201 replies to this topic

[Ice]

Looking good Steve arnt putting Torana,s back together fun NOT
love your work
cheers G.

[LJGTR6]

Those LC GTR interiors are the best. looks great. love the colour too.

 

steve

[gad05]

Hi Steve,

You're car is really coming along nicely, interior looks great.
Keep plugging away, slow and steady works for me.
Enjoy you're time in the shed, l know l always do.

Cheers Graham.

[gtrboyy]

Wow!!! This thing is stunning,glad you went with the lc red centre caps.

 

Mine is 69 monza blue/black interior gtr also lol.

It had similar mods as this except ferrari red & 14 inch kingy rims filling the wheel arches.

 

Man loving how the grille/headlight surrounds turned out also headache of rebuilding steering columns especially those NLA bushes at bottom.

Keep at it turning out great!

 

Yours is how I'm planning to redo mine back to blue just engine & large rallye rims black to fill minitubs.

 

 

 

ps. Personally thought those rare spares steering wheels could be a lot better when you see them against original wheel for the money.

Edited by gtrboyy, 08 January 2016 - 09:48 AM.

[ljv8]

Thanks guy's for all the positive feedback, I really appreciate it.  

 

Thanks Gtrboyy, ah will be nice to yours Monza blue too!  Yeah I don't have an original wheel to compare it to, but the finish on the spokes is not 100%, there is a bit of discoloring where the spokes meet the rim.   Will have to try and give it a polish.  And your right, definitely not cheap.  But at this stage that's the only option we have, or original wheels would be $1,000+ on eBay by now.

[ljv8]

Wow I can't believe it's been five years since I have posted on my thread. I had been chipping away at the GTR over the years and the usual roadblocks always get in the way, renovations, work, time, money, etc. We all have the same realities of life, and somewhere we fit in time for the things we are truly passionate about.

2020 became the year that I was going to finish this thing. For me as bad as COVID was in 2020 and as tough as the stay at home orders were, it was a blessing for having dedicated time in the shed. I would often go out first thing in the morning, drop out while working from home in my lunch breaks to quickly paint a part or strip something or assemble something. Spending half an hour here, an hour there and a bunch of hours to get the big things done meant that things progressed really, really well. So well in fact that at time I was waiting weeks and months for parts to arrive via post.

I got really frustrated with Photobucket changing their terms and breaking my image links and account, which broke every image in this build thread. I didn't bother to update this thread during this period, as I didn't have a reliable way of posting images. A build thread with just words and no images is next to useless. Anyway after reading up on the forum, and realising I can post images directly a few months ago is far simpler than using an external image hosting option. I just wish there was a way I could go back and edit my earlier posts and replace the broken links with the images.

Well long story short my project is complete. I was able to obtain my roadworthy and club reg and am now running her in. Wow, it has been like 25 odd years since I have driven a Torana, and almost as long since I had driven a manual car. What a feeling it was to fire her up and take her down the street. I forgot how chuckable these things are, and how well they can handle and go. It was such an eye opener, and oh I so missed driving a manual. We drive these new appliances on wheels these days, and yes they are comfortable, smooth and beautiful to drive, auto-everything, anti-everything, avoidance-everything but it feels like your in auto-pilot mode and feels like you are driving a fridge on wheels like everyone else. Driving a Torana wakes you up and makes you realise you are truly driving and you are in control of this thing.  The stares and reactions you get driving a Torana is something I wasn't prepared for.

 

 LCGTR_01.png   159.32K   10 downloads

What I will do is a bit of a retrospect and share some of my successes, failures, and issues overtime in this thread. There was plenty to learn what worked and what didn't, cam run-in, poor brake feel, messing about with spring heights, issues with rat traps, issues with speedo cables and speedo's, and wheel trim rings, what exhaust and muffler I went with, etc. All the usual teething issues we experience when building or restoring an old car.

I have done a few hundred km's and have about 750 to go to change from the break-in oil to regular oil. After this I can have it dyno tuned, which I'm looking forward to having it tuned. At the moment it's running fairly rich, but runs fine. Keeping the rev's under 4000 rpm during this time, but you can really feel the pull and urge particularly pulling back onto the freeway from a truck stop. For those that haven't read my thread, my original driveline was long gone during past ownership, so I'm running a blue 202 block, 161 head, tripple 1 3/4 SU's, HX improved cam, which has been built to XU1 spec by Ian Tate that's supposed to be good for 240 odd HP.  I'm running a regular M20 box with the standard (not XU1) gear set, so first and second are a bit short. It's a real shame we can no longer buy a repro XU1 cluster.  I have tried to keep it as period correct as possible, with a few little concessions for performance here and there, such as electronic ignition, K&N filters, etc but definitely no LS engine, no superchargers, no billet, no 20" rims or custom Street Machine styling. While I can appreciate that sort of thing, and truly admire the work that goes into a custom car or a resto-mod it's just not my style. 

One of the first issues I had was with the repro wheel trim rings. I'm running 5.5" rims up front and 6" rims from a LH/LX on the rear all wearing 205/60/13 Federal 595's. The wheel trim rings sit perfectly on the 5.5" rims and appeared to lock in okay on the 6" rims, but what I found when driving it was the trims would slowly move and squash the valve down and cut into the side. I popped them off, and carefully put them on but a short drive later and same thing happened. Seems as though the deeper rim of the 6" pulls the wheel trim in closer to the tire, so instead of having a little gap between the trim and the tyre, the trim sits on the tyre. I think the flex and movement of the tire causes the trim to walk.  Pulled them off but had to repaint the rims as they do a heck of damage when popping them on and off.

 

Anyway looks Bathurst ready without the trim rings. Maybe at a later date I might get some 5.5" rims for the rear so I can put the trim rings back on but for now I'm liking the way it looks all black.

 

 LCGTR_03.png   182.4K   13 downloads

 

 LCGTR_04.png   210.93K   8 downloads

 

 LCGTR_05.png   204.99K   14 downloads

 

 LCGTR_Eng_01.png   232.65K   16 downloads

 

 LCGTR_Int_01.png   193.13K   13 downloads

 

Most of all I have to thank all the contributors to this site.  It would have been so much more difficult to build this car without this forum.  There were so many times when I would have a question and get ready to create a post, and after a thorough search find someone else has already asked the question and there is a resolution.  Other times I have posted questions and requests for help and someone is always willing to share and support.  I purchased my car as a bare rolling shell so had no reference point of how things were meant to go, what screws and bolts went where, etc. 

 

Thanks all for your support and I will over time share some of the tales along the way.  Now I just have to get used to the concept that this car I have had for 19 years in my shed is no longer an incomplete project!

[ljv8]

Here is a higher res pic.  We are limited in file size so had to shrink them to fit in one post as above.

 

 LCGTR_01_HR.png   914.12K   8 downloads

[gtrboyy]

Ferrari red on 14" early kingy rims/dress rims was how mine rolled back in 2000..just sat 1" higher with bushpig webbered 202/m20/3.9 bango.

 

Hear ya on rat traps & speedo cables.

 

Does feel weird like you're being stalked as you drive nice old car...that or they're gonna call cops on ya lol

 

Congrats getting it on the road & looking sweet...I'm envious!!!!

[Ice]

Wow that look killer steve 

love the colour 

[lctriples]

Hey steve, congrats on the build. Love the colour and the twin "dump" pipes. Also like the way car sits on the road, do you mind me asking what springs you used on the front, as have asked a few members the same question, to experiment with how my car sits. I am in eastern suburbs of melb, so if i see you out on the road will try and say hi! Cheers paul

[ljv8]

Hey thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated.

Yes front spring height was one point I learnt from that I wanted to share. Was challenging to find much info on existing posts.

I had a pair of Pedders Sports Low springs from my previous LJ. They were lightly used and in storage. I do recall back then the car was very low and I ripped off my swaybar and destroyed it. Trying to save a penny and see how high the car sits I threw the Pedders springs in. When first installed it sat perfectly, 300mm eyebrow height (center hub - top of wheel arch) had just over 100mm clearance on the swaybar and the low point on the extractors. Happy days, until I drove it a few times and the suspension settled in it's happy place. I noticed I started scraping speed humps I previously cleared. Checked clearance and I was down to about 70-75mm of clearance at the swaybar and extractors. With 100mm legal minimum it wasn't going to fly through the roadworthy test and I didn't want to destroy my GTR swaybar. While it looked cool that low, it wasn't usable and with so many speed humps in our streets and pot holes putting taller springs was the only option.

 

Pedders Springs after settling in.

 Pedders.png   276.41K   6 downloads

Did a bit of reading and found this post http://www.gmh-toran...d-king-springs/ and after a bit of debating between Lovells and Kings I went down the King Springs route with a set of KHFL-08. In the linked thread it looks like there is a large gap between the guard and the top of the tyre, however GTR-1 is running a 50 series, so I figured with a 60 series tyre it would fill the guard more, and it definitely does. Checking the specs on the Lovells it looked like they would sit about the same as the Pedders, and had 8 coils like the pedders.

I have a set of original GTR springs that I never put on the car with the engine in it, so don't have a reference of how high it sits with the vintage GTR springs. What I didn't like about the pedders is that the coils were so compressed there was hardly any travel left in the coils. The kings springs have one less coil, and the free height is 5mm taller. The marketing blurb from the Kings Springs website https://kingsprings....uct/our-springs “Kings Springs exclusively use high quality, high stress X5K spring steel. This new generation steel allows King Springs to further improve many of their existing designs by reducing the amount of steel required in a spring, making it substantially lighter (by approximately 30%) and reducing the solid height therefore increasing travel.”

 

 Spring Comparo 01.png   476.32K   6 downloads

Spring Comparison
Pedders Sports Low 225mm free height spring thickness 16.5mm coils 8
Kings KHFL-08 230mm free height spring thickness 16mm coils 7
LC GTR Orig 2816335 265mm free height thickness 14.5mm coils 8

 

 LCGTR Front Spring.png   555.47K   6 downloads

Eyebrow height (center hub - top of wheel arch)
Pedders when first installed and dropped on the ground 300mm.
Pedders after some driving and settling in 270mm.
King Springs when first installed and dropped on the ground 315mm.
King Springs after some driving and settling in 300mm

 

 KHFL-08.png   404.29K   9 downloads

When I first dropped the Kings in it sat up nice and proud with an eyebrow height of 315mm. It looked a touch high, but I knew it would settle with a bit of driving and now it's settled in at 300mm eyebrow height which is absolutely perfect, and provides just over 100mm of clerance for the GTR sway bar and extractors / exhaust low point.

I'm running Koni's shocks front (80-2153) and rear (80-2134). They are adjusted at about half resistance. They are plenty firm at half resistance for street driving and it's definitely on the firm side. Handles really well.

 

Anyway I painted my springs black and shocks green close enough to factory colors, looks stock and not like a packet of M&M's exploded on my suspension, with yellow springs and red shocks. 


 

[ljv8]

Side view with the King Springs up front and settled into 300mm eyebrow height.  For me it sits perfectly, and gives me just over the minimum legal clearance at the lowest point.

 

 LCGTR Ride Height.png   591.02K   10 downloads

[lctriples]

Thanks for posting that up on forum steve, appreciate it!

[ljv8]

No problem Paul.  Also I forgot to mention my tyre overall diameter, which makes a big difference to the appearance, the ground clearance and gap between the guard and top of Tyre.  I'm running Federal 595 Tyre's 205/60/13 with an overall diameter of 576mm.  I did have an old set of 185/60/13 with an OD of 552 on the front of the car when it was being worked on.  It only sounds like a few mm but it didn't look good, had less ground clearance and a big gap between the top of the tyre and the guard lip.

 

 Federal 595.png   42.87K   5 downloads

 

https://www.federalt...cts_detail_sn=8

 

Because these tyre's are directional I searched for a non directional 185 or 175 tyre to fit my spare wheel 5.5" rim that had the same overall diameter.  A couple were close and I settled on the easily available Falken Sincera SN828 175/70/13 came in at 578mm just 2mm taller than the Federal.  The car will sit level if I ever need to use the spare and also comfortably lays down next to the XU1 tank and sits flat.  Being a GTR and not an XU1 I don't have the retainer but it doesn't move anyway.

 

https://www.falken.c.../sincera-sn828/

 

Couple more pics, been racking up the KM's, at 550 now, so far so good.   Going to change the oil and filter at 1000km.  I'm using a Baldwin B9 filter, and will be changing the Penrite run-in oil to Lucas Hot Rod & Classic Car 20/50.  https://lucasoil.com...0w-50-motor-oil

 

Car has been very reliable, a pleasure to drive and still have to pinch myself that this thing that sat on jack stands with parts spread all over various garages for years is now a running and driving LC! 

 

Just about fine tuning now.  My speedo is reading 10kmh slow so need to switch from the dark blue speedo gear to the white 22 tooth gear.  I have a spare one so will throw it in and see how close it is to the GPS speedo. 

 

The car is loud!  I always drive with the windows down, no air-con and all and I have found it's impossible to take a call, speak on the phone or listen to a podcast on the freeway.  I have tried both a bluetooth speaker and in ear Air Pods, both at full volume and I can just hear it.  I won't bring myself to put a sound system in the car, or quietening the exhaust so I revert to listening to the roar and crackle of the 202 instead. 

 

Getting less fumy also which is good.  I'm hoping that after run-in and a good dyno tune it will smell less, otherwise might need to look into fitting a god forbid cat converter.  Just worried it might change the beautiful note it currently has.  Will do the tune first, see how it goes and talk to my exhaust guy.  

 

 002_resize.png   1.23MB   10 downloads

 

 

 

[ljv8]

One more by the coast. 

 

 001_resize.png   1.17MB   10 downloads

[grumpy xu1]

I would 100 % be looking at the speed rating of the tyre that you think of choosing, before you buy them. With a gtr or xu1 speedometer, technically speaking, you must legally run tyres, with a speed rating, greater than 194 kph to be properly insured. You could face the risk of being declined of your claim. This is a general piece of advice for anyone.

[grumpy xu1]

No problem Paul.  Also I forgot to mention my tyre overall diameter, which makes a big difference to the appearance, the ground clearance and gap between the guard and top of Tyre.  I'm running Federal 595 Tyre's 205/60/13 with an overall diameter of 576mm.  I did have an old set of 185/60/13 with an OD of 552 on the front of the car when it was being worked on.  It only sounds like a few mm but it didn't look good, had less ground clearance and a big gap between the top of the tyre and the guard lip.
 
Federal 595.png
 
https://www.federalt...cts_detail_sn=8
 
Because these tyre's are directional I searched for a non directional 185 or 175 tyre to fit my spare wheel 5.5" rim that had the same overall diameter.  A couple were close and I settled on the easily available Falken Sincera SN828 175/70/13 came in at 578mm just 2mm taller than the Federal.  The car will sit level if I ever need to use the spare and also comfortably lays down next to the XU1 tank and sits flat.  Being a GTR and not an XU1 I don't have the retainer but it doesn't move anyway.
 
https://www.falken.c.../sincera-sn828/
 
Couple more pics, been racking up the KM's, at 550 now, so far so good.   Going to change the oil and filter at 1000km.  I'm using a Baldwin B9 filter, and will be changing the Penrite run-in oil to Lucas Hot Rod & Classic Car 20/50.  https://lucasoil.com...0w-50-motor-oil
 
Car has been very reliable, a pleasure to drive and still have to pinch myself that this thing that sat on jack stands with parts spread all over various garages for years is now a running and driving LC! 
 
Just about fine tuning now.  My speedo is reading 10kmh slow so need to switch from the dark blue speedo gear to the white 22 tooth gear.  I have a spare one so will throw it in and see how close it is to the GPS speedo. 
 
The car is loud!  I always drive with the windows down, no air-con and all and I have found it's impossible to take a call, speak on the phone or listen to a podcast on the freeway.  I have tried both a bluetooth speaker and in ear Air Pods, both at full volume and I can just hear it.  I won't bring myself to put a sound system in the car, or quietening the exhaust so I revert to listening to the roar and crackle of the 202 instead. 
 
Getting less fumy also which is good.  I'm hoping that after run-in and a good dyno tune it will smell less, otherwise might need to look into fitting a god forbid cat converter.  Just worried it might change the beautiful note it currently has.  Will do the tune first, see how it goes and talk to my exhaust guy.  
 
002_resize.png

If it doesn't have a resonator, that could be helpful & fit in with the GTR looks.

[ljv8]

Ok good advice Gary.  My speedo only goes to 160kmh, has a standard LJ speedo fitted as my GTR speedo is faulty.  I guess I'm okay .  The Federals are rated at 210, the spare at 190kmh.  Surely this is no longer a blanket policy and my spare tyre would invalidate my insurance with most modern cars having a space saver spare that is limited to 80kmh, despite speedos going to 260kmh?  I would rather take my full size 190kmh rated tyre than a space saver any day! 

 

Also need to make a correction re my speedo gear.  Found this really useful site to calculate your speedo gear  "Tamworth Classic Holden Club Speedo Gear Calculator
http://centauriaudio...speedocalc.html

 

I have a dark blue 22 tooth driven gear.  With my 3.08 diff the speedo currently reads about 88-90kmh but I'm doing 100kmh on gps.  The calculator above shows it should be doing 98kmh, if I have the white 8 tooth gearbox drive gear.  According to the calculator I might have the red 7 tooth gear box drive gear, as with this combo and the dark blue 22 tooth driven gear it shows my speedo would read 86 at 100km which is kinda close to what is actually happening.

 

I will have to lift the car again and check if I have a white or red tooth gear box drive.  I checked my spare M20's and all are white.  If it is indeed red in the box, I need the pink 19 tooth driven gear for the speedo to read 100 at 100.  Otherwise if it's white to correct it I think I need to go to a 20 tooth driven gear to bump it up about 10kmh.

 

I originally put in my GTR 200kmh speedo and was 10kmh low exactly the same as my 160kmh speedo I have in now.  Issue with the GTR 200kmh speedo was the odometer was not working, will get if fixed one day. 

[gad05]

Hi Steve,

 

Followed your build thread from the beginning.

So good to see your LC on the road.Love the colour.

Sits really nice.Are you also using king springs in the rear?

 

Cheers Graham 

[Heath]

What a spectacular looking car. 

 

Congratulations Steve on a job well done.

[ljv8]

Hey thanks Graham and Heath.

 

Yeah Graham I remember chatting to you on previous posts, thanks for following.  No I'm using Lovells springs on the rear, and Kings on the front.  The previous owner prepared the rear end for a 9" and raised the chassis for clearance (Doh!).  What used to be desirable in the street machine scene, purists now cringe at.  Because of this with the standard height springs and a std baby LC banjo and 13" rims it sat on its arse like a low rider.   I ended up using Lovells HRR-9 which are raised springs at 240mm free height.  The rear Kings in comparison were too short.  With the raised springs it sits pretty much perfectly, and rides really well.  I thought it may be a bit soft with taller springs but with the Koni adjustable shocks set to about half stiffness handles nice.  Because of the modifications to the rails, you can't compare the rear ride height against a standard unmodified LC with these rear springs.

 

I have done about 1500 km's now and changed the oil and filter.  Has been great to drive, and just sorting out any tiny issues along the way and enjoying it.  Certainly turns heads everywhere it goes.  You tend to hear it before you see it. 

 

One issue I have had is with the speedo.  I have given up on chasing it and throwing different speedo drive gears at it, and it's still reading 10kmh low.  I have the red 7 tooth gearbox drive in this four speed which seems weird.  My two spare M20's have the white 8 tooth gearbox drive gears.  I thought the red gear was for the traumatic, but who knows what butcherings these M20's have had throughout the years at various repair shops.  According to the speedo calculator I needed the pink 19 tooth driven gear for the speedo to read 100 at 100, so I brought a 19 tooth gear and it still read about 90 at 100.  Insert hair being pulled out image..  I put the white 20 tooth speedo gear I had in to see what it does and it also reads about 90 at 100.  Seems that if I use a 22, 20 or 19 tooth speedo gear it reads about 10kmh short.  What I will do is when I eventually tear down and reco my M20 that's in the car I will put a new white 8 tooth gearbox driven gear in it and hopefully that resolves it.  For now I know 40 is 50 and 50 is 60, etc.  I use my GPS speedo on the phone for longer drives anyway. 

 

Also I had the tiniest weep of fuel occasionally from the line connector that goes through the floor on the XU1 tank.  Seemed to be coming between the brass double threaded connector and the pipe.  Pulled it out today and when tightened up the short hard line that goes through the floor still had some movement on the brass double connector.  I had to really lock it tight as humanly possible almost at the point of stripping it to stop it from moving.  Locked that up then tightened up the sender line thread to the brass double connector tight as.  No movement at all now so hopefully that fixes it.  Will need to take it for a hard accelerating / hard braking trip around the block with a rag under the connectors to see if it leaks.  Think it will be sorted now.  Aftermarket fittings will never be as good fitment as original, but at least we have something to use.  Just hope its fixed. 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

[gad05]

Steve l can relate so much to your story about not driving a torana for 25 years.

For me it’s been 16 years since l drove my LJ into my shed.

As you know life gets in the road, always a struggle with time and money.

Finally got my car painted last year so I can now see a light at the end of a long tunnel.

Hoping to drive her out of the shed towards the end of the year, fingers crossed .

 

Cheers Graham.

[ljv8]

Yeah you will get there mate, good it's painted.  That was a turning point for me to keep going with it.  If you keep chipping away bit by bit you will get it done.  I found it valuable even spending 20 minutes or half an hour here or there starting to clean a part or paint a part or just spending time going through boxes to find a part I put in there many years ago.  Motivation also comes and goes, and the closer it got to completion the more motivated I got. 

 

What is funny though is now it's done it's a case of now what?  Driving it is amazing and I honestly thought I would never get there but in a way I know it sounds crazy but I kind of miss having an incomplete project.  It was always something that I could turn to and do something or research something, or spend time trouble shooting. 

 

Maybe I need to consider the next project.  I won't be a Torana, parts are getting too scarce and too expensive.  I couldn't afford to do another one now days.  I have a complete 1st gen 73 Honda Civic two door sitting in a barn covered in dust that was my run around parts chaser in the early 90's.  I had it while I had my original LJ and the Civic was a fun car to drive too.  I dropped it, put a 32/36 Weber on it and a decent exhaust.  I also painted it myself in my dusty carport in absynth yellow of course! 

 

Maybe I need to drag it back home to have something to mess around with, dust off the nicely patina'd paint work and get it running as a very low budget rat rod Civic.  Hmmm you got me thinking Graham, you got me thinking..

 

 73Civic.JPG   266.34K   8 downloads

[gtrboyy]

Should be more common white 8 teeth in gearbox...red 7 gear was mainly in gemini auto & few other cars with very short gearing.

 

If ever decide to swap out 7 red assuming it actually has it for 8 white I'd like to buy it off you if possible???...work perfect for my sle with trimatic/4.56 gears on 27'-28' tyres.

 

Mine sat even higher than yours with more drag style rake mainly due to taller rear tyres & front runners on 14' rims...they look so cool that way albeit shite in rain lol.