Budget-est kp starlet

[Nico89]

Picked up this starlet a few months ago after shooting a shot at a marketplace listing that I never thought would get anywhere. Swapped a 2005 legacy GT for it as a running project that needed interior put back together (most of it was there), the bonnet had come up and bent the hood itself, hinges and the wiper panel had been damaged, needed a fair bit of wiring sorted out and a fair few other random things. Previously running a 4age, and multiple other engines by the looks of things, now a 4k with a cam, 4 speed box and an open diff

[Nico89]

Stock kp seats were supplied with the car, but no carpet. I hunted around online but couldn't find any until i looked on trademe and found that autodec carpets were shutting down and had a few kp carpets left over. I ordered a black one, but since my starlets a 4 door it doesn't fit that great, and the contrast on the tan seats wasn't ideal. I tried fitting some evo seats I had spare but the shoulder supports didn't clear the B pillar so I ended up buying some fishnets from a coworker, and very hastily making a drivers door card. 

[Nico89]

After removing both hood hinges (never want to do this again) and straightening them, the bonnet still didn't clear the wiper panel and chipped all the paint off the edge. After doing some timber aided panel beating to flatten the bonnet, I ended up chopping the mounting plates off the hinges and welding a new plate on with the holes drilled further down. This allowed the hood to just barely clear the panel and finally mount and latch for the first time in my ownership. It still has a horrible panel gap to each fender, lights and grill, but I'm putting that down to the flat front being swapped on at some point as multiple things are trimmed and cut to fit like it isn't original. I dont know much about starlets so I can't say for certain

[Nico89]

After driving it into the shed to look into some wiring for the rear lights, it pulled a crank no start situation on me. Had spark, 160psi even compression on all 4, and was getting good fuel. A week straight of After work diagnosis and throwing parts at it eventually sorted it out - plugs were fouled to the point where they had spark when grounded against the block, but no spark under compression, combined with a damaged dizzy cap and incorrect ignition timing. 

I do still intend to look into the carb because it seems to be a bit blocked and the carb to manifold gasket has a worrying amount of red gasket silicon around it, but that will probably be after I have got it properly on the road

[Nico89]

More wiring and interior put together.

what wasn't included with the car was the seals that sit alongside the bottom of the window opening, which is proving rather difficult to source.

[Nico89]

Rear seats in, which shouldn't have required a hammer but did. They're still the stock tan interior which ill sort eventually but for now they just need to pass a wof

Mounted the wipers only to discover that the previous owner has only wired them to one speed and they don't return to neutral position when switched off, so I'll need to find a solution.

[Nico89]

Mounted the passenger seat with all 4 bolts for the first time because apparently I don't know how to measure, and had to notch the holes in the rail to get the seat straight. Hopefully that's the last of the front seats for a while 

I don't think I can ever have more than 1 passenger because the front seat has to be all the way back to fit me in this car

 

[Nico89]

Took it for a drive so it doesn't foul the plugs from starting and idling, weird chattering noise from gearbox/ exhaust passenger side, strange smell and cramped seating position noted. 

[Nico89]

No wonder it drove like shit

Tucked all of the wiring from the combination switch and ignition up out of the way so it's not a hazard while driving, but there's not much structure up near the steering column to secure it to so it's still just floating, but the car is actually enjoyable to drive now instead of "interesting"

[Nico89]

First time taking it to town and I got pulled over and put on compliance.

Just finished making the washers work which should be the last wof item apart from tires and wheels which I should be able to steal from one of my other cars, so should be relatively easy. Just thankful it didn't get stickered

[Nico89]

Finished a passenger door card, plumbed the washers properly so they don't melt on the exhaust, changed the diff oil for some lightly used 75w90 out of a ranger, and fitted the steering column surround which needed some slight modification to clear the HKB kit.

Attempted to fix the exhaust leak and found that 3 of the header bolts were less than finger tight but that didn't change anything. I also think the car is having fueling issues because it doesn't really want to rev out 

[Nico89]

Getting a wof check done today

...turns out shaved door handles are a cert item even if they open mechanically. 

[Nico89]

Not too bad of a list, hardest will be doors because of course I'm not un-shaving them, so will need to find a set of 4 that are decent enough to pass a wof

[Nico89]

Wof compliant bumpstops are installed, lower windows rubbers and interior door handles also.

And of course I had to check how it sat with no springs or bumpstops