435 replies to this topic

[derrin71]

Away on holidays Baz, give us a break!

[derrin71]

Righto, here is my latest. After looking at so many hatchback projects on this site i decided to do an investigation into the condition of my c-pillars. Guess what? RUST! Not too bad considering what i have seen over the past couple of months. Someone had done an excellent job of fixing it with good old bog in the past. Luckily my car spent most of it's life in Longreach (750km from the ocean) for most of it's life so the rust is minimal. The design of the c-pillar is abysmal, no wonder all hatches rust out there. Anyone got ideas on how to prevent it from happening again? As well as heaps of rust preventer, fish oil etc i was thinking of drilling a hole in the bottom of the pillar where the moisture forms. It will drain into the lower rear quarter panel where it will drain out. Time to break out the grinder and welder.

[derrin71]

Around the hinges seems fine, will only find out when i completely strip it.

[derrin71]

Just an update of what i've done in the last couple of weeks;

Fitted a charcoal canister i got off the old man, hid it under the left front guard, it's off a mini so it's pretty small, still have to hose it up though.

Machined up a spacer for my balancer pulley, a word of warning if you buy a gilmer belt kit off procomp motorsport you need to make up a spacer, the instructions say to just space it out with washers! The bolts they supply aren't even long enough.

Fitted and wired up my demster system, 2 x 12v hairdryers plumbed into the windscreen ducts so i can remove the factory heater system, used a relay to switch them as they use a fair bit of power. The cable ties are to hold it all together until i make up some type of system to secure the hairdryers.

Have been muckng around with wheels trying to work out what i want. I used a spare commodore rim and spaced it out to simulate the right backspace, took out the springs front and rear and simulated full wheel movement to check clearances. I have ordered new rims and hopefully they should be here sometime this week.

[ls2lxhatch]

The charcoal cannister capacity is matched to the fuel tank capacity. You could run into problems with rego if the mini fuel tank capacity is significantly smaller than your fuel tank.

Some people with drop tanks have been required by engineers to fit two Torana charcoal canisters to match the increased capacity of the fuel tank.

[derrin71]

Got them from Campco in Rocky, the girl there recons that people come in and get them all the time for car demisters, about $20 bucks each from memory. They plug into a cigarette lighter. Dad has in his mini as well, absolutely hopeless as a demister but it got him through rego no problem.

[derrin71]

My new wheels arrived today, Weld Phoenix, 18x7 and 18x8, i'm rapt with them, they are just what i wanted, let us know what you think?



And no they aren't marks or scratches on the rims it's water, it's been raining all day here.

[derrin71]

The fronts are 18 x 7 with 4" backspace which is the standard offset for these rims.
The rears are 18 x 8 which originally had 4 1/2" backspace, these would suit a standard diff length, i got 10mm machined off the back of mine before they drilled the stud holes because i am using a BW 78 out of a skyline which is a bit wider than a torana diff. i suppose you could say they have about 4 7/8" backspace.
I may have to do a little surgery to the front of the guards arches and the firewall seam in the front arches which is par for the course for toranas with big wheels. The wheel arch mods shouldn't be noticeable. As i said before i tried my 18" Commodore rims spaced out for size and everything should be right.
Once i get to take it for a little drive i will know what the clearances are like. Then i can strip the car put it back into the rotissary and do all of the body mods, panel and paint.
It was a tossup between these and showwheels streeters in grey.
I wanted this style of rim as i like the pro touring look which seems all the rage at the moment.

[derrin71]

Got some tyres fitted today, i put the car back on the ground for the first time in about 3 years. Hopefully the ride height will settle when a bit more weight is put in the car, about an inch lower would be good.

The rears fit really well, might just need a bit of guard lip surgery.

The fronts should look a bit better with a wheel alignment, (it has camber like a V8 Supercar at the moment!)

The front guard needs a little surgery both at the front but also the seam on the firewall but this is normal with big tyres on torana's.
Nothing too hard.


Might take it for a little drive up and down my driveway tomorrow.

[derrin71]

Took the beast for a little drive up and down my driveway. Only a small issue with my fuel pump, a word of warning for anyone running an electric pump, run a filter in the line before the pump otherwise it will seize when the tiniest piece of crud from out of the tank gets in it! Luckily the local speed shop had a replacement.


Also my Dakota Digital Dash turned up today, only ordered it last Monday, 8 days to come from the states , excellent service if you ask me.

[derrin71]

Bright Green

[derrin71]

Not a big fan of barbados green, something like 'jamacian lime' or 'lettuce alone' takes my fancy (a darker shade of green) although at times i also lean towards yellow. Definitely not orange. Too many orange hatches around. (apologies to all of the orange hatch owners out there)

[derrin71]

Haven't done anything worth posting for a couple of weeks until today. Started installing my Dakota digital dash today. Really easy to do, you can't go wrong. Have everything hooked up except for the fuel sender. And i still have to finish setting up the speedo sender which uses magnets attached to the tailshaft.

Here is the computer which i have put under the dash. Please excuse the wiring everywhere i need to tidy it up when i am finished.