Jump to content


- - - - -

UC Torana Racecar


  • Please log in to reply
14 replies to this topic

#1 _2-QUIKUC_

_2-QUIKUC_
  • Guests

Posted 30 May 2020 - 01:45 PM

Hello everyone.

Welcome to my UC Torana Street Legal Tarmac Rally/Mountain Pass/Hill Climb Project & Plans.

At this very point in time I'am currently finishing my last year of high school and will be looking to buy a UC Torana Sedan early next year (I would buy one now but I can see it being a distraction from my schooling).

So for the time being, I would like to hopefully hear what others have to say about my Project & Plans and possibly bounce some ideas off of others who have greater experience/knowledge about this sort of thing.

I know I'll probably miss somethings so please don't hesitate to ask questions. Now where to begin?

EXTERIOR:
Let's start with the exterior, for the next 2 years I'll be on my P's and I know "NO MODIFICATIONS" but I'm not going to be putting on 20" wheels and lowering it to the ground, I actually want to go with a stock/oem look so I believe I might be able to get away with a few things. I do recall seeing on an Orange UC with a very small air dam, thats if you'd even call it that is was so small. It has 2 brake duct holes like the A9X but about 1/3 of the size, I would like to try and find one of those.

I would like to install a set of rectangular fog lights, I'm not too sure where they will sit, I have a few ideas, I remember seeing a brown UC with a white vinyl room with rectangle fogs mounted just under the bar. I do like that look, but I was also thinking having them behind the grill or lower intake under the bar. I think I'll probably go with he first idea.

I do want to get an A9X style rear spoiler but I think it might attract too much attention, I don't know what do you think?

I've never seen this done before on a UC so I'd like to think of it as my own idea, from what I know is that you want your engine to suck in as much air as possible, so I was thinking about adding an XW GT style scoop and eventually (When I'm off my P's) building a box for my desired intake system either it be a Holley, Webers, Strombergs etc etc. I'll talk about this later on in the Engine section.

Sport Mirrors, at least I think that's what their called. I think they originally came on SL/R 5000s

Those are my plans for it while on my P's. From now on lets call that Evolution I/Phase I/Version I/Generation I what ever you desire.

I want to put flares on it, I know there are so many different sizes. Obviously the wider the better but I want to go for the A9X look so I'm thinking about going for the correct size for A9X (I do have the correct size written down in a book somewhere).

I'm thinking about creating some sort of air dam design kinda like the HDT L34 or Beecheys Monaro (I prefer the 70' Air Dam (more square) over the 71'). This will allow air to the brakes and/or radiator, there are a few problems I see with this though. Water and not allowing the brakes to get up to optimum temp. Does anyone have any insight into something like this?

I do really love the look of the LX (It is my favourite car after all), so I've been contemplating doing an LX conversion. If I do end deciding I want to do it, it will be quite awhile before I do.

Colours, Colours, Colours. So many Colours, but what colour do I choose, do I go with the gorgeous Atlantis Blue, or how about the vibrant Papaya Orange, we cant forget Jasmine Yellow, what about plain old Palais White. There are so many colours I love but I need to decide on wheels first (I'll cover this in a later section).

INTERIOR:
Nothing really special here, No big speakers, sub, head unit or crazy colours. Just simply Black.

Remove of all woodgrain, GTS steering wheel (Black) plain horn pad, long console, VDO gauges which fit into the oem gauge cluster and behind the ash tray. Now your probably thinking "what? why? you want even be able to see them." Well thats not wrong, but I have come up with a solution. In VT-VX Commodore, behind the driver in the rear of the centre console are 2 vents for the rear passengers, and underneath those is a storage compartment. On some models you could get a cover for that which when pushed in will then fold down and then you could push up and it would lock into place. So I started thinking, I want gauges in my car because they tell me what the engine is doing which is quite helpful, but VicRoads don't see it that way. I needed a way to hide my gauges (you can see where this is going). I'm going to hopefully be able to put the same mechanism onto the rear of the ash tray facia and then I will have hidden gauges that no one will be able to see. Very Nice.

After Evolution I/Phase I/Version I/Generation I, I want to put a rollcage, racing seats and harnesses in.

Rims, Tires & Brakes
I'll just list a few rims that I'm considering and I'll give a few words about them.

Simmons V5 - Classic, Love these especially in gold, the deciding factor for these wheels is the colour of the car.

Hotwires - I do like these but I feel like every 2nd Torana I see has them.

Mawer - Best wheel to ever exist, looks good on any colour Torana, problem is that they are extremely rare & extremely flammable.

I like the look of a 15" and a multi piece wheel will be good because eventually I will be putting flares on it.

​Now as far as tires are concerned I hope on a UC I'll be able to fit a 225mm - F & 245mm - R tire with no flares, I'm worried that it might be a bit heavy to steer & I believe there is a pinch weld which I may need to fold back or cut off and then weld up to fit the front tires.

Tires are a hard choice, I want something that has good grip in the dry and the wet, doesn't have to be exceptional. Price to me relies on how long it'll last, so a cheap tire should last less then an expensive tire with the same amount of performance. If anyone has any info about some tires, which ones are good or just horrible please share.

As far as brakes are concerned of course I want to have disks. But I'm not sure what way to go about it, I know there is a Wilwood kit available, but

Torana stud pattern is not available. Is it worth changing stud pattern to HQ or Commodore?

DRIVETRAIN:
I don't really know what to write here, there are endless amounts of different configurations. Motor has been the hardest part for me to figure out, I know I want a 202 at least, but what to do with it well I'm not too sure, I don't know how long I will keep the 202 in it. I was pretty adamant at keeping the 202 in it, but once I saw how far back the 308 sits it did get me thinking. I don't know, feel free to give me some ideas, all i know is that it has to be carbureted and on the Holden 6 I really wanted to run Webers but I was told if you hit a bump it will mess them up, keep in mind I plan on driving this everyday.

I was told the M21 is pretty weak, I'm not sure what to run instead of it. It has to be Manual and preferably a 4-Speed.

Rear end, I have absolutely no idea, not at all.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This has taken me around 4 hours to write, it's now 1:40pm so I'm going to go have something to eat.

Thanks for taking time out of your day to read this, looking forward to hearing some feedback.

Cheers Aaron.






 



#2 I'm a Red Motor fiend

I'm a Red Motor fiend

    Forum Fixture

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 758 posts
  • Name:Adam
  • Location:Nairne SA
  • Car:LJ 4 door, LC GTR
  • Joined: 04-January 16
Garage View Garage

Posted 30 May 2020 - 04:59 PM

Good Lord. What is your budget?

#3 _2-QUIKUC_

_2-QUIKUC_
  • Guests

Posted 30 May 2020 - 08:35 PM

That's the funny thing, there isn't one. I will still document how much money I spend, but I don't plan on selling it. There isn't really an end goal with it either, I will be constantly improving this vehicle, hopefully.



#4 rodomo

rodomo

    To advertise here, call 13TORANA

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 17,997 posts
  • Name:R - O - B Dammit!
  • Location:Way out west of Melbourne Awstraylya
  • Joined: 10-December 05

Posted 30 May 2020 - 10:22 PM

Good luck Aaron...………...Is this part of the VCE curriculum?



#5 _2-QUIKUC_

_2-QUIKUC_
  • Guests

Posted 31 May 2020 - 05:58 AM

I wish, hahaha



#6 Shiney005

Shiney005

    Oh My, Don't you post alot

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 8,993 posts
  • Name:Laurie
  • Location:Dubya Hay
  • Car:Toyota Mirai
  • Joined: 19-January 12
Garage View Garage

Posted 31 May 2020 - 09:37 AM

Unless you are doing serious track work, I wouldn't bother with the Wilwood kit. There are plenty of threads in here on brakes builds that use existing second hand parts that work quite well.

The way a car looks is purely subjective, but my opinion on having flares and a rear spoiler with the UC tail lights is that it's very ugly. You will get away with a front one though. The one you mention with the small brake ducts could be the LX SS / SL/R one, or it might be the one in the picture below. (I don't know who made them)

Also, have a bit of a google on the U.C. SL/T. This was a turbo version that didn't have a whole lot of money thrown at it, but it made good power.

Attached File  uc_torana.jpg   28.91K   5 downloads

 

Attached File  UC SLT 1 (2).jpg   124.32K   5 downloads

Attached File  UC SLT 1 (1).jpg   66.34K   5 downloads



#7 _2-QUIKUC_

_2-QUIKUC_
  • Guests

Posted 31 May 2020 - 11:13 AM

Thanks for the brake idea I'll have to go check them out. I'm not too keen on the UC with flares myself, that's why I was thinking if I eventually wanted to widen the track width I would do an LX front & rear conversion. The front air dam I'm talking about is closer to the SS one rather then the A9X one, I can't even find a photo of one to show. The A9X style air dams for UC I've seen have all been a 2 piece design & I didn't like the join hump in the centre, but that one you posted, I actually really like it.

I've heard about the SL/T before but haven't really found much about it. Thanks for posting that Modern Motor article that was a really good read.

I've never been a big fan of Turbocharges because of what they do to your power & torque curve, but I suppose Turbocharging has gotten much better now over the past 10 or so years. Just something about the sound of a naturally aspirated engine really speaks to me, I don't know if it's the Intake sound or the smoothness of it, I just really like naturally aspirated engines. But if push comes to shove per say and I do keep the 202 and I'm wanting more power I might be open to the idea of a Supercharger or Turbocharger. It'll be the Supercharger before the Turbocharger though, unless somebody want's to try and persuade me to change my mind?



#8 Ando

Ando

    Forum Fixture

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 519 posts
  • Location:Coolangatta
  • Car:6/'76 L32 SS white & black. 9/'76 L31 SS gold. 5/'77 L31 SS Chamois. 3/'79 UC SL Deluxe hatch.
  • Joined: 10-February 08
Garage View Garage

Posted 31 May 2020 - 01:14 PM

I kind of like this as a solution for a front air dam extension on a UC.

L34/A9X fibreglass kits just looks wrong on a UC model but each to their on I guess. 

Attached Files


Edited by Ando, 31 May 2020 - 01:16 PM.


#9 _2-QUIKUC_

_2-QUIKUC_
  • Guests

Posted 31 May 2020 - 02:19 PM

You found it, that is the exact photo I was talking about. Thank you so so much. Do you know anything about it?


Edited by 2-QUIKUC, 31 May 2020 - 02:19 PM.


#10 Ando

Ando

    Forum Fixture

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 519 posts
  • Location:Coolangatta
  • Car:6/'76 L32 SS white & black. 9/'76 L31 SS gold. 5/'77 L31 SS Chamois. 3/'79 UC SL Deluxe hatch.
  • Joined: 10-February 08
Garage View Garage

Posted 31 May 2020 - 07:46 PM

You found it, that is the exact photo I was talking about. Thank you so so much. Do you know anything about it?

 

Not much to go on. The former owner mentioned to a mate that the the fibreglass spoiler came with the car purchase & didn't know of it's origins. 



#11 _2-QUIKUC_

_2-QUIKUC_
  • Guests

Posted 31 May 2020 - 08:03 PM

Could be custom then.



#12 ozyozyozy

ozyozyozy

    Forum Fixture

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 944 posts
  • Location:perth
  • Joined: 13-February 08

Posted 01 June 2020 - 03:11 AM

Food for thought for you, IF you are planing on doing tarmac rally style/hillclimb events in the future, you need to check the rules first, decide what class you may want to run in, this will dictate alot of mods, cant just rock up with whatever you want.

Edited by ozyozyozy, 01 June 2020 - 03:12 AM.


#13 _2-QUIKUC_

_2-QUIKUC_
  • Guests

Posted 01 June 2020 - 07:29 AM

Because I would like to participate in multiple different series I thought it might be a bit hard to find a class which shares the same regulations. But here's what I've found.

Targa:

Thoroughbred Trophy - Manufactured 1 January 1900 - 31 December 1989, Commercially available in any number as a road registrable vehicle, CAMS Type 2 Half Safety Cage Structure, Classes based on engine capacity.

Classic - Only difference (From Thoroughbred Trophy) this class is specific to 2WD and doesn't specify need for a rollcage. I found this odd why they don't specify. I could be possibly missing something.

Classic 2 - Only difference is (From Classic) 2WD & 4WD are allowed.

Vic Hillclimb Championship:

Improved Production 2WD 2001cc to 3000cc
Improved Production 2WD 30001cc and over

These two are far more extensive, it's quite a bit overwhelming actually.
I'm just going to put this here so I can find it at a later date if I need to.
https://motorsport.o...vrsn=4f0e4ee7_7

It's something I've looked into before, but only very briefly, It would be good to contact someone who has a later model Torana and has participated in either of these disciplines/classes.



#14 ozyozyozy

ozyozyozy

    Forum Fixture

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 944 posts
  • Location:perth
  • Joined: 13-February 08

Posted 03 June 2020 - 04:16 AM

I have done a bit of targa and a little improved production.
I HIGHLY recommend a full cage for targa racing.

#15 _2-QUIKUC_

_2-QUIKUC_
  • Guests

Posted 03 June 2020 - 06:29 AM

Definitely, the thought of not having a rollcage is just crazy to me. 






0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users