1980 Chrysler Avenger V8 Wagon

Crazy & custom is best.

Thanks

The underside is all sealed and painted.

Drivers side front wheel



Back end





Underside and new chassis rails



Passengers side front wheel

You're doing such a nice, thorough job on this. Its going to be such a sorted car- I love it.

Thanks. For better and bigger brakes, and also to get past certification. Here in New Zealand we have really strict rules about modification and engine swaps. So once you do an engine swap, or pretty much anything major to your car then you need to get a Low Volume Vehicle certificate, basically saying that it is like a one off custom. www.lvvta.org.nz/

In the case of the hubs, it falls under this rule about if you increase the weight of the engine. The 1UZ is about 60KG heavier than the 1600 Avenger engine so this rule applies.

(d) the wheel hub assembly’s load capability increased by having either:
(i) the hub assembly replaced with one which has an increased
number of studs, or pitch circle diameter; or
(ii) the original wheel studs replaced by studs of a diameter
equivalent to a production vehicle that has a similar engine
weight and number of wheel studs.

And all of the cars that came with the 1UZ had 5x114.3 so it means that I need to go up to that stud pattern.

The cert process is going to be hard, that is why we are being so thorough and over engineering everything.

To give you some idea of how much you need to get certed, this is my other Avenger.



It looks pretty standard but here is the cert plate with everything I needed to get certed



So the Fibreglass boot, bonnet and wheel arches, the bonnet pins, the gearbox cross member, adjustable suspension, new lower arms, lowered suspension, upgraded front brakes and master cylinder, bigger wheels, the ford 5 speed, and upgrading from 1300 to 1500 all needed to be certified.

The wagon used to have a cert plate (You can see it in this picture) but it only covered the lowered suspension and wheels

Yeah, our rules are pretty black and white, and the cert plate makes it really easy when you go for your Warrant of Fitness (Like a safety check you need to get done ever 6 month for pre-2000 cars or every year for modern cars) So they can tell it's all legit. And also if you get pulled over by the cops, they like to pull over illegally lowered or modified cars, so you can show them the cert plate and they are all happy.

I have my insurance with a company who specialise in classic cars so they are totally sweet with modification. I rung them before I started and the conversation went pretty much like this.

Me: Hey, I'm going to put a V8 in my Avenger, is that all good with you guys.
Insurance company: Yeah, that's sweet as, just let us know when you have it finished.
Me: Chur Bro

Was pretty much the same when I modified my other Avenger, and the same when I wanted to do some track days in the other Avenger. They didn't increase the cost at all both times. They just base it on the agreed value, so if I insure both Avengers for the same value then it will cost the same for the 1500cc one and the 4L V8 one. Same with my Charger. They know us classic/retro car guys look after our cars more then normal people and that we ain't going to be doing stupid stuff in our cars. Also the cert process helps because they know that if it has been certed then it has been done properly.

And also classic car insurance is really cheap over here.

Hotrods like yours are handled a bit differently. I would say your car would pretty much be treated as a scratch built car.

It is done via the NZHRA (New Zealand Hot Rod Association) And they have a big manual of rules so you can get it certed through the LVV. hotrod.org.nz/NZ-Car-Construction-Manual.php

I don't know too much about the hot rod rules because I have only modified 70's cars but I know they are more flexible. Stuff like Z frames and all that sort of stuff is okay for hot rods but not for modern cars I think.

You would still have the same cert plate but they don't need to go in to gory details.

You might even need an authority card if you do stuff like removing the fenders etc

Started work on the loom. Just laying it out at the moment then once I have everything finalised I will wrap it.



Made a little bracket for the cable grommet.



Mounted the ECU mounting plate



Put the old body loom back in to see how it all fits. Again, when I have everything finalised then I will wrap everything up.





Finished off the fuel tank



Added in a new fuel pickup



Ran the fuel lines. For certification you need to run the lines 150mm away from the drive shaft.



Made some quick spacers for the rotors so we could figure out what hat to buy.





Brought all of the brake gear. Wilwood 4 pot calipers and the hat for the hub. Also brought the rotor but I haven't unboxed it yet

Thanks

Got the calipers mounted





Wilwood Rotors





Installed all the fuel pumps





Mounted the Wide Band Lambda sensors





Inside the car and the grommets





Got all the bits for the exhaust



Finished off the front brakes.







And I guess I will be racing everywhere



Put the air cleaner back on and modified the front cover a little bit



I also had a little test fit of some wheels using the wheels of my other Avenger. It looks like I will be able to run 15x8 on the rear. The front is going to be harder. I am hoping for some 15x7 but might need to go down to a 15x6.

I'll be using a rubber/foam sealing strip, something like this. Might also run some 3M clear protective film