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Kiwi Kar Konundrums - Parky2 adventures so far


Parky

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2 hours ago, Amishtat said:

The red one is a Pontiac of 1959 or 60,think the silver one is an Oldsmobile of about the same vintage. The roof lines look identical. 

Very good!  The Pontiac is 1959, the Oldsmobile 1960.  The black one hiding behind the Pontiac is a 1960 Cadillac.  Very sadly, I have never owned any of those models, although I have driven a 60 Cadillac, and owned a close relative, from 1962.  And would again in a heartbeat!

One of  first American cars I rode in was a RHD 1960 Chevrolet Impala which carried the same roofline as the two flat-tops,being built on the same structure under the skin.  These are without doubt my favourite years of GM production.

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It’s a Datsun 1200.  Ratdat of this parish was restoring a similar 510 sss.  There is a thread he put together on it, definitely one of the top 5 threads ever on the site.

Mike and Ant did a 510 as well on WD.  Here’s a front view the Datsun....

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Other news.  Mrs P’s Suzuki needed a wash and polish so off to Repco I went.  I ended up with this???!

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Still at least I now know what Bjork is up to now, designing and creating car products.  I look forward to the “Violently Happy” scratch remover and “It’s oh so quiet”, the Molybdenum based gearbox treatment.

I have to say it’s not very good.  Sorry Bjork.  Many mid nineties band forays into car care haven’t been impressive.  The Divine Comedy range of “Something for the weekend” tools weren’t good quality and Shed Sevens car audio can remain on standby.  I’ll probably go back to using Dodgy products.  They’re good enough for me.

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I use CRC cutter polish, no Good in hot sunny weather as it dries hard instantly. And Turtle wax express shine in a spray bottle. Spray on , spread about and polish off when dry.

And then there is the expensive stuff.

 

 

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On 1/27/2021 at 1:15 AM, Parky said:

It’s a Datsun 1200.  Ratdat of this parish was restoring a similar 510 sss.  There is a thread he put together on it, definitely one of the top 5 threads ever on the site.

Mike and Ant did a 510 as well on WD.  Here’s a front view the Datsun....

A summary from the C&S A-Z:

image.thumb.jpeg.478c7a1acbd06e14cb344bfeed7cba1d.jpeg

I think the Sunny name was used in Japan and other markets. The 1428cc engine they list was the OHC L-series, which was fitted to some versions (probably Japan only) but I imagine that the heavier unit would spoil the balance. They're charming little things to drive. Size-wise I'd put it a little smaller than Avenger/Viva, more like an Anglia 105E.

Styling not dissimilar, but other then that infrequent use of the L14 engine not much is shared with the next-size-up Bluebird 510.

The yellow one looks rather more solid than my pov-spec 2-door:

image.thumb.jpeg.8f810481bf292d55882ba7d0703c7a83.jpeg

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I think they are very smart.  Lots of  saloons from the 70’s and 80’s were dismissed as porridge at the time but actually look pretty well styled and designed today.  There was a coupe version of the 1200 too which looks good.

Can you imagine Nissan making a new Version of this or the 510 as a 1 series competitor?  You just would, that’s all I’m saying

 

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Honestly walking around a regular car park seeing bizarre versions of cars vaguely resembling U.K. cars is odd.  Folk here are impressed with prime German stuff or Italian supercars and can’t understand why I get excited about 1993 Primeras in Autoshite Racing Beige.  

Saw a Platz earlier (yaris saloon, pig ugly) complete with the little parking aerials on the front bumper for better judging Tokyo parking spaces.  Also present were massive wind deflectors, and a Japanese dealer sticker on the back.  All of this was standard fit to the car which was being driven about by a middle aged lady.  I felt like telling her to get that stripped and set up an account on eBay UK as the JDM boys would have literally fainted seeing all the accessories.  

No accounting for taste eh?

In other news, Suzuki Swifts are very popular here And Mrs P attempted to open a car other than hers the other day so the hunt is on for some body graphics...something subtle and classy

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No no no, too subtle.....

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3 minutes ago, Parky said:

Honestly walking around a regular car park seeing bizarre versions of cars vaguely resembling U.K. cars is odd.  Folk here are impressed with prime German stuff or Italian supercars and can’t understand why I get excited about 1993 Primeras in Autoshite Racing Beige.  

Saw a Platz earlier (yaris saloon, pig ugly) complete with the little parking aerials on the front bumper for better judging Tokyo parking spaces.  Also present were massive wind deflectors, and a Japanese dealer sticker on the back.  All of this was standard fit to the car which was being driven about by a middle aged lady.  I felt like telling her to get that stripped and set up an account on eBay UK as the JDM boys would have literally fainted seeing all the accessories.  

No accounting for taste eh?

In other news, Suzuki Swifts are very popular here And Mrs P attempted to open a car other than hers the other day so the hunt is on for some body graphics...something subtle and classy

771B0EBF-8C66-49A4-8F3F-8439A80479CD.jpeg

No no no, too subtle.....

@stuboy is your man!

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Actually he’d probably be the ideal man for making it stand out!

None of the local body shops will do vinyls so it might be down to me.  Fuck it, Gus and Will managed it on Flipping Bangers, it can’t be that bad?  I can wallpaper and it’s not that far off.

 If it gets too tricky I will just solvite a random bloke onto the car which will do the job but probably won’t help the aerodynamics or fuel consumption.  May keep the stone chips off though?

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well not much happening with it until today.  It has been loosening up nicely, a lifetime of commuting hasn’t helped it but the longer higher speed runs I use it for seem to be waking it up and it feels perkier all the time.

However....

Today we went for a warrant of fitness.  Always a gamble on an older car and whilst I only ever had two MOT fails in the whole time I drove in the U.K., my NZ record stands at attempted one, failed one.  A 100% failure record.  I am ashamed.  It was drivers side shock absorber leaking, and that was it.  The passenger side one was swapped at the last warrant before I bought it so inevitable the other wouldn’t be far behind.  I could do it but the garage has compressors and windy guns and shiz so for $50 in labour it’s not worth me buying or renting any kit.  

Despite its obvious crap ness I pulled the front wheel off for a nosy.  Unusually for me I haven’t done anything like that on this yet, mainly because my tools hadn’t arrived from the U.K.  most of them have now (all the good ones went missing, fucking shipping firms, same thing happened last time).  All seems fine save for the leaky shock.  As I was bored I noted the state of the wheels.....

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Not going to win any prizes with that.  And the wheel bolts were rusty and jamming, we can’t have that.  I have some paint somewhere......let’s get this sanded and masked up.

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Check it, action shot.  A coat of the cheapest primer from The Warehouse and we will let that dry off a bit while I have a coffee and a sandwich.  It is sandable primer so I should get the wet and dry out and get a perfect surface ready for three coats, a bake, and some clearcoat.  But come on, it’s a 22 year old car worth nothing and I am bored so let’s see how this goes.  Black paint coming up in the next exciting instalment of PAINTING A STEEL WHEEL

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And here we go.  Shiny.  Pointless of course, but shiny.  The exercise allowed me to check the pads (fine) see the shock (leaky) and also work out how to get the oil filter off come service time (fiddly).  

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The house stinks of paint.  The paint wouldn’t cure because it’s a bit cold here today but that’s nothing compared to a man with his wife’s hairdryer in touching distance....Mike and Edd didn’t do enough work with styling products did they?  I personally can’t understand why Edd or Ant didn’t rip into a pair of Nicky Clarke’s finest styling tongs when retrimming interiors, etc.

Just need to refit the trim, the act of which will scuff up the new paint rendering the entire exercise pointless.  Shite eh?  It has made me lust after some second hand Honda Jazz 14” steelies though.  Car needs slightly bigger wheels, maybe even 15’s.  Compatible wheels are some Daihatsu, Honda, and Proton models.  Bini wheels fit, and so do Rover 25 and 45 wheels.  Those are the sort of things that occasionally pop up on trademe with no buyers.   

With Mitsi pulling out of the U.K. there are probably piles of Colt and Spacestar wheels sitting around without owners right now...

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Oooh, that’s got a lot of velour hasn’t it?  

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Fred straight in with a discount there.  In real terms it’s £1250 to properly stand out in the gold club car park and confuse the fuck out of your Nissan dealer

 

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Painted another wheel today.  Read wheel painting post for how it went as it was exactly the same routine.  In between managed to make three different dinners, a pile of laundry, hoovered, tidied, and generally walked about like Freddie Mercury in the “I want to break free” video.

Supercheap have a sale on!  Castrol GTX Ultraclean is $31 and matches my spec so will pick some of that up tomorrow.  Seeing a financial adviser who thinks he is selling me something.  The big idiot.  I am using it as an excuse to doorstep his boss and ask him face to face if I can have a job.  It’s a high risk strategy but faint in heart never won fair maiden or 33% off at Supercheap Auto in Rangiora

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Well in Sydenham today I found myself driving past a Suzuki dealer.  Mrs P’s Swift needs an oil and filter change soon and I have been assessing filter and oil options.  It’s very confusing for hers as the U.K. recommendations are totally different to here.  Plus NZ and Japan model filters and specs apparently differ but that sounds like bollocks to me.  Oil wise, Yes, a 0-20w probably makes sense in London traffic or a blast on the Autobahn before a hot lap of the Nurburgring.  But that doesn’t happen here.

Local website recommendations go for anything between a 5w30 synthetic and a mineral based 15w40 so frankly i was flummoxed.  The dealer though confirmed they use 10w30 or 10/40 Castrol Magnetic semi synth as “conditions here are not the same as Europe!”.  Ain’t that the truth.  So now we know.  There is always a deal on a Valvoline or Nulon option somewhere.  

i asked about filters, etc.  Now an oil filter on the street is around $30 for a Ryco or any aftermarket job of dubious origin.  Air filters are $70 and that’s insane.  The genuine Suzuki oil filter, made in Japan by Suzuki was a whopping $13!  So I had two.  Air filters are only $30 for genuine items so sometimes it pays to shop around, even at main dealers.  

Fired up by that I thought I would try the Mitsubishi dealer as the heap needs an engine and transmission fluid change before winter.  Sadly the dealer wanted $38 for a kosher Mitsubishi filter so I will go aftermarket for that.  I can get Ryco for $20 or Sakura for $10.  The latter will do.  Currently it wears an OE+ filter.  Not a name I am familiar with but they are a NZ firm making parts so probably ok.  

Fortunately I had three litres of TOTAL 75/80 gear oil in my stash so whilst it should be 75/85, it’ll do pig.  I dare say that 22 years of being ignored has seen the gearbox oil develop the lubricity of water so two litres of anything new will improve it.  Shift is sticky when hot so I bet it’s low on oil.

And somewhere in the distance a repainted third wheel dries in the afternoon sun......

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I find Repco and Supercheap to be best when there's a sale on - which they do with great frequency. Funnily enough, they never have a sale on concurrently of the same items! One might have 40% off oils whilst another might have 30% off tools, etc. I traditionally favour Supercheap, as I get fire service discount there!

Should you be requiring something relatively costly yet small enough to post cheaply, I'd be happy to buy on your behalf from Supercheap and post to you, to help you save the difference. The discounts vary but it's often quite generous! 

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That’s very kind Jon, thank you.  I suspect a heavy duty trolley jack might be a bit pricey....

I prefer Supercheap, it’s like Halfords in the U.K. when they used to sell car parts.  The staff are usually about 17 and clueless but pleasant enough.  I could handle working there Saturdays!  Maybe do the Sunday shift at Repco across the road.....

Our Repco.....the answer is No, now what is the question?

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