Javascript Disabled Detected

You currently have javascript disabled. Several functions may not work. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality.

lh torana resto and 355 build up

Started by _ryan350_ , Oct 06 2012 10:05 PM

Next

Please log in to reply

49 replies to this topic

#1 _ryan350_

Guests

Posted 06 October 2012 - 10:05 PM

Hi all , Name is ryan, have just joined the forum in the last few weeks and purchased a lh torana last saturday!! Also have a late model chevy silverado that is in the process of being airbagged and body dropped but has been put on the back burner to do a quick resto on this torana! Anyways like said picked the car up last week and have stripped it to a bare shell and will be on the rotissory tomorrow! plans are as follow
- Sand blast shell and and fix all the rust and get the body smooth and give it a nice paint job
- interior will be pretty much stock but will get a roll cage and a bench seat.
- will be doing a weld in chassis strenghtening kit
- rear end will be a 9" aswell as minitubs
- Engine is getting built by horse power engineering in qld, plans for engine are 355 cubes, callies compstar h beam rods, mahle forged pistons, 4 bolt mains conversion and a solid roller cam. heads will be hand ported vn heads flowing around 300cfm with a torque power pro paw single plane hi rise manifold. estimated hp will be between 550-600hp at the flywheel. Auto will most likely be a manualised trimatic with a 5500 rpm stall convertor. Car will be registered and driven on a regular basis and will see the 1/4 mile as often as possible. Aim is for it to run a 10.50 or better!!! also should mention wheels will be convo pros with some decent dish on the rear and hope to get a 265 or 275 under the rear with the minitubs. As soon as it has been sand blasted will have the engineer come look at it then start the chassis kit and minitubs!! anyways heres a progress pic, cheers ryan

Posted Image

Back to top

#2 _greenmachine215_

Guests

Posted 06 October 2012 - 10:25 PM

Sounds like its gonna be a ripper engine, any reason your tubbing? 275 will fit under unflaired guards might be able to save some cash that way.

What colour have you in mind for it?

Edited by greenmachine215, 06 October 2012 - 10:26 PM.

Back to top

#3 _ryan350_

Guests

Posted 07 October 2012 - 07:23 AM

thanks green machine, yes the engine will be a good thing haha!!! As for fitting 275's, to be honest i did not think they would fit!! How low can you go with a 275 under the rear without minitubs? I don't want the arse sitting right up and the tyres hanging out the side of the guards, really want the car to be sitting as low as possible but legal. i gather you would still have to move the shocker inboard correct? thanks mate

As for the colour im not too sure. I remember years ago when i was about 13 or so i saw a bright orange one in street machine and said to myself back then that if i ever got a torana i would paint it orange. So i don't know if i do what i have always wanted or do another colour. I know my panel beater has a colour in mind that he likes but yeah not too sure, the colour he is thinking is a custom colour they done last week on a drag car, was some sort of black.

Edited by ryan350, 07 October 2012 - 07:29 AM.

Back to top

#4 _LS2 Hatch_

Guests

Posted 07 October 2012 - 07:24 AM

Sounds like your on a mission, I look forward to following it. Good luck with the quick resto part though, is there such thing?
Keep us updated. Cheers

Back to top

#5 _ryan350_

Guests

Posted 07 October 2012 - 08:00 AM

haha thanks Grant, quick mission means about 6 months mate! I know what your saying though, my chev was meant to be a 2 year project and is up to 4 years and counting! This wont be though as it's in a friends shed so i cant piss fart around with it haha!

Back to top

#6 _ryan350_

Guests

Posted 07 October 2012 - 08:06 PM

car is now on rotissery and ready to be sand blasted!!!! hoping the weather stays nice for the next week! will order rust repair sections this week and thanks to wraight 75 ( a friend of a mate of mine) i now have or soon to have a new parcel shelf!!! Also be great to know any info about getting a 265 or 275/50/15 tyre under the rear with a 15x8,5" rim with 3 3/8" back space!
cheers ryan

Posted Image

Back to top

#7 Stinga

.

Members
2,114 posts

Name:Stinga
Location:Wollongong, NSW
Car:HD Holden ute, and sedan, UC torana
Joined: 05-December 05

Posted 07 October 2012 - 08:22 PM

looks like a pretty good start Ryan, nice shed too! is that a hd rear quarter on the wall?

Back to top

#8 _ryan350_

Guests

Posted 07 October 2012 - 09:00 PM

thanks stinga, plan is to make a list and achieve one to two things a week on the list, this way it keeps the ball rolling!!! as for the shed, yes it's great but sadly not mine!!! The shed belongs to a good friend of mine. he is the panel beater doing all the body work on it. car will be at his house pretty much till its completed as my shed is occupied with my chevy. As for the NOS panels, to be honest i cannot remember if there hd or hr, he has 2 of them sitting on the wall! are you looking for parts are you? can get more info, whether he sells them or not is another thing as he is a horter haha! cheers ryan

Back to top

#9 _ryan350_

Guests

Posted 09 October 2012 - 06:05 PM

ok guys. no photo updates but can tell you that the front end is now stripped and ready to be sand blasted. Have a 275/50/15 rim to use as a mock up for the rear. dam it looks like it wont fit with just minitubs but hopefully with some cutting things will change! in the meantime can anyone give a answer if the proposed tyre size will fit without the chassis rails moved inboard? Also spoke to my engineer today and will be doing coil overs in the rear now! he comes out next week so should be good to get confimation on how he wants stuff done then get stuck into it!

Back to top

#10 _ryan350_

Guests

Posted 20 October 2012 - 07:51 AM

ok guys, update time, Had engineer come look at the car this week, everything i want to do is fine, ie minitubs, coilovers ect.... car is at the sand blasters today so hopefully should pick it up tonight and get it into epoxy and start the rust repairs as i have all the sections i need to get a good start, should have some photos tonight

Back to top

#11 _ryan350_

Guests

Posted 20 October 2012 - 08:04 PM

ok all, update time, got it back from the sandblaster this afternoon and once finally sanded and vaccumed out we hit it with 2 nice coats of Glazurit epoxy inside and out! Body is actually in really good condition rust wise in my opinion. Hopefully start cutting out some rust tomorrow!!
Posted Image

Back to top

#12 _SLEDGE_

Guests

Posted 22 October 2012 - 11:00 AM

christ you move quick! the plans sound sweet I'll look forward to more updates

Back to top

#13 _ryan350_

Guests

Posted 22 October 2012 - 01:13 PM

christ you move quick! the plans sound sweet I'll look forward to more updates

Thanks mate, trying to get this thing built im a decent time frame!!!! Hopefully my panel beater will start on it soon, He has another car he needs to repair and get ready for paint so that will most likely get done before this i think!

Back to top

#14 Mort

Lotsa Posts!

Members
2,760 posts

Name:Mort
Location:Moranbah, QLD.
Car:74 LH SL/R 4.2, 75 LH 4 door 186
Joined: 16-December 07

View Garage

Posted 22 October 2012 - 03:47 PM

I hope you haven't planned for a quick build.

When i found Tony and spoke to him about doing the car it was a 10week job, that was 7mths ago but i'm not in a rush.

Back to top

#15 _ryan350_

Guests

Posted 22 October 2012 - 07:34 PM

Hoping to have it done mid next year mate. Hardest part is saving the cash for the engine/trans which is costing more than doing the body and paint work!!!

Back to top

#16 _ryan350_

Guests

Posted 23 December 2012 - 10:24 PM

Bad UC When i originally planned the engine build the engine was just meant to go into my vl bommodore so i was going to use the engine out of the vl (its a standard bore 5l) and is trimatic pattern. Since then decided a torana would be a better choice of car due to emissions and ofcourse looks, anyways got a standard bore trimatic pattern engine block off bomber so yeah will be staying trimatic pattern, If it blows up ill either put a glide in it or a turbo 400 and just get the block redrilled.

Anyways as for updates, I have finished the rust repairs where the bonnet hinges bolt on (both sides where screwed!) For a scaffolder i think i done a pretty good job , took a while to do them but yeah the repairs look very nice, Panel Beater has finished the other car so he starts on minitubs ect... next week while ill continue welding the heater box holes up and do some rust repairs on the sills. Also managed to get a very good radiator support from a bloke in qld for a good price too! Will get some photos up tomorrow of what work has been done , Engine wise the block arrived at horsepower engineering in brisbane about a month ago and Pete will get the ball rolling after the new year as he has been busy and as ive been waiting to get money off a ex employer to get the ball rolling. Plan will be to basically get the bottom end completed then do the heads later on when my funds rejuvanate haha

Back to top

#17 _ryan350_

Guests

Posted 23 December 2012 - 10:52 PM

Darren there is no plan to stretch the guards, is it something that is required mate? I was actually going to ask about your tyres as i plan on the same rim size as you. Like said earlier i want a 275/50/15 if possible but i don't want the rear sitting up high as i like my cars sitting low. If worst comes to worst ill put a 255 or 265 tyre on it for street duties and a bigger tyre for racing, Just means raising the rear which will be easy with coil overs! will check your thread now mate, cheers ryan

Back to top

#18 _Bomber Watson_

Guests

Posted 23 December 2012 - 11:11 PM

Where are the engine build picks??

hehe...

Back to top

#19 _ryan350_

Guests

Posted 24 December 2012 - 12:55 AM

Like said Bomber Pete has been busy and i have been short of cash to give him due to a old boss not paying me yet! Pete is doing a engine build thread on aussiev8 i think so will copy and paste onto here! cant wait for it to be done, should be a fair animal on the street haha

Back to top

#20 _LS2 Hatch_

Guests

Posted 24 December 2012 - 04:52 PM

I have a mate with a trimatic behind his 308 and has given no grief as yet. It's a standard stroke 308 with 400 hp at the wheels, it's rev limiter is set to 8800 and is stalled to 5800. As I said no grief yet and has been on the street for about 5 years. Was built strong by a reputable transmission guy in Melbourne.
Nothing wrong with a trimatic

Back to top

#21 Struggler

Forum Fixture

Members
2,426 posts

Name:Andrew or AJ
Location:Canberra A.C.T.
Car:UC Sedan
Joined: 08-November 05

Posted 25 December 2012 - 10:00 AM

Hi Ryan, I have 275/60R15 MT Drag Radials on the back of my 4 door UC. I remade rails and used a different spring in the stock location. You can see the build thread here...

http://www.gmh-toran...-a-sbc-project/

I had to radius the guards front and rear but the 60 is obviously taller than the 50 series.

Good luck with the project !!

Back to top

#22 _ryan350_

Guests

Posted 05 February 2013 - 07:17 PM

hi all! been ages since a update !!! work has been slow on this due to my mate (panel beater) moving out of his folks house into his own house plus i have been lazy :( anyways done some more welding and grinding weekend gone and firewall is pretty much finished!! have 3 small holes to fill then its done!! plan is to have a good crack at the minitubs this week and removing the coil spring locater section of the chassis and making it look smooth! with any luck will have the drivers side sill repaired and in primer, anyways heres a couple of pics of the firewall progress!
Posted Image

Back to top

#23 Ruts

How Fast!?

Moderators
1,118 posts

Location:Bargo, NSW
Car:Blown A9X replica, Black SS hatchback, LH SLR5000
Joined: 23-December 06

Posted 05 February 2013 - 08:09 PM

Very nice. Will be following this one.

Ruts

Back to top

#24 mr5000

chief break-everything

Members
3,455 posts

Location:melbourne
Car:77 lx 4door
Joined: 08-January 06

Posted 05 February 2013 - 08:34 PM

very nice only just spotted this i like your style 4 door torry with a 355 n your names ryan bet your a top bloke to haha

Back to top

#25 _ryan350_

Guests

Posted 24 February 2013 - 06:00 AM

Ok have done some more rust repairs (need to upload some photos which i will do this week!) Have not had much time to work on it as i have been working away. My mate the panel beater did manage to get me a nos rhr door skin though from the ballarat swap meet for a steal at $80!