Hi all,

First time Bellett owner and first time owner of a car made before the year 2000.
Saw my 1967 Bellett 1500 on car sales back in september and knew I had to buy it.

It is currentlly not registered so it won't be on the roads for a little while although I'd like it to be out and about ASAP!!!

It does need a bit of work before I'd be comfortable driving it:

the brakes are quite appauling (pulls violently to the right )
the seats could do with reupholstering
all seals and rubbers need replacing
the engine makes a mysterious rattle (sounds more like timing chain than rod knock)

On the plus side, the gentleman I bought the car off of just resprayed the car with a fresh coat of red paint so it looks fantastic.

I was hoping some of you might be able to direct me or tell me what is possible as far as modifying the car:

Disk brake conversion (preferably with modern easy to find parts)
Engine and gear box swap (thinking MX5 running gear)

Looking forward to hearing back from you all and excited to be joining what appears a thriving community,

Cheers,
Justin Cribbes
21 Year old Bellett owner.

is that the x Merimbula nationals car from a few years ago then went to s.a ??

quite possibly, the owner brought it over from NSW to SA in 2014 before he had to sell it.

it was a nice looking car ...

Still is a nice looking car, rear seat and drivers seat a bit torn are the only cosmetic issues I can put my finger on at the moment.

apparently the previous owner (kiwi guy) who you possibly bought it from spent a lot of money panel and painting it now that's a bonus

Hello and welcome Justin.
I owned your car for a short time in 2011. I bought it as a job lot with my Florian, 'Aunty Mary', and a parts car. I bought it from the second owner, who knew the original owner and the car since new. That owner was a Pharmacist in Wangaratta, Victoria. I was told the mileage on the speedo is genuine, and when I had it the motor was very good.

There is a front disc conversion kit available from a member in Melbourne, check the technical section. The original brakes are quite adequate if repaired properly with new linings. You can buy off the shelf in line boosters to reduce pedal pressure for 3 or 4 hundred.

I am one of those that like original, and reckon original spec will be worth more than modified in the future, but its your car and if you want to change the drive train to a modern computer controlled one then thats your option. Just be prepared for a big spend that you may not be able to get back, and to engineer the whole thing with brakes to match the performance. It will probably cost more to register too.

Please show us more as you get the time. Some of us have parts available if you need them.
Cheers, Matt.

Welcome Justin and congrats on your purchase. Nice car indeed
Plenty of info and helpful advise here and some parts are available from members when there are extras to personal requirements.
But the cars are getting older and harder to find parts for but one thing is for sure, their value will only go up in the future so well worth spending a little on them to make them run right and safe.
Always keep your ear to the ground and hit up any local (and not so local if you can) swap meets or rural wreckers when your out travelling. It pays to grab whatever bits you can come across. Even rusted out body shells can prove to be a treasure trove for even the most seemingly insignificant bits and pieces.

I love the idea of engine upgrades but still can't bring myself to do it to one of cars yet...... but with a few mods you can make even the original motors go pretty well. I'm supercharging one of mine atm
The MX5 motor has been on the drawing board for one of our QLD members cars too but not sure if he's actually made any further progress on that idea yet.
Brake mod kits are available, and as Matty has mentioned info is in the Technical section

Keep posting pics, we always love to what our mates are up to
Sticky

Welcome to the Forums, its a nice looking bellett you have, i have driven past it several times when it was for sale but wasnt in a position to buy it. There are still a few belletts in and around Adelaide, most bellett owners are pretty helpful and there is a wealth of knowledge on here about them!

Hey Justin,

Welcome on board! I'm glad that car finally sold; it was sitting around for ages and clearly wasn't being used.

Unless you've got mad fabrication skillz, I would leave the engine conversion out of it; every second Gemini left gets chopped up for an LS conversion that never eventuates and I'd hate to see that happen to such a nice car. An unfinished project Bellett would be almost unsellable I reckon!

You could probably go G180W or G200W DOHC if you wanted to crank, and although they're not as freely available or as technologically advanced as an SR20 or MX5 motor, they do get moving with great alacrity and pretty much drop straight in, right up to the original gearbox, I'm told.

On a strange note, your Roman Red Bellett is actually one of at least four OTHERs in the same colour here in SA! By far the most populous of the colours for that model! Chris's (oz_toffa) is an earlier model with the teardrop tail lights, while the rest are the same model as yours.

I've got one, however it needs a little bit of work to return to the road. We've had some dramas on the homefront with my wife's health and a new baby etc blah blah blah so it's not been a priority; instead I've just concentrated on keeping my LHD Buick Opel by Isuzu on the road as I can carry kids in that.

But soon the rest will get some love (I have a few).

So, uh, here's the burning question; how did you get into Belletts? It's not a common thing for young dudes! People's kids aside (eg PR91's kid who will inherit an array of tasty Isuzu classics when he dies), Gav Porthouse (65Bellett) is about the youngest fella into them and he's the wrong side of 35!

Cheers,

Dave

Use to drive by it a few times a week as it was just up the road from me.
Glad its found a good home.

Josh

Hi Justin,
I know 3 other Bellett owners in Zuid Afrika. I will give you the mail adresses so you can help each other out.
chadleymoses50@gmail.com
julian@ibrand.co.za

And Bill Buijs (lost his mailadress) who races a Bellett. Hope you can find him.

Groetjes Dick

that's stickmans car coming up in the rear of the race he brought it from bill x western Australia a few years ago

SA sometimes means South Africa, but this time it's South Australia!

Bill Buys passed away a number of years ago.
His blue sedan (pictured) is in Qld with Stickman and his orange sedan is Tas with Asroc66.

Did I hear my name?
Hi Guys
Here she is....
Now running steelies
Oh yea..... Bill is still alive and kicking too
J

Look at that, such a pretty car James.
Matt.

Unfortunately the blue sedan turned out to be a "Lemon" full of bog, fiberglass and rust plus some really dodgy/dangerous fabrication work, like seat belts mounted to the floor pan with a bit of bed frame angle iron and only a single 10mm bolt in the floor to hold it also had the Gemini engine mounted on an angle with a butchered cross-member to try and make the oil filter clear, so the gearbox almost touches one side of the tunnel with 6inches gap on the other side....... then the front stub axles have been machined down for some random brake rotors and caliper brackets made from what looks like a squashed baked bean tin, but no booster fitted so the discs are actually worse than the original drums

It has a tough Gemini engine in it that will be used in another car now but I could have built a better one for much less than what that car cost me..........

Hi Stickman
I am a bit worried we have hijacked this thread so am happy if this gets moved......or deleted
Anyway they aren't actually sister cars
Rob (Bill's son) actually visited me this year as he was collecting his sweeeeet 70's Porsche from Targa
My car was actually part of a fleet of Belletts owned by a rally enthusiast who was tragically killed when a car got spun around 180' on the course causing a head-on and killed him
My Tangarine machine was his favourite and was fitted with a G1800SS GT engine with Box
Your car was his fathers Bill Buys......and as I understand it from different origins and not the same fleet
I am happy to say my 1968 is straight and strong and now turboed
Rob was hella impressed when he saw it and confident the origional owner would be happy to see....
I have fully overhauled and waved the 'Hot wand' over the G1800SS also
Hopefully will find a body to put her in, perhaps a ratter
Sorry to hear of you woes
Cheers
J