McArlus Cars - 14

A plea for help. Please read Simon's post and if you can help let us know and I'll pass on his contact details.

Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am progressing well with much of the minor, very time consuming assembly.

I’ll detail some of the bits and pieces over the next few days.

But first I may need some help.

Setting up the drive shafts to get the short intermediate shaft made, I spent ages making sure that I had enough travel in the suspension and also for the chain adjustment. On the yellow car I had had trouble in this area before.

To my surprise, and dismay (!), I have just noticed that I have very little bump travel in the rear suspension as the CV joints are bottoming out!

I have done some research on the net today and came across ANF driveshaft in NSW.

In their notes on the KA Laser Driveshaft, they mention that their listed part is “slightly shorter than standard”.

Believe it or not, out of 6, I have one slightly shorter shaft, and I may have used it for the set up!

Does anyone know a driveshaft supplier who can give me a definitive answer, supply the correct driveshaft, or anything else that may help, like mixing shafts with different CV joint ends.

It’s a problem that can be solved, just disappointing that an important part of the design criteria, namely that common standard parts be used where possible has been compromised in a fairly significant way.

For the record:

KA Laser, Mazda 323 driveshaft and it’s the short one of the two.

I measure a “long” one at 614mm, fully compressed, overall length

“Short” one 606mm

Please let me know of any suggestions.

Thanks

Simon

'28 roadster.

On Tuesday we had a fund raiser for our new men's shed in the form of a sausage sizzle outside Bunnings at Munno Para. It was a financially rewarding effort. It was amazing to see some of the cars that rolled up through the day including a nice sounding 1954 Plymouth Cranbrook, an immaculate orange one tonner and this blue rod.

It's a '28 Model A body with a '32 Model B radiator cowl. The body is all fibreglass. It's very authentic looking. The guards, valance and running boards are all moulded in one piece. I believe the bodies are relatively inexpensive. You could make a great car on a budget. Well, a bit more than my budget.

Giocattolo 2.

Following on from the previous post, Peter G has dug out this article from a 1989 Modern Motor. He has others too, by the way.

Giocattolo

For all of my overseas friends who have emailed me asking what a Giocattolo was, here's a few pics starting with Anthony's white one.

And a couple of others.

Basically they started with a new bare Alfa Sprint body and one of the main ingredients is a 308 cu. in. Holden V8 sitting roughly where the back seat would have been and they go like stink.

Outback Whiskey

This is what Bolwell owners drink in Spain.

I've never heard of it.

Christmas run to Glacier Rock

Just a few photos. Thanks to Ken and Beven.

Holden bias from Jason.

Jason Bright comes up with some funny photos at times. His comment on this one is typical.

"Santa should have known he was never going to make it in a Ford!"

The Noname Clubman.

Remember the scratch built Nissan Clubman from Auburn we featured a while back? Well, the no longer single Rick Dathan has a friend, Jim, who built this.

It's seen here at the Haunted Hills Hillclimb. In Rick's words:-
 He built it all himself from scratch - started with some Lotus 7 photos, adjusted the lines a little and made his own moulds. Made his own chassis, suspension, etc.

Electronic Stability Control.

This advertisement from VicRoads turned up in The Advertiser today.

Does this have repercussions on the Victorian Kit Car industry?

A lap or two of Mallala in the Dream Machine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wkx5vPyLeM&feature=autofb

Robert Vanderkamps Improved Production XY GT Falcon racing at Mallala raceway with plenty traffic along the way. The secrect of this event is consistant lap times & to not go under 1.20 or you get sent home packing. Car laps in at 1.17 so detune the engine a bit & have a bit of good old fashion FUN!


And a couple of photos from DG on Officials Ride Day.

Beautiful aren't they? Next to a Stinkin' Hot Nagari or Pantera, what could be a better way to drive around Mallala?

Kapunda - week 17

The mighty P76. This one lives just around the corner. The owners are P76 fanatics and I think this one is the pride of the fleet. 4.4 litres of aluminium V8. You could get lots of horsepower from them. Just ask John McCormack.

Ikara No.1

Talking of Roger, he happened to scan the pages of that particular Ikara article in Sports Car World Quarterly. I, in turn have scanned the scans and put them on a disc for this post and what could be better for a Christmas Day post. Not that I'm biassed or anything.

Roger's Mark 7 roadster.

Just have a look at these pics. It's a photo shoot of Roger and his Mark 7. These are low res. versions for the blog. You ought to see the high resolution ones! You'll be able to see some of these photos in the Unique Cars article when it comes out on January 11th.

If you're wondering what that is above that big speedo, it's a map of Kangaroo Island.

Kapunda - week 16

The Ullrich Jensen, a potential front runner in tarmac rallies. Yesterday I was sitting in a meeting at the Council Chambers and guess what went past. On the back of a truck, going down the main street was one of these or the model before with a similar body, unrestored and in undercoat grey. Being in a meeting I couldn't rush outside and get a photo or see which way it went. I wonder if it was just passing through.

Which Nagari?

I've had this press photograph for about 40 years I reckon.

I have no recollection of where it came from. It's 10 x 6 and looks very much like photographs I have had for various things from one of the Murdoch papers like The Advertiser or The Age,  The Age most probably. Unless it came from a regional newspaper after an Easter I hadn't been to. Does anybody recognise the car or the lady in the passenger seat?

From Scotland.

This week I heard from Jim Smith. About 30 years ago he designed and built a nice little VW based kit car in Adelaide. Not long after, his circumstances took him back to Scotland, his birthplace, where he set up a composites business and manufactured once again, his own limited edition kit cars, finally moving on to consulting on and manufacturing Formula 1 components and aeroplane parts. In the early 80s Jim became inspired by our black Ikara, B9/001. He really loved the concept to the extent that we set about arranging a licencing arrangement for him to build such a car in Scotland. This came to an abrupt halt when the Ikara jigs and moulds suddenly disappeared to a wharf shed in Athens. So keen was Jim that he went to Greece in a vain search for them. Anyway, moving up to the present, Jim is now working on his own, making exotic audio speakers and art furniture after 25 years in his own much larger business. All this time he has maintained his interest in kit cars owning a number of them including a GTM Libre. Presently his car is an A M Imola, a 2 litre mid engined car powered by the Opel C20XE. Mildly tuned, it is getting 0-60mph in under 5 seconds. Here's a few pictures of Jim's Imola.

Eric Bana's coupe is alive again

....and looking good.