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El Gato - The Saga Continues!
https://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=92233
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Author:  ten_sim [ Mon Mar 28, 2016 9:12 pm ]
Post subject:  El Gato - The Saga Continues!

Continuing on from Archangels epic build thread (http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=22654), I thought I'd start my own, seeing as it's now my build I guess ha ha.

Picked the car up from Tricky a couple of weeks ago (it was purchased off him back in October of last year, but I had to wait for a convenient time/situation to get down there to pick it up, finally had 2 weeks work in Maryborough which gave me the opportunity I needed. In the meantime Tricky carried out a bit more paid work on the car for me). I also ended up purchasing his old trailer to carry it up North as well. As I was expecting monsoonal rain on the drive home, I wrapped and trussed it up within an inch of its life to try and keep things dry, luckily the feared major downpours never eventuated, but there were a few heavy showers to drive through so the tarp was still a good idea.

Image2016-03-16 15.43.52 by ten_sim, on Flickr

The drive North was non-eventful thankfully and El Gato arrived at his new home safe and sound, they're not as salubrious as his previous digs, but nice enough

Image2016-03-21 17.24.06 by ten_sim, on Flickr

I'm super fortunate to have two really good guys up here to help me complete this build (well, when I say help, I mean that they're pretty much doing everything, I'm basically just the go-fer and the guy paying the bills, you could write my mechanical/electrical knowledge on an A4 sheet of paper most likely!) Lee is an experienced mechanic and Tom is a skilled self-taught car nut, with a particularly strong knowledge of Starlets and the 4EFTE motor (he even has a complete spare 4EFTE powered Starlet GT just lying around, which has come in very handy as he's happy to cannibalise it for spare parts as needed, which has been a game saver already!)

I won't go into any detail at this point as to what work they had to carry out to get it running (primarily because I'm no expert and would probably explain/detail things incorrectly.) All I'll say at this point is that there was a no small amount of things to do/complete and rectify, but over the Easter Long Weekend, with the aid of a few pizzas and one or two (or three or four) tasty brews, this is the result!



Tom & Lee now have the car starting and idling fine on the stock ECU, and it moves under it's own steam! We can't locate the accelerator setup that Tricky fab'd up (I think he modified a Starlet unit to suit?), so the only way to rev it is to pull the cable manually where it penetrates the firewall (or via the throttle under the bonnet of course), so this is just slowly moving the car by riding the clutch and using the idle revs (Tom is sitting on a milk crate also, and the steering is shonky as the uni joint isn't set up correctly, plus the steering column needs to be mounted properly).

Ran a compression test and all is fine there, I think Lee said something like 145 on all cylinders except number 3 which was around 135, but he feels that as the engine runs a bit that'll come good (it has been sitting for a loooong time idle remember!).

So, a lot has been achieved over the weekend, super happy that the car is now running and the motor appears to be in good order. This week should see the dash electrics and instrumentation being at least partially completed (Tricky has done a fair chunk of it), have an auto sparky mate of Lee's coming in to help out with all that.

Once that's all done, it'll really just be the interior and putting all the trim bits back together (rubbers/glass/chrome etc etc) left to do, then RWC and rego! The aim at the moment is just to get it on the road and driving, not fussed about a flash interior or anything else at this stage, just want it registered and ready for fun asap. Fingers crossed it'll all happen fairly quickly, stay tuned!

Author:  mickmini [ Tue Mar 29, 2016 12:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: El Gato - The Saga Continues!

I like how the dog has laid out the kongs to give an obstacle course to drive around!

Author:  Kennomini [ Tue Apr 05, 2016 6:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: El Gato - The Saga Continues!

Good to see and hear it finally driving.
One thing that took my notice in the vid. The rear lights, have you thought about clear flusher styled lenses...I don't know if it will improve the look or not but I just think the std ones look out of the place.

Author:  ten_sim [ Sat Apr 09, 2016 8:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: El Gato - The Saga Continues!

Some progress on the electrical side of things... Press the big red button to unleash the beast!


Author:  Gordo [ Fri May 06, 2016 5:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: El Gato - The Saga Continues!

Good work! You planning on running a different ecu or continue with standard?

Author:  ten_sim [ Sat Jul 09, 2016 7:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: El Gato - The Saga Continues!

Some more updates... nothing much has been happening since May, been a bit busy (and to be honest, more than a bit disheartened by the whole thing, there's a heck of a lot more here to sort out then I was ever lead to believe, but that's another story...)

Anyhoo, finally got back in to it today. After a bit of thought and concluding that the current setup/idea just wasn't going to work (the angle for the uni joint is just too severe for it to work in our opinion, see the attached picture) we decided to go back to a standard mini steering column, so that necessitated a bit of grinding:

Image20160707_154237
Image20160709_115526

With the bracket for the Starlet column removed, simple matter to fit a standard mini column, we also cannibalised the Starlet column for the mounting plate to fit the Starlet switchgear:

Image20160709_161122

Just need to buy a steeing wheel boss to fit a Momo wheel to the Mini column, guessing these two bits will do the job?

http://minispares.com/product/Classic/Interior/Steering%20wheels/SWABM.aspx?1706&ReturnUrl=/search/classic/momo%20boss.aspx|Back%20to%20search
http://minispares.com/product/Classic/Interior/Steering%20wheels/SWABS.aspx?1706&ReturnUrl=/product/Classic/Interior/Steering%20wheels/SWABM.aspx|Back%20to

Now on to the seats... Well... what to say? How about a picture to speak a thousand words eh?

Image20160709_160952
Image20160709_160546

Hmmmm... anyone else spot a bit of a problem here?? Yep, that's right, the bloody things just won't fit will they! Unless you're a midget and don't want to close your windows I guess... So, these seats can be ditched then, along with the mounts that came with them, nice... Unless I'm missing something obvious here??

Instead of these, I'm going to go a bit more traditional with the classic Cobra style, probably these:

http://www.revolutionracegear.com.au/?PCID=10423&PSO=245&PSID=4668005323&PSV=Primary&CDO=

Also set about fabbing up a basic dash to get the car on the road:

Image20160709_161743

So a bit happened today. More to come in the next couple of weeks, hopefully will see some serious progress towards roadworthy and registration, fingers crossed!

Author:  clovus [ Sat Jul 09, 2016 8:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: El Gato - The Saga Continues!

I've heard Mazda MX5 seats fit. Might find a set cheap at a wreckers?

Author:  fuzzy-hair-man [ Sat Jul 09, 2016 10:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: El Gato - The Saga Continues!

So do Toyota MR2 seats

Author:  Gordo [ Sun Jul 10, 2016 6:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: El Gato - The Saga Continues!

That's the worst part about starting some one else's car.
I'm not certain but wasn't there going to be some front seats put into the rear? May they be them?

Author:  ten_sim [ Sun Jul 10, 2016 8:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: El Gato - The Saga Continues!

Quote:
I'm not certain but wasn't there going to be some front seats put into the rear? May they be them?


This is sitting on the rails/mounts that came with the car (custom made), so this is where they were planned/designed to sit, as far as I can tell. Unless I really am missing something bleeding obvious :? :?:

Quote:
That's the worst part about starting some one else's car.


Amen to that! :roll: :lol:

Author:  MiniBrad [ Sun Jul 10, 2016 11:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: El Gato - The Saga Continues!

Nissan S15 seats fit.

Author:  oldblade [ Sun Jul 10, 2016 12:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: El Gato - The Saga Continues!

Bigger about the seats not fitting
Those revolution seats look a little pricey though

Author:  Harley [ Sun Jul 10, 2016 12:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: El Gato - The Saga Continues!

I have those seats in my car they fit fine. You just have to offset the mounts towards the middle of the car by an inch its easy.

Author:  fuzzy-hair-man [ Sun Jul 10, 2016 1:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: El Gato - The Saga Continues!

Harley wrote:
I have those seats in my car they fit fine. You just have to offset the mounts towards the middle of the car by an inch its easy.


One of the best bits about offsetting towards the middle is it puts the pedals and the steering wheel more central too. 8) Handbrake's a little harder to get at but who cares...

Author:  Gordo [ Sun Jul 10, 2016 1:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: El Gato - The Saga Continues!

Could the seat rails be on the wrong seats? And they're already made to fit but being on the wrong seat off setting it the wrong way?

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