We were playing with the idea of either getting the car on a truck or a train to Chch from Hamilton.
But after some investigation, both options were going to cost us just a tad over $1000!!
so, looked up cost of flights, and ferry for 1 person....came to $314....plus some gas.....MUCH cheaper!
So, booked the flight to arrive into Rotorua at 8:50am on Saturday, and a 8am Ferry back on the Sunday.
Original Plan
Plan was simple....Get dad to pick me up from the airport, drive to Hamilton to get the car, allowing an hour to fix the fuel problem that the owner told us about, then drive back to Wellington, to be there by around 8pm to stay at Mums....then ferry back at 8am, drive back to chch.
How it actually happened
Got on the plane from chch just fine, only to be told after boarding that there was a possibility that we would have to land in Tauranga, due to Fog in Rotorua airport. (this would have added another 2hours to my planned day).
got to Rotorua on time, circled for awhile, before pilot got bored and took us on a sceinic flight over Mt Tarawera and Edgcombe (which was a bonus), getting back to Rotorua, he decided it was safe to land.....SWEET!!!
Drove back to Dad's place, grabed some tools e.t.c., then off to Hamilton!
Got there, quick look over the car, and everything looking as described.....even some bonus spares such as windscreen, grille, tail light, and random engine parts.
Swapped out the fuel pump for a spare I had brought with me (as thats what the owner thought was wrong).
Whilst doing so, noticed the fuel smelt really bad....had been sitting for 7 years.
also noticed there was no fluid in the brake master, and clutch master had no resistance.
So we drove into Hamilton, to buy some new fuel, and some Hydraulic fluid.
Drained the tank of about 20litres of old crappy fuel, and replaced it with 20L of nice new fuel.
then set to work on getting the brakes and clutch working.... first up was clutch.
Clutch master had fluid, so problem wasnt there....found the slave to be completely siezed, so pulled it off, and started to get it apart, then cleaned up with emery tape, then did the same to the clutch master, as it was seized too.
Clutch works now!
start on brakes....front reservoir had fluid, back didnt, so topped it up, and bleed the brakes up half assed, and they worked ok.
Then went to start the motor....car had no battery, even tho there was one in the pics we seen....so we were jump starting it from the Van.....got fuel through, and the engine fired up.....sounded mint.
after a couple mins of idling, it died on its own.
kept on cranking for ages, and no more fuel appeared in the float bowl. There was plenty of gas.....and pump was fine. Took off the hoses, and tried to blow down the line.....no luck....so it was blocked somewhere.
check the metal lines....no kinks or anything....must be internal, took the pipe off at the fuel tank end, and tried blowing again.....still no luck. also tried blowing in the fitting on the tank....no luck there either.
so the fuel supply line, AND the fuel tank pickup were blocked.
tried ramming a metal wire down the pickup line, got lots of black crap out, but couldnt unblock it.
Jumped in the van for the second trip into Hamilton, to pickup 5m of rubber fuel hose to bypass the metal line, and look for a fitting to get a new line from the tank.....couldnt find one tho.
Back to the car.....and drilled up through the old pickup line, by hand to minimise sparks lol.
I refitted the fuel tank, while dad ran and clipped up the new fuel line to the car.
cranked it back over, and engine started again! finally!
It was getting dark by this stage, so we flicked on the lights e.t.c. to check they worked.....and as soon as I switched on the headlights....the engine died....so that meant the alternator couldnt keep up with the extra load (no battery remember), it could produce enough current for the engine spark, and park lights tho.
hooked back up the jumper cables....and the headlights came on and worked fine.
so decided we couldnt drive it back to Rotorua with no headlights, so towed it all the way back to Dad's house, where we had dinner, re-bleed the brakes, and chucked in a spare battery that he had.
so now I felt it was time to leave (10:30pm), on my own from then on....one of the low beam bulbs blew as I left the driveway lol....ahwell, who cares.
got to Taupo, topped up with gas (need to keep the fuel level high, as we dont have a proper pickup anymore), went to start it again....and no go....Battery dead. Got a jump from another guy getting gas.....left, to find out that my other low beam had blown....no more low beam!
The reason the Battery had died was because of what I said earlier....the alternator couldnt charge enough to keep it charged with headlights on.
so carried on driving, knowing that If I stopped the engine, I'd need another jump start....also, battery power was limited, so started driving with ONLY my parklights, and only switching on the highbeams when I seen another car coming.
this worked well, but meant I had to get through the desert road with only park lights (and I was also down to only 1 high beam left....all others had blown)....and it was a FREEZING night out....big patches of ice all throughout the whole area, even ice on the roadsigns.....even the inside of my windows had ice on them.....so im DAMN happy the car didnt stop through there as there was almost no traffic.
Got into Taihape, to re-gas....luckily car stayed running as I paid.
Went through Bulls, into a small town called Sanson....where the Battery was finally so dead, that it was sucking all the power from the alternator leaving none for the engine spark.
So....now 4am, I changed the alternator on the side of the road (luckily the car came with a spare one!)
then called the AA to give me a jump start.....while waiting, some random drunk guys and a chick turned up in a van and gave me a push start, and I was off.....only for it to die 150m down the road and they were gone.....so rang the AA back and told them I was no longer where I told them I was, but still needed them.
he got there, jumped me back up......left it running for 15mins with lights off, then started off again, now using no lights at all, as even with no lights, the engine was struggling due to crappy spark.
so I would drive along, no lights, and If I seen someone coming.....I'd pull over and wait till they'd passed.
finally got to the next town called Foxton (only about 10kms from Sanson, but with massive straights, so meant I had to wait ages for the cars to go past, took almost an hour).
voltage regulator on the dash was going awal, so had no idea how much gas I had.....so topped up again in foxton, only for the engine to die just as I was getting in.
Servo man had no jumper cables! sucks!
waited for ages, noone came, so called my mum in Wellington, to ask for a tow, as I was making ground so slowly and I was so tired by then.
She sent her partner up with a towrope, and jumper cables.....but by the time he turned up, it was daylight....so we jump started the car, and dissconnected the battery, and managed to drive all the way back to lowerhutt with no dramas (inidicators didnt even tick....only come on and stay on)......seen a couple cops.....one put on his brakes and started turning around! I packed myself (car is de-registered), but luckily, he didnt follow!
Got to Lowerhutt, and the battery charger I had, turned out to be broken.....so got a lift down to repco to buy a new battery just for starting purposes.
re-booked my ferry (missed the one I was booked on by a couple hours) for 1pm that day.
got on the ferry, found me a couch....and got my first 2hours sleep since I got up for the Plane at 5am on Sat morning!
left Picton, everything going fine (running with battery dissconnected), and drove untill just north of Kaikora before I had to start using park lights, trying to stick with other cars to be less conspicuos.....then came a time that I needed headlights.....and bam! they worked!!! even without pulling over to hook up the battery!
drove the rest of the way back to chch in a much better mood, as I could drive AND see! bonus!
Got back to Chch around 9pm.....and went straight to bed, as I'd only had 2hours sleep over the last 40hours.
The Datsun knew that it was now in its homeland (South Island), as it had magically fixed its own alternator
So, thats the story, of the Little Datsun that could!......and one Epic journey!
