Fred's Garage, the never ending story!

Post your project vehicles here! One thread per vehicle please.
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Fred
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Fred's Garage, the never ending story!

Post by Fred »

Well, I do have quite a few vehicles... so it'll be convenient for me to refer to this one place to find the threads. And perhaps you'll find it interesting, too, who knows :-)

This first post will be dedicated to a list, with links and basics in it. Then a post per car with a summary and a single image. Order will be that of acquisition and will include vehicles that are no longer with me for various reasons.

Status Key
  • RIP No longer with me, probably crushed and turned into China turbos. Rest in peace, you'll be missed.
  • LDD Legal Daily Driver, in use, and loving it! :-)
  • LTOD Legal Towed On Demand, in use, and loving it! :-)
  • MBR Modified Beyond Recognition. Special case for the ex-940 wagon.
  • HIS Hibernating In Storage, in many pieces, not usable, will be resurrected at some point.
  • LTP Long Term Project, possibly usable, not legal, mods in progress, etc.
  • NQL Not Quite Legal. Was legal, WOF expired, some work required, back soon!
  • BNF Broken, Needs Fixing. Might be legal, with WOF, or not, but isn't able to be driven for some reason.
  • PCO Parts Car Only. Never bought to keep, only to pull bits off/out of and scrap. RIP soon enough.
  • STOLEN Some low-life mongrel piece of shit has taken a car labeled with this. Forever hopeful of seeing it again, no matter how unlikely.
  • Lost No longer in my possession due to reasons outside my control. Grrrrrrr.
My Cars & Ex Cars
  1. HIS 1961 VW Beetle - no threads, in pieces for now - NOT FreeEMSed, yet.
  2. HIS 1954 VW Beetle - no threads, in pieces for now - NOT FreeEMSed, yet.
  3. Lost/RIP 1963/1967? VW Beetle - Left stored in a yard, went to crusher with some of my stuff inside back in late 90s early 2000s. Post out of order, inserted after being forgotten.
  4. LTP 1989 Ford Courier/Mazda B2000 - Users' Rides Thread - FreeEMS Powered! - Brag thread!
  5. RIP 1984? Mitsubishi Mirage II Geneva - no threads - Before FreEMS!
  6. PCO/RIP 1990 Ford Telstar TX5 5 door hatch - Stripped and scrapped back in 2007. Post out of order, inserted after being forgotten.
  7. Lost/RIP 1992 Nissan Skyline GTS - Users' Rides Thread - Before FreEMS!
  8. RIP 1992 Volvo 740 GL Wagon - Adventure Thread! - FreeEMS Powered! - Brag thread!
  9. NQL 1988 Hyundai Stellar - No Users' Rides Thread - FreeEMS Powered! - Brag thread!
  10. LDD 1998 Suzuki Wagon R Wide - Users' Rides Thread - NOT FreeEMSed, yet.
  11. LDD 1994 Mazda Lantis Type R - Users' Rides Thread - NOT FreeEMSed, yet.
  12. LDD 1991 Volvo 240 GL Wagon - Users' Rides Thread - NOT FreeEMSed, yet.
  13. PCO/LTOD/MBR 1990 Volvo 940 GLE Caravan - Pit Lane Thread - Caravans don't have engines!
  14. LDD 1990 Volvo 740 GLE Sedan - Users' Rides Thread - NOT FreeEMSed, yet.
  15. PCO/RIP 1998 Mazda Millenia - Stripped and scrapped some weeks/months ago. Comments thread has some info.
  16. STOLEN 1983 KP60 Toyota Starlet 3-door Hatch - Users' Rides Thread - Did not get a chance to FreeEMS it. :-(
  17. NQL/LTP 1983 KP60 Toyota Starlet 3-door Hatch - Users' Rides Thread - Adventure thread! - FreeEMS Powered! - Brag thread!
  18. LDD 1998 C34 Nissan Stagea 25X Four Wagon - Users' Rides Thread - NOT FreeEMSed, yet.
  19. PCO 1987 Volvo 240 GL sedan - Yet to be retrieved, but will donate many parts to the 240 wagon!
Honorable Mentions

There are a couple of cars that deserve an honorable mention, despite me not actually owning them. They are listed below:
  • My mate's family KP60 Starlet - RIP - Long dead, left on side of road to rot, and eventually crushed. This comment 29 May 2016
  • Dad's 1994 Navara TD27 - RIP - Recently deceased, a month or two back. This comment 29 May 2016
  • My ex's 1996 AE111 BZ-G Toyota Levin - LDD - Still around, seen it here and there. Owned by the person she sold it to. This comment 29 May 2016
  • My wife's ex 2001 Seat Ibiza - RIP - Crashed by her cousin who had it after us, some months ago. This comment 29 May 2016
See comments thread, linked below, for more info on these.

General Comments

Obviously you can head to an individual thread to make comments on a specific car, if one exists, but for those that don't, errors, omissions, and whatever else, there is this: viewtopic.php?f=25&t=2626
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1961 VW Beetle

Post by Fred »

My first car, given to me by my late grandmother before she moved into a rest home, bought brand new by my late grand father who died before I was born. Only three owners, him, her, and me. Transfered to her when he died.

This car has a LOT of history, which I need to discover and document before the people who know it die, too.

The sad part of its history that involve my ownership of it is short lived:
  • Drove it around for about 2 weeks
  • Bent the front right corner on the back corner of an Asian's car who stopped in a stupid place. 20 year old cross-ply tyres have little grip in the wet...
  • Pulled it to pieces storing the parts in boxes under the house, and the body out the back on blocks in the rain
  • Moved into my storage container in 2007 before I went to England and has continued to rust there ever since
The pan is in near perfect condition, however the body suffered some damage during storage by a friend of dad's dragging a dinghy over the roof of it, and the rust in the body in the usual places. Many of the parts are still in the attic of a friend's place and not even with the body/pan.

This is the last car on my list of things to fix, because it requires a proper work space and needs to be done properly to honour my grandmother.

Here she is before she was mine:

Image


Also fully stripped body sitting on the right in the next post... :-(
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1954 VW Beetle

Post by Fred »

This car used to live between my place and my auto sparky's place. I used to drive past it regularly and had a strong desire to drive a beetle again, especially an oval one. Eventually I bought it, and paid far too much for it (2 grand or so?). I don't recall the figure but it may be possible to find out what it was. It's probably worth 5x that now, though, if I put it back together and got it street legal. Not that it'll ever be sold. It has a long history, too. Unsure of the bit before me, however I know it would have been interesting as it's on new plates, so it was dereged at least once. I had the original engine for it, but sold it for too little to a guy before I went to England.

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1989 Ford Courier/Mazda B2000

Post by Fred »

Main users' rides thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16
FreeEMS vehicles brag thread: viewtopic.php?f=55&t=1069

Lots of info on the site about this. Will update this post with some overview later.

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1984? Mitsubishi Mirage II Geneva

Post by Fred »

I got this car for free in decent condition but with a slipping clutch. Drove it around carefully for a few weeks before missing a shift when passing, flooring it in 4th, not second, and smoking the remainder of the clutch in a fraction of a second. Towed home, new clutch went in, on she went.

First gen model info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubish ... .931983.29

It started out sort of unsaturated/dull turquoise metallic green, but I did some rust repairs and decided to paint it, matte black, over all the chrome, the wheels, everything, only lights and glass unaffected. :-D Thereafter known as "the black death".

This thing had a 6000 RPM redline on the tacho, and a front wheel drive 8 speed transmission: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubish ... ansmission

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I did burnouts and dropped the clutch daily in it for years, revving first and second to 7k at every opportunity. I ran it without an air filter and although it had started to smoke slightly from repeated beatings and dust ingestion, it was the gearbox that let it down. At the end, when it rolled into pickapart under its own power, with 40 bucks fuel in it, it was not possible to lift off in first or third without the gearbox locking up solid. Second and fourth did not suffer this fate. One wrong move and it would lock the wheels and slide to a stop :-D Black death was earning its name ;-)

A similar one to mine, but I suspect mine was deluxe with all the chrome and tacho etc:

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EDIT: Found the only photo I have of my one, a speed camera shot! The only speed camera fine I've EVER had, too! May I not-so-proudly present, the black death!

61kph in a 50kph Zone, 14 March 2004, period dated, too! :-)

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And a close up of the car itself:

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Wasn't she just glorious??? :-D
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1992 Nissan Skyline GTS

Post by Fred »

Main users' rides thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=155

Still miss this car. RIP, on the scrapper. Plenty of mentions on the site, maybe a full back story one day.

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1992 Volvo 740 GL Wagon

Post by Fred »

Main adventure thread: viewtopic.php?f=41&t=1571
FreeEMS vehicles brag thread: viewtopic.php?f=55&t=1069

FreeEMS #1, bought for 2k USD in San Diego, driven 13500miles around the USA for 3 months, sold for 1k USD in Atlanta Georgia by Rob on my behalf after I abandoned it there without its FreeEMS install. Much to tell about this car, one of these days I'll find the time.

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1988 Hyundai Stellar

Post by Fred »

Main thread in FreeEMS vehicles section with all things mixed up: viewtopic.php?f=55&t=1086

Bought for 260 NZD from an old man who had stored it under a pohutukawa tree with a bad oil leak and a few other issues. Still going today, 5 or so years later, but smoking like a chimney. I've lived in this car and driven it from tip to tail of the north island of NZ. It will always hold a special place in my heart, and in the history books of the FreeEMS project.

A couple of low res shots of it on my first night sleeping in it homeless:

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And more recently:

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1998 Suzuki Wagon R Wide

Post by Fred »

Main users' rides thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2530

Bought on the 19th of October 2014, and only legalised last Saturday, 12th of September 2015, now in use as a daily and decoder development is underway. :-) This thing is about as ricey as I can stomach with its over-the-top body kit, obnoxious BOV and strong turbo whistle:

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1994 Mazda Lantis Type R

Post by Fred »

Main users' rides thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2532

Bought for 1580 NZD, needed all brakes replacing, and clutch blew up, has lifter tick, but has been a great work horse since 10th November 2014 when I picked it up from Hamilton unseen, in the dark, in the rain, with black paint. LOL. Rough, but that's what I want. Have dragged steel and drums and stuff around in it, picked up the next car with it, etc. The pokey little 2.0 V6 spins to 7500 and makes 170ps when new and drives the front wheels through a crappy viscous LSD, which is better than nothing.

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DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
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FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
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