Carmad Jr’s Rare Vauxhall Viva Ha SL

[carmad.]

So as most off you know i am a big Vauxhall nut and unfortunately it has rubbed off carmad jr .

in April 2012 i got a tip from the vauxhall viva owners club that someone had contacted them about a ha viva in a barn .

The owners club contacted me and said if i wanted to go down and look at it fair enough . But if i didn’t want it the club was happy to buy it as spares .

So before i knew @southsky sunrise i used to load the trailer up on the back off the Zafira vxr and head off to see what i could find .

So i contacted the guy who lived in Lower lough erne he gave me his details and off we went . He actually didn’t have an address just a post code .

so as soon as we saw it paid cash / stuck it on the trailer .

So dragged it home and started the process to see if we could get it started / turning over

but unfortunately the engine was seized

so after a bit off head scratching i decided to stick a red top in it

and there it’s sat until

 

[carmad.]

Until this little guy took interest in it

so we stripped it and he genuinely got stuck in

so here he is taking the under seal off

and unfortunately he got bored and got and xbox

and i lost my shed / storage and there it sat until recently when @southsky sunrise lifted it and moved to new digs

 

[carmad.]

and all off a sudden he started to take an interest in it again after 10 years

so i hope to keep this thread updated as we go i applied for the v5 ect and the viva owners club has told me there is only 5 off these viva ha sl left in the uk

 

[althebass]

Unreal Rory! What a great Dad you are giving him the memories and passing on the knowledge to him.

 

[MarkM]

Great to see him getting stuck in, kids in the future will no nothing about cars!

 

[southsky sunrise]

He”ll still want the redtop back in tho

 

[carmad.]

He”ll still want the redtop back in tho

mate i am gonna go down the road off a mk5 astra 1.6 16v engine if i can figure out the wiring

tho i do have a lot off corsa vxr bits and can do a corsa vxr engine on it very easy
but i think it will be sharp enough with a 1.6 in it for now

 

[carmad.]

quick vid off Carmad jr drilling spot welds out for a small section off replacement chassis

by the way this isn’t child labour as it was recently flagged on u tube

 

[gary1365]

It’s only child labour if you pay em

 

[dh1079]

Great project, I’ve constantly tried to get my wee man to show an interest in cars etc but unless it’s on switch or ps he doesn’t want to know (I wonder if he is mine lol )

 

[southsky sunrise]

My sons just a cunit

 

[fj1200aa]

So many leagues of right - needs a b234 wedged in it to be proper right!!!!

 

[carmad.]

So many leagues of right - needs a b234 wedged in it to be proper right!!!!

i would love to do that and if it was for me yes

but it’s his car and it’s gonna be a hand full with a 1.6 (115/130bhp) in some thing that weighs 1/2 a tonne

as his first car ( even tho he will prob get a corsa or something ) this will be a hand full

nothing like my van or my old supercharged ha but as a parent i was thinking 3 cylinder 1 litre lol

 

[Boydie]

No word of a lie, when I read the title I was expecting this

Pleasantly surprised

 

[chrisdromore]

Amazing fair play to you

 

[carmad.]

So Christmas Eve and the Mrs is out shopping and generally pulling her hair out so we disappeared to the shed lol.

Since carmad jr has started to show some interest we decided to get stuck in to a few welding patches that need sorted before we put the engine in .

left and right same problem

and a volunteer with some red lead later

and then he even started getting brave

he actually did a good job

so home time and shower / clean trunks for santa coming

 

[carmad.]

hmmmm looks fecking bigger than a red top

well it’s in

 

[FM155]

That's class Rory, great to see the young lad taking an interest.
Mine tried to but he got pissed off with me stopping him to show him how to do things. He made a decent co-driver on the rallies but kept falling asleep on the road sections lol. He's not a lost cause yet though hopefully.

 

[carmad.]

That's class Rory, great to see the young lad taking an interest.
Mine tried to but he got pissed off with me stopping him to show him how to do things. He made a decent co-driver on the rallies but kept falling asleep on the road sections lol. He's not a lost cause yet though hopefully.

mate i am up tomorrow for a few hours if ya wanna call round

 

[FM155]

Maybe will if I get time, be good to get a nosey lol.

 

[carmad.]

Well we are still doing a bit while we are off work/school for christmas

years ago when i was thinking off redtoping this wee car i had an vauxhall omega gear box bolted to a red top and actually had it in the hole . But i really had to cut the tunnel to fit it and the gearbox was that big i wasn’t happy with it and to be honest i think that’s why the project stalled the first time . So i bought a manta gearbox which is a lot smaller and fits the tunnel with about a two inch rise on the tunnel and since it was already cut all we had to do was tidy it up

more work in this than you think

so we also extended the viva gearbox mount to accept the manta gear box

i also had to fix a big section of chassis leg to hang the gearbox mount

time for a beer

 

[FM155]

Nice work Rory and Jr.

 

[Chris0]

And here I am worried about taking a grinder to a spare wing in case I completely f### it.

That is going to be some car for your wee man to kart about in!

 

[Big Pimp]

This is class.

id love to be able to do something like this.

im going to strip my trx 350 quad down and clean it up and I’m already crapping myself and that’s not even a full engine overhaul - it’ll be the carb at most, lol

 

[carmad.]

And here I am worried about taking a grinder to a spare wing in case I completely f### it.

That is going to be some car for your wee man to kart about in!

get stuck in it’s the only way to learn

This is class.

id love to be able to do something like this.

im going to strip my trx 350 quad down and clean it up and I’m already crapping myself and that’s not even a full engine overhaul - it’ll be the carb at most, lol

i always found one small project at a time and you will eventually get it done people tend to panic and over whelm themselves