounds about right. Unless the guy is just wrong and it didn't come from a 4wd Carib.... getting him to count diff bolts and get the stud pattern. Should be 10 bolt and 4x100, I don't think there is any other t-series with that PCD. I really need it for the 2.9:1 ratio. EDIT: This random site gives the rear track being 1379mm (tyre centre to centre). http://www.carinf.com/en/9540427209.html

It made so much difference to the one door its crazy. I plan on spraying underseal under the floor too which should make it even better. Will be good for long trips. Yeah these regulators do seem to die, I replaced the drivers one and the passenger rear one a year ago. Now this was the passenger front one, 29 years isn't bad though right? Assuming its original. I've gone with the $75 ones on Trademe, there are $39 ones but I didn't want to be replacing them again. I think Nissan Genuine was too much when I checked. The sheets have been sitting in the garage for a few years, they were for another car that I ended up selling. Think it was about $200 for 10 big sheets on Trademe... *checks TM* Looks like these: https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/vintage-parts/other/listing-1950726180.htm?rsqid=3a3451b6c0c841ceb0d58ee0fccbff51 It goes on really well and seems to work.

Hey, I'll send you a PM definitely keen.

I do remember reading somewhere that reverse isn't a LVVTA cert requirement, but buggered if I can find it now. You should have finished that Mini.

I've been thinking about the lack of reverse, and the fact that I'll have fwd hubs doing nothing. Maybe I could have a reverse motor connected to part of a fwd driveshaft. There may not be enough room to do it since it'd need to have a cv and a solid mounted starter motor and gear. Maybe though.

It's a 2002 Kawasaki ZX12R, I couldn't pass it up. It was from an unfinished race buggy thing so came with everything I need: wiring, ecu, cluster, radiator, inline fuel pump etc etc all set up and running. It's a bit early to be buying the engine since I have a lot of body stuff to do but it came up for sale now, so what am I meant to do...not buy it? I will need to do some cutting to make it fit and the steering rack may cause me some difficulty but I'll know when I take the 360cc out.

Window regulator gear ran out of teeth in the Bunnings car park, while it was half way down. Which was annoying because I was only there to return their stupid pre-emptied mig gas bottle. New one: While I was in there, I put in some sound deadening sheets. Took a photo after I'd put the sheet in to the left, all that was from factory was the small bit in the centre. Weirdly, when I got this Safari it felt so quiet compared to my Landcruiser BJ73, will be interesting to see what a difference sound deadening all doors will make. After, almost all inside surface covered. When I closed the door it sounds and feels like a luxury car, so impressed. For example when I close the other three doors they close with a echo'y metallic bang rattle of sorts, or if you tap on the door skin its the same. But the door with the sound deadening sheets inside closes with a satisfying muted thud, it weirdly makes the door feel more solid. Will definitely be doing the other doors.

AWWWW YEAAHHHH

Might have found an ae95 axle, will hear back over the weekend. They are 1325mm wide, drum face to drum face, which would mean it would stick out roughly to here: So it would work if using fwd offset wheels (easy enough being 4x100) and some flares. Or some nice negative offset alloys and bigger flares. Then I'd change the front to 4x100 using gen 2 Civic knuckles and have disk brakes too. Would need to have spacers on the front though. Hopefully having a look at a bike engine soon because I can't help myself.

Also the S14 speedo looks to have speed adjustment terminals on the back, interesting! It won't fit in the 180sx cluster though and it also did nothing with all tests.

Not having much luck getting any kind of reading on the speedometer using a Yellowbox speed corrector, a Dakota Digital SGI-5E or just straight off the gearbox speed sensor. Both the Yellowbox and the Dakota Digital register that there is a pulse signal so the sensor and wiring must be ok. I am going to use the Yellow box to adjust the rev counter signal anyway, so I got the SGI-5E because it is meant to work with basically anything but I can't get it to register anything on the gauge either. The wiring on the back of the speedo is pretty simple, 4 terminals (2P (speed sensor input (EDIT turns out this is an output for the original Nissan ECU)), IGN power, 12+ power and ground). I thought maybe the 180sx speedo is dead. I don't remember whether it worked when I did a made dash test drive on totally private roads in the banana'd chassis. So tried the S14 one that came with the race car rolling body, don't know if it actually works either but assume it does because the rolling body was a rolling body because an sr20 threw a rod at Manfeild. Rolling body. Tried it anyway and got nothing. So I thought maybe the 180sx speedo could have a dry solder or something, took it apart and it looks ok. A little bit of crusty stuff around 4 of the solders but I think this is just the melted coating of the board. I resoldered these 4 anyway. I think the toyota speed sensor is a Hall Effect which is compatible with the Dakota Digital and it flashes showing the pulse so that must be fine. Not much info on what the Nissan speedo is expecting, I found a website saying that it should be 16000ppm which again should be fine with the DD. I've tried all 5 outputs on the DD and get nothing. I've tried the test function on the DD which outputs a few tests which should show on the speedo but it doesn't budge. Frustrating.

Good suggestion, I never knew these were solid axle! This random TM auction was they are 3.5 or 3.3 which is better than most but I need closer to 3:1 due to little wheels. https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/mitsubishi/diffs-axles/listing-1938017278.htm

Just found another option, AE95 Carib 4wd has a 2.929:1 solid T-series axle. AE95 Solid Axle (coils) T462: 6.7", 2.92:1, 2 pinions, Open4x100 1325mm Drum Being T-series an after market LSD is available. It's 4x100 with drum brakes but that's ok. Especially if I use Civic 4x100 brakes at the front. Does anyone know of a 4wd Carib AE95 wrecking?

This is so cool. What is it going to be used for, except being awesome?