Matt / rxford's junk.

[RXFORD]

Remade all new earths throughout the car, and got main power connected with some nice terminals I had lying around. Swapped all the front light plugs to the newer style to suit the facelift front swap. Tested lights but had nothing at the rear. Found the main loom to rear end had been cut next to drivers seat, so soldered that back togethor and everything works mint.

[RXFORD]

Got the battery tray fitted and had a spare battery tested before I went out a got a new one. Managed to save a bit of money there.

Didn't like the plastic battery hold-down so fizzed up something simple but nicer from Ali. Will prob powdercoat black with the next run of stuff I get done. Nuts will get swapped out too. 

Engine bays looking a bit more complete now. Had been sorting engine loom, but we fired it up and got it up to temp for the first time on Friday night, so now that I know its all good, I can wrap the loom and tick that off the list. 

 

[RXFORD]

After running the engine a couple Fridays ago, I noticed a leak from steering box output shaft. Whipped it out on the Monday and dropped it down to PG Hydraulics. They put a new seal in and bench tested. Collected it on the Thursday and threw it back in that night. 

I'm not a huge audio guy, but have had a bunch of gear lying around for years. Sorted through some bits and made a decision on what to run.

Pioneer bluetooth headunit that came out of my Lexus.

Pair of Pioneer 6" speakers in the rear 1/4s. I keep them when I sold my old Vt commy because they sounded good. 

Some 4" Jvc speakers to go in the factory dash speaker location.

And an old Amp and Sub that a customer didn't want when he put new gear in his truck. Even had an Rca cable to suit in my stash of bits.

Just had to buy a fuse and some speaker / 12v+ cables for it all.

 

[RXFORD]

Got the all the wiring run, main fuse to Amp mounted and front speakers mounted. Wired headunit and powered it up.

It spits out a Creed CD, so I did the world a favour. 

[RXFORD]

Spent Matariki Friday making the mounts for the rear 1/4 speakers. I didn't have the factory optional mount so I got creative. Probably a bit overkill but I needed to recess them in so they didn't hit the trim panel. They sound awesome so pretty happy with the result for someone who doesn't do much woodwork.

[RXFORD]

It was a tight fit, but I managed to fit the Amp under the passengers seat. I lifted it up off the carpet a little incase it gets warm from bulk doof doof.

Whipped up some simple mounts this afternoon that allow the amp to be removed with taking the seat out if need be. Not that its hard to take seat out. 

I'l finish wiring the Amp tomorrow, hook the Sub up and see if I can rattle any bog out. 

[RXFORD]

Well Monday/Tuesday didn't suck. Spent some time Monday buttoning up a few things to be able to drive it.

Hammered up the inner lip on front guards and adjusted the toe a little more.

Wired the elec fan and tested its effectiveness. 

Connected Amp wiring to tick off the Audio side. Sounds great, all I need now is a bumper mounted siren.

And got it loaded on the trailer ready to drop to Racelign on Tuesday morning.

[RXFORD]

Truck went on a hot date with Iain at Racelign Tuesday and he dialled it in a bit more. Turns out my eyes are pretty well calibrated. All my eyeball front caster/camber/toe settings were within spec. 

Almost ready to take this thing for a hoon around the neighbourhood. 

1 week til Cert day with @cletus. Still got a bit to button up but I'l make it happen. 

[RXFORD]

Managed to rob a few more bits off the b2200 at Zebra Manukau on Thursday.

Got an instrument cluster fascia that had the rear window demister switch in it so that completes that circuit.

Also a crotch duct that goes under the steering column for giving ya nuts some fresh air in summer.

Horn which I still need to mount and test circuit.

And the final piece of the brake puzzle...A non-return valve and some vac rated hose to suit donated from a random corolla.

Also picked up a 'caramel wheel' and cleaned off the adhesive that was left over when I removed the side mouldings.

 

 

[RXFORD]

After getting the booster vac hose fitted I took it for a quick hoon on Friday night.

Goes decent, needs a bit of carb barrying.

Brakes work fucking awesome which I'm stoked about.

Had a bit of an issue with the cam blanking seal at back of head. It fell oit somewhere when we where going round the block and it pissed oil all over the gearbox and my floor. Had a spare so pushed it into place. Maybe there was meant to be a retainer plate that I didn't fit way back when I assembled engine. Theres 2 bolt holes either side of it, so will take plug back out, glue it in, then make a retainer plate to hold it.

 

My buddy Adam came over on Saturday and whipped out his buff. 

Got rid of the last of the chalkyness on the cab and doors, then gave the rest a quick run over. Big effort from him, farkin legend.

[RXFORD]

Pushed it out today and admired it in the sun. Proof that you can indeed polish a turd. 

Gave the exterior of all windows a razor blade then a good clean. Put it back up on the stands so I can sort the bumpstops and another bolt check before cert.

Also brought a nice new car cover today. Shop gets pretty dusty so will help keep that paint shiney. 

[RXFORD]

Big thrash last couple days to get it Cert ready.

Couple big things were the bumpstops. Front was easy enough as I had a pair of suitably sized rubber ones that did the trick. 

Rears were a bit trickier due to the notch. 

Needed to lessen the distance between bottom of C-notch and the top of bumpstop, to make them work before the shocks bottom out. 

Ended up making what resembles a model of the Harbour Bridge. 

I could have just welded something in, but wanted it removable incase I needed to tweak them. 

[RXFORD]

[RXFORD]

Another bigger job to sort in last cpuple days before cert was the seat rail adaptors. Truck was already certed for 'bucket seats' in its past life, and I assumed that meant the Recaros that were in the truck when I brought it. But when I got them down off the mezz a couple weeks ago I found the adaption was a bit boogied up and wpuld have never got cert that way. 

So...another bloody job to ad to the list. Luckily I've done a fair few Recaro Lx conversion over the years so knew the way to go about it. 

 

[RXFORD]

Always takes longer than ya think it will though...

I fucked up my stampings of inner vs outer brackets too. The joys of being tired and building/measuring them upside down. 

The Lx had a slightly offset hole centre vs the stock seat rail mounting holes hence the reason for stamping them. Makes life easier for anyone messing with them in the future. 

[RXFORD]

And the big day today. 

Failed to get a pic of my first gas station fuel up. 

But a pic on the hoist with a cameo of @cletus smoko corner will do. 

Couple minor things to sort. I ran out of time to refit the rear seats/trim panels and fit the other steering wheel I have. 

And hadn't driven it enough to get any guard rub, but easy enough to rectify.

Need to check the rocker cover gasket. Thinking it might not be sealing as well as it could be which might explain the oil leak.

 

 

[RXFORD]

Finally, an update...

After cert, I pulled the seats out and got the rail adaptors and battery clamp powdered.

A b2000 popped up at zebra a couple weeks later so I robbed a bunch of little things I needed off it. Seat belts were pretty nice, and had matching stalks unlike mine do grabbed them too. 

 

 

[RXFORD]

A month went by where I struggled to find a rear seat backrest which was the only part I was missing. Plenty of people wrecking them, but they were all too retarded to reply to message.

Finally found a dude in Hamilton so shot down and grabbed it. 

That meant I could finally get all the bits off the the trimmers. 

[RXFORD]

I brought a couple sets of Recaro Lx's off a mate down south a while back and one pair was these Vinyl retrimmed ones. They were pretty grubby, but I gave them a good scrub and they came up fairly nice. 

I had Donna at Upholstery by Design match the grain and trim the rears to suit. 

Pretty stoked with what she did for how cheap it was. I really didn't want to get carried away with them, so she kept it simple and kept the cost down. I asked her to add the lines in to match the front recaros and I think it was a good idea. 

[RXFORD]

Picked them up a couple weeks back, and threw them in that evening. 

Cleans up the interior nicely.