Avenga's Avengers

[Avenga]

Exciting day!! I got the first shots of the Avenger in colour from my panelbeaters. I will go down on Saturday and see it in person and take some more pics.

Also finished assembling my tail lights. I also have some brand new halogen front lights to go in.

Here is a shot of the first base coat.

and here it is with the final clear coat.

Here are the finished tail lights (minus the black strip)

[Avenga]

Latest update from the panel beater (GT Refinishers http://www.facebook.com/Gtref)

Rear flares are painted. The colour looks amazing, can't wait to see it in person.

[Avenga]

I went down to GT Refinishers today to check out the paint job on the Avenger. It looks amazing in person, the photos don't do it justice. The paint still needs to be buffed but it is looking unbelievably awesome at the moment. Grant said it has had over 200 hours spent on it so far.

It should be finished at GT Refinishers by next weekend, then it is back to Bygone Autos to get the engine etc back in.

Here are some better pictures of the paint job.

The rear spoiler looks amazing now that it is painted

Close up of one of the flares painted

Front fender minus the flare

Engine bay looks great with the bonnet catch and battery removed.

New under seal under the guards

There isn't much room in at the panelbeaters so I can't get a good side on shot so these rear shots will have to do.

[Avenga]

Test fitting the front spoiler and flares at GT Refinishers (http://www.facebook.com/Gtref)

[Avenga]

Another progress shot from GT Refinishers.

Looking really awesome now that it is getting put back together.

I am going down the GT Refinishers tomorrow to get some more pics. Should be pretty much all back together by then. I am hoping to pick it up on Monday and take it back to Bygone Autos for the rest of the work.

[Avenga]

Another update.

Went down to GT Refinishers to check out the Avenger now that all the panel and paint is done. It looks amazing in real life. Pretty much bang on how I imagined it when I started, Grant and the guys at GT Refinishers have done an outstanding job making it a reality.

The front will come down a bit then we drop the engine back in, and I am going to increase the front track so the wheels fill the flares a bit better. I am very please with how the back is sitting, looks incredibly tough. I am going to be getting some harder springs but probably leave it at same height at the back.

All the rubbers are in the car, I will be getting some new tints after I get it back on the road.

Looks awesome now with the newly painted front grille and quarter bumpers

The front wheel will come a little more forward and outwards as we adjust the castor and track.

The boot has been coated in POR15 then textured and sprayed black, those are all the old rubbers out of the car.

Spoiler looks great all painted up

[Avenga]

Picked up my Avenger from GT Refinishers today. Back to Bygone Autos for the rest of the work.

[Avenga]

Another update.

Spent the day down at Bygone Autos polishing all the chrome. Pretty happy with the results.

Tailpipe before

After cleaning with wet aluminium foil

After polishing with Autosol

Back bumper before

After

Front quarter bumper

Grille and badge (need to repaint it)

Started to hide the loom under the fender.

[Avenga]

Another quick update.

Brand new Diesel Alternator and custom made bracket, this will provide vacuum for my brakes, I found since I switched to the side draft dellortos I had weak breaking because it only ran off one runner. This should give me better vacuum and augment my 4 pot volvo/BMW brake setup

Brakes are all plumbed up now with new hoses

Engine and gearbox are back in, still heaps more to do.

[Avenga]

Hi Guys.

Another update. Went down to Bygone today to continue work on getting Avenger ready. Today I polished all the rubber hoses and got the front and rear windows cleaned up and ready to go back in, removed the old rubbers, removed the old purple tint and scrapped off all the old silicon etc.

Other progress Bygone has made are the wiring is almost finished, they have also put in an oil return feed for the Alternator in the sump. They have also finished off the custom alternator bracket. They also welded up my broken seat.

Engine bay is starting to come together nicely.

Alternator bracket all finished.

Oil return feed for the Alternator

My seat repaired waiting to have the old skin put back on.

It looks like someone modified my seats from a set of standard Avenger seats. You can see they just welded a hoop on the top of a standard Avenger seat. They looks factory with the skin on, so I wonder if they were done by the dealer.

[Avenga]

Hi guys, another update.

New Dashboard and cluster is installed

Still need to make up a center panel under the heater

Custom catch cans are finished

moved the vent on the rocker, I will probably be chrome plating the rocker cover.

Hidden radiator fan controller

[Avenga]

Another quick update.

Engine is pretty much all ready to go now. Also the rear parcel tray etc is finished and installed.

[Avenga]

Another update.

The race is on to get my Avenger ready for my big trip down to the South Island for MoPars in Gore. So much stuff still to do and only 3 weeks left before I leave.

Finished off some of the last bits in the engine bay.

Custom made strut brace, modified from a BMW 318i.

A little bonnet support for when I have my fibreglass bonnet open.

Windows are back in.

Rear window with new parcel tray and C pillar cards.

[Avenga]

I reached a huge milestone yesterday. I brought my Avenger home, first time in over a year. I got my WoF Rego and cert yesterday so it is all road legal and back driving.

We reset the new odo so we are starting back at 0km, I have put about 50km on the clock so far.

Other news, got the stereo etc running, we mounted it in the glovebox so it is hidden. I will upload some photos of that later.

We had to lift the back a bit because it was rubbing but I will see if GT can take some more out of the guard then we will drop it back down.

She drives really well with the new rubber and suspension mods. I have only done some road town driving but I plan to fang it over the weekend to sort out any bugs.

With only just over a week to go before I go down to the South Island for MoPars in Gore. Still got a big list of things I want to do before I go. I have the tints going in on Tuesday, then I have just ordered a quick shift kit for the 5 speed sierra box so I have to install that before I go.

here are some pictures, I gave her her first wash since being painted, so shiny and pretty.

I love the way the wheels catch the light, I have some black wheel nuts for them which should look sweet.

heaps of mods listed on the cert plate.

[Avenga]

A quick final update before my big road trip down to MoPars in Gore.

It has been a busy week getting everything finished in time, but I can finally say my car is finished (well as finished as a classic car can be, I bet I will be doing more crazy mods to it when I get back). I got the tint done by Car Folie, I went for their top of the line 3M tint. I also picked up the last bit of upholstery for Grant's Auto Upholstery. Just had enough time to get some 3M stoneguard applied so I don't get any stone chips on the way down. The signwritter came over to my place to do the stoneguard and didn't finish till 7:30pm (poor guy but super stoked that he could do it before I leave).

I also got a short shift gear lever installed on my Sierra gearbox, the gears are ridiculously close together now, it feels so racecar to drive now.

Spent today washing and polishing the Avenger, got 1 day left to pack then I leave on Tuesday, can't wait.

Finished my custom badges. I have named my Avenger as an "Avenger Panther". I figured it was no longer the "Avenger Super" it started out life as, and it is not an "Avenger Tiger" Replica. I decided to keep with the Tiger theme and create the worlds only "Avenger Panther". Had the Avenger Panther badges watercut out of 3mm stainless.

Polished up the strut brace. Came out really well.

The stereo is hidden in the glovebox.

New center console and clock.

[Avenga]

Sorry for that lack of updates.

She is all finished and back up on the road so I have been doing tons of driving. Drove down to the bottom of the South Island for MoPars in Gore, then Turangi for the NZ MoPar Forum casual. I did around 5,000km in 3 weeks, she didn't skip a beat.

In other news, I took it out to the Dyno today out at West Auckland Engine Reconditioners. 86.8HP @ 6100RPM and 82.8lb-ft @ 5200RPM. Not bad for a little 1500.

Anyway here are some photos from my trips and a video of the dyno run

[Avenga]

Hi guys.

 

It's been a long time between updates. Been out heaps enjoying the Avenger.

 

I have just been working on one of the final mods which will be ready in time for my annual trip down to the South Island.

 

As the Avenger has a pretty tiny tank, I figured it would be nice to make a bigger tank to put in the boot.

 

Here are some CAD shots of the design. It works out to just over 75L before we put in the fuel cell foam

.

 

And here is it once it has been fabricated. It sits on a custom built frame and also has a sump and pick on the bottom.

 

 

 

 

[Avenga]

The big tank is all installed and ready to rock.

 

 

Breather and sender etc

 

 

Sump and fuel line

 

 

Fuel Safe filler (It says Racing on it so that adds at least 5hp)

 

 

 

Fuel gauge is mounted in the glovebox below the stereo.

 

[Avenga]

A bit of bad news.

 

On the way back from the South Island the engine in the Avenger went boom.

 

I was hoping it was just a blown head gasket but after we got the head off we found that it had melted one of the pistons.

 

Looks like one of the carbs got blocked then the engine ran lean. I had this same thing happen to my race car down the back straight at Pukekohe.

 

I need to replace the pistons and rings etc, clean up the bore and get rid of all the melted piston. after that I need to crack test the block and rebuild the rest of the engine.

 

It will be out of action until after xmas.