135 replies to this topic

[Redslur]

I'll get on the Panama Green band wagon....Not being biased though :-)

[notna]

Papaya for the win! Or... if you have to... that Ford Orange is a great colour. Stick with the project mate... These things never happen over night, gotta have patience!

[ben23]

To be honest Redslur I saw a photo of your car and that was the turning point. Ive always loved green and had a green car once already so was thinking of maybe an orange or blue instead of another green car, but nope that looks sweeeet, Your particular hue is pretty much what caught my eye. The funny thing is the plan for mine has been a efi 5 litre and auto even before I knew yours was haha. I'll probably do the black door frames/tops and line down the guards but thats it.

[Redslur]

I would have loved to do the LH SL/R lines down the guard but cause mine is an LX and I am so anal, I went for the LX blackout scheme instead.  The LH SL/R looks tops if you ask me :-)

[ben23]

eh mine wont be the first LX with LH SL/R stripes, old man did em on his LX back in the day before she got knocked off from behind campbelltown station in '87, just 3 short years before my arrival unfortunately. This below is a good example of how i'd like to get mine this

[SmacT]

^^ That's what I'm doing on my LX. It's my fave scheme and I don't like having to wash black bonnets all the time. I had a LX four door SLR mock up with black bonnet and the bugger always looked dirty. It's not "correct", but my car was a four cylinder sunbudgie, so I'm just doing what i like. It has a scoop too...

[Redslur]

The green car above belongs a mate of mine.  The colour is 'House of Colour' - Lime Time Candy. And it was an original 6 cylinder LX SL/R in Opaline blue. He spent a motsa on the paint on that thing.  Beautiful car though....

 

My car already had the LX SL/R interior in it so was another reason why I couldn't go the LH scheme...but I do like it better and also don't like the LX black bonnets because they always look dirty and in need of a polish :-)

Edited by Redslur, 07 May 2015 - 12:10 PM.

[Heath]

'House of Kolor' candy paint + original paint scheme = awesome!

Needs the separate letter badges across the top of the grill though

[ben23]

Well because indecisiveness might as well be my middle name, I'm considering another colour - Toyota dark blue mica metallic. Seen it on a HK Monaro and looks really classy yet stands out enough, set of chrome or white centred B45's will really make it pop. Polished scoop through the bonnet will look great too

 

Also got the original heater box out and compared its size to an aftermarket fan/evaporator/heater unit from Ashdown-Ingrams that I had lying around at the workshop. Gets rid of the blower fan and plenum in the engine bay, gets me air con, however sorting out demister ducting and flow selection may be a bit of a challenge but it all seems to fit nicely.

 

 

[ben23]

Haven't posted in a while, don't get excited, nothing much happening, car has been sitting at my boss's workshop in Fairfield for about 3 months or so now maybe more out of the weather. Had no time to work on it, getting my little turbo paseo done and dusted first. That is nearly done. 2 mates and I will have the keys to our own workshop for personal use here in Campbelltown this week so the car will be getting towed back down here as well as getting my mates cars in there as well, a '78 XC sedan and '74 Pontiac Firebird Formula 455. Once the car is in there its gonna be all hands on deck to get into the rust repairs and get this body happening. Got the old 173 running real nice now, better then it was before it spat the timing gear so I'm happy to leave the driveline until the body is completely finished. Just needs a radiator.

 

 

 

[ben23]

Ok well at least something is happening now, got my car into mine and my mates workshop back here in Campbelltown where we all have cars under construction of varying levels. Started stripping the car and searching for more rust. Plan is to sort out all the rust first, starting with the front end and working my way back. This will include a proper plenum repair and plating up the old heater and fan holes (apart from hoses). One extra hole similar to the heater hose hole will be added for A/C lines, as well as one down the bottom of the firewall for evaporator drain. Keeping fan wiring hole for EFI harness when the time comes to wiring the 5 litre up. All engine bay wiring will be hidden otherwise. Typical rust behind bonnet hinges, battery tray etc. I started wirewheeling back the inner guards to check for any rust and then zinc gal them if all ok, but then remembered that the bitumen coating has asbestos in it. So I stopped right there and will probably paint strip it off. Gutted the door trims and carpet, doors are pretty average with the passenger door being the worst. All the doors skins have had rust in the bottom and have been bogged up so re-skinning the doors and repairing the shells while the skins are off is another task to tackle.

 

 

 

 

[Covert]

Behind those bonnet hinges look very familiar, looks like you got lucky with your rad support, definitely one of the better ones I've seen 👍

Edited by Covert, 13 October 2015 - 07:16 PM.

[LHSL]

Check your plenum near the heater box too.
Good luck with it.

[ben23]

Got the motor out this arvo so i can get into the bay properly and get stuck into the rust and prep work. Want to do the bay GM-H black so I can finish it off without having to get the engine bay done in the body colour (which is still undecided) If anyone needs a 173 red motor and trimatic which ran well prior to removal, has electronic ignition and brand new metric alloy/steel cam gears, new balancer as well as Lukey extractors and a newish exhaust system. Have many videos of engine running. Looks like its a reconditioned motor (at some stage) as it has a heat tab glued to the rear of the head. Also was on dual fuel so possibly has had valve seats done as well. Trimatic shifted fine in all forward speeds and into reverse. 

 

 

 

[ben23]

Well after drilling out all the spot welds and a bit of creative cutting the rusty battery tray is out. New one on its way from kingswood country.

Cant wait to do the plenum repairs -_-
 

 

 

[ben23]

more photos

 

 

 

[ben23]

Well got some more work done on the rust, cut the cowl ends off and exposed some nasty rust on the passenger side. Treated it all for now with rust converter to slow it down a bit. Plenum will be out in the coming days. Just gotta drill all them spot welds out.

[Bigfella237]

That's a bit of an artistic photo above Ben, kinda "Inner Guard sans Rust" or "A View to a Torana"...

 

Sometimes I swear they designed some of these sections to rust, or at least didn't give any thought to preventing it. So many places where a very minor design change would've made a major difference.

 

Anyhow, keep at it... gotta love them spot welds!

[ben23]

They just made far too many places for water and crap to collect.

[ben23]

Well the plenum is out, ended up getting a spot weld drill halfway thru the job so at least the windscreen end isn't Swiss cheese, mostly all surface rust inside, around the fan duct had the typical rust so that will be cut out and blank plated due to new air con unit going in. Rest was flap disked back and rust converted. Will KBS over the top.

[SmacT]

Wish I'd done this... I lay on my back welding in a new section, hot rocks buzzing in my ear and hating life. This is the best way, for sure. Anyway, next Torana.

 

Good job!

[ben23]

Was easier than I thought, plus I wanted to get to all that surface rust that would eventually become real rust

[ben23]

Well I took a break from the bodywork to do something I'm more familiar with, electrical work, being an auto sparky and all. Modified the original heater controls to take a 3 speed fan switch to suit the new air con unit going in later on. Cut the original switch mounting tab down, drilled new holes and mounted the switch with small bolts and nuts as spacers to get the lever in the right position. Only thing I had to do was remove the detent spring tab from the cold/hot lever which doesn't really affect its operation, and the switch will work backwards (towards the right is off and towards the left is 1-2-3. Mounting it the other way will make mounting a headache so I'll just leave it like this. Just have to find a suitable A/C button to go next to the fan switch. This fan switch also has the extra contact which is live whenever the fan is on any speed so that the A/C will only work when the fan is running.

Edited by ben23, 10 November 2015 - 10:06 PM.

[ben23]

Really want a manual, but really want a bench. Considering dropping 253 or Tri pattern 308 in with a V8 3 speed behind it? anyone got a 3 speed column and a V8 3 speed box? A clutch pedal and cable/linkage setup would be great too

Edited by ben23, 30 November 2015 - 09:39 AM.

[Bigfella237]

Has your bench seat got the cutout in the middle or is it straight across from one side to the other?

 

With the cutout you might still get away with an Aussie 4 speed, you definitely can with a one-tonner bent shifter. Or go with a Tremec or similar that has multiple shifter locations? You may also be able to customize a shifter with a lever of your own design?