Alfashark

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Clutch master is tucked up above the pedal-box - Driver's seat all the way aft then prepare to spend some time swearing on your back.

Typical K-Jet issues - Lines perish over time, airleaks start and a lot of places would enrich them a bit to compensate without ever dealing with the real issue.

Sort yourself out with a new fuel and air filter, check the timing and see how it goes.

Without pulling the mountain of vacuum hoses off - I made the mistake of pulling a few of mine off before I had some hoses to make replacements, and after nearly 30 years of heat they disintegrated as they were being removed... get an assortment of rubber hose sizes and one by one replace the originals. I think the only one that gets funky is the idle stabiliser valve connection where it steps down in size and has a side branch coming off it.

Exhaust-wise, I had a 36" Coby running under the cabin and a small suitcase type muffler tucked up behind the rear bumper/skirt - 3" from the downpipe to the tip, not overly loud but very throaty with tons of bass. Used to set off car alarms when driving through carparks.

I'd say with two red-hot changes a week apart and some MBL8 in there, you'll be winning.

Some of the guys in Europe were talking of KV's running to 8-900,000km with only basic maintenance (belts, tensioners, oil, coolant and w/pump) as long as you're not revving the tits off them every day - Not that there's any point in doing so anyway.

Just a thought while talking about lifter noise... If your coupe still has the cast manifold, it may have a tiny crack in it near either the front or rear-most stud - When cold, it can sound just like a dud lifter but after a few minutes running, there's enough heat to almost completely seal it so it blends in with a quiet lifter chatter.

What's the mileage on your coupe? I ask because mine had 330,000 and had a bit of lifter noise. Gave it 2 oil changes a week apart - Got it nice and hot before pulling the plug each time, and added some MBL8 with the second fill up of oil... Problem solved.

I always thought Trumps & High revs was a bad thing?

Just the 2500's - 2000's are almost "square" whereas the 2500 gained all it's size increase via a 19mm stroke.

The only boing/thump I ever encountered was from previous owners "enthusiastic" driving causing a slight amount of play in the drive-shaft splines, allowing them to bind up if you loaded them up in a fast corner or bend - rather than sliding smoothly as the suspension compressed, they'd stick and then snap free, causing the noise and a momentary over-steer... Similar to the "twitch" they get with rooted bushes.

Both of mine + the parts donor had mint dashes and bootlids, but all three had the front corners of the bonnets lifting slightly above the guards.

Sadly no pics, but yesterday in Oakura at a mates wedding:

1x Bronze S1/2/3? Rx7, boot badge said GS - was left hook, stock as a rock and have since been told it's a Canadian import...

1x Capri Perana - Saffa V8 spec

1x R32 Skyline running a Rover V8/BMW slushbox.

Two long hot weekends spent up to my elbows in the dash, but the old bitch finally has a stereo...

Nothing fancy, just an old JVC AM/FM/CD unit that was floating around in the boot of my Audi when I bought it. I had some 4" 3-way Jensen speakers in boxes left over from one of my Alfas too, so they've been tucked down behind the rear seat on velcro pads.

The other job was the installation of the tacho I'd scored earlier... This ended up being a no-go after a helpful geezer rocked up on my doorstep at 7am on Saturday with a complete GTI dash cluster for the total sum of $0.00

It had a fuckin awful looking red sweep on the speedo past the ton mark, and had ticked over twice the mileage mine has... Pulled the GTI one apart and flogged the tacho from it, did the same on mine and removed the analogue clock.

A quick cut n shut with a black frozen yoghurt container lid and a marker pen to fill up the holes where the GTI temp and fuel gauges sat and the job was done.

What was interesting when I took it for a drive, was the diff ratio is taller than the build sticker in the boot correlates to - The metric ton in 3rd gear = 3150rpm whereas the diff code and everything else I'd read worked on 3900rpm at the same speed.

3x P76's sitting in a paddock up the road from here... One arrived a month or two back and looks to be either a light resto job, and the other two appear to have driven in under their own power since Friday.

It's not really a 'consensus'... Whether people think they're too tinted or not doesn't really apply, they're still illegal to do. They're not like windows where you can do it to a certain %.

I'm not trying to prove anyone wrong here, but it seems like a grey area... Assuming you're not going for a total blackout look, most tinted tail lights would probably be brighter than the factory tails on my CGT - marginal at best during the day time, but exactly as they left the factory:

And this chappy with his Vento Coupe... Tinted tails from a Vento sold in a European market - No NZ new or Jap import Vento used them:

Throw a pic or two up of the lights you tinted... You should get a pretty quick consensus as to if they're too dark or not.

Been hunting around for a suitable period tacho recently... VDO and Jaeger were high on the list, but either priced out of my league or of the wrong style.

The big Saffa I worked with until recently had shown me pics of his CTI and those of his friends - All running an older model Mallory tach.

So, for the price of a dozen beers I bought one from a member on another forum I lurk around:

He was unsure on it's exact year, but had fitted it to his Camaro 30-35 years ago...

It's going to live below the dash in the center console so I'll update when it's installed.

Talk to one of your local milking machine/dairy shed builders... They should be able to knock you up a base-ring, rollers and platform in an afternoon.

Failing that, bring a trailer + grinder up here and I should be able to get you a very small rotary milking platform that's just been retired for a small sum.

Years ago at a VTNZ, Triumph No.1 failed with handbrake performance/balance...

Considering it had just had a major freshen up of the brakes and rear-end, I drove it home and did nothing. Took it back a few hours later, same inspector gave it the recheck and passed it - commented on how of an improvement it was...

Triumph No.2, a year or so later ended up with a crushed sill while over the pit at the same VTNZ... New sill section ex-UK on the VTNZ tab thanks!

Failed another inspection with one of my S110's due to the cocksmoker complaining about the pedal-height differences (clutch + brake are top-hung, acc. is floor hinged and never reaches the same level as the other two)

Not stupidly difficult to do... Where abouts are you based?

What's a CGT?

An Audi Type 85 Coupe GT:

One of my Skodas came complete with a receipt for just about every fill up it had ever had... Along with some tobacco tins containing a few spare sets of wheel-nuts, bulbs

Another one had what I can only assume to be a factory/dealership tool chest/kit tucked in the cavity behind the rear seat - lots of handy little jigs and tools for setting up front camber/clutch/shift linkages.

The Lada had the usual tool kit, a plug-gap gauge and a presumably Soviet era emergency kit - The axe/shovel/hammer combo had a broken handle, the compass had a crack in the glass and there were two small canisters a tiny bit bigger than 35mm film containers: One had a plastic ground sheet about 1.5m x 1.5m and a wire-saw, the other had a foil thermal blanket and some waterproof matches.

The CGT had a shitload of rubbers and cd's in the glovebox and a new set of smoked tail lights in the boot - they got sent offshore and made me a 4-figure sum...

Well, as purchased the car had a slow coolant leak. The previous owner couldn't quite pinpoint where from, and since it was in the order of a 750ml top up every few weeks it wasn't a big deal.

In the last month or so, it started drinking a bit more and quite a bit more frequently... The problem being found as the coolant outlet flange on the trans end of the block.

Fired up my version of ETKA to check out my options (despite the car being a '93, the relevant section in ETKA is for an '85 and the single outlet flange is listed under '83...)

3 days and $18 later, the part arrived along with 2 bottles of G12+ coolant:

Pulled the bung and drained the system, left the garden hose in the top tank for 10-15min to flush in the normal flow direction and then 10-15min in the reverse flow (G11 coolant that the car was running creates orange concrete when it mixes with the newer G12 and I didn't fancy having to deal with that).

Off with the old flange... Brittle as fuck, and the o-ring was well past it.

Gave the mounting surfaces a good clean up with a rag to take off the worst of the crap, then a good wipe with a clean rag soaked in petrol.

Attacked the o-ring on the new flange with a liberal smearing of vaseline and put it all back together:

All hoses reconnected, I filled the cooling system up with plain old water and let it idle up to temp and purge any bubbles in the system while I check for leaks... Left it sitting for a few hours to cool off so I can dump the water and pour some nice clean G12 ready for a long hot summer's driving.

Some impressive lists so far! As for my own:

1973 Triumph 2500

1975 Triumph 2500 (this was the blow-through turbo project)

1975 Corvette (written off courtesy of a drunk man in a van)

1974 Skoda S110L x3

1978 Skoda S110LS

1987 Skoda 120L

1988 Skoda 120L

1987 Lada 2105

1987 Alfa 33 1.7QV

1991 Alfa 33 1.7 16v

1985 Audi CGT

1997 Peugeot 306 GTi-6

1988 Ford Sierra Sapphire (garaged in Dunedin for my S.I trips)

1993 VW CitiGolf

2006 Skoda Fabia Vrs

I've asked the VR6/1.8T->RWD question to someone more knowledgeable than I...

T5's are the box of choice apparently, using an adaptor.

My source says there's word of a run of adaptor plates/full bellhousings being made for VAG stuff on MotorGeeks...

$1k could get you a complete 20vT in perfect order with loom/ecu, add $50 or so for immo/cluster delete.

VR6's are dime a dozen since there seems to be a flood of auto ones with rooted boxes... Not entirely sure what RWD box is used for them, I know a guy in Napier has converted a urQ box to RWD only with no dodgy pissing around.

Here's a couple of suggestions from the VW/Audi camp...

How about a 1.8T - 4-pot 20v turbo, common as dogshit with tons of aftermarket parts. 150hp stock, with buckets of torque... Audi versions are set up for North/South mounting.

Possibly a little heavy, but a 2.8/2.9/3.2 VR6 might fit the bill - plenty of grunt, readily available parts, compact (only 15° angle between the banks and one cylinder head) RWD mountable easily and not too thirsty, especially in such a light car. Oh and the noise... Your ears will love you for it!

It clearly has some effect... VW/Audi have used after-run fan setups on their cars for a long time. Mk-3 Golf onward and Audi 100/200's with the 5-pot turbo engines ran both a fan and electric after-run water pump too.

This is just one of a few properties with similar collections on the main road into Mamaku village... TBH I'm not fussed on the wreckage, it's the deer I want.

A short list...

Tipped a 3-pot Charade into a river on an ex's parents farm - always allow for crosswinds when attempting motorcross jumps.

Was in the front passengers seat of the wife's U14 'Bird when a plumber ran a red light in a 70 zone... Impact tore the rear door off and left a head shaped impression in the B-pillar trim.

In '08, I narrowly escaped being impaled/crushed in our 4-day old work Hilux. Idling around an uphill blind cutting on a farm, I met a very large 'Deere towing an equally large feedout/mixer wagon coming down the hill. I stopped, he just locked up and slid - front wheel into/over the ute bonnet, stopped at the base of the windscreen/pedal box reduced to the size of a size 12 workboot... Scary part was the scratch marks on the cab roof from the silage-forks/FEL - Normally these guys run down the hill with the forks at about stomach height so they can drop them to dig in if there's ever a runaway situation.