Avenga's 1975 Avenger

[avenga]

Another update.

Spent the day down at Bygone Autos polishing all the chrome. Pretty happy with the results.

Tailpipe before



After cleaning with wet aluminium foil



After polishing with Autosol



Back bumper before



After



Front quarter bumper



Grille and badge (need to repaint it)



Started to hide the loom under the fender.

[avenga]

Another quick update.

Brand new Diesel Alternator and custom made bracket, this will provide vacuum for my brakes, I found since I switched to the side draft dellortos I had weak breaking because it only ran off one runner. This should give me better vacuum and augment my 4 pot volvo/BMW brake setup





Brakes are all plumbed up now with new hoses



Engine and gearbox are back in, still heaps more to do.

[avenga]

Hi Guys.

Another update. Went down to Bygone today to continue work on getting Avenger ready. Today I polished all the rubber hoses and got the front and rear windows cleaned up and ready to go back in, removed the old rubbers, removed the old purple tint and scrapped off all the old silicon etc.

Other progress Bygone has made are the wiring is almost finished, they have also put in an oil return feed for the Alternator in the sump. They have also finished off the custom alternator bracket. They also welded up my broken seat.

Engine bay is starting to come together nicely.





Alternator bracket all finished.



Oil return feed for the Alternator



My seat repaired waiting to have the old skin put back on.



It looks like someone modified my seats from a set of standard Avenger seats. You can see they just welded a hoop on the top of a standard Avenger seat. They looks factory with the skin on, so I wonder if they were done by the dealer.

[avenga]

Hi guys, another update.

New Dashboard and cluster is installed



Still need to make up a center panel under the heater





Custom catch cans are finished





moved the vent on the rocker, I will probably be chrome plating the rocker cover.



Hidden radiator fan controller

[avenga]

Another quick update.

Engine is pretty much all ready to go now. Also the rear parcel tray etc is finished and installed.

[avenga]

Another update.

The race is on to get my Avenger ready for my big trip down to the South Island for MoPars in Gore. So much stuff still to do and only 3 weeks left before I leave.

Finished off some of the last bits in the engine bay.

Custom made strut brace, modified from a BMW 318i.







A little bonnet support for when I have my fibreglass bonnet open.



Windows are back in.



Rear window with new parcel tray and C pillar cards.

[avenga]

I reached a huge milestone yesterday. I brought my Avenger home, first time in over a year. I got my WoF Rego and cert yesterday so it is all road legal and back driving.

We reset the new odo so we are starting back at 0km, I have put about 50km on the clock so far.

Other news, got the stereo etc running, we mounted it in the glovebox so it is hidden. I will upload some photos of that later.

We had to lift the back a bit because it was rubbing but I will see if GT can take some more out of the guard then we will drop it back down.

She drives really well with the new rubber and suspension mods. I have only done some road town driving but I plan to fang it over the weekend to sort out any bugs.

With only just over a week to go before I go down to the South Island for MoPars in Gore. Still got a big list of things I want to do before I go. I have the tints going in on Tuesday, then I have just ordered a quick shift kit for the 5 speed sierra box so I have to install that before I go.

here are some pictures, I gave her her first wash since being painted, so shiny and pretty.



I love the way the wheels catch the light, I have some black wheel nuts for them which should look sweet.





heaps of mods listed on the cert plate.

[avenga]

A quick final update before my big road trip down to MoPars in Gore.

It has been a busy week getting everything finished in time, but I can finally say my car is finished (well as finished as a classic car can be, I bet I will be doing more crazy mods to it when I get back). I got the tint done by Car Folie, I went for their top of the line 3M tint. I also picked up the last bit of upholstery for Grant's Auto Upholstery. Just had enough time to get some 3M stoneguard applied so I don't get any stone chips on the way down. The signwritter came over to my place to do the stoneguard and didn't finish till 7:30pm (poor guy but super stoked that he could do it before I leave).

I also got a short shift gear lever installed on my Sierra gearbox, the gears are ridiculously close together now, it feels so racecar to drive now.

Spent today washing and polishing the Avenger, got 1 day left to pack then I leave on Tuesday, can't wait.



Finished my custom badges. I have named my Avenger as an "Avenger Panther". I figured it was no longer the "Avenger Super" it started out life as, and it is not an "Avenger Tiger" Replica. I decided to keep with the Tiger theme and create the worlds only "Avenger Panther". Had the Avenger Panther badges watercut out of 3mm stainless.





Polished up the strut brace. Came out really well.





The stereo is hidden in the glovebox.



New center console and clock.

[avenga]

Sorry for that lack of updates.

She is all finished and back up on the road so I have been doing tons of driving. Drove down to the bottom of the South Island for MoPars in Gore, then Turangi for the NZ MoPar Forum casual. I did around 5,000km in 3 weeks, she didn't skip a beat.

In other news, I took it out to the Dyno today out at West Auckland Engine Reconditioners. 86.8HP @ 6100RPM and 82.8lb-ft @ 5200RPM. Not bad for a little 1500.

Anyway here are some photos from my trips and a video of the dyno run





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=984EqYJx0Uw

[avenga]

Hi guys.

It's been a long time between updates. Been out heaps enjoying the Avenger.

I have just been working on one of the final mods which will be ready in time for my annual trip down to the South Island.

As the Avenger has a pretty tiny tank, I figured it would be nice to make a bigger tank to put in the boot.

Here are some CAD shots of the design. It works out to just over 75L before we put in the fuel cell foam.



And here is it once it has been fabricated. It sits on a custom built frame and also has a sump and pick on the bottom.

[avenga]

The big tank is all installed and ready to rock.



Breather and sender etc



Sump and fuel line



Fuel Safe filler (It says Racing on it so that adds at least 5hp)





Fuel gauge is mounted in the glovebox below the stereo.

[avenga]

A bit of bad news.

On the way back from the South Island the engine in the Avenger went boom.

I was hoping it was just a blown head gasket but after we got the head off we found that it had melted one of the pistons.

Looks like one of the carbs got blocked then the engine ran lean. I had this same thing happen to my race car down the back straight at Pukekohe.

I need to replace the pistons and rings etc, clean up the bore and get rid of all the melted piston. after that I need to crack test the block and rebuild the rest of the engine.

It will be out of action until after xmas.

[avenga]

Finally got my Avenger back on the road after rebuilding the engine.

Just fitted a new Avenger Auto triple core radiator and a new throttle cable setup.

[avenga]

Hey guys.

I am going on a 15 day track-day tour of all of the race tracks in the South Island of New Zealand in my Avenger. I used to race back in the day so I have raced at most of the North Island tracks but I have never been to any of the South Island tracks.

We are starting the trip by meeting at Hampton Downs race track. We aren't doing a track day of this track as part of the tour, but this is my local track so I have raced there before.



After that we drive down the North Island and catch the ferry across to the South Island. We are then driving all the way down the west coast, stopping off at the glaciers and the Milford Sound, then to the very bottom of the South Island for our first track day at Teretonga Park, in Invercargill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teretonga_Park



After that we head up to our second track day at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell. This is New Zealand's newest track and it is massive, 4.1km with 22 corners. It was designed by drawing inspiration from some of the world's most famous race tracks, so it is really varied. I have wanted to race here ever since it was built.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlands_Motorsport_Park



Our third track day is at Timaru International Motor Raceway (A.K.A Levels Raceway) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timaru_International_Motor_Raceway



And then our final track day is at Mike Pero Motorsport Park (A.K.A Ruapuna Speedway) in Christchurch. It a bit of a tricky track because you need to brake for Flexopass corner while you are going around that bend on the straight

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Pero_Motorsport_Park



After that we are cruising back up to the ferry then back up the North Island.

It really is a once in a lifetime trip. This will be my 6th time driving my old classic cars down to the South Island but it will be my first time on any of the tracks down there is I am really looking forward to some real world racing.

Here is a full itinerary and maps of the trip

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1465052036955297.1073741835.424707237656454&type=3

As practise I downloaded all the tracks in Assetto Corsa and I have been practising in a Ford Escort in VR, which is the closest I can get to my Avenger.

If any of you guys live at any of our overnight stays then give me a yell and we can catch up

[avenga]

Some videos from day 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dqP4AsVrRM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P2-bSjpyu0