japawagons

I would stab a bitch.

Before: After: TBA Poor little engine: The sliver of swarf that came out when I drained the oil does not bode well for this engine. I'll obviously get a better idea once the pants are off. It was only a light rumble, I just hope the crankshaft is salvageable.

I took an extinguisher with me just incase.

Haha yeah it's just in today for a WOF.

And that god damn horrid brake squeal was fixed for about 4 Miles max. Horrible old NOS Alfa Romeo brake pads that are stupidly hard.

So took this lil beast down to the mighty Hawkes Bay for Hawkes Boes Mk VI. Had an awesome weekend, had a little trouble with the LH window attempting to exit again, as I still don't have any hinges to hold it in, it's just relying on the pressure from the hinge. But one last adjust on the side of the road at about 10 PM on friday sorted that for the weekend. And the drive home was going well, until about 2 Km from Te Awamutu where I accelerated and noticed a rumble. Glanced down and the oil pressure gauge is on the stop. 10 Fizz came and bailed us out and we towed the vehicle back to my Workshop in T.A. Sounds like she's done a Main Bearing. At least she'll get a nice clean engine bay after all. Bonnetless For The Bitches

So today while I was waiting for my semi permanent replacement window to show up. I decided instead of doing something useful, I would go a on a magical adventure. To this place. Some of you might have heard tales of this mystical house that resides out the back of my workshop. It is absolutely stacked to the hilt with old Fiat, Lancia and a few Alfa Bits. Most of it is rotten and junk but very occasionally if you ask the magical Italian Elf super nicely, he will allow you to uncover something rare and desirable. So after a night of panic and frantic searching. I now have two replacement windows. What's the odds of that a. This one is a right hand window but that just means the catch needs swapping around and ends up upside down. After a rethink and rebuild of the pin assembly arrangement that failed on the 1st window, I am pretty confident that it can't exit stage left again. I probably should've taken pictures of the redesigned dome pin as I was quite proud of it but alas I was in a rush and just hammered it all together.

Yeah the R/H rubber hinge is still intact, but only just. The LH one is long gone. I'm pretty sure that's what caused the pin on the hinge to overload... Just as my friend asked what it sounded like with the windows up hahaha.

Yeah the glass is flat. When I have more time and funds I am going to use the surviving Chrome and get two new pieces of glass made and tempered. Gotta have spares for those barely attached windows.

So. I worked my ass off last week and weekend, finished painting and got some clear on it. It needs a good buff back to help blend the paint together but I might leave that until after Hawkes Boes. It really doesn't look too bad I reckon... So anyway I had this back together enough on Saturday afternoon to take it home and clock up some miles on it, iron the kinks out before I try take it to Napier. First thing that was noticeable, Fuel gauge doesn't work. Second thing. any braking over very light pressure caused the most god awful squeal I have ever heard. I am pretty sure I blew out some pedestrians ear drums or at the very least broken their good crystal wear. So that was manageable, on Sunday a friend and I took her for a run out to Pirongia and back. All was going well until we were rudely disturbed by and almighty Boom and sudden increase in wind noise. The fucking L/H rear window retaining pin sheared and my very easily replaceable window hit the tarmac. I did manage to find the chrome strip that the glass is glued into, surrounded by about a million small pieces of glass. After an evening a of frantic email sending and internet trawling I came up with nothing that would be a decent solution for filling the gap before Friday. However one phonecall 1st thing on Monday morning, has given me a stop gap. Which is a huge relief. Sorted the fuel gauge, I had to modify the sender Alfaparts sent me as the meat head parts picker had sent me a 2000 GTV sender unit which is too long for the smaller Junior tanks. So I had shortened the tube and used submersible fuel hose to rejoin them. But obviously that insulated the earth circuit. So easy fix. Bastard pin. Hole. Ah yeah. Sorted the brake squeal also. Is much more pleasant to drive now.

How did the day go?? Bummed I missed the action...

I appreciate it. It reminds me that accepting the low price for the crown and buying this, without hesitation, was definitely the right decision.

So the paint is Just a stop gap. It's white. And right now that's all that matters. Summer is approaching with that the busiest time of the year. My aim has just been to get this car legal and useable so that I can cruise around in summer attending OS social meets etc. The paint over the whole car is absolutely stuffed. It needs a full strip down and repaint. But that is not going to happen for a long time. I got the new fuel tank from England. The sender unit they sent me was wrong, it's for a 2000 GTV so was too long. So I had to modify that to get it to fit. But the fuel gauge isn't working so I've got to try sort that prior to Hawkes Boes. I had the dent magician pop the big dent in the R/H front guard out, now has a bit of ripple through it but looks so much better. The driver's door opens properly now. Also the original owner stopped in and dropped off a whole bunch of bits that I thought were long gone, and thank god he did, it was like christmas. I've now got a complete set of original steel wheels, that I will get dipped and painted in the near future. Also with that I've got the stainless centre caps which are super hard to find, without buying reproduction items He also dropped in all the carpet mats that were missing, which he was going to get remade. But they really aren't too bad. So I gave them a solid cleaning and they're back in the car. Look pretty good I reckon. I really need to find some time to give this filthy engine bay a good going over.

Damn. Long time no update. I have taken pretty much no photo's at all. I have just been hammering through this work to get it ready for Hawkes Boes. SO all the rust I've dug into has been replaced with new steel, tidied, primed and as we speak I am laying white down. Photo's and shit.

Yeah the project thread causes my phone to freeze and then seizure. Just too much awesome for my pathetic technology.

You need someone who is experienced to actually come and have a look in person. It's a very peculiar description you are providing. I doubt you will get any help from internet guesstimating. Where abouts in this fine country are you?

And Facebook is the truth...

I've owned this bad boy for two weeks now. And I've been working on it almost every day, unfortunately I haven't taken many pictures. Most of the gutter / boot seal lip area off the back of the car has been badly rotted from water sitting in it. So i've just been slowly cutting and remaking the steel pieces and piecing it back together bit by bit. So a bit of history on this fine automobile. I am the 2nd owner. The guy I brought it off, brought it new in Singapore in 1976. This is where he had it taken to a place which drilled holes all over the car and absolutely filled it with cavity wax. Probably the smartest thing he could've done. These things love to rust. All the rust the it has has started from the outside, paint damage and things like that. But tbh this thing is so solid. Really stoked at the little rust if encountered. I am terrible at build threads so pictures.

Yeah right. Drink Tui.

And full of cops...

Sounds good to me. Will be there...

So I started on repairing the rust around the Boot seam. I've removed the porous fuel tank. and my new toys have arrived to help make my repair pieces. Shrinker Stretcher Set + = No Excuses left.

Oh seriously. I knew it was a good deal but damn son.

Yeah. But I've already spent that again and its only Wednesday. Once in a lifetime opportunity. Timing was just too perfect.

$1 for every cc of engine capacity. Do not swoon over that Laguna!!!! That car is the devil.