435 replies to this topic

[derrin71]

That's just the odometer which doubles as a fault list. It's telling me to 'please calibrate the fuel gauge and speedo'.
Also forgot to mention that the old man knows the sodablast agent in town, he is trying to get me a good mates rates deal. Hopefully it will only be a couple of weeks until i am ready to completely strip the old girl and get ready for panel and paint!!!!

[derrin71]

Finished wiring up new dash today, also tidied up wiring under the dash. The tech info from dakota is excellent you can't go wrong. Hooked up the engine warning light which also doubles as the ECU diagnostic light, the park brake and brake pressure warning light. I set up the speedo sensor and it's magnetic pulse senders. just need to wait to drive the car on the road to set it up properly. Also calibrated the fuel gauge which was simple also. All up i am very impressed with their product. Might have a go at shortening the passengers side extractor tomorrow as it is heaps longer than the drivers side one and looks silly. Sounds anal but i used to work in an exhaust shop and i want the exhaust to look perfect.

[derrin71]

Tackled the front guards today, had to modify the front and rear of the arches for tyre clearance, also did the seam on the inner guard as well.
Did the passengers side first.
Here is the inner guard seam before and after,


Had to clearance the rear of the guard a little, before and after,


Had to take the most out out of the front of the wheel arch, big clearance issues here.


With the guards mods i kept the original guard lip and just cut a section out of the guard and welded the original lip back on.

Here is the finished effort on the passengers side.

And i also did the drivers side as well.

I did all of these mods with the springs removed so i could check clearance through through the full suspension movement.
I had to take heaps out of the front but the bumper bar and front spoiler will cover it up so it shouldn't be noticeable.
It has at least 1/2 inch clearance everywhere now.

[derrin71]

Started to make my dash today, did the drivers side first.


Pretty happy with the look so far, might do some more tomorrow.

[derrin71]

Finished the dash this afternoon, added holes for the necessary switches, (just lights, demister and wipers) also made holes for the flow through vents, almost forgot about these, would have been a bit hot in summer up here without them. Every little bit of ventilation counts! I am going to eventually paint or cover them with something to match the finished interior.


The stereo will go in the centre so that should break up the expanse of alloy a little.

[derrin71]

Fitted a new front mount swaybar this afternoon. Might tackle battery mounting and fitting a battery isolator tomorrow.

[derrin71]

Whiteline, you can buy them from pedders. Had to use front mounted one because normal one won't fit with extractors. About $300 from memory, PM sent. I have a couple of rear mount front ones. Maybe we can strike up a deal?

[derrin71]

Did some work on the rear boot/hatch area today. Made up a mounting system for my battery. I didn't like the look of the battery being up on top of the diff hump. Mounted the spare wheel as well.

Fitted up a battery isolator which will eventually mount to the boot inner panel.

I wasn't happy with the look of the dash, seemed to be too much alloy so i modified the old lower dash panel and will fit it to break up the acres of alloy panel. Will have to lift up the gauges as well but i think this will look heaps better.

[derrin71]

Made a new dash panel up today to lift up gauges. Also butchered lower section so that it fits onto flat panel. Looks heaps better with it on.

Only one more job to do before pulling it apart again and getting ready to have the paint stripped. Just need to work out how to wire up the reverse lights with the getrag gearbox.

[derrin71]

The brackets bolt to the chasis rail through where the bumper bar bolts go. Have to drill 1 extra hole each side. The brackets which go on the lower control arms also have to have their holes drilled as well 2 each side. Not too hard at all.

[Toranamat69]

I used to have one of those swaybars on mine and I think they are a poor design. I was going to get rid of the cross bar and the silly angled brackets and weld up a piece of SHS with a flat plate on the end to drop straight down from the chassis rails, which would be a far better idea. That is how the earlier Torana front mount bars were all done.

The bolts that hold those angled brackets on used to come loose and move around as they are in shear when under load. That whole setup not counting the bar itself was something like 10kg - the small brackets I was going to make would have been more like 1.5kg.

[derrin71]

Had to modify the tunnel, needed to make it higher to fit gearbox in. Just cut the top of the tunnel off and welded a new piece on.
Dash cost me about $800 (might be less now that the $ is better) landed here, only took 8 days. Bought it direct off Dakota via their online store. Check out their site, it's excellent and i can't speak highly enough of how the dash works and how easy it was to install and setup.
I hope the ride height will settle down when i put some more weight in the car e.g panels, doors interior etc, if it doesn't i will have to look at some lowered springs.
Haven't done much to the car in the last few weeks, been a bit busy doing other things, i hope to get stuck into in again in a couple of weeks.
BTW did a swap with Barman, got a dash pad in excellent condition in exchange for a rear mount front swaybar i didn't need.

[derrin71]

Started to remove some parts today, it has been raining here for a few days so i can't get stuck in and do the jobs around the yard i need to finish. Started the car up for the last time before i pull it apart. Removed the wheels and packed them away. Also tack welded a pair of exhaust pipe flanges on so i can send the extractors away and have them coated. Just need to fully weld them on when i pull the pipes off.

[76lxhatch]

If you have access to some three or four bolt flanges I'd highly recommend using them instead, those cat converter ones are a real pain to use and get to seal

[derrin71]

I worked in an exhaust shop for about 3 years and we didn't have any trouble with flanges like this except if they were too thin. The ears would bend as you tightened the bolts. We found that if you use sensor safe sealant e.g silastic blue or gold that you didn't have any problems. You also need to use the steel/asbestos gaskets. Normal gasket material just burns out. Sensor safe silastic is essential if your exhaust uses catalytic converters or oxygen sensors.

[derrin71]

Have had a little bit of spare time lately due to all of the rain stopping me working on my landscaping and yard jobs.
Spent a little bit of time in the shed today and started pulling the torrie apart. Hopefully will have it back in the rotissary so i can do a few jobs on the body including a little more engine bay smoothing, and some more rust repairs.

[derrin71]

Did a little more work today, got the shell ready to put back into the rotissary.

Also marked which holes in the engine bay i need to fill.
Might attack the engine bay first.

[derrin71]

Loaded shell back into rotissary today, it's been a few years since it was last in here!
Also separated gearbox and k-frame from engine.

[Stinga]

nice project, i like the dash, and the digital dakota looks sweet!
how did you go about wiring up the engine? did you buy a harness, or modify one yourself?