ProZac Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 Woohoo, found a Chevanne! I can remember Dad bringing one of these home on a test drive back when i was just learning to drive... was going to be something to teach me in, but it was a bit of a lemon, so it went back to the yard. After seeing a couple of the Chevettes on this site, my interest was piqued, and low to behold, this one was found . Why cant i ever buy a car that actually runs!? Add to that the fact i dont have any imperial tools... Thank god i work at repco and get decent tools cheap, or i'd be screwed. That kit is very very ugly. It will be removed just as soon as i can find an original chrome bumper. Seems pretty tidy, smells like an old car, thats for sure, but not like a smokers car, so thats a plus. The spares, not shown is the original engine, which is also included, but yet to be picked up. Plans are to: A) Get it going! remove that front kit, get some rostyles and widen them, then lower it quite a bit. Tints, tidy the body some more, and enjoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProZac Posted May 25, 2007 Author Share Posted May 25, 2007 Alas, the battery is dead flat, and this is my only car (I usually push-bike everywhere, save the enviroment, bloody hippy). Soooo i cant have a go at getting it running. I did get busy however, and gave it a good clean. I decided i'd start all the little jobs from the front back, and outside in. First was remove the kit, second was remove all the bodgy overspray from the indicators. How it looked when i started... not to bad, but lots of paint marks and road tar everywhere. After a good clean and cut. Man the paint comes up smooth and nice! Really amazing. Shame about all the scrapes and what-not, but its an old car you have to expect it. Its just flavour! Indicator lense. The orange tints were all cracked and broken, so i've removed them alltogether, and will just run an orange bulb. Currently im just waiting on my flatmate to bring a battery home, and i'll kick it in the guts to see what happens, wish me luck! Chur. 250507: Round 2! New battery, check, Nulon "Start ya bastard!", check... and im off. The starter dosent engage however... there is a big click from the relay by the firewall, but nothing else... After taking the starter out and checking it (it went), i had a further look. Hooking the starter directly off jumper leads works... so i use a jumper lead as a seconday engine ground, and hey presto, she cranks over. Took the ground off and cleaned up up real prudy, now it cranks over fast, but still wont start. Preliminary investigations show no spark... But its getting late, so that'll be a job for tomorrow evening. Still not going, but definate progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProZac Posted June 5, 2007 Author Share Posted June 5, 2007 Well, i think i know why it wouldnt go. Have a look at this picture: Note how piston 1 is at TDC, yet the timing mark on the front pully is nowhere near the mark on the front cover... Problem? Methinks yes! If only i was smart enough to chuck a screwdriver down the sparkplug hole and check it before i pulled the head off... But what ya gonna do? Headgasket was pretty toast anyway. In other news, check out the dodgy throttle linkage someone has made for it: Fully awesome... Definatly not going back on. The carb was pretty toasted and played with aswell, luckily i have another on the way and a rebuild kit at work for it. Should prove a fun project. I did purchase some new bits: And remove alot of old bits, to be refurb'd or replaced: I've purchased CUL8R's Gemini parts car, complete with engine, so that will be plunked in at some stage, but as i can get the bits to put this motor back together for next to nothing im gonna do that for the moment, that way i can actually drive it! hah! So current plan is to freshen up the head, figure out what the crank pully is out of whack (im *really* hoping its not a slogged out key-way or something), slap it back together and get it purring, then actually drive it! Wha-hey! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProZac Posted August 11, 2007 Author Share Posted August 11, 2007 Well, i've been a bit busy of late, new-girlfriend syndrome means less progess on the car than i'd like, and near-constant tiredness... Ahhh, well. Anyway, In the interim i've started fixing up the few patches on the body than needed attention. There was a bit of filler falling out of the roof, so i ground that out and fixed it up properly. I also had a guards rolled, as a mate does it as a business and owed me a favour . The guard rollers arent really meant to pump out the arches at all, but i had him try just a little. It came out really really well actually, nice and subtle, but will look horny on some wide rims. This ofcourse involves stripping the paint off the arches and filling them smooth again... Its a bit of work, but will be well worth it i think. I started fitting the nolathane bushes in also. I've got a spare front sub-frame all disassembled ready for sandbalsting, but i though i'd chuck some bushes in the rear trailing arms, just to see what they fit like. The kit i bought is actually for a gemini, but everything seems to be the same. Just imagine the rear arms a perfect smooth satin black, should look the goods! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProZac Posted October 20, 2007 Author Share Posted October 20, 2007 Things have gotten way out of hand... Turns out my chevette nosecone was pretty banged up, and kinda rusty to boot, so it got the flick, im sure from the pictures you can guess my intentions however, should be cool. Gemini front guards are pretty rotten along the bottoms, but i can stitch the front of some chevette ones on to solve that. Gem front i just whacked off with the engle grinder, hot knife through butter. Chevette front i was a little more surgical with. Pretty much everything i should need i rekon. All the suspension arms waiting for me to sandblast, so they can be painted and have their sexy new nolathane installed. As an aside, CRC's Zinc-It range of paints are fucking amazing on bare metal, their Black Zinc somes out nice and semi-gloss, easy as hell to get smooth, and does not come off, at all, period. Minter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProZac Posted October 21, 2007 Author Share Posted October 21, 2007 After heaps and heaps (actually none whatsoever) of measuring and calculating, I hacked into the front of the chevette with the grinder. The Gemini inner guards are quite a bit shorter, so I cut the chevette ones to match. I wasen't exactly sure where to slice them, as I had nothing to measure off with the gemini being all cut up, so I took an educated guess and hoped for the best. It seems to have worked out reasonably nicely, as the first trial fitment went really well I bolted the guards on with the one hole along the top that lined up, right at the back, and set the panel gap to the windscreen panel, then took all the measurements off that. The front panel bolts to front of the guards, so that was easy to locate. After having a squiz, my educated guess wasent too far off, deinfalty workable Then I had to throw in the headlights and grille for a bit of inspiration, should look horny . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProZac Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 Holy shit. Well, i finally have a nice place, and have sorted the garage, so its back in town, and back with this project. There was no luck finding decent gemini guards, and then a chevette front end in tip-top shape came up for a fifty, so its going to be a chevanne again. Definately going with a twin cam 4g63 NA though, should be good. Pics follow: With a bit of cutting and welding and spacing i should be able to use the original RWD 4g63 metal mounts. Puts the motor in a nice place, should have a bit of clearance, but not too far foward. Speaking of welding, sale of the fucking century was this. Im a repco slut, and this was bought in for a trade customer, but the sale fell through. It then appeared on a clearance list, with 'make an offer' on it... I made a stupid low offer and the powers that be said 'choice!'. Less than half the wholesale price, and a quarter of the retail, im well stoked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProZac Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 Found 5 mins to have a play in the garage today, also found my spare cross member so i could line things up on the bench. Will get some thinner heavy duty urethane cortina mounts, which will get the motor a little closer to the crossmember, but when i cut the metal mounts to get the right angle on them i can set the height exactly where i want it. Will definately have to make a sump and modify the oil pickup though, as there are no rear bowl versions of these motors... Might see if a sump from a later model where they flipped the motors could work, but i dont think i'll be that lucky. Will get some pipe tomorrow and get to mocking up the oil pickup. Anyone got a good way of bending 19mm pipe? I might rey welding pie sections together and see if it'll work. Fun and games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProZac Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 Went and got some 19mm pipe this morning to play with, then got stuck in. Made pie sections with 15deg angles each side, meaning each one turns 30deg. 3 of these, plus a 15deg angle on the peice coming from the flange gives me 105deg in total, about what i need. Getting the pipe bent would be better, but i dont have a pipe bender, and no one i know has one that can do 19mm pipe, or a tigh enough radius. Oce ive built this bit i'll sit it in some oil and spin the pump up with an electric drill to check it flows. Fingers crossed, as im really making it up as i go. Stuck at the moment till i get the cortina mounts im planning on using, which is later this arvo, as they'll sit the motor closer to the crossmember. Taped some exhaust tube in the place of the rack to check clearance, looking good as this height, but we'll see with the other mounts. I'd really like the motor as low as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProZac Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 Holy crap that new welder is a joy to use, seriously outstrips my meager abilities, but is miles and miles ahead of my other little one. Got the pipe together today, looks good after some grinder and file action. Welding didnt look to shit hot before hand, but i made sure it had plenty of penetration. Once the flange is on i'll check it for leaks with some meths or other thin liquid. Made a start on putting the flange on, but kept getting the angle wrong, so i gave up for the night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProZac Posted March 28, 2009 Author Share Posted March 28, 2009 Well, between holding down a job and studying at uni, the car hasent really gotten a look in for the last month or so. Got some jobs done today though. Gave up on the pie section idea, and went for pre-made bends. Tacked the pickup together and made a support for it half way along its length. Will weld it completely when i get my tig welder in a couple of months (saving is so hard!). Cut the side profile for the sump from some card, and put it in place to see how everything will clear, got it right first time for once! Clears everything inside the block nicely, and looks like i'll be able to get the engine about an inch lower than initially thought, which is awesome. Now, the important bit, pictures! Got some sweet hub-caps for the steels, which will be widened: Went and picked up the diff from my parents, its from an isuzu piazza. Should fit without to many issues. Has disc brakes, but no LSD alas. Cheers to Chris (CUL8R) and Dave (Brock-Lee) for this . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProZac Posted April 17, 2009 Author Share Posted April 17, 2009 Why is finding time such a problem!? Anyway, havent made alot of progress, but have some more pretty pictures because im bored. New rear bown sump holds about a litre more than the original, will put some baffles in once its finished and fully welded. Bought one of them tigger machines, having heaps of fun playing with it, need to be ALOT better before i try anything actually serious for my car though. Found a non-fucked 4g63 for chepa as chips aswell, phew, finally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProZac Posted June 18, 2009 Author Share Posted June 18, 2009 Have done the odd job here and there, havent really touched anything majour in a while. Welded the sump up, would work, but im not 100% happy with it, so i've started another. Couldnt get any replacement tie rods cheap, but had some gemini ones on the shelf, quick check shows the only difference was that they were ~15mm longer. Gave them the chop and tidied up the thread. Got some new Piazza tie rod ends to go with the piazza uprights. Job done. Stripped down my Piazza front calipers (chur Brock-Lee and CUL8R), all rubber boots were mint after a clean, gave the pistons and bores a quick sand/hone/polish with some 1200grit. Got some new seals and painted em a nice silver. Came up soooooo clean, look brand spankers! Reassembly is a bit fiddly, as i didnt want to mark the paint up to much, got there in the end. Thats it for the moment. Holidays on tuesday! yay! Time to muck about in the garage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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