Is that true that there is only 30 Belletts left in Australia??

Surely there are more hidden around the traps - by the way everyone on here sniffs them out and scoops them up

I know when I first got Stinky on the road a mates boss who owned a wreckers said: "I got one of them Peugeot's at work......" sure enough sitting three high was a clapped out 65 sedan. I scored it for parts for $100 over 10 years ago.

Great story Pom - I didn't realise the story behind wanting a Bellett to race at Goodwood and the lengths you went to (and the superb work you carried out on it when you got it)

I wondered about that also..... perhaps each state or Club could give an estimate of how many in the Club, or better still, how many are on the road. The BCCV keeps a record of each members cars for example.

30 left in Australia.......

Would luv to know where that "fact" came from?!
39 cars at the Merimbula Nats in 2012 is more than that, and that's just what attended.

Thinking of a few collections I know of, there's about 15 in two separate collections I've personally seen.
I've got 5 of my own, so that's 35 right there without other known collections I've haven't seen for myself, as well as those with 2 or 3 cars, and the single car people that add up quickly of course.

I've got the most comprehensive list in Australia, and my records show 91 known sedans alone, with another 32 possibly still existing that came from old records of 20 years ago.
Add 45 GT's to that number, and 2 2 door Sport's, and u get a lot more than 30.
No doubt the true number of surviving Belletts is higher again as I know some people never forwarded details to be included in the list, there's been 'new' cars have popped up since the list was last updated, and there will still be unfound cars out there as well.
I'd guess there's 300 sedans in Australia in various stages of repair and use, as well as 50 or so GT's.

Gotta say too..... 1.6 OHV engine?
Funniest looking Isuzu OHV I've seen.

what about cars actually on the 'road' though, Brett? Any estimates there as its probably more relevant. Many cars will never be rebuilt as too far gone, good for spares only, etc.

I'd have to go back thru it all again Glenn.
I'd guess we'll over half are on the road though, maybe 2/3, whether they are actually registered or sitting idle and could be, as opposed to being wrecks that need a resto.
Most owners have 1 or 2 cars, so they're on the road, and multiple car collections are always over half of them are on the road.
All mine are as a case in point, and that's 5 of them.

Yeah, never let the facts get in the way of a good story....although I need to shoulder some of the blame....Mr Bevis I think, first interviewed me back in 2011 when we first competed in the Revival and at the time I had other things on my mind, and I think I just had a wild stab in the dark when I was asked how many Aussie teardrops there were. I obviously now know better, but I don't think I was asked again......and I've no idea where the OHV engine came from!
Incidentally we should be getting into the engine in the next week or two, and hopefully find out what damage we've done...fingers crossed.

Hi Mark

don't feel too bad, we are talking total Belletts of all years. I have no real idea, but imagine Teardrops might well be around 30 or so.

Good luck with the engine......

glenn

POP QUIZ.
Some of you'll know from the 'SOHC Carb?' thread, that UK Bellett Central has picked up a couple of SOHC 1800 engines from the States.
Closer inspection reveals something a little odd about the first engine.....

What's the common rail attached to the rocker cover with pipe work leading to the exhaust ports?

Us and the guys from Finland can only guess at it, any ideas from Down Under or the States?

Just about bet it is more to do with anti pollution measures than performance enhancing.
KB

Im with KJB on that, I think it was for an air pump of some sort for the pollution laws. I see quite a bit of those on the LUV truck forums.

Very interesting.... Would you take a look at that!
Initially I thought of anti pollution as well
Datsun use a system where they take air from the air cleaner through a reede valve any connect to the exhaust manifold feeding each port when cruising to oxygenate the exhaust and thereby completely burn the gases but never have I seen such a set-up shown
Seems a bit Neanderthal
Please let us know the diagnosis
Cheers
J

KB is correct. Here's a few pics. from my parts book.
Dave.

Aaaah, the power of the collective.....well done, and thanks everybody....and incidentally, yes, this engine is coming from California....probably explains a lot.

Mark

nice helping there cqgt cheers davo

I always wonder about this sort of 'intermediate technology'. Did it actually cause a reaction to reduce the CO output, or just dilute it down for the exhaust sensor probes? Regulation was likely set as a ppm limit, so pushing ait through the exhaust would dilute the gasses. A bit like reducing the fat and sugar percentage in your food by having a big drink of water! ....Which I do....

Gary Carters 117 had the pump and air tubes, driven by a fan belt. Stripped that off and blanked the holes, picked up hp from not driving the pump, so can back off the throttle at a given speed, which means less fuel consumption and by extension, less pollution. It also weighed about 10 kg, so dragging less weight around.
Stick it in the recycle bin and do something for the planet!
Cheers, Matt.

The first pic. is for the G180z. Would probably be similar to Gary Carters 117. The other 2 are for the G180SS. Chev. in the USA
used this engine on the series 1 to 4. They then used the 180Z from 5 to 12. My book is up to series 12. If they had more series
after is more than I know. In California, reading the book, shows that this state was pretty heavy in having engines complying
to their polution laws. From what I can remember regarding Australian polution laws, New South Wales was the initial state to
R & D production compliance. Some of the early Datsuns had carbys, distributors and exhaust specifically for that state.
Mark. Is the engine coming over to you with a manifold and carbys. Or is it just a bare engine.

Dave.

Couldn't agree more Matt.
Dave....I've got one bare engine coming over...that's the one with the exhaust recycling we've been talking about, and another that is complete with all ancillaries and gearbox. See pic below.


Whether this one's got the exhaust recycling as well, we wait and see.

Matt antipollution today is no better some of our trucks need to run add blue they blow no smoke its great for the environment ? Well maybe in the city where you can buy add blue at the bowser. But in the bush we just leave a trail of 10l plastic drums wherever we fuel up

Yeah Greg, some things make me wonder. Our Santa Fe does not need Add blue, but has a Particulate filter. I read about this gadget, which collects the fine particles, and when enough are collected, burns them at high temperature, as long as we are doing 80ks or more. It also blows no smoke, but the exhaust smells like bleach.....which is a shame, 'cause I like the smell of normal Diesel exhaust. Still remember that '60 Isuzu 6.1 litre, with a smokestack like a steam train. Nice memory.

Intermediate tecnology. Other examples were, the landline phone handset that had buttons in place of a dial, but you still had to wait for the dial action. Remember those?
And Jetronic fuel injection, with a fuel distributor and lines to manifild injectors (or sprayers) with little spring loaded balls in them.
I think the worst attempt at complying with pollution control was from Ford on V8 Faitlanes in 1976. They used a small capacity radiator, 4 blade fan and high temp thermostat to force the motor to run hot. This burned the fuel more completely, which satisfied the exhaust samplers, but on the first hot day, or attempt at towing, all the coolant came out on the ground. They also used a heap of fuel, not so environmentally friendly!
Fix, once complied, was to swap to previous model rad, fan and thermostat! Bogus.

Cheers, Matt.

Well, Rolie fans, I'm pleased to say we've done it again, and for the third time on the trot we've been invited to race at the Revival.
To say we're pleased would be an understatement......especially as work has finished on the engine and we've had a successful shake down.
As you might remember, we started blowing head gaskets with regular monotony (once we went to 13" wheels)....after a full strip down, crack testing, re facing etc we came to the conclusion we'd got a little greedy with our clever little (very short skirted) pistons, and with the side entry of the plugs the uneven burn was causing them to tilt.
So....a whole load more head work and clever plugs, and ARP head studs, we're hoping we've nailed it.
We're off to the dyno next week to dial in our new electronic ignition, and to hopefully get a bit more from the cam, with a view to a full test soon after.
I leave you with a shot of our sexy new ally rad, which won't make us go any faster but it does look good!