Authors Cars

Treading some rather Familia territory

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November 8, 2010
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With the TX3 complete, a shed full of spare parts to clean out, and a lack of anything to do on any of my other cars (except a shifter cable swap on the AW11, which I can now proceed with as the new bits have arrived) I decided to kill my boredom and get rid of some of those parts by purchasing a wee little 1985 BFMR Mazda Familia in need of some sorely required maintenance.

In the seller’s own words, “the engine shat a brick about two years ago, and it’s just been sitting in my garage doing jack since then.” I know a challenge when I see one.

yeah I can’t seem to stay away from the damn things – as anyone who reads my numerous blog posts about them can tell you – but surprisingly enough this is my very first proper BFMR, having owned a BFMP and BF5S in the past. This isn’t taking into account the TX3s of course, but since they’re the exact same car, all of my expertise carries over, which makes this a fairly easy walk in the park.

currently the plan for this car is to undertake as close to a factory-standard restoration as I can manage without going too overboard a la TX3. With fewer and fewer BFMRs left in this country it makes sense from an enthusiast’s (and possibly investor’s) point of view.

So… presenting the new summer project!

Finally, my very own BFMR

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: Authors Cars, Automotive Maintenance

Caning round Taupo in the DR30

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September 13, 2010
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Friend of mine finally ripped the footage from when he rode shotgun in squid around Taupo a couple of weeks back. His camera is ancient and the sound quality isn’t the best, but it gives you an idea of the track layout (as well as my dismal efforts at piloting the car around).

Need better brakes and some bigger cohones!

Right at the end of the video you can hear me say “It’s running a bit hot”… the radiator top sensor finally carked it, meaning the cooling fan wouldn’t switch on (great design guys!) and as a result the water temp started creeping past 100 deg C on the gauge. Fortunately I managed to get it back below 90 deg on the cooldown lap which followed.

Video credits: APESHIT/Rob.

: Authors Cars, Events

Authors’ cars: Savanna banana retro audio

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September 11, 2010
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To keep the blog going while Michael recovers from the man-flu, here is a small spiel about my planned RX-7 retro audio installation. Overly ambitious? Perhaps, but by some small stroke of luck the vehicle happened to come with vintage Pioneer speakers already installed in the boot area (I’ve always been a sucker for Pioneer gear) so it makes the next few steps even more relevant.

These vintage TS-1200s go for around US$150 on the Japanese second hand market. Crazy.

with full tweeter angle adjustment (“Tilt Axial Two-Way”) these puppies are the epitome of 80s tech… and although 10W nominal power is nothing compared to the output of modern-day speakers, it doesn’t matter because I have a cunning plan:

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: Authors Cars

Random retro snap: My dish is a bit much?

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September 1, 2010
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And to answer the unasked question: 3 degrees negative camber, thank you very much.

225/50R15 Toyo T1-R, on 15x8.0J -3 Work Ewing III

Though I must admit, it’s far from practical on the average New Zealand road.

: Authors Cars, Random Retro Snap

Author’s Cars; KPB310

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August 31, 2010
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Firstly, I apologise for the lack of updates, I had a lot of time invested in trying to get a job at the local Honda dealership.  Unfortunately after two interviews they found another more worthy of the position.  Both depressing and annoying but that’s how things roll.  Speaking of things that roll though.  A car recently came up for sale on local auction site trademe.co.nz,  the interesting thing about this car being for sale on trademe was mostly the price that the reserve was set at given that several months prior the owner had tried to sell it on the Datsun forums with little luck because of the (what I would call) exorbitant price.  I made contact back then (Dec. 2009) and was told a price several hundred over and above what it was bought for and was essentially denied the chance to look over it.  I guess occasionally time passing can be beneficial however as now once my brother has finished using it for daily duties whilst his VB110 is in the panelshop, this little beasty will come into my possession;

Datsun Sunny 1.5ZX

This was taken just as we got it, I’ve already removed the side mouldings and polished the sides (it was too sunny (OHPUN!) and bright to polish the top surfaces that particular day.  I’ll get onto them at some stage though.  So it needs that finished off and some different wheels and a healthy but not ridiculous dose of slam.  I wanna be like Rob, eg;

Rob of RIVERSIDE during a subtle slam period.

All in due course.  Priority for me is still to sell the H230 and use that money to fix the C110.

-Michael

: Authors Cars
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