Vintage Grumble

I actually have a massive boner for early Jimny 2-strokes. An old guy that comes into work has one, I'm trying to get put into his will so I can get my mits on it. Anyways, I have done a bit more on this thing. Don't laugh at my lack of wood working skills, I fucking hate working with wood. So I made the front guards, bit of a weird shape to try and make out of wood, mostly because of my being a tard and all. A bit of fiberglass & resin, a hint of bog, and they should come out pretty good. Then I got started on the bonnet, which is probably the most complicated shape on the thing. Added some wooden ribs, and a couple of dowels as reference marks, then put real thin MDF under them to keep the foam in, then filled the gaps up with foam, then carved the foam with a hacksaw blade and Stanley knife, then chucked a couple of layers of fiberglass over it, to give me a firm base to work with. It actually came out really close to correct, so will need very minimal amounts of filler. Next was lights. My B-I-L used OG dolphin torch reflectors/lens' on his Jeep, that he cut down to the correct size. New dolphin torches have four round LED bulbs in them, so don't look anything like a head light. The only torch I could find that was roughly the correct size, and also sort of looked like a real headlight was some budget items from Bunnings. I pulled them to bits, linished & sanded the OD of the lens down as small as I could, but so that the reflector still fit into it. I then cut the holes in the body to suit these. The front grill will hold the lights in, and also down size them to roughly the right scale size. I also found a Toyota badge that used to be on my 86 (before I got a legit one) that's pretty damn close to the correct size for this, but not sure if I will use it or not. The back lights were way easier, I found some LED lights on Ali that were the right shape and scale for this thing. They are meant to be in corners of the bumper IRL, which seems silly, as they would get smashed real easy. I added in a bit of wood roughly the same shape as the real bumper, and set them into this, so they are a bit more protected. There will be a steel bumper under them mounted to the tow bar in the future, so it should be quite a challenge for the kids to smash them. That's pretty much where I'm up to. Regards, VG. xoxox

Does it have a name? The killer Bee, The Bad Banana, Caution tape, The one man school bus, Smokachu, Yellow bellied road snake?

You're so far away, yet still giving me 3/4 race boners.

I wasn't expecting to buy another bike this week, but you know how it goes. An old man came into work and asked "How's your mates gyro going" referring to @Raizer sick rig, so obviously I'd mentioned it to him in the past. He then says he's going to sell his, so I had to go look at it. I then proceeded to fall in love. It's so hilarious. The dude I got it off was 76, and the previous owner was also an old man that got it for his import wife to use, but she never did. So it has quite a few old man spec "improvements" which include LED strip lighting riveted to the body with a crap ton of rivets. Paint "touch ups" which means badly applied rattle can paint with lots of over spray. Lots of random holes drilled in the body, every fastener they have applied is a different drive, and an oil line blocked off with a cupboard shelf support pin and copper wire. So she needs a bit of love and attention, but I was surprised to see it had aftermarket rear rims/tyres and an expansion chamber, so she might be making a few extra microwatts. Anyways, the new bike/trike is a 2001 Honda Gyro Canopy Wagon: Note method of light attachment, and modified floor mat, The lean over/hand brake lever has snapped off, so I need a new one of them. I'll also have to try clean up the windscreen, it's a bit messy. Phat tyres, rice pipe, and old man reflective decorations. The OEM lock is gone, has old man spec latch, will sort something better, Douglas racing rims, and sweet dice valve caps. 100% I'm going to redo the white lettering, Powerplant. Needs an air filter and a few mounts made for fuel pump and coil, plus a few hoses need replacing. The pipe is quite neat, I fucken love these rims/tyres TBH, It's totally getting vinyl stuck on the headlights to make JDM angry slantey eyes, The LED lights are coming off because the are horribly fitted and stick out like dogs bollocks, but I will probably refit them underneath and a more discreet manner. They have like a trillion settings too, So yeh, lots to do, but pretty excited to finally have a gyro. Regards, VG.

Have done a few very short rides on this bad boy, and its running pretty damn good. Its quite nice to ride also, which is a bonus. At nats I did a 75km trip from nats HQ to a museum in Cambridge, and just to be safe, I decided to re-fill it before departing for nats HQ on the return trip. It went onto reserve in the middle of the road in front of the service station, which was a bit of a surprise, as I was told it would do 200km on a tank (6L) but had only managed 75ish. That's around 8L/100km, which isn't great. J5's bike which is very similar, and was pulling the same speeds, and is only 15cc smaller in capacity, used just over half as much from memory, so somethings not quite right. Its defiantly running rich, and often smells a bit gasey, but I cant find gas leaking out anywhere. Will dropping the needle make a noticeable difference? Cant really think of anything else to check/change? I did manage to hit the metric ton in a two lane flat express way race with J5 though, so that's a new PB. Also also, a person on TM who confirmed they had both racks I need, then ghosted me super hard when I tried to buy them. BUT I mentioned to a customer that I yarn to about shit old bikes, what I was after, said his best mate apparently has at least 6x CT200's laying around, so he is actively trying to source the racks for me, excite. Pic4fred: Regards, VG.

As a scum bag north islander, you really do forget how fucking amazing the south isle is. That ride looks like a must do TBH. Also makes me very happy to see the NBC out there living its best life.

Is that KFC in front of the JCB?

Looks fucken sick dawg. I must say, I really like the beefier tyre look on 86's, looks more tough/80's.

Why make the rest, when I can make the best?

So I started on the body. Did some CAD modeling, And then started hacking into 18mm ply, Then I took the old temporary seat and floor off, and made a new seat etc. I then started screwing everything together, And where it's at now, The back corners are meant to be rounded, but that's too hard for an amateur woodworker like myself. The floor and firewall will stay on the chassis, and the rest of the body will lift off. The bonnet and front mudguards will be the hardest part to do, but I have ideas, will find out soon if they will work. Oh and I decided to make it a BJ/FJ land cruiser (maybe it should be an EJ?) because the kids cousin has a Jeep already, and because I'm forcing them to like Toyotas, because not doing so would basically be child abuse. Regards, VG.

Not yet. I have now found a few options on ebay that will work, so will probably give one of them a shot.

Well I did, I just don't want 200 of them. https://tspemotor.en.made-in-china.com/product/qQiYHklTbSVj/China-Motorcycle-Spare-Parts-Right-Brake-Lever-for-Italika-FT-125.html

This place doesn't seem to exist anymore. The internet told me Agtorque was an agent for Jialing, but they aren't, so not sure if there is an agent in NZ anymore? Had a hoon on Ali & ebay but no luck so far.

Also first test ride was a ooge success, runs really well now, and all the little changes have made it much nicer to ride. I just need to grease and adjust the head set bearings and that's about it. It's quite talkey, but does indeed max out around 90/95 on the flat, seems like it's running out of revs, so might try one of the smaller cogs and see if it has enough grunt to pull 100+. Pretty happy with it tbh. Excellent.

I did some CSI spec enhancement on the one for sale on TM, and it does indeed tick all my boxes, nice.