Carpet install

Every recent post seems to be 'a couple more things and we'll be done', which never ends up being the case.

The carpet arrived, here's a review.

Rear: The rear was pretty much a perfect fit. The moulding lined up exactly with the tunnel and finished an inch in front of the seam between the front and rear floor. Just enough overhang to provide a clean fit along the sides, I trimmed about 2 inches off each side. 9.5/10 for fit

Front: Front was a reasonably good fit, I've done maybe 5 carpets before from various manufacturers and not one has ever been a snug perfect fit over the trans hump area.It'll settle down a bit and it is cold out in the shed these evenings, so with some good warmth I think it'll be a little more pliable and fit a little more snugly. A fair amount needs to be trimmed from the sides, about 3 inches. Some issues with lining up the dips to clear the steering column. This doesn't line up exactly, but it's pretty close. The carpet doesn't quite reach the factory velcro on the firewall so I'll have to remove that, but it does covers all of the factory underfelt. It did foul on the air box in the centre and has no provision for the accelerator mount like the factory one did. I just unbolted the accelerator mount and rebolted it over the top. Probably about a 7/10 for fit for the front section.

Issues: I ordered loop charcoal, but it's several shades lighter than the factory charcoal. However nowhere as bright as the photos show, that's just poor camera lighting causing that.

There's simply not enough offcuts large enough to cover the outer seat mounts as shown in the last picture. I'm not sure if earlier models have them but they have strips of carpet glued directly to them. I'll have to clean these as well as possible. The only part of those visible is between the seat edge and the doorjam. 

There is, of course, no press studs in the carpet that would attach to the ones in the floor, but I didn't really expect that.

The fouling on the airbox and the not quite right lining up under the dash, was slightly irksome, but I wonder if that's from changes of the models over the years. Perhaps the original mould was taken from a '65 and the '70 has some differences? Not sure...
All up maybe 7.5/10

Final bits...

Not much left to do on the Corona now. Yesterday I gave it a thorough scrub inside, it hasn't been cleaned in years and there's a fair bit of ingrained dirt in the vinyl. Alas the hood lining has been sun damaged quite a lot, I may do a vinyl spray repaint. Awaiting new carpet to arrive from Knox Carpets, I had expected it today, but it didn't show.

The small stitching split in the passenger seat has totally let go now and the drivers side is starting to go, so they will both need to come out and go to the trimmer for repairs.

Still once that's all done and a wheel alignment, I reckon we'll be in a good place.

And driving!

Today I finished readjusting the brakes, topped up the gearbox and decided to do a few laps of the driveway! I was smiling all afternoon. It's been 5 years to get to this stage (yes I know much of that was procrastination) but we're not far from going on the road now!

I ordered new rego plates many weeks ago, not realising you can't collect them from Service SA if the vehicle is unregistered, so it still has no plates. I might do a quickie repaint of the old plates to keep me going until I get around to collecting the new ones.


I love registering on the internet. It's been off the road for 9 years, unregistered for maybe 4 but you just enter the details on the net and bam, registered vehicle. Just insured it on the phone and we might go for a bit of a drive around the suburb later on to iron out any bugs. I do anticipate it'll need a thorough wheel alignment given nearly every steering and suspension component is new.

As the original plates were R issued series (RFR-299) I assumed they'd be non-slogan replicas, however I since found as I wasn't actually signing up for new issues R plates and just replacing mine, they come with the 'South Australia' slogan at the bottom. 

Carby rebuild

Poor photo of the rebuilt carb

 In the previous post I mentioned that the carby was being difficult. I've rebuilt carbs in the past, but generally only simple things like Holden Strombergs and not something like the complicated Aisans found in these vehicles. Also it's almost impossible to find a kit for it. I ended up biting the bullet and taking it to Adelaide Carb Services. They rebuilt it (also noticing it was missing a couple of bits and replacing them) for a reasonable $280. Plonked it on and the car started and idled immediately! Well worth it. 

The gearbox wasn't selecting either, which was concerning given I'd had it completely reconditioned. Rookie mistake, seems I'd simply forgotten to finish filling it up! It only had about 2L of fluid and requires 4.5L from dead empty. Filled it and we're back in business.

Last weekend I managed to potter up and down the driveway a few times, noticing that it still needed a little more gearbox fluid and the brakes needed re-adjusting. I had almost no brakes it reverse, which was slightly concerning when backing down my steep driveway.

Slowly getting there

2R cleaned up, some new gaskets and reinstalled.
Not quite accurate decal, but I like it.

The previous post indicated I may be driving soon, which didn't end up being the case, just yet. No real reason apart from some real life getting in the way again.


But today I fired up the Corona tonight for the first time in around 3 or 4 years! Started really easily, I guess all the hand cranking I did the other week helped prime everything.

The carby still has a few problems, I put some new gaskets in it, and it'll run and idle fine for about a minute and then starts surging before it dies. Not sure why at this stage, but I'll work it out.

Reconditioned master cylinder, it's nice to have pressure behind the pedal again. With that in, every brake component is brand new except the distribution block, some of the steel lines and the front shoes.

All wiring is spot on, lights all work perfectly, warning lights, original radio works which was a plus.

Carpet still to go, the passenger seat needs a very small repair, and then I think it's time for rego.

Getting close...

The final days are upon us. Yesterday I refit the bonnet after a quick sand. It still needs a buff, actually the whole car needs a thorough rub down to flatten out some of the orange peel further.

The transmission lines were a nightmare, they should have been installed when the motor and gearbox were out of the car as they are mainly steel tubing that needed lots of massaging to snake back into place.

Bonnet back, grillle in, almost ready

The new water pump fits properly and I used a NOS fan belt! Woo. Ahem.
I'm still waiting for a pair of radiator hoses and a fuel filter to arrive, the fuel filter needed to be found online as some of the disposable parts are now deleted. I found a distributor cap at Blair Athol parts, but they want $75 for it! I cleaned up the existing one, but if I were to keep the car long term I'd have to toss the Lucas distributor and fit a Bosch one just so I can get parts.

The grille had been painted flat black, so I sanded that back and returned it to almost the correct dark grey.

Remaining work to get it back on the road:
- Radiator hoses, and coolant
- gearbox fluid
- fuel filter
- Battery
- Brake Master cylinder and bleed
- Rego and license plates
- test all wiring
- rebuild and refit the rear licence plate light. These units rot out really quickly. 
When I bought the car there were literally dozens for sale on eBay all the time. I kept thinking, eh I'll get it later, there's no shortage of supply. They sold for $29 with free postage from Thailand. Now it's 'later' and they stopped selling them about a year ago. Nowhere to be found anywhere. The odd second hand one of ebay goes for upwards of $80 plus shipping! I've missed out on two. I'm just going to have to make mine presentable again.

I suspect I might be able to start it and possibly drive a little over Easter, but given the all new front end, I'd be loathe to go too far without an alignment.

Engine back in

March is re-assembly month. It's now the last few days and I only have the last few things left to go.
After reattaching the body trim, the bumpers and lights, and after searching for one small piece of trim from the front right guard that went missing for about two weeks, it was time to put the mechanicals back in.

Close enough mirrors for now

But first to mirrors! You may recall in the first posts that I struggled to find suitable mirrors. Well I still am, I bought these aftermarket ones which are similar to the originals, but still not quite tall enough.

I am so glad I bagged and labelled nearly every nut and bolt as this made life so much easier when finding the correct bits. I admit I do have a jar of random stuff which I keep finding the perfect bolt in now that I've exhausted the bags I had labelled.

I stored most of the parts in the one cupboard too, so nearly everything was on hand.

The cleaned and painted 2R motor with gearbox reattached.

I attached the rebuilt gearbox to the original motor, after giving it a thorough clean and repaint (the motor that is) and tracking bits of engine grease throughout the house :/

Most of the engine back
together and in place

This entire unit went back in very smoothly and easily I was quite surprised, especially given the hassles when removing it. I guess cleaning everything makes life a lot easier.

I bought a replacement water pump off ebay some years ago only to find when putting the ancillaries back on, that it's got the wrong shaft on it, way too long, the pulley doesn't fit and the fan would hit the radiator. Off to ebay to find another, which fortunately arrived this week.
I found engine enamel that is pretty close to the original rocker cover/air cleaner cover colour so gave them a squirt.

Next up is the rest of the motor accessories and radiator.