vivaspeed

Having finished putting a new carpet in the white Viva, I could turn my attention back to this and get the engine out. I could have tackled the head gasket in-situ but decided to pull the whole lot out and see what else needed doing. Something was up with the oil as well, very fuelly smelling and higher than standard volume in the sump. Must have got a good dose of petrol through it - maybe a sticky/leaky injector? Interesting they run a single supply to the fuel rail with no return line so wonder if it has residual pressure which leaks via the injectors? Everything was easy enough to work on, the extra height made it easier on my back leaning in to disconnect everything, and didn’t need to jack it up to get underneath. Most of the heavy electrical stuff like alternator and starter was under the intake manifold and quite space constrained - even a 3/8” ratchet was a bit big - my hand can span the whole plenum for scale reference… Got everything disconnected and out it came - of course I always forget to unbolt the lower flywheel cover plate when splitting an engine and gearbox so a couple of 10mm bolts needed last minute attention, no wires or hoses though! I also dropped the gearbox out as well, decided to drop that out the bottom and risked it by not draining the oil out first. Well it got me… a small lake of delicious smelling gearbag oil needed mopping up (how good are painted floors!). Engine out, mess all cleaned up. Will strip it down at some stage and see what’s wrong with it.

Oh yeah that will be awesome for the covering, but it’s actually the board underneath that’s quite fucked. Thinest MDF is 3mm, and can’t seem to find large enough squares of 2mm board. It’s kind of like a high density cardboard / MDF type thing. Might need to go to an arts and craft supply place.

Oh yeah and I didn’t refit the fire extinguisher because it was very out of date - like 2010 date of manufacture and they are really only good for 5 years. It is a British car so will refit a new one in due course.

Here’s a quick before and after.

So the Christmas period got in the way of progress on this, but finished up most of it today. Prepped and painted patches of the floor pan which had old surface corrosion and then installed some underlay. Probably should have put down some Dynamat or Kilmat or similar. But didn’t. A bit of fine tuning of the carpet and got the rear section all fitted up nicely. The handbrake boot was attached to the old carpet so I’ll have to get an aftermarket one - can buy online when it’s not a holiday closedown period. I then removed the lower dash and kick panels to get the front fitment sorted. Also took the opportunity to tidy up a whole lot of dodgy and untidy stereo and gauge wiring from various past owners and myself. I also painted the kick panels but they are very worn and really need replacement. They are 2mm board, so not sure where to find that. Also in hindsight should have removed and painted the board under the top portion, it looks crap now. Got it all refitted and fixed up the edges and other fittings. Getting all the holes lined up and bolts/screws is a bit of a muck around… mostly a scriber poked up from below got the location sorted. Seats back in, and pretty much done. It took a bit more effort than originally thought, but came up pretty good and I used the opportunity to fix up other bits as I went. Not a bad way to spend a few days over the holiday break. I will order a handbrake boot and some new windlace to go around the doors. Then it’s fully done. Check back in 4 years for the next update!

Oh yeah and a big pile of old carpet and lots and lots of underlay. So much dust and fibres, I’ll probably get some lung disease from it.

So yeah. I still have this and haven’t done anything of significance to it since my last post. I did convert the old generator to an alternator a couple of years ago. That’s about it. One job I’ve always been meaning to do is replace the carpet. It is threadbare, and the sides are worn so you can see the floor pan. I bought a moulded set from Knox Carpets in Australia because it’s the same floor pan as HB, LC and LJ Torana. It was also a very good price compared to sets available locally. It arrived just in time for a summer holiday project. Remove interior, remove carpet. It’s pretty grot. Cleaned up the floor pan a bit, and then did some test fits of the new pieces. Will need a bit of trimming and fine adjustment, but not bad really. Treated some surface corrosion where some damp underlay must have been sitting, and will throw a bit of paint on before fitting the carpets properly. Then a whole lot of faffing about to get all the holes in the right places.

Now it was inside I could muck around with it. First job. I noticed the radio didn't work and the pocket in the second DIN slot wasn't mounted so that should be a quick fix. A loose wire was culprit as to why it wouldn't work. I found two screws to mount the storage pocket properly and reassembled. It's a JDM headunit so only receives one local station and doesn't have bluetooth - but plays CDs okay and also has iPod connectivity via USB so can play Spotify off my iPhone. Second job - while pondering and procrastinating I thought I'd quickly clean up the headlights which were very yellow. Here's the job 50% done for comparison. Last job of the day - why doesn't it start? Intercooler off, coils out, plugs out. Everything is so tiny. Turned it over with plugs out and it was like a water pump - a lot more came out of the bores than I had imagined and I forgot how far it goes under pressure. What's that smell? Petrol. That ain't water. Not sure what was going on but it was a mix with a lot of petrol in it, and it evaporated/flashed off pretty quickly. When I've got it apart I'll clean and check the injectors as well to make sure there isn't a sticky one or some other reason why it may have flooded with petrol. After all that I rewarded myself with a cold beer and thought about what next. Engine out over the holiday break (if not before) and see what is needed. Parts will need to come from Japan but they appear to be readily available. It can sit and wait for now.

I spent the whole afternoon cleaning it. Started by waterblasting and scrubbing the outside, removed all the stickers and other shit from the glass. It actually looked pretty good when it was clean. The inside needed a decent vacuum and scrub of all the plastics. The door cards had spilled drinks, one side had something resembling dried tomato sauce which had dripped down it, the centre consoles, dash and glovebox were also filthy and all got a scrub inside or outside of the car. I really want to pull the seats and carpets out and give it a deep clean, but I'll leave that until it is running again. We pushed it into the shed so I could look into why it wasn't starting. Putting it inside next to my other 'small' car made me realise just how small these really are. If you are space constrained, buy a kei car instead. After all, that's why they exist.

I got it home and unloaded without any problems and dumped it in the driveway. After sorting a few other things that needed doing, I thought I would move it into the workshop and start to clean it up a bit. Problem #1 - it wouldn't start. Despite starting several times already that morning, it did not want to turn over. It wasn't a starter problem and felt like a seized engine so I suspected it may be hydrolocked given how much water was coming out earlier. Cool. It could stay where it was and I'd clean it first. What had I bought? A 2001 Suzuki Jimny 'Land Venture' edition which is some sort of trim spec. It seems to have better wheels than the standard kei spec Jimny, and cool green upholstery. It also has cool checked floor mats. The previous owner must have done some regular offroading because there was the remnants of a CB radio install, extra lighting and also a 12v compressor mounted in the back, and the bodywork was extensively scratched. The bonnet is dented and scratched in a way I can't figure out how they did it, the roof has been resprayed a different shade of green and the original edges have got a lot of sunburn/clear coat failure. The original roof rails have been removed leaving only their sockets. The spare wheel cover is also dented which is a shame but can probably be beaten back into shape. The other feature was an extensive amount of filth everywhere. All the plastics, carpets and seats were disgusting. Exhibit A

So after many years of wanting a kei car of some sort and also a Jimny, and much exchange of banter and links between myself and my old fleet manager over many years about such vehicles, I became aware of a very cheap kei spec Jimny on Trademe. I thought I'd keep an eye on the auction and see how it went - I didn't need it, but I would be interested for the right price. Anyway, it was pretty rough - seller was pretty honest about the state of it - blown head gasket, cracked windscreen, and it was not in a condition to win any concours events. It was in the top of the South Island so no way I could check it out, but it only came into the country in 2022, and had current reg and wof so I figured it couldn't be too bad. I managed to win the auction for a very sharp price (after a painful '$10 increment every two minutes' bidding war with another bidder). A price sharp enough to justify fixing it or even throwing it in the bin if it was no good. The seller was a GC and managed to hook me up with his mate who was coming over to Wellington and could bring it over on the ferry for me on a trailer. First impressions - pretty rough, the interior was disgusting but overall a solid car. It was definitely BHG with water and clouds coming out of the exhaust so it got driven all of 10 metres onto the trailer. Everything about it is so tiny, especially the engine - a baby 3 cylinder 660cc turbo K6A. According to the internet they produce 47kW so this has now probably replaced my white Viva as being the least powerful car in the fleet. Homeward bound to see what kind of junk I'd managed to buy. Everything needed a decent clean and going over to understand how good or bad it really was. Oh yeah, it also had three different air fresheners hanging from the mirror and a collection of tasteless stickers on the rear winder.

What a turnout! Good to catch up with everyone.

Keen for a catch up. What’s the best takeaway in this area to grab dinner from?

I think I saw a post to say Southwards has been cancelled this Sunday?

This is normally a rubbish Thursday for me, but I’m not going to that thing this month. Keen. (although I will have been in the city in the day time so not sure about a return trip again in the evening) Next Weds also works well for me and I will be in the city from 4pm onwards. Edit: Weds 25th evening may be no good now either. TBC.