Simplicity.

…and if you’re curious to see what they look like when backlit – click here.

For that authentic 1980s look.

Which is all kinds of odd; you’d expect maybe one or two to at least work partially, however for the price and the age of the equipment I suppose I shouldn’t complain, especially since a pretend sparky like me can easily replace the old-style bulbs with LEDs for a slightly more modern twist!

Armed with a disassembly guide I’d found on the interwebs and a few trusty tools, I set to work…

After somewhat apprehensively prying the front bezel off I carefully de-soldered the old-style incandescent lamps from the existing circuit board and replaced them with a pair of white LEDs and in-line resistors.

The old lamps are in the bottom left, and are both in fact blown.

The simplicity of the entire package is amazing, and I was careful not to upset the calibration of the gauge itself.

The question is... will it go back together again properly?

Success! There are a couple of bright spots thanks to the LED positioning, but once in the car it shouldn’t be as noticeable. Re-assembly will take place once I buy some paint to touch up the bezel, as unfortunately the only way to disassemble these gauges is with excessive prying force. Hopefully once they are mounted in the instrument panel on the car the damage/markings won’t be visible.

One gauge down, two to go.

In the meantime, this is it.

DR Grille, Sides, End Caps. Aftermarket Spoiler. Wheels and slam will complete this picture.

Big ups again and always to Ewan.  Without his help this would still look a mess.

If you need something from Japan, he’s the man to contact.  Do not hesitate.

ewan@hayatonka.com

Do it.

-Michael

Usually you’re the only person around for miles, and the tranquility is stunning.

Different year, different car.

Here are some older shots from over the years: 2007, 2007 again, 2008, 2010.

From the Front

…the side…

…the back…

The inside

I also have some photos from the Classic Speed Fest. that I will post up in the next few days so look out for those.

-Michael

what do you go home to?

…and somewhere quiet to snap a photo or two.

You know you have a good daily when the damn thing just keeps on soldiering on and on and on! Apart from needing to change a front right wheel bearing/hub carrier for a WOF, the last year of AW11 motoring has been relatively trouble-free. This car has just ticked over 242,000km and really exemplifies the meaning of “reliable daily driver”!

So over the holiday break I decided to give the MR2 a bit of attention and swap over the black interior that’s been lurking in the depths of my shed for over a year. This entailed gutting the whole cabin on what seemed like the hottest two days of summer so far, and then spending another two days of re-assembly. The results were worth it in the end though!

Goodbye tacky smurf/electric blue.

With the black interior I guarantee the cabin temperature will be a thousand times worse while sitting in the sun, so I should probably re-gas the A/C like I said I was gonna…

Hello low-key black goodness.

The difference between black and blue is most evident in this shot comparing the old and new door cards:

Whoever optioned blue interior needs to have their eyes adjusted!

Fabric pattern of the ’89 spec seats doesn’t match the door cards – I assume this is because they are manual-winder as opposed to the more prevalent electric type.

A strange aesthetic mismatch.

and to finish, another view of the cockpit. And no, I still haven’t painted those wing mirrors. Or the rear spoiler, or the wheels, for that matter… I’ll get there!

What a difference black makes!

Save for a few little odds and ends (which remain blue) the conversion is 99% complete. I’m hoping to be able to slowly collect the missing bits from trademe, or even trawl pick a part for the more “generic” ’80s Toyota stuff like door handle surrounds over time.

But enough daily love! I should really turn my attention back to some of the other cars currently languishing in the shed…

HR30 Skyline sedan – Donor car

I won the auction and drove to Ashburton a few weekends later to pick up the new acquisition, seeing it in person it was even cleaner than the auction had let on. The previous owner was sad to see it go, he’d replaced it with an R33 GTS25t coupe some years ago, de-registered it and then used it to tow around a horse doo-dad which it had been doing quite happily for some 8 years.

I managed to get the trip to collect done in a single day, leaving me at least on day of the weekend to recover and relax before returning to work.

The subsequent week at work I managed to pull a muscle in my back.  Not ideal as it has put somewhat of a halt on proceedings to get the precious parts switched from one to the other.  I did however cautiously and gingerly waddle about removing as much of the easier to remove stuff as I could on the coupe, leaving it looking like this… 

Stripped down KHR30

The eagle eyed of you may note that the coupe and it’s older siblings are situated in their new home.  It’s been a fairly exciting last month or so getting it all sorted but having my own house and a decent sized shed to work on my cars is pretty damned magic.  Shelter and space means a lot more of the menial labouring jobs will be getting done on the cars, however mortgage means that some of the parts gathering might not happen quite as quickly as I’d hoped.  Still, onwards!  Hopefully these muscles in my back settle themselves down a bit and I can get onto the nitty gritty of this swap.

Here’s some proof to show that the L20ET in the donor car is in OK condition;

Shed skids, complete.

Stay tuned (but not too regularly, you might have noticed the updates have been relatively infrequent, I’ll try and change that  but I can’t make any promises as now I have to work on a house as well as the cars)

-Michael

A Celica like none other...

Over the weekend of 3rd-4th November a large and varied group of oldschool.co.nz club members made a pilgrimage to Hahei, on the idyllic Coromandel Peninsula, for a meet-and-greet with none other than Rod Millen, famous championship winning driver in various motorsport disciplines and proprietor of the Leadfoot Ranch.

Convoy enroute to the Coromandel, via State Highway 2.

Leaving bright and early from the convening point at Bombay just outside of Auckland, roughly 20 cars made their leisurely way to the Coromandel, stopping in the towns of Kopu and Tairua along the way for rest, refreshment, and to meet up with members from other parts of the country – some travelling from as far as Taupo – eventually arriving at Rod Millen’s sprawling ranch just outside of Hahei around 11am.

Assembling at the Ranch.

Our group was immediately shown into the large barn adjacent to the parkup spot to be greeted by Rod and Shelly, who gave a short but detailed and colourful history of the vehicles contained within. Included in the collection were Rod’s meticulously rebuilt RX-3, a pair of mighty Tundra stadium trucks, his 2007 Transsyberia Rally-winning Porsche Cayenne, a couple of quirky prototype vehicles, and of course the famous Pro Rally RX-7 and Pikes Peak Celica… both championship winners over multiple years in the ’80s and ’90s respectively.

The Barn.

After the meet-and-greet we had the opportunity to mill around browsing the collection of vehicles and take photos to our hearts’ content, while Rod chatted with various groups and individuals in turn. It was somewhat humbling to see him taking the time to answer various questions and shoot the breeze with so many of us!

Of particular interest to me was Rod’s SCCA Pro Rally Championship winning Series 3 RX-7, a vehicle which inspired my own love of RX-7s growing up. This particular example runs a fascinatingly unique 4WD drivetrain prepared by Weismann in California for the Pro Rally series in the early 1980s. As Rod put it, “we did it in order to beat Audi’s quattro!”

Pro Rally 4WD RX-7. Click photo for walkaround video!

And of course, parked square in the middle of the barn towards the rear of the room, sat Rod’s “Unlimited” Pikes Peak winning 1000hp Celica in all of its outrageously sculpted aerodynamic glory. Of certain note is the fact that the 10:04 minute start-to-finish record set by this car in 1994 cannot technically be broken!

There’s already discussion of entering an oldschool.co.nz club stand at the 2013 Festival, so hopefully this is only just the beginning.

Peeking under the bonnet of the RX-3.

Additional photos courtesy of Automotive Culture – check out their album of shots from the Leadfoot Cruise here. Thanks to Ryan Fels for the driveway video footage!

Details for Leadfoot Festival 2013 can be found here.