KGC10 Skyline 2000GT Build

[Babalouie]

I realised I haven't spent a good session in the garage restoring stuff for a while, so with the Datsun Day show this weekend, it seemed a good opportunity to do a couple of little jobs I've been putting off for a while.

 

Lately the Fiamm air horns have been at, shall we say, a rakish angle.

 

Many years ago (when I first got the dimple dies), I decided to experiment with how the dimples stiffened a bracket, and how thin a material I could get away with.  So I used 0.5mm aluminium, and after several years of vibration, the weight of the horns cracked one side of the bracket, and bent the other.

 

So let's go crazy and use 0.8mm aluminium this time :)

 

Cut it out roughly with tinsnips, mark the holes, then install the larger speedholes with a step drill (which are great for making holes in sheetmetal, up to an inch or so in diameter)

 

Then we dust off these old friends...

 

Use the press to make the dimple die holes

 

Clean up the shape on the linisher...

 

And then shine it up.  I like this stuff, Barrel Bros put a wax into their polish so the shine lasts longer and doesn't get water spotted, and it's finer than regular branded metal polish too.  Hmm...it's not the prettiest thing I've ever made, I guess I must be rusty :)

 

But the horns are properly mounted again.  I wonder how many years this bracket will last compared to the last one :)

 

The other thing which I've been putting off...well, since Day One in 2007 really...is to clean up the pot metal pieces around the headlights and grille.

 

The pot metal is starting to pit in certain spots and the black paint in the inlays are flaking off in places.  There's nothing I can do about the pitting, but some new black paint would go a long way to making it less visible :)

 

First I give the black paint a light scuff to remove the flaky bits and to give the new paint some key, then I use this stuff to mask off the chrome.  It's actually Tamiya pinstripe masking tape for plastic models, but it's very bleed resistant, and is flexible enough to be bend around curves, so it's perfect for this job.

 

 

About 5 light coats of matt black later...

 

And it does look better than it used to :)

 

I did the mesh grille in a contrasting glass black...

 

The cloisonne in the badge has gone funky after 4 decades though, I think the best I can do is to go over it with a paint pen later.

 

Reinstall with some new fasteners, and it's really one of those jobs where, once it's done...you wonder why you didn't do it earlier.  It only took me 7yrs to get around to it :)

 

Oh yes, the Datsun Day is tomorrow at the Prospect Hotel, rain or shine.  There'll be at least 2 Hakos on display and lots of other tasty vintage machinery.  Come down and say hi, try the schnitzel.  

http://datsunday.com/

[uberkevin]

I've been waiting to see more!

 

Nice!!!

[KoHeartsGPA]

Deliciously sexy skyline!

[carterb]

Nice job on the front end.

[Draker]

It's beautiful! Nice work on that bracket!

[Babalouie]

In continuing to fuss over the Hako for tomorrow's show, I thought I'd try to spruce up these.  The Hako has its wiper, washer and defog switches on the console, operated by these big toggle switches.  And the white inlay was looking a little tired.

 

So I figured a white paint pen would be a good start.  It's a little too wide though, so spams the switch with a little too much paint.

 

 

Hmm...so I lay some paper towel down on a flat surface and gently rub it back and forth to absorb the excess paint.

 

Then do the same on a microfibre towel that's been moistened with Meguiars Plastic Polish, which is like a mild cutting compound for plastic.  It took about 5 coats before I thought it looked white enough.

 

The defog switch also has this surround, where the plasti-chrome edging has faded.  I decide to have a go at drawing it back in with a silver paint pen :)

 

I'm not entirely sure if that worked out like I wanted it to, but the switches look nice.

[chandlerGTi]

That worked very well.

[Babalouie]

After all the sprucing, it was all worth it, because we did manage to get the NSW Hakos out for a show of force at the Datsun Day show today :)

 

We had four Hakos there today, the three silver ones have been longtime NSW residents (I've been friends with the owners as far back as 2007) and the pristine white one is fresh off the boat.  Quite literally so, it was delivered from Japan to its custodian on Wednesday, who barely had enough time to give it a good clean before throwing it on the trailer to come to the show.

 

Just a gorgeous example, that enjoyed quite a good restoration in Japan.

 

It's a narrowbody coupe, with some of the best condition sheetmetal I've seen in a C10.  Great score on his behalf.

 

And we should have a fifth Hako join the Sydney clan in December, too.

 

For me, the undoubted star of the show is this South-African 1800SSS coupe.

 

That had an incredible nut and bolt restoration

 

 

Even down to the bias ply tyres!

 

Another favourite was this 1200 Wagon (a 310 Bluebird in Japan) 

 

Cute as a button

 

E-Series OHV 1200cc four.

 

 

The Ken Oath Customs Sunny Coupe is always worth a look (it seems to get lower and lower each time I see it)

 

This rear view is not normal for a B110, as it comes with a live axle.

 

But Nathan's in the middle of an IRS conversion from a 180B, and it's a bit of a work in progress as you can see.

 

As usual, Datsun Day is well supported by many businesses who come and set up trade stands.

 

Surprisingly, the Datsunmuseum.com guys had a huge selection of toys, including some rare ChoroQs.  Needless to say, my collection swelled by a few today.

 

But certainly the surprise of the day was the sight of an EH Holden ute (a GM Australia product...basically our El Camino) which arrived with an accompanying loud brap brap noise

 

Because it had a bridgeported 13B from an FD :)

 

Datsun Day is the one car show I still attend religiously, and it's always a good day.

 

Hopefully next year we'll outgrow the little section set aside for vintage Skylines :)

[Babalouie]

The Hako has a big roadtrip coming up soon, so my mind begins to think of all those little maintenance jobs that I've been putting off for a while.  It's funny...but I mentally categorise the car into "restored" and "unrestored", but the reality is that some of the stuff I did when I first got the car was 8 years ago, and how has to be done again.

 

The first little job is the water pump, which makes a little squealing noise from time to time. 

 

First step to replacing it, is to drain out the coolant by removing the butterfly plug underneath the radiator.

 

And in order to make enough room to slide out the water pump, the radiator fan has to come out. 

 

Before I slacken the belt, I loosen the 4 bolts holding on the water pump pulley.  The belt holds the pulley still, while you spanner off the bolts.

 

...revealing the water pump!

 

I wonder which one is the new one...

 

Make sure you scrape off every little bit of old gasket with a razor blade...

 

And just for a bit of extra sealing, I give the new gasket a light spray of Hylomar.

 

Plus a new belt, refill the system with coolant and then let the engine warm up with the cap off to burp out the air bubbles, and...no more squealing.

 

At least the pump swap gave me an opportunity to shine up the lower thermofan brackets, which don't usually get much love.

 

The other little thing, was a bit of an exhaust blow.  The car came with this reuseable copper gasket, but I think it's had its day.

 

Luckily I did have a replacement stashed away, Rubber Soul in Osaka had a few on the shelf when I was there last year.

 

Seems to be sorted now..

 

One thing that i will have to address when I get back though, are the front bumpstops, which are toast.  The coilovers will have to come apart to get new ones in.

 

The last job was one thing that I only noticed today.  It started to sprinkle, and when I flicked the wiper switch...nothing happened.  But a quick look at the wiring diagram showed that it was a simple arrangement, just a switch and the motor.  No relays.

 

Electrical problems used to give me the heebie-geebies.  I'm perfectly happy to take things apart all day, but problem-solving electrical issues always seems like real work :)  But for what it's worth, this is the process I go through now to track down these problems, which at least allows me to get most of the way into solving a problem before I lose the will to live.  First step is to turn on the wipers, then locate the wiper motor that lives behind the glovebox, and test the plug for voltage.  Nuthin...zip.  That's actually good news, because it means that the wiper motor is probably just fine.

 

Second part is to test the power source.  I've noticed that sometimes a fuse will look fine but actually be blown.  So I test both sides of all the fuses (I didn't know which one was for the wiper) for voltage.  All fine.

 

So the likely culprit is the bit in the middle...which is the switch, which means the centre console has to be flipped to access it.  

 

And lo and behold...now, theeeere's ya problem.  I must have dislodged the brittle old wiring when I was messing around repainting the wiper switch toggles a few weeks ago.

 

But resoldering the wiring didn't make the wipers come back to life!  Now...<spoiler alert>...the real reason is because I unplugged the wiper motor to test it a few steps above.  But I didn't realise this at the time, and so it seemed like a really, really good idea to take apart the 44 year old switch.  Which is a quite a neat little design.  The switch itself makes that white plastic bit slide back and forth, and those copper see-saw pieces rock back and forth to contact the 6 terminals in various combinations.

 

Take it apart, clean all the contacts and scrape off four decades of crud and dried up grease, re lube with fresh grease, realise that the wiper motor is unplugged, slap forehead, re-plug wiper motor, reassemble console and then watch in wonder as the wipers glide back and forth...as if by some form of magic.

 

And I think we're all good!  The reason for the 2000km roadtrip is to hit Melbourne for the Classic Japan show, so if you're in Melbourne, do drop in and say hi.

http://www.tccav.org.au/social-events/classic-japan-car-show-2011/

 

...there is also one more Hako-related secret behind the trip, but I'll save that one for later :)

[Babalouie]

Got a bit of a conundrum at the moment...a fairly badly-timed one too, given the rather big trip the Hako has to make this weekend.  I started to notice...a noise.  Hear that "tweet-tweet-tweet" sound? Well, I'm not 100% sure if it was there before or not, but I sure am noticing it now.  It's only there at a low idle, and goes away once you pick up the revs.

 

A few calls around to the usual engine-guru suspects confirmed my worst fears, which was that it's possibly an oiling problem, and the squeak is the sound of one or two cam lobes running dry.  At high rpms, there would be enough oil splashed and squirted from the adjoining cam lobes to make a reasonable job of lubrication, but at idle the cam lobe might be dry, so they said.  And yes, that's exactly how it was playing out.  Oh dear.  Both Peter McDonnell and TK were diplomatic in their suggestions, but the cam is the last port of call for the oiling system, and so the issue could really be at any point between it, and the oil pickup in  the sump.

 

So it was with a fair bit of trepidation that I lifted the cam cover to survey the damage.  And...rather surprisingly, all the cam lobes looked perfect.

 

No scratches, no heat blueing.  All of them checked out just fine.  For good measure, the valve clearances were fine, too.

 

Now, the way the cams get lubed, is that oil travels up a passageway on the side of the block, then goes up into the cam towers that bolt the cam to the head.  The oil is squirted into the cam towers via a little hole, lubricate the spinning cam...but the cam itself is hollow and the cam journals have a little hole in it.  

 

When the hole in the cam passes the oiling hole in the cam tower, it sends a slug of oil into the inside of the cam, which fills up with oil.  And the oil dribbles out of these holes you see in the sides of the cam lobes, which lube the lifter pad and prevent the cam from eating itself.  The nightmare scenario I was expecting, was that there was a blockage of some kind, and the cooling flow of oil coming out of these little holes had stopped.  

 

But if there was an oiling problem, the cam lobes still look fine....Stewart Wilkins had a great suggestion, which was to crank the engine on the starter, with the coil and fuel pump disconnected so that it wouldn't start.  The starter should spin the motor fast enough to prime the oiling system, and you should be able to see whether there's any oil coming out of the cam lobe holes or not.  With the oil thick and cold, the starter wouldn't spin the motor fast enough to turn the cam into a giant oil sprinkler, and it was a great suggestion, so here goes.

 

And..there you go.  All 12 cam lobes had a healthy dribble of oil come out of them, and there wasn't one or two which were weaker than the others.  So the nightmare scenario is averted, but the noise is still there...the next logical culprit is that one of the cam tower bearing surfaces has gone, but I would have thought that would be more of a rumble or knock, than a tweet-tweet sound.  And the cam journals are holding oil pressure sufficient enough to send the oil down to the cam lobes.  

 

Hmmm....I am sleeping slightly better now, but only slightly :)

[banzai510(hainz)]

nice photos!!!!!!!!!!!

[Babalouie]

Big gold star to the suggestions that it's an air leak!

 

I jammed a long piece of rubber fuel hose in my ear, used it like a stethoscope and it seemed like the tweeting noise was coming from here...and not from inside the head.

 

First test was to pour a bit of water around the area, the theory being that the water would be sucked into any gaps, and the noise would temporarily stop.  I think it made a slight improvement but not conclusive.  But it did occur to me that maybe the leak was from the underside of the manifold, where the water might not be reaching.

 

So I tried wiggling the manifold up and down, and you can hear that when I push the manifold down with my hand...the noise seems to go away.  AHA.  So I give all the manifold nuts a nip tighter and the ones underneath seemed to be a smidge looser.

 

And...great success!

 

...ironically, considering I tend to spray Hylomar on everything, when I fitted the current manifold gasket a few years ago, I think I fitted the gasket dry.  

 

But...while it seems to be okay now, the manifold nuts aren't meant to be super-tight, the factory spec is 12 ft-lbs.  So after I get back from Melbourne, I might pop in a a nice new gasket with some goop on it.

[banzai510(hainz)]

since you use studs I would tighten more(use antiseize)

 

I put mine on dry and soetimes spay with Copper coat (if I reuse the gasket so then tear)

[q-tip]

Love the pointing hand on a stick!

[Babalouie]

Well, the roadtrip has come and gone, and what a great weekend it was!

 

I'd been using the Hako as everyday transport for quite a few weeks already, just to make sure that everything was ship-shape for the 2000km trip.  I generally only do about 3000km per year, so this would be the very biggest single trip for the car, and by quite a large margin.  In the end, at the last minute I discovered that intake gasket air leak, but after the initial repair, it came back and it was too late to do anything about it before the trip.  But luckily it didn't seem to affect the way the car ran at all above idle, so we packed the car and set off.

 

Now one thing you have to know about the Hako, is that it's always had a very low 4.6:1 diff.  It's not standard, but came with it from Japan.  This means that a highway cruise is at a very busy 4000rpm in 5th gear.  Don't pay any attention to what the speedo says, four big ones on the tach equates to exactly the speed limit.  Or so the navi said.

 

But the big six is very smooth and unstressed at that rpm, and in fact as the miles rolled past, seemed to get even smoother as the cobwebs of the city were blown out.

 

And as the hours went by, the Hako was proving to be a great touring car.  The driving position puts the steering wheel a little too far away for my taste, but on a long trip, with one elbow on the window sill, and one hand on the wheel, it was perfectly comfortable.  And the car tracked arrow straight too.

 

So it was with a little bit of surprise that we found ourselves getting out of the car feeling quite relaxed and fresh.

 

And we did have to get out quite often :) since the small 50L tank and the big six's prodigous thirst meant that we'd only have a touring range of about 300km or so before the needle went below the E mark on the gauge.  The Hako was averaging 13L/100km, which wasn't that catastrophic, but there was one 314km stretch between Gundagai and Swanpool, where the one petrol station in between was closed.  She took 42L on that fill.

 

But apart from the occasional fuel-related panic, it was a blast to drive.  Motor singing, steering rock solid in your hands, 80s aussie rock crackling from the Becker stereo, and fat arming your way through the 34C summer heat.  Roadworks sections would offer a chance to slow down and give her a good rip through the gears again, and overtaking would be an effortless snort of Weber music.  Rinse and repeat for 9 hours of pure roadtrip bliss.

 

I don't quite know what it is, but whenever I take a long roadtrip in a modern car, it seems like a chore after a short while.  Even in something like the 911 or the FD.  I guess it's got something to do with having the aircon on and the windows up, and the stereo playing perfectly crisp music.  Somehow, when you're in an old car, and you have to have the windows down because it's 34C outside, and the wind noise is so great that you can barely hear the music, and you're constantly scanning the gauges and listening out for the tiniest change in the way the engine sounds ...for some reason that seems to keep you more energized, and it feels like a real adventure.  My passenger and I were smiling all the way.

 

Now, we had two reasons for going down to Melbourne.  One was to attend the Classic Japan car show, and the other was to reunite my old buddy and Skyline mentor, Jim, with his own Hako.  Jim's been working interstate for some time, and a mutual friend in Melbourne offered to look after it for him.  Now that Jim's back in Sydney, we're bringing his car home :)

 

The next day, we met up with friends from the Prince Register, and cruised to the car show in an amazing convoy of rarities.

http://

 

This, for example is a Prince Gloria 2500.  One of the very, very few still in useable form in the whole world, let alone in such pristine condition.

 

And before long, we were at Como Park, near downtown Melbourne and were being ushered into the display grounds.

 

Classic Japan 2015 is in its third or fourth year, and aims to bring together as many Japanese marques as possible, the only limitation being that cars would have to be pre 1992.  This...is half of it.

 

And this is the other half, making a remarkable 520 cars in all.

 

But the quality of the cars were outstanding, and I had four personal "firsts" in the show.  The first was inthe Honda area, where there were many beautiful examples of Honda's first sports car, the S600 and S800s.

 

I'd seen Honda Coupe 7 and 9s before, but never two in one spot before.

 

These were Soichiro Honda's last swashbuckling engineering project.  The Coupe 9 was powered by an air cooled 1300cc four, that revved to 7000rpm and cranked out an amazing (for the time) 130hp.  In this pic, you can also see that it's fed by four bike carbs and that finned silver tank on the left is the dry sump.  I chatted with the owner who said that the engineering was totally unfeasible, even extending to the inside of the bellhousing being a smooth polished surface.  Even the fins on the oil tank are polished.

 

But the really surprising thing...was that Honda put this same drivetrain into their Corona competitor, the 1300 sedan.

 

...but whereas the Corona had a live axle and pushrods, the Honda has a 7000rpm redline.  Needless to say they were not a commercial success, and the first-gen Civic that followed was a much more pragmatic design.  But I do believe that there are very, very few 1300 sedans still on the roads in the whole world, and this is one of them.  I've never seen one before, and never thought I would in Australia.

 

But before we move on from the Hondas, the 1300 sedan wasn't the only rarity.

 

There were also a trio of 1960s Honda kei cars, including the N360

 

And Life.

 

I really was running around like a giddy kid all day.

[Babalouie]

peaking of Honda...well this was different :)

 

 

The fact that it was ten feet away from this, sums up the vibe of the show :)

 

And moving on...I had been enjoying the hospitality of the Prince Register, who are keeping the flame alive for this long-defunct marque.  Here's that Prince Gloria again.

 

Just look at that gorgeous detail

 

But they are probably better known for this car, which is the second-generation Skyline.

 

The best way that I can describe Prince, is that it was akin to a Lexus of the late 50s and early 60s.  They didn't make kei-cars, which made up the bulk of cars on the roads in Japan, and focussed on premium sedans.  In the early 60s, they released the Skyline, which was a neat, compact sedan with a 1500 four.

 

But then in 1963, they lengthened the nose of the Skyline, so that they could shoehorn the straight six from the Gloria into it.  And just for good measure, they added all sorts of performance goodies, like triple carbs, LSD and a 110L long range tank.  It was FIA-homologated too, and with 125hp it was Japan's first real performance car.  Even Honda and Toyota sports cars were sub 1L in those days, so it was a big deal in its home market, and really kicked off the Skyline reputation as a performance marque in its home market.

 

But by 1966, the company was flat broke, and rather than let such a big industrial concern fall by the wayside, the Government brokered a deal for Nissan to take Prince over.  The next generation of Skyline would be a Nissan.  The C10 or Hakosuka as we know it  :)

 

Actually, I tell a lie.  Prince didn't just make premium sedans, they also made the Miler truck and the Clipper van.  Here's a Super Miler farm truck, the first time I've ever seen one.

 

 

Another car I'd never seen in the flesh before...a Nissan President.  Now, it has the distinction of being the first japanese car to come with ABS, which is had on the rear axle only, in 1971.

 

A contemporary rival to the Toyota Century, it was powered by a 4.0L hemi headed V8.  And plenty of gadgets and velour inside of course.

 

And then in the Toyota corner, there was a vehicle that everyone was going crazy about.  No, not the Celica (although yes that is very nice indeed)

 

The Hilux!

 

Now this was off the chain :)

 

Insane attention to detail, in what was a very  comprehensive restoration!

 

For many people, this was their favourite of the day, and who can argue.

 

It was also good to see a strong showing from the Isuzu guys, and there was an impressive array of Belletts, probably their best-known classic model.  The one on the left would be a 1600GTR, which is the top of the line 125hp twin cam model.  The one on the right would be powered by either a 1500 or 1800 single cam four. The Belletts were Isuzu's motorsport car in the 60s, and they did pretty well in the japanese touring car series.

 

Now this wonderfully patinated example was quite special, as it was the one that was raced at Bathurst in 1966.

 

15/IMG_8240.jpg[/img]

[Babalouie]

And it did make me happy to see not one, but two Isuzu 117s.  These Giugiaro-penned coupes are criminally underrated.

 

This particular one was an early, round-headlight version which were made to a much more luxurious standard than the later ones, where Isuzu dropped the price to keep demand up.  But when they first came out, they were largely handbuilt and were at Hako 2000GT-R price levels, so it was a baller ride in the day.  This early one looks like a nice place to spend some time.

 

This one was a single cam, single carb 1800 with a 4spd, so it isn't the headline version which had the twin cam and twin carbs.  Just gorgeous.

 

Also so nice to see my old Luce on display as well, and it does look like its Melbourne custodian is taking better care of it than I did.

 

 

Another marque that's often overlooked when it comes to early 70s classics, is Mitsubishi.  But it does have a heritage in sexy coupes, as this GTO shows,.

 

Being the flared version, it should have a single cam 2.0 I think, but then again it's badged as an MR, which was a 1600 DOHC version (but that didn't come with flares).

 

Moving right along, the next rarity is the Mazda Luce 130 rotary, which is the premium coupe of the pretty 1500/1800 Luce sedan.

 

If there is a bit of a resemblance between it, and the Isuzu 117 above, then it certainly isn't accidental.  Giugiaro penned the Luce sedan when he was at Bertone.  It's Mazda's only fwd rotary, and is extremely rare.

 

Essentially a "stroked" 10A, it's powered by the 13A rotary.

 

It's about the same capacity as a 13B, and was only ever fitted to the Luce R130

 

It's one of my favourite old Mazdas, and I'd never seen one in the flesh before.  What a great, pretty car to cruise around in.

 

Parked next to that, was the holiest of the holies when it comes to collectible Mazdas, the Cosmo

 

Twin dizzy 10A

 

Notwithstanding its swoopy Ford Thunderbird-esque lines, it's actually a very compact car, about the footprint of a Mazda MX5.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m255/MX5_Dorifto/Classic%20Japan%2020

[Babalouie]

Still on the topic of rotaries, triple rotor Cosmos seem to beincreasingly rare nowadays.

 

But compared to a RX-7, they are quite a bigger challenge to restore, with the sumptuous interior taking quite a lot of work to bring back to as-new, especially the complex dash with its troublesome digital displays.

 

 

This was a blast from the past! I think I had a Tamiya kit of this Honda CX500 Turbo about 30+yrs ago.

 

Some interesting hotrod detailing on this Cressida

 

 

This freshly restored Kenmeri was a standout for me.

 

Spotlessly perfect all over, and motivated by a Les Collins Racing engine too.  This would have more than enough go to match the show.

 

And everywhere you looked, the quality of the cars and builds were super-impressive.  Everyone's gone the extra mile.

 

 

Had to do a double-take when I realised that it wasn't the usual Harley powered chopper.

 

 

And here's something I haven't seen in decades...a Chevy Luv ute (actually based on an Isuzu).  I think that they were sold here as Holdens in the 70s.

 

Interesting twist on the oldschool lace paint treatment

 

 

This Galant had some real oldschool kustom touches

 

This pic probably doesn't do justice to the 70's style metalflake finish

[Babalouie]

his is nicely done. 230-series Cedric wagon. 

 

Being hosted by the Toyota Club of Australia, there were quite a few AE86s, but this Black Limited Trueno was remarkably original.

 

 

 

But the one Toyota model that was really impressive (both in numbers and quality) were the 1st Gen Celicas.

 

 

But this one was the standout Celica for me.  So tastefully and well done.

 

Quite a few of the Celicas were also fitted with the aero "racing jacket" which was a feature of the Celica touring cars in Japan in period.

 

I've always wondered how the bonnet opened with the plexi cover in place, but it has a clever cantilever system which allows it to pivot out of the way.

 

 

So many nice Zeds too, and plenty done in the "JDM" style with overfenders and Watanabes, whereas that's not a common look for Zs in Sydney.

 

 

 

 

This was a particularly tasty R100

 

The R100 was the only one of the rotary-engined Mazda sedans which scored an interior upgrade.  In the case of the R100, it's a very stylish dash chock full of gauges, and very reminiscent of the Cosmo interior..

 

There were also the usual crazy resto-mod versions too of course...

 

...with massive turbos and peripheral ports, this should have some decent pickup.

 

 

 

I hope I've managed to do justice to the show, but to be honest there were so many standouts that I can really only scratch the surface.  This early Patrol was immaculate, and was from Nissan's own collection.

 

As for the Hakos, the organisers put Jim's and my car together.  I've known Jim since before I had my Hako, and at one point when I was really struggling with the restoration of my own car, Jim kindly offered the keys to go for a long drive in his car.  Very lovely it is too (with what we think is) a Kakimoto 3.0 on triple Mikunis that make all the right noises.

 

During the early stages of the restoration, my Hako drove so badly, that I began to doubt if it would all be worth it.  But that drive in Jim's car was just perfect, and it gave me the kick in the pants I needed to keep pushing on.  So, many years later, it's only right that I return the favour and bring Jim down to Melbourne to reunite him with his own car :)

 

And rounding out the Hako count at three, was my new friend Gerry's cool shorty coupe.  It's a short-wheelbase version, and you'll notice that all of the length has been chopped out of the gap between the edge of the door and the front wheelarch.  These are very rare nowadays, and were the base model Hako coupe, with a live axle and a 1500cc and 1800cc crossflow fours, derived from the old pre-takeover Prince engines.

 

I really do have to give my compliments to Ash Miniken and his friends for putting on an extraordinary car show, the best I've been to in years and the equal of any classic car show I've been to in Japan for rarities and the sheer variety of cars presented.  And as for the Hako, taking the weekend off to play with cars, have lots of laughs with classic car guys and eat lots of bacon was just what I needed.

 

 

In three days, the Hako did just under 2000kms, went through 240L of fuel and 1.2L of oil, and delivered its occupants happy and relaxed without missing a beat.

 

Best roadtrip and bestest grand touring car ever!

[q-tip]

That is one of the best series posts on Ratsun!

[Lockleaf]

Man that was a killer show. You pointed a couple of cars I've not heard of before. Sounds like an amazing weekend

[paradime]

Now this is how you do it. Absolutely humbling attention to detail in your workmanship and your documentation. Plain to see you love your car.  :thumbup:

[Draker]

So many people will miss that amazing post because it's tucked away in your build thread. Wow! What a show.

[Filthy_]

Crazy.

[tr8er]

We will keep bumping it so more can/should see it. Truly epic read