cletus

auckland is a bit screwed at the moment as far as the cert situation goes, specially for 1D category stuff mark stokes got suspended for 6 months neil fraser has resigned i now have 1D category, but nowhere to do them yet- was going to set up an inspection premises at marks place (i work for mark) but due to him being suspended theres a bit of a $ shortage to set up a hoist etc. plus covering some of his work has screwed up my bookings till april lance walsh is super busy there is 2 new certifiers in auckland and they are interviewing for another one to replace Neil, but they can only do the easy ones for now. as for your bump steer test- you could check it yourself before paying to have it done. its a fairly basic check, all you have to do is measure the amount of toe change it has over its range of suspension travel. we can do it 2 ways- on a wheel alignment machine- we set it up- measure the toe at ride height, put the jacking beam under it, up 25 mm, check toe, up 50mm, check toe. then repeat the measurements with the suspension compressed 25 and 50mm, pulling it down with a big load binder. then you figure out how much the toe changed over the range of travel. the other way is with our bars which bolt to the front hubs- remove springs and do the same checks as on the whl align machine- ride height, up 25+50, down 25+50, etc with a jack under the crossmember and stands under the lower arms. you can do it yourself with a couple of sturdy lengths of steel (i have done it as a rough measurement on something a while ago, not for a cert, with 2 broomsticks g-clamped to the front discs) this is the official way http://www.lvvta.org.nz/documents/infosheets/LVVTA_Info_05-2010_Bump-steer_Swing-check_Procedure.pdf

oh lovely, i like.

Have a talk to your local TSDA (vinz/vtnz/ compliance center etc, that can do re registrations)

the hooby car manwell says 3000sq minimum as an upper washer, but it doesnt specify whether that is for the both or one of the 2 bolts per side. ive always interpreted as that being the total area required per side, but- i tell people to use a 50x50 washer per bolt (because they are easy to get from bunnings etc) or make a 100x50 one (usually theres some leftovers from chopping up a universal loop) if the bolts are close together, because a lot of people are 'mechanically challenged' and if you get into explanations it just confuses them and they get it wrong. LVVTA are using the HCM a lot more now, which is a bit of a problem for people doing things to the standards you can get to on the internet, as a lot of information is no longer relevant or is incomplete

can you bolt the buckle to the original anchorage in the floor?

there isn't a spec for feets on seats _ would depend on how long it is and the design of it and how fat you are. but if its just a couple of _/ shaped things from the seat rail to the floor then probably 25x8mm flat bar or similar, smaller if you can gusset it, etc

^that. those plastic boxes are only designed to enclose the battery not strap it down. usually in an accident the ass of them just gets ripped out and the battery goes flying if its not bolted to the body

got a pic of what you want to do there?

yes you can if the wheel clears them you dont need a swaybar battery has to be clamped securely, cable tidy and routed where it cant chafe on a sharp edge, etc. it doesnt get into specifics, but use your noggin and you will be fine. I use a 'cotton reel' style rubber mount so i can bolt it to the body and use the stud poking out to bolt + cables to. dont bolt it together and wrap it in insulation tape then leave it floating around the engine bay

not as i read the rules, from the standard (not sure why the size is all wierd) modifications to parking brake cables fitted to low volume vehicles must be carried out by suitably experienced professionals using components and attachment methods purposely designed for parking brake applications ive always interpreted that as you have to have crimped or moulded fittings on a handbrake cable. autostop can make them

318s are not really worth a lot, last one i paid 300 for as a rebuilder. be prepared to spend a fair bit if you cant get a known good runner- one you can drive before you buy. ive tried to fit a couple of them to vals ive had in the past as "good second hand runners" and they were both fucked. my one i just rebuilt probably owes me 4.5k in parts and machining etc, even with stuff i already had in stock then trans, diff, brakes, etc all adds up quick sweet wagon though

Heres some tips for wheel spacers and adaptors, I get a lot of questions about them. Adaptors= bolt to the original hub and have another set of studs to bolt the wheel to Spacers= slip over the original studs the relevant rules are here- section 2.5 http://www.lvvta.org.nz/documents/standards/LVVTA_STD_Wheels_&_Tyres.pdf note the maximum size for adaptors is now 30mm here is an example of a wheel spacer done correctly- fits snugly on the center spigot and has a ring which locates the center of the wheel, has countersunk bolts to attach it to the hub, longer studs so the nuts go on far enough. This ones not so good, and its had bits cut off, not sure why. Tyre shops still sell these shitty things but they are not legal. Adaptors have a few traps, more so on the narrower ones- commonly available 15mm ones have a few issues, 20mm or bigger is not so bad. The problem is, to fit a wheel with a flat mounting face, usually means there isnt enough material under the nut attaching the adaptor to the hub (some end up loose because the nut bottoms out on the disc/hub face) or the nuts are too short, and dont meet the minimum thread engagement of 'same as thread diameter', like this another common problem- often the tapers are machined wrong so they dont match the nuts. probably over half of the adaptors I look at have this issue. see this pic, the nut only contacts right at the bottom, so eventually the nuts come loose or are loose when I check them. Cheap poor quality parts are another common one These wheel nuts are from the same set. Mismatched sizes, wrongly machined tapers, tapers not parallel with the thread or in center, and poor thread fit on the stud are common to find with these. If the nuts or studs are a black colour they are usually poor quality

today was a good day, now it goes again. neighbors may have been wondering WTF i was doing with it sitting in the driveway for 20 minutes at 2000rpm. fired up first crank, runs well and seems quite responsive. took it for a tutu round the block a couple of times. needs a few finishing touches, set timing etc etc, put the bonnet back on, couple of small exhaust leaks. it will need a quieter exhaust, curently has 2 straight thru mufflers (3'') so ill probably put a 2 1/2 triple pass muff right at the back

mine was an alloy bodied one with a fill bung in the side, so i made or got a fitting that screwed into the side of it, that i attached a hose to. looks like yours may need a hole drilled in the side of it? cant see a bung in the side

tip with york compressors- the screw in the gallery trick works, on my one i had to fit a crankcase breather to stop it blurting out so much oil into the pressure line as well. that and an oil/air seperator and it was pretty good as far as oil getting into the main tank

was marketing bullshit really, trading on the reputation of the proper hemi engines from wikipedia; The Hemi-6 is a pushrod O.H.V. (overhead valve) engine, with combustion chambers comprising about 35% of the top of the globe. This creates what is known as a low hemispherical shaped chamber. Although the Hemi-6 does not contain truly hemispherical combustion chambers, the "Hemi" moniker was used primarily for its marketing cachet based on the reputation of Chrysler's 1950s-1970s (true) Hemi V8 engines. The Hemi-6 valves are 18 degrees (included angle) along the crankshaft axis opposed valves, with intake valves as large as 1.96". The 6 intake and 6 exhaust valves open toward each other, and into the center of the combustion chamber. In addition, both valves are slightly inclined across the crankshaft axis (similar to a conventional "wedge" chamber). The cylinder head is a non-crossflow design, meaning the 6 intake and 6 exhaust ports are on the same (left, Australian and British passenger's side) of the engine.

you can do it all at once.

should be right as long as you have at least as much thread engagement as the diameter of the stud, ie probably 12mm

you know where there is a valiant panel? quite rare here

i have bought a bit of stuff off hemi performance, they were fine to deal with the aussie place not the NZ one http://www.hemiperformance.com.au/

i quite like this vehicle. have wanted another panel van for a while, i had an escort van as my first car

good jerb buddy. i did think when the kk series of plates came through, that it would appeal to your good self

loled a bit at using a flowmaster to try and fix a droney exhaust

out with that one, put other one in. got a reasonable amount done today despite having a 2 hour battle with the oil filter pipes, what a stupid arrangement, they never seem to go on the same as they come off. ended up having to modify a spanner to get one of the nuts tight, then the driver side header didnt want to play ball either. have decided to flag fitting a cat as i had a yarn to someone who knows a bit about such things. one reason oils have bugger all zinc in them now is because it clogs cats. i want lots of zincs in my oil because of dinosaur spec cam

would need to be at least as strong as what was there originally. are you getting it certified again? might pay to talk to who is going to cert it if thats the case (if you havnt already due to the tardiness of my reply, sorry bout that) as different certifiers may have different ideas on what would be acceptable