445 replies to this topic

[Potta]

hey guys, i own a uc hatchback and need to get it registered, two owners of this car before me put in a drop tank but i do not have any evidence that the engineer signed off on it... dose anyone know someone to get it passed/?? live in nsw and am willing to pay !

Maybe start a new thread?

[LXCHEV]

Time to blow the cobwebs off this thread - just like I did with the old Torana today! Nothing better than cruising on a nice sunny, but crispy cold Winter's day.

 

Thought I'd share a few photos from the past 6 months or so....

 

Let's go back to Summer time for these first ones at the 50th Vic Hot Rod Show in Carlton at the Royal Exhibition Building..

 

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I think I mentioned previously that a year or two back now I moved my rego over onto the Vic Club Permit Scheme (CPS).... it's awesome except for the butt ugly number plates.... some of these shots below show the 'H' plates that I had. More on this soon, as I've recently changed off these....

 

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[LXCHEV]

We stopped on the way home from some cruise a while back and took a few shots with my wife's EH. Gotta love matching Convo's, still my favourite wheels...

 

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Anyway, earlier this year - a few changes were made to the Club Permit Scheme here. The "M" plate was introduced to cover more highly modified cars, to separate them from the more original stuff which remains on "H" plates. My car falls into the category that should have an M plate due to the Small Block Chev engine conversion. Whilst I would not have been forced to move across, I decided to pro-actively jump ship since I already had a VASS certificate (engineers report), plus I really like the M plates for some odd reason! And now I know everything is ridgy-didge and nothing can be questioned by the boys in blue.

 

I went into the Camberwell Vic Roads office, and were given the 2nd set of M plates to ever come from that office... check out the low digits. They've really grown on me and I reckon they read pretty well... What do you reckon?

 

 LXCHEV M Plates 01.jpg   940.21K   0 downloads

 

 LXCHEV M Plates 02.jpg   955.32K   0 downloads

[LXCHEV]

Hahaha @ binary, love it. I definitely ain't no programmer though

 

I actually tried contacting VicRoads to have 00383-M put aside, but they wouldn't play ball. I've heard a story through several people, that apparently some guy kept hounding them (or perhaps he knew someone), and he ended up with 00454-M on his early Holden with 454 Chev under the bonnet, that's awesome.

[Heath]

Brett I reckon you'd be one of very few who's pro-actively changed to the M plate scheme hahaha.

 

Absolutely love this car, such a tops 90's look.

[GMHAz]

The only word that comes to mind for the Torana...." TUFF "....great looking car mate well done.

Ohh Yeah the EH......love it

[Tiny]

Looks like all is well mate! 

The beast still looks the goods Glad to see some pics!!

[LXCHEV]

Well after 15 years of having a mini-spooled rear end in the car, today saw the end of an era!

 

Earlier this year I lashed out and picked up an Eaton 31 spline Truetrac centre.. man these are a cool looking bit of gear:

 

 

 

 

 

After sitting on the shelf for the better part of 9 months or so, I finally found the motivation & cash to pull the car apart and have the centre re-built. I figured this was a good time of year with lots of Spring and Summer cruising hopefully coming up.

 

I've always loved my locked diff, and it's certainly had good manners in my car (in some cars they're terrible), but I knew a Truetrac should hopefully be much more refined, and lighten up the steering/turning/parking some-what. I retained the same 3.7 gearset, but had all new bearings etc fitted. Here she is ready to rock and roll... bye bye mini spool and hello truetrac....

 

 

 

The 31 spline Moser axles were something I invested in probably around 10 or so years ago. I thought after that long with the spool and fatties on the rear that they might be a bit twisted or worse for wear, but they seem to have stood up quite well. Prior to these axles, I was running 28 spline Holden axles, and I remember they had twisted around at least 1 full spline. Gotta love the Mosers, awesome!!

 

 

 

The car was back on it's wheels today, but I've only had a chance for a quick lap of the block. Early signs are good with the steering feeling much lighter. This week I'll get it out for a proper cruise, and tackle some roundabouts, that will tell me how much difference it's made.

[LXCHEV]

That's the plan, fingers crossed!!

As for the EH colour, we're been told it's "Mediterranean Blue" which I believe is an early Holden colour.

[Tiny]

Mate you will never look back, and you won't know yourself!

I did this a couple years back and its one of the very best things ive done to improve the drivability of the car.

Between the tru trac, power steer, and rubber bushings all round the car is a pleasure to drive finally!

Great to hear the beast is still evolving mate, i hope you and the family have been well!!

[LXCHEV]

3 kids now Tiny, life is hectic!!

I remember reading in your thread that you were rapt with the true-trac, so I'm sure I will be too

Mmmmm.... Power steering....

[Tiny]

Wow mate, great stuff!!
Glad to hear things are going well, thats the main thing!

Im making some further plans to hop mine up a bit... but it will be a couple of years off......should be fun though!

Must catch up soon mate!

[LXCHEV]

Had a great evening out at my local Rare Spares in Bayswater. VIP club night.... my 5 year old Brock has been counting down for the last few days as he loves the shop and loves meeting the drivers - especially John Bowe, LOL!

 

Here's Gary O'Brien and Brocky...

 

 

They bought the TCM beast down.... man this car looks ultra cool in real life...

 

 

 

 

JB - my son's favourite driver (probably because he has his photo all over the Rare Spares shop). JB is a true gentlemen with so much time for the kids (and adults for that matter)....

 

 

Once a hotrod moved out of the way I was able to park my beast side by side with the real racing car... this was pretty awesome.

 

 

 

 

Jim Richards was also there - another top bloke! Didn't get photos of Jason Bright or Greg Ritter.

 

 

Time to pack up the old girl....

 

 

Both weapons tucked away safe and sound! They let us into the transporter for a look, and little Brocky was still having "the best night ever" after 9pm. Normally in bed at 8pm, haha. Great stuff. I think he's turning into a petrol head like Dad

 

 

[Ice]

Get em when the young Brett great pics mate JR is a top bloke

[LXCHEV]

Absolutely mate, start 'em young and steer them in the right direction!

PS. Forgot to say, loving the truetrac so far, definitely a nice improvement to the drive-ability of the car.

[Gump]

This was one of the cars that always inspires me to try and work on my hatch. Such a perfect car


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LXCHEV]

Awesome Ryan, the car looks sweet. You must be rapt to be on the road. A 310 stroker is a bit different to the norm as well. Have you had it dyno'd? Would be interested to hear what kinda power it's putting out.

[LXCHEV]

Well it's been 4 years since the new engine was fired up, and I can't believe it's taken me that long to finally throw it down the 1/4 mile! Been talking about it for ages, wondering what times it might run. So on Sunday just gone, I finally made the trek up to Heathcote in the old girl, and damn it was good to get back on the track

 

 

 

I sold off my MT ET Street Radials a long time ago, and can't justify the cash these days for race tyres, so Sunday was old school racing in pure street trim, on the good old cheapo Maxxis street tyres - which I really wasn't sure what to expect grip-wise.

 

I was really, really curious to compare this engine combo with my previous ones. My old 383 with the hyd flat tappet, 4-into-1's, twin 3" system, ET Street Radials, and making 245rwkw - did a best ever of 11.77 @ 115MPH.

This new 381 is well down on overall HP (it makes 230rwkw) which works out to be 30 Flywheel HP less (peak). I'm also now running the much smaller exhaust (little Tri-Y's, with twin 2.5" system).

The rest of my setup has remained consistent from what I first bought 15 years ago (ie. the RPM Air-Gap dual plane, old Pro-Topline iron heads, the 3200 stall, and 3.7 gears. Similar comp, 750 carb etc. The main change is clearly the hyrdo roller camshaft.

I was absolutely convinced in my mind that with the lower power and more restrictive exhaust that I'd be running mid 12's (really hoping for low 12's). The only change I made after arriving at the track was playing with the tyre pressures.

 

So my long anticipated results:

 

First pass - 12.19 @ 115 MPH. Wheelspin, and skating when hitting 2nd gear too. It was great to be back on the race track though!! Instant smiles. Lousy 60 foot time of 1.99. 26 PSI in the tyres.

Second pass - 12.04 @ 114 MPH. 1.85 60 foot, with 23 PSI. A slightly better run.

I started thinking surely there's an 11 hiding here somewhere. Maybe I'm not back in the 12 second club after all. It was taking me a little bit to get the feel back after so long out of the seat, so I manned up and dig a bigger burnout, then hit it harder off the line... come on Maxxis you good things you!!!!.....

Third pass - 11.87 @ 115 MPH. 60 foot a bit better again at 1.78. Wasn't expecting that! Tyre pressure drop to 20 PSI was a good one.

Fourth pass - completely fried the tyres, 12.6. Instant memories of why street tyres are so frustrating at the strip, lack of consistency.

Fifth pass - 11.82 @ 116 MPH. 60 foot 1.76. Nicer pass. Shifting at 6,500, crossing the line around 6,200 / 6,300 or thereabouts.

I was pretty stoked with that one - knocking on the door of 11.7's, which is where my P.B. is still stuck, haha!!. My 60 foot times are not good though - I've run 1.62 in the past. I reckon there's still more in my car if I can launch it better. Need a bit more practice and more runs to get back into the zone. I'm now keen to see how far I can push these street tyres.

Question - what's the lowest PSI you can run in a normal street tyre?

The rest of the day at Heathcote was written off pretty quickly - took a passenger and ran an 11.9, the the missus had a steer and did a couple of 13.1's frying the tyres. All of a sudden it was 4pm and track was closed. Jumped back in the Torrie and drove 2 hours home again, it didn't skip a beat. Absolutely rapt! I'm really loving this combo. The tru-trac diff centre proved to be a winner too.

Already itching to go again

 

Eric in the triple carb'd 6 cylinder LJ was running into the 13's:

 

 

This is my future pit-crew! Kids are now 6, 3, and 6 months old:

 

 

Father in law's supercharged V6 behind me:

 

 

Lots of cool cars were out to play at Heathcote:

 

 

Taking my sister for a fang...

 

 

 

[Tiny]

Holy dooly mate, that's unreal!
Man.... Street rubber, driven not trailered, full pipes. A real credit to you in every way!!

You're giving me the itch to get back to the track mate!!

Congratulations and well done