Carmad Jr’s Rare Vauxhall Viva Ha SL

[carmad.]

we are back in the shed today I think wee rory’s xbox days are numbered

he actually did a really good job it might be a while before he is lying under a car yet lol

just some small patches and now the floors are finished

flat out with the hoover

then on to the red lead primer

and now it’s all one colour you can see how good the floors are for a 1965 car

so we will let the paint dry for two / three days Time for a beer and a shower lol

 

[natogreen16v]

Good man teaching him the skills. Great to see the next generation coming through

 

[carmad.]

Good man teaching him the skills. Great to see the next generation coming through

i wanna teach him as much as i can better than him sitting on an xbox or up an alley drinking

 

[natogreen16v]

i wanna teach him as much as i can better than him sitting on an xbox or up an alley drinking

100% best attitude

 

[carmad.]

so just bought this as a surprise for him and i think it will be a good replacement for the standard down pipe / catalytic converter

i need this before i make engine mounts as this engine is surposed to be front wheel drive and the sub frame might be in the way

but the time it would take me to make this

 

[Darragh]

He has more skill than me lol

 

[Boksic]

Aye he's already a better welder than me. I have a wee car he can put a patch in if he's looking some lunch money for when he's back to school

 

[FM155]

Class Rory, good to see him getting stuck in.

 

[BrookST]

Great stuff, good read so far, keep er lit

 

[Ruairi83]

This is absolutely class! Fair play as this is memories your son will never forget!!! My uncle taught every thing about cars!!!

Best thing I ever heard him Say was “ have t did a clutch and flywheel in one of them before” no ****s given but did it like a champ!! Old school

 

[svensktoppen]

Definitely more skill than me too, lol

Great stuff!

 

[Apis]

That paint your boy child is using in 2021... Im sure you mean it's red oxide and not red lead, lol.

 

[carmad.]

That paint your boy child is using in 2021... Im sure you mean it's red oxide and not red lead, lol.

who said i bought it in 2021??

i have had it years

 

[southsky sunrise]

#healthnsafetyoutthewindow

 

[carmad.]

#healthnsafetyoutthewindow

ya don’t get nothing done sitting looking at it

and he was well warned i don’t wanna be taking him to the hospital never mind listening to his mother and he has been on building sites from he was no age

when i was his age i thought i was evel knievel on a bmx ffs

 

[gary1365]

Was it was the mid 2000s before they stopped selling red lead.

 

[carmad.]

So i dunno how much more we are gonna get done before we are back at work/school

started today getting the cut down opel manta axel that wee Rory has painted mated up with the original viva leaf springs

then slid it under the car and got it up in to postition

so then we got the torque tube on and now we can start fabricating the torque tube to chassis mounts

so prop shaft measured and i will have to get one made by the looks off it

next up was the lower front subframe / sump problems . So we removed the sump and after we cleaned up all the split oil we started to look at a previous attempt at making a winged type sump similar to a mk1/2 escort or a manta

bit off head scratching to do with this one

so we stuck the new shocks in and an unmodified half shaft

and you can see how much wider a manta axel is than a wee viva ha

 

[martybelfastsri]

cracking on rightly now !

 

[carmad.]

cracking on rightly now !

still a fair bit to go yet

 

[carmad.]

ok so i have a bit off explaining to do and i dunno if any off you guys are wondering how i did this

so i wanted a opel manta axel under the viva but using the original mounting points so if i ever got pulled for it it falls under that stupid points thing for sva

so 10 years ago i cut 3 inches out off each side off the manta axel

welded the axel tubes back together and cut the mounting brackets off the viva axel happy days but this the left me the problem off the half shafts they are now 3 inches too long to go in to the axel and they have a long taper

so i went to a local engineering company (od cars) and got them to turn down the taper only 3 inches back

so then i cut the splined end off that fits inside the planet gears in the diff

i couldn’t get any one to respline the half shafts any where a short time with a steady hand and here you can see the three stages off axel modification ( i have loads off shafts so if this goes tits up i’ll have to find some one else to do it )

 

[carmad.]

So now i can fit the half shafts for the first time in ten years

which leads on to cleaning up the rear drum back plates

and test fitting the rostyle wheels which are totally wrong for this viva and will really annoy viva anoraks lol

and for the final inspection ( i get an inspector seb vettel feeling of him some times ) he is over the moon but gutted he has school tomorrow and i am back to work

 

[svensktoppen]

Anything that annoys anoraks is a good thing

 

[natogreen16v]

Has the Viva a chassis or is it a monocoque?

 

[carmad.]

Has the Viva a chassis or is it a monocoque?

it’s a monocoque mate which makes this stuff more fun lol

 

[natogreen16v]

it’s a monocoque mate which makes this stuff more fun lol

Oh I know the feeling with the VW stuff. Just when you mentioned about the points for sva. I think now it has to have an untouched monocoque to meet the requirements so cut away if you're gona cut anything lol