The Green Machine

[Avenger1973SR20]

Hey Guys,

Finally decided to make a build thread.

What I've got:
- 1973 hillman avenger with an sr20de and celica gearbox installed. previous owner(s) have blown the original hillman diff by using it as a skid hack. interior is stripped, have racing seats for the front but all else will have to be sourced as and when i need it. body is good condition, with a few bits of rust on the drivers door, front crossmember behind the number plate, front left quarter panel and around the front windscreen. engine runs well, just need to sus out a decent radiator for it that can fit in the engine bay.

list of things I'm planning to do:
- replace hillman diff with a hilux diff
- wire buff most of the car in segments so i don't find any hidden surprises later on
- coat the underside with a protective coating to prevent rust and damage (any suggestions welcome)
- get all rust repaired
- strengthen original parts (suspension etc) to suit the new engine
- reinstate the interior & sort out dash
- give it a respray (the Kawasaki green is kind of growing on me)
- find all missing accessories (lights, indicators, badges etc.
- fix the rear wing (this one is average and is riveted on poorly)

so i have a lot of work ahead of me to get this beast to where i want it, so any help and suggestions are very welcome!
I hope you guys enjoy the progress i make on her, it's good to see the community helping out and actually taking interest in others projects.

cheers,
Adam

[avenga]

Nice work.

The SR20DE is becoming a popular engine swap for Avengers now days.

[Avenger1973SR20]

Hey guys, am starting to look at getting rims and tires. 6 stud hilux as a starting point. anyone got any suggestions?

[Avenger1973SR20]

Finally making some progress. Anyone like the Mad Max look?

picked up some 16" Hilux rims cheap off trademe, just to get a gauge on what sort of offset i'll need. currently no offset, but I'm going to look for +13 or +25mm rims so I definitely clear the guards.

Picked up a 1975 auto Avenger with full (quite a nice blue) interior for $800, since mine was stripped when I bought it. just need to transfer it into the green one when all the body and engine work is complete (obviously a bit of work needed on the gearbox section but should be sweet.

Got a friend to make me some temporary steel bushes so I can make a jig for the 4link suspension addition to my hilux diff housing, so that's going to be my mission until the next check in.

As always, if you have any suggestions, send them through

[JoKer]

whoa interesting, dont scrap the box please

[Avenger1973SR20]

Will probably be parting the Auto out once im done with it, so should have some good bits up for sale

[avenga]

whoa interesting, dont scrap the box please

Yeah, those Auto gearboxes are really rare, plus we use the Auto bellhousings for the Sierra 5 speed conversions.

[JoKer]

yea I should never need another bell housing

[Avenger1973SR20]

Starting to make some progress

[Avenger1973SR20]

Spent most of the last few weekends working on the car. my flatmate managed to finish the Hilux Diff conversion, and it came out a lot better than he expected. very minimal lateral movement, only about 2mm off centre and the shock/4 link mounts are very sturdy. got some 6 stud wheels for it, which I think suit it quite well.

we decided to tackle the rust. front quarter panels, the front valence and cross member, doors, bonnet and boot. all rotten. luckily the doors on the parts car are immaculate, so just a matter of swapping over. the bonnet & boot outer skins on the parts car are in better condition, although a fair bit of rust repair will be needed.
On the front valence (as shown in the picture above) we wire buffed it and just kept going. all we could salvage is what you can see, the rest was just rusted right through. it seemed like there was 2 previous attempts at managing this rust, but they just sandwiched the steel which made it all the worse. not sure how we're going to tackle this just yet.