1ton

Well i WAS going to rant on about how I put a 2nd coat of silver on and managed to paint the engine bay this time round

and how it passed its WOF with only a brakelight bulb to fix and how its such an awesome daily run-about that gets alot of good attention since the change of paint

but.........

as you do, deals come up and I have recently moved the Avenger on to someone else

miss it already

wouldnt be surprised if it pops up again

and still undecided what to do with that Triumph?

spotted outside my place today

word around the place is I "collect" old cars, so this guy thought he would see if I was interested in this '75 Viva 2 door before he took it to the wreckers

any other time but now I might have been keen so I pointed him in another direction

way away from the wreckers

Been a while since I updated the old fellas thread. Been busy with a few other things so he just sits there waiting.....and waiting

Life threw me a curve-ball a week before Nats'13 so instead of me & mrs goin north in the 'Venger we all piled in the Val instead.

Needless to say we had a couple of issues on the way up, the first becoming apparent the moment we hit the road, rear guard design + lowering blocks + 6 people + lots of luggage in the boot = copious guard rub/tyre smoke (we were lucky to get to Kaiapoi from ChCh) so out with the hammer to give a bit of allowance until I could get somewhere where I could rip the blocks out.

Next issue was in Turangi when the brake pedal went straight to the floor, no brakes at all, wtf.

Had a look underneath and saw brake fluid leaking from one of the rear lines.  Found a workshop run by some South African guys who were more than keen to help me make up another line. They were top blokes, offered them some money but they didnt want any payment for their time/material, just happy to help, karma they said.

old line

new

apart from having to get new brushes put in the alternator (grrrrrrr) we didnt have anymore issues but I couldnt wait to rip those 2" blocks out so I did that the first chance I got.....

I also put in my new carpets from Autodec (before the roadtrip) to make it more "passenger-friendly", didnt actually make it any more quieter though haha, but looked heaps better.

stripped out:

after:

e

Im planning to give the motor a major birthday sometime as the carb could do with rekitting, the lifters need doing, a few gaskets need replacing etc

and I might have a contact for a mint rear bumper

so awesome

"Engine noise would be objectionable..."

bah

more like the gates of Hell being opened

I never ever had issues with my column-change holdens,

as for the 3 spd floor-change in my XA....if you didnt get it right it would jam in 1st constantly, in a way it was great coz no one else could drive it but me

seen a few holdens recently with the 3 spd manual behind the V8, so cool

and if I had my way, every car I own would have a front bench seat/column change

would look mean enough rollin around as is or +1 for deathrace/mad max style killdozer

you cant help but look like your up to no good sitting behind those crank handles 

mini-lite style?

how bout an old vinyl bus seat? got the right look   e.g:

Nice brakes there, what size did you go up to?

thats nasty

cant quite remember who it was but someone on here had a hookup with a auto-sparky in chch,  discount for OSers, not sure if it was a mobile service though

yeah still cant get over how good that vg valiant grill fits, width was perfect, the outer part of grill matches the lights perfect, mind you I think they share headlights?

have been alerted to the avenger forum thanks to Avenga but havent got my A into gear yet

I love driving round in it because of the 2 situations mentioned before:

half of people dont know what it is (typically the younger crowd)

and the other half know what it is and are shocked to see one

definite coat of clear after a I touch up the drivers door, will be my first attempt at a clear coat so fingers crossed

have had a few comments on the size of my Turbos as they're not the more common 13x6 but are 14x7s (which typically were 5 stud and found on Falcons etc) apparently this set were from an Escort.

Going to re-paint the black bit between the fins coz paint starting to fade there and it will make the fins stand out more

I remember back when turbos were cool and were on heaps of cars when I was growing up, then they were un-cool and were abandoned for more modern styles, now they're sought after again, (just like the old cars we threw away 20-30yrs ago)

yeah it got plenty of attention, that was part of the problem haha

half of people who see it are like WTF is it? Escort? (get that alot)

the other half are like holy shit its an Avenger, haven't seen one for ages, then they proceed to tell you an Avenger-related story from their past

Something different it is then.

Another one of my $35 paint jobs (only use half a $70 tin of paint), wont win any shows but not all bad,

looks less dodgy now so hopefully wont get as much unwanted attention from the lovely boys & girls in blue

Spotted today outside the Woolston Tavern

and this drive-by shooting of an old Saab

spotted in chch of course

and this 2.5 for sale not far from it

Good score, already looks the part, lovin that crochet blanket too, my '72 2000 MkII came with a similar one.

Also was extremely low at the rear with copious camber to match, luckily its got air-shocks tho.

So rare to find non cracked dash, aside from the paint and that rear door your 2000 looks quite straight

So, after using up the Wof that it came with I put the Avenger through for check and ended up with a wee list:

1. L/F wheel bearing noisy

2. Split steering rack boot

3. Worn wiper blades

4. Rear brake hose perished

5. Headlights temperamental

Had about a doz spare wiper arms and blades so #3 was easy.

After swapping the indicator stalk over my headlights would work intermittently which was due to the contacts but lucky I had heaps of spare units so swapped again, #5 sorted.

Split rack boot and wheel bearing were on same side, time to jack her up and get into it. Bought a new bearing set from Stanmore Auto Spares

Packed it up with all new grease, good as gold, #1 sorted.

Had a near new rack boot in the spares, chucked that on and see ya #2

Due to a soggy driveway at the time and cant use my garage I handed the car over to a brakeshop for the brakehose replacement and bleeding.

Took it back for recheck and yay new WOF. Been using as a cheap daily ever since with no problems at all, actually, one of the best value-for money cars Ive bought in a while.

The paint was starting to get very thin and faded with cracking/crazy through it so gave it a bit of paint but wasnt happy with it so starting sanding the paint off again. looks a bit rough at the moment til I finish sanding it and respray but not sure on what colour to go for next? Original colour was white but maybe go back to gold, or something different altogether.

So, agreed that reverse lamps are not required to pass WOF.

Do the WOF guys actually check the park/neutral switch is working on auto cars? As in trying to start it in gear?

My Triumphs switch/inhibitor has been bypassed as the switch was faulty, Im replacing it today but was just wondering anyway.

I think reverse lights come under optional lamps?

When I took the Avenger for WOF the guy mentioned that the reversing lights didnt work, I replied "its too old for those isnt it? he agreed.

Im gonna try the same with my Triumph coz previous owner disconnected the wires to the reverse switch thinking it was the inhibitor

what is it?

not a badge to be found ANYWHERE on the car, inside or out

but going by the style of the widened steelies and that exhaust along with what looks like fibreglass body Im picking its a VW SP1 or similar  (Puma?)

spotted today in chch, looks like been in storage for quite a while

Saw your old Val in ChCh a few months ago, tried to take cellphone pic to put in Old School Spotted thread but my phone is jurassic/shit.

Still looks just as good as it did in the pics on here, couldnt help but see it a mile away in that colour.

I spy with my little eye.....a 1970 Buick Sportwagon at the All American Day..... spotted in NZ Petrolhead mag