flyingbrick Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 Hi all. Discussion //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/34636-fbs-gemini/page__gopid__1030017#entry1030017 Got this off Jase. needs a bit of work- the bulk of it will be taken care off by a panel shop. Plan at this stage is fit recaro fishnets (just got a set off tm for cheap) , paint and pannel in factory color and then later down the line holden 308 + bigger diff+ bigger brakes. heres a pic from the day i brought her home. As a temporary measure before i go with wider wheels i'd love to fit a set of mooneye disk hubcaps- the smooth caps like these: Could anyone photoshop those caps onto my car for me? THANKS! Also, anyone in the waikato know of a good (budget priced) auto upholstery store/someone who does it from home? I need the side bolsters on the fishnets repaired/maybe replaced with leather or something. ALSO, I need a new flexplate and good starter to suit this thing. The current flexplate must be worn as hell (and the starters pinion probably is too) ALSO ALSO would love an early 80's head unit for this thing. Tape deck with no CD so I can wire in an AV input. Cheers all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted October 17, 2012 Author Share Posted October 17, 2012 Good evening! I had a good day took the gem for its second drive with me. gutless as all hell but it doesn't matter as I haven't had the need to go fast yet. put her up on a hoist- adjustable rear panhard explains why the diffs still central. all the springs are still captive with shortened shocks so overall it was nice to see that jase did it properly. the starter motor had shit its engagement fork thing and the starter solenoid had a loose terminal nut that was causing some sweet sparks but at least the starting issues were caused by something easy and not ring gear related. so when I pick her up she will have a wof and will start. happy days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted October 18, 2012 Author Share Posted October 18, 2012 Picked up these fishnets. I'm going to see if i can buy some nice new covers that i can fit myself- but will probably end up covering the wear (and the same place on the other seat) with iron on leather patches of some kind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 so happy! the Gem spent a few days at the shop and I got her back last night. replaced the starter with a good second hand one and replaced a bunch of bushes up front with nolithane. she then got a wof and our first day together was grand this motors lovely ( but not a powerhouse!!) and it drives far better in general than I expected it to. tonight I measured up and drew adaptor plates to mount my fishnets... that's a job for tomorrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 so if anyone cares.... recaros fitted and interior cleaned!! I have an idea to fix and protect side bolsters too discuss //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/34636-fbs-gemini/page__view__getnewpost oops clicked post too early Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 hi all. so one if these is paid for and on the way http://www.colemanracing.com/Brake-Pedal-Assembly-Hanging-Single-Pedal-P4503.aspx last night I cut out these side bolster wear patches for the fishnets ( only done bottom so far ) and iv started modifying the cars ashtray. the tray sits below the head unit and will look stock when pushed home- and will function as an iPhone holder when open. in the tray I will have aux in cable and in the side of the tray I have fitted a USB power point for charging duties. I was going to just use the iPhones standard charge cable plugged into the USB but am thinking now I might fit a proper hard mounted iPhone plug into the tray which will also hold the phone upright. the USB socket can be used for other phones/ whatever. the old hu iv got coming will hopefully be pretty easy to add aux in to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 dammit, deleted post. so iv repaired the damaged passenger seat side bolster. il do the top wings and the drivers seat too so they all look the same. the glue used is ados f2 in a can. one coat on the vinyl and two on the cloth. the vinyl is the strong woven nylon (I think) backed type. I think it's given the seats a new turn at life and the repairs look better than the cost suggests they should!! first coat of glue second coat of glue and stuffed the void with a scotch pad LOL. completed. I went around the outside of each patch and lifted any loose edges/ added glue and trimmed the vinyl so it matched the cloth seam perfectly. and they feel soft and nice... not as bad as vinyl glued to fabric should feel IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted November 12, 2012 Author Share Posted November 12, 2012 so the dangly style brake pedal assembly arrived... was held in position and then promptly listed on trademe. turns out there is less room up in the footwell for 2x masters than I'd thought and, as its an auto and I want the brake pedal in the factory location ( not real far to the right) it conflicts with the steering column. this would have been perfectly clear if I had taken the time to actually put my head undef there and look........ Ffs. but that's OK. it was cheap enough that u shouldn't lose too much through its resale. so next purchase will be a willwood brake assembly which places the masters down low and behind the pedal, I'll have to box out a portion of the footwell into the engine bay to make clearance for the masters which should be a fun little job. I was unsure what the regs would be surrounding mounting of a new pedal assembly- lvvta website simply states that it must be fixed securely enough do that it does no come lose during emergency braking.. easy. next on the lust is something I have always wanted to do... a full custom dash pad. it's going to be very simple/ just a straight rolled section of aluminum. the lvvta website again tells me that ( basically ) I will have absolutely no issues if I cover the thing in more than 10mm of padding and have no sharp edges. I have a roll of camp mattress foam here that's the right thickness so I will glue that to the dash and then cover with black vinyl. EASY. also so there is at least one image here.. I collected this spare diff assembly on Sunday. the idea is to build it up as required and then swap it straight into my vehicle with limited downtime. plan is billet axles, lsd centre and strengthened tq tube driveshaft. the axles and lsd are a kit from aus- the tq tube shaft I will sleeve and weld myself at work in cromol ( yet to decide on exact material) the good news is that the rubber bearing donut on this tq tube looks brand new.. and if anyone else wants a shaft done at the same time let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted November 12, 2012 Author Share Posted November 12, 2012 working on the car this morning and having a sneaky BBQ (better I try certain things when nobody else is over expecting a meal!) this is the drive shaft that runs through the geminis tq tube. the fat female end fits over the diffs input spline and the skinny end fits into a flange that then bolts to a universal. these shafts fail at even moderate power levels and from what iv seen they fail first at the female end. basically, the shaft is so flimsy that they flex/ bend and this flexing forces the outer spline into an angle on the male spline- eventually tearing it open. it's said that sleeving the shaft in either chromoly or even steam pipe stops this breakage even if you don't reinforce the splined area at all. so my fingers pointing at a surface that will be machined down to .02ish larger than the ID of my tube. I will then machine a small spigot into the base of the fat end so that the tube will be located and held central during tig welding. normally I'd have expected this to be needing a balance afterward but all sources say that this is not usually done or required on these, woot. also, depending on ID of the diff housing where the fat end of the shaft locates in.. I may shrink a high tensile steel band over the OD of the shaft which contains the spline to strengthen it further. there is one other issue that iv not seen touched on. it may not be an issue but the skinny end of the shaft is supported in the end of the tq tube by a bearing. this bearing sits inside a rubber donut. I just can't for the life of me see that this could be a good idea. the donut is soft and if it lets the end of the shaft wander sideways it will load up the shafts spline on the pinion also. I can understand that things are probably not perfectly straight and aligned here so some movement is required.... but how much I don't know. depending on what I find I may machine up a nolithane donut to replace the factory item. here is a standard ( broken ) shaft vs a modified strengthened shaft. a Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted November 25, 2012 Author Share Posted November 25, 2012 hi all. hope your weekend has been swell you may have seen my WTB adds- I had been looking high and low for some later model tg headlights. I found some in aus for $220 delivered but kept delaying payment because I KNEW that as soon as I paid the guy I'd find some here for half the price. I thought I had beaten murphy! I happened to be driving past horipito motors and thought... I'll give it a go... BOOM. headlights! I got home, pulled shit off the front of my car and realised that I was missing the brackets to mount the new lights. I'd previously spoken to Jase about buying some lights off him and he had none spare but flicked him a txt about collecting a spare bonnet and if he had any headlight brackets which he did! so with beer for payment I roll to his house and that murphy fulla gets me good. Jase has a full set of lights, brackets and grille for me!!!! FOR THE COST OF A BOX. FATE HATES ME! it turns out the tg headlights are not an easy fit into the earlier gems. lots of swearing was sworn and new holes drilled in wrong places. I made life harder for myself by insisting that I retain the pre facelift clear park light lenses so made my own brackets to hold those in location. and the result: I'm not sure if I dig the look as much as I thought I would. maybe later I will try round lights with custom grille. regardless- I need plastic bumpers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted February 19, 2013 Author Share Posted February 19, 2013 Good morning Oldschool!! Daily stress is now halved as our wedding is done and dusted- so I have had more brain space to think about the gem. I briefly considered keeping it stock and spending up large on something already awesome... But really that kinda money is better spent on the house- and I do like having a project. So I've bought these wheels: 7 & 6" wide in 14" to roll with temporarily ( so cheap I couldn't pass them up! And this holden 308. Next on the list to sort is brake pedal box to mount master inside ( the head will hit the current master ) Larger aluminum radiator that fits Good v8 trimatic box New front hubs from aus to change pcd and allow me to run commodore brakes New billet rear axles with larger spline New billet lsd Center to take axles God that list is huge Current plan is to get fresh wof... Install v8 + make sure it putts along OK then sort brakes and cert later/ probably never Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted February 24, 2013 Author Share Posted February 24, 2013 Oh my god I'm so in love. I will make these work with bigger brakes etc Baby (edit) vk look is exactly what I wanted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 I'm getting a bit pissed off. I now don't blame you chaps for stretching skinny 14" tires onto wider wheels than normal. It's probably because you have realised that fat 14" tires no longer exist ( unless going cooper cobra which is not really a performance tire) I guess I will go 15" when I change pcd. NEVER did I think I'd have trouble sourcing tires!! I have got my BMW lights- hopefully when the bosses have gone home I can start welding up some mounting brackets. Anyone got a spare gemini dash sitting around that I could have/buy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted March 3, 2013 Author Share Posted March 3, 2013 I did this today. The factory BMW mounts were Moulded plastic with totally the wrong design for the gem. Yesterday I got Nik from NM FABRICATION in Hamilton to cut and fold me some aluminum sheet. Lack of convent milling machine and fly cutter ment I had to cut the holes the hard way... It took me around 3 hours of cutting, drilling, tapping, filling and painting to finish them. Tonight if I get time I will test fit everything and wait for the bits of loom and plugs to find their way to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted March 3, 2013 Author Share Posted March 3, 2013 Went for a drive- no rubbing which is nice!!! I have to drive this thing to work tomorrow so couldn't spend too much time fitting the lights- but I did do some test fitting and thinking. I had to notch the new mounts a little to get them in there but considering the lack of planning done its worked well. Here is a pic during trial fitment Iv since removed most of the chrome trim- looks much better without it. Now to wait for the bits of loom to arrive Wonder what I will do for grille? And tomorrow the front bumper is being moved rearward 100mm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted March 4, 2013 Author Share Posted March 4, 2013 Mudflaps or no mudflaps? I wonder how rusty under them. I kinda like the fact that they hide how bald my rear tires are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted March 4, 2013 Author Share Posted March 4, 2013 So. I got home late and started chopping. It is in too far for the current lights and grille but I still think it's looks great!! The round lights sit in a fair bit further than the current lights so with the rounds it will all make sense I had to trim the end caps a fair amount and drill many holes. Space is tight behind the bumper now so iv put the mounting nuts on the outside of the bumper under the plastic trim to ease removal. My renovator tool did great at cutting those plastic caps!! Before After I straightened the front skirt thing a bit after these pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted March 6, 2013 Author Share Posted March 6, 2013 Did some testing tonight with a grille I cut down. Decided to have the lights further out. Unsure what il do for grille yet. I may make one from scratch. Or I'll get a second grille and extend the current one right to the edges with holes cut for lights. Just taped in place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest flyingbrick Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 14" wheels sold. New 15" weld prostars on the way from the Americans Also on the way- a selection of master cylinders, willwood brake pedalbox, adjuster etc. waiiiiting as patiently as I can. Oh and a new 13" grant steering wheel off Tm that I got new for 80$.. Bargain! This arrived today: I'm ok with spending money but I have a hard time swallowing many if the prices asked here in nz. One item that bugs me is radiator overflow and oil catch cans. 3x containers could cost you between 150 and 500 smackers depending on how much you shop around. So I started thinking of cheap vessels that I could weld and tap. Trademe searched aluminum bottle and BOOM. These 3 bottles cost me $21- still pricy due to kiwi tax ( these are $2 in America) but CHEAP compared to the alternative- and DIYable enough that I'll get some satisfaction from things. So window washer/radiator overflow/oil catch will all be mounted in a row somewhere in the engine bay. Discuss: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/34636-fbs-gemini/page__st__20#entry1035287 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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