85 replies to this topic

[TempesT]

Well I thought that it was about time that I re-introduced myself and give a quick write up on my torry, whats been done and whats going to happen �Progress is slow but then working away from home will do that.

It all started late 2003 when I got onto an ad in the Tradin� post (thurs morning) for an lx 202 and that�s about all it gave away. Well it turned out to be the car pictured below. 77' lx apr build, mandy red, 202, manual, just over 200,000 log books and info on all previous owners.

It was being sold as the previous owner had cleaned it up, prep'd and had it resprayed (passes 10 foot test) and after all that had crashed it into a tree 8 months earlier. Despite this the body was in pretty good condidtion.

So between then and now I had the chassis straitend ($300)picked up some new guards, bonnet, nose cone, chrome bumpers, 14x8 and 14x7 hotwires, lowered springs and a couple of parts cars for the bolts, solex locks, drop tank, center consol ect ect list never ends.

Me and best mate over this time had done enough panel prep between us on cars bikes and boats to pump out a spray job on the front panels that is better than the rest of the car. I guess that was early last year� time flies.

Last major sort of work I did was clean up the rear and boot of the car. This was just some new wheel arch carpet, wire wheeled and POR15�d, new boot cover and rear interior panels (trim by boomfunk(sic)). It could use another day or so attention to get it looking a bit better.

Well as it sits at the moment I could just bolt the bonnet back on and drag it over the pits� rego and were on the road.



The plans�.
355ci:

Over the last 9 months stared collecting bits for my engine build (thanks to struggler for all the help):
- Bare 304 block
-Scat crank
-ACL pistons + rings
-ACL Bearings
-A9l rods; closed, honed and new bolts added
-vn heads
-harrop dule plane monifold
The whole rotating assembly has been balenced and when the cash and time allows the next thing is to have the block honed, clearence then decked.

This will sit on a rebuilt (in process of)Uc front end with HQ stubs, vented disks, girlock calipers and a set of harrop arms all sitting, waiting in the shed. I have also located a 9ich diff through a mate�. Looking to have this shortened and the specifics of the diff rebuild I will deal with in due corse. As for a gearbox I am still scratching my head over but its a 50/50 split between a TKO or the T56� Finaly once all this is together and on the road I will pull it off the road again, strip it, prep it and send it into the panel shop for a respray. That and a new set of wheels (been even considering flairing it in the last process there ) and it should bet done about the time when the world runs out of crude oil� lol.

enjoy the pics,
jim

[Neils LX]

Hi
Very nice, keep updates as this should be very tidy when your finished.
Chears neil

[RIM-010]

Keep it unflared, you know you want to

Looks like a nice clean hatch mate, and I love the colour

Good luck with it.

Tim

[Neils LX]

Prob a good idea to leave flares off this one i like it as it is
Chears Neil

Edited by Neils LX, 29 October 2008 - 01:14 AM.

[lxsstorana]

Great story and car.

Good to see it went to a good home,

and don't you just love the Trading Post when you pick up a bargain.

Mick.

[MRLXSS]

Flashbacks! I remember when you first got this!!! And you bought those hotwires off Gary!

Man the car looks good now!!!! Do you still have to travel hours to go work on it? Or have you mangaged to bring it closer to home! Will be good to head out on a cruise with ya jim!

[Heath]

Yep looking forward to cruising with ya. You still living in Camberwell or somewhere around there? Also keep to hear if you've got the car home yet.

[TempesT]

Unfortunate the car is still five hours south of Canberra.... but next time I�m back the new shed will be up and the torana will have its own space. My folks are still in camberwell but I am in Canberra until 2010. Hence the reason for building the engine in the workshop here at the uni.

Yeh its great, i remember going round to Gary and buying the hotwire. Its amazing how many people over the time the you meet from the forums. If this place wasn�t here it would make life so much harder for a first timer putting a torana together.

As for the flairs debate.... well i was always against them as i couldn�t bare to hack away at those rear guards then pinch and weld them up. However if Im spending all the money on the car and end up with a flairless hatch ... It all depends on the wheels I can get on the rear, I like convo's and a 9' rim with 4-5inch backspacing (cut down diff) would be cool, then again those 4" fronts don�t do it for me.
At the end of the day it will come down to how those rear guards look when I sandblast it.

Anyway I get paid tomorrow so i might give fyshwick head service a call and get a quote for a bore and hone.
jim

[MRLXSS]

I was thinking the same thing Pallbag.... Maybe he isnt after a Cylinder Head polish....

[TempesT]

Its about time for my annual update

Well the car has been in its new home(shed)for the most of this year and in this time I coated the floor and had power hooked up plenty of lights and outlets. I spent the long weekend putting up shelves soon to follow will be a decent sized work bench. I managed to get the car out and give it a clean.

The 355 is slowly coming together... slowly. I have also pulled the lights, grill ect ect in an atempt to try and sort my panel gaps out. Im going to try and get down in a couple of weeks and try and get those gaps just right. If i cant I will drop if off at the local panel shop and see if they can sort it out.

dont you think a two post hoist would look good in here??....old man likes the idea too

If any one between syd and melb has a cheap complete BW diff for sale I would be keen. Also I have a parts car that I am parting out literally every panel is rusted out act Mainly if someone is after little parts bits and pieces..

On a final note I may have an addition to the shed in the works but more to follow over the next few weeks. All I can say is Holden-yes, torana-no


jim

[MRLXSS]

Looks great in there Jim!!! The shed looks MINT!

What did you put down on the floor? I'm about to put a shed up and want to finish the floor the exact same way!

[TempesT]

its a two part product by protec called Epotec. I went to the distributor in Thornbury I think there is one in Dandenong, 4lt of paint and 4lt of hardiner cost $115 (I think it was) and its mixed in a 50/50 ratio.

Edited by TempesT, 06 October 2009 - 03:09 PM.

[rodomo]

I went to the distributor in Thornbury I think there is one in Dandenong

Paintmobile?

http://www.paintmobile.com.au/osc/catalog/index.php

[TempesT]

Nah rodomo not paint mobile, although I have gotten a lot of my auto paint through those guys.

There are actually protec shopfronts, the address is 2 Sheppard Street Thornbury. It was easy to buy through their shopfront and would do so again

[MRLXSS]

Thanks Jim! I'll look into it!

So, when do you think the car will finally be on the road? Are you based in Canberra now? Or still living everywhere?

[TempesT]

Well it would take half a day to put all the little bits back on it then just would have to go over the pits and whatever they wanted done. I’m still in Canberra and don’t want to rwc it until I can drive it around. I am looking at a change in career at the end of the year for various reasons one of which is the inability to get back home very often in a year.

Until then I am keen to keep accumulating parts for driveline swap. The list looks something like: Finish the engine, put the Uc front end back together, sort a diff out then I’ll look at what I can afford in the way of trans. With the diff I was pushing toward the Borgwarner. It will need to be shortened and have the shock mounting points moved in so I could run the biggest backspace possible on the rear.

So to answer your question Matt if I change jobs and career then I’m hoping to be close this time next year..... if not then who knows

Edited by TempesT, 07 October 2009 - 09:21 AM.

[TempesT]

Quick update:

I have put a deposit down on a tko inc shifter and bell(aggro's old box. This is a massive step in sorting out my drive line. Im a little more settled down after my move and that has given me some time to plot... Id like to say act aswell but there has been more plotting than acting.

Now my diff:
Late last year I got myself a BW out of a VNSS for $100. Now I had to shorten whatever diff I was going to get as I wanted to run deep backspace rims under an unflaired rear.

Work in progress just swapping comps to get some diff info

[TempesT]

ok, the vn diff length is 1564mm, standard torana is 1440mm. On a standard hatch rear you can run an 8" rim with a 5" backspace.

So the plan is run on the rear a 3" backspace on 17x8 ar500's.


TO make these fit (on paper) it would require 2" taken of either side of the standard diff. That means taking the standard vn ss down to about 1340. This would defiantly require shock mount relocation.

The other expense in this work is sorting the axels out. I was thinking of running the short side axel of a skyline BW as the new long side and a turning a short side down for the other.

The other options is to keep my eyes out for any suitable shortened diffs that pop up for sale at around the 1340 length and put torana mounts on that.

What do you guys think about this?

[TempesT]

UPDATE:
A few little things sorted.

AGGRO's old Tko 600, I gave it a quick clean today


I was very happy to pick this up off fleabay. Its bare, so i will need the torana mounts welded on ect, clean it up change stud pattern and then thats sorted.
stats:
9 inch
over all diff length 1380mm (1230 flange to flange)
28 spline
3.88 ratio open center
EL disc brakes
picked it up for $830

jim

Edited by TempesT, 05 August 2010 - 06:07 PM.