parrot

Not so easy if the gearbox is still in the car though! Pig of a job pumping viscous transmission oil whilst scrunched up under the car, trying to see what you are doing inside the transmission tunnel

Yep. My wife would however see it the other way, although the shed has been a sticking point in the house search. Plus daughter wants this, and son wants that. Fortunately we are all happy! they can even park their cars in the driveway, or on the street. There is a car pecking order here and Corolla’s take precedence

Stupid parents presumably leased through their businesses I’d say. My kids are pretty spoiled, but your right, that’s ridiculous.

Exciting news news in the Parrot household as I finally have a shed that does justice to the collection! A three car garage! I will now have all three cars in a position where they can actually be worked on, instead of crammed down the side of the current garage where they are essentially inaccessible. Meanwhile the AE86 won’t be permanently covered in sawdust from son’s bat repairs. In a few months after settlement you can expect a photo with the doors up and cars inside! Wife says, you will have to throw some of your old parts out. Err no says I. I’ll be putting in racking for those. Oh, there is a house attached but that’s the boring bit.

My first car in 1983 was a Datsun 1200 sedan that I loved to death but had a few close calls in. I really want him in the safest car I can get him in ( and fit his cricket kit in). We are going to go half each so he has some appreciation of value, and it has all the bells and whistles safety wise, plus importantly Bluetooth and screen which will hopefully keep him away from looking at his phone.... Half his mates are driving around in $60k Audi’s. Unbelievable. No chance of that in this house. Both our daily’s are 9 years old with no plans to update!

Yes I did. Funny reading this now as I now wish had bought an auto. Traffic in Melbourne has become so congested, it's become pretty tiresome working the clutch continually. Plus son is doing his learners so has to drive his mums car all the time, not interested in a manual licence. Next car will definitely be an auto. Has certainly been a good workhorse though. Change the oil every year and that's it. Haven't even had to do the pads and discs yet, though I'm pretty gentle on it. Next job is a first car for son. Pretty likely we will get a 2017 or 18 Mazda 3 I think. He will have the fanciest car in the house.

Now you tell me!

I’d be going back to speedline

Tappets?......... You could check the cam bearing caps are fitted in sequence and torqued to spec. Have you shimmed the cams correctly? Do you know the history of the engine? The cam caps are supposedly specific to each individual head. Not swapped from another head? A mate had a similar noise which drove him insane......

I stripped my calipers, cleaned them up on the wire wheel and rebuilt them. Looked amazing..... well for a few weeks till they started to surface rust. Moral of story, if you don’t paint them, clear coat them. To paint them properly, you need them dismantled fully, otherwise they look crap. The decision is yours

Unless you are racing it, don't bother. Overhaul the calipers and master cylinder if you are keen, but if it is stopping in a straight line I wouldn't bother with that either. New metal pads, new discs and a proper bleeding, and it should stop on a 10 cent piece.

Clearly not something you can pull apart and refurbish yourself. I would seriously consider taking it somewhere for specialist repair such as http://www.howardinstruments.com.au/

Hopefully that’s what you need. If there is something else, let me know and I’ll have another look

I can’t say I’ve ever been there. Maybe once or twice. But god I hate what faceplant has done to forums. What I don’t understand though is why forum activity has dropped away in the face of Facebook. From an info perspective, the quality of discussion is largely laughable. The ability to contribute a build thread seems non existant. For selling it works well, but otherwise it’s just a place to talk shit that wouldn’t be tolerated on a half decent forum.

Sometimes they will respond to a little TLC. But that winding looks pretty cactus doesn’t it

Golden boy son on L plates and I had a leisurely drive around Melbourne’s outer east including a run up Mt Dandenong for an introduction to windy narrow roads, post cricket training today. He is a self taught cricket bat repair wiz , and does some amazing work. Downside number 1 is my garage and everything in it is permanently covered in shavings and saw dust. Not conducive to working on cars..... Downside number two is whenever I go to Bunnings, he invariably needs yet another softback sanding pad, glue or power tool of some description. Not sure how much profit he makes, but of course dad is a ready supply of funds for consumables. Currently he is thinking about an industrial band saw for handle repairs, and as he finishes school this year will lose access to the woodwork room. So we found ourselves at Sydney Tools and Total tools on the way home. A first time for me and I had a ball perusing the aisles and came out with a mini Japanese made screwdriver for confined spaces, and a couple of ratchet flex spanners. Not sure of the quality of the latter, but one day they will prove themselves indispensable on an under dash, or deep in engine bay task. Of course I launched yet again into the joys of Saturday mornings in the 70’s spent with my dad wandering around W L Ryan and Co in Elizabeth St Melbourne which was a wonderland of tools, assorted automotive electrical products and stuff you could never have imagined existed to fix machinery. “Yes dad, you’ve told me this story before”. God I miss that place. Later when I was older, I got into the habit of building my toolbox at Ryan’s by buying one tool with each pay. I think we will check the industrial auctions for a bandsaw, but meanwhile my tool collection continues to grow. And one day that 12 mm ratchet flex spanner will save the day

Do you have a set of KE2x springs on the car? You can always take those to a springworks locally and get them reset. They could even add a leaf if required. Just talk to them about what you are trying to achieve. If KE30 springs fit, I doubt they are much different in height or rate, plus they are pushing 45 years of age Edit: And you will need to get the front eye made smaller anyway

Surely simpler to have a spring works alter the front eye rather than sleeving What are you trying to achieve by fitting KE30 springs?

Early cars to Aug 72 have a smaller front body mounting point, and the eye in the spring is correspondingly smaller

If you want broccoli and beetroot, why not just go to the supermarket and buy some. They even have beetroot in tins! Seriously though, do you have to deal direct with the big two, and are they as bad as you hear?

I can’t answer if ke36 will fit, you will need to do some measurements. But I have KE26 rear springs in mine currently which bolted straight in. Do be aware that your early KE25 has small front eyelets where they mount, so the later large eyelet springs won’t fit, unless you get a spring works to alter them

If you get adept at searching on Yahoo japan, you can find quite a lot of nice wheels in whatever size you want. Of course, in period everything was 13 inch. Man important consideration of course will be what PCD you currently have. I can’t recall but think you went to something different than 4 x 110 or 114.3? often they are also narrow, as unless from a period racing car, anything much wider than 6 or 6 1/2 would be unusual at the time. If you have a bucket of money, You can always get some original or remanufactured Tosco style wheels. Ive picked up a set of period Enkei’s in 13 x6 for the te27 and some weds albinos in 14 x 6 for the AE86, the latter almost new and ridiculously cheap both from yahoo using an Aust broker who ship in containers. Of course everyone’s preference differs, but if you do go wide, the issue of flares will have to be faced. Rolling the guard lips may help if you need a little room

And here’s another. The ford site coming up with some good stuff