Found this car in someones back yard about 2001 , it was down the side of his shed , basically
complete but not running , I swapped it for a 4 channel car amplifier.
We towed it home and began to strip down the carby and flush the tank out , put some new plugs
and fuel in , had no keys for it so I hard wired the ignition to a switch and fitted a push button start.
Eventually we got it running and drove round for a bit on back roads getting it to run properly.
A week or so later I was at the pits getting it inspected for rego. Its primary purpose was to build a
serious SPL car as thats what I was into at the time , I drove it round for a couple of months enjoying
life , I got a call from a mate saying a guy had 2 of them locally and wanted to sell the 1 that was
basically a parts car for $100 , this was more suited for an SPL car because we were going to
extensively destroy it anyway.
This was about as far as we got with that 1 , it ended up at the tip because I lost interest and the
scene was dying , plus I discovered burnouts
We trial fitted some 18s but yeah dont think they will ever fit
I drove the regoed car around for a few years keeping it running with constant problems as they
do with these , eventually it got the point where the engine needed new rings , the gearbox had lost
3rd and 4th , there was minimal rust that I wanted to treat before it got worse , it came off the road
and was stripped of everything and mate did the rust repairs for me.
Then it got a good wash and out to dry
At the time I was making a decision what colour to paint it the first HSV GTO images of the era were being
released and I liked this colour , quick trip to Holden I had the paint code and thats where it got a little
crazy , the panel shop I took it to decided it in there best interest to make it flawless given how neat and
tidy the body was , some 12 months later (I was in no hurry ) out rolled a blue Niki , inside and out , every
part was covered in blue !
I had the colour on my car before it was even released in this town , turned some heads that for sure !
Given it was a HSV colour I thought it only fitting to add my own personal touch for a badge/sticker
While the painting was going on I got new rings fitted to the engine , fixed the gearbox and gave it all a dulux overhaul !
Made up some quick custom door trims for it just so I had music for awhile until I decided what to fit properly to it.
Given the car had no key I had fitted a remote alarm to it to get over the pits , while I was doing the doors I
installed central locking.
Once everything was back together and on the road I drove round for while to iron out any bugs.
I used to have constant issues with timing and ignition problems , a local auto sparky fitted an electronic
ignition module for me and a Commdore coil pack , the spark now is insane , hasnt missed a beat since !
On the hunt for some wheels I found these over east and photo shopped them on but alas never got to purchase
them so if anyones come across a set Im keen !
Nothing really changed for a few years , it was a daily driver around town and has racked up about 20,000km in the last 5 years.
I got a little bit excited 1 day and must have over revved it , it didnt run quite right afer that , figuring I broke something internally
as there was fuel coming back out the carby while it was running I dropped the motor out of the green car and fitted
that ( took about an hour) , thats been in there for couple of years now but just recenetly its starting losing oil pressure , the
light comes on at idle so I suspect my lack of maintenance may have resulted in shagged bearings.
I had already stripped the original motor down only to find it was a rocker jumped off the push rod so not a major , the tappets
had never really been adjusted correctly so not really surprising.
I rebearinged the original motor and fitted new gaskets to everything in an attempt to stop it leaving oil in everyones driveway ...
The head has been cleaned and machined.
Have been doing a bit painting myself lately and basically teaching myself so figured I have a go at it with the engine covers.
This is how the enigne currently sits , Im waiting for big end bearings and gearbox gaskets to turn up from UK before I can
complete it and swap it over.
It has brand new carby , rocker cover , points , rebuilt alternator and pretty much every new small part I have come across.
Before I swap the engne over Im going to rewire the bay to try and hide whats left in there , it needs a respray because I relocated
the ignition module now so theres bare metal.
1 of the biggest faults I have always had is the elctrical system , the head lights are dull , the wipers dont work if head lights are
on , if the head lights are on while indicating and the brake pedal is pressed the indicators stop , the ingtion system pulses the
interior light and theres a constant surge while accelerating.
I always thought this was due to alt issues not charging properly but as it runs out it was just a poorly executed wiring system , the
ignition circut runs off 1 wire that loops around to everything , Im not sure where the weak link is but I wired constant 12V into it
using a relay and now evrything works perfectly !
Since I have a spare harness i have sat down for a few night disecting it and rewiring it to be more suitable , also incorporating
the alarm , stereo and CDL into it. Im in the process of building a complete dash out of MDF with new gauges if I can get new
gauges to work somehow.
The original fuse block used ceramic fuses so they will be going , the existing harness had no relays in it which kind of gives you
an idea of why it struggles to run anything elctronic.
I have purchased 12 LED pilot lights to replace all the warning lights so the instrument cluster will be gone completely and hopefully
incorporate a new digital speedo.
Under construction still.
While surfing UK Ebay I stumbled across this little gem had to have
Thanks to a local business I now have new blue seat belts that actually retract !
Ufortunately it now makes the red seats look somewhat hideous and expecting once the new carpets in going to be worse so seats
will be next on the agenda !
I finally stopped the back window leaking so the back shelf I made years ago will be finished off and trimmed in suade also , just
another thing on the list.
The interior as it stands but rest assured it wont look like this for long
So the old bearings seem to be pretty much over used , crank was fine
and Im guessing by the ammount of brass in my sump of current motor
the ones in that are going to be even worse !
Check out the size of these big end bearings
This was another car I picked up locally , no rego , no engine , stipped it for parts.
Some forum members may recognise this car from Motorvation , its now also gone to FIAT heaven !
