45 replies to this topic

[Varley73]

Hey Guys. 

Have been away from the Torana game for a few years now. My First car was a 76 LX 4 door, learned how to do a lot of work on that car but ended up having to part ways with it 6ish years ago.

anyway, i just picked up my first large...ish build, a 69 LC 2 door. 161, trimatic with most of the body work done, only having very minor surface rust on the inside floor and roof, bit of rust converter and paint and that was sorted, previous owner had been working on and off on it for several years but needed the room in the shed. he had been converting a lot of it over to LJ, grille and tail lights.

my plans are nothing super outrageous, Im in the process of converting the front to disc brake, have had the rear end out and re bushed the arms, new wheel bearings, new drums shoes and hardware and new shocks.

the front end will get the same treatment, and will be replacing all of the steel brake lines, few years old and one has a bit of rust, so better to do it while its all apart.

Body wise its going to get guard flutes just to finish the front end, think it will be getting an XU1 spoiler, i know its not everybody's flavor but i quite like the look of it.

Tossing up between Yellow Dolly and Sebring orange with window blackouts and black along the bottom of the door.

engine is a toss up at the moment and so is trans. the 161 runs, better when i get a decent carb on it, and the trans shifts well. tossing up building a semi hot 202, have a nice shaved ported and polished head, bigger cam and a .030 overbored short block, and also have a set of triple su's just sitting on the shelf. Also wouldn't mind going to either an m20 or Celica 5 speed gearbox

the goal at the end is to build a nice presentable cruiser, that i can jump in and drive.

 

Anyway, here's a couple of photos. long way off being done, but loving working on it.

 

Attached Files

•  2.jpg   254.52K   24 downloads
•  1.jpg   76.43K   20 downloads

[purrlx]

Looks good, and the 202 and 5 speed would make a nicer drive car. Good luck with the build.

[Liz Clare]

Hi Brent,

 

Looks and sounds good. A hot 202, 5 speed in Sebring Orange gets my vote

 

Cheers,

 

Liz  

[lctriples]

Het brent, a bit of dejavu for me as I picked up a similar project about 5 years ago (69 LC into an LJ) hope to have mine on the road in a few months and will watch your build with interest. Colour should be Yellow Dolly, then would match your trailer! Paul

[Varley73]

Hey guys
thanks for the responses. is all up in the air still   . just waiting on brake bits to do the disc brake conversion. Going to work on getting suspension and brakes sorted first. Have been painting underside of the floor as i go, being in a rather cramped shed makes it a bit fun.
I was having a look tonight and saw how badly aligned the drivers door is, figured while playing the waiting game i might try and get that sorted. the front looks a long way up, and being a car that somebody else has built up to this stage im not sure if its an original door or if its one he had laying around. the main body line through the middle seems really soft on the door compared to the body. might just be my eyes playing tricks on me though. managed to lift the striker to get the line close at the back.
have attached a couple of photos to see what you guys think. could be as easy and putting the hinges in the rest of the way. could be as complicated as cut the car in half to get the body to line up  
Thanks for any responses  

[S pack]

I would strip all the primer off and see what you have underneath. To my eyes the body line on the rear quarter panel appears to be too sharp rather than the door body line being too soft and the body line on that front guard........well................ I could be wrong but I reckon that primer is hiding lotsa bog. Looks like you will need to perform some hinge surgery to make that door line up properly. Probably not the original door from the car and sometimes replacement panels, new or from other cars, will not always just drop on and fit correctly.

 

Edited by S pack, 28 December 2019 - 06:20 AM.

[Varley73]

Thanks for the reply S pack

i had a feeling i should strip the primer. forgot to pick up stripper today, so spent a few minutes just to see what lay behind the surface, and you guessed it. lots of bog, on the guard, door and body. looks like they may have been trying for a sharper line. will get some stripper and take the primer off to see how much id need to do.

 

In other news, santa came for a second time today, delivered some of the disc brake parts. now all ill need is stubs and the booster bracket with booster. 

 

all starting to pile up and getting difficult to concentrate on one job at a time. think first thing is to get that door to line up properly, and remove the primer and see how much bog is on the body.

[S pack]

More like the car has had a big scrape down that side. What does the other side look like?

[Varley73]

Thanks again S pack.
Having a chat with my old boy, he saw the car before it got hit with big and primer and reckons the body and front guards are straight. But there wasn't a door on it when he saw it. Will get some stripper and have a play tonight see what I come up with.
Thanks for your reply

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[grumpy xu1]

Definitely strip all of that off & i wouldn't bother etch priming anything, unless you're going to use a 2 pack epoxy etch. It will either look better or worse once you strip it all, but the lines are certainly all over the shop. Strip and epoxy it all & go from there first.

[Varley73]

had a bit of a go with some stripper to see if i could see where the issues were with body lines on this door. long story short, there was alot of bog, and no attention paid by the last owner, the height at the front was built up with body filler, the harshness on the quarter panels was done up with filler, same with rear body. had a good look inside the door, cant see a dent inside it, same as in the inside of the guards and inside the body behind the door, all looks as straight as possible. passenger side lines up beautifully. thanks for the help guys, just need to decide weather i want to strip the whole car back or not. will have a chat with the painter and see what he wants to do. so will probably be another 6 months of body work, or to finish the door and guards off then hit it all with a couple of coats of spray putty.

hinge pins still out when the photo was taken, but its so much closer to lining up than it was.

Thanks again for the help guys, really appreciated 

Edited by Varley73, 29 December 2019 - 08:31 PM.

[yel327]

You are probably going to want to get that old bog out, you don’t know how long it has gone unsealed and soaked up moisture.

[claysummers]

Car took a hit in the door anda very poor repair. Rest of the car may be untouched. Have a careful look for any signs. If they were that rough should be obvious.


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[claysummers]

I’d say the seller was aware of the door issue but hey it’s pretty good otherwise and can be fixed.

Sounds like a nice boy racer theme you’ve got in mind. If it was mine I would run the trimatic behind the hot 202 unless it is a country car. Not like it is going to be a replica.


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[Varley73]

Hey guys

after 5 hours of stripping and sanding, yeah door is ugly. lots of high spots and low spots, front corner is bent inwards, will persevere on, all i can say is sanding bog suuuuuuucks. but ive just got the lower molding to go now. then to make it look right.

had the painter (aka brother) over yesterday and he pointed out the door straight away saying thats not been repaired well, but everything else checked out. had a look at the usual places for rust, cant find any welds or seams that are really obvious. magnet sticking everywhere really well, except the drivers door, hes happy. im happy. just gotta make that door fit.

 

the front guard had a little bit of bog on the main body line, just to make it line up with the damaged door, the rear is the same, but a light skim on the line for the length of the body.

 

 

I’d say the seller was aware of the door issue but hey it’s pretty good otherwise and can be fixed.

Sounds like a nice boy racer theme you’ve got in mind. If it was mine I would run the trimatic behind the hot 202 unless it is a country car. Not like it is going to be a replica.


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ive always been that guy that likes a wing on the rear of a car, to me just finishes it off. and no defiantly not going to be a replica, i just want something that will make it my own. was tossing up with making an lh/lx hatch 3 piece fit, but im really not sure it would look that good. and have always been into the sunburst colors. have always had yellow race cars. my last one was yellow with an orange cage, and since then i had a thing for orange too.

and also thinking of keeping the trimatic, would jsut make it such an easy car to get in and cruise. this will probably be the thing to slow down the build the most. to leave the auto. or to go manual.

 

Anyway guys and gals, hope you had a great holiday, and all the best for the new year!   

Edited by Varley73, 31 December 2019 - 07:44 PM.

[Varley73]

Hey guys. welcome to 2020!

started the year off the best way possible. working on a Torana.

have the door lined up. first coat of bog on and sanded to give it the main line. second coat will go on next weekend (Tuesday, Wednesday for me, yay for odd hours) i know i could get it a lot cleaner with a lot of hours panel beating the door back to the correct shape, but end of the day im only skinning the door to the right shape, worst comes to worst in future ill get it done professionally so i don't mess it up really bad.

in other areas i started stripping most bits off the body. windows, bumpers, lights and grille, and came across a few unexpected things.

The grille is cracked all the way down the middle, Not all the way through but its not got a lot of strength, and feels very fragile. Hooray for old plastic parts

 

The tail light and indicator lenses are all cracked and broken. might be able to make 1 good set, but lenses are all available through rares. The shrouds are very rough too.

 

This one i knew about. but the coupe window frames are rusted out.

just part of the fun working on old cars.

the question sits. try and find LJ parts to replace whats broken, or go back to LC parts. another decision that will need to be made.

wishing everybody a good 2020 and look forward to seeing everybody around the forum.

[Varley73]

Hey guys

not a lot of progress over the last week. more sanding, more hatred of sanding. but almost done. door is looking almost right.

i thought while im this far into the body work i might as well start looking at flutes, just wondering if i got my measurements correct, 2" down from the body line and 4" in from the edge of the guard.

 

The only reason i ask and im pretty confident its right, i held the flute panel in place, and it hung over by quite a bit. just want to be 100% before cutting big holes in my guards.

 

other news, ive pulled the calipers apart, 3 pistons fairly stuck, but with plenty of air pressure and working them in and out i got them out, ran out of day to put them back together, but that means ive got something to do next week,

and also had some stub axles arrive. so can continue on with the disc brake conversion.

and made the decision ill keep it as an LJ rather than back to LC, mainly because i prefer the tail lights, and would look a bit weird to have an LC grille and LJ tail lights.

Edited by Varley73, 08 January 2020 - 07:25 PM.

[debkar]

Hi Brent

Too far back, 4 inches to the lowest part of the rear flute from the edge of the guard not the top of the flute would be close

Simon

[debkar]

Found the topic I was looking for that covers the measurements well,

http://www.gmh-toran...n-measurements/

[Varley73]

Thanks Simon

thought something looked off bit was pretty sure i had the right measurements. turns out if they are in the correct spot it helps a lot 

Edited by Varley73, 08 January 2020 - 08:21 PM.

[debkar]

No worries at all,

[Varley73]

Hey everybody

long time since I've updated, not a whole lot happening my end, gathering parts mainly. pulled the front end apart a few months ago to re bush everything and convert to disc front. drivers side came apart no problem, the passengers side was a bit more of a headache, few seized bolts and the brake set up was a mess, could not get the drum off without a couple of pry bars, rusty to the point springs snapped when pulled apart, and missing the adjuster, as a replacement there was... a cable tie...

 

After laughing for a few minutes and finally getting everything apart i knocked the rest of the suspension apart. shock bolt snapped on the passenger side, and the body bump stop mount fell off the car, it had rusted away in the guts. after half an hour with the wire wheel the inner guard was back to bare metal and everything looked good. put a nice snot weld on it and painted in the guard with stone guard.

with most of the suspension apart it came time for the upper control arms. i looked at them, rather confused, then jumped on the forum to check the easiest way to get them out. ended up dropping the sub frame. easy enough job and needed to replace those bushes too.

this was when i took a break while i organised the funds and parts to put it back together. i got to the point i thought i had everything organised and decided it was the job to do over Easter, i had 6 days off to get it done.

i dropped the control arms off to a friend who changed the bushes and ball joints for me, i don't have a press yet, picked them back up, attacked them with the wire wheel and rust converter, got them painted and ready to go back on the car, while i was at it with the paint i did the strut rods and steering knuckles at the same time.

re-assembly went pretty smoothly, first hang up was getting the upper bump stops back in their little cups. slipped a few times, who needs skin on their knuckles anyway? re mounted the upper control arms, i bagged the spacers as to where they went so they could go back in the right spot. and with the upper re mounted i got to work re aligning the sub frame. and as everybody guessed, no the holes didn't line up straight away. a good hour of shuffling and jacking and lowering and re jacking managed to get the first bolt to line up... BEST...FEELING. Once the first lined up the other 3 were easy.

lower control arms went in no drama, went to put the strut rods back on....... no lower bump stops. cant believe i forgot the lower bump stops. feeling a little down that i would get the car back on the ground over Easter i called it a day.

i went out today determined to get as much done as i can, and decided, why not put springs in. pulled the new springs out of the box and thought, oh god these look too low. compared to the originals they were alot lower, but the old ones were a hell of a lot softer too, so bit the bullet and went for it.

Got my steering knuckles on the top ball joint, jacked the lower control arm, spring didn't compress far enough to get the lower ball joint done up. spent a good hour with some crappy spring compressors trying to get them to work, but couldn't get them on around everything, bit more forum searching. after a while not finding much i decided to try the bad way. jacked the lower control arm, and wrapped a large ratchet strap around the control arm, anchoring each end to the bump stop bracket and slowly tightening it. and what do you know, it worked. got the ball joints tightened up and did the other side. last thing, put the new shocks in. easy enough job after removing the snapped bolt.

after this was done i tried to move the steering knuckles and oh my god, they were tight. very tight. worried id done something wrong i searched the forum yet again, everybody that had the same problems solution was pretty much the same, put tie rod ends on and see how heavy it was from the steering wheel, which was easy as, barely noticed any resistance.

Thats where im up to so far. toyed with the idea of putting flutes in the guards, but would rather do it when the car is level on the ground rather than having the front end way up in the air.

i do hope everyone is being safe in these crazy times, and had an enjoyable Easter.

[Varley73]

Hi everybody

 

Been a while since i posted. Today i took the plunge and thought id have a go at doing the flutes. I spent a good hour measuring everything several times to make sure i got the cut in the right spot, then got over the jitters about cutting into my baby with a grinder.

 

all cut out easy enough, and then spent an hour or so with a file making sure it was the right size.

 

Then spent another hour trying to get the panel to fit, filing, grinding, hammering to make it the right shape.

 

bit more shaping later and it fit really well i thought, checking with a straight edge to make sure there were no any low or high points. i went for it.

 

All fit well, checked for high and low points again, did have to push the front of it outwards to make it flush. all was going well. checking after a few tack welds to make sure nothing was being silly. then the last couple of tacks on the top, the guard warped. but its in. needs alot of grinding to get rid of my "amazing" welds. but its all about learning. im just glad i didnt put it in backwards

 

i know im jumping around between jobs alot but im just doing what i have the parts to do at the time. im confident the warp will be fixable, worst case scenario is either take it to a professional or replace the guards. with flutes already installed.

 

Hope everybody is doing well.

[lctriples]

Hey Brent, looking good buddy, keep up the good work!