Taistorm

Grafting the front guards together. First off i had to trim around the mount area at the top and the area by the scuttle panel/a pillar, this was to get the repro guard to fit better as it had a bit of excess material, fouling on the body. Next, working out how to go about cutting up the guards. I thought it would be a good idea to make the cuts around the body lines where possible to try and reduce warping. Measure and mark it out close-ish. Cut and mock up. Welder up and clean the welds up. I wasn't super happy with this. Turned the mig down as much as I could, running 0.9 wire so probably too big for panel steel. Had a prick of a time chasing holes from blowouts even when trying to stagger it. I don't have much experience with panel steel, usually work with 3-20mm but atleast it won't need too much bog. Mocked up. I still need to clean up the inner of the guard. May even send it to the blaster up the road to strip and epoxy it but we'll how it goes. I'll get started on the rh guard next week. Also I ordered the programmable vss speedo from speedhut, then received an email saying that can't make one to suit their older style gauges as they have different leds and tech, so it won't look right. They suggested for me to post my current gauges back to them in the states and they can upgrade all of my existing gauges and convert my gps speedo to vss programmable for the same price as the new gauge, so that's what I'm gonna do. I'll try and send them off next week. Chur

Said gearbox from above. Made an early morning mish down to pick it up yesterday. Nice to have something that can actually shift... I'll still be on the hunt for the other remaining bits to compete the other shifter.

Since the last post I have still been working through this mildly. I had a look through my gearbox bits as the shifter still needed to be fitted to the box as it had been shortened years back. Little did I know that only the shifter housing and shift lever were returned to me, none of the other internal components including the lower and rear spring assemblies (I believe these are to stop you from over throwing into 5th and keep resistance from accidently bumping into reverse), also the shifter block and return spring. This was a pain to discover as I know it is gonna be a mission to find spares to replace. I then stumbled upon a s5 turbo gearbox for sale on trademe which I got excited about and ended up bidding way more than I had planned to spend. Looks like I'll be making a mission down to Morrinsville next week to go pick it up. In the background I'll find the other bits I'm missing to get the current gearbox complete. Separate to this I have been trying to work out the gauge cluster. I previously gutted and split the original cluster as I had the custom speedhut gauges made up. The plan here is to reuse the oem dash lights (such indicators and oil light, I might modify the park to be highbeam). I can reuse the gauge circuit board to power these as I still have the original loom. I'll then remove the original gauges, make a mounting plate for the new ones and marry them all together. As speedhut have a sale on, i have ordered another speedo that runs off vss, as opposed to the gps one I have already, as this can't be run legally, so if anyone is after a gps speedo let me know and I'll do a mean deal on this one. Chur

Awesome, all the information I need. Thanks again bro, it gives me much better clarity. Much appreciated!

Thanks for that Clint. So welding would generally be acceptable if it is done to a good standard? This would most likely be mig welding 30x5mm plate to the 50x50x5 angle to raise the rear mounts to achieve a better height for the seats. Cheers

Can anyone explain the lvv rules around making custom seat mount bases. I'm struggling to interpret the wording in the rulebook so hoping someone can shed some light. With my mazda 1300, I no longer have the factory front seats or seat bases/rails. I have some other oem seats with factory bases/rails from a daihatsu I'm wanting to fit. I was going to just use some 50x50x5mm angle mild steel to bolt to the floor mounts, then bolt to the bases. I'll need to offset them as the seat bases are wider than the original floor mounts and to clear the transmission tunnel, but not by much. My main issue however is that the cars floor mounts sit on a decline towards the rear, approx a 30mm drop. I have some 50x50x5 angle steel. Can I weld flat bar or channel uprights to the angle to raise it (approx another 50mm) to get the desired seat height/position or is there a better/recommended way of doing this. Picking up factory seat bases and making an adaptor plate isn't really an option due to the rarity of the car. I am a competent welder and perform many fabrication tasks at work and have been for years but I am not certified/ticketed. I will also be using the factory seat belt anchor points so they would be distressed seats. Any insight on this would be much appreciated. Cheers

Awesome 1300 bro! I remember seeing this up for sale in its purple guise years ago (iirc it was a SA import?). Looks like an awesome build and tidy as! I hope one day mine will get to a similar level.

I managed to scrape the drivers side floor sound deadener and the driveshaft tunnel. Couldn't be bothered removing the handbrake components to get underneath, so I'll sort that out another day. It's pretty much ready to strip back the remaining residue and surface rust. Happy as though, I thought there were a few small holes by the pedals but besides some surface rust it looks solid! Chur

My workmate bought the unimig razor 230 acdc multi welder from boc about a month ago. He hustled it down to about $2800, as they are phasing them out for the new envy welders. It's a wicked welder and easy as to setup. Can also run 15a or 10a plug (if you get a reducer cable) and it has an internal setting depending on it, I'd assume it just limits it's capabilities running 10a.

Common theme here will be momentum. Haven't had any in years so any small bit of work towards this old gem is gold. Spent a hour on it today. Decided to begin scraping the factory interior floor sound deadener bitumen off. Just used a scraper and cleared the left side front and rear, so i just have the driveshaft tunnel section and drivers side. To be honest it was alot easier than i was expecting. Small amount of surface rust on the front section so there must have been a bit of moisture under the sound deadener. I have recently picked up a Wurth brush sander as well, so I'll tackle it with the wire wheel on that once it's all chipped off. Chur

The kids were happy as with it. My daughter kept pointing to it saying 'cool' and 'sick' hahaha at least it's got their approval. On the high of excitement I gave the engine bay and wheels a quick clean. Then I mocked up the front end. When I get a chance next, ill go through all the parts and make a plan to move forward. I’ll have a go at swapping the front end of the guards over (1300 front onto the 1000ute repro guards) and see what other rust work needs to be patched up. I'll also focus on the wiring, starting system and ignition and try get it running. Shouldn't take too much tbh but we'll see how we go. Maybe this will be the year hahaha. Chur

Big day today! Weather held out so I got the towie to come pick up the old beast. Cleaned out the diy garage converted woodshed, the concrete has held up mint! Dry as as well. The first time the 1300 has seen daylight for over 4 years. Loaded up on the tow truck then a few kms down the road for its next temporary home. Super stoked to say the least!

Almost a year later and still no real update but shifting things around is progress, I guess? We are still in our rental as our house build situation has had major delays due to local council, planner being absolutely useless and north power issues as well. So I've decided to look at shifting the 1300 into our garage here. I went through and took all the parts stored in the car across the last month and put them into the shed. Gave the shed a massive tidy up as well, as it's full of the kids junk and camping stuff. I'll look at booking the tow truck to shift it here hopefully in the next 2 weeks. From there I'll make a list and plan where to go with the build as ive got a little bit of money that i can throw at it and get a bit of motivation hopefully. Hopefully it will be less than a year for the next update haha. Chur

Rad ute bro. Was there on Saturday mid torrential downpour. Had a nosey but I didn't see anyone standing around it to spin a yarn and had my 2 kids hanging off me so I couldn't hang around. Must be so stoked to have got it to where it's at.

I remember when I was playing with early 70s and 80s mirage that the mca jet heads were quite weak and prone to cracking and it was common to delete/bung them up. I had a jap import 1st Gen mirage that had a mca jet engine but I just had it as a parts car so didn't delve too far into it.