Nissan Link November 2021
Image: John Doutch
PRESIDENT Cary Seabrook
VICE PRESIDENT VACANT
SECRETARY Vicki Curry
TREASURER Gordon Ledwidge
EDITOR Mason Peart
MEMBERSHIP Aiden Peart
MOTORKHANA
Stuart Stevenson / Lucas Thorpe
RALLY
Russell Seabrook
AUTOCROSS Joel Scott
RACING
Callum Wright
SOCIAL Jan Woods
CH PLATE OFFICER Aiden Peart
KEY NCCA CONTACTS President - cary.seabrook@hotmail.com Secretary - curryinc@bigpond.com Editor - enquiries@masonpeartmedia.com.au Membership - robertcoopermotors@bigpond.com
A no te fro m t h e edi to r Or neglected agreeable of discovery concluded oh it sportsman. Week to time in john. Son elegance use weddings separate. Ask too matter formed county wicket oppose talent. Welcome to the November 2021 issue of the Nissan Link. I’d like to thank John Doutch and Sean Payne for sending us photos, love your work guys! If you have any questions / concerns / feedback regarding the Nissan Link, please get in touch! - Mason Peart, Editor.
4-5 The Head Honcho
contents / latest news
We get an update from our legendary president!
6-9
The crew
Chock a block! Vicki, Gordon, Yours truly, Joel and Russell give you their spiel for the month. We’re still in search of a Vice President for NCCA, so if you’re interested, or know someone who is, let us know!
10-11 Member Spotlight We shed some light on a gorgeous 1974 Patrol.
12-13 Special Report
Keith takes us on part 1 of his Commodore adventures!
QUIZ TIME: Do you know who’s in the navigator seat?
3
NISSAN LINK
The He a d H o nc h o
H
ELLO READERS!
Is it good to be back or what! So much to do all of a sudden and lots of events. After all the cancellations and postponed things we can finally see each other.
I have been slowly catching up with friends, family, getting back to being active, getting that long over due hair cut and probably most importantly for me was that first Parma and pint at the pub. It was good and well overdue let me tell you! But before and since opening up the club has been extremely busy getting events, socials and other commitments up and running. It was unbelievable and exciting to have the rally party back together as we hosted another Valley Stages rally out of Yarra Valley which as you would expect was very well received by everyone. Craig Jarvie and his countless personnel did an excellent job putting the rally together. The weather gods even played nice with the rain hitting after the event was run and won. Read rally report for more on that. We also have scheduled another Motorkhana / Khanacross out at Werribee next weekend which, with weather permitting, will be another fantastic event and a great catch up for everyone evolved. Circuit is also up and running with lots of events coming up right to the end of the year most fully subscribed which is good to see. Jan is hard at work getting our Christmas party up and running. With the location and time (most likely in this magazine) being organised and decided. Letters to Santa to attend and lists of all the good boys and girls have been sent and I look forward to sitting on his lap yet again this year. Unfortunately our club meetings have not been able to go ahead because of restrictions still at the Manningham but there will be other social events to sink into in the coming weeks.
I can not wait to see you all face to face again. Until then get busy living! - Cary Seabrook, President.
4
November 2021
Image: John Doutch
5
NISSAN LINK
The c rew. ..
6
November 2021
H
I EVERYONE
Well, we have reached a milestone, its November. That’s right, its nearly Christmas. Finally, we are allowed out and about. Thanks everyone for being so patient with all this Covid business. It has been a really testing time for everyone. Our first big event is the Western Crane Trucks Yarra Valley Stages. This was again another great event organized by Craig and his team. I was at Yarra Glen on the day assisting. I did to see some of you out in your cars. You were all looking forward to having some fun. The weather was perfect for the event as well. There is a Motorkhana/Khanacross coming up at the beginning of November at Werribee. These events are always lots of fun. Come along and have a go. There are no special requirements for the cars. (I think this is right) I am fairly sure you can even use your normal day drive. As long as you don’t have any lose items floating about inside. There are details available for you. Circuit racing is also back up and running with events coming up at Sandown, Winton and Phillip Island. Information is available at the usual spots. If anybody needs more information about events, call or email me or the relevant Secretary and we are only to willing to help you out. There is one unfortunate thing though, we still can’t get together for a Month General Meeting. The restrictions on the venue will still be too great for us to meet on the night. Let’s hope we can get together for our meetings again next year. We have begun to organize events for later in the year and early next year. The Christmas BBQ is currently being organized by Jan and her team, the date and location are being carefully assessed and we will let you know with plenty of time. This will then follow up with a Presentation Night early in 2022. (that’s scary, 2022) This will be held at the Rosanna RSL. More details to come soon. Well, this is the most I have written for an article in a long time. Hope I haven’t bored you for too long. - Vicki Curry, Secretary.
M H
E AGAIN FOR ANOTHER REPORT. Bank Balance as at 9/11/2021 $80697.22. I guess the next influx of accounts will be Valley Stages ones. That’s it!
- Gordon Ledwidge, Treasurer.
EY ALL! Once again another stellar month for the club, with another successful running of the Western Victorian Crane Trucks Valley Stages. Awesome work to Craig, Aidan, Kim, Greg, Denise and their band of helpers, it was a fantastic way to jump into rallying after so long.
I’d also like to thank everyone who tuned into MPM’s coverage of Valley Stages! We smashed everyone else number wise. At last count, we had around 14 thousand people tune in, which is fantastic for event and club exposure! As usual, hit up issuu.com/nccainc/stacks for previous Nissan Link editions, contribute to the magazine etc - Mason Peart, Editor.
U
pdate again not much to say for autocross (VCAS), round 10 at Geelong motorsport complex that was going ahead on the 21st of November has unfortunately been canceled due to dates clashing. That’s it for autocross hope everyone is keen for 2022 season! - Joel Scott, Autocross.
Image: Sean Payne
7
NISSAN LINK
H
I ALL!
Mason had me running around with a camera for Mason Peart Media over the lastfew weekends which was fun! The big event and first rally to run since lockdown lifted was NCCA’s Western Victorian Crane Trucks Valley Stages. It was fantastic to see it come together with 80 cars out for a play, but the best part was the rain held off until the last few cars were on their way home! Looks like we will be able to have a Christmas party this year so keep an eye out for more info around this. NCCA currently has 329 members, it’ll be great to catch up with long time members and meet some new ones. - Aiden Peart, Membership / CH scheme.
If your membership is due for renewal this month, please click THIS LINK to renew online. It’s simple, safe, secure and will take no time at all.
F
RIENDS!
Finally something to write about woo hoo! Western Victorian Crane Trucks Valley Stages has been run and won with an awesome turn out of 29 VCRS Entries. Even though the poor weather held off against odds set by the weather man you could say there were a “couple” of DNF’s, with only 18 of the 29 crews entered got to the finish. Some DNF’s due to a lack of talent and some mechanical failures. Why do we rally again? Congratulations to Keith Lewis and Judd Lewis on 1st outright VCRS. David Lawrence 1st Nissan 6th outright Driver Arron Van Winden 2nd Nissan 8th outright Driver Glenn Scott 3rd Nissan 9th outright Driver. Anthony Velecki 1st Nissan Navigator 4th outright Rhiannon 2nd Nissan 5th outright Navigator Jesse Stirland 3rd Nissan 8th outright Navigator Gippsland Rally will be going ahead for VRC VCRS on the 4th of December. See you there! NCCA Championship point Leaders as of Round 6 David Lawrance in 1st Driver with 291 Joel Scott in 1st Navigator with 281 - Russell Seabrook, Rally.
H
I GUYS!
I hope everyone is well - great news we are back. Our next event is on the 20th of November it’s a combination of Motorkhana and Khanacross. My understanding is that the tests are a combination of the 2 disciplines, let’s see what Stu and Nick concoct. The following week (November 28th) there is a Khanacross scheduled that is a combined G5 and Victorian Khanacross Championship event. Now if that’s not enough the final event for the year is penciled in for the 12th of December. Hopefully some of you guys can come and show us your skills and have some fun too. See you out there! - Lucas Thorpe, Motorkhana Co-Representative
8
November 2021 Member Name
Expiry Month Member Name
Expiry Month
ALEX GAMILIS
October
KIM BEGELHOLE
November
IVAN REGESTER
November
PETER THOMSON
October
JOE BRICK
November
ANDREW ROBERTS
November
ROELAND TRIETSCH October
LAURENCE CORDELL
November
HANNAH SCHEY
November
PAULINE WALLES
October
DARREN DAVISON
November
IVY SCHEY
November
RAINE WALLES
October
THANH DOVAN
November
KATHY SCHEY
November
NICK WHITELEY
October
AHMAD ELKHEIR
November
NEIL SCHEY
November
PETER WHITELEY
October
JAMIE HAZELDEN
November
DANIEL STEVENSON
November
KIEREN MCKENZIE
November
MELISSA TINNEY
November
ROBERT MCKENZIE
November
STUART MCKENZIE
November
TRISH MCKENZIE
November
CHRISTIAN MIRAN
November
PETER PARRY
November
CHRIS POLA
November
Image: Sean Payne
9
Nissan Link
MEMBER SP
This is club member Richard’s 1974 Nissan Patrol. It’s ning gear. He’s considering a clear coat to preserve the
10
November 2021
POTLIGHT
been kitted out with upgraded brakes and rune patina.
11
NISSAN LINK
A special report w
A
T THE NIGHTMOVES, the engine in the Commodore developed a bit of a rattle that got progressively worse. T
The hoist had still not been installed at our new place so I kicked the road cars out of the carport, put the rall suspect area and found the flywheel bolts had loosened. Ah-ha found the noise I think. Checked the flywhee thing). Also noticed that there was a sort of rotational slack when turning the engine from the flywheel as if so Found a Yella Terra ultra lightweight unit and new clutch for good prices online and ordered.
On a side note :- Holden 6 cylinder engines seem to suffer from a resonant tortional vibration in the rotational assembly (w engine to. So going for the ultra lightweight unit and getting the smaller (lighter) red motor clutch might move the rev range flywheel bolts coming loose (as well as maybe another reason that I’m not going to talk about - yet). I am also keen to try ou
Shiny new flywheel and not so shiny (but still new) clutch and the downright dull new ARP flywheel bolts arrive (yaay). Cham a generous radius from the back of the head to the shank so the heads may not have been sitting quite flat against the flywh up using the procedure recommended by ARP for the flywheel bolts.
Dag Namm It!!! (Or substitute a similar minded expression of your choice – I probably said it) I still have this “sort of rotatio
By now the new concrete has cured and the hoist is up (double yaaay). Never having had my own hoist before, I could not b
We decide to do a pretty basic engine freshen up (hone, rings, rod bolts etc) for the time being. So, I go online looking for bit Supplier 3, Cam bearings from Supplier 4, Cam bearings require a new 2inch (yes inches – remember it is a Holden 1980 so Plates from Supplier 6 (lost the ebay auction for second hand ones), new Honing tool from an actual walk in shop, but had now my keyboard, my bank account and my wife are starting to melt down. Now for the rod bolts, THE ROD BOLTS, THE F*%#ING ROD BOLTS.
Supplier 1 sends me a message. The rings are OK but they found the rod bolts they had in stock are 3/8” instead of 11/32 Supplier A, Supplier B and Supplier C, all waiting for stock to arrive from the US in 7 to 10 days (Yeah sure won’t rely on that but saying they were 3/8” (and also 11/32”). Rang Supplier D to confirm they are actually the correct ones. The nice lady on stock and couldn’t be bothered ringing me back”. Time is now starting to run out. I am sure that the internet satellite is now ordering from the US. I order 2 sets of Rod Bolts from Supplier 10 (US) – Yes I know I missed Supplier 9. About an hour afte say thankyou but I am now sorted (big mistake). I get notification from Supplier 10 (US) that they have been shipped (Yaay). (hoping they don’t remember me) and ask if they are still in stock. Yes they are, so I order them with Express Post (They are 9 and get the tracking number. Tracking shows that the package has been incorrectly sorted and sent to Casterton (140km Casterton ??? About lunch time I ring the post office and get a message saying they are busy and I should ring back later. T mail service. D’oh!. Meanwhile, the package from the US has finally moved and arrives in Australia (Sydney) and is cleared
It’s now Next Monday and tracking shows that BOTH packages are “In transit to next facility at Ballarat Vic”. Which will get really get 4 sets for 3 sets ordered. I will have enough for this rebuild plus the next 3 and a third. In Part 2 we will get to see what turns up when!
12
November 2021
with Keith Cuttle!
The symptoms pointed to something in the clutch or flywheel area.
ly car up on ramps and pulled out the gearbox (cursing that the hoist was still not a go-er). Had a bit of a look around the el and found the holes had elongated somewhat. Flywheel is now a big paperweight! (or a base for some stand or someomething else was loose. Hmmm maybe it is because of the loose flywheel. Anyhow it is an excuse to buy a new flywheel.
why use big words when diminutive words will suffice) somewhere around the upper reaches of where I normally rev this e of this vibration up a bit and maybe out of the used range (hopefully). I believe this vibration may be the reason for the ut the quicker response from the reduced rotational mass.
mfer the bolt holes in the new flywheel (maybe this was another reason for them coming loose – ARP flywheel bolts have heel). Under the car again and cleanup the end of the crank where the flywheel was rattling around. Bolt the new flywheel
onal slack” that I had before. Oh well (sigh) looks like the engine has to come out so I can have a look at it.
believe how much easier things could be. My knees and back sure appreciate it. Anyhow I diverge.
ts. Order rings and ARP rod bolts from Supplier 1, Gasket set from Supplier 2, Reusable Rubber rocker cover gasket from omething) welch plug so decide to get a set, back to supplier 1, new Harmonic Balancer from Supplier 5, new Alloy Side to buy stones online from supplier 7, some Aluminium Round Bar to make a rear main seal mandrel from Supplier 8. By
2” (remember imperial measurements) so I get a refund on them. I go online again with my half melted keyboard and try t). Found Supplier D (temporarily “D”) who listed them as “in stock” but gave a confusing listing with correct part number the phone said somebody would call me back. Waited till late afternoon and thought “Ah well maybe they aren’t really in w getting heavy with my online shopping data and about to fall out of the sky, but nevertheless I go online again and risk er I order from the US, I get a call from Supplier D. Yes they are the correct bolts and yes they have 1 set in stock. D’oh!. I . I keep a watch on the tracking. 2 weeks and they are still in the US (Sarcastic Yaay). Time is running out. I call Supplier D e now designated as “Supplier 9”). This is Monday. Friday morning comes around and still no package, so I ring Supplier m away). Our mail comes via Ballarat and Horsham – a completely different path. Maybe I will be able to pick it up from That afternoon I ring Casterton post office again and get through. I am told that it would have been sent back on the 1pm by Customs.
t here first and are they correct? I bet that both will arrive together on Wednesday. Incidentally I order V8 sets meaning I
13
Nissan Link
PHOTOGRAPHS ALL PHOTOS USED IN THIS MAGAZINE HAVE BEEN USED WITH PERMISSION, EITHER FROM THE ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHER OR UNDER CREATIVE COMMONS LAW. MEETINGS MEETINGS ARE HELD ON THE SECOND FRIDAY OF EVERY SECOND MONTH AT 1 THOMPSONS ROAD, BULLEEN 3105 DURING NON COVID TIMES. ADVERTISING FOR ALL ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT THE EDITOR VIA HIS EMAIL (ENQUIRIES@MASONPEARTMEDIA.COM.AU). LIABILITY DISCLAIMER ALL MATERIAL IN THIS MAGAZINE REPRESENTS THE OPINION OF THE AUTHORS AND DOES NOT CARRY ENDORESMENT BY THE EDITOR OR COMMITTEE. NISSAN CAR CLUB AUSTRALIA HAS NO OFFICIAL CONNECTION WITH ANY PUBLIC OR COMMERCIAL ORGANISATION AND DOES NOT PROVIDE ANY PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS. NAMES OF ANY COMMERICAL PRODUCTS IN THIS MAGAZINE ARE REGISTERED NAMES AND TRADEMARKS OF THEIR OWNERS. COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER ANY PART OF THIS MAGAZINE (EXCLUDING IMAGES) MAY BE REPRODUCED WITH WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE EDITOR. WRITTEN PERMISSION CAN BE OBTAINED VIA HIS EMAIL.
14