2139 replies to this topic

[Heath]

I had always been just a little bit annoyed by the wide area along the tunnel where the handbrake was situated:


Admittedly not a hugely significant thing as it'll be under carpet, mostly obscured by the console and I'll fall over if anyone ever notices, but I'm continuing to do the best I can here so off we go:


Started to bend up a replacement:


Took a little cut out of the side and tried to pull it in a bit straighter:


Came up okay with a quick tweak:

[76lxhatch]

Shouldn't you be making it wider so you can tuck the exhaust up as well? :-P

[Heath]

lol where I'm making the change is not related to where the pipes go - just making the shape of the floor look nicer from inside the car.

Is it that bad? I'm used to cars that are like 60mm off the ground and knock and scrape their way along rough roads, and I've got an aired out Torana in the workshop with a big twin exhaust on a 355 and it's nearly legal height lol.

Edited by Heath, 07 July 2016 - 08:08 AM.

[76lxhatch]

If you can tuck it up nice and tight, and the car isn't excessively low or the roads excessively bad, you won't have any issues. The worst part will be under the gearbox cross member, particularly at the collectors if they have big flanges.

 

Just having a dig, carry on ;-)

[myss427]

I actually widened that area to tuck the pipes in where they turn out to the mufflers, and I run 3.5 inch pipes. Might be a very aggressive bend to the muffler?

[Heath]

Thankfully I don't need 3.5" pipes. My exhaust will have a moderate radius curve into an X-type join after the cross brace, then angle out into two mufflers. Nothing ground-breaking, but the join will be further back because of the other hardware under the car.

 

It seems like flared cars also tend to sit a bit higher than non-flared cars generally? I can't really figure out what the change in eyebrow height is. But I'm used to cars that are properly low i.e.

 

...and I'm not yet sure that this car will need to be all that low to look 'low enough'. I'm not overly worried about ground clearance at this stage but maybe I'm naive?

 

The floor modification will neither increase or decrease room for pipes. It's just an aesthetic thing.

[Bigfella237]

Sorry if this has been asked and answered before but what are you doing for a handbrake then?

 

(Surely you're not willingly converting back to the damn LH/LX pedal?)

[Heath]

(Surely you're not willingly converting back to the damn LH/LX pedal?)

 

Haha I never understood what's wrong with the foot brake? As above, I am a fan of the LX look console. The car will have a ratcheting foot brake for parking as per standard LX, and a hydraulic handbrake for extending powerslides and assisting with left-to-right transitions of the oversteering variety.

[76lxhatch]

Yeah I like the foot operated park brake too, needs a peg for grasskhana but the instant off is great for hill starts.

 

I was only having you on about the exhaust, you've done so much other metal work it wasn't out of the question that you'd rebuild the whole tunnel!

 

You won't get the Torana that low with decent tyres under it, and if you want to it to handle it shouldn't be anyway.

[GMHAz]

Wow....your going to town on this build Heath, awesome job mate & I always look forward to the updates on Project Badass.

Cheers Az

[Heath]

Tacked it in nicely and ground the welds down flat for a run with the TIG:




Picked up LITRE8's old half-console up last year, bit of genuine performance pedigree to get the hatch up to scratch.


Hope the pedigree wasn't disturbed when I ripped off UFO304's idea and cut the bottom of it out to bring it closer to the trans tunnel.

Figure I have to make the mounts from scratch anyway so may as well make it suit the seats that'll certainly be lower. Got about 30mm out of the height in the end, and kept the negative draft shape at the underside which I think it quite iconic to the old Holden consoles.

[Heath]

Better keep cutting until I get it down to the equivalent of Litre 5.8 then.

[SHEEL]

I'm having withdrawels

[76lxhatch]

You got my hopes up!

[Bigfella237]

A silly question that I've been pondering with all the work having changed the shape of the tunnel so much, where / how do you get custom moulded carpet to fit now?

[Heath]

Sorry blokes I'm dropping the ball a little over here. I'm working on the under-dash clutch master ATM.


I'm actually hoping LX carpet will still fit but I'm not sure. The mods aren't THAT drastic, I don't know how close it has to be to look good.

Edited by Heath, 12 August 2016 - 07:59 AM.

[76lxhatch]

A silly question that I've been pondering with all the work having changed the shape of the tunnel so much, where / how do you get custom moulded carpet to fit now?

A bit easier with a console, you just cut it down the middle and the gap is hidden

[myss427]

You'd be surprised on what the Torana carpet will fit, I have a VL front tunnel in mine which joins in above the chassis rails and ends at the firewall. A little heat and water for stretching and shrinking, then glued to the under felt and you can't tell, no bubbles or lumpy bits.

[Heath]

So I've been wanting to work on actual parts of the car as a break from sheetmetal jobs...

My UC had a rat trap 6cyl clutch setup previously. As it has the limit stop arm, I decided it was a good pedal to start with.



Cut the rat trap arm off and spent some time finishing the clutch pedal nicely... like everything these parts are so rough to begin with.




Used some genuine Torana metal (captive door nut plate from what's left of that LX front cut lol for the




My TKO used gearbox came with a Wilwood 3/4" Universal Master Cylinder which I decided to use, but the pushrod had to be cut down and I cut the thread further down as well to fit it all in the restrictive area above the column.

I presume this master is a match for the supplied concentric slave throw-out, but easily replaced with a different bore if it turns out to not be quite right for how I've set it up.

Threaded tubes welded in under the dash so that the master bolts in nice and easily with one hand.



And yes, the column clears it, as does the foot-operated parking brake.

Brake pedal was a bit jealous too so I gave it some attention, but haven't decided what to connect it to yet.

Edited by Heath, 14 August 2016 - 10:52 PM.