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SR ROLLA's 1974 Mitsi Colt GTO


SR ROLLA

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  • 4 weeks later...

So where did you get the brake parts from in the end?

 

That car looks strangely familiar... almost like the one in the garage. The front has since been lowered to match the rear. I'm not sure if I like the tinting on the high beams, but I like how the white wall help disguise the high aspect ratio of the tyres.  

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Ha ha, is that your one? It seems to be a tricky model to find decent images of online to play with in Photoshop. I guess they are pretty rare and not as mainstream cool as Celicas, RXs and the like. I read an article on JNC which estimated only about 500 left.

 

I got pads and rotors (and shoes to do the rears too) from BNT New Lynn. Once I got the part number for the rotors from you they were able to find a set easy enough. Turns out they are the same ones as used in early 80s Sigmas, which helps. I did the bearings and oil seals at the same time which partly came from Mitsubishi and partly from Saeco in Avondale. 

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Yes, that's mine  :-). If you don't know Matt's car is an ex NZ car. He did a lot of work to it once he got it. There have been a few going overseas in the last few years. I think 500 would be pretty close to the number left.

 

Thanks for the info on where you got the parts. The front bearings are also the same as the late 70s early 80 Sigmas as well.   

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  • 1 month later...

The oem rubbers can be temperamental with the amount of tension applied and if it wrong they split as you've found. I've always been curious how those Rare Spares generic rubbers fit. They actual look quite good from your photos and a lot better than I thought they would. What is the fit at the ends like?

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The end at the rear is just cut off square and goes as far back into the pillar as you want—they are longer than needed so I trimmed them off to finish just past the end of the trim they clip into. The front end tapers down to a point, but doesn't flatten out completely and widen like the OEM ones. I positioned them so that they go forward a little past the front edge of the metal trim and tacked the end to the door frame with a small amount of adhesive to keep it held in place. This seems to seat against the closed door well. I think you could probably place them to end pretty much at the end of the metal trim track without the need to glue them down and they'd still fit without a gap when the door is closed.

 

I'll get some pictures when I have a chance so you can see what I mean.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thanks for the photos. The ends look a lot better than I thought. Any extra window rattles on the long trip? Over tightening will do that to the bearing as will not packing the bearing with sufficient grease. With the wheels are looking good.

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Yeah, no worries. I think the fit and quality on the rubbers seems pretty good, I've no complaints so far. No rattles, I spent quite a bit of time aligning the windows and getting the height right, so the fit is nice and snug.

 

I'm pretty sure the bearings were packed well—I was super paranoid about not packing them enough after a couple of horror stories from friends who replaced bearings and then had to do them again a couple of weeks later due to not enough grease—so I think that side was just a little too tight.

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  • 1 month later...

Nice melt-down.

 

It's likely that the new headlamps draw more current than the originals, even though its less than 10 amps. This heats up the whole circuit including the fuses.

 

If you want to keep these headlamps (and drive at night) the easiest/best options is to run a separate power feed through a relay to the lights.

 

There's lots of descriptions online on how to do it (e.g.) but if you are not too keen on wiring and want a nice tidy job get an auto electrician to do it for you - maybe a half days work?

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hey Tom,

go and have a yarn to Nick Wood at Ron Wood auto electrical on great north road, behind/next to the z station on the main road in point chev.

he'll sort out your car for you. he likes working on old things and is a super GC to boot.

tell him you know me.

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Thanks for the photos. The ends look a lot better than I thought. Any extra window rattles on the long trip? Over tightening will do that to the bearing as will not packing the bearing with sufficient grease. With the wheels are looking good.

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Any increase in headlight wattage over factory and you should be running them off relays in the engine bay. Even with original wattage headlights you would be amazed how much brighter they shine when run from relays. 

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Yeah, will definitely be running relays once they are converted to semi-sealed. Nick is going to be having a look when he can fit it in next week. I'd like him to have a bit of a poke around all of the electrics, see if I can get things tidied up a bit, make sure it's all on the up and up. I was hoping to get along to the OS meet this month but it might be a bit of a challenge bombing along the motorway in the dark with no headlights. D'oh.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Love this car and what you've done to it, look forward to the p&p updates. How much did it cost to get the seats redone? I've recovered many American car seats before but it was easy because you can buy pre-sewn fabric.

Mechanic mate of mine told me of an apprentice that was at a shop he was working at. Over tightened a wheel bearing badly and the thing exploded which caused the car to crash killing the entire family.

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