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A New Zealander living in Japan - a Professor at Faculty of Design Diverse BLOGS from custom car building to Contemporary Modern Dance

Thursday 13 June 2013

FAMILY

There is nothing quite like two capable blokes, brother Grant and brother-in-law Pete, on hand to attend to upgrades and repairs. My visits from Japan get consumed by driving and leaving a “to do list” for Grant and Pete. The work gets done quickly, the garage fridge gets a thorough working over, and I’m smiling here in Japan.

The project was to send the exhaust system off to be powder coated, a new manifold gasket, and replace a broken exhaust mount. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product in August.

manifold muffler off new gasket

Saturday 25 May 2013

BLACK

Slowly I am deleting all the shiny chrome/silver fixtures on the car. The problem being that the options of pure satin black components were at that time difficult to find and slapping on the chrome/silver parts on the car had me driving it well ahead of schedule.

Once the muffler was replaced by the new satin black coby free flow I began to look at the wheels. I had a set of 13 inch wheels in Christchurch and Robert and I dropped then at the powder coaters to make them satin black. The wheels looked stunning and a surprisingly sunny Friday Auckland afternoon allowed me to put them on the car to see what it looked like!

Huge smiles and new tires for the 16 inch wheels and they are off to the powder coaters to become satin black….this will be great! This also meant the small decal on the wheels needed to be redesigned too….black and orange of course!

These little detail projects are simply perfect for a lazy radio listening garage afternoon.

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

Saturday 25 May 2013

CRAWLER

I have always looked for practical solutions, now being chronologically challenged the solutions are becoming more suited. The days of crawling around on cold garage floors no longer hold that appeal it once did…or was that simply youth and financial constraints.

Enter the “orange crawler” that has already clocked up about 10km’s slipping around the garage. It does help with a handy drink container, not much to do and always something to simply sit and ponder.

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

Friday 21 December 2012

BLACK WHEELS

It was inevitable that I would change so much of the original chrome look to a satin black look – not that I’m knocking the old school Lotus 7 look but merely expressing the 21st century look. So the chrome on the wheels simply had to go, and gone it has…..
SONY DSC

SONY DSC

Saturday 16 June 2012

PORSCHE

For the past three years I have been so absorbed with the world of custom built kit cars my 911 sat in the corner of the garage not demanding attention. However this changed during one of my “I’ll just take it around the block drive” which normally means three or four weeks later I take it back to it’s little corner in the garage. The plan was foiled as the exhaust failed the Japanese Shaken test…now this requires a little explanation!

Shaken (車検), a contraction of Jidōsha Kensa Tōrokuseido (自動車検査登録制度”automobile inspection registration system”), is the name of the vehicle inspection program in Japan for motor vehicles over 250 cc in engine displacement.

The Porsche failed on the exhaust, not sure why but I have now accepted no reasons as an answer in Japan and quickly jumped onto my supplier PELICAN PARTS in Los Angeles. Glenn quickly sorted out all I needed and a box of goodies was soon on its way to Japan. A lazy Saturday afternoon at Harry’s Motors was well worth a video of the transformation.
http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/shopcart/911E_catalog.htm

Friday 30 March 2012

UPGRADES

There is nothing more satisfying than tinkering; upgrades certainly qualify as such an activity. Richardson Motors in Auckland is my haven for quality service, not only is Paul a talented mechanic with credible pedigree in the world of motorsport; he is supported by a great team. Time for some engine mount modifications….

An annoying oil leak was traced to the camshaft seal, so with Neesha joining in to ensure it was done by beer time; the leak was a leak no more.
RICHARDSON MOTORS
60 Richardson Road
Mt Albert
09 846 5342
richardsonmotors@xtra.co.nz

Saturday 24 March 2012

GREAT DRIVES: Auckland waterfront.

My daughter Kahli and her friend Cynthia settled into the MACH SR7 and leisurely drove around the iconic Auckland water front. I was the pace car, the Contour GPS HD mounted on the back window we simply enjoyed the entire experience.

Kahli quickly decided she enjoyed the driver’s seat and took me on a series of Auckland Saturday afternoon drives…I think she is addicted!

Here we go again…

Wednesday 21 March 2012

CHRISTCHURCH

There is nothing nicer than the crisp clear air of March in New Zealand, this is especially so of Christchurch. I would not be completely honest, if it was not with a little hesitation that I walked across the car park to meet Robert from McGregor Motorsport…was the ground going to rumble and shake? This feeling quickly settled as Robert said we have a car to collect and take back to the factory.

McGregor Motorsport located in Christchurch, New Zealand specializes in maintaining “historic race cars”. These cars can be seen in the SKOPE CLASSIC event, the largest event of it’s type in New Zealand. More than 250 cars take part in this event and McGregor Motorsport is there to offer support and maintenance

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