Scary to think how long I have had this now. When I bought it it was a much loved car that the owner had had for 20+ years. It had been well maintained and was generally in good condition, with the need of a little freshening. The previous owner had made their mark on the car with several "improvements". I have steadily worked on making my mark on the car, the first improvement I made was to remove the 15x8 rims and Balloon tyres and fitting Factory 14" Alloys. (with factory sized Balloon tyres
)About 15 year earlier the engine had cried enough and as was the custom of the day was binned in favour of a second hand Japanese import motor, many phone calls and hunting around the Eastern North Island later and I was able to secure the original engine.
At my first sight of the engine, on it's arrival in Christchurch, it was obvious it had been sitting uncovered outside for 15 years, no manifolds, no turn, it was seized solid, had all this hunting been for nought?
The top end was beyond repair, the reason it was binned appeared to be oil starvation, the cam was worn away, valves were all seized and guides broken. On removing the head the story didn't get much better, it looked like the worms had been at it and the bores were in an advanced stage of decay.
The rebuild had began. After many hours at the machine shop I had an engine block I could work with. By this time I had sourced the front metal work to replace the one piece front air dam, along with original seats to fit in place of the after market ones.
For an already tidy body the panel man found heaps to keep himself amused, at my expense, but the end result I am more than happy with. All badges are now present and correct, it was now time to move attention to the interior.
