TheMechanicNZ's 73 Alpine

[TheMechanicnz]

Hi everyone,
Heres a bit of an update on my car.
Currently been off the road since December fixing up some dodgy repairs from the panel beaters that was not fixed properly, specifically the sills, they patched the outer sill but never did the inner sill like I had asked, so the rust came back through the new patch.
Since the car was going off the road anyway I took the chance to do the engine rebuild I've been puting of for 2 years.
The engine has been rebored to suit a stroker kit, taking it out to 1700 and compression of 11:1.
The head work is currently being done, just bigger valves and ports. The inlet valves are 40mm rover v8 inlet and 34mm Toyota 2T exhaust valves, the camshaft has also been reground by Kelford cams to suit, I'll be running a Ford type 9 5 speed gearbox with a cut bell housing I've made, running back to a Ford falcon xr8 diff, mainly due to the fact I had an lsd to suit and the original diff had given up.

Ended up making new duplex sprockets at work due to not being able to source any, aswell as new rocker pedestals to suit the new camshaft, the bore has been offset 1.5mm away from the valves to correct the sweep on the rockers, aswell lowering the center height 1.5mm
While I was at it I decided to machine a new flywheel out of billet for some piece of mind, aswell as some weight reduction by about 1.8kg

Ill upload some photos of the cars current state as well as some parts for the engine I have made when I get home

[TheMechanicnz]

Pics

[TheMechanicnz]

So I've more or less completed the drivers side, completely stripped back the floor and sills rust neutralized, seam sealed and 2 pack primed it. Next step will be sorting out the boot, not to bad but just a couple of pinholes in the spare wheel well and around the back of the arches.

The bootlid itself has got rust in the seam where it rests against the seal above
The  fuel cap so will be thinking of going to a fibreglass bootlid and bonnet while im here, providing i can find them in NZ for a reasonable price.

While i was working near the front of the car i took the opportunity to remove the drivers side suspension to measure the TCA and brake reaction arm so i could use those dimensions to fabricate new adjustable ones. A benefit from the new TCA's is the ball joint is now a replaceable item for $26 instead of having to replace the entire arm. Turns out the avenger uses the same taper as a Nissan Primera P11 on the ball joint. 

[TheMechanicnz]

Time for another update!
So the car itself is yet to be completed, but 80% of the bodywork is complete. Engine looks amazing, my engine builder has done an amazing job on the head work, ports are about 5mm bigger throughout. And all the combustion chambers have been made the same capacity.

Started looking for brake setups, missed out on a  set of austin princess ones and have been mucked around by a guy over rover  sd1 4 pots. This  led to more research and discovered wilwood do a direct replacment for the m16 calipers and i happened to find a pair on trademe at clearance price, just need to space them now for vented discs.
Pretty stoked on my purchase though!

[JoKer]

oh you bastard! share so jelly on brakes

[TheMechanicnz]

Still really stoked haha, i was really surprised how cheap the wilwoods are, brand new theyre only $188nz each. Dont know why i never looked there first to be honest.

[avenga]

Nice score!! It is good to know they are a straight swap for m16's

[TheMechanicnz]

Another update, panel work is yet to be completed. Somehow ended up building a horsetruck for a good mate instead.

Fired up the engine this arvo before painting to make sure it didnt make a funny noise.

Incredibly happy with the sound so far, engine will be run in on the twin strombergs before going to my twin 40's to prevent the bores getting fuel washed. Sounds like its going to be a peppy little engine. Never broke 2k rpm in the video and the limiter will be set at 7.5k, incredibly responsive aswell.  https://youtu.be/-vle9mpNbPI

[35desoto]

Sounds good
Nothing beats the satisfaction of having a successful first start - well done

[35desoto]

My Mum had a brand new one of these - its rego was GN7865 and i was disappointed when Dad sold it to buy the 78 Chrysler avenger
that 73 of Mum's was special with its full binicale dash and twin carbs and all those extra bit in the engine bay. I knew then it was a special car but that didn't matter to my parents LOL

[TheMechanicnz]

Hi everyone,

Been a bit slack in keeping the updates going. Not a lot happened in the last 2 years due to work and life getting in the way. Thankfully to the lockdown I've managed to achieve more in the last 2-3 weeks than the previous 2 years.

At the moment the shell is pretty much stripped right out and ready for final prep before paint

Sat the engine in to make sure it was all going to sit right with the type 9 gearbox and the sidedrafts. While it was all sitting in there I fabricated a new gearbox mount and driveshaft hoop, aswell as modified the tunnel slightly just to make things sealed and tidy.
I've gone through and put gussets in aswell as seam stitched where needed for strength.

Next on the list before paint will be fitting the new radiator which is yet to arrive due to lockdown, I'm fitting a 3 core ally radiator from a datsun 720, might be a bit over kill but I'm future proofing for further engine mods.

Need to get approval from lvvta for my seat mounts, fitting seats from a honda crx. Due to me being 6'4" things where a bit cosy in the front so am moving them 110mm rearward.

Also I'm planning on making new adjustable track control arms and brake reaction arms to allow for some adjustment to further better the handling.

I've also made an aluminum plate to fix to the rear bulkhead behind the back seat to cut down on noise.

Hopefully it will be all done an dyno tuned by the end of the year.

Here's a few pictures up to date of all the new bits.