azzurro

Happy 2015 all. Took the 125 to Waiheke Island for the recent long weekend (Auckland Anniversary). First time its been out for a while. At the rental house looking back to Auckland: Man 'o War Bay Ferry Home Gravel roads (to Man O war Bay) were in terrible nick corrugations like ive only seen in Outback movies and highlighted some issues. The exhaust that i had 'improved' buy replacing the pre diff muffler (not straight through) with a resonator from the Croma. Sounds way better but the witness marks on the diff are pretty bad. The top locking bolt on rear shocks (koni reds) also came loose and the main nut loosened off are now jammed not quite done up on the worn thread and so thump a bit too and i cant undo them. will need to sort that out before they saw the mounting hole oval. 124 rear shocks are much easier to find and will fit and are quite a bit shorter if i cant rethread the tired old Koni Reds. Checking it all out once home also highlighted - rear brake soft lines are cracked (what the hell? they are only 4 years old! Will check fronts too.) - and what i thought was a rear caliper leak (noooo!) actually is a leaky axle seal (also fairly new). - Diff is also getting a bit noisy (though side leak may be somewhat related? blown bearing??) may be a good excuse to look into them danish LSDs - radiator has a slight weep from a crackes solder joint. 2L Engine runs hotter than the 1608 too - may swap in a later model front valance which also has vent holes . - theres a weird rattle in the front somewhere - hopefully radiator shroud just needs some split hose cable ties to it it and a crappy metal dust shield i made by the steering box will get replace with an eqully crappy but not rattly rubber one. Plenty to do before OS Nats in March!

Illest elite L7

This has been slowly progressing as we spend a couple more hours here and there over the last few weeks in between actual summery stuff. Its been literally too hot to work on while the sun is out. - everthing now has at least 2 coats of rustkill - lights & plugs all wired up, except for one tail light that didnt illuminate and side markers pending side ply to screw them to. Replacement tail light unit arrived today (A+ will trade again) . - ply purchased (largest cost so far) and fitted to tray and tail gates. Just sides to fit now. Cheap shitty screws are cheap and shitty. - will fit new* tyres to the original steel rims as the Primera ones from James are just too FWD offset depite being about 10% of the weight and having the right centre bore. Looks short and wide in this, but its 3.6m loooong and 2.2m wide. With the tarp on the box feels really big. Miss-ON8 testing out the trailers suitability for a one-handed-reach-around parlour and mobile Crocs showroom. Not far off its maiden voyage now. Will attach the Sign of the Year sign to it somewhere.

this. putting colour on is like the very last step in a 10000 step process of which about 9995 steps are the same ones over and over again. Like others have said i was happy with the result having done it myself and have a bunch of tools and experience for the next one (but i dont really want to do the next one)

Good Jerb. (ps you missed a bit) Photos dont really show how yellow the old paint is compared to the new one. LOL, but maybe ever so slightly less so after tomorrow

Unsure if ill pootle into 'town', as it is also Mrs Azzurros last day of holidays, and surf is looking OK, traffic will be shit, and it will be hot as feck, but but all welcome* for a cold beersie on the deck if the convoy does end up in Muriwai. Maori Bay is also a good spot for parking up/photos unless surf is good (no parks) and there is a couple of picnic tables on the grass at the south end for picinics and whatnot. The beach is ok, but cant see cars from it. Under the trees by old surf club could be an option, but is often pretty busy. could be quiet on sunday with a lot of people back to work? *pending approval from said Mrs A

Keen.

After drag day where i felt i was running out of gas, ive put a small Facet pump ive had for a while in the boot to push fuel up to the mechanical one which is still on the block Seems to work fine and the bowl on the regulator is always full now. Unsure if the mechanical one is still required, but doesnt seem to be doing any harm. Just need to fit a inertia swith to the pump relay wiring - ill do that when i finally scrap the Croma. ___ Some months a go i bought these off trade me, and they have finally made their way to me. Big thanks to all the Boes on the OS Pony Express for getting them up. They are 13"x6" American Racing Vectors with the worlds oldest slicks. I polished and repainted them and finally test fitted one today. Unfortunately they are 4x95.25mm not 4x98 so back into the universe they go This stud pattern will fit MGF Spitfire/Heralds/GT6 hubs Metro/Rover 100, Maestro/Montego, Dolomites, Toledos and Marinas So if you are sick BL fan and want some sweet rims let me know __ I also picked up this fine tome yesterday:

OS Drags Post: Great weekend and had a very enjoyable time. Dropped my times from 18.6s @xx mph to 17.34 @ 78.1mph (best time) and all my runs were within 0.5 seconds, so pretty happy with that, even tho i was secrety hoping for more (16s), with a good 2l engine, side drafts and lighter wheels, over last time, where i had a 1608cc engine with a troublesome single downdraft and 14" 132 iron cross steelies. Maybe those 1608s arnt so bad Anyway pics courtesy of others: Mr Potatohead has his angry eyes on holey shit im winning! (TBF that Stephens Mazda 808 is still 1300cc piston powered ) Some of mine: Many many more & better pics here: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/44969-oldschool-drag-day-discussion-thread/page-20

was the 1600 it was off running a single sidey too? if it was running twins then the jets will be too small when its supplying 2x the cylinders. if your pump was ok with a downdraft it should be fine with sidey(s), they shouldnt use that much more gas. does it run fine if you ease off a bit? ie the fuel supply fills the bowl up again, or is it dead for while? I would pull the carb off and give it a good clean out and tidy up (and note the jets/tubes etc sizes for later!) before chasing more complicated things. Filter is a good idea but wont be a fix for what currently ails ya

was also fine here, now is raining. I have wipers and an appetite and some stuff that is now in my boot that i would like to not take home again. one mans rubbish...

Sometimes i think? Will be leaving to go to M10 or directly to the burgers.

yarp, keen Will bring some crap for secret santa too. OS car stuff that is too good to throw away, but too shit to sell Speaking of which, is Sentra Dave coming? All i want for Xmas is American Racing Vectors.

Sunday #5 Late start early finish, but have now completed most of the grindin' n weldin' after running out of gas last weekend. Chris made up the tailgates at work during the week - they just slot into some C-section and will double as ramps. Also fitted up the rear dropper and straps for the new lights, plate and etc - will leave it open for more tie down spots. Put the hubs back together with new grease and brake pads in the race brakes, and all back together with springs under for test purposes - tyres will rub on guards before springs bottom out and rear is pretty low, but cant say we didnt give it a go! Just need to: - wire up the lights, - run the brake cable, - buy and fit some ply - fit tyres/reuyms and shes ready for WoF.

looks good man! the twink will no doubt make a lovely racket with those big sideys and a massive fart can. ps dont poke the paint blisters...

yay, trailers!

Not been up to much with this, have been building a large trailer from a massive one to get rid of the croma instead. i did buy myself a early xmas pressie which arrived last week and have modified to suit my taste Coffee and Classics today, ran great, used no oil. Drag day soon!! made a couple of mods in preperation including finally buying some rubber glue for the falley-off rear boot seal and putting a floor mat under the springs in the saggy drivers seat. Cushy. Radiator has a slight weep thats not getting worse, not fixed itself either, base of the neck needs a pinhole resoldering i think. Need to check diff oil.

P-Star - it is possible that you will soon be in the market for a large custom trailer to carry your fine selection of rusty death traps? We may have a great deal for you! Dolan, it has 185R14s now that are basically unworn and holding air well, but crazy perished. Also tall. Could easily lower it (underslung to over, c-notch or unsprung) but, meh. Not planning on keeping it long. Mr Out, they may be perfect, at least for WoF, new purchaser can replace original heavy duty tyres on original rims should they care about what they are towing or other road users...

YES! (except 4x114) but achully no, smaller is probably better so tray is lower for car loading

all donations gladly accepted however the brakes are pretty big so 13s may not fit over them, and all going well we will need some rims/tyres in the next couple of weeks or so for WoF time. But yes. Trailer stance. worst happens we can steal a couple of rims from the Primera (Mrs Gra-ant, can we borrow a couple of rims from the primera for the road fort me and chris have been building?)

sunday #4: First paint Last weekend we finished the heavy stuff, and today we mostly finished welding 'structural' improvements back on, including extra underfloor cross bars, a side rail for the side ply to screw to, and a tie down rail above that. May put in a few droppers between the two side bars for strength and stop tie downs sliding backwards and forwards. Dropped the axle out and pulled that apart, apart from the rims being well stuck on, all the beanings and brake parts are in good condition and have/will clean up nicely. Then we wire wheeled the rough bits, coat of rust converter then a thinned coat of killrust. Chris is gonna chop a bit more steel for the tail gate and light bar at work so get that all done and another coat o paint next weekend. BLIMP!

yep, my dellortos are (now) ace gas definitly shoudnt come out the top - float level is way out (not shutting needle valve), needle valve is worn not shutting off the gas, or fuel pressure too high (no more than 2-3psi like kicker said - for carbs you need flow not pressure). You can set the float with a drill bit of the right diameter betwen the float and the cover with gasket on just closing the needle - there are pletly of diagams online - its about 7mm for dellortos, but find a reliable site and look up your float (they are differnt weights = different cleances)

just adding to the love of your work - clean underparts, fresh paint and squeaky new bushes yumyumyum

so keen for burgers with the never taken option of mexican. anyone coming up from Hamilton that could drag a couple of rims with them? xox

Yeah, we are gonnal leave the box as1: its more work to remove and 2: leaves more options for future use (bill board/caravan/coffee cart/horse float/mobile nudie bar etc). Or just pop a tarp on it for camping or whatever. Will be a small car/big garden trailer initially also WANTED: TYRES Sensible Option 14" commercial tyres to replace current ones (185/C/R14 van type) Other option: 2x random 4x114 rims with tyres - maybe lower profile to ease car loading steeps. PLY: 4 maybe 5x sheets of thick ass treated ply for floor, sides and tail gates. PAINT: thinking rust converter and Killrust, or Por15 system. Suggestions/hookups or what have yous?