1980 Marina 575 Van

[Kilroy]

I bought a rather clean Marina 575 van which popped up on Trademe NZ.

[Kilroy]

8.42pm.

Leaving at 0645am tomorrow to retrieve the van.

Airline rules mean I am not allowed to carry any tools in my carry-on luggage.

Not even a swiss army knife.

It remains to be seen how this pans out...

Lol.

[balmy]

Good luck Kilroy. Certainly sounds interesting. Look forward to hearing how it all pans out

[MarinaCoupe]

How are you getting the car home, hand luggage?


Chris
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[stu1980]

a bit of luck there the van looks mint

[locost_bryan]

Nice van indeed.

Presume the race car was John Gobbes?

Interesting that there is another blue racing coupe from Chch for sale on Trademe, but a rhd 1750 ohc this time.

Shame I'm having to mind the pennies while I try to find another job....

[Chicken Hawk]

The radiator in the blue coupe looks big.....do you know if it was especially made?

[hamish575]

Good luck Kilroy, yet another van being brought into Christchurch.
Just have a small exhaust leak to remedy before she's fit for the road, you wouldn't know anyone would you?

[Kilroy]

General replies.

The other blue coupe was John Gobbes original race car. It is being sold by the guy I sold the choc bomb to.
The choc bomb is actually the white saloon currently on Trademe - except in the engine bay...

Yes - the radiator was specially made.
It seems unlikely it will fit into the engine bay with the V8 - so it may come my way with the race engine..

The exhaust guy you want Hamish - is Safe-R-Exhausts in Wordsworth Street.
Very nice chap who uses gas instead of a monster 3 phase welder with a direct line to Benmore Hydro - so he can mend holes without making bigger holes.

Well.
Flew up to Napier just escaping some very nasty weather which descended on Christchurch minutes later.
In the flesh, the van was a bit patchy with evidence of some ropey body repairs - but only in small areas.
It had a brand new screen rubber - can't wait to find out where they got it.
Sheepskin seat covers and some decent carpet were a nice touch, and the heater worked.
The lad who owned it had put a full tank of gas in it, and gave me a spare pair of rear doors, plus a pair of front Mk3 doors.
It seemed to have a leaking flange in the exhaust, but otherwise fired up and drove happily.
Loud whine from the diff, and loud clunks from both sides of the front suspension - suspect radius rod bushes are shot.
Handbrake did not work - despite pulling it very hard and some distance.
Makes you wonder how these things get a wof..?

However - it drove well otherwise, and all the electrics worked - so nothing for it but to hit the road.
Weather had now crashed seriously in the north island as well - major flooding and a bridge out on State Highway 1.
We headed down SH50 - an alternative route to SH2 - until we hit the main highway just out of Norsewood.
Headed east from Norsewood until hitting the old Route 52 which allowed us to avoid the main highway all the way to Masterton.
Steady to heavy rain all the way - much surface flooding but no roads out.
Lots of smiles and waves from farmers as they spotted the van.
Stopped for some refreshments in Masterton and got the big handshake from a Bro who was highly in favour of the van - especially the sunvisor.
I later discovered that one of the mounting screws for said sunvisor had gone right through the roof..!!

Made it to Wellington by 7.45pm and stayed overnight in a downtown hotel.
Up early for the 10 minute drive to the Bluebridge Ferry - only $226 for the van and us - good value that.
Arrived in the South Island around midday and an easy drive to Blenheim for lunch with friends - with champagne cocktails - lasted until 4.30pm.
Back on the road with fresh gas, and I noticed in daylight that long downhill runs with the foot off gave rise to voluminous smoke - so I stopped taking my foot off.
Stopped at Kaikoura and had to add 1 litre of oil. Good thing I don't need this engine. Gearbox is displaying all the signs of worn out synchros - but the lever action has virtually no resistance - so it is in fact broken springs inside the 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th sleeves. No probs - don't need the gearbox either. Or the whining diff...

Made it home by 9.30pm. Oil light had begun to flicker when stopped at intersections - figured it was down to a critical level.
Normally this trip would be 750Km - but our back roading made it more like 800Km.
Probably used 13 gallons of gas for a very commendable 61Km/gallon - although we were only cruising at 80Kph.

I identified quite a few items while driving that will need sorting - although I would always work through these areas with any Marina I acquired anyway.
Radius rod bushes.
Rear brakes.
Various small body repairs.
Drivers door has had its hinges repaired but is now not aligned correctly.
Sunvisor mounting.
Indicator self-cancelling - 1 gets you 10 the nylon sleeve is 180 degrees out.
Exhaust leak.
Front suspension general check and adjustment.
Door seal air leaks which are counter-productive to cabin heating - rather critical considering we are expecting several -5 degree C days with this weird weather.
Rear door seals are stuffed allowing exhaust gases to be drawn in.
Max cruising speed of 80Kph needs adjusting to about 120Kph.
Acceleration figures which are currently measured on a calendar need adjusting to seconds.
Ride height needs addressing inasmuch as it seems you could park the Eiffel Tower underneath it.
Exhaust sounds like a muffled whale fart - needs heaps more testosterone.
Sunvisor is tops.
Need roof-racks for attaching impulse bought commodities that are too big to carry internally.
Bonnet needs painting matte black (or semi-gloss..) for that racer look.
Some mods to front mudguards required for clearance with 7" Superlite alloys.
Several hundred horsepower needed to propel me in the manner to which I would like to become accustomed.

That will do for now.
Stay tuned.
Cheers, Kilroy

[SLOW ITAL]

Wow that sounds Epic.......
& i worry about driving a couple of hundred miles in the UK.....
Nice job...
Gil

[Kilroy]

Cheers Gil.

Slow.. but rough..

[hamish575]

Sounds like an awesome trip. And dam that sun visor looks awesome, I've always wanted one, so jealous!
There has been a lot of marina van on trade me lately, I wonder why they are being sold.

[PHUQ]

Missed this one... you are completely loopy Kilroy, you do know that don't you

It's brilliant

[Kilroy]

Hohoho...

Got the race car to Zeb's garage - ready for Part II.
This entire body has been paint-dipped...




Will hopefully drop engine/gearbox/propshaft out this Saturday and see where we go next.

This is all so cool.

[PHUQ]

I need a set of those wheels in my life.

On a van. Painted in A team colours