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Tortrons's 1981 Mitsi L200 Clubsport


tortron

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Sent the truck home on a tow truck on Friday arvo

nothing I did to it, the front left wheel bearing made a pop and then the wheel got real wobbly

 

sparkle sparkle

nEbMZLm.jpg

 

removed the hub

r18d5pH.jpg

 

spindle had a little marring, fairly light so I just cleaned it up

T9nnhuc.jpg

 

No dramas getting the races out

Lh58V9N.jpg

 

outer bearing race pinged apart and split as it was removed. rollers had no grease in them, might have been part of it

 

Tapped in the new races

cMcvcTV.jpg

 

slight issue

the outer race was a loose fit. probably this was a cause. same bearing numbers, but I could rotate it by hand with little effort. 

The two old bearings didn't look that old, so probably the last time it went, it wallered out the hub face, new one went in and has now spun and cooked it.

Fortunately I deal with ancient worn out junk all the time, so I used a pin punch to make the hole smaller and pressed the new race in tight. Not ideal, but itl last till I swap in the 2nd gen spindles anyways

 

made sure to pack the hell out of the bearings, and clean everything up

ace

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better sort that fuel filter before it causes me dramas

 

pZyzk3h.jpg

grubby existing lines and wires

 

Fuel line kinked and not even flared

IYVOKeJ.jpg

 

Wire brushed and black zinc - just to draw attention to the area next wof eh

ext3rq1.jpg

hard fuel line also bent up to meet the new filter location, and flared

 

zWfKPkU.jpg

cheap aliexpress filter mount. Modified by cutting one leg off because it would be too wide for the chassis rail. its also very slightly too big for my standard commodore filter. added an extra bit of padding inside the existing rubber. Next time I will get a bigger filter I guess. I kept the cut off leg and used it as a spacer to get the body to clear the brake and fuel return lines.

Drilled and rivnut to mount. nearly got away with using an existing hole, but I wanted the filter tucked right up out of the way, and the cab floor allowed this a few inches forward

 

Wires tidied up and everything mounted, kms noted on fuel filter cos I'm a nice guy

xDdtEeY.jpg

250000km baby (not the original speedo from the truck, not even the same one that was in there when I got it, it was close to it tho, although the speedo had bean reading 20%low for 20 years. so yeah)

 

 

 

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And the results are in on the intake temperatures

With engine at operating temp and moving at between 30 and 100kph the temperature in the airbox (just after the filter) is consistantly 5 degrees C over ambiant temperature. Temperatures at the end of the air intake pipe just before the throttle body are consistantly 10 degrees higher than that.
So at cruise throttle body air is 15 degrees C warmer than ambiant.
This rises rapidly when in stopped or very slow moving traffic, but drops back within about a minute of free flowing driving. So no major heat soak issues. (there are plenum insulators / risers for the buick engine, i might try pull some data on the intake air temp one day) 

So what next
I think i will fold up some small snorkle from airbox to inner lamp panel and see if sucking air from next to the radiator is any better. Then i might try a survival blanket or something on the intake pipe. Im not super worried about these temps

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, because race truck im thinking il put one of these here

bQboW9M.jpg

 

Doesnt stand out too much

U9M7RUF.jpg

 

And is a perdect fit, going just to the end of the behind numberplate hole

t4RDmNE.jpg

It will fit in nice with a bracket off the existing bolts, and il shroud the edges off so air goes through it

 

Possibly the best spot, but I dont really like to mount it to the bumper because bumpers get bumped, i will probably use some race mesh over the front to avoid stone chips. 

Really though i think i only need it when moving slowly or not at all, so maybe under the tray with a thermo fan is better. Or one day i will make a decent puller fan shroud and move it and the trans cooler to the front of the radiator

 

Gvojzkf.jpg

Or it would fit perfectly centred behind the number plate. A few speed holes and a thermo fan would also do a good job

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  • 1 month later...

about time I put some proper paint on the roof. Cant get a replacement windscreen seal that takes the chrome strip, so I very carefully separated this from the sealant holding it in. slow going, and its been damaged before. So if it pulls to bits going back in I will begrudgingly put a plain seal in.

UinXUE2l.jpg

Wow, doesn't look like any rust holes in the frame. WIll baremetal the A pillars and paint from the base of the windscreen back to the top of the rear window

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Bare metaled the rest. The upper corners of the windscreen frame have been replaced before, that's why they were not rusted out. Not done well, same as everything else.

 

Tidied up a few more bits then sealed the lot with durapox


zyBr74hl.jpg

And 3 coats of south Auckland racing grey
zAPTa7xl.jpg
z39LBQTl.jpg

 

Industrial drum of bog on its way

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  • 2 weeks later...

Windscreen, Stainless gutter trim, and visor back on

7AfpJJSl.jpg

 

All that work and I'm back to where I started almost a year ago

Yikes

 

Screen rubber has turned to cheese and all the existing nicks really didn't help, so the inside looks pretty bad where it's torn even more. Probably not leak proof

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So next up in the pile of parts I have been collecting was a spare fuel tank with sender, and a Holden fuelpump/sender combo.
Have been thinking of how to sort out the fuel gauge. But in the end I felt it most cost effective (don't need a custom long range tank I guess) and simple enough to just put the Holden sender in the mitsi tank.

Unfortunately the Holden one is larger in diameter, and I don't really need an in tank pump in a non baffles tank.

So the plan was to adapt the Holden sender onto the original mitsi unit

Took apart the mitsi one
VUL843dl.jpg

Took apart the Holden one 
RzCVRTUl.jpg

Removed the sender bodies from both

7VA1TnCl.jpg

Soldered the long mitsi float arm onto the Holden pivot
toqn9bZl.jpg

Welded the Holden sender body to the mitsi mounting, and soldered the single wire to the original fitting

And re assembled
2GxBME9l.jpg

And it works. The hardest but will be removing the one currently in the truck

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Little job today
MN7FPnxl.jpg
FactoryvPre punched marks on the floor seat rail mount

1MixiFAl.jpg
Drilled and rivnut installed

Cut some hollow stock and added another pair of rivnuts to mount the extinguisher cradle to
uMa5K78l.jpg
Seat right back
Negl9LVl.jpg
Seat so far forward I can't put it in gear and still accessable

Quite basic, but a step up from having it jammed under the seat. Not race track approved, maybe I'll get a nicer one one day. Currently painted black and drying

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so another little job knocked out.
a little while ago i was monitoring the under bonnet and intake temps and figured i could see a significant improvement by ducting the airbox to outside the hot engine bay.

Here is what i am working with
d0kqMRSl.jpg
standard holden airbox but missing its snorkel, and an unused headlamp pressing in my inner rad panel

So I went to a wreckers and picked up another complete airbox with snorkel incase I wanted to cut it up. I briefly tried to heat set the snorkel into the shape I wanted, but no luck
Around that time I spotted in a clearance parts bin a 3"-4" silicone adaptor. The unused headlamp hole just happens to be 3", and the snorkel hole more or less 4". so at $5 I took a punt

5ZqJNX8l.jpg
yup, with some trimming this will work

Now its hard to see in pictures, but the two holes don't line up, theres about 3cm of offset and the headlamp hole is a little higher. Fortunately there is exactly enough room to move the airbox closer to the inner guard, and up without touching the bonnet when closed.
u6WZ7lYl.jpg
I can improve this by slotting out the airbox hole, but for now it looks like it will be fine and the only additional work to do is make some spacers to mount the airbox at the correct height on the old battery tray.

0O8sKZrl.jpg
this is the joiner un trimmed, in place between the inner and outer headlamp panels. I don't think I will bother with any kind of fancy scoop even though its probably dead air (but it always measured much cooler than under the bonnet) and will just cut it more or less flush
 

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Interior improvement time
L89Gzvml.jpg

zinced up the floor and roof
tLlXmYel.jpg
tRoQ9Xsl.jpg

3NxR9zSl.jpg
mIMNJctl.jpg
ordered a 2 door kit of dynamat, it was actually the cheapest option. The real cheap stuff I did my Morrie with seems to be NLA, but this was a bit nicer to work with

most of the deadening is achieved by covering 30-50% of the panel, so I didn't bother trying to cover everything. Yes I realise I have done this a bit backward, most of the sound will be coming through the firewall and front floor sections. But I have more work to do there and will do that when I take the dash out and fill up the un used holes etc. I have some vinyl, so I will make a headliner and rear of cab panel maybe this weekend

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Added another set of tubes on each corner and set some extra eyelets in my tarp. Coming together nicely.
od9R8Gll.jpg
sjRT3JUl.jpg

Need some extra bobbins for the front of the tray and some shockcord. Think I will cut and sew the front and back flaps, leaving them attached at the top, and some fixings to keep the sides in place while they are up. I think I can also get away without any further poles if I use some tie down straps in the middle area of the upright of the rack (to stop the sides blowing in in the wing) I always carry them. Although the eyelet set up holds the sides pretty nicely
 

Laying down in the tray, I think it will be a bit tight if I make a platform on top of the wheelwells as I have just an inch or two clearance when sitting up. I'll see how much junk the missus needs to take camping (trailer? Haha)

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  • 2 months later...

I pulled out the washer unit back when I moved the aircleaner up a little. Unfortunately I need a WOF so have to put it back in. I picked up a washer unit from a 2nd gen at a wreckers (mine was not a mitsi or Holden, and was cut up and siliconed together for some reason)
Finding somewhere to put it proved the hardest part.
I also don't like the position of my overflow bottle, it kinda overflows onto all the electrics....

So the current solution is to relocate both of them. A little clearance needed to the inner fender for the washer (where the recovery tank was)and then mounted a bracket off the current battery tray for the overflow. 


TULqOgzl.jpg

Pretty happy with it for now, it's going to go through another few evolutions probably. I quite like those metal recovery tanks that bolt to the side of the radiator. At some point I think I will relocate the battery under the tray, and maybe move the washer unit with it to really clean up the engine bay (to say nothing of getting rid of all that wiring....)

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