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.
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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.