PRO BUILD TIPS YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO MISS!
BLOWN TORANA + CHEV GASSER + 9
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SLAMMED CHEVELLE SEP. 2020 ISSUE 184
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ISSUE 184 ∞ SEP. 2020
UTTERLY BLOWN SLAMMED CHEV CHEVELLE GASSER
PLUS:
WE DRIVE THE SHELBY RANGE LS-POWERED JETBOATS ALCOHOL-FUELLED VW BEETLE, AND MORE
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contents SEPTEMBER 2020
The Cars
16: COLOUR ME GONE — RETINA-SEARING TORANA 24: BETTER THAN BEFORE — SLAMMED CHEVELLE 52: BITTEN BY THE BUG — ALCOHOL-FUELLED BEETLE 60: FULL FLAVOUR — RETRO ’54 CHEV 104: THE SNAKE PIT — SHELBY’S LOCAL LINE-UP 112: SHOW ME THE MONEY — CHEV GASSER
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Special Features
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36: SPLASH, DASH, AND A BIT OF BOOST — THE LIFE OF ADAM WILTON
68: BUILD IT RIGHT — THE PRO TIPS YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO MISS 80: BOREDOM BUSTER — HOLDENS IN VEGAS 86: DREAM SHED — BARN FINDS 96: SPECIAL EFFECTS — IS CANDY PAINT WORTH IT? 110: WELD PORN — TIG WELDING STAINLESS
The Other Stuff
04: SHORT SHIFT 08: NEWS 10: DAILY GRIND 12: JUST QUICKLY 14: IN THE BUILD 32: SUBSCRIBE AND WIN 34: STRAIGHT TALK 46: DRAGGED UP 48: NZ’S QUICKEST 50: AEROFLOW RACE DIARY 92: SOCIAL SCENE 94: CONCEPT CORNER 120: CMC NEWS 122: CARGO 124: A DECADE AGO 126: LOCAL SPECIALISTS 128: COMING NEXT MONTH
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FEATURE 1975 LH TORANA CAR
WORDS AND PHOTOS: SHANE WISHNOWSKY
WHEN TONY MIDDLEMISS LOST ENTHUSIASM FOR HIS PROJECT CAR, HE MOVED IT ON, BUT, RATHER THAN GIVE UP AND TAKE A BREAK FROM CARS ALTOGETHER, HE DECIDED TO TAKE ON AN EVEN BETTER ONE
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FEATURE 1959 VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE CAR
WORDS AND PHOTOS: SHANE WISHNOWSKY
JOHN HAS A BIT OF A BAD HABIT OF HITTING WALLS IN VOLKSWAGENS, SO WHY SHOULD HIS LATEST ONE BE ANY DIFFERENT?
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SPECIAL BUILD IT RIGHT FEATURE
WORDS: NZV8 PHOTOS: NZV8 ARCHIVE
READ CAREFULLY, AS WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO LEARN MAY SAVE YOU THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS AND UNTOLD HEARTBREAK
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magine being young again and knowing everything you know now. Think of how different you would have handled things, and how much pain and drama you would have saved yourself. Or, when we’re talking about building cars, think about how different you would go about your build and how much money, time, and heartache, you’d have saved doing it the right way the first time around. We see it in almost every issue of NZV8 — a car owner who got the process of building their vehicle a bit mixed up. But it doesn’t need to be this way. We have some of the best car builders in the world right here in New Zealand, and, lucky for you, they were happy to sit down with us to share some of their tips to building your car the right way.
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We gave them all a hypothetical situation where you, the car builder, want to build a project that could grace the cover of this magazine once completed. The example given is typical of many cars featured, being that would need major rust repair, paint — including engine bay and various interior components — and an engine and drivetrain build. It would also require engine bay fabrication — including engine mounts and exhaust fabrication — a complete rewire, seat-belt installation, complete interior retrim, bumper and trim repairs and re-chroming, brake conversion, suspension work, as well as selection and fitment of wheels. When listed like that, it sounds like a lot, but the list is typical of the work involved in many quality street cars, restorations, or magazine
feature cars. The good thing is, even if your build is simpler than what we’ve used as an example here, the order of the steps you’ll take will still be the same, just with a few steps missed out. As anyone who’s built a car will tell you, it always costs more than you think, takes longer than you think, and causes much more stress than you ever imagined — and that’s just on a build that goes well. There are countless stories of builds that have gone wrong and either languished in the back of a workshop for years on end or come out with substandard work having been completed. It always helps to ensure that you’ve done your research on the businesses you intend to involve and make sure that you have a good plan in place for how you will manage the build or have it managed.
MIKE BARI — NXT LVL AUTOMOTIVE
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hen a client approaches us at NXT LVL Automotive with a build, we start by getting a feel for what they want to do to their vehicle. Right from the beginning, you need to set out an end goal, or result as to how it should look, drive and what sort of power they’re after, etc. Then, as a series of requirements they want from this build, i.e, cruiser, street/strip, muscle car, restoration, etc. We generally throw a few realistic ideas about and discuss the financial input. This part is very important to ensure that the customer and we are on the same page. We all want twin-turbos, massive brakes, supercar suspension, and trick exotic leather interior … OK, maybe not everyone, but it’s easy to get carried away and lead to that without realizing the costs involved. A build of that magnitude can easily end up costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even with smaller modifications, it’s easy for vehicle owners to underestimate just how much work is involved, so it’s better to have these conversations up front, as while they may be expecting a job to cost $10K–$20K, the reality may be closer to $30K–$40K, especially when [there are] … other modifications above what was initially scoped. It’s important to make sure you are firm on how the project is run and make sure that anyone who work is outsourced to is on the same page. Sometimes, the best option is to get the project managed — much as you would with a housebuilding project — we have some clients who like to get the work done, but we keep an eye on how it’s run for them. There’s a lot to take into consideration when planning or managing a build: what power plant they want and what power levels is the beginning. This then leads on to brakes, driveline modifications, chassis, modifications, and exhaust requirements. Then you’ll need Low Volume Vehicle certification, and everything that’s required for that process. This can also lead into body modifications, which may lead to the transmission tunnel and firewalls being modified, and, of course, thinking about the driveshaft tunnel and rear tubs. The scope of this work will have an effect on the interior, as a larger tunnel may inhibit foot space, shifting pedals, etc., while rear tubs may affect
the rear seat, etc. At this stage, it’s also best to consider wiring. No one wants the car not starting after cruising; likewise, low voltage or fires are something no one wants. So, it’s important to take into consideration the electrical requirements, with fuel pumps, fans, water pumps, ignition, computers, etc., and what condition the wiring is in to start with. Lots of old cars arrive with multiple crimp joiners and wiring that looks like a bird’s nest, which is not the best place to start. In this instance, larger alternators, and possibly a full rewire, could end up being the best option. If the vehicle requires panel and paint, we recommend to pretty much build the car — to as far as practical, right down to seat mounts, driveshaft hoops, etc. — prior to panel and paint, so when
the car returns you’re not grinding and cutting, or getting caught with, “Oh, let’s fit a roll cage”, or, “Hey, I’ve changed the wheels and tyres”. This is the importance of the idea ‘reason for end-game result’ at the start of the project. It’s not hard to plan it out properly from the get go, and you’ll save a lot of time, money, and heartache by doing so. The other consideration is time frame. TV is a great tool for ideas, but these shows don’t generally showcase a realistic timeframe, as with 15 people working around the clock, it can be done in seven days, but be prepared to see months and months, or, in a lot of cases, years, before the final result will be ready to see the light of day. The best thing is to have as many ideas thrown around as possible in the beginning, as it helps in the long run.
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TECH CUSTOM PAINT BREAKDOWN
WORDS: RIXSTA SAMMONS PHOTOS: RIXSTA SAMMONS / SUPPLIED
EVER WONDERED WHAT THE DIFFERENCE IS BETWEEN CANDIES, PEARLS, AND METALLICS? OUR RESIDENT PANEL AND PAINT GURU IS HERE TO EXPLAIN
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othing makes a car pop more than a custom paint job that stands out in the show field on a sunny day. Spray painters of custom paint tend to use a mixture of pearl, candy, and metallic paint to produce wild and unique effects in their paint jobs. If you’re thinking about any type of custom paint for your next project, you are probably looking at one of these types of
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paint for the finish and wondering what the differences are between them. We’ve decided to break it down simply following. Just remember that, while it may be easy to understand the differences, applying these effects can take a bit of skill even for professionals; custom paint jobs can take years of trial and error to get right!
WHAT IS CANDY PAINT?
Put simply, ‘candy’ paint is basically a clear coat that is tinted with a dye to give it translucent properties, while a standard colour will have a ground-up pigment in it that gives it its opacity. So, instead of the light going in and hitting the pigment as it does with a standard base coat, reflecting out and showing you that colour, with a candy dye, the light goes through what is below it and reflects back with that candy tint over the top of it. This is why you need to apply a base coat before a candy paint. Generally, the base coats are metallic silver or gold depending on how dark you want the candy to appear. The great thing about candy paint is that you can change the hue or darkness of the colour by adding more coats, or in certain areas for custom effects. Candy paint is one of the hardest paints to get right, and it can take a lot of practice to get it to lie evenly and look all the same hue, as inconsistencies in your spraying procedure or technique can cause modelling or abrupt changes in the finish.
Light source
Candy effect
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