Popular Post yoeddynz Posted July 5, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted July 5, 2014 Edit; oh thanks Tinypic..... FFS Well now... I have just gone and bought another Viva. This time its an HB wagon. YES!! I have been after one for ages and ummed and erred over the one that was for sale on Trade me up in Taupo about a month ago for quite some time. But factoring in transport to get it south put me off plus Hannah and I then ended up buying a MK1 Triumph wagon from Christchurch, a car we have always wanted for a long long time but had never seen one for sale at a sensible (read cheap) price. Then Shane, my viva HB mad friend in christchurch offered me his one. Its very rusty but with reg on hold plus a set of Cheviot Turbos I was keen. Hannah offered to go halves on it and that was it. So now we have two very rusty wagons, both circa 1969, to restore. The Triumph is still waiting for our collection. So this HB wagon eh?... yeah its pretty rusty. I had no real idea what it was like but for two photos. Shane brought it up from Chch today and we drove over to Blenheim in my Viva last night to meet him. He was unloading it when we got back from a walk in the hills this morning and my first impression when I slowed to a halt behind it was good. In fact great- it just looks so much cooler in the flesh than I thought it would. The shape is soooo choice. The turbo mags really set it off too. The back was filled up with the doors and the original tailgate. I grabbed some photos then we pushed it into my parents yard. Ha- the look on my parents face. 'FUCK' I had a quick look over it then we went for lunch. Shane and I just chatted Vivas and other old cars. He is a wealth of info on these Vivas having owned something like 40 of them and having done many engine conversions. Anything that is missing he'll sort me out with. After lunch they left to go pick up a Chevette wagon that he has had stashed away in the north island some where. I then took some time to go over the new toy with Hannah and see what we have let ourselves into. Yep- rust. It has rusted in the usual Viva places but is also solid in many of the places I would expect to see rust. Luckily the main chassis rails are not too bad. Drivers side has holes but passenger side solid. The boot floor boot and spare wheel well are great. Weird. The sills are shot, comically so with holes right through inside to out. A smear of filler and she'll be right... The floors are frilly along the inner sill edges. Head lamp areas not too bad luckily- these have welded on front wings so repairs are more time consuming there. Shane has supplied me with a spare whole right front wing cut as the car has a pretty dented one. The roof and gutters are good- just surface rust. Bulkhead good but holes in a few places closer to the inner wings. The very common spot for rust n these is behind the bonnet hinges but it looks to be solid there. Rear valence a bit thin. But it does have a stainless exhaust The engine apparantly runs but really I dont care as its most likely going to be swapped out with something more modern. Maybe I might get it going and driving with it first though. Luckily it has a disc brake front end and a servo. These will help haul back those 54 ponies. I have found a few pieces of the missing puzzle... I love these wheels. In fact I looked for a set ages ago for my Viva before I got the widened steels and couldn't fnd any in 4" pcd. Very rare. One of the few styles of alloys that I think suit these cars. So I am chuffed to bits to have these. two have quite bad curb scrapes so I will have to weld them up and machine them back but nothing major. Curves and sweet wheels.. It comes complete with ICE The dash needs a little bit of amourall... It is now safely parked in my parents carport- having relegatted one of thier manky modern cars out. I think it looks tiny next to what is meant to be a smallish suzuki. My parents think Im a bit nutty. But they know I'll sort it out... We wont start working on this for ages yet. The Triumph will be first in the queue and before that happens we have to get our shed up on the land and move out there. So for now the Viva will wait patiently. I am however quite keen to try out those alloys on my HB so I might fix them up soon. Bed time now as I am exhausted form so much excitement. I wont be back to view any responses (like "you idiot!" and "why that?!!!") from you lot till we get back from more gorse clearing on the bush block on monday night. Until then suggestions and mockery more than welcome Btw- we both love the colour so that will be its future shade- but maybe with a cream roof.Discussion 30 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted January 18, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 18, 2015 Ooooh this little beasty now resides at home. Ready for tinkering/fixing. I towed it over from my olds place in Blenheim yesterday. Big thanks to Mum and Dad for use of their good 'ol V6 Vitara. It was fully loaded up with all mums crap for her Kaiteriteri holiday plus car and trailer yet still cruised away happily. So its sitting here in the sun looking a bit sad. Hopefully it will remain sunny because it has no doors and I wouldn't want it to get rusty(ier). Last night after we unloaded the van from a load of other car bits and stuff also stored in Blenheim I went and sat in the Viva contemplating its future. The more I looked about at its totally fucked tatty interior and scabby exterior the more I thought this would be cool to just try and get legal. Its rego on hold (with ugly white plates so I just need to get it to a warrantable standard. Apparently the engine is a runner but that I shall wait to see. I dont want a made up Rat look. I want that proper 'on a shoestring budget just scrape through a wof' look. Later on in life I can go hard with a tidy up and re-power. Really very keen on fitting a GM Saab lump in place. But not now. If the engine is toast then my plans would involve a Datsun engine and box. A friend in Chch, Donutz, has converted many an HB and Chevettes with Datsun A series engines. They pretty much bolt straight in and look stock, go really well and run cheap as. He has never had a problem with wofs. With this in my mind I need to ask some questions. I would like a 5 speed box with over driven 5th gear. But I dont know if the A series ever came with 5 speed boxes and if not then do the 5 speed boxes from other Datsuns bolt onto an A series? If not then what needs modifying? If possible its the A15 I would like the most- for all that extra torque... What would be a fair price to pay for a engine and box? 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted March 27, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 27, 2015 Well now... a little update. Its started to rain here in normally sunny old nelson and I didn't like seeing the wagon out there filling with water due to no doors (although the fist sized holes in the sills let the water out..) My brother was over this evening so while extra hands were about we pushed the little wagon into the shed where Hannah has been spending a few hours here and there doing her wagon thing. I felt like I was missing out.. not helped by Hannah now giving me grief that I dont actually own a wagon. She claims its just a mere hatchback. Not fair! Once inside I emptied it out. There was a spare tailgate (or hatch......) and the doors off a white car. The tailhatchgate is actaully the original item. Not sure why it was swapped over but luckily its much better rust wise. Still rusty but not terminal. Then I set to picking out all the various bits that old cars collect. So far I found some money as usual...Im now up to 7c. So car now only owes me $599.93 I also found various tiny plastic toys, a key ring clip, a bicycle combination lock - missing the chain, a eraser and a tow ball. Quite a score... The fella I bought the car from cut up another Viva a while back. I managed to score a complete floor plan half along with the sill for the rusty(er) side. It will be bloody handy and will make the repair job so much quicker! The worse of the sills.. The floor/sill for transplant.. Now some might say "why bother trying to rescue such a rusty old car" and my answer would be...well just look at the interior. Check out the mint dash for example... The doors need to be put in place before I start bracing and chopping things up. Not so easy when they were removed by simply chopping through the pins. Vivas dont use bolt on hinges! This I have only just learned. They are instead welded in place and the only way to remove the doors is to 'carefully' hammer the pins out. So I have some rusted in pins to deal with. Fun times. Tomorrow I will have a go at starting the awesome 1200cc power plant. Hopefully fit the doors so it can go back outside and dealwith rain a bit easier and I can sleep easy. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted August 2, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 2, 2015 Ok so I have started cracking into this today. Just having a coffee/rust break. I have done all the welding on Sams Celica and Hannah has left me for a few weeks for the lovely grey sky days of the UK summer. So while there is a gap between jobs coming in and my meals simply consist of toast, cheese on toast, cheese on toast with salami (my favourite, takes a bit more prep but worth it) or cereal this means I have ample time to chop out rust. The aim of the game with this wagon is to get it safe and road legal as cheaply as possible with no effort at all to tart it up. (Mainly because I am broke and it would also be a crying shame to lose any of that patina that has been carefully encouraged by years of nurturing from previous owners. I just want it to be a turn key hack wagon. I have spoken to my wof man and warned him that one hellish eyesore of a manky old Viva wagon will be heading his way in the near future. I have told him I want to push the boundaries of what non structural rust I can get away with and be legal/safe. His cars have rust so he understands anyway Photos of mess tonight. Back to grinding and welding... 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted August 3, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 3, 2015 Photo time now I have showered off a heap of rust dust and grinding dust. Im pretty happy with how far I got today. First off, a photo of some of the patina I would really like to keep. I would like to treat the rusty scrapes and surface rust with something that keeps the colour but stops it getting worse? All the rust neutralisers I know of turn the rust black which wont look so good. Ideas? Clear coating it is an option. It doesnt have to last for ages because after a while Im sure I'll want to paint it but for at least first year or so would be good. I was going to remove the windscreen to avoid getting grinding sparks marking the glass on the inside. But I didnt. Three reasons; the rubber will disintegrate and I dont want to fork out $100 for new stuff right now, the glass is scratched already so might as well wait till later when the car is insured and then has a random stone hit it...., I like the moss. It adds character. I took on the worst area, the passenger floor and inner sill, which is also the area which dealt with first because it will put some strength back into the shell. The steel on these HB Vivas is actually quite good quality and quite thick. It certainly knocks cut off discs down quickly. I picked my way out to good steel and chopped away. First off this bit.. I am not really fussed about trying to piece this back together the way it was from the factory. If its strong and lasts Im happy. But I want to keep things like the channels in the floor because it will leak and they do help let water out. Plus they keep the flat bits of steel from being wobbly. So I whipped up a jig the right size and hammered the channels into the steel.. Now the nasty bit. The inner sill was beyond patching. But I am very very lucky that the top of the sill is rust free and solid which meant I could happily chop out this lot and not have the door aperture move on me. Also helped by the fact that Vivas have nice substantial chassis rails too. Not that the inner sill, or what was left, was doing much. It pretty much fell out. Next job was to cut out what I needed from the spare sill/floor pan I had been given. I think its about here that we should give a few seconds silence for the little Viva that sacrificed its life for this part. Not my choice- it was chopped up by a man in christchurch who insists that every Viva he kills makes his worth more. But at least I got something from it. Poor viva. The piece I required was cut out.. Then heatgun and scrape the underseal off.. Followed by lots of chopping, measuring, trimming, measuring and finally in place ready to be welded. Which is about where I finished off today. My bin of rust is filling up.. Tomorrow I'll weld that bit in place and start on the outer sill and sill ends. I'd love to put it up on the hoist to do that but then I think I would be risking things moving out of place. So I'll continue kneeling on my 5 layers of carpet off cuts and persevere. 32 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted August 3, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 3, 2015 Coffee time so update time. Floor all welded up and feeling a lot more solid Next up the passenger side sill. Before I cut it out I thought Id show you all what a truly wonderful bit of filling work had been attempted to hide the rot. I think whoever did this had slapped the filler on and just gave up. I thought I might cut a section from the spare sill I had. But no. Its been attacked before and the old man who had owned that car obviously didnt have a welder but certainly had a pop riveter... Hopefully it will all go OK. Im hoping the rot has not extended right up the top as I want something to weld to. If it has I will just have more sections to make. Will report back later with my findings. I will have to do it in 600mm long repairs whatever as that is the length my folder will take. 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted August 4, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 4, 2015 Today in pictures. With some text. So I finished welding up the floor and inner sill then tidied up some other frilly bits in there near the front. There are more little holes in the floor here and there but I will leave all the little bits for later once the big yucky stuff is done. This mudguard... I normally don't like them. But it seems to tie in well with the car in that utilitarian sort of way. So I carefully removed it. Then I cut away what was left of the outer sill.. Here's a bit of the sill.. ..and here is most of the sill... I was hoping that more of the top of the outside face of the sill would be solid but upon closer inspection it look like this wagon has had a replacement sill already. You can just make out on this section I cut off where they had blended the new sill in just below the corner and then ground it back. So I cut the sill top back further and will butt weld the new sill on the top face. Speaking of butt welding... this is my preferred method for all joins where ever possible. My several reasons why.. Firstly - it means that there will never be a overlap of steel. No matter what you seal it with its always a place where rust will begin because moisture creeps. Even if one uses a seam sealer its not perfect because usually one panel is corroded and if sealed up against another fresh bit of panel it can still continue to corrode. If you butt weld panels together you can prep them properly both sides and paint them properly. The join will last. No collection point. Secondly- both panels are flush so once the weld is ground back you get a neat flat surface that should hopefully require the bare minimum of filler (if one is bothered). Butt welding is a lot trickier especially with one panel usually being thinner and rusty. But if the welder is set up just right then by carefully zapping the join and getting just the right heat in the weld will go right through and create a good solid join.I like to see the weld coming through the other side. If the steel is thick enough, like say 0.8 ~1mm, then a very small gap will fuse together with the wire melting in and leaving very little proud. If I do have to do a lap joint somewhere I will always have the overlap facing down so moisture cant enter from above. However if its done without the use of a Joggler to put a step in one panel so the panel faces end up flush I think it always looks a bit messy plus will need more filler to smooth it off. I suppose it all just depends on what the repair is for and how much bother one wants to take. Areas that get the most moisture and you want to last I reckon it makes sense to avoid any extra traps. Enough blabbing. Photos. I was also foolishly hoping the lowest parts on the inner sills would be ok to re-use. I started to grind back what was left of the outer and it was shit. So I just cut the lot off back to good solid steel and welded in fresh sheet. This actually took less time then it would have to try to clean up what was there. Here's what I chopped off.. New steel in place.. Now onto folding up some new sill outers. I can only do 600mm at a time so I had to take time and try to do each half evenly so they would match. I had made a little gauge based off the old sill as a pattern. The sills turned out OK. Not as neat as if I had some rollers because you can see the gentle ridges where I did all the little folds. But they'll most likely get covered with underseal and hell- look at the rest of the car... Folding.. Cut, bend, tweak and generally shape the front end where I will be rebuilding the bottom of the A pillar.. Oh shit- is that the time? Decide I need to eat but on a roll so just quickly bbq some sausages and drink some beer.. Treat the inside of the sills while I can.. This is pretty much where I'm up to now... Hopefully the other side wont be as bad but I am expecting it will be. 36 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted August 6, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 6, 2015 Just a little update because I got called in for some work. Back to this properly tomorrow. Hopefully for the car it will be raining because Im itching to go for a bike ride and if its sunny that will win over grinding and welding all day. Anyway tonight I finished off tweeking the sills to fit nicely and tacked them into place. I welded the bottoms in and was about to start the finish welds on top. ..but it was just too dark with the portable light I had always in the wrong place. It either lit up the inside of my helmet from behind or wasnt bright enough where I wanted it. I messed about with bits of wire hanging it here and there but no good. Bugger it! I thought. I'll make a stand I can adjust. So that's what I did. I call it the stand'o'matic and it fits my really old GE light. I added some hooks for the cable when not in use and hanging my googles etc on. I wish I built this bloody ages ago! 23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted August 7, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 7, 2015 Well as I thought- today dawned nice and sunny after a bit of rain overnight. But rain was due. But so sunny it was I just had to go for a bike ride rather than work on the car. Halfway up Takaka hill it turned really bloody foul and I got soaked. Should have just worked on the car... So I got an afternoons worth of work in. I welded up the top of the sill then ground it down flat. This is the most tedious bit to do. Grinding. It took almost two thirds of an entire pitch black album to get everything down neat enough to leave. Next up was rebuilding the bottom of the A pillar but before finally welding it in place I fixed this little hole so any flakes/splatter etc would drop down the A pillar and I could clean it out. I used the Dremel. I got into using these on the rx3 and they are invaluable for small repairs. I use little reinforced 40mm cutoff wheels that actually last quite well given what they do. Cheaper to buy them on line from ebay rather than at M10 etc. I use a piece of cardboard, rub it over the edges of the hole, cut out impression, trace onto steel and quick easy fill in patch for odd shaped holes. I also drilled a drain/access hole before final welding allowing clean up of burrs and swarf. Once the sill end/A pillar bottom was welded up I painted it with epoxy mastic. This area will get all sorts of crap thrown at it so will get penetrating wax sprayed in there too. I made a new wing bottom to replace the dodgy original. I wont weld it in till tomorrow once epoxy is dry. Finally tonight I cut open the very rear section of sill where there was rust holes through the outer and it was pretty good in there. Evidence of wax or something sprayed in from above near where the rear seat sides would be. But for some small holes on the inner sill end its all solid good thick steel. Much relief. I treated it and will paint it tomorrow before making a new lid. Ill repair these holes from the other side later on when car is on the hoist. By then It was only about 4 degrees in the shed, the wood burner was going in the housetruck so the decision was easy. Back at this tomorrow. I will not be enticed out on the bike again..for a while.. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted August 9, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 9, 2015 Well Ive not spent as much time working on this as I was planning this weekend just gone. In fact I did nothing to it on Saturday. This morning I woke up to snow on the mountains around us. It never really warmed up and felt like what a proper cold winter day should be like. However I managed to get enough done today worthy of an update. First off I finished the passenger side repairs. I had to put the car up on hoist so I could shift a Volvo under it. Was quite nice standing up to do these last outer skins. Since it was up in the air I repaired that hole on the inner sill which meant I was able to paint epoxy on the entire inside before welding a new skin in place. I wont grind the last welds down because well, I just cant be bothered right now as its boring grinding. I might just paint them over in primer to go along with the rest of the fancy paint job the car currently wears. I know not what could possibly be under this lumpy looking skin but it feels crunchy. I think I will leave that till later... I put the car back on its feet and shuffled it over to attack the other side. Its not as bad on the inside floorpan. Just a couple of areas that need cutting out. However the outer sill...mmmmm. Yeah pretty shot although with the squeeze test it feels like the bottom might be ok. Will find out soon. Good news- I found more money to offset the cost of the car.. So into it then. First off I cut out the rotten area around the drain. It would be easy to just weld in a square of steel and be done but I want the floors to drain as they should so I had to make a go at replicating what I cut out. Hole sawed a hole into a piece of 1mm thick steel quite a bit bigger than needed and then using a bit of pipe and a piece of round solid about the right size I formed the step in the vice. Turned out good and I was a happy chappy. I had to form one corner to suit the two channels and then cut the square to size. Welded it in and ground down the welds where the channels enter. I'll finish the floor and then cut open the sill. Oooooh I cant wait! ...its going to be like a really shit Kinder surprise isn't it. 24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted August 11, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 11, 2015 I made more progress on this today. No interruptions. Just me, music, coffee, welder, grinder.First off. I spotted this little fella making a go at life in the side window seal. I like it there and will try to nurture it along.Back to rust. This looks a slight iffy..Yep.Im loving this perfectly shaped wing. I shall keep that as is. Someone has put a lot of effort into creating that.So I cut out the sill and this was inside...I have kept it all and can sell it on to someone who needs an original sill for a future build..Luckily the front end of the outer sill was solid so that stayed in place so keeping a nice datum point to weld to. Inside the sill it was all really pretty good. Just needed a wirebrush and some paint.Again, much like the other side, it was foolish to attempt to use the very bottom of the inner sill so I chopped it off and welded in fresh steel. I also had to re-make two sections along the top of the sill structure that were just a bit too iffy to use.I then folded up two more sill sections to suit.Painted the inside and then welded them in place. I then chopped out the rear end rot areas.Much better condition at the very end on this side. Good Just two patches but I ended up doing the larger one right back to the bottom edge because it took no longer and means the whole sill bottom along there is new. Pinted and welded up. Its now looking like a proper patch work quilt I finished tonights effort by welding up the last section in the floor.There was an area that was a touch too thin.. I think there will be little hedgehogs sticking out out through the underside..Then I swept up and moved the car onto the hoist. Next area is the bottom of the a post/sill end which luckily is not too bad.Once that is done I can attack the rotten chassi rail/rails. So far it seems to be that only the drivers side is rotten but I will find out soon. I need to buy more sheet steel though and will get some good thick stuff for the rails while I am at it. 31 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted September 18, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 18, 2015 Im back! Well I was always around but on one night a couple of weeks ago A cold sneaked up behind me, threw a sack over my head and dragged me off to a place where I did not want to do anything but sniff and feel yucky. This was just after having been busy fixing other peoples cars for that money thing. Basically put.. my roll had stopped rolling and this wagon stayed up on blocks.But yesterday I got my rust mojo back and got stuck back in. The wagon has been sharing the workshop for the last few weeks with a cool old Volvo 145, a very bright Saab 95, Bimmer 320 plus Hannahs Trump Mk1 wag. I do like lifting the door to see intersting cars in there Not too much to show because it was all slow repairs around the chassis rails and jacking points which I want to really make sure is nice and solid. I have now just earlier finished the worst of this area with not much to go. I used a combination of 1.6mm steel and a very handy piece of box section that happens to be the correct width and thickness. This has been saving my folder from trying to fold 1.6 too often- it being really only designed to fold up to 1.2mm. Luckily the rust has been along the bottom of the rails where the damp has sat thus leaving the uppers attached to the floor nice and strong.I remade the gearbox mounting brackets and made them semi fixed with an extra bolt rather then the little tabs that Vauxhall had fitted, now rusted away.As I have been working my way along the rails I have sprayed the insides of the new steel with zinc rich paint. Later on it will get a heavy dosing of wax. So the last very interesting photo for this mega update is of the underside sort of almost rot free. I promise I will try to do better next time although I most likely will just take more photos of rust. I am very much looking forward to the mechanical/bodging/fiddling/tweeking updates when I get the car moving and stopping. I have been having many day dreams whilst chilling in the sun under the influence of man flu about what I could do with the engine/what I could swap it with. I still love the absurdity of a grand plan I dream about where I squeeze a BMW V12 with a manual box in place However I usually come back down from cloud nine and mull over more realistic propositions such as a sneaky carb fed turbo, perhaps a Datsun engine or maybe fit fuel injection from another 1200cc car (that last one more for the technical fun in doing so rather than any real benefits it most likely wouldn't really bring)For now though it has to be rust removal. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted October 18, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 18, 2015 Exciting news! Little Viva wagon runs! It sounds quite sweet too. I had a go at getting it to start ages ago but the points and condensor were shot so I gave up. Today I had to move the car from the hoist to make room for an E21 Bimmer that’s in for rust work. With the wagon down on the ground and parked up near the bench I thought I’d get it going and strip out the engine bay while Im there to make better access for the repairs needed. I had been given another dizzy since the last time so I ripped the points and condenser from that, set it up and got sparks. Set up a fuel can and as soon as the carb had fuel it started. Awesome. It revs nice, idles nice and sounds really good. Time will tell once its running and driving as to how good/knackered/tired/gutless it is. Also today whilst between mucking with the ignition and helping a friend with his Saab I pulled the brake servo off, threw away the single circuit master cylinder, pulled the heater out, bonnet hinges off and some other bits in the search for any more rot. Luckily the usual points behind the hinges were solid as was the heater plenum/channel. I will remove the radiator for a tidy up in front of its mountings. I’ll take off the dynamo and throw that in the bin as planning an alternator upgrade. Pictures from this today.. It was raining to start with so perfect excuse to spend day in shed with Hannah and Rowan and tinker with our respective cars.. This next one.. look at that for some lovely hose locating bracketary.. Engine bay cleared out for a looksie.. Tidy heater/ventilation plenum thingee.. Rust hole.. Another hole.. So over the last few weeks, or since the last update, I have been whittling away at a few bits on it while it was up on the hoist. I finished the chassis rail repairs. As suspected the passenger side rail was solid but for a few little holes and around the jacking point/gearbox mount. Its all strong now. Next time its up I’ll clean up and paint it all. Then some decent cavity wax inside. I’ve swapped the alloys over for some old wheels I had kicking about and had the tyres removed so I can weld up/clean up two of the alloys that the have been curbed. It looks horrible on old skinny steels. I look forward to some new tyres and get them Turbos back where they belong! I am planning on getting 175/70 13 so it retains an element of comfort and that slightly older look rather than the more racy 60 series tyres I have on Viva 1. Next rust repairs will be either the engine bay bits whilst its off the hoist or sort the rotten rear valance out when its back up in the air. Luckily for my wallet I have a few jobs coming in. Unluckily for Viva it waits in the queue as its doesn’t pay me money. Im getting quite excited at the prospect of cruising down to the beach/into town with my ropey looking wagon so I think I see a few evenings spent on it now. Its gonna be perfect for mtb trips too J I will have to get a shopping list together now. Things like brake cylinders, seat belts etc. I will be keen on some Chevette front seats too if anyone can help- I hate driving with out headrests plus Chevette seats are really comfy. Im sure this list will grow. Those with Chevettes... expect some requests soon..... Tim, Chris... 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted November 27, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 27, 2015 OK well now that I have some time between paying jobs (which have almost all been other old rusty cars and general rot removal) I have sneaked the Viva up on the hoist and got cracking with its rear end. But first here's a pic of the rust I have removed so far. We did a run to the metal scrap place so I had a clean out. This lot had to go. There will be more.... Now this rear valance panel looks a bit thin on it..Which it certainly was.Not quite as bad all the way across as my other Viva when I repaired that one. Again just like the other Viva its weird that only the rear panel rots but the inside shaped vertical panel stays solid?. Not that Im complaining. Anyway. I cut it open and then cleaned out all the rust flakes, wire brushed it and then neutralised it all. I discovered that the new can of Brunox I had bought happens to accept the extension lance that comes with my cavity wax cans. Sweet- I was able to spray it right into the Lh corner. Then I painted the interior to help the car last another 40 years.Then a local mate wanted to use my hoist so the Viva came down and I cleaned up the front panel. Its been repaired before and had been done neatly enough but then covered in bog. The corners near the rails were gone again so that will be attended to once back up in the air and Ive finished the rear.Back to the bum. I carefully cut and shaped new steel to fit in with only butt welds. Vivas have quite a tricky multiple compound curved rear end but I was able to work it out using two pieces of steel and lots of hand shaping after getting the main curve set with the folder.I tidied up the bits that were under the reverse lights, which wont be going back on, then one more vacuum out. For the final fit of butt welded close fit panels it helps to use a butter knife to line the edges up..I grind off the lowest weld which could hold road muck but otherwise I will leave all the welds untouched. Grinding welds down sucks. The exposed welds are sort of part of the overall patchwork car I'm after for now...Then I moved round the side and this bit looks a bit dodgy.This has had a previous decent enough looking repair but sadly was covered in filler straight onto bare metal- as was the way in the good old days eh. So the bog absorbed moisture and rotted steel. Bugger.I cut it out and treated the inside with luckily only a few bits that need to be cut out.Then while the Brunox epoxy spray was setting I moved over onto the opposite side. This time its the very bottom corner of the arch that looks a touch rotten...So I cut it out. It was pretty frilly after all..The arch corner in pieces. Note my ever evolving welding table. I recently added the uprights to hang my angle grinder, Dremel machine and other bits that were always getting in the way, falling off or never at hand. Its then once opened up to day light that I discovered a little seam sealer Jabba the Hut!!! Wow. *I then had to carefully shape a new corner and arch bottom out of several bits of steel. It was all so rotten I wasn't quite sure what the shape was meant to be like. It didn't really have to be factory original looking, just neat. So I have sort of just made it up as I went along..Once this arch repair is done I'll go back to the other side and finish that. Then I will drop the car down and turn it around so I can having it facing the sunny end of the shed. Then I can work through the engine bay rust with nicer light with better access to the coffee machine/biscuits/sunshine/music.* that is actually a lump of factory seam sealer. I might have added the eyes.. 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted March 17, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 17, 2016 I must finish the wagon, I must finish the wagon, I must finish the wagon, I must finish the wagon, I must finish the wagon, I must finish the wagon, I must finish the wagon, I must finish the wagon…… Its been put on the back while over the last couple of months while things like family visit, jobs that pay get done, land work gets sorted, swimming in the summer sun happens. Bur I have managed to sneak in a few bits here and there. I did a bit more welding repairs to the rear boot/arch corner and I started on the brakes plus I have sorted out the wheels! Its been a little Vivatastic in our workshop recently too. I had Andre's lovely genuine GT in for repairs and I also have a Firenza that has come down from Auckland for much rust removal and repairs including fitting a wide arch body kit. Its going become a 70's V8 powered road going racecar replica. For us Viva fans the workshop was looking pretty spiffy.. Firstly the welding. Pretty easy to see from photos so here we go. Where I left off on the last post was about here… Then this scabby bit.. So the rear end is pretty much done but for a couple of little bits. Lets just ignore the elephant in the room that is the very frilly tailgate (or hatch as Hannah likes to point out..) Next rust area is around the bulkhead so I can put the brake servo and master back in place. Then I can finish the brakes. So those brakes.. Well they were all knackered. I took all the bits off and evaluated their mankyness.. Luckily the calliper pistons freed up and slide out revealing good chrome and seals. So just a clean for them. The pads are still thick and dry so result. Moving to the back. I cleaned up and honed out the wheel cylinders. Usable but not perfect and for the money of new ones not worth fitting seals into. But then I discovered that new cyclinders in NZ were either non- existent or cost moon beams. So I looked to dear old Blighty. There you could get all new old stock parts for the price of a terrible greasy spoon bacon sarnie. Luckily my older brother lives in the land of greasy bacon sarnies and he was coming home to NZ for a holiday. So I started buying up old Viva bits and getting them posted to his house in Wales. He was so grateful.. and brought them over for me (along with several classic car magazines J ) Here’s some bits… Typically after these bits arrived I had been looking through my boxes of bits and discovered not one but two sets of brand new brake shoes. But they probably don’t have the real deal inside them like these beautys… So the rear end is all fresh and daisy. New cylinders, new shoes and new brake lines. I found a new master cylinder seal kit in my stash of parts and that’ll go in place once the rust is done. Wheels next. The wagon came on a lovely set of classic Cheviot Turbos. Lush! Swoon. Two had slight kerbing damage to the outer rim edge. I could have left it but it looked pretty yuck. So I tigged them up and filed them neat again. Quite satisfying. Then since the wheels were in motion…. and I was on a roll…. I gave them all a good wire brush and removed the horrible build up of oxide. That was a nice job on a sunny afternoon. They look a lot better for it. Then the wheel stud holes needed tidying up/remachining because someone in the past had used the wrong nuts, tapered, and it wasn’t very good really. This was going to be bloody tricky with just files etc. So I whipped up this little fly cutter to reface the washer face. It worked a treat and they pull up great on the hubs now. Now many, many yonks ago some might remember the nice set of Dunlop D1 alloys I had bought for my other Viva. I never ended up using them because I had discovered cracks across the hub faces on two of them. But not before I had spent some time machining up nice new stainless washers to suit the new nuts I had bought for those wheels. I found these stashed away and they are a perfect fit on the Turbos. So that was nice. A few weeks back I spent some time welding up Andres Viva GT where it had failed its WOF and he returned the favour by gifting me a set of 185/65 13 tyres he had left over. I had them fitted yesterday and they look good… Sadly one has a pin hole through the sidewall so hopefully I can get it repaired/patched inside. So next step is finish the rust in front and the tailgate (hatch) , finish the brakes and then fix the leaky Stromberg carb. I’ll swap the screen out for one I have that is not covered in scratches and then it’ll be close to going for a WOF ! Simple………. Oh yeah.. we can all discuss the merits of Cheviot Turbos here... //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/44200-yoeddynz-and-hannahs-hb-viva-wagon-discussion/ 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted April 29, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 29, 2016 OK yeah.. so I have ended up getting a touch carried away with this little wagon and sort of going against my original mission statement of 'keeping it all manky looking and just scrape it through a wof'. The reason for the slight change of heart is because when I started cleaning out the engine bay and really noticed how deep and yucky the surface rust and crusty bits were I soon knew I would have to paint it. Then I pulled the last of the wiring out so I could clean it out and I thought to myself as I was feeding the wires through the bulkhead 'well that's an ugly bit of cable routing..I don’t really want to see that again’. Before I knew it I had Hannah inside watching for fires while I welded discs of steel into all the bulkhead holes from the outside.Rewinding back a couple of weeks, because this project has become glacial in its progress. First thing.. those wheels. I fitted them and rolled the car out the back while I used the hoist for a customers car. It looks great on the Turbos. They certainly do suit this car better than on Viva one. I had also noted that the Viva wagon is exactly the same colour as the water tank... I had been umming and erring about removing the battery tray from the engine bay. I knew if I did that I would have to fabricate a box down the back under the floor due to the wagon needing to be clear floored for max usefulness in earning its keep. I also knew the tray was hiding things. Bad things possibly.I removed it. Not easily either. It seem that the fella who spot welded it in place was either drunk, had too much coffee or was suffering from MS. There was no order to the spots and I couldn’t find them. I couldn’t just chisel it off because doing so would dent and wreak the inner wing. Took ages.Off with it and look at that. Yuck. Glad it was gone because no way would that stuff had rested from its metal eating duty. With it gone I looked over the general mankyness of the whole bay and realised it needed to be done properly. I removed the heart. It was only being held in place by two exhaust nuts and the two mounts. So tiny. With it out I whipped up a simple engine cradle/wheelie tray thingee to put it on so it can be moved about the workshop easily.Hannah is going to get paid in kind words, cups of tea and biscuits to clean the engine for me. I noticed that the frost plug on the back of the head looks very dodgy indeed so lucky it was out anyway. It could have spoiled the party later on…I filled up holes, cut our more rusty patches and generally cleared it all out for a nice clean bay look. I cut off all brackets to do with the ugly factory throttle linkage. I have instead been given a later Viva HC throttle pedal like I have fitted to Viva one. Big thanks to Andre yet again for having one in his stash of bits. Hannah laughs at my idea that if I have the same pedals then when jumping from car to car for daily driving they will feel the same to drive. I don’t think she realises the power of the mighty 1159cc Viva.I also dealt to the rust that was in the drivers side A pillar…Welded up the cut in the hinge bracket that had refused to let go of the pin ages ago at the very beginning.After welding up all the holes in the bulkhead leaving only the clutch cable and speedo cable holes I ground them all smooth.I then removed the now very scratched and sad looking screen. I think it might be the original. With it gone I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of rot in the well. Only one corner had succumbed and it was not bad at all. I cut it out, welded it up and moved around to the back where it was rotten in the pillar.With the screen out one can easily marvel at the beauty of such a mint dash top.. Now fixed and strong again I stepped back into the engine bay and continued grinding, sanding and smoothing the bay. To earn this episodes title of ‘getting carried away’ I even removed the fuse box and welded up the hole. I might have to do this mod to Viva one some day. Finally I applied some Brunox epoxy rust neutraliser. This is now where I am at with the bay…I had popped into Nelson last week for welding gas etc so while there I went to an automotive paint shop and bought some epoxy primer plus three cans of colour matched spray paint. Well they were colour matched at the time. I had forgotten to take in my little bit of steel which had un-faded paint on it. So instead me and the fella behind the till tried to match the colour off a internet photo of a Cactus green Viva off the nerdnet on my phone. Never easy. Once home I sprayed some on the car. Whoops. It’s a bit brighter. But its still nice and looks 60s so it’ll do. Anyway- any engine bay painted in one neat clean colour always looks better.So that is where I am at now. I have heaps of paid work on right now so Hannah having finished her current work in one days time will get some cleaning and painting jobs. This way she shall earn the privilege to hold up traffic in the mighty Viva wagon (hatch..) on the hills around us. I have been having many thoughts about engine swaps or sneaky turbos and simple injection systems don’t you worry. But really I have strayed far enough already. I will however be re-wiring the bay so to allow for really easy engine swap/changes in management etc for the future. Keeping all the lights/horn/starter/alternator etc separate to the engine loom. Ha..the current engine loom. All of 3 wires? Temp, oil, ignition feed. Old cars eh? Giggle 26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted June 25, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 25, 2016 Not a lot to talk about but I have taken some pretty pictures of neatness caused by previously manky areas being covered in one uniform colour. Painting I believe. I have continued to avoid painting anything outside of the engine bay in order to keep the ‘pulled from a field’ look. However Hannah has painted the floor. This I approve of as it keeps it from getting worse plus when the time comes to tidy up and modify the wiring I have a nice tidy place to do it from. Some photos for proof… The floor surface rust was first neutralised.. The following day with the car wheeled out into the sunshine we both set to work. Hannah painted the floor with an epoxy primer while I covered the engine bay surfaces in a high build spray putty. I was expecting it to be yellow but instead it turned out to be almost exactly the same colour that I had painted my Rx3 in. Oh the memories… When the sun disappeared the car was rolled back inside and I sanded back the spray putty. Its come up pretty smooth. Way nicer than I had ever planned for this car so that will do then. Next dry sunny day it will get a topcoat. Hannah wire brushed a load of other engine bay bits and Ive now readied them for some paint. Then reassembly can start. The only rust work left to do is the hatch/tailgate and I also need to make and fit a battery box under the boot floor. We are both keen on getting this car on the road but its still only getting little bits here and there around paying jobs. Evening work has not really happened as much as planned. The shed is too cold/truck too warm to stay out late. Its just so enticing to go inside and have cups of tea with a fluffy cat in front of the fire. I shall try to improve my efforts…. 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted July 4, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 4, 2016 Just a quick little update. After having completed a fair bit of rust repairs to Sams latest Datsun acquisition I moved the Viva back onto the hoist. It was nice to see an emptier workshop with plenty of room to swing a fluffy cat. Not that I would. But I could. If I had to. Spot Hannah’s triumph waiting for attention… While I had a bit of time to spare that evening and was in a cutty, weldy sort of mood I decided to sort out the new battery position. Having removed the ugly old tray from the inner wing in the engine bay. Into the boot we go just like in Viva one. But this time I want to have it mounted below the floor level to maximise the amount of luggage/bike/bails of hay space in the back of this little wagon. Luckily there is a nice area of nothing just to the left of the fuel tank. I decided to take that nothing and turn it into something. Like a battery box. This area here… ..had this box here… ..slotted through the newly cut hole in the floor like so… ..creating a tucked away place to hide the battery… With that done I filled in a couple of tiny holes and stood back happily admiring my Viva wagon that is now pretty much rot free. Yay. I celebrated by hoovering out all the grinding dust and neutralising the surface rust. The following day Hannah pushed the car out into the sun and painted it with epoxy primer. It looks much neater but I forgot to take a photo. You’ll see it soon. Back to engine bay. I finished sanding back the filler primer to a level I was happy with. Its turned out pretty good and should be a good enough base now for the top coat finish. I’ll leave the car out in the sun to warm it up before expertly applying my spray bombs for a professional orange peel finsh. Next job was to fix the tailgate (hatch..) and its turned out to be more solid than I first thought. I’m still not sure why the car came with a far rustier black one fitted. I figure it was purely because they original one might have suffered a broken window so someone just swapped in another tailgate rather than swap the window. Luckily the this original coloured one is the more solid one so I’ll just swap out the window and refit it once fixed. To start with Hannah spent some time sanding and scraping off all the flakey crusty bits so I knew what needed fixing. This was the worst bit here.. ..which I cut out and repaired the inner skin.. Then I folded up a new outer. It was cold in the shed tonight so I have been wearing my best hobo fingerless mits. I forgot the fingerless bit when I pressed against the repair panel and preceded to tack it in place along with welding my finger. I smelt the burning flesh before my cold brain registered the pain from my now not so cold finger… I finished welding it in and that was it for tonight. The warm housetruck beckoned. I few more little thing rusty bits remain on the tailgate and then I’ll fix the frilly bits on both door. I’ve also been investigating the engine and I’ve removed the inlet manifold to but and weld so I can tidy up the ugly breather hose routing etc. But for now its back to the fireplace and cup of tea. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted July 6, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 6, 2016 Here's a peak of the now flash paint job in my engine bay. Show's off my mighty rattle can paint job skills.... I might sand out a couple of dribbles that occurred and lay on a few more coats but even as is I'm pretty happy with it considering I was originally intending not to paint anything at all. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post yoeddynz Posted November 1, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 1, 2016 Woahhhhhhhhh. Its been a while. I have been picking away at little bits here and there and in the last two days put in a bit more effort. I thought I’d better do an update as it’s a great way to motivate myself and actually see the progress. Last time I left you with a photo of the engine bay painted. The car went back on the hoist then I finished making brake lines. I finished cleaning and painting the front brake calipers, mounted them up and cut/bent/swaged/flared and fitted the brake lines to suit. I then decided the shiny new brake lines made the axle look very messy indeed so I just had to remove the lines and paint it. Overall it makes working on the underside so much nicer and looks good for the WOF test too. New seals in the freshly painted master cylinder and bench bleed it before bleeding the system. It was a slow process made faster by using a make shift pressure bleeder and bike track pump. It got even faster when I discovered the loose leaking union on the opposite side to where I was sitting. Brake pedal came up well and they feel good. There is a few years worth of rust to score off the discs on the first application though. People size their wheel dish or lack of road clearance with a phone as a scale. Well here’s a new one- check out the size of my enormous axle… While the car was up I ran some nice thick cable down to the front for the starter.. Oh btw..I had previously forgot to mention the rusty bits along the gutter drain lip over the rear tailgate (hatch..) opening. Well. There was rusty bits. Now they are gone. It was a tricky lots to replace with compound curves but its important. Luckily it was solid around all the hinge area as I could see that being a right pita to fix. So the only rusty bits left are some little bits on the doors and another patch on the tailgate (hatch…..) plus weld a check strap retainer back in place for the passenger door. Then I think I can safely put the welder away. The rocker cover had ugly breather vent tubes sticking right out the top and this had to change. Chopped them off, altered the interior oil splash guard to suit a rear mounted exit pipe so I can hide the breather hose away. Then a flick of filler and a coat of finest spray can paint and it looks much better. The old tube was a tad messy anyway.. Modded the splash shields.. Painted.. I had to modify the inlet manifold too. Same reasons- ugly outlets with no thought to a tidy engine bay. I removed both, welded them up and filed the lot smooth. I then machined up a new boss with a tapered thread to suit a different pcv valve and welded it in where it will work better with the new hose layout.. Hannah painted the engine and bell housing satin black. I refitted a cleaned up alternator Andre gave me. Cheers again Andre. The car previously had a generator fitted with an ugly control box. No no no. That wont do. The alternator looked exactly like the ones in the Haynes manual but it had the lugs orientated wrong ie it was made to mount on the other side of the engine? Then I noticed its front half looked symmetrical. Spot the difference in these two photos… Yep- undoing the front half and spinning it around 120 degrees allowed the alternator to mount on the side I wanted. Clever chaps. So I altered the existing generator bracket… and it all fits fine now. Yay- now I have 35amps of charge capacity to play with. I can probably find a suitable tape deck to run along with a really old inefficient amp. Then play suitable old 60/70’s music as I hold traffic up every where. Yes. Then we slung the shiny clean 1159cc power plant back into its home. Painted the grill area black as well so to work in better with the planned GT grill. I remounted the cleaned and painted wiper rack but will need another tapered rubber seal thingee I’ve yet to source. Painted and fitted the hinges in place. Then I cleaned and stripped the Stromberg carb. It was dribbling out the bottom when I had been checking the engine ages back and I found some hardened perished O rings. That’ll go back together and then I’ll make a little alloy pulley to suit the cable pull offered by the later preferred Viva HC throttle pedal I’ll be fitting. Hannah took the terrible old dash top rescue under her wing. She carefully filled the cracks and missing section in the replacement dash top I was given and made it very neat indeed. Big thanks to Hannah for her patience exceeds mine on those jobs. Then last weekend she celecbrated her fantastic job by sailing a jump on her old Fat Chance mtb and landing in a not very Danny Macaskill sort of way. In fact landing on her face. So as a treat she got a helicopter ride… Hannah is healing well and I have lots of Viva jobs lined up for her to cheer her up. I’ve painted the light brackets and swapped out one of the manky headlights for a good spare. Painted the back of the headlights to tidy them up. Next job will be the wiring and check, rebuild and add the Accuspark electronic ignition kit my Dad brought back home after a family holiday. Hopefully with that I may well be able to reliably sample the full 50bhp that this little engine might muster up! That is a about it for now. Very happy to get that off my chest. I might just go out and do some more! It quite a fun part of a resto this. Pick up bit, clean it, paint it, fit it. Good music, good coffee, helpful fluffy cat and you’re sorted! Here is a photo of how the engine bay is looking at this point in time.. 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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