Is my wagon a wagon?

I forget his name, but he's one of my favorite character actors.

 

You mean, from the movie, "Breaking Bad"?

 

He's done a lot of other things also. Jonathan Banks is his name.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0052186/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t9

 

All parts and tools are in. I've decided to break down and order a proper spring compressor, instead of tearing into moving cartons, in order to look for my home-made ones. After having compressed the spring, I still couldn't get a grip on the shaft, since it was hardened and polished. Getting the nut to unscrew requires a, what looks like, a half moon socket. So, I started cutting away at the strut's spring dish



I, then, had to cut off the strut's mounting end, so that the spring could exit the strut altogether



My compressor was bought with a blown regulator. So, I can't sand blast with it. Spending time filing and sanding, this is the result. There aren't the usual bearings, on these. Instead, they use plastic bushings with rubber seals. Which would last forever, if the car was to only be driven in a showroom. The two at the upper right are the new replacements. The friction surfaces themselves are quite pitted. But, will have to do, for now. Once I get the car titled, I can then do what I want, at leisure. The proper grease for these would either be silicone- or teflon-based. If I can't find any today, I'll end up using that black grease they use for c.v. joints

 

I had to grind both sides of the shaft, so that I could hold it in a vise, for unscrewing the tower nut



I used a quality paint, to cover these parts. I didn't have a matching color. But, it doesen't matter, because the parts won't be seen anyway



I then mounted the plastic, using silicone grease and used the shaft for holding the new plastic into place, so that I could trace the seal using a cd marker. I then scraped off the paint from the friction area, so that I could get bare metal. I left the paint under the seal, so that rust couldn't develop

 

It's assembly time. I took the trouble of filing and sanding the springs. I'm debating painting them. I don't know if it's required or even a good idea. The plastic covering which was on there already has done more harm than good. Because, once the plastic tears, salt gets in there and doesen't get back out, without thorough power washing, resulting in massive scaling. I just hope that the thinner areas aren't prone to breaking before I get the title



This is the silicone grease used. If jmt455 is still having trouble with his windshield gasket, he might give this stuff a try. It doesen't dry off quick like spray does

 

Uncovered, the springs will rust anyway. Spray them with a rust conversion primer, then a good, durable paint.

 

That'll have to wait, since the struts are already in. I'm thinking, an acrylic-based paint which will stay flexible and not get brittle, since the paint has to contort to the flexing of the springs. The car's going into the shop, either today or tomorrow morning. In any case, no winter driving is planned. Meaning no salt damage

 

The car went in for welding and inspection certification, a couple weeks ago. Before driving it in, I adjusted the valves cold, despite the manufacturer's specs calling for warmed engine adjustment. I didn't want to spend any more time with fine adjustments of which I could do at my leisure later on. The loud tapping noise was getting on my nerves, since the valves should have been adjusted at 40,000 kilometer intervals. The car has over 116,000. So, it's hard to say when it was last performed. So, I browsed my old Chilton Foreign Car manual, to get an idea of how much tolerance I should use for the cold adjustment. I browsed through, eliminating reference from completely different valve trains such as the thimble tappet type used by Fiat and Volkswagen and the underhead cam Renaults. Strangely enough, my official Daihatsu pdf doesen't mention any initial cold adjustments after rebuilding. I ended up using specifications from a 1975 Honda Civic non-CVCC. After having converted inches into millimeters, I was left with the only selectins offered on my Hazet feeler guage. After having started it up afterwards, it sounded good and perfectly normal. Which is not to say that I won't adjust the valves warm.
Incidently, the basic version of my car was sold in North America as the Miles Electric:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Electric_Vehicles#Current_models

 

Earlier in this thread As it pertains to the conversation about the Daihatsu “move” it seemed the consensus was it was some sort of people mover. I’m taking the Charlton Heston stance that you are going to have to pry my big ‘70s Mercury out of my cold dead hands. I guess these could be wagons? Sadly with the taxes big oil provides in this country along with tabaco our government will continue to talk out of both sides of their mouths. It will be interesting 40 years down the road to read about the Miles Estate, or the Daihastu Squire in the same loving terms as we talk about our Buick’s and Ford’s.

 

We’ll never be reading about those, not now, not 40 years from now

 

I sort of rebuilt the original fog light and then attached it to my three wheeler. I started off with an aluminum pan, for restoring its ability to reflect

https://www.ape-fans.de/viewtopic.php?f=138&t=16485&start=90



I then glued it onto the lamp, after having replaced the socket





I used the lamp's original mounting holes, in order to screw on rubber blocks. Silicone was added to stabilize the lamp, since there wasn't any feasable way to add a third block. A later modification is still possible. But, not now



Soldering on the ground wire



Finally mounted and awaiting taillight re-installation

 

What Jerks! Why are they now hiding their forum? Try to link in here: https://www.ape-fans.de/viewtopic.php?f=138&t=16485&start=90

Here are the images they don't want you to view. This is what the Daihatsu foglamp looked like. It was a miracle that it even functioned:



In order to refurbish it, I grabbed hold of an aluminum tray where once some oven breaded fish filet was npackaged in there. This was to get used as a reflector:



I, then, worked it into shape and then glued it onto the unit



Then came the bulb socket of which I had mounted it in the middle and glued it in also



To prolong bulb life, because of this engine's tendency to vibrate, I mounted the unit in rubber buffers. They were so soft that I had to temporarilly reinforce the unit with a silicone bead, until I can come up with proper mounting, later on



Soldering on the ground wire



I had plenty more room on the righthand side of the vehicle. But, the law requires these lamps to be mounted left. In countries where they drive on the left side, these lights are mounted right



An operational warning light has been mounted opposite of all switches



It seems to be lighting up satisfactorilly

 

Edit:

That's roll bar

It's been Bondoed...

 

The welding's done. I was wondering, because it was outdoors, for a couple weeks. I had left them an e-mail adress and my cellphone number. They somehow didn't look up my e-mail adress and the secretary (I think, it's the owner's mother or she might even be the owner) said that she tried telephoning several times. Last week, I got a message on the cellphone that they attempted calling but didn't leave a message. By then, the eligibility for the first inspection recognition ran out. When I was there, I asked what happened. He said that they couldn't conduct an inspection without all seats, belts, trim and carpet put back in. Had they have e-mailed me or alerted my cellphone's answering service, I would have installed everything, before the deadline ran out.
Because it was sitting outside, I was hoping that they had it done on time and the vehicle was inspected. I didn't want to go in there all the time, so as not to make them nervous or tick them off like annoying customers do.
So, since they're going over it again, the next inspector might notice other faults of which the previous one overlooked. Luckily, I had removed the disattached rubber blocks they had bolted onto the rear control arms which have become unglued, when I had the rear of the car jacked up for replacing the shock absorbers. The loose blocks were imprisoned within the springs. When I bring my seats, trim and whatever back, I'll have these modified blocks with me. I won't glue them back to the rusty plates. instead, I'll remove and discard the plates. In their place, I'll bolt the modified blocks directly onto the swing arms. I ended up drilling them through, using an 8 mm drill bit and then drilling them again with a 12 mm bit, only so far as to allow the allen bolt enough material, so that it shouldn't slip through. Of course, I lubricated the bit and bolt with that same silicone grease of which I used on the strut bushings, since rubber doesen't take kindly to drilling, in the first place. This is how they now look