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SR ROLLA's 1974 Mitsi Colt GTO


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Also, when I went to pick up the car the previous owner was like "oh yeah, it came with some wheels too, they're in the boot."

 

Wasn't expecting much but they are actually kind of cool oldschool jap 2 piece wheels (3 piece, welded?). 6-J 13 from 1977 according to the sticker on the inside by 'Uni-Pex Parts Division'

 

Never heard of Uni-Pex before, does anyone have any info on this brand?

 

Couldn't decide if I liked them or not so I decided to refurb them and see how they look, split them, clean up the centres, polish the lips and replace all the bolts. Here is a before and after of the first wheel:

 

ljbrgcao.0b0.jpg
 

I think I like them, so will get some tyres on and get them on the car at some stage, any recommendations for tyre size?

 

Chur.

 

 

Also, discussion here:

 

//oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/38426-sr-rollas-1974-mitsi-colt-gto/

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  • 2 weeks later...
I took the louvers off the other day. They're handy in summer for keeping the car cool, but make it a pain in the ass to clean the rear windscreen/see anything behind you.
 
3gxeqa1i.zfh.jpg
 
n2gfxxxe.fts.jpg
 
I think it looks a bit more slick and streamlined.

 

Also making slow progress on the wheels, some more before and after:

 

ehgiotfx.sr0.jpg
 
2kg3uecp.m01.jpg
 

 

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  • 3 months later...

Not much been going on with this lately, just lots of little bits and pieces. Installed an alarm/remote central locking, new stereo. I think the stereo looks pretty good (better than the silver Kenwood tape player that was in there anyway), suits the style of the car well. You can see where I put the LED for the alarm at the bottom of the second pic

 

uafio4r4.spn.jpg
 
mpdfx1hj.wnb.jpg
 
Managed to get a new indicator lens to replace a cracked one. Apparently near impossible to find, after months I eventually got one by fluke — PartsWorld in Timaru had one that the label had fallen off, so they didn't know what model it was for but the part number on the lens matched the old catalogue number and it's a perfect fit. Not flawless condition, has a couple of scratches but no cracks and it polished up nicely.
 
Before:
pril2t0q.3vk.jpg
 
After:
yywyl1n2.lb5.jpg
 
I've had a few more bits and pieces arrive lately. Top rubbers and brush seal strips for the side windows and then this little NOS item from the States:
mkvjsfkb.z4d.jpg
My rubber steering wheel is a bit rooted, the rubber is soft and collapsing, so I was pretty pleased to find this proper leather replacement for less than the cost of getting my one re-wrapped.
 
Also, while the car was clean I took it out for some night photos.
eopxl3cs.i24.jpg
 
 
obt1pwl0.ynj.jpg
 
 
 
 

 

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Bugger, after a little more research/holding it up inside my car I have discovered that that part number is for a GTO steering wheel but not my GTO steering wheel.

 

I have the kind on the left, this new one is the kind on the right — thinner spokes, longer cut outs with a big horn in the middle instead of 3 horn buttons on the spokes.

3tzd2v1x.hnj.jpg
 
Should have done more research before hitting 'buy' I guess.
 
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  • 1 month later...

Quick update, been driving the car heaps, it's pretty cool.

 

New brush seals installed, much softer and nicer than the petrified old ones.

 

Got another set of carbs from good dude willy_monkey on here. The plan is to strip them down, clean, rebuild then swap off for the current ones.

 

Got a new dash cluster (mine has a couple of small cracks around the screw holes). I'll clean it up, redo the woodgrain vinyl strip and replace all the old bulbs (perhaps with LEDs) so I can actually see the instruments at night.

 

Exhaust has detached halfway along so it now exits pretty much below the drivers seat. Sounds very rowdy. I'm going to take the opportunity to get some extractors and redo the whole exhaust. Tuck it up nice and high for when some lowering happens too.

 

It's developed a weird intermittent fault where sometimes it wont start, just clicks like the battery is dead flat but if you just try a couple more times it starts up fine. Only does it every now and then, so far there is no discernible pattern or circumstance that makes it happen.

 

Here's a pic so this post isn't totally pointless.

 

pt2304re.4hm.jpg
 
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  • 10 months later...

So I bought a whole spare engine for it's extractors, super cheap from a dude who rolled his Colt. Never hurts to have plenty of spare parts I guess… Turns our the extractors were pretty rooted, cracked in a couple of places and evidence of some previous repairs. So I got a set made up, they look like this:

 

yctl3uhy.dxl.jpg
 
 
and the rest of the exhaust replaced, now 2 1/4 all the way through, lets the Astron breathe a bit better. Here's a terrible photo:

5jw4zrlm.ybh.jpg
 
 
with a nice little double tip:

iubeiyov.025.jpg
 
The whole set up sounds great, really nice rumble without being stupid loud.
 
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Also, I got sick of the squashy steering wheel so upgraded to this:

 

ucnv4yfu.uti.jpg
 
 
And this morning some total dickhead was too distracted admiring my car (he claims) that he drove right into the back of it. I was pretty unhappy to say the least. Luckily he was only going slowly, there doesn't appear to be any significant damage, the bumper is snugged up a few mm closer to the body. I'll take it off and make it's all nice and straight but I think it should be fine.
 
Should be addressing the low properly in the next couple of months as it's still rolling at original nanna spec height. Will get new wheels at the same time. I put the weird Uni-Pex wheels on for now, they look okay, but not great, definitely need more width/less tyre wall.

Lastly, I really need to get the carbs cleaned up and tuned, anyone know a good carb place? Around New Lynn, Avondale-ish way would be good, or anywhere between there and town where I could drop it off on the way in.

 

Cheers.

 

http://oldschool.co....mitsi-colt-gto/

 
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  • 5 months later...

Had a couple of little bubbles coming up under the paint on both doors so I decided to get them taken care of properly along with some small patches in the corners of the boot. We found some old, braised repairs in the doors which weren't real hot, so ended up replacing the whole bottom edge of both doors.

oge5jcvx.jen.jpg

 
 
I got them to roll up the front guards at the same time too. I had the repairs left in primer because I'll be repainting the whole car soon, sprayed a quick coat of rattle can matt black to weather seal the affected areas for now. So I currently have this sweet custom paint job:
swsmv0xs.mtz.jpg
 
mmm.. bogan.
 
 

 

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I got a spare set of GS badges for the guards and had a go at tidying them up. Polished up the faces, gave the flaky paint on the sides a gentle wet n dry sand and then resprayed the black. Came up pretty good, the plating is still lightly pitted but they look a lot better than they did and better than the ones currently on the car. I'll swap these on once the new paint job is done.

 

Before and after:

g1hoyzhf.ta0.jpg
 
Doesn't look like that much has changed here but the difference is a lot more apparent in real life.
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  • 3 months later...
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  • 2 weeks later...

So now that I've given the old girl a nice treat and the insides are pretty much all mint it's about time for something to break as a way of saying thanks, of course.

 

Started to present symptoms which suggested a blown head gasket. Took the cylinder head off with the help of a friend who knows what he's doing (I mostly don't) and took it away to an engine reconditioners to get it planed and the various bits tarted up, replaced etc as needed.

 

Naturally it was not that simple and today it turns out the head is cracked between the valve seats. Bugger. So I'll be needing to do something about sorting a replacement sharpish. I have a 4G51 from a Colt 1850 sitting in the shed, so I need to see if that will fit, fingers crossed they are the same.

 

Some pointless pics:

 

tfan3ivl.bwm.jpg
 
wok3i5f2.o2x.jpg
 
 
Also decided to give the rocker cover a bit of a polish while it was off (and I was still feeling some love for the car, before I found out I was rooted). Not perfect by any stretch but looking better than it did before.

z4mhyahb.b0b.jpg
 

 

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  • 3 months later...

oops, been a while.

 

So I got the head off the spare engine, got it checked over and smartened up. Everything mated up sweet except the exhaust ports on this are the round version — the original head had the square ports. The ports all line up but the mounting bolts are in a slightly different place so the flange for the headers required some slight modification.

 

Here's the new head in place:

14wvuiav.s3n.jpg
 
And everything back together and running:
e4pp4exa.g4o.jpg
 
Been going again and used for daily driving for a while now, with no signs of issues so far, fingers crossed that's it (until the next thing).
 
 
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Another cool thing (and reason for lack of progress, until now) is that I sold up and moved to a new house — with a nice big double garage with a workbench. yay.

 

Also, time for an early christmas treat from the land of the rising sun.

 

what's this?

xuy1fwdw.dlo.jpg
 
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  • 4 weeks later...
So this is what that is:

 

vke1sraf.ijm.jpg

 

Got it from Yahoo Japan for cheep. Seems to be in really good condition, one small crack on the back which I'll fix up, then give it a good clean and a repaint. It feels a lot more solid than the earlier grille, like I have on the car now.

 

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The height adjust screw for one of the headlights was bung so while I had the grille and everything off I took the opportunity to make it all nice and clean and black.

 

Before:


njxlwk3p.2zd.jpg

as1ylro0.ayl.jpg

 

After:


w0mvnw5y.fwk.jpg

hoxk4yuj.hbu.jpg

 

Much better.

the headlights have always been a tiny bit on the piss — the lines are not quite vertical/horizontal. They can't be rotated though because there are little tabs on the back of the bulbs which correspond to slots in the headlight cups.

 

Am I missing something? Discuss here if you have any ideas.

 

Cheers


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  • 1 month later...

So, headlights are all sorted now thanks to some pro advice from GTO expert dwlee — on closer inspection the cups, which look pretty much identical, have a 'type' number, a 1 and a 2 for each side.

 

vwblptli.pec.jpg
 
So it looks like these have been installed exactly wrong for the whole time I've owned it. Much better now:
 
frnlpq2o.35m.jpg
 
At some stage I'll get around to converting to semi-sealed. It's not driven at night much so it's not a big priority right now.

 

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