20/09/15 - I have had a dramatic change in circumstances and the car needs to go. Nothing has changed in terms of the vehicle but I just need to get it sold.
Model: Vauxhall Viva Coupe
Year: 1975
Mileage: Showing 51k from memory - speedo hasn't worked in a little while.
Tax: Jan '15
MOT: August '15
Price: £2500. I am also looking for a boring/sensible daily to replace up to a £1000 value.
Although I am pretty daft so try me with cool/interesting <£1k p/ex
So, where do I begin. Let's start at the beginning shall we?
In April 2009 Ross of this here Retro Rides county purchased a car as cool as penguins curse word from a certain Black8Driver, also of Retro Rides stock, the thankyou thread can be found here: retrorides.proboards.com/thread/57950/big-black8driver#.VBCddqN0tGM
In April 2012 Ross of this here county sold said vehicle to me: retrorides.proboards.com/thread/127223/1976-coupe-turbo-200sx-deposit
Deviating from the clear strict rule of keeping the car for two years and then letting someone else enjoy it I am also coming to sell The Judge - a whole 2 1/2 years since I purchased it. In honesty I am growing up a bit and have a house deposit to clump together so last one in and all that.
Since that last advert the vehicle has been evolving slowly but surely into something a bit more useable (this is meant in the loosest sense of the word - think hot rod in terms of how useable it is). It is currently my daily and isn't that bad unless you're a wuss.
When I got it from Ross in 2012 it was grand but needed bits doing. First off the alloy fuel cell in the boot was splitting at some of the welds, so a local fabricator rewelded the seams on it (he took his brave pills that day)
It then began pressurising it's coolant so the engine came out for a complete rebuild. Being a CA18 whilst I had it in bits took precautions. It got a FULL set of ACL Duraglides - decided against the Race series for a low stressed engine. It also got the crank polished (didn't need anything more) and the flywheel was lightened and balanced whilst the crank was at the machine shop.
It also got a full head kit, cambelt kit and aux belt whilst it was apart. The valve seals were replaced and valves cleaned up and relapped. The whole breather system got a good cleaning out as well.
It was then put back together with a new uprated organic Exedy clutch as the old one was slipping a lot.
We missed Retro Rides Gathering 2012 with The Judge that year and it sat at the workshop with a couple of runs to run the engine in.
Around rolls Retro Rides Gathering 2013 and obviously mad rush ensues to get the Viva back on the road and running. This is when the arch flares and change of wheels came into effect - due to rotten scumbags leaving the car on bricks a couple of weeks before the show, and without her kickass Superlites (not pictured). The only wheels I could find for the Triumph rear axle were kindly donated by Ben (also from Retro Rides) - and the arches were a necessity to get theseridiculous fantastic wheels to fit.
Retro Rides Gathering 2013 came and went. It then got laid up for the year whilst work got in the way, until ~April 2014 I decided to make it less annoying and get another Retro Rides member - Steve, with help from the original owner of the car Simon - to make it a tad less of a headache to drive daily.
List of stuff that gone done there was: various welding that was required around the ends of sills and to tidy up the hacked up arch extension (grand job done there). Fitting of brand new relayed headlights so modern H bulbs could be used - not the usual candlepower that Viva's had. These are not rechromed but are brand new headlamp units.
Front windscreen seal was replaced - the windscreen surround was mint under the old screen - which shocked and surprised me greatly).
Full stalks were fitted for the steering column - so windscreen wipers, indicators, horn all work off the stalks.
Rear shocks were replaced with brand new custom made Protech adjustables to make the back less bouncy and to be the correct length.
Drivers seat was repositioned a couple of inches back which means it can be driven comfortably by me (I'm six foot tall)
Blower and standard panel for heater controls was wired back in (however heater matrix still not plumbed in - was roughly checked for being leaky and deemed not to be - but ran out of time to plumb it in)
The car was MOT'd mid-August and has Tax to Jan '15. It is not back to T25, standard boost and about to get a standard ECU plumbed back in - still has more than enough power at aroundabout the 170hp mark with the decat + larger exhaust, free flowing air filter and larger i/c.
With the T25 boost is always there and I love the characteristics of the engine as it is now.
If you have got this far you are probably aware roughly of this vehicle and what it is like - let me get this straight - it is by no means any kind of immaculate show car. It is loud, harsh and crashy.
Saying that it is a whole load of fun, fast as **** and gets reactions one way or another everywhere it goes.
It still needs stuff doing and that was planned (in my head at least) as Part II for Steve, however he has other commitments at the moment.
Stuff that it needs doing:
New propshaft - the one on there works, but is unbalanced, not the perfect length and a mishmatch of bits
Whiny release bearing - a new one was fitted with the clutch but whines - it's not terrible but it's there
Stuff that would be nice to do:
Front coilovers - the stuff that's on there is a bit old and bouncy
Uprated brake master cylinder - Four pots up front and fairly chunky discs could do with a more manly master cylinder
Some silencing on the exhaust - tis pretty cool/loud - individual taste - it will come with a really nice brand new Magnaflow silencer
Some sound deadening - did I mention how loud it is?
Wider rear wheels - the current ones are negative ET - so there is a couple of inches that could be added inwards - would run 10" wide wheels happily with a 'sensible' ET.
I kept meaning to get a mechanical -> electrical speedo converted doo-dah to make that cool flat speedo work with the Nissan drivetrain - in the meantime have gotten good at using sat nav for speed and reading engine revs - LIKE A RACECAR!
Anyhoo pics or it didn't happen (oh yeah unfortunately the 'Sucks like your Mum' comment has been sprayed over since pictures were taken)
More recent pictures:
Very very early picture from when it was first put together by Si and his brother:
Finally if this doesn't make you want to buy it, frankly you've no heartbeat:
Model: Vauxhall Viva Coupe
Year: 1975
Mileage: Showing 51k from memory - speedo hasn't worked in a little while.
Tax: Jan '15
MOT: August '15
Price: £2500. I am also looking for a boring/sensible daily to replace up to a £1000 value.
Although I am pretty daft so try me with cool/interesting <£1k p/ex
So, where do I begin. Let's start at the beginning shall we?
In April 2009 Ross of this here Retro Rides county purchased a car as cool as penguins curse word from a certain Black8Driver, also of Retro Rides stock, the thankyou thread can be found here: retrorides.proboards.com/thread/57950/big-black8driver#.VBCddqN0tGM
In April 2012 Ross of this here county sold said vehicle to me: retrorides.proboards.com/thread/127223/1976-coupe-turbo-200sx-deposit
Deviating from the clear strict rule of keeping the car for two years and then letting someone else enjoy it I am also coming to sell The Judge - a whole 2 1/2 years since I purchased it. In honesty I am growing up a bit and have a house deposit to clump together so last one in and all that.
Since that last advert the vehicle has been evolving slowly but surely into something a bit more useable (this is meant in the loosest sense of the word - think hot rod in terms of how useable it is). It is currently my daily and isn't that bad unless you're a wuss.
When I got it from Ross in 2012 it was grand but needed bits doing. First off the alloy fuel cell in the boot was splitting at some of the welds, so a local fabricator rewelded the seams on it (he took his brave pills that day)
It then began pressurising it's coolant so the engine came out for a complete rebuild. Being a CA18 whilst I had it in bits took precautions. It got a FULL set of ACL Duraglides - decided against the Race series for a low stressed engine. It also got the crank polished (didn't need anything more) and the flywheel was lightened and balanced whilst the crank was at the machine shop.
It also got a full head kit, cambelt kit and aux belt whilst it was apart. The valve seals were replaced and valves cleaned up and relapped. The whole breather system got a good cleaning out as well.
It was then put back together with a new uprated organic Exedy clutch as the old one was slipping a lot.
We missed Retro Rides Gathering 2012 with The Judge that year and it sat at the workshop with a couple of runs to run the engine in.
Around rolls Retro Rides Gathering 2013 and obviously mad rush ensues to get the Viva back on the road and running. This is when the arch flares and change of wheels came into effect - due to rotten scumbags leaving the car on bricks a couple of weeks before the show, and without her kickass Superlites (not pictured). The only wheels I could find for the Triumph rear axle were kindly donated by Ben (also from Retro Rides) - and the arches were a necessity to get these
Retro Rides Gathering 2013 came and went. It then got laid up for the year whilst work got in the way, until ~April 2014 I decided to make it less annoying and get another Retro Rides member - Steve, with help from the original owner of the car Simon - to make it a tad less of a headache to drive daily.
List of stuff that gone done there was: various welding that was required around the ends of sills and to tidy up the hacked up arch extension (grand job done there). Fitting of brand new relayed headlights so modern H bulbs could be used - not the usual candlepower that Viva's had. These are not rechromed but are brand new headlamp units.
Front windscreen seal was replaced - the windscreen surround was mint under the old screen - which shocked and surprised me greatly).
Full stalks were fitted for the steering column - so windscreen wipers, indicators, horn all work off the stalks.
Rear shocks were replaced with brand new custom made Protech adjustables to make the back less bouncy and to be the correct length.
Drivers seat was repositioned a couple of inches back which means it can be driven comfortably by me (I'm six foot tall)
Blower and standard panel for heater controls was wired back in (however heater matrix still not plumbed in - was roughly checked for being leaky and deemed not to be - but ran out of time to plumb it in)
The car was MOT'd mid-August and has Tax to Jan '15. It is not back to T25, standard boost and about to get a standard ECU plumbed back in - still has more than enough power at aroundabout the 170hp mark with the decat + larger exhaust, free flowing air filter and larger i/c.
With the T25 boost is always there and I love the characteristics of the engine as it is now.
If you have got this far you are probably aware roughly of this vehicle and what it is like - let me get this straight - it is by no means any kind of immaculate show car. It is loud, harsh and crashy.
Saying that it is a whole load of fun, fast as **** and gets reactions one way or another everywhere it goes.
It still needs stuff doing and that was planned (in my head at least) as Part II for Steve, however he has other commitments at the moment.
Stuff that it needs doing:
New propshaft - the one on there works, but is unbalanced, not the perfect length and a mishmatch of bits
Whiny release bearing - a new one was fitted with the clutch but whines - it's not terrible but it's there
Stuff that would be nice to do:
Front coilovers - the stuff that's on there is a bit old and bouncy
Uprated brake master cylinder - Four pots up front and fairly chunky discs could do with a more manly master cylinder
Some silencing on the exhaust - tis pretty cool/loud - individual taste - it will come with a really nice brand new Magnaflow silencer
Some sound deadening - did I mention how loud it is?
Wider rear wheels - the current ones are negative ET - so there is a couple of inches that could be added inwards - would run 10" wide wheels happily with a 'sensible' ET.
I kept meaning to get a mechanical -> electrical speedo converted doo-dah to make that cool flat speedo work with the Nissan drivetrain - in the meantime have gotten good at using sat nav for speed and reading engine revs - LIKE A RACECAR!
Anyhoo pics or it didn't happen (oh yeah unfortunately the 'Sucks like your Mum' comment has been sprayed over since pictures were taken)
More recent pictures:
Very very early picture from when it was first put together by Si and his brother:
Finally if this doesn't make you want to buy it, frankly you've no heartbeat:
