Thought you guys may like to see my project. Most of this is copied from another forum so its a bit messy. Some may have seen it floating about the net.

She's a bit of a mess on outside with lots of surface rust but no major rust issues luckily. Had been in a barn for 10 years or so so it was kept dry.



Interior is super mint though!



The engine is pretty damn tired and only manages about 55mph, the spare is even worse I've been told.







Update 1

Was hoping for better progress this week, but got a decent start on it anyway.

Built the bottom end today with some new bearings etc and painted it up. Didn't like the orange though so went and got some red to suit the new colour scheme



What I found in the sump, with lots of other bits


Stock ports compared to a few hours on the die grinder. Still got shit loads to go.




4.8kg Fidanza flywheel.



In red with a few more bits



As far as I got done this weekend.



I should have the rest of the bits to make the intake next week, the flanges need a hour or so with the die grinder to match them too.

Engine is a 2 liter 8v DOHC from an Isuzu Piazza


Update 2

Took the engine, loom and a few bits out of the bay today then degreased and water blasted all ready for paneling.








Update 3

Took the guards off on Sunday and did a bit of work. Had to use the easy-outs on about 8 out of 12 door hinge screws


Not too bad, mostly surface rust but will have to grind back and see.



Other side wasn't so great, so I'm borrowing a mates mig.




Bit of a boring update but it all has to be done


Update 4

So I cracked into the ole' girl this weekend.

So I started off by stripping the surface rust in the engine bay, when I found this :doubt: (lame pics cause it was dark)



All set for some POR15 Metal Ready and then a prime, minus the rust hole. I also welded up all the un-used holes and will smooth them off later.


Don't have any Metal Ready though.. So I moved onto something a bit less boring.

First up I chopped up the original Bellett (G150) timing plate, as you can see at the bottom/sides it has nuts to take the G150 engine mounts where the Piazza one is different (Piazza mounts from the middle of the block, Bellett = front mount) The G150 plate fouls the sump aswell, so I went choppy choppy.



Then I decided to start on the manifold. After a while of die grinding I sat the plates onto the head.


Carbide bits ftw, although rough.. they are fast. Finished off with stone, will then hit it with 150g paper when its all done to smooth it right off.




Tapped some holes. Sweet new wharehouse angle grinder. $17.99


Tacked the throttle body plates together at the right spacing to make cutting/welding the manifold in the right spot easier


Mocked up in the engine bay in the right spot to get the angle for the runners.



Cut the angle on a runner, getting a template for more port matching. I will need to cut the rest so I can get it all spaced up right etc before grinding though. I had gotten sick of die grinding by this stage lol.



Finally the original mock up I did that gave me some inspiration and a shot I though was kinda cool





Update 5

Fixed rusty sill, still waiting on por15 so no changes to body yet.


Didn't know if they'd suit but I took the plunge anyway and got them. (equip 03 knock-offs) Will mount with 165/45/15s if I can get them. Offset is perfect on rear, has about 5mm clearance to the guard





Update 6

POR15 metal ready'd (gives a zinc coating) then etch primed, few bits to bog tomorrow and lots of sanding to get it smooth ready for paint. Unfortunately the paint didn't turn up but I've got the rust to fix up in the lower shock towers to keep me busy.





Update 7

Bugger all progress this week, have been doing a little panel work and have welded up chassis rails/shock towers. Forgot to get pics so I'll put one up of the cam cover instead.

Went and lent on it and smudged it so hopefully I can find another can of wrinkle paint. Repco probably won't get more in for years. The brushed letters came up alright I thought 8)



Update 8

Fixed up chassis rail/shock tower rust, using my mates gasless mig



Seemed to do the trick after a bit of trial though. I also soaked it all in por15 for the whole week making sure I got it as best I could and thick coats of primer in behind it all to hopefully stop it for a few years to come.

Update 9

Due to working on the new daily driver (TE Gemini) and consumption of alcohol, there has been a rather large lack of motivation to work on the Bellett. But, I've made an effort this week now that the Gem's engine is away at the machinist.

I bolted on the original Bellett mounts to the twin cam. The drivers side fits on sweet, the passenger side mounting holes are about 10mm further back on the twin cam and as you will see from the photo is sitting on the wrong side of the timing plate and 10mm too far back for the crossmember bracket.

Drivers.


Passenger. I also needed to chop the G150 alternator bracket part off as it fouls the timing case on the twin cam.


Just a few misc pics of it all mocked up. Needed to set this all up so I can make sure the throttles won't foul on anything.
















Engine isn't actually built, just the bottom end. The head is just sat on there to get clearance problems sorted.



Update 10

Pretty good day today. Little better at welding but still not good enough, manifold is in its final position and half welded up.


Here's my little jig from yesterday, making life far easier.


Few pics of the almost finished setup on the engine. Ignore the trumpet spacing, they're not on properly.







Update 11

Got some old bike's exhaust off my mate and found some factory Toyota extractors laying around, so I decided to chop them up and make a template for my exhaust.


Quickly cut out a piece of thick sheet metal for a dummy flange, cut the bolt holes and marked the port spacing. I then proceeded to cut, tack, cut, tack, cut tack.. you get the idea. Just using an arc welder and random pipes as its only a template so its ugly as, but saves wasting decent pipe.



Thinking about just getting the pipes bent up as one solid piece so I only have to weld them at the flange and collector, perhaps in polished stainless, depending on price.

The shock towers on this make it hard to make them equal length without being ugly. I might have a look at just dropping then straight down from the head, but that's no fun!

Using http://www.headerdesign.com I got these measurements. With a guess of 150hp (probably a bit optimistic)

35mm primary pipe diameter
800-850mm long primary pipes
55mm collector size (I'll just use 57mm)
330mm long collector

Imagine when you have the steering on the left side as we have here in Finland... I have also made those pipes for my ex 2-liter DOHC Bellett and that was a tight fit

That looks like its coming along nicely. Good stuff!

Oh yeah didn't think of that! Complicated!!

Great bunch of pics! Any idea how far off completion you are?

Ah, It just adds to all the fun!

As for the completion date, I have no idea to be honest. Probably 6 months to get it running and certified for modifications (or "engineered" in aussie terms I think) I'm not sure when the paint will be done, might stay ratty for a little while

Will definitely be painted though too, probably chocolate brown, like this car.


I actually have flat white paint I got for the car, but have changed my mind a few times

Oh man, I wish I'd seen that pic before you, chocolate brown looks HOT!

I searched google for hours, using Isuzu written in Hiragana to find it lol.

Scrapped my exhaust template and am going to start again on it soon. Lately I've been doing a bit of research on ignition and how I'm going to go about getting this thing running, so I haven't had a lot of time to actually get out and work on it.

Been out playing with the front pulleys to get them lined up. Ended up using a g161z crank pulley, taking the inch thick spacer off the g200w water pump and I'll need to get the water pump pulley spacer spun down to line them up, and make a spacer for the alternator pulley off the original g150

This should all give me plenty of room for the radiator, and I can mock my exhaust up with the alternator in its final position. I also need to modify the water gallery/thermostat housing.

Slowly getting a bit better at this welding business.


I got this collector off kpr from the www.oldschool.co.nz forums, he made a couple of reducers aswell.

Love your work mate, very impressive. I noticed some where else on the forum you were chasing a plate to cover the radio hole. If you get stuck I have a few in my shed that I could post to you. P.M when and if you need it.

GAv

Well, I have literally done nothing on this for a while now. As I have been busy with my TX Gemini (project daily driver) so here's a couple of pics of why I haven't been working on the poor ol Bellett

Link to my TX build up
http://www.oldschool.co.nz/phpbb/viewto ... 17&t=16586

Work should start on the Bellett in about a month or so, you should start to see some updates soon.

Fair call... The little Gem looks pretty good even if you think the body could have had more prep.

Looks good and those wheels really set it off

Cheers for sharing another Isuzu project with us. Post pics in the 'Other Isuzu' section if you want it up here for all to see

Cheers,
R.

hey mate what is the part number for the fidanza flywheel you have there? im trying to get one from fidanza but they say none suit the g200w

Your sure keen to get those cars tidied up and running well.

Love your port and polishing too. Thanks for all the great build photos.

Keep those pics coming

OZ

This build is pretty epic!
You're doing an unbelievable job! Keep up the great work

Thanks
David

The last post there was 3 years ago, wonder if it was finished?

Awsome effort cwg. One hot sedan/gt coming up !!

B.

Thanks for sharing such a great lot of photos.

This is fantastic and inspiring work

You are a very talented bloke - great insight into what you have done.