PZG302

Which Locky Fowler is this???? I don't believe you. The only Locky Fowler I know with a car restoration business is a grumpy, prickly, arsehole of a bloke...... Should be a nice jigger when it is finished. The car is in pretty good hands there.

You won't find a roadworthy and registered '71 Valiant for $15k or less nowadays

Check Ebay. i bought a china special for about $800 from memory, sold it a few years later for pretty much the same dollars. Was one of the all signing all dancing adjustable up, down and round and round ones. Wow having a look they have gone up in price a couple of hundred at least. But if keeping long term, it will more than pay for itself and selling it you won't lose much money. https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=car+rotisserie&_sacat=34998&LH_ItemCondition=1000&LH_PrefLoc=1&_sop=15

Some wiki sites list the weight of a S30 240 at 1040kg, but going from personal experience on my race car where a fair bit of light weighting was done, I got down to 980kg just off the track with around 30 litres of fuel, getting a road car that is still livable sub 1000kg will be a challenge. The weight reduction in mine was all sound deadening removed, all rubber seals removed, all side and rear glass replaced with polycarbonate in either 3mm or 1.8mm. Fibreglass bonnet, guards acid dipped. All inetrior trim stripped out and dash gutted to hold the original instruments as per the rules and a very simple switch panel for the car. Passenger seat replaced with kart seat, as per the rules at the time. Most of the unnecessary wiring removed. Rear bar removed, front replaced by fibreglass bar. Driver seat was lightweight racing bucket. All HVAC systems bar the ducting to the front screen removed. Only one windscreen wiper was retained. All the switch gear and steering column trim was removed and replaced with simple toggle switches for lights, blinkers and wipers. The brakes were lighter than standard using Wilwood 4 pot calipers up front and volvo 2 pot calipers on the bum with no handbrake and all associated brackets and cables removed. Additions to weight were the cage, still a simple cage, and fire extinguisher. The only other bit of weight that could have been removed was the rear hatch swapped for a 'glass one. In the mid to late '90's there would have been one or two other cars that would have been lighter than mine, but only by 10-20kg. There was one car that was very light, but the structural integrity of the car was compromised to do that, I would not have liked to have had a crash in that particular car.

Nice looking car from the pictures. Sub 1000kg for a road car will be ambitious. My race Zed was 980kg ready to race without me in it and it went on a fairly strict diet so the driver didn't have to. I could have got the car down to maybe 970kg by going a fibreglass hatch, and another couple of kg in wiring, but then it was that ever diminishing return for more effort. Sub 1100kg would be doable for liveable street car and will still give spritely performance from the L28. If you want to go to a bit bigger in capacity I have a set of the longer "stroker" rods and can get details of the pistons that were in my car. Final capacity will depend on how big an overbore you want to go. The old Mitsubishi pistons i had in my race motor are no longer available but a set of equivalent pistons made to suit wasn't too bad in price. And which branch of te free car mat fitting store do you work in, I wish to have you stare blankly at me as the computer says no when i try to get an oil filter or other service parts for my old euro shitter

In my case ride height is set by the rules of the category, for 2B Marque sports: RIDE HEIGHT All fully sprung parts of the car must clear the ground when both tyres on the same side of the vehicle are deflated. And also what the suspension dictates in terms of ride height when set up I would get the suspension sorted first to see where you are and then work out the rest from that to then put in bash plates or go dry sump to minimise the oil pan under the block

That was just a little rub staying on line, no malice at all. Whilst I never intentionally hit anyone, and the same with those I was driving around, I was always surprised when a meeting finished and there wasn't a mark on the car. Just wait until you get logbooked to fix up the dents. The car only has to look good from 20 feet away. Mine wasn't the prettiest in terms of panels, but the dark colour and the white diamonds hid a multitude of sins. Oh and when you do do the freshen up, steel guards can be legally made lighter than fibreglass guards...... A bath and some acid is your friend. My guards ended up so thin they had dents from the little bits of gravel being flung up off the tyres, and you couldn't lean on them without denting them, luckily it was pretty easy to push them back into shape. Just had to make sure nobody lent on them.

Was about to say the XA-XC door mirrors, not necessarily the GT mirrors, they are different between the XW-XY and XA-XC models. I have a pair of XB mirrors from my old car that for whatever reason are still in my garage. They work well as mirrors being actually usable and as the glass moves not the housing to adjust don't get knocked around or moved by vibration. If anyone is interested I could be persuaded to sell the mirrors I have as they definitely don't suit the Charger.

Easy fix for even a mechanical numpty like me...... Just lucky I had a new fuel filter in the race tool box from the green car still. The old filter was blocked solid. When I tried to blow through it all it did was pressurise what fuel was in the filter and spray it back over my my face...... I last saw Robbie in the nearest servo, hopefully stocking up on fuel filters for the trip home. It is a bit difficult to dump a tank of fuel on the side of the road nowadays.

Even the shows that go into a bit more technical detail show the standard body work steps are to get it rough enough with the panel beating, then cover the whole car in bog and sand back all the bog that doesn't look like a car. When you see a car that has been restored the 'murican way, and from what are reputed to be the top shops, it can be quite eye opening when you compare it to quality restoration work done here.

That's pretty old, I saw that build on Discovery Asia about 6 months ago. Not real fussed on the build, nor many American builds to be honest. Compared to Australian builds the body work is done by slapping bog over the whole car and then sanding back to shape. My charger only has a small skin of bog around the replacement sunroof panel. And mechanically, they just throw a catalogue at the car for all the bits. I know the market is huge there, and there are plenty of custom shop doing good work, but I think Australian restorers shit on what the American shops do from a great height. Even Lurch's work isn't too dodgy......

How long will you be in Qld for? If it's permament then look at transferring the rego. If you still have a WA address keep the WA rego, Qld is now the highest cost rego in the country. When I first moved up to Qld from NSW I kept one car with NSW for 12 months longer than I should of, got asked once why as it had been seen with the out of state plates for a few months, just said my work contract was extended. For transporting the car, I can only suggest the usual suspects, you might be able to score a backload, or if there is nothing to be put in the car general freight companies may also look at it for a back load. I used to regularly send a Falcon ute fitted out with video gear for road surveys between Brisbane and Perth, it went by general freight companies on the back of a truck, in car carriers and by train in a container.

At lest it isn't 36 blokes in singlets rubbing up against each other on an abandoned cricket pitch in the cold and rain.....

What Dave said is the only way I know how to improve the surface. The cutting compounds and polish just aren't harsh enough to flatten the bumps out.

I have used JP Pistons in South Australia to replace the no longer available mitsubishi pistons that were in my L28 in the green car. Was more than happy with price and quality.

Yes. The S14 did not come with a manual winder system in any market, and the electric motor and associated mechanics is not too heavy, even when compared with a manual system. As the design is frameless i don't have many simple options that allow the fitting of the windows in the car in any case, let alone a system that allows me open or close the windows. The electric motors are mounted at the bottoms of the doors, so the weight is positioned low in any case, plus they and associated mechanisms only weigh a kg or so. I did the exercise of stripping the doors of all the stuff not needed and putting all the stuff needed for power windows back in and saved 7kg per door without removing the door intrusion bar, which was another 2.5kg on its own. A complete door less door card is 25.5kg, the glass alone is 5kg. I need the ability to open a window(s) in wet races or for when sitting on the dummy grid or to get air into the car.

Yeah sorry, got my plastics mixed up, I got the full kit from http://www.plastics4performance.com/ in polycarbonate when the dollar was up over 60p so the full kit came in under $1K with the extras I wanted. Unfortunately they don't do kits for the Z31, but the S14 being a favourite of the drift kiddies there are plenty of options. These are the siffener plates I got with the kit for the front windows to stop the bowing out, http://www.plastics4performance.com/accessories/edge-stiffner-plate.html They still allow for the window to fit in the standard guides so i can open and close it with the standard power window mechanism. It was a few emails back and forth to get what i wanted, but once ordered they did turn up pretty quick, so for those with a S30 looking for an option these could be good, if a little pricey compared to the less pretty options I used in my old car.

Are the screens through Motorsport Windscreens??? http://www.motorsportwindscreens.com.au/ If so, Derek is a really nice bloke and will help as much as he can. I got a heated screen for the S14 about three years ago when I was down home for Christmas and picked it up from him. Only down side was as we both love a chat I was delayed about two hours hitting the road for the drive back to Brisvegas. Just note that the warranty starts form the date of purchase, but if you are going to wait to install for a while let him know and he is happy to start the warranty period from when you install. The quality of my screen is great and I have no hesitation in recommending getting screens through him.

For the acrylic windows in the S14 I'm just using an alloy brace at the rear and the standard rubber seal in the shell to keep the windows in place. It may be worth trying something less complex and with added lightness to see if all the bracing is needed. If I remember correctly you are also not having the windows operational, so that makes it even easier. I thought it was going to be a real pain being a frame-less design and wanting to retain the operation of the windows, but the manufacturer said the alloy brace at the rear will be more than enough to keep everything in place. Although they would only recommend i use 3mm thick acrylic for the door windows and not the 1.8mm thick acrylic for the opera windows and rear screen that I got.

There's some familiar names...... I knew Trevor reasonably well when I was playing with my 180B and two Zeds when Z16 looked after me. I have never seen anyone drive a 12 tonne tipper as Trevor did, backing it into corners and power overtseering out of the corner on the roads out the back of Windsor. The little Violet he had was an awesome car as well. He gave me one of the most treasured compliments as a driver at Oran Park one day when I first got my green Zed. Mick King had his workshop around the corner from the bloke that got me into motorsport, Greg Nielson, at Emu Plains. I was also a member of the NDDC in the late '80s early '90s when I ran my Stanza in the Group 7 speed series before stepping up to racing in a sports 1300 and then moving to street sedans and onto prod sports.

From a bookface post in 2016 from MCA suspension...... MCA Suspension 22 January 2016 · Just wanting to address something that there seems to be some confusion about here and there (Facebook groups and forums! :-P). It’s in regards to where our Red/X/Blue Series suspension products are made/assembled/etc. Designed: Australia Developed: Australia Parts Manufactured: Taiwan, Europe, Australia Assembled to order, including damper internals: Australia Now we know that getting some of our parts made in Taiwan may be perceived as a negative to some.. but getting parts made in Taiwan is actually a plus, rather than a minus. The parts are cheaper to manufacture, obviously, which allows us to offer our products to you at the prices we do. But they are also much higher quality as far as consistency, machining and finishes goes compared to any locally made version we’ve seen. Obviously we control what materials they are made from and the tolerances they are made to which takes care of that aspect as well. Don’t forget that the extreme large majority of parts you use every day are made overseas, including your furniture, cars, phones, appliances, clothes, etc. So getting parts made in Taiwan is a critical cost component to the Red/X/Blue Series products existing at all. And due to the fact they are designed by us, developed by us and assembled by us to your order… you are then benefiting from our 25 years of international, high end motorsport success and experience. This means you are getting a very high quality, unique product, full of our knowledge and understanding of suspension and car setup, to suit your particular needs that is also fully locally supported for a very competitive and affordable price. Rather than something mass produced from start to finish overseas without any great consideration to your own car and requirements. The biggest benefit is that if you have any questions regarding our products you can easily message us on facebook or email or call us direct. From reading that, they ain't no Chinese shit...... The suspension in my S14 prodsports has been tickled by Murray as a favour to my suspension guy. The coilovers were basically rebuilt, the springs thrown away and replaced by what Murray recommended based on the weight of the car, the use and the wheels tyres to be used. The dampers were revalved to suit what I will be doing with the car and the external reservoirs checked and sorted as required. Basically i ended up with pretty much a set of MCA golds put in the car.

It's not all in the motor.... I was once told many many years ago when I first started in motorsport, and have yet to be proven wrong, "If you want to go seconds faster, spend your money on brakes and suspension. If you want to go tenths faster, spend it on the motor" A good case study would be comparing my old green car with the 280 when Jason had it and now. With the blue car, there has been a lot more development done to the engine than my car, probably a good 30hp difference before it got its tickle down south. The power delivery was also very different. The blue car made its power up top and revved a lot harder than mine. The engine in my green car was a very lazy truck motor that made peak torque at around 3500rpm and ran out of puff at about 6800rpm. The times between the cars was very similar, but the big difference was the freedoms I had running my car as a 2B Prod sports compared to Sc. I ran 18" wheels using Porsche cup slicks, the suspensioin was still very simple and had good revalved koni dampers and springs built for the car especially. The suspension was set up to suit the slicks and the locked diffs it ran. Brakes were an area that gave me a big advantage, still simple, just using Wilwood 4 pots up front and Volvo 2 pot calipers on the rear with vented TP magna rotors up front and solid rotors on the bum. Also I could get a lot more weight out of the car, with it using only a fibreglass bonnet and all steel panels, albeit the front guards were very lightweight after several days in a bath of carbusol to help with repairs, they were lighter than 'glass guards. The green car tipped the scales at 960kg ready to race with around 30 litres of fuel on board. As for the differences in driving them, Jason would be the best person to comment, seeing as he never let me drive the blue one..... But whilst the blue car would drive away from the green one in a straight line drag, the green car could stop and corner better carrying more speed through corners and able to brake later and harder with no worries of brakes not working, plus the extra grip provided by a bald sticky 240 wide tyre compared to a treaded 205 wide tyre.

Yeah, nah. I don't see the Nick Masons of the world worrying about putting miles on their 250GTO's and GT40's on the race track in proper door to door racing throughout Europe, where the racing is proper hard and not always gentlemanly, and how that affects the values of their exotics. The right car will increase in value whether you use or not. The sale prices of the d'Alberto auction I think were hyped up due to the publicity generated before the auction and the very fresh memory of Holden closing down manufacturing here. The only drawback with investing in classic cars, particularly as SMSF, is the rules regarding them. If invested through a SMSF you can't use it yourself. there are many hoops to jump through and in a lot of ways it's not worth the hassle. If you want to spend the money on a fun car, then do it, don't worry about the value. The right car will retain value or increase if you guess right. Hell even my Chugger will make me money one day even though I have sunk way too much money into it.

Bloody Datsun weird beards....

I saw that one on Nat Geo last night in Jakarta. Wasn't a bad show, but the "scamming and scheming" to get shit done quickly gets real old real quick. Also, was interesting to see how they approached the car in the beginning, saying you are better off doing the mechanicals first and then the body. Not the way I have seen most cars done, especially a Zed, and as we all know the mechanicals are very easy in comparison. But was good to see the panel fit was typically Zed, gaps and lines between the bonnet, guards and sugar scoops weren't the best and the drivers door didn't look to line up well. But it was a nice car in the end and the Jenvey throttle bodies looked a nice bit of kit. Would be interesting to see what the cost compared to a set of tripples would end up being in total, i.e. hardware, computer, wiring and tuning in comparion to the three carbies, and time setting up and tuning including proper jetting and so on.