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LH SL TORANA 173 TO EFI 5L TH700 BW 3.45 LSD

Started by _LH SLR 3300_ , Jun 27 2009 01:50 PM

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370 replies to this topic

#1 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 27 June 2009 - 01:50 PM

Hi all. This is my new project. A rusty LH Torana parts car, a bare LH shell in need of a full resto( a big thanks to UnclefestaL34s for helping me out with this shell & some other parts I needed, Thanks Joe ) & a VN Calais 5L with a sludged up engine with no oil pressure. My plan, to build myself a clean Torana to take my family out on sunday drives & even let the wife have a drive from time to time.
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After pulling the engine out of the VN, what was going to be a quick freshen up with rings, bearings & gaskets & cleaning the oily sludge out of the block turned into a full on build. Even though the car had only 148,000kms on it, i don't think it had ever been serviced in it's life. The oil pickup was completely blocked with sludge, most of the welsh plugs were corroded & leaking, one head gasket was blown between 2 & 4 cylinder & the list goes on. Here's the bits that were no good including some cricket ball sized bits of oil sludge that had solidified.
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This is what the engine looks like now four weeks later. Big thanks to my mate Aldo for all your help & knowledge, you'll be one of the first people to take it for a test drive once it's finished :spoton:

My mate Aldo is a perfectionist, when I told him the engine wasn't going back into the VN, but into a Torana he said "Well we'd better do this build properly!" That meant quite a few hours with a die grinder & belt sander de-burring & cleaning up the block.
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While we're at it, lets port match the inlet manifold. One side done, onto the next.
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This is the trim I bought for the Torana. Genuine slate black seats & door trims with a new hoodling, "B" pillar trims & trims for the top of the doors between the door trim & glass. A big thanks to Steve & Adam from Cools Auto Trim in Peakhurst Sydney. I can't speak highly enough of these guys, genuine down to earth & really know they're stuff, I could've chatted for hours to these guys. Steve went out of his way to help me out with my car & I can't thank him enough. I highly recommend anyone restoring a Torana to consider these guys for they're trimming needs. All I need now is a black grain dash to replace the old woodgrain one.
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With the car on chassis stands, I'm starting to clean & prep the under body for a coat of paint. The rear control arms, front x-member control arms etc are at the sandblasters, hopefully be picking them up next week & getting the new ball joints & bushes pressed in before giving them a coat of 2K black. Once it's back on the ground rolling again, it'll be towed to my work for some minor repairs including replacing the battery tray with the the one out of the parts car. Ironicly, the battery tray is probably one of the only parts of this car that didn't have rust.

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#2 _slr253_

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Posted 27 June 2009 - 03:52 PM

Good luck with the build. I'm thinking of putting the same engine and driveline in mine, so I'll be looking forward to seeing how you progress.

Cheers

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#3 _ass308_

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Posted 28 June 2009 - 09:28 AM

nice work matt.

is the 4 speed out of the vn to ?.if so i maybee able to save u a bit of time,with setting it up.

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#4 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 28 June 2009 - 01:03 PM

nice work matt.

is the 4 speed out of the vn to ?.if so i maybee able to save u a bit of time,with setting it up.

Thanks Chris. Yeah 4spd auto TH700 is the cable kickdown one from the VN. Any help/advice regarding fitting this trans would be appreciated. My main concern is the clearence around the standard Torana trans tunnel. Cheers Matt

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#5 LHSL

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Name:Phillip
Location:SYDNEY
Car:1974 LH SL; 2 x 1975 LH S Toranas
Joined: 30-March 07

Posted 30 June 2009 - 01:39 PM

Good luck Matt with it. I am a little confused. Are you doing up the copper shell using parts from the blue SL?
Either way plenty to do but you will do a top job.
Cheers,
Phillip

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#6 _nial8r_

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Posted 30 June 2009 - 03:04 PM

good to see some pic's Matt :spoton:

it looks to be coming along really good now, keep the pic's coming as i have already stolen one of them just for reference sake :tease:

and hope all's well up i your neck of the woods ..... :spoton:

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#7 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 30 June 2009 - 08:14 PM

Good luck Matt with it. I am a little confused. Are you doing up the copper shell using parts from the blue SL?
Either way plenty to do but you will do a top job.
Cheers,
Phillip

Hi Phillip. Yeah doing the copper shell, the blue one had a bent chassis & just a little more rust than I was prepared to repair. The copper one has no rust apart from the lower quarters which have already been repaired. Thanks for your vote of confidence, my goal is to have it finished by the end of the year, so I think I'll need all the encouragement I can get. Cheers Matt

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#8 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 30 June 2009 - 08:20 PM

good to see some pic's Matt it looks to be coming along really good now, keep the pic's coming as i have already stolen one of them just for reference sake and hope all's well up i your neck of the woods .....

Hi Lee, all's good here, hope all is well round your way. Told ya I'd post some pics, eventually

. Anyhow, there'll be more pics coming soon, the engine should have the heads on it by the weekend as soon as I get over this flu, might even get the floor painted too. Still gotta get down your way so I can give you that rad support & pick up the bumpers. The bumper reconditioner we use at work keeps asking when I'm gonna bring them in :tease:

. Cheers Matt

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#9 _greenmachine215_

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Posted 02 July 2009 - 12:14 AM

Mate this is one topic im gonna be keeping a close eye on, The EFI Conversions are becoming so popular these days, the days of pumping the throttle and pulling out the choke are fading out, Just hit the key and go. Ive got an injected 355 goin into my hatch, so expensive but i cant wait, and it will be reliable.

Keep us posted with all you do.

Cheers
G

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#10 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 20 July 2009 - 10:46 PM

Finding it hard to get any work done on this car in between work, family & love jobs. Finally got the floorpan painted, it's only GMH black but then this is a drive car not a show car.
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Sandblasted & painted rear control arms 2K black. Powder coating would've been better but then this is a budget build.
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Front end all stripped awaiting a trip to the sand blaster.
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I painted these 2K black to replace the brown column shifter.
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#11 76lxhatch

That was easy!

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Location:Unzud
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Posted 20 July 2009 - 10:50 PM

Nice job on the underside, bet that took a while to clean!

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#12 _nial8r_

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Posted 21 July 2009 - 07:47 AM

looking good Matt, what in the hell did you clean the under side of the floorpan with ??? i bet it took ages to clean it up like that, i know im famous for the trusty old wire wheel but shit it makes a mess :spoton:

keep us posted on the pics mate....

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#13 _ass308_

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Posted 21 July 2009 - 08:06 AM

looking good matt :spoton:

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#14 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 21 July 2009 - 04:08 PM

Thanks for the comments fellas. I cleaned the floor pan over the course of a week after work. It wasn't one of those "fun" jobs but one of the secrets to rebuilding old cars I've found is it helps to have plenty of paitence to stick with the boring crappy jobs like this. I used degreaser & scouring pads to get the bulk of the grime off, then detergent & more scourers. Finally I gave the whole floor a scuff with P400. I primed a few spots where I cleaned off surface rust, but other than that just blasted it with GMH black. As I said, this is no show car, the purpose of this excersize is to make working under the car alot more pleasurable. Nothing worse than trying to fit gearboxes etc while dirt & crap is falling in your eyes on your face etc.

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#15 fatslr

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Name:Garth
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Posted 22 July 2009 - 12:58 AM

Hey Matt
Looks like you have been busy with this build looking good
How's the other torrie going? I was hopeing to see that one repainted and retrimmed that was all it needed when i saw you at WSID oh and maybe some :tease:

traction

Garth

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#16 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 04:50 PM

Hey Matt
Looks like you have been busy with this build looking good
How's the other torrie going? I was hopeing to see that one repainted and retrimmed that was all it needed when i saw you at WSID oh and maybe some traction

Garth

Yeah I was too, it's soo close to being completed but since that night at WSID I've kinda lost interest with that car. For all the time money & effort I've put into it, i can't seem to fix the few problems it has, or find anyone who can steer me in the right direction so it's currently in storage 'till I figure out what I'm going to do with it. After seeing & reading about so many other street driven Toranas & Commodores with even more spastic running gear than mine I figured it wouldn't be that hard to build something similar myself, but alas I got so far with it & find I can't go any further. I guess it kinda makes things harder when you're trying to do the whole build up of a car like this yourself though. The purpose behind this car, is I've always wanted a neat Torana I can get in, drive it in traffic & not have it overheat, trigger fault codes etc. This car being alot milder shouldn't have those problems like the silver one does & if it does end up like that, well that's another story. Anyhow, good to hear from you again Garth, all the best Matt

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#17 _studricho_

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 06:08 PM

Great start so far. I can vouch for the turn key type of Torana with EFI compared to the old pump/choke with carbies.

You'll love it when it's all done and said.

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#18 _nial8r_

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 07:16 PM

Great start so far. I can vouch for the turn key type of Torana with EFI compared to the old pump/choke with carbies.

You'll love it when it's all done and said.

hey paul whos things mate ?? im pretty sure this is Matt's 2nd injected Torana only problem with his other one is its to cranky and me thinks the boy's in blue hear him crank it over from 20k's away :spoton:

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#19 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 07:49 PM

Hi Lee. Yeah the silver one is noisy but it's main issues are over heating & tuning issues. True, it's regoed with the V8 but not engineered & air filter out the bonnet & cowl mounted gauges is a beacon for the wallopers. :rockon:

It needs either a really good Delco/Kalmaker tuner to sus it or a Haltech ECU in place of the VN ECU & a complete re-tune. Trying to find a good tuner in Sydney is harder than you'd think. The place that originaly tuned the memcal half done the job & isn't really interested in finishing it.
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More interested in doing GenIIIs I think. The technicoloured Torana's engine is only mild, higher comp, a bit of porting & an SV5000 spec cam. Will run it on the standard ECU/Memcal so she'll probably run a little lean, but I'm not going to be raping it, only the odd little skid when the moment seems right. Just want to be able to cruise it anywhere, anytime & yeah not attracting too much attention from Mr Plod will put my mind at ease. You know the story of my driver's licence taking a brief holiday :tease:

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#20 _nial8r_

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 08:01 PM

Hi Lee. Yeah the silver one is noisy but it's main issues are over heating & tuning issues. True, it's regoed with the V8 but not engineered & air filter out the bonnet & cowl mounted gauges is a beacon for the wallopers. It needs either a really good Delco/Kalmaker tuner to sus it or a Haltech ECU in place of the VN ECU & a complete re-tune. Trying to find a good tuner in Sydney is harder than you'd think. The place that originaly tuned the memcal half done the job & isn't really interested in finishing it.

More interested in doing GenIIIs I think. The technicoloured Torana's engine is only mild, higher comp, a bit of porting & an SV5000 spec cam. Will run it on the standard ECU/Memcal so she'll probably run a little lean, but I'm not going to be raping it, only the odd little skid when the moment seems right. Just want to be able to cruise it anywhere, anytime & yeah not attracting too much attention from Mr Plod will put my mind at ease. You know the story of my driver's licence taking a brief holiday

lol i can lend ya my pushie if ya like mate :tease:

oh and if ya wanna swap me for your silver Torana for my roller and VNSS ill take ya troubles away from ya mate :spoton:

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#21 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 08:26 PM

HMMM.....Thanks for the offer mate, but that would cost me too much. If i sell that car the wife said she will divorce me :<_<:

Besides i've been slowly building that car for almost 12 years & i don't care if it takes another few years to finish which is why it's in storage

The technicolour Torana will also give me experience in doing a full repaint in & out in 2K metallic so if it turns out OK then i'll have the confidence to repaint the silver Torana myself rather than pay $6000+ for someone else to do it. If it turns out crap, well I'd rather learn the hard way on this car than my silver one.

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#22 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 26 July 2009 - 05:38 PM

One of the areas on my Torana that needed attention is a part alot of LH LX UC owners can relate to. The battery tray. Unlike most that need to be replaced for rust, mine had the tray replaced at some time, but had been rather poorly fitted. Whoever did the replacement only cut the bulk of the panel out, then sat the replacement panel over the top & went spastic with a MIG welder :blink:

.The unfortunate part of this job was once I removed the tray I found it was a genuine GMH part complete with part number label. It had been butchered so bad i couldn't save it.
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Most of the afternoon was spent carefully cutting the panel out with an air hacksaw, followed by carefully grinding away the rather large MIG welds, trying not to damage the radiator support or skirt.
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Luckily the battery tray from the rusted parts car was one of the only parts not rusted, so i carefully unpicked & had it sand blasted. I would've had the car prepped & ready to weld the replacement panel in today, however my neighbours were starting to get upset with me after two hours of grinding & hammering so I thought to keep the peace I'd better leave the rest of the job for another day. Will hopefully post more pics during the week.

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#23 _nial8r_

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Posted 26 July 2009 - 05:50 PM

lol whats wrong with that welding Matt ??? looks like a great job !!!! for the poor barstard that has to repair it properly :spoton:

i know what ya mean about the neighbours thing, when i got mine home i think i went for a week straight with power/air tools before i thought " i wonder if there getting the shits with me yet " :<_<:

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#24 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 26 July 2009 - 06:01 PM

Heh heh. Maybe I'm just a perfectionist like you mate :rockon:

. Well it looked alot worse than the pics show. It also didn't line up properly & I'm planning to spot weld the replacement panel in so it doesn't appear too obvious that the panel's been replaced. When the, err "ethnics" :huh:

next door started slamming doors & yelling in whatever language it was, i thought i'd best down tools for the day. Oh well there's always tomorrow

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#25 _nial8r_

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Posted 26 July 2009 - 06:47 PM

lol when i was at my old joint i think the lived next to the mayor of the street, :huh:

i couldnt even have a thinking moment while scratching my nuts and having a ciggy without him yelling something out the window, do they not remember they were once young too ???