Sam's Hillman Hunter wagon.

[Slacker_Sam.]

Heres a Shot at the NZPC Hard Park shoot in Nelson. Got a lot of positive comments & a lot of looks.

Now the BAD news.... In preparation for the nats lots of things seem to be going wrong.

1st: was fix the wonkey ride height. It was slightly lower on the right rear then the left side. So I pulled all the rear end out & replaced the front eye bushes which seems to have evened things up... -WIN

2nd: Gearbox output shaft seal decided to spit the dummy & now leaks like a sieve. - Ordered a new one from Rootes parts

3rd: Left front shock started leaking lots of oil.

4th: A pool of Green coolant was on the oil drip tray today. At the rear of the engine.... But I cant see any leaks from that area wich really fucks me off. I did spot a frost plug under the manifold with a big glob of RTV on it. But no leaks from it.

5th: Left rear wheel bearing started making some marvelous noises on the way back from the NZPC shoot. & they are a cunt to change. The Hub needs to be pressed off the axle. So I cant do it at home.

on top of those I still need to fit a Electric radiator fan, The tacho & some sort of in car Audio (both low on priorities.)

All In all I've decided this wagon hates me.

[Slacker_Sam.]

Oh Hi, I didn't see you there. The search for my water leak lead me to the frost plugs behind the flywheel..... you know what that means, gearbox needs to come out. Last night this happened:

Note: really shitty engine bay will be getting a spruce up.

I could not believe how oily the engine & gearbox are. Its just one big mass of moist-ness.

Anyway I split the engine & box, removed clutch & flywheel to find this alien growth.

Wow just wow.

I took to removing the growth to find what was left of the frost plug behind. Frankly I couldn't believe it came out as easily as it did.

Behind it was this thick mud like substance that I spend ages scraping & flushing out. PREVIOUS OWNER, Y U NO CHANGE COOLANT?

Also I thought I'd change the rear main seal whilst I was at it. But there is no rear main seal! Rootes group decided Engines don't need seals. They can just leak everywhere.

[Slacker_Sam.]

No pictures this time. My gearbox seal is here, engine is clean & repainted chrysler blue, inlet manifold is all polished up, new rocker cover, side plate & manifold gaskets, engine bay is half prepped for paint. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get a chance to mask it up & paint it. I was thinking about making up some sort of spray shield to stop the oil from flicking up off the crank pulley onto my new paint. I cant stop the leak so my options are limited.

[Slacker_Sam.]

I spent most of my day working on the old girl. I managed to get the engine bay more or less finished, the motor back together & the gearbox back on. Pics:

From this:

to this:

Repainted engine & clean gearbox:

Then it was time for some sort of random feed:

......yeap.

[Guest Slacker_Sam.]

Boom!

Just like that.

And yes I know I need to clean the underside of my bonnet

[Guest Slacker_Sam.]

I finally got around to installing some sort of Audio entertainment device. Cutting holes in stuff was out of the question & I didn't want Ugly 6x9 boxes floating around in the back. So I did this:

Hmmm that suitcase didnt look so big outside the car.

This hole was already in the dash with a plastic cover clipped over it:

So now I have something to listen to on the way to nats '13

[Guest Slacker_Sam.]

Nationals 2013 was fucking epic! The Hunter did so well & didn't give me any issues Despite its major rake spec ride height It got many positive comments. Here's a few pics stolen from various sources

Corbie pulling gang signs

Grass khana with Fruit_Luke

Max drift action with full car load (Karl, fruit luke & greg)

Now the sad part

I may have told some of you that a chap offered me a considerable amount of money for this old girl just before nats. I turned him down as I really wanted to take it up north. The day after I got home he called me saying he still wanted it. With a very heavy heart I decided to take his offer. (i know it was a sweet wagon & I probably will regret selling it) Very sad to see it go.

One last pic to remember it by: