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1974 LH torana

Started by _jacobke20_ , Jul 01 2011 05:14 PM

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73 replies to this topic

#1 _jacobke20_

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Posted 01 July 2011 - 05:14 PM

hey guys i just bought a 1974 LH Torana off an elderly lady who bought it new.

it is a typical old ladies car with a few dents and tares here and there. It has the original 173 and is an auto on the column.
its in reasonable condition as you would expect for a one owner car and only has the smallest amount of rust in the rear lower quater panel on the drivers side. however there is still alot of work to do to get it to a point that im happy with.
My plan is to use it as a daily driver and slowly do it up as i go. ive been working at a panel shop for nearly 6 months and am planning on repainting it in the original persian sand as soon as I can as well as getting the seats retrimmed as original as possible. and eventually i will be putting my dads bathurst spec 186 engine in. ok heres some pics:

the previous ladies garage:
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abaout to take her home

home:

getting rwc the next day:
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chillin with her mate at the shops

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#2 fenz

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Name:Aaron
Location:South Australia
Car:LJ 2 door and UC V8 4door
Joined: 26-July 09

Posted 01 July 2011 - 05:31 PM

Nice pick up.....wish i could find one that was close to home and not over priced.

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#3 _Gunmetal LH_

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Posted 01 July 2011 - 06:00 PM

Score!

Looks nice!

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#4 slr5640

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Name:Brian
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Posted 01 July 2011 - 07:15 PM

Great project car for you .. well done..
any chance of getting a closer pic of the dealer decal on the rear window for me?
Cant quit make out who it is at the moment.

thanks

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#5 _Kush_

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Posted 01 July 2011 - 07:56 PM

Excellent score!
Looks like my first car. Ahh memories.......

Roof rack looks horn!

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#6 _jacobke20_

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Posted 03 July 2011 - 09:40 PM

yeh mate its SIVYER HOLDEN

went down to a torana wreckers near my home and got all the missing trim parts, badges and heaps more. a full set of door trims and a better steering wheel centre as well as a set of extractors.
also pulled out all the old carpet today and bought some fresh underlay and moulded carpet. made it look instantly tidier:

old carpet:
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new underlay:
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new carpet:
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#7 _jacobke20_

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Posted 05 July 2011 - 12:50 AM

put the extractors and new exhaust in yesterday. drove it dumped over the diff for the day before welding the tail pipe on. sounds nice. not too loud with the tail pipe on.
also got a set of 5 1/2 torana ris that ill put on tomorrow.

Posted Image

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#8 notna

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Name:Reverse of username
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Car:1976 LX L32 SL/R
Joined: 21-May 07

Posted 05 July 2011 - 12:38 PM

Nice one mate! Good score. I love how oldies tape foam or carpet to the wall to stop you bumping your doors.... my olds did that

That colour, when painted well, can look really good. I'm glad you aren't changing the colour. :buttrock:

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#9 _jacobke20_

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Posted 05 July 2011 - 12:58 PM

yeh thanks mate. i think it is a really nice colour, it looks great on the inside where it is still original looking.

cleaned up the new rims today. starting to look good.

Posted Image

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#10 notna

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Posted 05 July 2011 - 01:08 PM

Nice

..... always worth doing the full rim I reckon, because moisture in the compressed air will cause rust on the inner part that the tyre covers. How many times have we popped a tyre off to see corrosion along the tyre bead area. Causes the tyre to not seal perfectly in some cases, and then you get a slow leak. They are annoying!!

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#11 _jacobke20_

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Posted 05 July 2011 - 05:12 PM

yeh mate i didnt make them perfect as they wont be on too long. i have one 6" and one 7" rim and im gonna take 2 of my 5 1/2s and get them widened so i have 7s on the back and 6s on the front.
ill probably get them powder coated before they go back on.
finished polishing my hubcaps and bought some dress rims. they look really good:

Posted Image

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#12 _toranatime_

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Posted 05 July 2011 - 05:33 PM

looks great! why would you take that roof rack off? what was wrong with it? haha
good luck with the build mate

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#13 _jacobke20_

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Posted 06 July 2011 - 10:11 AM

put the tyres on and also dropped her down a little lower today:

Posted Image

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#14 _mick74lh_

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Posted 06 July 2011 - 12:30 PM

That looks awesome. Jees you're lucky finding that. The couple of things you've done so far suit it nicely.

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#15 _jacobke20_

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Posted 11 October 2011 - 01:16 PM

havent been on here for a while so i thought id give u an update on wats been happening.
the restoration has begun and i aim to have it finished for my sisters wedding at the end of january!
i will be doing the following: repaint, retrim, fresh engine and disc brake convertion.
as usual tho not everything goes how you plan it and the day before i put her in the shed to start working on her this happens -_-

Posted Image

they didnt leave a note or anything!! i was so cut!
so anyway im after a passenger door if anyone has a rust free one lying around?? if not ill probably reskin it.

so ye its all happening and ill post some pictures soon of the progress and my new engine aswell.

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#16 Statler

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Location:Mackay Qld. Whitsundays for all you back packers!
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Posted 11 October 2011 - 01:33 PM

Bugger!

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#17 _Ben_

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Posted 11 October 2011 - 04:12 PM

Have you tried popping it out?

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#18 _Torrie_Man_

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Posted 11 October 2011 - 07:26 PM

Bloody hell, thats gotta suck! Where abouts in brissie are you? Im sure I have seen your car somewhere.

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#19 _napes_au_

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Posted 11 October 2011 - 07:34 PM

havent been on here for a while so i thought id give u an update on wats been happening.
the restoration has begun and i aim to have it finished for my sisters wedding at the end of january!
i will be doing the following: repaint, retrim, fresh engine and disc brake convertion.
as usual tho not everything goes how you plan it and the day before i put her in the shed to start working on her this happens -_-

they didnt leave a note or anything!! i was so cut!
so anyway im after a passenger door if anyone has a rust free one lying around?? if not ill probably reskin it.

so ye its all happening and ill post some pictures soon of the progress and my new engine aswell.

Shit mate!!! I know how upset Id be....

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#20 rodomo

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Name:R - O - B Dammit!
Location:Way out west of Melbourne Awstraylya
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Posted 11 October 2011 - 08:47 PM

Have you tried popping it out?

Dreamin'

It could've been worse? Just a door bugga but!

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#21 _jacobke20_

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Posted 12 October 2011 - 06:33 PM

so today i gave it a little attention to see how bad it actually was. coz at first glance it looked as if the whole frame was bent!
but after a bit of work with a hammer and dolly i managed to get it looking pretty good an after i popped the main dent out the door popped back into place and the gaps are near perfect again.
after i sand it down ill use a file and a slapper and im pretty sure its salvageable!! This is probably the best possible outcome as its a rust free original door!

but yeh hopefully it will work out!! ill get some pics up tomorrow as ive also started stripping her down!!

Edited by jacobke20, 12 October 2011 - 06:35 PM.

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#22 _Ben_

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Posted 13 October 2011 - 04:30 PM

Have you tried popping it out?
Dreamin'

It could've been worse? Just a door bugga but!

More like genius!

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#23 rodomo

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Name:R - O - B Dammit!
Location:Way out west of Melbourne Awstraylya
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Posted 13 October 2011 - 09:10 PM

Have you tried popping it out?
Dreamin'

It could've been worse? Just a door bugga but!

More like genius!

Dreamin'

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#24 _jacobke20_

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Posted 10 November 2011 - 11:17 AM

ive done a fair bit to her over the last few weeks and so far so good! it should easily be ready for my sisters wedding on january 28

anyway ill just show you guys some pics!

damaged door after some beating:
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put her in the shed to start stripping!

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popped the screens out and found NO RUST!!!

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pulled the interior out and again found no rust!!

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all coming apart:

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all glass out:

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all rubbers out:

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doors and guards off:

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started cleaning and pulling apart my UC front end:

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started working on the new engine aswell (186 bored out to 192, yella terra bathurst 6000 head, roller rockers, cam, tripple SU carbies, electronic dizzy)

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dropped my interior off at the trimmers (using original colour)

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bought myself some presents:

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now onto the body work:

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(damaged door)
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found a tiny bit of rust in the drivers door and a few dents from a previous repair:

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welded in a piece of commodore:

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got some materials:

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and now all doors and one guard are in primer (but im going to double prime)

Posted Image

also bought a patch piece for the rear quater:

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and there she is:

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so im painting the inside at home in my shed and then the outside at my old workshop (panel beaters) on a weekend. at the moment it will be going back to original but im still not 100% positive on that yet so any opinions/ideas on the colour would be greatly appreciated

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#25 _jacobke20_

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Posted 13 November 2011 - 11:12 AM

hey guys just trying to workout the specs of the cam in my 186 and hoping someone could help me out!! its a camshaft engineering cam and im aware they shut down a while ago and i cant seem to find any spec sheets or info about there cams. the code stamped on the end it CE778 so hopefully someone has some info??

thansk guys