394 replies to this topic

[hawk]

Finished off the floor today and got a few photos of the welds. They show the sill welds and what looks to be at the rear wheel arches in the door jams and at the front of the front floorpan.

anyway, will be slowly getting reassembled now.

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[toryman76]

All that effort and they still put a UC arse on it! 😂😂😂 jokes aside cars coming along brilliant mate. KBS floors look mint. Keep it up.

[yel327]

You'll find joins on the windscreen pillars too. Hopefully they staggered those properly.

[hawk]

One pillar is welded closer to the mirror and the other closer to the roof. Centre section of the car was maroon. Rear im not sure about but the welds in the rear door jams deffinitly arnt factory.

So Radiator support is off one car, rails, front floor and engine bay off another and potentially had the rear off a different car. As there are welds on both sides in the door jams.

Anyway bit more progress as the interior is going back in. decided to re use my old pillar vinyl due to colour matching. New floor plugs, steering column back in.

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[toryman76]

Almost a roller ready for paint?? Is that the plan Steve?

[hawk]

I wish that was the case but the outside is staying ratty for now.

Plan is to finish the interior off in the next week, then its going back together slowly to be prepared for rego.

Interior:
Carpet
T Bar handle replacement
Kick panels
Rear seat belt bolts
Column key barrel area is out of whack so need to sus that out.

Exterior:
New speed nuts for front panels.
weld in a new battery tray
Windscreen replaced only if required for rego.
new wheel nuts.
new washer bottles.
245 50 14 rear tyres
Not sure on front tyre size yet.

Mechanical:
Steering rack rebuild, may replace it yet as per previous post.
New uni joints for tail shaft.
Front brake calliper rebuild.

Driveline will be a 253 and auto at this stage although if funds and time run out I'll throw a 202 auto back in it for the time being.

Then it will just be the minor things to finish it off.

[toryman76]

Nice! Solid list to keep you busy but also remain focused. Paint can come after all this as the rest of the car will be micky mouse.

[hawk]

Paint will be down the track after I eventually buy a house.

Got the carpet, kick panels, underlay and a hatch style auto knob.

Ran out of underlay so I'll pick some more up after work tomorrow.

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[yel327]

I always grabbed UC shifters when I could as they shift on the correct side for a TH400 and bolt straight into a HQ-WB tunnel hole. Harness plugs straight into the dash. Used to get a little vinyl boot made up and tuck the ends under the carpet. Allowed you to run a bench or buckets with a floor shift auto ie not console shift. Was especially good when the original TH400 column shift got all sloppy. Was good for a van with buckets as it allowed you to get into the back easier.

[hawk]

I remember when I had my old HQ statesman I had to get the shifter link swapper to the other side when fitting an early commodore trimatic.

[hawk]

Interior is finally back together, got a few tweaks to make and carpet isn't perfect but pretty stoked its together.

Still need upper rear seatbelt bolts and The centre console mid section screws.

The auto shifter is a little off centre but its sikaflexed in to seal it so it can stay like that for now.

The seatbelts will probably need to be replaced at some point too.



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[hawk]

Small update, started on the front of the car tonight and got the battery tray out.

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[toryman76]

Nicely done. Should clean up alright.

[Rockoz]

As far as your tyres go, I would make a suggestion to you based on experience.

The car will handle a hell of a lot better if you have the exact same tyres front and rear.

From the introduction of RTS that has been the best option right through to the end of the Commodores.

Even my LC did best with common tyres.

I did try 10mm wider on the rear, but the understeer became really bad.

But I do tend to like tight winding roads more than most.

 

Cheers

 

Rob

[hawk]

Thanks, I've narrowed down tyre size to 245/60/14 Hankooks or 245/50/14 Eagers for the rear. The front will be a 195/60/14 hopefully.

The red car in the photo is my old one with 195 65 14 front and 215 65 or 60 14 rear. Rears were 8's and a different offset.

Anyway spent this afternoon working on the fit of the battery tray. The rares item really is a poor fit and needed a fait bit of hammering. The fit looks relatively good now.

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[yel327]

245/60/14 are a lot bigger than 245/50/14. If you were near me I could loan you one of each to compare.

Edited by yel327, 31 March 2021 - 05:23 PM.

[hawk]

Cheers, although I think I'm set on the 245,60,14's. Based on the photos below.

Finished off the battery tray. Dropped the motor and box in so I could tighten up the front suspension.

So below is 245/60 on the passengers side and 215/65 on the drivers side.

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[mitchg]

Looking good Steve! Way more progress than mine, that's for sure! Looks great all back together!

 

Any plans to smooth or tidy the bay? Working that battery tray is the perfect time lol

[hawk]

Thanks, working away at it. Hopefully I can pick up a new rack next week. I have a tight deadline haha so need to push to get it done.

Funds have run dry now so it's going to slow down a fair bit.

At this stage the bay won't be getting done as that will open a can of worms. It will stay looking standard even in the future. Due to the amount of damage to the rails I feel like cutting the lips off them would significantly weaken them.

When the bay is done the bonnet hinge area will weed attention. there will be a few small holes hiding there. and the radiator support panel will need to be removed and welded on properly. Its currently brazed on and not sitting 100%.

[toryman76]

Smart play to leave the bay for now. I feel like I spent way more time on mine than the rest of the car and I didn't smooth anything. I'm happy with the result though.

[mitchg]

Thats how mine started, I ripped the battery tray due to rust and added flat sheet, then starting filling holes and smoothing wheel arches and welded that gap between arches and rails. I didnt trim the rails, didn't see it overly necessary and looks wonky if the holes aren't centre in them so I left them alone.

 

Looking forward to the rest of the build!

[hawk]

Well a little more progress.

Picked up another steering rack for parts and will drop them both off to have a good one made out of the two. Hopefully that will be done this week.

Bolted the front guards back on with all new speed nuts and chrome bolts from resto spares. Made fitment a lot nicer.

I need new headlight screws if anyone knows where to get them? Resto spares don't have them, will have to check rares.

Got new rear tyres ended up with 225 60 14 Nankangs mainly due to them being available and at a good price. decided on 215 60 14 for the front also available in nankangs.

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[Heath]

When you say headlight screws... send me a message on FB with a photo of the screw with a ruler next to it. I may have spares.

[hawk]

Thanks heaps Heath.

If I can't find new ones I'll let you know.

Had the rack rebuilt with new everything. Did the double knuckle mod and fitted it all up to find it doesn't fit.

Had some advice through Facebook that even though the rack ends are listed as UC they aren't actually UC rack ends. Apparently I need to cut the thread further along the rack end then cut them down about 15mm per side. does this sound right?

Anyway, a few pics. The one of the passengers wheel shows where it sits with the drivers side straight and the tie rod ends at max adjustment.

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[S pack]

What was wrong with the original tie rod ends?

Also excuse me for saying this but......bloody cable ties, everyone uses bloody cable ties to hold the rack boots on. Give them a couple of years and they will break and fall off.

Whatever happened to the good ol metal clips?

Edited by S pack, 21 April 2021 - 09:24 PM.