The New Rusty Money Pits

ajs991 · Post by **ajs991** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 10:49 pm

Going to take me a while to get it to that level unfortunately.

Grab me a hubcap, left tail light lense and and any good interior Greg? Rest is a bit cactus

F3ARED · Post by **F3ARED** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 8:11 am

and why the f*#k do these old leaf-sprung shitboxes have mcpherson struts in the front and geminis don't?

Beccccaaaaaaaaaause the double wishbone setup on the gemini is far superior to the strut front end. Period. Im yet to drive a strut'd front end that is as responsive/direct/as good as the gems. This includes my old S15.

Your one needs to look like this when finished.

stubbsy212 · Post by **stubbsy212** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 9:17 am

GeminiCoupe wrote: Beccccaaaaaaaaaause the double wishbone setup on the gemini is far superior to the strut front end. Period. Im yet to drive a strut'd front end that is as responsive/direct/as good as the gems. This includes my old S15.

x2

Gems have much better suspension geometry as the ride height decreases, Mcpherson strut is easy for manufacturers because it give you somewhere to put the spring without needing a whole extra mounting setup.

ajs991 · Post by **ajs991** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 10:25 am

GeminiCoupe wrote:

I love it. Wish mine was a Safari.

ajs991 · Post by **ajs991** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:08 pm

Well we managed to get them both home on Saturday after much sweat and swearing. I also managed to break the winch on the trailer

First we dragged the blue coupe around and up and down and back and forth behind a tractor, a patrol and a falcon over various terrains and speeds and only managed to free up one of the rear drums. Beat the s*#t out of the drum with various hammers. Nothing. Filled the drum up with CRC and beat the s*#t out of it some more. Still nothing. Figured wed leave it to soak in so itd hopefully free up some more, and went back to get the Hillman.

It was just after this pic that I got my finger caught in the chain and thought it was going to be ripped off. Tractor vs finger vs car, I would definately been on the loosing end. Luckily Greg (housemate driving tractor) heard me yelling frantically over the motor before it was turned inside out

Still f@*ken hurt though.

First time its hit tarmac in 20+ years. Did ok skids too, was decent smoke

Back to the Hillman and pumped up the tyres. I thought this may have been a waste of time, but surpringly all the tyres held air after being flat for god knows how long. Made it much easier to move.

Dragged it out to the driveway. The remaining drum did unlock till then so it was out with the hammers. Luckily, after a few hard hits and a litre or so of CRC it freed up quite easily. Amazing how much less work it looks with just the tyres pumped up

Loaded and off we go!

Down the side of my house isnt the easiest of places to get a car off a trailer, but it coulda been worse. It was about not we discovered the brake pedal went straight to the floor. Luckily the handbrake worked. Left the winch connected as a fail safe.

Finished ride height perhaps?

And finally safe and sound in its new home!

Then it was back for Gregs coupe, which was still being a prick and wouldnt unstick the drum. We dragged it up and down the road a bit more, and beat the s*#t of of it but no go, wasnt interested. It was about this time a little old lady came out of her house and asked what we were doing, then had a bit of a whinge. "I paid for this tar back in 1784 and you ruining it with all these marks rah rah rah im old". So we apoligised and winched it on with one wheel still not rolling. It was also about this time it started to rain. Oh joy.

Greg wasnt impressed I let him winch it on himself, while I sat in the back of the wagon giving moral support and taking the occasional photo, out of the rain

It is his car after all

By the time we finished, it was a bit dark, and Greg was fairly soaked. Best shower hes had in a while

We got it home and managed to get it off the trailer by hand

Got the s*)ts with it, attached a chain round the rear axles and dragged it off by hand, with a lot of grunting and swearing

The wet trailer and downhill slope helped a lot, on the concrete was a fuckload harder though.

Safe and sound.

Sunday morning, he got the s*)ts with the drum and went and bought a big f*#k off puller and had the drum off and unsiezed in about 15 seconds

So in probably two weeks time (busy getting drunk in Canberra next weekend

) well get to stripping them and then the hard work of removing moss and rust begins!

NANKERVIS08 · Post by **NANKERVIS08** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 7:19 pm

ha it did work!?
i had that idea getting that drum off...just saying

Lil Willsy · Post by **Lil Willsy** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 1:07 am

ajs991 wrote: It also has an odd suspension setup, the front is McPherson strut and the rear is a leaf sprung crossed swinging beam axle like so:

so, in theory if you lowered it somehow, it could get wicked camber??

ajs991 · Post by **ajs991** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 8:46 am

Yes. But it wont be lowered, wants to keep it standard.

BUR75 · Post by **BUR75** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 10:12 am

looks like it would get positive camber if you lowered it. also i know where there are about 3 of the hondas rotting in a field.

ajs991 · Post by **ajs991** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 10:03 pm

Well since the deo blew up I got nothing really done as I was busy with that. Also our place has been put on the market (renting) and our tenacy is nearly up with only a week remaining soooo we are unsure of whats happening atm re living arrangements. As such, this happened:

This was met with much tears.

The Coupe had way more done, mostly stripped, some nice rust holes found, all that. Its going into storage till we work out where we are living and what not.