9 replies to this topic

[UCANG]

After a hiatus from the forums (FB does that to you) I realized I was missing the forums. So what better way to rekindle the relationship than by starting a new topic.

 

Anyway, my VL story goes like this. 2017, mind numbingly scrolling through my news feed, and a car for sale pops up. VL Commodore, next suburb over. $1500 or something. I was like "hmm.. i've never liked these things when I was younger (because Kingsy's and Torries were supreme), but this could be cool.. maybe a turbo conversion?" I stalked the account of the seller, I didn't like the way the way he looked (prejudice at its best) and that's that, or so I thought.

 

But the idea was firmly planted in my head! and for the rest of the night I was scouring all avenues looking for one to buy... That night!

 

I came across this nugget, looked okay in pictures (don't they all), the guy had it up for $1600. I merely asked him if it was available, and he replies instantaneously with "Yes, and I'll do $800". Whoa whoa whoa buddy.. I didn't even talk dollars, but okay I'll come have a look.

 

It was freezing, dark, pretty much bogged in the front yard. It started and idled okay. I turned it off, got money, gave money, went to drive away... and nothing. Crank but no fire. We pushed it out of the front yard onto the road and waited for RAA. After a grueling couple hour wait, they showed up and diagnosed a no spark situation. He also didn't believe our story that the car had just stopped randomly after going for a drive with my father in law (RAA card owner) because he proceeded to show us that the front right tyre was shredded beyond repair "You droive around with a tyre looking like that?" .. Oops.. No wonder it was hard to push!

 

Finally it was home (thanks to RAA's tow truck service), sorted out the spark issue, got it running and started on my turbo setup hunt!

Thanks to a wanted ad, sourced all parts needed to convert to turbo

 

Slapped it all together, and unfortunately, the car had its gremlins! It was super molested. Wiring issues, sensor issues, unmaintained, interior rat shit with mis-matched parts and spray paint everywhere. The body was bogged in all the usual rust areas.

 

I needed a better base! I stripped it, took my turbo kit off and now enter... VL number 2!

Much nicer! Unmolested, completely stock and working perfectly! Owned by a middle aged man who upgraded to a VE Evoke. I drove around like this for a few weeks, enjoying the registered nature of the vehicle!

Edited by UCANG, 17 May 2019 - 08:52 PM.

[UCANG]

Okay, so I took it off the road for a week or so, fitted the turbo kit onto this. Bought some brand new injectors, because.. why not?
Consulted the "Habib handbook of VL ownership" and the first rule was to paint the rocker cover wrinkle red.

The second rule was a dose pipe, so an intercooler was in order! Next came the boost bleed valve, turned up to about 10psi and now it's got turbo with all its beautiful noises, it has reliability and puts a smile on my face

 

But the paint was a little bit sad for my liking.

Imean it was good as a daily/ weekend hack. But I was getting the metal work and painting itch again. Like, what was I going to do with all the experience I attained from the hatch?  Winter was approaching by this time (2018).. I set myself a goal. Off the road during winter, back on the road by Christmas. So without much ado, it was on! Weeknights and weekends were spent on the VL for roughly 6 months

 

Problem areas photographed first:

 

[Ice]

Had VL Calais for 15 years so i got a a soft spot for them regret i sold it now great car to drive
never had much rust either
Nice work Ang little bit of repair and paint should come up pretty good

[UCANG]

Paint stripping with a razor blade.. Pretty satisfying!

Doing away with the stock VL plastic windscreen moulds. I know it's not OG but a 1 piece universal seal doesn't phase me

 

[UCANG]

I fabricated the bottom channel using my shrinker stretcher. I could of bought a new pressed panel for it, but where's the fun in that?

Continuing on..

 

 

Seen the prices of welding blankets?? Bah! I bought 2 fire blankets for less!

Made for a cozy work place...

[UCANG]

Covered in epoxy then Hi fill primer time!

First round of aggressive blocking cut the car back nice and flat! and the fact that most of the hi build is gone was a good sign!

Reprimed, masked, erected a booth and painted.

 

Plastics.. what a pain in the ass.. The fact that VL's have 1000 pieces of plastic glued around the joint is a bit lame too...

[UCANG]

Assembly time, and fixing up a rotten door trim. Easy work.

 

Installed some hub caps and deadline met! Was done early December 2018. Just got to repaint the quarter window plastics, just been a bit lazy. Been too busy driving it around and having fun!

 

Edited by UCANG, 17 May 2019 - 10:40 PM.

[neglectedtorana]

Nice quick work Ang, well done getting past the rusty, molested first car and such a great result!

Enjoy,

[RallyRed]

nice project there..good stuff.

[UCANG]

Had some good weather and thought time to tick the last external aesthetic job off the list - the quarter window trims!

 

Reason these were put on the sidelines after I completed the car was the fact that I had a bit of a disaster with the paint last year. I had gotten them ready for paint (this included plastic welding, smoothing, sanding, priming the works!). I layed some epoxy down as a sealer first, then the base coat. It was looking good until the clear coat went on. The clear coat wrinkled! So I called it quits. Confused as to why this happened, I knew that the clear, once cured, would act as a sealer coat and I could start again over the top. Anyway I started work on the trims again, used some 180/240 to block the wrinkles on the clear down flat, and finished with 600 ready for the base. Resprayed the base and clear and all went on perfectly. What I think had happened is the epoxy I used didnt flash off properly before putting the other layers on and had no choice but to move underneath at the epoxy layer.

 

Edited by UCANG, 19 September 2019 - 09:00 PM.