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Jun 18, 2018 23:03:27 GMT
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Nice work, was all the strengthening boxing in the chassis etc required by the engineer to get it certified or was that your own idea?
Any more details on your Charger, i've been looking for one for ages but i'm failing miserably to find one in the UK!
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avenga
Part of things
Posts: 182
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Jun 18, 2018 23:30:49 GMT
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Thanks.
With the chassis strengthening it was a little of both. We were going to have to do some strengthening to get the certificate but going by what I have learnt from my other Avenger I wanted to do subframe connectors.
The problem with the Avenger is that it is a monocoque design so it had no traditional chassis. It has a front subframe in the engine bay and the rear subframe back at the diff, but there is nothing in the middle other than the body shell keeping it together. This means you get really bad flexing around where the A pillar meets the firewall. You have a solid front end, and a solid back end with a soft squidgy bit in the middle, and if my 1500 4 cylinder can push that to the point there I can see cracks along the firewall then the V8 would just rip it apart.
So yeah. I probably went above and beyond what was needed for the cert but I wanted it to be able to handle the extra power of the V8.
My Charger is an NZ assembled 1972 Chrysler Valiant Charger. Built down at Todd Motors down in Wellington New Zealand. It was built by the same company who built my Avengers, except the Avengers are later so they were built in the new Petone factory which is just north of Wellington and opened in 1974, I recently went to visit the factory, it closed down in the 90's and is now just a big warehouse.
My Charger was about the 60th one built in New Zealand so it was pretty early.
The Chargers were designed in Australia then sent over as CKD (Complete Knock Down) kits, and assembled in NZ, the same way that the Avengers were CKD kits from the UK. All of the trim and other components were manufactured locally but the bodies came over unpainted as kits.
They never sold the Charger in UK so they would be pretty hard to find over there. I have heard of a few that were privately imported over there but I would say that you could probably count them on one hand.
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Last Edit: Jun 24, 2018 10:45:20 GMT by avenga
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Jun 18, 2018 23:46:14 GMT
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Yikes, if it was flexing with the 1500, then you've done the right thing there, you can just imagine the torque of the V8 twisting the whole shell otherwise..
About 200 Chargers were sold here UK new, there aren't many left as rust has taken its course and a lot of the good/ rare cars have gone back to Aus, like the 1 of 1 R/T Auto that went back a few years ago, they do still come up occasionally - I missed out on one last year by being slow fetching the car trailer...
30th built is really early, nice to see it still being used as well. I bet that turned a few heads!
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Last Edit: Jun 18, 2018 23:47:03 GMT by dodgerover
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avenga
Part of things
Posts: 182
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Sweet, yeah I heard a few chargers went over there. They must be pretty much gone by now. They are starting to get a little uncommon in NZ. It's quite funny, if I go to a car show in my Charger then there is usually a couple of others there. But if I take one of my Avengers then I am usually the only one there, unless I plan to go there with one of my mates who has an Avenger, or I get someone to drive one of my other Avengers. Our record at car shows for Chargers were 14, mine is the 3rd from the right in the back row  And our record for Avengers was 5 (This is a photo of when we had 4, mines the first one)  Or 8 if you count some parts cars   I run the NZ Avenger forum so we have quite a few Avengers left, it is just hard to get them all in one place, I need to organise another meet up, maybe once I get my wagon finished. |
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avenga
Part of things
Posts: 182
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Another update. Went down to the panel beaters and we matched the paint colour. It turns out that it is still it's factory colour. I always assumed that it was repainted a different colour at some stage. The body tags have the paint code PM which is a Mitsubishi colour named Phantom Mist. Love the name. Installed the new alternator only tensioner. Also cleaned up and painted the engine block.  Took the rocker covers off to check the condition of the cams. Looks immaculate, lovely golden colour.  Got all the bushes I need.  Got the vehicle speed sensor from Recon Electronics in Christchurch. Got a really good deal on this. My local Toyota dealership wanted $470 but I got an aftermarket one from Recon for around $180  I got another great deal on Trademe. A set of 8 remanufactured injectors for $110. Brought them from a cool guy who has a superchanged 1UZ in a Ford Courier Ute. They are unused, he brought them and then decided to go bigger because of the supercharger, but they are perfect for my NA motor. Drove my other Avenger to pick them up on Saturday. Had a good chat about 1UZ etc.  While I was up there I also picked up a Lexus front engine cover which will hid the spark plug leads at the front of the engine. My 1UZ is a Toyota so it had that big ugly cover that covers the whole engine. The Lexus ones only cover the front and side so I have been looking for this part for a while.  |
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Paul Y
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,951
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Jun 24, 2018 10:20:25 GMT
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My father in law had a Valiant with the leaning tower of power. Looks pretty Similair to what you have, where they the same? Will dig out a picture. Nice work on the Avenger. P.  |
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avenga
Part of things
Posts: 182
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Jun 24, 2018 10:45:03 GMT
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Thanks. The Valiant Chargers are slightly after the 225 leaning tower of power was phased out. My charger has it's replacement, the might 265 Hemi. Which was an upright 6 cylinder designed by Chrysler Australia.
The US Valiants are also different. They were mostly the same in the 60's but then in 1971 Chrysler Australia brought out the VH model, which was the first fully Australian designed Valiant. So at this point onwards they went down a different path from the USA valiants now that they had a Aussie designed and built body and engine. My Charger is one of the first Chargers built, so it is a VH model.
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Jun 24, 2018 20:48:49 GMT
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Thanks, I 3D print a lot of stuff. It's really hand for all sorts of things Next up I finished off my dash. I had to recreate this little lip around the bottom of the cluster.  So I drew it in CAD  And then printed it out  Fits perfectly when installed  It just closes up this little gap at the back of the dash.  What are you printing with -ABS? PLA? great work! I can see 3D printing being a real boon in lots or areas for the older car. (EDIT - I see from a post or two later that it's PLA. Easier to print I think than ABS.) |
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Last Edit: Jun 24, 2018 20:57:21 GMT by OAY842F
1968 Mini MkII, 1968 VW T1, 1967 VW T1, 1974 VW T1, 1974 VW T1 1303, 1975 Mini 1000 auto, 1979 Chevette, 1981 Cortina, 1978 Mini 1000 1981 Mini City, 1981 Mini van, 1974 Mini Clubman, 1982 Metro City, 1987 Escort, 1989 Lancia Y10, 1989 Cavalier, 1990 Sierra, 1990 Renault 19, 1993 Nova, 1990 Citroen BX, 1994 Ford Scorpio, 1990 Renault Clio, 2004 Citroen C3, 2006 Citroen C2, 2004 Citroen C4, 2013 Citroen DS5. 2017 DS3 130 Plenty of other scrappers!
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avenga
Part of things
Posts: 182
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Jun 24, 2018 22:19:37 GMT
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Yeah, I'm using PLA. ABS wraps too much, especially on big flat prints like this. And because it is going to be inside and away from direct sunlight then it won't be getting hot enough to warrant the need to go to something like ABS. I think now PETG is taking over from ABS because it has the easy print qualities of PLA and the higher temps of ABS, so it is the best of both worlds. But most times I can just get away with PLA because it is cheap, eco friendly and easy to print with.
I have printed quite a few little parts for mine and my friends old cars. It is great for little hard to find plastic parts. One of my friends broke his internal door lock latch and I printed him a new one of those. I have also done a couple of electric window switches, that kind of thing.
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avenga
Part of things
Posts: 182
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So, small car update, big life update! I am going in to have Gastric Bypass Surgery tomorrow. It was going to be in August but they last minute moved the date forward. I only had 6 days notice so I have been rushing around getting ready for that. I was planning to get the car finished by the surgery date in August but since they moved the date forward then I will have to finish the car after I have recovered. So, expect less progress photos for a while. I will post a little update when I am out of surgery and back online. Here is a few little progress shots of the interior all painted.   And I also got some track rods from a friend on the Avenger forum  |
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jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,274
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good luck with the surgery - sounds like we will be getting "smaller" life updates as the benefits of the surgery make themselves known. |
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Good luck fella, I hope it all goes well and I look forward to hearing the updates once your feeling up to it again!
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avenga
Part of things
Posts: 182
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good luck with the surgery - sounds like we will be getting "smaller" life updates as the benefits of the surgery make themselves known. Weight reduction to make my cars faster Thanks guys I had the surgery yesterday and am recovering in hospital. Everything went really well. I hope to get out of hospital on Sunday if all things go well. Still a long road of recovery ahead of me. Thanks for all your well wishes |
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Good to hear it went well. Get well soon!
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avenga
Part of things
Posts: 182
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Jul 18, 2018 10:17:23 GMT
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1980 Chrysler Avenger V8 Wagonpeteh1969
@peteh1969
Club Retro Rides Member 107
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Jul 18, 2018 10:53:46 GMT
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How about crinkle black or dark blue with machined highlights a very retro look, there is enough body colour in the engine bay (been done many times by others, old hat now) and you will never be happy if it doesn't show off all the engine work you have done.
What does Chip Fose say "the engine is the jewel and the car is the box it's in" or something like that you get the drift.
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Last Edit: Jul 18, 2018 10:55:02 GMT by peteh1969
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Jul 18, 2018 11:12:37 GMT
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Another vote for crinkle black, maybe with body colour lettering to help tie in.
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Jul 18, 2018 13:35:04 GMT
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Crinkle paint looks great when fresh, but the crinkles retain oil and dirt and are hard to keep looking good.
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Jul 18, 2018 15:23:49 GMT
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That engine bay looks fantastic! Not my favourite shade of gold, but superb never the less! As for the rocker covers, and engine in general, I would paint it the same colours as whatever the standard engine was painted in, which if I remember correctly would've been a blue block, with silver rocker cover? Or was it black rocker covers?
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avenga
Part of things
Posts: 182
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Thanks for your feedback. My problem with black is that in makes the engine look very bland, because the plastic trim is also black. I like the contrast of silver and black better. There a car with a black 1UZ and ITB's in the next workshop over so I went and took a photo of it's engine. It just looks like too much black and nothing to break it up.  Here is a pic online that I found with crinkle paint which looks better because it has some silver accents  That engine bay looks fantastic! Not my favourite shade of gold, but superb never the less! As for the rocker covers, and engine in general, I would paint it the same colours as whatever the standard engine was painted in, which if I remember correctly would've been a blue block, with silver rocker cover? Or was it black rocker covers? Depends what standard engine you mean. The Avenger was either red, blue or black with a silver or black rocker, depending on the year and size. The standard for my car was black engine with a silver rocker. And the 1uz is silver with black plastic trim standard. This is my engine out of my 75 Avenger  And the stock colour of the 1UZ. They they are pretty similar colour schemes  I do like the silver and black because it has a good contrast   Or I could go something crazy and custom like this   |
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