Popular Post ~Slideways~ Posted May 8, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted May 8, 2019 For some reason my wife hasn't murdered me. So here's another project. It popped up on the Facebook market place, which is about the only thing it's good for in my mind. Long story short, the seller had it among several other assorted wrecks on a big off the grid property, the cars were already on the land when he bought it so there is zero history. I wrote out a receipt stating this so I have a way of proving ownership. There is no police history for the plates or chassis number. The plate and chassis are not on Carjam, or NZTA where I spoke to a few people including a supervisor who was very helpful but basically it came down to the fact its not on their records because it must have been deregistered before they moved to a new system in 1994/5. Paper records were kept for 7 years then destroyed....fck. So here I am knowingly buying a unregistered car with no history, no windscreen (unique to the car) and has been left outside for who knows how long. But the metal floor pan is solid. WTF am I getting myself into: 27 1 3 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ~Slideways~ Posted May 9, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 9, 2019 Before I bought it I did look into whether you can still get a windscreen. First lead was that he seller said a "guy who does certifications in Lower Hutt also has one". So I rang who I thought it was and turns out he has a Rotary powered one and some spares, but no windscreen. He did say it used to be possible to buy them in Australia but had no contacts. So I joined a FB group for Australian Purvis Eureka owners and trawled through that looking for any mention of windscreens. Ended up posting and asking and got a lead for Moran Motor Glass in Queensland, AU. So I googled them and called, the guy was very helpful and said they can be made to order but the shipping would be bad so said a company they work with in Hamilton should be able to order one. So I rang Windscreens Direct Hamilton and spoke to Dean. He said there are two type so it needs to be measured. But it can be done, they are made in Vietnam and there is a 10 week wait. Cool. A windscreen is possible. The fibreglass windscreen frame is damaged so that needs looking at before ordering one. I figured out that I had the later slightly higher roof line version, this is like GT40 height, or pretty close to it. 18 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ~Slideways~ Posted May 9, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 9, 2019 Next was trying to find any details on the registration. The plates are black and look to be issued in 1978 which. Google tells me, in very little detail that from '77 to '79 someone made them under licence in Auckland. No records of how many were made or by who. I searched the car for anything, no windscreen for reg or wof, nothing on the number plates but they look like they have been on there since 1978 at least. Then I found a sticker inside the drivers lexan window, which is very very sun damaged so can't see from outside. "Wellington Hospital Parking 1980-1983" A lead! A stupid one, but SOMETHING. So I emailed Wellington hospital via their employee records info request thing. Worth a try right? Maybe someone remembers the car or who owned it almost 40 years ago...long shot. 12 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ~Slideways~ Posted May 9, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 9, 2019 And the next morning I got a reply!? The Hospital HR manager said he doesn't know the car/owner but he happens to be the editor for the Constructors Car Club (kits cars, homebuilt etc) and he would pass it on to their Historian who might be able to help. The historian has been an amazing help, he wrote an article about the history of the Purvis Eureka in NZ. Two accountants in NZ got the rights from Alan Purvis of Australia, who owned the rights there after getting the rights from Richard Oakes who designed it in the UK in '71 (ish). The article was very interesting but in summary, they cost too much to make and they only made 7. They had the plan of offering them with either a Rotary or a Ford Crossflow Kent 1600, instead of the most common (in Australia and UK) VW Beetle engine, since they are based on a Beetle floor pan. These were built by Tony Lynch of Lynchbuilt in Auckland. So it looks as though mine is 1 of 5 built with Ford x/flow power. I was given Tony's email address, and I emailed asking if this car was one that he built and if he had any records. To my surprise he replied and again, very helpfully confirmed that he did build them (the final assembly and fabrication) but the body panels, engines, wheels etc were supplied by the guy running the project (with the rights in NZ). So Tony suggested trying to track him down, he unfortunately hasn't been in contact for many years so wasn't able to help there. So I looked up the name and the word accountant which lead to one possible option, which kind of fit. An address is all I have to go on so I've just printed out a letter with some photos, in the small chance it is the same guy. If it isn't they might get a bit of entertainment out of it I guess. No harm in trying. 17 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ~Slideways~ Posted May 9, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 9, 2019 It was wet inside and one thing I found was a brown looking wet newspaper, so I dried it out and found it was from 1983. The windscreen shattered glass is still all through it, so it looks as though it was left for 35 years. I was born 35 years ago. Weird. Look at these NEW Honda's: Steve Millen: 15 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ~Slideways~ Posted May 9, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 9, 2019 A little bit of detail on the engine, its a 711M block and L3 head which should make it a 1600 sport. But it has extractors and a 42 DCOE 8 Weber. I wonder if its standard internals and cam? I haven't tried turning it over yet. The coil was removed and inside the car, either its dead or was a way of immobilizing it. The fabricated radiator pipes are steel and rusty inside, no water in it due to dried and cracked bottom hose (I assume). It does have oil in it. 12 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Slideways~ Posted May 9, 2019 Author Share Posted May 9, 2019 The roof is the door and it is damaged, it lifts up via hydraulics which looks like it was disconnected at some stage. There is a big switch in the drivers side, on the other side of the panel inside the body there is this: Which leads to this blurry ram jobby: And at the back on the car by the engine is this pump, with disconnected hose: 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ~Slideways~ Posted May 9, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 9, 2019 It got wet inside but these gauges might be ok since they are under a cover, they are VDO which means there were probably pretty decent: 17 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ~Slideways~ Posted May 14, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 14, 2019 What better to do than lay on cold asphalt in the dark at 10:30pm on a weeknight and try to hand crank a possibly seized old Kent engine? Me? Retarded? Dunno, but it's interesting anyway. I removed the spark plugs to spray some penetrating oil in there. There was a bit of junk around the plug holes even though I brushed away anything before hand so, I vacuumed in the dark. Its a perfect fit. Top of pistons don't show any signs of water or rust. Inside rocker cover is nice clean and oily. Plugs look ok, I wonder if they are 35+ years old? Found you can still buy Champion N9Y's The crank pulley is right up against the fibreglass body, barely enough to get a spanner in. At first it refused to move with the little leverage I could get on it in the space, I thought it must be seized. Then it moved maybe an 10th of a turn, moved it back and forwards a little. Then put the breaker bar on it just fitting pushed up against the fibreglass back panel and got an easy free feeling half turn! Maybe it'll live again? 18 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ~Slideways~ Posted May 16, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 16, 2019 Holyyyyy cr@p.... I just got a phone call from an unknown number, it was Stephen Fleming's partner!? She said he is the same guy and she said he most likely does have paper work for the car since he never throws anything away. He is a busy guy so she thought she would ring me to let me know the good news, that he is the person I am looking for. What are the chances. I can't believe that worked and what a nice lady to talk to too. Still can't believe it. I'm also being made redundant, which is less useful. 30 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ~Slideways~ Posted May 21, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 21, 2019 Spent a bit of time checking it over. Under the rocker cover its super clean, no build up at all: Took the weber apart, fully expecting to see disintegrated brass dust and gunked up crap but look at it, it looks barely used! A little bit of dust at the bottom but that vacuumed out easily. The floats look new: Throttle plates move fine, a bit carboned up intake: Under the ramflow element is a bit rusty but nothing major. Definitely needs new foam though. Took the mild steel radiator hose tubes off, the top hose isn't too bad inside but the bottom one is stuffed. I'll make something to replace it. This brass outlet has turned to dust though, looks like it must be for the heater: The inside of the hose is weird...like a solid blockage of brass corrosion dust? Sprayed some more CRC into the spark plug holes again to let it soak while looking at the above then connected a battery straight to the starter and it bloody cranks over smoothly now! And the starter works, its pretty rusty but looks to work fine. The battery I used is a bit weak but it worked, crazy. I then flushed water though the engine block, it came out clean surprisingly. The radiator had some rust-mud in the bottom which looks like the remains of that badly rusted bottom hose. It fckn turns over with the starter! I wonder what the fuel tank looks like inside? ...not expecting it to be good. Anyone know what this number means? I already know/think its a 'sport/GT spec' based on the L3 stamp but not sure what this means. 13 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ~Slideways~ Posted May 25, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 25, 2019 Got the roof off, you can see how damaged it is. I reckon it must have hit something while open or possibly someone tried to pry it open from the front? I have almost all of the bits to fix it but I am also hoping to get a whole 'new' roof. Started cleaning out the crap from the floor, lots of broken glass. Not safety glass either, its in fckn everything, even the air vents and gearshift holes: It's all dry inside now, so pulled out the fcked carpet (classy 70's blue loop carpet): Found a key! (and some rust in the floor): Tried the key in the ign key hole but it snapped in there...cool. Coolcoolcool. That's annoying but it refused to turn with the other key as well which was also rusty. So no real loss, I was thinking I'd need to replace the barrel anyway. Also found this magazine behind the drivers seat under the carpet, lol: The steering wheel is weirdly bent: Cut the ign key wires because I wanted to see what would happen with power. Not much, although I can get a click from a relay in the back which must be the starter motor. There is a crude fuse box which is a bit stuffed so might explain why I don't get much happening. So out of interest I put some fuel in the carb, plugged in the coil that was inside the car and connected it to battery positive. Tried to crank over with the jumper leads straight on the starter but nothing happened. Think that spare battery is stuffed. Took the battery out of the 200sx and tried with that. OK so engine is cranking over again, but pretty sluggish and no sign of it wanting to start.... that was kind of optimistic. Ran out of time to do anything more so haven't checked to see if there is any spark. Have chucked the battery on charge and will see if it cranks over any better tomorrow. Maybe the starter is just tired or the bores are rusty, who knows 27 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Slideways~ Posted May 31, 2019 Author Share Posted May 31, 2019 Haven't heard anything from Stephen Fleming but it's not really a rush and she did say he is very busy. Maybe I'll ring in a week or two. Tried cranking it over with the wifes car running and connected the to battery cables at the front of the Eureka. Touch cut wires of dash and it turns over with the starter (previously had battery jumper leads directly on the starter). Still sluggish, so maybe the starter needs a rebuild. Tested and found no spark, had it turning over with wifes car and spare battery connected to the coil. I'll take the distributor out and see what I find. Having silly thoughts of an all aluminium KLZE 2.5L v6 and ITB's sticking out the bonnet. Or maybe bike carb's on the Kent after getting it running on the DCOE 42. Depends on whether I need to go through a cert or not (what paper work I can get, if any). The V6 just suits the car I reckon. But the kent is 'original'....but heavy and half the power. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ~Slideways~ Posted June 23, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 23, 2019 Got some very useful bits. The roof is a life saver, the glass is cracked but I knew that already. Also got a front lower section, rear lower section, the top front and rear which is supposed to be one piece but that bit has been cut in half and missing big parts. It was going to be lengthened and put on a ladder chassis but that project didn't go ahead. I mainly need the roof and the bonnet. But the other parts can be used as a mold to fix my front section. Also got a new bonnet and rear engine cover. Looks like the vw engine type cover. 28 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Slideways~ Posted July 28, 2019 Author Share Posted July 28, 2019 Hadn't heard from Stephen so gave him a call just now on the number his wife/partner gave me a few months ago, had a good chat and he said to give him a couple of weeks and he'll see what he can find. Other than that I haven't pulled the distributor off yet, its winter and its outside. Need more garage space haha. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ~Slideways~ Posted September 13, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 13, 2019 Back from holiday so called Stephen again, very friendly guy. Said he thinks this car might might be the one which the Redcross bought new to raffle off in Wellington. He thinks he should have some kind of paperwork. But it will take a while to look through, it was 40 years ago lol. Ask me to call him again in a couple of weeks. Wife has been sick since we got back so haven't had any time the last few days to work on cars, had the kids play on the driveway so I could have a look at the distributor. Thought maybe the points were stuck. Looks like its oxidized, moved ok. Then the boy sprayed the girl with the hose so I didn't look any further. 6 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ~Slideways~ Posted April 8, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 8, 2020 Man, a bunch of months have gone by. Lock down time now, so had a play with this. Cleaned up the points, rotor and cap. Turned over engine to see if the points open, which they do. Connected a battery directly to the coil and starter. Turns over but no spark. Tested leads and it turns out none of them have any continuity at all. I guess they have been unused for 35 years and probably over 40 years old. The Cap to Coil lead would have a connection if I bent it at the right angle. So because shops were closed I cut up some spare extension lead, not that dodgy considering the LUCAS leads just have a bent metal cap shoved into the core and jammed on. So I reused those end pieces. The spark plug ends are literally screwed into the core. I tried reusing these but there was still no continuity. It turned out all of the spark plug connector bits were the problem. So I then made it properly dodgy by stripping the rubber and wrapping the wire around each plug and jammed the old ends on. I know, pure class. But I just wanted to see if there was any life in it before spending any money on the engine. IT HAS SPARK! On what is probably 40 year old bits! Poured some fuel into the carb. Tried to start it, no life. Sprayed some carb cleaner in the throats, because that all I had and its flammable. And it almost fired!! I don't think it's getting any fuel from the carb, its probably just trying to run on the carb cleaner fumes. Once it tries to fire, the starter disengages and free spins. Not sure why since I am bypassing the ignition switch altogether. Just using a battery on the driveway and jumper leads. All the while my 2 year old girl is saying ''gen gen'' (again again) from the deck above me and my 5 year old boy is running around excited. Raising them right haha This is encouraging. 31 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ~Slideways~ Posted April 9, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 9, 2020 Bit more testing today, tried blasting carb cleaner through all the passages but didn't seem like any where blocked and didn't make a difference. Took out a spark plug to test for spark, nothing. Tested the lead and getting spark when held close to the engine. Tried connecting the lead without the old lead-ends jammed on (was just to hold the stripped lead core onto the spark plug) and used electrical tape to hold it onto the spark plug. Again this is just to see if there is any life in it. I'm not normally this cheap lol. Now I can see a spark on the spark plug itself. Maybe the old plug lead ends were causing resistance or something? Did this to all 4 and tried again. Still not firing. Took plugs out again, broke one spark plug....taped it back together lol... and squirted a little fuel into each cylinder. Tried again and now it almost fired again. I think that is convincing enough for me to spend a bit of money on some leads and maybe a new coil and distributor. Maybe an electronic ignition conversion? I then did a compression test since it seems to be turning over pretty well now. Remember this thing was basically seized and I had to use a power bar to get it to turn! My compression tester has always read pretty low but I was amazed to see decent compression numbers and it is obviously dead cold. Three cylinders are 120psi and one is 140psi, not ideal but bloody amazing considering its history. I reckon if I can get it started and hot it will improve, probably not a huge amount but getting some heat cycles through it wouldn't hurt. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Slideways~ Posted April 10, 2020 Author Share Posted April 10, 2020 Excuse me, but what the fuck is this? It’s Inline with the fuel hose before the carb. I thought it was some kind of flow restrictor or flow sensor? Was not expecting to find a bulb inside. 3 3 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Slideways~ Posted April 23, 2020 Author Share Posted April 23, 2020 Engine wise I am at a crossroads as to whether to bother spending money on the Ford Crossflow, it might just need $100-150 for leads, plugs and maybe coil. That would prove the condition of the engine, for either keeping it in there or selling it to fund a modern engine swap. It's never going to be a race car so maybe a 120hp crossflow with doorty bike carbs would be good? That is also least expensive and keeping it ''original''. Alternatively a K swap of either Honda or Mazda, K20 or KLZE. K20 is modern and reliable. I don't think the Honda 4 cylinder exhaust note would suit the car. I know it sounds silly but I think the car just needs something more than that. KLZE sound would really suit it, have been keeping an eye out for a cheap mx6 but there are surprisingly few. Getting to be an old engine though... Both should be around 200hp and probably lighter than the Crossflow. Both would probably not break the VW transaxle, which apparently can handle around "150hp" in standard form. The crossflow should be worth around $500. Maybe more with the DCOE 42? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.