Vintage Grumble

Recently got a bit more done on the trailer. Made sure it was about the right size etc, and made the up rights/sides. For ease of use and simplicity, the front and back tailgate board things just slide into slots made from angle and flat off cuts, Then I figured out where the axle needs to be, then whipped up said axle on the BIL's lathe, made some mounts and welded it on, As you can see in the background of the pic posted above in the last update, the alloy wheels were very oxidized (they have been outside for years) so I gave them a water blast, spray painted them black, and then buffed the paint off the face of the wheel to make them all shiny again. Slapped some tyres on that match the cruisers, and good to go. Then I whipped up some mud guards. Decided just to make them out of 3mm thick steel and not bother with mounts, and just weld them directly to the frame. Found an off cut of steel, cut the desired shape out, removed the rust, and put them in my fancy press brake and bent them into shape. I don't know why, but I find the little mud guards soooo adorable! Now I just have to cut and mount the wood, paint everything, and its done. Regards VG. P.S. Say hi to your mum for me.

I was quite surprised to see that lower side wall tyres can be stretched more, seems kinda backwards to my simpleton brain.

https://www.lvvta.org.nz/documents/infosheets/LVVTA_Info_01-2009_Tyre_Size_to_Rim_Width_Compatibility_Guide.pdf So this is still the go to chart?

Has anyone ever failed a WOF for their tyres not being wide enough for their rims? Just wondering if its common, or do most places not GAF?

Amen to that, was always in the back of my mind at dual sprints/track days, 950~kg 80s jap cars probably dont crash well.

Them TE37 reps got the old ladies flaps clattering eh Fucking love this car BTW, and so jelly of your current situation, you son of a gun you.

Went a little wide on that corner, might need some weigh in the front?

HEARING YOUR OWN EAR HOLE SIZZLE IS FUCKING NOT GREAT.

I've always liked the sound of this, but its probably unbearably loud. Rice bubble tune and fancy g-bag probably add to the choiceness of the exhaust note.

Its pretty much wired as it was in the scooter, its running the factory controller, some of them are programmable. I cant remember the brand, but theres funny shaped blue ones that are pretty grunty and programmable.

A "VG has nothing to do at work" update. The cruiser is going well, the only issue so far was a slight wiring problem, which I fixed by jiggling the loom around a bit, so somethings a bit loose somewhere. I'll whip the body off and check this at some point, as the main battery wires are still in their temporary configuration and need finishing. We will also give the controller a bit of a diddle with, and make the acceleration and braking a bit more spicy, as it was dulled down to suit the kids in their learning to drive phase. They are pretty much pros now. This has actually proven to be quite a handy vehicle too, I recently cut down a tree, and the boy spent the day dragging the branches from the back yard to the front so they can go on the big boy trailer. Here he is posing proudly with his days work. (rough day judging by his sunnies) Shitty vid of the FJ doing some mahi, We have also used it to do some deliveries around town. Here we have their cousins trailer, dangerously over loaded with fire wood. This trip went well until we were driving past a local lake, and my son decided to try and mow down a goose, driving his rig down a steep hill on an angle at full speed towards said lake/goose, and near on rolled the whole lot into the lake. We had a safety briefing before the trip, but like any male, he obviously wasn't listening. And I've finally started making a trailer for this unit. Its going to be very similar to the above, just slightly longer, and with steel mud guard's rather than wood, as they will be easier to make. Trying to make it out of shit I have laying about. Regards, VG. xoxox

Shit yeh, its probably at 45-50hp per ton now!

So in the 2023/2024 season, I only got to use this little bugger twice. One of the trips was up the Waioeka, which was friggen excellent, apart from I managed to hit nearly every single rock in the river. One impact was so good that I managed to get the boat completely out of the water, with enough altitude for the boat to change attitude while in the air, from nose way up to nose way down. Another impact shot the boat sideways so violently that the lady passenger squashed me into the side of the boat, which was a bit ouchey on the ribs and elbow. A little vid J5 made of the trip. Unfortunately I really messed up the UHMWPE on that trip, lots of rips and ripples, which effected the speed and handling of the boat quite a bit. I really needed to upgrade the UHMWPE to 10 or 12mm, the current stuff is only 8mm think I think, but its a pretty big job to do so. Also, a few of the shitty welds on the structure gave up after getting the bash. Some of the damage: Also, the bung oring letting oil drain into the engine situation hasn't fixed itself, which is a huge PITA. Because of my lack of time to use it, and lack of time to fix everything, I decided to sell it. Listed it and got waaaay more interest than I thought I would (I was very honest about its issues) and it sold straight away, and several people wanted it for full asking price, so I probably should have tried to get more, ha. (even though I got what I paid for it) A nice young man came and got it, and took it for a hoon that night. The next day he rang for some advice, as the water cooling to the exhaust had blocked/failed for some reason and he melted all the rubber couplings and so on the exhaust, even where it sealed to the transom. He didn't want to run the motor incase that had no cooling either, so floated back down the river, but the boat started sinking due to the exhaust to transom seal having melted away. Luckily he had a brand new battery and the bilge pumps kept it afloat. There is a chance it blocked with weed the last time I used it, but I'd never had that problem before. It has three cooling circuits, and luckily it seems the other two (motor and stator) were working fine. He was all good about it, but I feel a bit stink for the chap. So anyways, thus ends the story of the chode, but I will defiantly get another boat in the future, probably the smallest hull I can find with 4 or 5 seats, and probably something powered by a small four stroke car engine. Regards, VG.

This happened to me recently too, really kicks you in the spuds. I was super excited about finding a heater fan speed resistor, then all hope was crushed.

Well due to the brain injuries I did a 1000km round trip to collect the parts tractor. Got pretty much everything apart from the core engine. It was a bit of kit set due to the motor being the mounting point for most of the front gubbins. Piled it all on the trailer, chucked heaps of tie downs and straps on it, and it was all still there when I got home which was nice. Collection: Then I pulled it apart as much as I could to lighten it up a bit, and then did a fairly dodgy lift from my probably not to code boat shed roof, Then I harvested even more parts I want for the other one, and while I was there I split it in half to make it easier to move/store. Might split the box from the back end also. This is why number 2 ended up at the wreckers, buggered gears, And some of the harvested parts I'll swap over, The top link was missing from the 3 point, got them to chuck in one, so have all the needed bits now, nice. The body work is a fair bit nicer so will swap all that over. The foot plates still have the anti-vibration pads on them too, fancy. The seats a bit rough, but the pan is rust free which is good, the other seat is rusted to fuck. Also had a new radiator cap, and a shiney fuel cap for the bling factor. So when I get time I'll start the big swap over and clean up a few bits N bobs, and I'll be tractoring in no time. There is a few minor differences between the two units, but only one bit I wanted to use (3 point up/down lever) wont work as far as I can tell, so not so bad. Once the tractors done I'll give the rotor-tiller thing a bit of love. Regards, VG.