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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

#101 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 12 September 2009 - 09:33 AM

they look to have came up relly good Matt, and dont worry about the wet on wet your not the only one that uses that method and to be honest 99% of ppl wouldnt even know, i do the same with colour and clear everytime everytime i se your project it keeps on telling me to paint mine high gloss jet black, i love the look hmmmmm shinny hey and you get a chance sometime over the week end can you try and get a pic of the HQ engine braket so that i can see if it is the same as the Torana V8 ones i have ???

Thanks Lee. To be honest i put far more work into the prep & painting on my SLR but no one ever looks there & as this car will be driven most every day the finish i got is good enough i think Posted Image

The trick is to lay the primer down smooth & even with no dry spray. The black layed down good too, the only difference between this car & my SLR is the factory cast marks & other minor imperfections are more visible on this car whereas the SLR suspension is all smoothed. You could be forgiven for thinking the whole car will be painted black, but this isn't the plan. I'm very close to fitting the motor now, so will go & grab the mounts & take some pics for ya & post them as soon as.

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#102 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 12 September 2009 - 09:47 AM

nice work matt.

are u going to toranafest,and are u takeing a car ?

Thanks Chris. I wasn't planning on going as i'm going hard trying to get this Torana on the road, but a mate wants to go as he's never been (even though he's a Commodore man) We're going up with BCR42Y either in his Torana or following in my mates VY. Will you be taking your Torana up? If so i'd love to catch up & see the finished masterpiece in the flesh. Posted Image

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#103 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 12 September 2009 - 02:41 PM

A quick update on my work today, finally sprayed the dash in satin black 2K.
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Ready to start fitting the k-frame & front suspension.
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#104 _nial8r_

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Posted 12 September 2009 - 03:06 PM

looks good Matt but at the start where you said this bit " A quick update on my work today " i ripped through the pic's hoping to see the K-Frame and the new disks all fitted up !!!!!!!! but there wasnt any Posted Image

but the dash looks good mate Posted Image

you sure are hooking in to this project thats for sure well done on all your effort so far Posted Image

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#105 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 12 September 2009 - 03:14 PM

looks good Matt but at the start where you said this bit " A quick update on my work today " i ripped through the pic's hoping to see the K-Frame and the new disks all fitted up !!!!!!!! but there wasnt any

but the dash looks good mate you sure are hooking in to this project thats for sure well done on all your effort so far

In the process of fitting them now, will post pics tonight Posted Image

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#106 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 12 September 2009 - 07:13 PM

I was hoping to have the front suspension all built up & in the car by now, but as always with cars, you will run into problems from time to time. Mine revolved around getting the actual k-frame to bolt up easily. It took nearly an hour of jiggling around but it's in. Here's the k-frame about to be lifted in place.
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Instead of fitting polyurethane bushes throughout the car, i fitted a mix of rubber & poly. The k-frame mounting bushes & steering rack mount bushes are poly, but as I want a compromise between handling & comfort, i used rubber bushes in the control arms. Here is one of the lower arms about to be bolted in place. As with poly bushes it is advisable to use a grease when fitting rubber bushes. I bought a grease specificaly for rubber. This way hopefully the front end won't make annoying sqeaking noises when it hits the road.
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The k-frame inposition.I found a little spot i missed when spraying it but i have a touch up gun so a little blow in won't pose a problem. The car isn't a show car by any means so i can deal with a few areas that aren't perfect Posted Image

This is where i am at as of now, one side all together apart from the brakes, one more side to go. It's looking to be a long night ahead of me Posted Image

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#107 _nial8r_

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Posted 12 September 2009 - 07:38 PM

getting there mate no good rushing now other wise the night will be even longer and more stressful Posted Image

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#108 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 12 September 2009 - 08:11 PM

getting there mate no good rushing now other wise the night will be even longer and more stressful

You're absolutely right there Lee no stress here. I only sent the steering rack off for an overhaul last wendsday & haven't got it back yet so either way the car won't be back on the ground this weekend. I'll only be trial fitting the brakes too, as i'm going to paint the disc rotors ( not black which has been the main colour theme so far ) but a nice bright COB silver Posted Image

When are we gonna see more pics of your beast mate? Posted Image

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#109 _nial8r_

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Posted 12 September 2009 - 08:31 PM

im haveing about a week off with the Torana mate as i really wanna get this slab poured by mid next week, i done all the trenchs this morning think it was just over 27mtrs i think was done by lunch time had a quick bit to eat and called reice the plumbing suplies joint so i could go over a pick up all my pipe and fittings and they had closed early for some stupid reason so that has held me up till monday Posted Image

you know what its like when your on a roll then ya hit a brick wall and get stopped dead in ya tracks ARRHHH !!! tomorrow i will have a tidy up and i might give that bit of body filller it last rub so its ready for some high build, maybe only an hrs work in it if that, and still have to find some HQ brackets so i can get this motor sitting right and line a few things up then i can drop the motoe back out and box in the support in the tunnel, also found a joint in mexico ( melbourne ) that have the Harrop manifolds, for an EFI one its around $1100 so i think that might be waiting for a while till the house reno's settle down a bit Posted Image

i think i might have to almost start a thread on all my other projects Posted Image

anyway i cant wait to see more pic's when the rotors are on im watching a set at the moment wil let ya know how i go with them

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#110 _ass308_

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Posted 13 September 2009 - 06:44 PM

ill be there matt.

bring the 4 door mate

.it will be a blast.

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#111 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 13 September 2009 - 09:05 PM

ill be there matt.

bring the 4 door mate .it will be a blast.

Would love to bring the SLR up but the paintwork lets it down & i'm not game to leave it unattended in a carpark. I'm happy just to wander around & check out everyone else's Torana this year. Maybe next year........

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#112 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 13 September 2009 - 09:22 PM

im haveing about a week off with the Torana mate as i really wanna get this slab poured by mid next week, i done all the trenchs this morning think it was just over 27mtrs i think was done by lunch time had a quick bit to eat and called reice the plumbing suplies joint so i could go over a pick up all my pipe and fittings and they had closed early for some stupid reason so that has held me up till monday you know what its like when your on a roll then ya hit a brick wall and get stopped dead in ya tracks ARRHHH !!! tomorrow i will have a tidy up and i might give that bit of body filller it last rub so its ready for some high build, maybe only an hrs work in it if that, and still have to find some HQ brackets so i can get this motor sitting right and line a few things up then i can drop the motoe back out and box in the support in the tunnel, also found a joint in mexico ( melbourne ) that have the Harrop manifolds, for an EFI one its around $1100 so i think that might be waiting for a while till the house reno's settle down a bit i think i might have to almost start a thread on all my other projects anyway i cant wait to see more pic's when the rotors are on im watching a set at the moment wil let ya know how i go with them

Yeah i know what you mean with other projects. $1100 should get you a Harrop single plane pre-drilled for injectors. Bear in mind you will have to make your own fuel rail fitting kit. I used stainless steel allen head bolts & 10mm ID aluminium tube to make mine. Can measure them up for you when the time comes, saves you a coulpe of hours or so. Brakes should be going on sometime this week, along with a set of 18inch VY SS rims i'm borrowing off my mate. Will post pics once it all happens. Now the dash is painted i'll be doing the wiring this week too. Scored a combined three bar fuseable link & 20 or so circuit fuse block out of a wrecked VT SS ex-cop car today, so will be wiring that into the original Torana harness so i can give the 10 circuit glass fuse block the flick Posted Image

The VT ex-cop set up is much more compact than the VN-VS one & should work well. It was unique to the cop cars as it was seperate from the factory VT harness & was used to power up the blue & reds, on board computers, sirens etc.

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#113 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 20 September 2009 - 08:56 AM

Didn't do much to my Torana last week so yesterday i got stuck into it, starting with the front brakes. Gave the new rotors a scuff with scotch brite, a couple of coats of DP40 epoxy etch primer, then clear over straight silver tinter.
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Trial fitted to check caliper clearence, all good.
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Bolt the recoed steering rack on today & the front brakes can be bolted up for good. Stripped the steering column down a couple of weeks ago, primed & painted it yesterday, so will fit it today.
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Started the wiringlast night, replacing the glass fuse block with a blade fuse block out of a VS Commodore. This will give me extra circuits to run things like the fuel pumps, EFI relay etc & give the existing Torana circuits their own individual circuits instead of shared ones.
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The old glass fuse block. It actually was in good condition but out dated for the drive train that will be going in the car.
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Today i'll finish the wiring off so when the EFI harness goes in, i can just plug it in & go.

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#114 _nial8r_

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Posted 20 September 2009 - 12:04 PM

looking good Matt, its a bitch masking up rotor's hey... i find if i mask right to the edge of the centre then trim with a Art knife or snanley blade it domes up pretty neat but nothing the pads wont sort out, gezz i just remembered a whild job i did once lol was just about due for new pads so i painted the whole bloody lot Pulsar Q blue with clear over the top and let it dry off, took it for a drive a couple of days later to get my new pads and by the time i got home the old pads had cleaned the rotors up Posted Image

looks like your flying along now, rotors look nice at home too, and im so not looking forward to the wiring with mine so i think i sit back and watch you do yours and pull your hair out Posted Image

have you decided on a colour yet of is that still up in the air ??

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#115 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 21 September 2009 - 06:33 PM

You won't be sitting back watching me pull my hair out Lee, the hardest part of the wiring retro fitting the VS fuse block, is done Posted Image

Took the best part of 12 hours, but the Torana has gone from a single 12V powered 6 fuse circuit board to a 4x12V powered 16 fuse circuit board. We tested each & every circuit & all is AOK. Big thanks to my good mate Mick, a true master technician. Here, we've stripped all the fuse pins out, leaving the 12V power ribbon.
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And this is what we were left with.
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I was able to buy new fuse pins from Holden, so i could keep the correct colour wiring for each individual circuit on both the factory Torana body harness, & the VN EFI harness that will be integrated into it. As we were wiring up each circuit, we wrote down the fuse number, function & colour so once completed I will format & print my own individual Torana/VN EFI wiring diagram. We wired one circuit at a time, testing voltage, resistance etc as we went. Here we're about a third way through wiring in the factory Torana body harness.
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Once all the Torana circuits were all wired & tested, we started the power sources for the starting & EFI. Again, we did one circuit at a time testing & recording function, fuse number on the board & wire colour.
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Here is the fuse board all wired up, all 16 circuits including some comfort options like stereo, stereo memory, electric aerial as well as neccessities like EFI relay, fuel pump, start & engine fan.
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The harness has been run right up behind the dash using the factory Torana mounting clamps so it's well hidden from view.I have still to wrap this part of the harness, here the extra wires that will form part of the intergrated EFI harness are visible. Until the dash fascia goes in. Posted Image

Before i started the wiring, i finished off fitting up the reco steering rack, twin piston calipers & 290mm rotors etc. Decided to sit the 18x8 VY SS rims the car will be running hopefully once it hits the road.
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Next stage is to organise the VN Commodore four pinion 3.45 geared LSD to go into the Torana suitably modded of course.

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#116 _nial8r_

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Posted 21 September 2009 - 06:48 PM

gezz Matt you have made it all look too easy, but it looks real neat and tidy in there mate Posted Image

i hope your car isnt gonna sit to high with the SS rims under it Posted Image

and m guessing that you will have the whole Torana done and ready before you fit up the donk ?? hey if you get a chance can you snap a pic of the fuse card that is in you VN so that i can keep it for a reference as i chucked my cover that had the fuse card on it ( stupid hey )

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#117 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 21 September 2009 - 07:50 PM

Thanks mate Posted Image

yeah she's riding high at the moment, but she'll drop down once the engine/trans goes in & puts some weight on the springs. Plus the 18s have the same rolling diameter as a set of 15 inch chaser rims with RE92s. You guessed right that i'm trying to set the car up so once the engine goes in it will be a matter of a couple of days before it starts & drives. I'll take a pic of my VN fuse location label for you sometime tomorrow. cheers Matt

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#118 _LJ355_

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Posted 21 September 2009 - 08:34 PM

Really coming along nice mate top job :clappin:

What colour is it going to be ?

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#119 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 21 September 2009 - 09:37 PM

Thanks mate Posted Image

Mick, my mate who helped me do the bulk of the wiring told me he met you at his work as you do PDR for them. Small world huh. I have a colour in mind, it's a not so common LJ-LH factory colour, but i'm still not 100% certain yet. It's still a little while off paint so i have some time to decide. It may even hit the road in primer yet.

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#120 _LJ355_

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Posted 22 September 2009 - 06:36 AM

Yeah i was talking to him about it the other day very small world !

You will have to bring the other beast out to the track soon

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#121 _slr253_

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Posted 22 September 2009 - 10:34 AM

Are you still using the Torana stub axles?

What are the calipers from and do they bolt straight on?

Cheers,
Brett

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#122 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 22 September 2009 - 04:04 PM

Yeah i was talking to him about it the other day very small world !

You will have to bring the other beast out to the track soon

Yeah very keen to take the SLR out to WSID again once i sort out a couple of issues with it. Had a few people wind me up about fixing it & getting the 11 second quarter time out of it i know it has in it. Mick has been in that car on the street & owning the VN SS with the V7 Vortech, he isn't easily impressed, but even he was surprised how quick the SLR is.

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#123 MRLXSS

The Render Garage

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12,414 posts

Name:Matt
Location:Upwey, Melbourne
Car:355 LX Hatchback, DeLorean DMC-12, LX SS Hatch, VY Cross8 Crewman
Joined: 09-November 05

Posted 22 September 2009 - 04:09 PM

Wow! Coming along great!!! Lots of really good mods your doing as well!

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#124 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 22 September 2009 - 05:45 PM

Are you still using the Torana stub axles?

What are the calipers from and do they bolt straight on?

Cheers,
Brett

Yes, they are standard LH stub axles & steering arms. The calipers are VT Commie & bolt onto an adapter bracket which in turn bolts to the Torana caliper mounting points. I had to modify the bracket slightly to clear the tie rod end on full lock, but other than that they fit perfect.

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#125 _LH SLR 3300_

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Posted 22 September 2009 - 05:52 PM

Wow! Coming along great!!! Lots of really good mods your doing as well!

Thanks mate Posted Image

The EFI 5.0L conversion is becoming more & more popular in Toranas, but i wanted to take it a step further with things like the wiring, brakes etc & more or less have all the function & reliability of a late model car in a classic muscle car body.