crazytim

named him Lucifer

wish I went to empty carpark instead of doing what I did today... picked up a Ram with bloody great horns. Upon offloading from the trailer he side butted my knee 3 times in space of 2mins (knee soooo sore) and upon releasing into paddock he charged me and the Mrs a total of 5 times between us before we could get out of paddock... if his behavior continues we will have a sheep on the spit type event me thinks!

A1 can be fussy, used them before the new guy I mentioned... new guy says when you arrive 'you no sell car right' (making sure WOF is for you not a new purchaser) and from there is generally just a GC. For some reason whenever its WOF time my gems play up...

I know of a friendly little chappie in Grenfield... have also been told of another guy who passes anything with good rubber and no obvious rust for $50...

hard to say doesn't feel faster just smoother and more responsive (less coughing and farting) really need to sort out speedo cable but need to put the clamps on spending, lost 7k worth of work between now and December on friday... need to go into sales mode big time! (one of my clients got embezzled by their accountant or something like that, big chunk of funding gone so they have put clamps on spending...)

even 2years on this thread came up 5 down on a google search... churr!!! one thing, do all speedos spin at same pace? will chevette gauge be accurate with a newer gbox? does that make sense...

(Chevini timeline blown wide open due to laziness also though)

I bet your right. Its worth the poorness it has caused and the extra time added to Chevini timeline

I don't mind where, last one at Massey was sweet with the meeting points and cruising on in... crusies are epic fun rolling with dozens of ancient cars. Crusing from Westgate thru to Manukau or Cornwallis Park be even epic-er. Perhaps Manukau would be good for those who travel from Hams, save a good 1/2hr-45mins

@ the wheels. Next step fix car trailer so I can go play on a track... errrr get legal sorry.

I'm a useless douchebag but you have my help if you need anything... many hands make light work and all that (mainly useless at doing my own shit )

going in for dyno in a few hours, will post results/vid later.

keen for anything.... both plans sound fucking mint

(drivers guard hasnt been touched... need to do that asap! not quite all one colour...)

had barely touched this since getting it home, especially after getting red wag on road again, having engine out of green wag/rust work etc etc. Plate has been full. Anyway dropped it into Als Mufflers last week, new 2" exhaust is now all fitted so last major hurdles are accelerator cable, heater hoses and a few other things to make it drivable... last night wet n dried the whole car and today squirted 5 rattle cans of satin black at her. Thank fuck it is now all one colour!

Anyhow I fixed it next day, went back to old grill/lights. The 17s are also back on, getting a pair of new tyres this week. She also got a zorst made up from all the best bits and some new bits last week... $150 they charged, the old one hung down heaps and always rattled against my panhard rod.

Forgot to mention this... started the wagon in gear the very day I finished the freshen up... handbrake button decided to stick down... right before I parked it prior to this happening. Just glad I was in carport and not shed, could have damaged my project wagon shell... unless it had been aiming out side and not inside in which case it wouldn't have hit a thing... unless it kept going driverless until it did hit something. Point is I fuct up and thank Barry White it isn't too bad... rooted the bumper but went and picked up a replacement from troy... grill is minorly damaged but have already put old grill and lights back on, will fit bumper on the weekend.

After deciding the half paint strippered effect was a failure I spent a few hours bare mettaling bonnet today.... jebus paint was thick... ended up using my 180mm buffer with 24g disc running water over it to prevent discs clogging in an instant. (that was the final of 4 methods tried out) Also removed the OG rear chrome bumper for use on my (other) red wagon and fitted plastic front bumper and head lamps and also emptied out all the stuff that has been stored in the boot for ages. Anyhow will try get it looking a bit more complete and maybe even start some patches on the rust. Also take note of the scum strip along top of windscreen...

hmmmm... good time period to get car/s legal in... need an excuse (and a boot up the bum)

Found these pics, this is the dirty lil girl. Again any advice, help or offer of parts for cheap/free to make this wag look right holler out....

It was bound to happen, have so many gem's that I finally decided rather than scrapping my near terminally rusty 1980 TE Gemini Wagon I will make some cheap and nasty rust repairs and carry on this theme of cheapness and nastiness through out and have a go at this Rat thing all the kids are raving about. It is half n half about saving this vehicle from being scrapped and clawing back some of the money I have poured down the drain which is owning 7 gems/chevettes as I am intending to do the whole thing spending as little money as possible and selling it hopefully at Kumeu 2012 (unless the mayans were right...) Fire away harrassnment, advice/tips as well as props if you like what you see. The car itself hasn't been washed in a very long time and already has some fitting primered repairs, dents/scrapes/scratches and last night I had a go at bare metalling the bonnet with paint stripper... I failed but quite liked the result. Will get some more pics when I put grill and bumper back on... she wont look like a TE gem as stolen the chrome bumpers and grill for my other red wagon. Anyhow if anyone likes it enough to want it PM me, will sell as is but be warned it requires some commitment in getting rust sorted....

Anyone keen on some Recaro's I have a couple of pairs... will be fine in a larger car but the narrow floorpan and small cabin space of a gemini or chevette just won't accomodate them.

had boot tray made up... GTI Golf Factory mounting, 3 point strange set up... And this is how I have remounted after removing the surplus Golf mountings... Other view... Didn't complete the mounting, was going to have a piece coming from centre of box section bolting to the factory forward mounting point... Dummy fitted into my red wag alongside factory seat for comparison. Visually very similar but Recaro has less give in it making for a higher seated position and less head room... All that and they won't work... too high no give in the foam whereas visually the same as gemini seats the stock seats are sprung and you sink in a couple of inches. Meh!

More pics was too knackered to upload last night... Around midday... As left last nite, needs gear oil, coolant, battery, bonnet, brakes bled and she'll run. No dash in as yet have some stuff I wann do to interior. New face. I like it. Still not sure about fog lites.

Progress Cut/Pasted from gm-t... Took passenger side guard off for first time... found more rust right down bottom. Spewing. Will get everything I'm doing done and take it to Troy again for a patch, could be worse I guess. Been hard finding time to work on the Gem but today took work off and got some more done... engine bay degreased, wet n dry papered, scotched and rinsed off ready for top coat (silver again, too cheap to bother getting colour matched) inner guards scrubbed up and have been undersealed (K+H Aerosol stuff) and front panel has been resprayed black too where paint had flaked. Next is seam sealing it all, allow to dry and finally spray bomb engine bay and reassemble!! Then off to Troy to have the rust pictured above dealt to, and spray the floor inside car with bedliner paint. Also wanna do a storm test with the garden hose to check for leaks while dash is out. Thinking of running an early TF grille on the car too, need to find some decent head lights first... reckon it will suit the chrome bumper better than the TG lights... and will run my clear TE park lamps as indicators with orange bulbs... no amber up front... Have some fog lights I might jam on as well to fill the gap under the bumper... will see if they look OK first... cant wait to get this car operational again, the red gem is no good as a business vehicle, waaaay too rough lol chucked one of the widened steels on the back for a lol... realised justy how low brads wagon is... car is blocked up on axle so this is unloaded ride height... does come down slitely when my gears are loaded up tho... Todays Efforts: sealed up seams last night, after chasing down the same colour rattle cans used when I first did engine bay I painted bay today, reacted a little to some of the anti corrosive primer I used on the problem areas but I just don't care, they all out of the way(ish) not right in view so who cares... not like I'll have bonnet up showing off my stock G161z all the time anyways! Where I left it for the day... was pleased with progress. Taking tomorrow off and having my employee Blair help me get it all back together. Want to storm test it too while dash is out and see where the leaks are... feet get wet when it rains... hard to see with dash in the way!