uncle silvia

SunnyCoupe........... thats a nice... er.... well..... Sunny Coupe you have there lol

Cool wheels too

And dont worry........ the brown is being kept ............. it does look lovely when all polished up in the sun with the metalic in it, i just cant wait until its actually all the same colour lol

Ah bugger about water pump but glad u got it back ok!

They go well with the turbo bits on it as i nearly bought one (but was bloody smokey) before i got this one!

Be interested to see what you do with it mate.........

Cheers guys............

TBH I thought there would be more than just 2 on here?? I know Robbie in CHCH has a green Facelift project and a red Prefacelift hes breaking!!

Yea its a pretty solid car it seems and been well looked after. The Factory optional undersealing from new has saved it i think (Same on my Corolla). I took it for an MOT (WOF to you guys) and it failed, but only on 3 things I fixed in 5 minutes and 2 small patches of welding.......... Not bad for 33 years in the UK lol.

So far most of the work im doing is DIY and to the best I can without buying to much as Im not working atm and have minimal funds.

It will eventually get some propper love when i have some cashflow lol.

As long as it keeps going and looks respectable its fine! Its just going to be my cool daily while I work on my Corolla so it doesnt have to be mint............. yet lol

You maybe right there lol

Feel free to discuss my Datto here

LINK TO BUILD THREAD http://www.oldschool.co.nz/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=29129

Hi all.... Me again!!

I was in NZ last year and loved it (particularly the amount of cool Old School stuff out there!).

Im now back in the UK After my travels and full of ideas (many silly) for my rides back here

I just thought Ide show you what Ive been up to.......................

Well its happened again!! All logic and plans went out the window because a cool rare Japanese car became avaliable in the Classifieds lol.

I was looking for something smooth and sensible and a little bigger with a bit of badge snobbery like a merc or something........... So i ended up buying a brown Datsun

If you know me, Retro Japanese is always at the top of my list so its a no-brainer really lol

Well here she is.............

Its a 1978 Pre-Facelift B310 Datsun Sunny 140Y Coupe which I believe are pretty rare over here now??!!

It has the A14 1400 engine mated with a 5 speed manual gearbox with Dogleg First to make it interesting lol.

I picked it up from Westcountry Classics, (nice chaps), near Penzance in Cornwall and they got it off an elderly lady that has been its only owner since new!! Yes I am the second owner

Its done 70500 miles and is a pretty solid car being garaged all its life.

Unfortunately its not perfect with a bit of a knock on the front corner and some badly matched paint on one side........... all fixable tho. The dreadded rot seems to pretty fairly at bay with only a few blisters about the car and I believe only had a few patches of welding ever! Inside is Mint tho

It also came with some "British Made" dealer option alloy wheels from new and I have a full set of 5!! Ill probably wack on some of my spare Jappy rims tho

She drives pretty well for an old car too and was happilly sat at 70mph on the way home to Plymouth for 80 miles. Good on fuel too!

This will now be my Daily driver while I build up my KE70 Corolla

Well enough of the chat........... you want some pics...............

On the way home:

If i decide to get keen one day............ this could be an option

Im doing my Corolla first tho lol

Well I took it for a late night spin........ and came across more retros.............

And the next day the mods started!! Ive been playing with my Wheels

First I tried my 14x9 Enkei's................

Unfortunately although they look right on the car......... I can even get half a turn on the stering wheel before they catch everything!!!! The arches just arnt as big as my corolla. Im not going wide arched just yet lol

SO I tried my 14x7 Watanabes...............

Well these fit just fine and TBH look good with the black on brown!

Next is to lower it

Oh and heres a better shot of the interior............

And my initial "In Car Entertainment"

AND NOW THE WORK BEGINS

Well I was busy getting the Datty ready for the Retro Rides Gathering last month................

First off it said Goodbye to my Micra before it went to its new home...

Then it said hello to its new partner in crime..........

First off was to try and repair that front end damage the best I could without actually buying any parts for now lol.

This is how I straightened my bumper HAHA.........

Taaa Daaa

I then decided to convert the bumpers back to as near "Jap Spec" as i could....... meaning removing the horrid plastic end caps and bumper extensions and moving the bumper back closer to the car in full chrome mode

So I stripped the whole front down..........

And while I was doing this I thought Ide tidy up the rest of it a bit INC trying to fix the dent in the N/S wing.........

Beat the wing with a big hammer until it was pretty good and then stonechipped all the bare bit of metal and around the edges......

Stone chipped the inner arch where it needed it.........

And the front panel...........

There will be pics coming up of what it looks like all back together

Then I had an oil leak on the rocker cover so i stripped that off.......

Found the culprit.............

And replaced with new...........

Next it was the fun bit of trying to lower it,

SO I stripped the front down.......

Marked where I needed to "modify" it lol (not to much for now just to see how she sits)........

Them trimmed a little off ............

Next was to Strip the rear springs out.........

And gave them the same treatment........

NEXT I had to get some modern tunes in here as i was getting fed up with the MW/LW and the not so loud Ipod Dock lol............

First up was to run power wires........

Next was to hide some speakers up under the dash.........

I had to make a hole on the passenger side to get the wires through neatly...........

And protecting the wires..........

The headunit was fitted neatly under the glovebox and even matches the colour or the dash and trim (and the dash lights ).....

Tidy up the wiring under the rear seat...........

Mount sub in the boot on a removable plug......

I think it looks pretty neat...........

Now for some nicer shots at this stage with the car back together................

Next was to touch up the black and tatty bits around the car as the weather was better yesterday............

It was only a quick job but it looks much better! Unfortunately I didnt have the time or have the paint to colour code the bad paint job on the drivers side before the show.

Ive also now filled the holes in the bumpers with dome bolts to neaten it up.

Hope you like it and there will be more updates very soon

Where did you get your front splitter? Want =D

MK1 VW golf GTI

And im now back in the uk so i may get started on this again soon lol

Now sold to someone on here and going back to CHCH

The Van has now been sold to someone not to far up the posts above and lets see what he ends up doing with it

Well after building this van, travelled round the whole of NZ living in it and even meeting my current girlfriend in it........... it pains me to say its now up for sale as im now back in the UK

Its up on Trade me now if anyones interested

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=375037857&ed=true

Im gonna miss it!!

yea was cool to meet up with you guys and see some of ya motors! Cheers for making this POM feel welcome ha ha

im here lol

EURON8 ....... Gutted i was hoping there was gonna be another Hiace there.......... although it doent look quite finished lol

HAHA yea and loved it! I doubt ill get a chance in the uk as not many about there!! (untill i import one lol)

Ok then ill do my very best to pop along!!

look forward to it and meeting you guys

Hey i may well be up for this if you dont mind a new guy to the area?!

I fancy meeting some of the locals and their rides while im here! (Alistair i think i may have already been in your new one lol)

Ill bring my house along

Ill keep an eye on this thread!!

Above is not the same car its newer and FWD!! ^^

hi all!!

Well this is more of a memory thing for me as this was the car my dad had in my early years when I was growing up.......... I think I may have even been brought home from the hospital in it lol!

However, this particular model was fairly rare in the UK back then as I believe the "Fastback" model was different to the normal estate, and Ive not seen many pics of them since!! The Jap version was the Sunny California I believe!

As far as aware my dad ordered the "normal" estate but there was a problem with it in the first weeks of ownership! they said it would have to be a long wait for another to be delivered or he could have this "Fastback" one they had instead!! So he did!!

Ide love to see more pics of this model both standard and modded ones if you have any! Any details of the model would be great also!! We had a white one

I have found pics of this one in the UK................

Cheers

Anyway heres another update on the van and its journey round NZ

Little trip to the races

Wheels get a clean up

trial fit

liking the idea of whitewalls eventually

getting tyres swapped over for the good ones and tracking done

um ....well.....yes!!!!

First day with rims on on "Club K" Toyota run

on route to Hanmer Springs

Finally got some curtains fitted

hiace......... loved by everyone lol

3 position table designed by me lol

firewood mission

chilling in the sun

cleaned it all up and got some nice shots

stickered up

"No Cruising" lol

Taking in some culture

inside

Yea Joe i think its a copy but speaking to some Porsche Boffs apparenty its for a 1970s 911

I know its a random one but Ive aquired a brand new unpainted door from my work rescued from the scrap bin and have been told its from a Porsche.

However Im unsure what model or year its from as Im looking to sell it to help fund my traveling.

It looks like a 911 drivers door but totally unsure on the year or whether its from a hard top or convertable??

Can anyone help please??

Thanks

Ah, so the fiat does look pretty good as long as she gets one of the sporty models haha. How would you compare it to one of the new mini's?

To be honest i havent driven a Mini Cooper S for a good comparison, only a Mini One!

IMO the Fiat was more responsive and drove nicer! Also i think the facelift Mini looks ugly and fat but the older versions look better! The older Cooper S was a 1600 supercharged with about 158bhp I believe and the facelift going to a 1600 turbo with simular power!

I need to thrash a cooper S for a better comparison.......... however i knew someone back home with one of the most powerfull Minis in the UK with nearly 400bhp which was impressive but chewed up the week gearboxes.

Ide take the 500 Abarth essesse if your looking for a sporty model and even the normal 500 would be cool for a girl.

Oh there is also the 500 Abarth Assetto Corse if you fancy something a bit more hardcore, which is a limited production model (49 cars), designed by the Fiat Group Automobiles Style Centre and produced by a team of Abarth Engineers and Designers. Engine is rated at 200bhp at 6500 rpm and 300 N·m (220 lb·ft) at 3000 rpm. It includes white 17 inch special ultralight racing wheels, low ride, sports racing mirrors and a place for a number on the sides, pastel grey body with red Abarth side stripes.

Well being from the UK Ive had the chance to have a good look round the new Fiat 500 and one of my friends from back home runs the Abarth dept at our local Fiat Dealer!

He was good enough to organise a test drive for me (he told his boss I was a customer and was interested in buying lol) and I got to take out the 160bhp essesse ('SS') model (the normal Abarth model is 140bhp).

I had 3 rules for the test drive............ give it hell, the tyres need to be screaming and I need to get it airborne HAHA.

Well i took it out over the moorland roads near where I live and gave it death........ WOW i was shocked!

The little beasty went like hell and was great fun to drive! The essesse has the extra power and a clever electronic diff thingy and it handled like it was on rails! Definately the most fun Ive had in a modern car!

I was also impressed with the build quality and IMO its on a par with the new Mini or beetle which is refreshing for a Fiat.

Its also nicely speced to with a good sounding stereo and Multimedia options.

All in all i think its a great car in the sporty form and Im sure the standard spec ones are perfect round town.

I took some photos of the test i did and did a small review for my local car club back home.

Heres some of my Photos..............

New updates up now

Well heres a little update so far..............

I bought another "propper" mattress as the other one was too soft for me and got some matching blue sheets for it too lol

I put some curtain Tracks up with temporary blinds untill I get the curtains made for it...........

Bed still fits in lovely with the seats up being a LWB........

Bedding in and power "hook up" fitted lol..........

All moved in........... Tweed Jackets were for fancy dress honest..............

Home sweet home.........

Trying to change the headlight bulbs........

Done........... with some swearing and seized bolts............

Went on another towing mission and gave it the ultimate test......... 2 tonnes of Jag!!! It coped fine thank god lol........

The Riverside Fleet of vans...........

PM Zeb as hes doing this right now!!