I purchase this chevette wagon in march of 2006. It was near original and rolling on some curse word wheels so I put on my 17's that I had from another project and lowered it a little.
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Unfortunately the cops decided that it was a little bit too low for me.
^ Green sticker, which is a defective vehicle notice here in NZ and effectively means I must correct the modifications to the vehicle and get another warrant of fitness check carried out.
I decided that this was as good a time as any to put urethane bushes in the front along with vented piazza disks and a couple of other goodies.
At this stage the car took a slightly different direction as I was sick of big wheels. At the suggestion of a couple of friends I tracked down original UK spec steel wheels and proceeded to widen them.
I didn't have a great ordeal doing this as no one was interested in doing them for me for a road car. I found speedway guys that could do it but they all ran tubes and I wasn't confident of the standard they would do them to.
I finally found an engineer that was keen to take up the task and he did it for me at a price. The pictures above and below are them after being blasted and welded and ready for the second blast and a coat of etch then paint.
Saying I had trouble fitting tyres is an understatement but a skilled friend of mine that owns a tyre shop pulled through for me.
And on the ground with some clearance shots also.
So I got the car back home and was getting the other 3 tyres put on when the engine decided to give up the ghost.
I put the wheels on and was ultimately happy with how they looked.
My favourite picture.
The build then entered the next phase - engine transplant.
I went through many different ideas but finally decided I really wanted Opel power of any of the more common japanese stuff we have over here. XE seemed like the best option but they are rare and expensive so I went for the Opel Ecotec X20XEV and I am more than happy with my decision.
For very detailed build details go here:
oldschool.co.nz/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=5705&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20
We basically did it in a month give or take because we had to get it running for an oldschool.co.nz event that I had my heart set on making.
Needless to say there are teething issues that I am currently working out but the build over all really couldn't have gone better as far as I'm concerned.
So far I've had the car on non compeditive track days twice and on the 1/4 mile once, where I ran a 15.2 with very little traction and a big gearbox selector problem that I have since fixed.
I'm hoping for a 14.5 on my next outing and to eventually achieve 13's when I open the engine up more but thats down the track.
[
Unfortunately the cops decided that it was a little bit too low for me.
^ Green sticker, which is a defective vehicle notice here in NZ and effectively means I must correct the modifications to the vehicle and get another warrant of fitness check carried out.
I decided that this was as good a time as any to put urethane bushes in the front along with vented piazza disks and a couple of other goodies.
At this stage the car took a slightly different direction as I was sick of big wheels. At the suggestion of a couple of friends I tracked down original UK spec steel wheels and proceeded to widen them.
I didn't have a great ordeal doing this as no one was interested in doing them for me for a road car. I found speedway guys that could do it but they all ran tubes and I wasn't confident of the standard they would do them to.
I finally found an engineer that was keen to take up the task and he did it for me at a price. The pictures above and below are them after being blasted and welded and ready for the second blast and a coat of etch then paint.
Saying I had trouble fitting tyres is an understatement but a skilled friend of mine that owns a tyre shop pulled through for me.
And on the ground with some clearance shots also.
So I got the car back home and was getting the other 3 tyres put on when the engine decided to give up the ghost.
I put the wheels on and was ultimately happy with how they looked.
My favourite picture.
The build then entered the next phase - engine transplant.
I went through many different ideas but finally decided I really wanted Opel power of any of the more common japanese stuff we have over here. XE seemed like the best option but they are rare and expensive so I went for the Opel Ecotec X20XEV and I am more than happy with my decision.
For very detailed build details go here:
oldschool.co.nz/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=5705&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20
We basically did it in a month give or take because we had to get it running for an oldschool.co.nz event that I had my heart set on making.
Needless to say there are teething issues that I am currently working out but the build over all really couldn't have gone better as far as I'm concerned.
So far I've had the car on non compeditive track days twice and on the 1/4 mile once, where I ran a 15.2 with very little traction and a big gearbox selector problem that I have since fixed.
I'm hoping for a 14.5 on my next outing and to eventually achieve 13's when I open the engine up more but thats down the track.
