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Thread: 1968 Vauxhall Viva Estate with soon to be Ford Duratec power.

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    1968 Vauxhall Viva Estate with soon to be Ford Duratec power.

    Hey...I hope you'll appreciate that this aint a Ford. I am not really one for sticking to just one manufacturer of cars. I like most things classic and modified :-)

    But just before your blue blood starts to boil.... here's a photo or two of my Escort I loved dearly (sold for far too little because I was silly)..







    Plus I spent two years living in a mk2 Transit van when I first moved to Oxford, UK.

    Moving on from those days though. More recently I had bought a '68 Viva HB (actualy bought it in the UK and shipped it back to NZ) and it went through a few engines starting with a Ford xflo, then a Mazad 12a rotary and then a Mazda V6. Some photos of that one..











    Build thread for that one is here...

    https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/t...ck#entry750082

    After having sort of getting that car to where I wanted it I had come across my dream car (well...within the Viva realm..) ..

    An HB wagon !( yeah.. I know..it an estate...but I'm in NZ where they are all called wagons)....









    I restored this wagon up to a good solid condition but with as much of the patina left as possible. I then sold the V6 Viva at the end of last year and the little wagon has been our trusty daily ever since. However, with it running just the standard 1159cc engine its all a bit too slow and hard work keeping ahead of moderns. Over the last few months I have been restoring a Hillman Imp with a Datsun 1200 engine and once that's on the road it will become our daily and the Viva wagon will get a new heart :-)

    In its daily stride...





    Swallows bikes and is a bloody fine hauler...



    Hannah giving the bumper she just fitted a clean..



    Oh..here's a restoration thread for the Viva wagon.

    https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/t...ust%2B%2Bwagon

    So my plan is to fit a Duratec with a Mx5 box bolted on the back. But sadly the NC boxes are expensive here and I dont really do expensive. I love doing jobs on a tight budget (because...well... that's my budget) so I may well adapt a NA box in place much like I did with the V6 engine. I have already bought a NA box and sized it up. I'll use a Rx7 FB bellhousing which is shorter and this will mean the input shaft sticks out a little further. Then I have space for an adaptor plate between bellhousing and the duratec.

    But I am coming over to the UK in July so I might keep a look out for a NC box and ship it back if I can make the finances work out (by shipping and selling some other bits too)

    Why not another V6 you might ask? Good question.. I actually have several sitting about including another 200bhp KLZE. Because as lovey as they are, and they are a fantastic engine, they are also about 30kg heavier than the duratec. This wagon has much lighter steering than the v6 car had and is nicer to throw about on twisty roads. I want to keep it that way. Plus I know the Duratec will be a fair bit more thrifty on the petrol- which is important on a daily! We dont have any 'modern' cars.

    Hope you enjoy this thread (even though its Vauxhall....) :-)

    Alex

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    Mechanic

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    Re: 1968 Vauxhall Viva Estate with soon to be Ford Duratec power.

    I remember reading your threads on the HB Torana, sorry, I mean Vauxhall Viva, and seeing that monster motor home camper thing in the background of one of these pics take shape... Never saw it finished though..... Do you have a link to that somewhere?

    The wagon is very cool.

    Looking forward to watching the progress.

    Shaun.

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    Re: 1968 Vauxhall Viva Estate with soon to be Ford Duratec power.

    Ahhh yes the housetruck. Heres a build thread for that :-) ....

    https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/t...?hl=housetruck

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    World Champion Decade Plus User alladdin's Avatar

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    Re: 1968 Vauxhall Viva Estate with soon to be Ford Duratec power.

    great stuff

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    Re: 1968 Vauxhall Viva Estate with soon to be Ford Duratec power.

    I thought I recognised your HB


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    Re: 1968 Vauxhall Viva Estate with soon to be Ford Duratec power.

    Ahhhh the sound of so many Cicadas that day!!!

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    Re: 1968 Vauxhall Viva Estate with soon to be Ford Duratec power.

    Here's an update...it's been a while. We have both been using this wee car heaps as our daily and apart from the rev counter dying, creating a short to the coil and cutting ignition its been reliable as. That one took a bit of head scratching to work out. I checked everything and finally had a guess at the rev counter. Well it did only cost $7 secondhand 6 years ago..

    That has now been disconnected and every thing is back to being tickadyboo :-)

    We got bored with sliding sideways in the original vinyl seats when corning enthusiastically and I had a pair of Mx5 seats waiting for the Imp project. Decided I might as well fit them and put them into use rather than just sitting there wasted. I made all the mounting points to certification standard as it'll be going through the cert process when the Duratec is fitted.

    They are so much better in for driving with! Not as heavily bolstered as Recaros I have had in the past but good enough. This pair will find their way into the Imp when its ready and I'll keep a look out for other seats to fit the Viva. The mounting points looked so similar in placement to the points for the Momo branded (but actually Recaros) Alfa Romeo GTV seats I had fitted in the Viva. So I'm am figuring that Recaros might hopefully fit in place fairly easily using the new mounts.

    Seats...





    Now the eagle eyed among you might have spotted the Motolita steering wheel. Yep- its the one I had in my V6 Viva. I kept it as part of the sale agreement and made a boss to fit it into the wagon. This time I have moved it backwards even further and its great to have back in my hands. Much nicer the than skinny, torn bus wheel that was originally there.

    Here it is with the old seats in place...



    Yep- this little car has been great to use and is even better now. Handy car for carting mowers (I do quite a lot of mower repairs in our valley as one of the bread earners)...



    But the car is gonna be so much better with more ponies. So I have been slowly chipping away at collecting things. I cant do the actual engine swap until the Imp is on the road though. No pressure then :-)

    On this front I have to shout out a big thanks to Chris and Steve who picked up and transported the gearbox from Auckland down to Nelson. Chris picked it up from the seller, packaged it onto a pallet and delivered it to the airport. Awesome. Then it got a first class flight in Steve's private jet.

    Steve then brought it out to our place. What a neat wee trip for an NA Mx5 gearbox...








    Thanks fellas!!!

    I opened up the packaging...



    With the box here I propped up an Rx7 bellhousing next to it. You can see the difference in length that will allow me to use an adaptor plate without having to space the flywheel back.





    A lot of work? Yeah but I have continued looking for a bolt on NC box and they just aint cheap here in NZ. I have looked in the UK, much cheaper..but in the UK. So for now I will continue down this path. It's one I have trodden before and its pretty easy.

    Next up... the elephant in the room that is the Duratec that needs a rebore.

    Not any more! Another big thanks goes out Glen and Chris who found a free Duratec engine, offered it to me and then Greg brought it down in the back of his Falcon on the way to the Oldschool nationals.

    Its in good condition but the head has been popped off bu the previous owner for inspection/cleaning. The bores are really good and the block is very clean. Its what appears to be a good honest engine. So I am back on track. I'll be getting a headgasket set and new headbolts from England very soon and will build this up over time. Its great that I now have a spare engine which I can use for the mockup. Much nicer lifting a stripped out lightweight block and head.

    New engine...





    Also- Nick J was one of the fellas who came up to collect the Datsun 120Y. He brought up a collection of electronic components he had spare from building his Speeduino ECU and he and Hannah sat in the morning sun and sorted through bits I needed for my ECU build. I just need to get the main Arduino Mega chip and a few other bits then assemble it. Right on track for a decent $100 ECU though :-)

    Thanks Nick!..



    But for now...its back to the Imp.

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