1969 Viva HB Patina wagon. Now with matching retro caravan..

[yoeddynz]

A friend in chch has fitted heaps of datto engines and boxes into vivas and chevettes. He reckons they almost slot in place and they do look the part.

In NZ if you complete a engine swap without increasing capacity, power no more than 20 % rise and no cutting or welding you can avoid the need for a engineers certification.

But for now I will just run it completely standard and see how it is. The same guy above has offered me an HB engine he removed froma rusty car he was using. Its been reconditioned and apparently performed really well.

But i do like the idea of just a bit more pep to help it along with the big hills around ours. plus an extra gear would be handy.

[niftynevins]

Nice little project you have got there mate.

I remember having a traffic light drag race with an HB estate in the 90's. It beat my FD Ventora by a metre or two. I never knew what it had in it. Then a week or so after I moved to Sweden in 2011 it was on Ebay. It had Datto SSS bluebird running gear in it. It was even the same green. It was also the only estate I had seen in Australia in real life. I often wonder what happened to it.

Keep up the good work

[pbottomley]

If its the little 1200 - 1400cc then yes that would go in a treat, its has the look of an A series if you look at it from a distance.

[yoeddynz]

Well...as Paul already knows today because..facebook.. the little HB heart started up tonight. It sounds sweet too and hopefully will be a good little runner. I had a go at getting it to start ages ago but the points and condensor were shot so I gave up. Today I had to move the car from the hoist to make room for an E21 Bimmer that’s in for rust work. With the wagon down on the ground and parked up near the bench I thought I’d get it going and strip out the engine bay while Im there to make better access for the repairs needed.

I had been given another dizzy since the last time so I ripped the points and condenser from that, set it up and got sparks. Set up a fuel can and as soon as the carb had fuel it started. Awesome. It revs nice, idles nice and sounds really good. Time will tell once its running and driving as to how good/knackered/tired/gutless it is.

Also today whilst between mucking with the ignition and helping a friend with his Saab I pulled the brake servo off, threw away the single circuit master cylinder, pulled the heater out, bonnet hinges off and some other bits in the search for any more rot. Luckily the usual points behind the hinges were solid as was the heater plenum/channel. I will remove the radiator for a tidy up in front of its mountings. I’ll take off the dynamo and throw that in the bin as planning an alternator upgrade. Pictures from this today..

It was raining to start with so perfect excuse to spend day in shed with Hannah and Rowan and tinker with our respective cars..





This next one.. look at that for some lovely hose locating bracketary..



Engine bay cleared out for a looksie..



Tidy heater/ventilation plenum thingee..



Rust hole..



Another hole..



So over the last few weeks, or since the last update, I have been whittling away at a few bits on it while it was up on the hoist. I finished the chassis rail repairs. As suspected the passenger side rail was solid but for a few little holes and around the jacking point/gearbox mount. Its all strong now. Next time its up I’ll clean up and paint it all. Then some decent cavity wax inside.









I’ve swapped the alloys over for some old wheels I had kicking about and had the tyres removed so I can weld up/clean up two of the alloys that the have been curbed. It looks horrible on old skinny steels. I look forward to some new tyres and get them Turbos back where they belong! I am planning on getting 175/70 13 so it retains an element of comfort and that slightly older look rather than the more racy 60 series tyres I have on Viva 1.

Next rust repairs will be either the engine bay bits whilst its off the hoist or sort the rotten rear valance out when its back up in the air. Luckily for my wallet I have a few jobs coming in. Unluckily for Viva it waits in the queue as its doesn’t pay me money. Im getting quite excited at the prospect of cruising down to the beach/into town with my ropey looking wagon so I think I see a few evenings spent on it now. Its gonna be perfect for mtb trips too  I will have to get a shopping list together now. Things like brake cylinders, seat belts etc. I will be keen on some Chevette front seats too. I hate driving with out headrests plus Chevette seats are really comfy.

[BigWallace]

Top notch work going on there, Alex! I'm loving the fact that the years of patina are being preserved!! The old Corsair is going back on the road in 2017/18 & it's getting a matt clear coat to prevent the salt from eating the bare metal sections alive Just going to have to double up on Cossie parts & axle internals for both it & the Viva!!

Leigh.

[yoeddynz]

Cheers Leigh. Yeah for now it just seems they very right thing to do.. keep the patina.

Although I might tidy up the engine bay because I like a tidy bay!

Not much rust to go now so must crack on with it!!!

[Kraken]

The patina's great. What do you do with the fresh metal though?

Red oxide it and leave it at that? Or matte black? Or try and blend it with the old paintwork?

[yoeddynz]

Im not sure. I have sealed the surface rust on the roof with a light spray of this stuff...

http://www.brunox.com/website/productpa ... ay-en.html

That turns the rust black and seems to last a bit better than things like hammerite krust etc. I have been told by a few that the vw boys use a variety of waxes to seal the rust on their rat look cars/vans. I might try that. Luckily there is no salt used here and where we live is pretty dry most of the time.

Im hoping to crack on with this little car asap because I have just potentially landed a fairly big job restoring a firenza that is to become an old nail replica Its coming down from Auckland soon to my workshop and Id like to have this viva road legal beforehand!

[yoeddynz]

OK well now that I have some time between paying jobs (which have almost all been other old rusty cars and general rot removal) I have sneaked the Viva up on the hoist and got cracking with its rear end. But first here's a pic of the rust I have removed so far. There will be more....

Now this rear valance panel looks a bit thin on it..



Which it certainly was.



Not quite as bad all the way across as my other Viva when I repaired that one. Again just like the other Viva its weird that only the rear panel rots but the inside shaped vertical panel stays solid?. Not that I'm complaining. Anyway. I cut it open and then cleaned out all the rust flakes, wire brushed it and then neutralised it all. I discovered that the new can of Brunox I had bought happens to accept the extension lance that comes with my cavity wax cans. Sweet- I was able to spray it right into the Lh corner. Then I painted the interior to help the car last another 40 years.



Then a local mate wanted to use my hoist so the Viva came down and I cleaned up the front panel. Its been repaired before and had been done neatly enough but then covered in bog. The corners near the rails were gone again so that will be attended to once back up in the air and Ive finished the rear.





Back to the bum. I carefully cut and shaped new steel to fit in with only butt welds. Vivas have quite a tricky multiple compound curved rear end but I was able to work it out using two pieces of steel and lots of hand shaping after getting the main curve set with the folder.



I tidied up the bits that were under the reverse lights, which wont be going back on, then one more vacuum out. For the final fit of butt welded close fit panels it helps to use a butter knife to line the edges up..





I grind off the lowest weld which could hold road muck but otherwise I will leave all the welds untouched. Grinding welds down sucks. The exposed welds are sort of part of the overall patchwork car I'm after for now...



Then I moved round the side and this bit looks a bit dodgy.



This has had a previous decent enough looking repair but sadly was covered in filler straight onto bare metal- as was the way in the good old days eh. So the bog absorbed moisture and rotted steel. curse word.



I cut it out and treated the inside with luckily only a few bits that need to be cut out.



Then while the Brunox epoxy spray was setting I moved over onto the opposite side. This time its the very bottom corner of the arch that looks a touch rotten...



So I cut it out. It was pretty frilly after all..



The arch corner in pieces. Note my ever evolving welding table. I recently added the uprights to hang my angle grinder, Dremel machine and other bits that were always getting in the way, falling off or never at hand.



Its then once opened up to day light that I discovered a little seam sealer Jabba the Hut!!! Wow. *



I then had to carefully shape a new corner and arch bottom out of several bits of steel. It was all so rotten I wasn't quite sure what the shape was meant to be like. It didn't really have to be factory original looking, just neat. So I have sort of just made it up as I went along..







Once this arch repair is done I'll go back to the other side and finish that. Then I will drop the car down and turn it around so I can having it facing the sunny end of the shed. Then I can work through the engine bay rust with nicer light with better access to the coffee machine/biscuits/sunshine/music.

* that is actually a lump of factory seam sealer. I might have added the eyes..

[yoeddynz]

I must finish the wagon, I must finish the wagon, I must finish the wagon, I must finish the wagon, I must finish the wagon, I must finish the wagon, I must finish the wagon, I must finish the wagon……

Its been put on the back while over the last couple of months while things like family visit, jobs that pay get done, land work gets sorted, swimming in the summer sun happens. Bur I have managed to sneak in a few bits here and there. I did a bit more welding repairs to the rear boot/arch corner and I started on the brakes plus I have sorted out the wheels!
Its been a little Vivatastic in our workshop recently too. I had Andre's lovely genuine GT in for repairs and I also have a Firenza that has come down from Auckland for much rust removal and repairs including fitting a wide arch body kit. Its going become a 70's V8 powered road going racecar replica. For us Viva fans the workshop was looking pretty spiffy..


So onto the wagon. Firstly the welding. Pretty easy to see from photos so here we go. Where I left off on the last post was about here…



Then this scabby bit..











So the rear end is pretty much done but for a couple of little bits. Lets just ignore the elephant in the room that is the very frilly tailgate (or hatch as Hannah likes to point out..)

Next rust area is around the bulkhead so I can put the brake servo and master back in place. Then I can finish the brakes. So those brakes.. Well they were all knackered. I took all the bits off and evaluated their mankyness..





Luckily the calliper pistons freed up and slide out revealing good chrome and seals. So just a clean for them. The pads are still thick and dry so result.



Moving to the back. I cleaned up and honed out the wheel cylinders.


Usable but not perfect and for the money of new ones not worth fitting seals into. But then I discovered that new cyclinders in NZ were either non- existent or cost moon beams. So I looked to dear old Blighty. There you could get all new old stock parts for the price of a terrible greasy spoon bacon sarnie. Luckily my older brother lives in the land of greasy bacon sarnies and he was coming home to NZ for a holiday. So I started buying up old Viva bits and getting them posted to his house in Wales. He was so grateful.. and brought them over for me (along with several classic car magazines  )

Here’s some bits…



Typically after these bits arrived I had been looking through my boxes of bits and discovered not one but two sets of brand new brake shoes. But they probably don’t have the real deal inside them like these beautys…



So the rear end is all fresh and daisy. New cylinders, new shoes and new brake lines.
I found a new master cylinder seal kit in my stash of parts and that’ll go in place once the rust is done.

Wheels next. The wagon came on a lovely set of classic Cheviot Turbos. Lush! Swoon. Two had slight kerbing damage to the outer rim edge. I could have left it but it looked pretty yuck. So I tigged them up and filed them neat again. Quite satisfying.



Then since the wheels were in motion…. and I was on a roll…. I gave them all a good wire brush and removed the horrible build up of oxide. That was a nice job on a sunny afternoon.



They look a lot better for it.


Then the wheel stud holes needed tidying up/remachining because someone in the past had used the wrong nuts, tapered, and it wasn’t very good really.
This was going to be bloody tricky with just files etc. So I whipped up this little fly cutter to reface the washer face. It worked a treat and they pull up great on the hubs now.





Now many, many yonks ago some might remember the nice set of Dunlop D1 alloys I had bought for my other Viva. I never ended up using them because I had discovered cracks across the hub faces on two of them. But not before I had spent some time machining up nice new stainless washers to suit the new nuts I had bought for those wheels. I found these stashed away and they are a perfect fit on the Turbos. So that was nice.



A few weeks back I spent some time welding up Andres Viva GT where it had failed its WOF and he returned the favour by gifting me a set of 185/65 13 tyres he had left over. I had them fitted yesterday and they look good…



Sadly one has a pin hole through the sidewall so hopefully I can get it repaired/patched inside.

So next step is finish the rust in front and the tailgate (hatch) , finish the brakes and then fix the leaky Stromberg carb. I’ll swap the screen out for one I have that is not covered in scratches and then it’ll be close to going for a WOF ! Simple……….