~Opel Lounge~

[021 Chad]

I thought that we could use a topic that has no subject in particular apart from general chat about owning and appreciating your Opel.
I think this will work well as it may hopefully keep off topic, general duscussion out of more specific topics.
I'm not sure if Neville will agree or not, either way is fine with me.

[021 Chad]

It's been the first dry morning in three weeks where I am, so I took the Vectra out for a wee back road doddle to blow out some cobwebs.
I still have butterflies in my stomach, this car has really become something that is a joy to drive in an 'enthusiastic' fashion. I am almost dissapointed that I didn't have an excuse to stay out longer and try some more of my favourite local roads.
Recently I replaced a few bushes in the shift linkage and it's changing smooth and snickety now which is a nice improvement from the arm wrestling match that I had to contend with before.

[021 Chad]

I have a mate, one of those guys who knows very little about automotive maintenance apart from what he reads in 'Fast 4's n turbos'. Brief character description: buys a performance car, thrashes it until it pops, pulls it apart with the intention of fixing it, ends up reducing the motor to a couple of ballbearings in a coffee grinder.

Anyway, this chap who shall remain un named purchases a lovely 1970's HOLDEN HQ Kingswood which is 50% complete, it has a shiny new 350 small block fitted and the mechanicals are all there (but not attached), the body requires painting and the interior / glass is missing.

Should I be happy for the guy? Because right now I am feeling rather sorry for a car that will most likely end up getting destroyed.
I may yet be surprised and he may completely change his methods overnight, but I doubt it somehow.

[020 Brad]

Should we change this thread to "Chads Chat" ? I felt sorry for you, talking to yourself, so thought I'd join in

I personally don't have a particular soft spot for HQ's for some reason. I quite like the big Statesmans and even Monaros are pretty sweet, but an HQ 4 door sedan just doesn't really float my boat. I guess its the fact that they aren't exactly a rarity here in New Zealand, at least in comparison to a lot of other old cars.

Because of this reason, I'm leaning towards being happy for the fella that he has something to learn with, and slowly build up. In reality, most old car projects start, finish and progress in this way, and are never on or even near the road. Its unfortunate, but for a lot of people thats what a project is. It loses its enjoyment once it becomes complete, and on the road.

I'd certainly feel a bit different if it were a complete example, or something a little rarer/more exciting, and he was looking at "taking it off the road for a full p&p and a 350 chev".

[021 Chad]

well the body looks like it has had pleanty of time spent on it and the motor with it's associated pipe work looks immaculate. I don't usually have much care for old Holdens, but this one looks like the previous owner has already put some long hours into it, which may potentially end up in the hands of a butcher.

[020 Brad]

Speaking of which, would you like to buy a nice Chevette Estate?

[021 Chad]

Yeah nah...

Supposed to be spending all my cash on building a hoos remember?

Yeah right.

[020 Brad]

yeah I know, same probably.

Thats why I want the shove gone, so I can waste that money on other projects/travel/hoos

[021 Chad]

Oh so you're doing the hoos thing too?
I'm going for an automotive / 50's art deco look inside. Going to scratch for some pinup girly artwork for the walls etc.
Other plans include:
-Kitchen centre island with man size beer fridge inbuilt
-Front end off a pontiac / anything old and cool with 4 headlights, coming out of the ceiling above the kitchen centre island, going to put down lights in the head lights and chrome up the body work for extra bling.
- Pool table in dining room (who needs a dining table?)
-Shift lever on toilet flush button.
-4 car garage / man zone to store bikes and cars that don't quite fit in my current 2 car job.

Yeah, it's pretty sweet having a missus who likes cars as much as I do

[020 Brad]

hahahaha that sounds horrible! Just quietly Different tastes though, I think its awesome that you're putting your own spin on the place.

Personally, I like to keep my hobbies, work and play, completely seperate, if you know what I mean. My house is for living in, my work is for working at, and my garage/everywhere else, is for my cars/toys! I'd not enjoy having to look at the rear end of a car while eating/cooking my din dins.

And nah, I'm not building a house, just living in one, but as you will come to realise, they absorb money all the time despite the fact that it may be "finished". I quite like getting the gardens etc looking awesome and we have a surprisingly large amount of these on our little 850sq/m section. Even have a few native tree's, including a Kauri.

Looking forward to seeing the build progress. You'll have to do a project thread

[021 Chad]

I'm a little different, my hobbies are my life and I think my hoos needs to reflect me as a person instead of being a standard type A dwelling for type B human life form
I'm not batman, I dont have alter egos, Im just bat shit crazy all the time, I do however have to tone it down a notch for work, but designers are supposed to be eccentric / mad anyway so no one notices anything amiss.

Yup, I'll deffinitely do a project thread on said hoos, should be fun. Garden wise I'm looking at snagging a whole mess of nikau palms, love them things, it's going to look like vietnam out front. Fiance however wants flowers so well have to arm wrestle for it me thinks.

[020 Brad]

I received in the mail some 43mm quad throttlebodies this morning, which I aim to adapt onto my C20XE Vectra track car. I'll probably begin work on getting some flanges cut in the next couple of weeks, then get them welded up and throw the throttles on as soon as I can. I'm going to attempt to run them usuing the factory air flow meter and ecu at first, then get an aftermakrket ecu when/if the first option doesn't work, which it probably won't.

So excited!

[127 Gordo]

I received in the mail some 43mm quad throttlebodies this morning, which I aim to adapt onto my C20XE Vectra track car. I'll probably begin work on getting some flanges cut in the next couple of weeks, then get them welded up and throw the throttles on as soon as I can. I'm going to attempt to run them usuing the factory air flow meter and ecu at first, then get an aftermakrket ecu when/if the first option doesn't work, which it probably won't.

So excited!

There was a German setup that did exactly that - perhaps Chad remembers it?

[021 Chad]

Yup, this one:

[127 Gordo]

Not that one, the one I have in mind had individual throttles and the OEM AFM.