jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,254
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I've been lurking on the board for a month or two and thought I should start a build thread. This is my '69 Vauxhall Viva GT. Rare as hen's teeth anywhere but especially here in Canada. I bought it as an abandoned project of sorts (long story) and it came with the body done, many new parts and three other stripped cars - I have LOTS of parts. We're just coming to the end of the driving season so soon I will be working more in the garage though I hope this thread will keep me working some. I normally hang out at the British Car Forum (britishcarforum.com) but I am the only Vauxhall owner there and I will need help. This is arriving home, day 1 and some interior shots from the ad. not pretty but solid and and I am happy.
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jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,254
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jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,254
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And finally Ms Triss. This is how I spend my summers. I started with this: took it down to this and ended up with this Other than body and paint, I did it all myself between 2004 and 2009. BTW Ms Triss is a '76. Off to bed now but more progress pictures soon. Thanks for looking! cheers.
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v8jim
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,304
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GT looks very nice i have one myself and the fiat looks like a cool project too
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Max sig pic size: 80px
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Looks like it'll be a lovely tidy car there! Do all Viva HBs have quad headlights in Canada? And are there any good Viva or Vauxhall clubs there?
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jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,254
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Looks like it'll be a lovely tidy car there! Do all Viva HBs have quad headlights in Canada? And are there any good Viva or Vauxhall clubs there?[/quote All Viva's had quad headlights - or to put it another way, all British imports needed sealed beam headlights and thus could not use the square lights seen in British Cars of the era - same with the Marina etc. etc. There are no Viva or Vauxhall clubs here. There is only the North American Vauxhall Yahoo group. I know of about 10 cars in the country (I know there are more) but, a fellow near my house is restoring a '61 Victor, a friend has 2 Firenza's, a fellow I know has an HB and another is aware of 3 Firenza's in wrecking yards. That's the Vauxhall landscape here. To put it another way, Last month was British car day - a show about 40 minutes from my home in Toronto. It is the largest British Car Show in North America (1200 cars) and I don't know that there were any Vauxhalls there at all, and if there were, it was one or two tops. Hence this one is very unusual here.
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Oct 12, 2011 21:59:54 GMT
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the body is in fab condition what a base for a project good score!! I love the quad headlight variant, i think il have to look at that for my viva hb! really looking forward to watching this get rebuilt :-)
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Oct 12, 2011 22:21:36 GMT
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Forget the cars, how big is that satellite dish ;D
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jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,254
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shhhh, it's to communicate with the mother ship. (seriously I've lived here two years and never really thought about it before - it was just there, but now that you mention it....
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retrolegends
Club Retro Rides Member
Winging it.....Since 1971.
Posts: 3,714
Club RR Member Number: 94
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1969 Vauxhall Viva GTretrolegends
@retrolegends
Club Retro Rides Member 94
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Nice work mate
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1974 Hillman Avenger 1500DL1992 Volvo 240SE1975 Datsun Cherry 100a flying custard1965 Hillman SuperMinx Rock N Roller1974 Austin Allegrat Mk1 1.3SDL1980 Austin Allegro Mk3 1.3L1982 Austin Allegro Mk3 on banded steels2003 Saab 9-3 Convertible 220bhp TurboNutter1966 Morris Minor 1000 (Doris) 2019 Abarth 595C Turismo (not retro but awesome fun) www.facebook.com/DatsunCherry100a
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jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,254
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Time for an update - not much of an update, October is the busiest month of the year for me but, it's time to get on winter projects as I suspect the Midget is within days of being put to bed for the winter. Anyway, have been dismantling the Front subframe. I have 2 GT subframes and the one under the car is actually an SL subframe. So, some pics - as much to keep the thread alive which motivates me to keep working. Mostly just clean and paint clean and paint. I have a friend with a media blasting cabinet which is wonderful and therapeutic but mind numbingly boring especially as, even though he has a decent sized compressor, still needs about 1 1/2 minutes of recharge for every minute of shooting. sigh. anyways, here goes. greasy start - as unloaded into garage dismantled and taken to a car wash to be cleaned - didn't realize it looked like a skeleton until I looked at the picture fully dismantled and ready to be media blasted I really like clean parts more clean parts I prefer grey primer but this was on sale Still needs top coat but I love fresh metal and paint to work with. Cheers all! JP
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Anglia68
Posted a lot
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Posts: 2,049
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Oct 30, 2011 10:16:34 GMT
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Love the Viva and the Midget,both look to be done to a very high standard,and the Fiat is superb,looking forward to seeing them progress.
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jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,254
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so, it is January 2014 and it is time to resurect this thread. sadly, not a lot of major stuff has happened, so, time to get cracking on. (watching your projects is a huge inspiration) The three tasks that I have done, 1. is to get the engine ready to be rebuilt. it has been bored out 30 thou, and skimmed etc etc. SWMBO left for two weeks to a course in Atlanta today which means I can move the block inside tomorrow to paint it and install freeze plugs etc in the warm (Tuesday is to be one of the coldest days in years) 2. Is I have been slowly scraping undercoating. More on that later but, it is the most boring job in the world, so, every time I think about doing it, I find something else to do. Last week, I decided to get on with it and as I was scraping, it occured to me that I have a perfectly good job and could therefore pay my underemployed son to do it - he agreed, though he has another job to finish first. and 3. accumulating stuff, the pistons, the bearings, a few manuals and a parts car - yes, I found another. it is currently under snow but come spring I will be stripping it - especially for the wire harness which I have been unable to source elsewhere. Oh and a bunch of original brochures. Anyways, The Midget is in storage for the winter leaving space to work. The garage is small (though not as small as many here) and there is an apartment above so noises and smells is a bit of an issue. That said, my goal is to do a bit of work every single day. we will see. so, without further ado, a few photos: this is the car as currently parked. as mentioned, I have been scraping undercoat - the problem is that I have found three or four holes. The good news is that I have a friend who is a welder and he is coming to exchange beer for welding, likely in two weeks. So, after some grunting and pushing, and with some help from my daughter, (hence no swearing) this happened: and Astute readers will not that this is an SL subframe and not a GT. I have the GT mostly ready to be reassembled and will do something with this one. Here is the reason I took it off (well that and the previously mentioned swap) Lousy picture but I think you can see the holes. I is actually worse than I thought. Here is my rant. The previous owner spent big bucks on the body and paint of this car. But, the body shop never scraped the bottom and therefore never found and fixed these holes. (Actually, there is some evidence that they did find the other holes but "forgot" to repair) And, to make it worse, in the engine compartment you can see where they painted over the undercoat (and mud) and I in turn stripped off. My hunch is that the PO had the body shop do the car inbetween jobs. While they weren't as careful as they could have been, most of what has been done has been done to a high standard, but, there are gaps, the kind of gaps you might get if there were weeks or months before you got back to the project. A good friend of mine is adamant. if you are going to pay a shop, suck it up and have them prioritize the job and do it all at once. I agree. I also must say I even more appreciate the value of knowing and trusting a good body guy! Here is the block ready to go, and, does anyone know what the numbers mean? Finally, a picture of my daughter's project(s) This is part of what hopefully will be a Honda CT90 one day (one is actually a CT90 and the other a CT200, 1968 and 1966 respectively we reckon) She came a year or so ago and told me that while she loves studying history at University, she wanted something real and hands on to restore. So, she found these - and is slowly coming around to doing them. More to come in the hpes that this will keep me going and keep me focussed. Cheers all!
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Last Edit: Jan 6, 2014 5:13:48 GMT by jpsmit
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jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,254
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tonight's quick update - the block and the paint are in the house warming up. Not much else due to this: they are expecting records to fall - even for Canada! was driving today and truck drivers were literally stopped in the centre lane of the highway attaching chains as the could not make it up the gentlest of hills due to ice. amazing!
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jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,254
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Well today was momentus - not too many pictures I am afraid, but the welding got done. An old friend from High School Days & I had reconnected over the past couple of years, we never totally lost touch but, are being more intentional about staying connected. (Started out cruising in his Beetle and later his GTI - ah, memories.) Anyways, he is a welder and I had holes. So, he came; rewire plug to match MIG welder, grind, grind, weld, weld, grind, grind, prime - and now the rest of the undercoat goes (hopefully courtesy of my underemployed son who suddenly seems to have work)and as soon as the weather gets just a little nicer, truck bed liner as undercoat. This the reason also why I didn't worry too too much about the finish of the welds as they will be well covered anyways. Interestingly, my friend works welding specialty trucks for the mining industry, so, always new metal - and always thicker steel - crawling under a Vauxhall was a bit of a new adventure. All in all a great afternoon. Oh, and the momentus nature of the day was the mental block that was relieved by this welding - it, and the undercoat has essentially stymied me for two years, on this side of it, I don't know why. doh! New Plug My friend Ed getting down to it Shiny! Primed as always, comments welcomed
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Last Edit: Jan 19, 2014 3:36:52 GMT by jpsmit
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robw
Part of things
Posts: 90
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We have HB's in Australia under the 'Torana' name. Both 2 door and four door. What motor does yours run? I had a four door that wouldn't pull the skin off custard, hopefully yours is better! All ours only had the single headlight, too.
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jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,254
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Jan 19, 2014 14:08:18 GMT
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Double headlight here in Canada. It runs a Slant 4 - 1975 cc, now bored 30 thou over - what does that make it?
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Jan 19, 2014 18:16:55 GMT
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You have a very cool collection of cars, the midget looks really good.
I didn't know there was a 60's Multipla only the 90's thing
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1966 Ford Cortina GT 2018 Ford Fiesta ST
Full time engineer, part time waffler on Youtube - see Jim_Builds
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jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,254
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Jan 19, 2014 22:58:49 GMT
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Even better, 1950's 1956 to 1969 production. Extremely rare due to rust and being flogged, doubly so in Canada. Ironicall probably the most valuable of the lot. The worlds first mini van!
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jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,254
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Not much of an update as I have mostly been cleaning and sorting - and selling off a few bits and bobs, but, I know this crowd like shiny things. I keep forgetting my proper before pics - and, I know they are all phone pics, but, my phone uploads them automatically so it is them or nothing. Anyways, you may recall the engine was seized before I got it. More precisely, there were two engines, one good one - stripped and "pickled" and another spare, seized. Guess which one they left and which they brought with them? So, thirty thou overbore later and new pistons courtesy of ebay and we are good to go. Then I found out that swapping the new pistons to the existing gudgeon pins was really not a DIY job, so, off to the engine shop we went and, an hour later we were good to go. So, without further ado: before: and now: Oh, and, the distributer, two actually, went off to be rebuilt and re-curved this week - I am excited about this and, realized today that the pistons came from the UK, this week I sold parts to the UK and Austria, I am getting advice from New Zealand and Louisiana and points south and of course the shop and the car are in Toronto - got to love the Interweb! Hope to start building this weekend
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