GERRY GT: Clean Up Pt.2

With Easter upon us and all the old spares from the ghosts of Starlet’s past assembled in my garage, it was time to have a look at what could be tidied up for very little spend and to also see where costs for the unplanned car purchase could be recouped. Logically, the starting point would […]

PROJECT RATTLESNAKE: #17 The fastest Toyota at Honda Nationals – HNATS 2016

The team at H Nationals had oganised a track day at Winton and for the first time ever, were allowing an “other” class to compete. This class was to cater for the myriad of K swapped cars out there that might not have Honda chassis. But much like the story of my entire misfit life, […]

PROJECT RATTLESNAKE: #16 “Weighting” for VTEC

After the successful Winton shakedown without VTEC, we thought it might be a good time for some K Swap dentistry to get to the bottom of the teething issues. Dan was eyeballing top dead centre and everything appeared to be ok. After turning it over a few times he noticed that one of the blue links was […]

PROJECT RATTLESNAKE: #15 Shake, Rattle and Roll

So as you already probably know by now, yes it did start however, this joyous milestone in the project was quickly marred by a pesky VTC phase error code. Apparently, this is the code you see when the ECU it detecting the intake cam isn’t in correct phase with the crankshaft. We swapped out the VTC […]

PROJECT RATTLESNAKE: #14 Honing in on the finish line

It’s been a busy few weeks over at Rattlesnake HQ. With not much spare time spare to blog, here is the mega round up post as Team Rattlesnake pull some last minute late nighters in an attempt to get the car ready for Winton this weekend! Knowing that we were reaching final stages of the build, […]

PROJECT RATTLESNAKE: #13 Slave Labour Day

We’d just got word from the drive shaft place that they were shutting down over Easter which meant that we’d been set back a bit further however, there was still more work to be done over the Labour Day long weekend. BRAKES: The teensy EP82 engine bay meant that the brake booster had to go to […]

PROJECT RATTLESNAKE: #12 Ain’t no mount-ing high enough

Woop, the laser cut pieces have arrived so it’s time for Tom to weld together his metal vision. Energy Suspension universal link flange type bushings will be used. Before the mounts go in, I had to sand back the bay so Tom had a clean surface to weld to. Test position prior to welding. Argh my […]

PROJECT RATTLESNAKE: #11 Clutching at straws, suspension, shifters and shafts

Despite the lack of updates, we’ve been fairly busy over at Rattlesnake HQ. It’s now time to smash out a few blog posts on what’s been happening in the land of the rising Starlet. DRIVESHAFTS: After a few trips to wreckers, we’ve acquired bits and pieces for various Honda’s and Toyota’s to try work out […]

PROJECT RATTLESNAKE: #10 An old friend and a fresh box

With Terry’s part in this project over, it’s time to wake up an old friend and go and resuscitate Tart. Massive thanks to Charlie for housing this eye sore for me in the interim. After 10 years of ownership, it was sad to know that this would be the last time I would ever drive Tart in […]

PROJECT RATTLESNAKE: #9 I like big blocks and I cannot lie

As someone that has owned a 1300cc, 1500cc and 1600cc car, it’s clear that I’m no stranger to owning big block motors. So when Tom floated the idea of doing a k20/24 Frank build, I had made some calls to wreckers and the K24 had arrived at his work before I even had a chance […]