1974 RX-4/929 wagon. Upgrades Round 1

ewokracing · **Posted:** Tue Mar 20, 2012 2:35 pm

Yep. done all of that multiple times.

ewokracing · **Posted:** Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:56 pm

So, working at a University has some side benefits, one of which is that I work with electricians and other electrical geniuses sometimes, one of which came over yesterday and banished all of the electrical gremlins that I had.

- wipers now work
- washer jet now works
- heater fan works
- diagnosed a blown parking light bulb
- sealed headlamp needs replacing. What was that hoges, drop one off to me at lunchtime this week? That'd be awesome!

(I'm sure the headlamp was working when I fitted them all in, so somethings gone pop in the last few years).

I just have to get a bulb and a headlamp and then get Hoges to help me refit the rear seat and then

REGISTRATION!* yay.

*assuming the soft brake pedal is just me coming from modern cars and not used to old car brakes.

**I still have to get a mp3 player and fit that in and wire up the cig lighter in the cargo area but these are straightforward things.

On with the pics:

Was very happy that we didn't have to pull the dash apart, turns out I missed earthing out the heater fan, and for some reason the two wires for the wipers were hooked up differently in the yellow car, so I left them off the fuse block when I put the green car together.

Ancient heat gun, used this to heat the shrink wrap for a new earth cable for the heater fan. We didn't melt the dashboard or anything else, so mission accomplished.

timmy201 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 10, 2012 11:06 pm

Are all 4 headlights wired up or are some for high beams?

I'd very much recommend the H4 conversions kits. With them I can see almost as well as my new 3 at night... And if you pop a bulb you can bet spares at any servo too

ewokracing · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2012 11:10 pm

Yep, it's on the cards Tim.

The connectors are there for wiring up high beams on all four, but the sealed units on the outside are low beam only (two prong), while the inboard sealed units are high beam only and are three prong. Units on the inside only come on with high beam, units on the outside are on with low and high beam.

I'm sure I could make the outside ones high beam as well, but that's down the track a bit, plus when I go offroad I was going to fit a light bar and fit big Hella's anyway.

ewokracing · **Posted:** Sun Apr 15, 2012 11:31 pm

ta-da!

So after I put new globes in, the drivers side just would not light up. Checked the wiring, voltage at the bulb holder etc.

Looked at the bulb holder again, it had been bent at some stage. Bit of tweaking and presto. Both bulbs are brighter than before (10w instead of 6w). You can actually see them in the dark now, rather than the dim glow that the old ones gave off.

ewokracing · **Posted:** Sat Apr 21, 2012 6:27 am

So I was all fired up today to pull the grille off and replace the headlight....

Couldn't find the garage keys.

Found them 9 hours later under the couch. To or row it is then!

ewokracing · **Posted:** Sun Apr 22, 2012 3:32 pm

^ awesome spelling there, bloody ipads.

After I checked that the headlamp that hoges gave me worked, I pulled the grille off, gave the spare a bit of a clean, then unbolted the old headlamp.

Went to bolt the new one in, hmmmm. Spare has a slightly different mounting bracket.

You can see above where my finger is pointing, the two headlamp mounts are ever so slightly different in their shaping. One is probably for a pointy nose car.

Anyway, pulled the brackets off.

And cleared all the crud that was on the headlamp behind the bracket.

New headlamp in, grille back on.

Aligning up the lamps, I just wanted them to be equal at this stage, pretty good result.

And I fitted a better washer jet.

Great success. Pretty much the only things left are:

- fit the rear seat
- radio/mp3 player
- brakes. (maybe).

ewokracing · **Posted:** Sat Apr 28, 2012 7:23 pm

Seat is IN.

Last time I tried to put the rear seat back in, I think I may have hurled a few tools across the backyard at my old house. This time I took it slowly and approached it like a jigsaw puzzle.

I got the rear upright part of the seat in after a bit of thinking, got it moving with the release latches, then I fitted the bottom piece in. A bit of pushing and levering into place was needed though as it literally has to jam into place, then it drops down so that you can bolt it in.

Anyway, it's in.

While that was happening, I bought this yesterday:

which looks like this:

So now the battery is being topped up, as I noticed it was going flat slowly due to me being slack and not starting it often enough. I've got the Ctek charger hooked up to the Rover permanently now.

List as it stands now is:

- bonnet colour. Not sure whether to paint or some sort of vinyl wrap
- Stickers and decals. (you'll see what I mean a bit later)
- Head unit - on it's way
- Cigarette lighter socket - also in the pipeline
- Some decent driving lights. It's getting really dark here now early in the day and just from riding home on the Triumph I've noticed my area lacks decent streetlights.
- Some sticky tyres for the Enkei rims I have waiting.
- Registration - already on the way.

timmy201 · **Posted:** Sun May 20, 2012 1:28 am

ewokracing wrote:

List as it stands now is:

- bonnet colour. Not sure whether to paint or some sort of vinyl wrap
- Stickers and decals. (you'll see what I mean a bit later)
- Head unit - on it's way
- Cigarette lighter socket - also in the pipeline
- Some decent driving lights. It's getting really dark here now early in the day and just from riding home on the Triumph I've noticed my area lacks decent streetlights.
- Some sticky tyres for the Enkei rims I have waiting.
- Registration - already on the way.

-but blue is a colour
-more stickers the better (more kw)
-car audio is overrated anyway

-cigarette lighter / pipeline ha
-hella H4 conversion kit x4
-and post a picture of car on said enkei rims
-hooray for rego!

ewokracing · **Posted:** Wed Jun 06, 2012 6:30 pm

Got back from overseas last week. Have a massive head/sinus cold courtesty of United freaking Airlines. (I will never fly with them again, they suck balls).

Just got off the phone with our local registration authorities, I now have a permit to drive around on. So tonight after work I'll be cruising down to the local service station for some fuel and then on the weekend I'll get a wheel alignment.

ewokracing · **Posted:** Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:10 am

Happy to report, no big issues. It's actually fun to drive!

http://ewokracing.tumblr.com/post/24598 ... driven-the

One small thing, I noticed a small coolant leak when I stopped to put air in the tyres. I'll chase this up over the weekend.

timmy201 · **Posted:** Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:38 am

Hooray!

ewokracing · **Posted:** Thu Jun 07, 2012 4:57 pm

Yep, was pretty happy. Even saw a friend of mine driving home from work. Gave her a toot and a wave. Got a "wtf.....?" look in return.

Eeyore · **Posted:** Fri Jun 08, 2012 1:53 pm

Nice one Geoff good to see all the hard work has payed off.

rx7_ben · **Posted:** Fri Jun 08, 2012 9:52 pm

Hooray Geoffers! finally! Good shit mate.

ewokracing · **Posted:** Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:05 pm

Went out again yesterday - got a mayday call from a mate who was in a wrecking yard at an "all you can carry for $100" day. I walked out with a boot lid stacked with brakes, interior parts, some door trims, a whole stack of BMW grille bits and an alternator. None of it was for me but it all slid into the back of the wagon without any hassle.

I can see the wagon being called upon by people moving house! :lol:

Only thing that is annoying is the revs on the freeway, it's so bad that I deliberately went the long way home through traffic than take the short way home on the freeway.

timmy201 · **Posted:** Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:29 pm

Sweet damn - a boot full for $100! I wish the wrecker here did that!

Mine used to rev a bit on the highway back when it only had 3 speeds, so I didnt go over 90. Its now down to 3500rpm from about 5000 at 100kph!

ewokracing · **Posted:** Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:39 pm

Crazy isn't it Tim?

Unfortunately I didn't get paid as much this week since I took some time off, so the trip down to the brake place has been delayed. I might book it in for a RWC anyway and see what they pick on.

ewokracing · **Posted:** Sun Jun 24, 2012 9:20 pm

Weather has been, well shite for the last week or so, literally hanging around 5 degrees during the day for days on end.

Didn't get down to a brake place as I ran out of time stopping my backyard from flooding (boooo

), but I did get the wiring done for the headunit thanks to my work colleague who worked his magic.

It looks like a big mess, but it's actually all ready for the headunit to plug in and for me to connect two slimline speakers up under the dash for the front "stage". I am also a bit fussy and want to tidy up the wiring a bit more under the dashboard (even though you can't see it).

The only part left was to make a bracket to hold the headunit in place inside the glovebox.

I knocked up a plan and had a go in one of the workshops here at work

I roughly worked out what shape I wanted the bracket and how long I wanted it, then did a few practice bends and cuts on the brake press and gullotine, then got to it.

Gullotine.

Brake press.

By doing a few practice cuts and bends, I worked out how much material is "lost" or stretched on the bends, then factored this in. Bracket came out quite nicely and I'll use some foam and rubber washers I have here to stop the bracket vibrating against the case of the headunit.

The real test was that the DIN cradle slid perfectly right inside the bracket, which means the foam I have here will fit perfectly.

In other news, I also literally have to pull the mascot out of the car every time I open the door, he loves it. He is giving me the "what do you mean I'm not coming" look.

Hopefully I can have the headunit in and sorted this week, that will have tidied up the wires that were bunched up on the floor and it will finish off the cabin entirely. I've also noticed that the more I use the wagon, the more confidence I have in the brakes, so I think it's just me getting used to driving something old, after using a Hyundai Excel as a train station commuter and the Triumph Sprint.

Oh... one downside... it is loosing coolant from somewhere, so that will need inspecting.

philip · **Posted:** Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:08 am

Hey Geoff,
My 626 used to leak coolant. I thought it was the radiator or hoses.
Couldn't find the leak.!!!
When I pulled the motor out to do the rotary conversion,
I found the welsh plugs were what had been leaking! D'OH!

1974 RX-4/929 wagon. Upgrades Round 1

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