445 replies to this topic

[MRLXSS]

The home office is looking great Brett!

[LXCHEV]

Thanks Matt - still a long way to go, but it's plenty cosy enough. The front third of the slab still needs to be done, then I'll push on with new wiring, lighting and insulation - after which I can finally clad the inside. I'm having trouble choosing between a split system to do heating and cooling, or installing a fireplace for a bit more ambience.

[LXCHEV]

Lots of rain and flash flooding this week in Melbourne's outer east;

 

My normal happy place - the WFH / garage space:

 

 WFH Space.jpg   113.11K   10 downloads

 

Our street - showing what happens when the storm water hits capacity:

 

 Street Flood.jpg   350.44K   8 downloads

 

And the updated garage:

 

 WFH Office Flood.jpg   143.96K   10 downloads

 

Soggy, wet carpet - man how it stinks! I've ripped it all out now, but still battling to get rid of the smell.

 

Will this Winter ever finish?!!!

[V-SLR5000-P]

Assuming the house is still high and dry Brett although seeing your garage and work space inundated is bad enough. Seems that the worst has passed but still raining here today. Did you have time to start lifting things out of harms way?

[LXCHEV]

House is built on stumps, so nicely out of harms way - no issues there which is good.

 

The drains I've installed to protect the garage (being on the lowest spot of the block) actually did a great job, up until the point where the storm water easement just said enough's enough, so then we copped all the overflow in the backyard - combined with torrents of water streaming across the yard from all the neighbouring (higher) properties. I love my neighbours, but it'd be nice if they kept their water to themselves. Being in an older area, no one around here has decent drainage, so it all just compounds.

 

And yes, we did have time to rescue all the critical items. I don't keep much on the ground anyway - have learnt from previous experiences that it's good practice to keep things up nice and high. Still very lucky we were home though.

[SHEEL]

interesting times!

[FLY_LX]

does seem like endless winter in melb.

 

Mate thats a nice looking set up,shame to see hope its not to bad.

 

 i used to work in disaster recovery, we would put down a few blowers crack the doors and windows, leave them running till damp is gone, can take a wile depending on size of area.

We would also use a big dehumidifier dumping water outside and a ozone or deionizer machine, cant remember which one. for the smell.

 

You can hire all of them if insurance take to long, but it might be a bit hard to do atm because it wont stop raining.

 

good luck bud

[LXCHEV]

What's another couple of years with no updates and still no Torana play time!

 

In mid-2023 I embarked on a pretty significant house extension, so the poor old LX was evicted from the garage in order to provide a storage location for the house build. It went back to my parents house, and straight back to the gravel driveway carport where I first built it. It sat there for a year, filthy and neglected. Shame shame shame I know.

 

Anyway, the rescue mission commenced a month or two ago. It did take a little bit of sorting - the 6 year old battery was dead and even the CTEK couldn't bring that back to life, I had a perished carb plug, stuck thermostat, leaking intake and a really decent trans fluid leak (2.5 litres of ATF required to get drive back). Besides those minor gremlins - she fired up like a dream. Amazing to hear the sweet sound of the 381 cube Chev again after so long. Have definitely missed it.

 

Absolutely the best part by far though - was seeing my eldest young lad (now 14 years old) deeply invested in the mission. He gave it a quick wash, got some air into the tyres, and was strapped into the passenger seat before I could blink, super eager for a cruise. Loving every second of it.

 

The car's been long, long overdue for a freshen up in many different areas - so hopefully with the house extension largely behind me now - I might be able to focus some TLC back onto the car and even re-discover the old hobby....

 

 T1.jpg   282.88K   6 downloads

 

 T2.jpg   355.31K   6 downloads

 

 T3.jpg   276.34K   6 downloads

 

Finally back home again....

 

 T4.jpg   195.87K   9 downloads

[Heath]

This is very good news!

[gtrboyy]

Nice work!

[SmacT]

Awesome! Looking forward to seeing what you do with it. 

[mr5000]

yes be great to see you back out shout out if you need a hand with anything

[yel327]

The answer is probably back in the thread, but how did you get to a 381ci SBC? Is it 20 thou over on a 3.75” stroke? The one I’ve got here to do, just been on hold for a few years is 385ci.
Good to see it back alive again.

[LXCHEV]

Correct - only 0.020” up on this one versus the more traditional path of 0.030” to get to 383.

[yel327]

Cool. The bore in mine had to go 40 hence 385ci, and Wiseco forged pistons were easy to get in that size. I'll be getting a 377 transfer made for the air cleaner in the old 1968 427 style like the attached but 377, as that is how Chevrolet built them in 1963 for the Grand Sports Corvettes. I think it's the first instance of the 3.75" stroke in SBC or BBC (BBC was 3.76").

 

https://www.amazon.c...r/dp/B01ASB8SOU

 

Worst case it'll have people head scratching!

[Shiney005]

It looks like the Centrelines held up well to being in the elements for that length of time. Most modern alloys would have been powder.

[LXCHEV]

Hey Laurie - funny you mention how the alloy rims held up whilst being exposed to the elements. This has been on my mind (not just rims, but everything), so I've embarked on a mission to give all the brightwork and wheels a thorough clean and polish.

 

I experimented with some aluminium deoxidizer before polishing, and so far, I'm sold. Everything is bouncing back like new.

 

First up was the Brown Davis droptank and rear bumper...

 

 LXCHEV Cleanup 01.jpg   244.56K   7 downloads

 

I've now started on the rims. Here's a before photo showing how tarnished and shite they'd become...

 

 LXCHEV Cleanup 02.jpg   234.58K   5 downloads

 

A keen eye will see that historically I've been polishing the centres on these rims (mainly just to keep them clean), but I never loved the look. So I played around with some '0000' steel wool, and then scotch-brite pad once my steel wool ran out, and I've dulled the centres back off again. Definitely happier with this now. These rims haven't looked this good since I first purchased them.

 

After shots:

 

 LXCHEV Cleanup 03.jpg   269.95K   4 downloads

 

 LXCHEV Cleanup 04.jpg   295.41K   4 downloads

 

I didn't go crazy on the back of the rims, but still spent a bit of time to get them respectable again.

 

 LXCHEV Cleanup 05.jpg   226.96K   6 downloads

 

I'll continue to work around the car, and then I'll spend some time on the paintwork, and undercarriage.

[Shiney005]

What brand was the deoxidiser? I have used one once before and it was too aggressive.

[LXCHEV]

California Custom - here's the products I've been playing with. I still love Autosol too - I chop and change a bit between Autosol and Purple.

 

 California Custom Products.jpg   143.07K   6 downloads

[SHEEL]

wow the rims came up SO good!!

[Shiney005]

I have been using Purple for years, but hadn't seen their deoxidiser.