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Brewster's LX SS

Started by _Brewster_ , Jul 01 2007 05:15 PM

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214 replies to this topic

#1 _Brewster_

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Posted 01 July 2007 - 05:15 PM

[URL=http://www.geocities.com/dewy1974/tigresss.jpg]

If this link doesn't work, please see the photo of the car under Brewster's car in the photo gallery, I'm really crap at using computers. Yes, I read the thread and still don't get it.
Here is my genuine, LX SS 202 hatch, trimatic, which I bought from my father, after a brief struggle with my brother, back in 1997. The car was in pretty decent condition, needing some work. I used the car as a daily driver right up until 4 years ago where its been up on stands since.
With the phasing out of leaded petrol, many thoughts came to mind about what to do with the cars driveline. I looked at all options, including restoring the car to its original glory with better heads to handle the unleaded. Then one day I got beaten by a Toyota Starlet off the line, and that ruled that out. Forced induction for the 202, being supercharged or turbo charged, and stressed myself out for months about that and what to do, but decided what ever I do, I should be able to revert back to the original driveline in order to retain its value.

Edited by REDA9X, 09 January 2008 - 08:02 AM.

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#2 RIM-010

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Posted 01 July 2007 - 05:19 PM

Go Blown

Tim

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#3 _Brewster_

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Posted 01 July 2007 - 05:19 PM

Seeing the car was a 6 to start with, I was going to keep it a 6 and put a V6 in it one way or the other. I looked at the ecotec engine, pro's and cons but heard in the rumour mill at the time the development of a new V6 - the Alloytec. Stupid me got all excited about it, knowing full well that there was nothing at all for this engine to go into a Torrie and when one came along on ebay, with only 7K's on the clock, the car had been T-Boned and it came with everything including transmission, main loom, ecu, bcm dash cluster and electronic throttle, I plunged forth into the world of the unknown.
After I purchased the engine, I called CRS to see if they had any conversion kits for that engine, and the manager at the time, replied, we can't get hold of any Alloytecs. So I said, can I do a deal for you. Have the engine as long as you want, make up all your kits, and give me one!
At this present time, the conversion kit is almost complete, the mounts are made, for a drop in fit and the sump is being welded up to suit. This was all done with a donor car that CRS had obtained, and me being all the way up in Darwin, I get alot of emails from Geoff informing me whats going on. Although a few things to mention about the engine.
The alternator on the Alloytec is mounted really low and hits the chassis rail, so a smaller Japanese one has to be sourced and brackets made to suit. I've been told that the headers and choice of radiator will determine what will fit in there.
A dummy idler pully for the power steering pump has to be made up, as there is no power steering for the Torana. Hence I started up the thread about contacting Blacks Racks and express interest in making up a power steering rack to get him to realise that there is a positive potential for that market out there.
Also custom headers have to be made up, and fortunately, the donor car with the engine in it has gone to an exhaust shop for all the measurements and they are going to develop some. I'm sorry but i don't know the name of that business, but once they are made, I'll be their first customer for sure.

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#4 RIM-010

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Posted 01 July 2007 - 05:21 PM

Alloytec Conversion kit, eh?

I like the sound of that.

Tim

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#5 _Brewster_

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Posted 01 July 2007 - 05:32 PM

After spending hours of reading through this valuable website, I've learnt that I have to decide what I want the car for. And the answer, a daily driver, I've always said I'd rather drive the Torana than a brand new commodore.
So, it has to be practicle, be able to go over speed humps and not drag over anything, be able to do long drives with out wearing the tyres in funny spots, be economical, but also to be fast in a straight line. Body roll has to be minimised, and handle well with out feeling like a floating odessey. But seriously, there just isn't any room on our roads these days to do silly things like rally up some mountain bitumen road, unless your an entrant in the Targa, which I am not.
And I have to formulate a realistic plan and how I want the progress of the car to take shape.
I am however having trouble formulating this plan as I'm reading into too much at once and its giving me info overload and head aches.
This project I affectionately call the ' retirement project ' as its going to take that long to get it done, unless I leave my current job and go work in the mines or something to get all cashed up. I aint made of money so things have to take their time, and I don't mind waiting.
With the restriction of services here in the top end, and if any locals here are reading this, I'm sorry but its true, I'm waiting to find out where I'll be heading off to, hopefully somewhere with more reliable and reputable services that you can't just get here in Darwin.

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#6 _Brewster_

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Posted 01 July 2007 - 05:35 PM

Yes, part of the deal with CRS was to have a kit made up without having to do firewall mods to make it more viable. The tooling is being made so that they can provide the kits, but I don't know at what cost. I had trouble getting some info out of Pat Gardiner V6 conversions, as one, they never reply to an email, and two, he seems pretty busy. Although, he has put one in his FX and he has recently done a EH. If you look on ebay, these engines are surpisingly cheap, but of course, I had photos of the car it came out, to make sure it wasn't a front end collision. The only damage was a stuffed engine mount.

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#7 _Brewster_

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Posted 01 July 2007 - 05:37 PM

I was looking at the C.A.P.A site and they have some pretty serious forced induction for this engine. One can only dream of having the 440kw kit on the Torana, if it fitted in there of course, and blow everyone away!!!

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#8 _Monkey_

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Posted 01 July 2007 - 05:38 PM

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#9 _Brewster_

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Posted 01 July 2007 - 05:44 PM

Thanks Monkey, you legend! Doesn't she look bootiful!!

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#10 RIM-010

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Posted 01 July 2007 - 05:46 PM

It looks to be in pretty good nick from where I'm sitting. How is it for rust?

What's the go with the Tiger on the front guard?

Tim

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#11 _Brewster_

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Posted 01 July 2007 - 05:52 PM

There's only rust in the channel around the bootseal, which has to be repaired.
The front right fender is dented, and needs to be panel beated, but the damage doesn't extend to the nose cone/apron. The paint shows up well in photo's but it does need a new paint job. Its blistering on the right door as I think it was an accident some years ago, it has a different coloured door hinge.
The Tiger on the fender, came from the lady that owned the car in West Meltona Vic. My father liked it so he didn't remove it. In place of the torana on the nose cone/apron, is Tigress, and appears on the rear as well. Goes with the tiger seat covers.
The interior is pretty good, door trims aren't sagging, just the front seats and rear seats have to be retrimmed and thats it.

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#12 _Monkey_

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Posted 01 July 2007 - 06:06 PM

Nice stripes...is that electrical tape??

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#13 _toddy_

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Posted 01 July 2007 - 08:16 PM

Hey that hatch is in pretty good condition... You would have to be happy with such a good starting point. Minimal rust is a bonus. Keep the details coming as you progress through every thing. Ecotec would be nice and also something different at the same time.... Lots of people will be interested with this conversion

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#14 _Brewster_

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Posted 01 July 2007 - 11:13 PM

G'day Monkey - Yes, that is electrical tape holding that stipe on, it was in perfect nick until I took ownership and drove it north, then it started to go pear shape on me. Thanks to Mr. Mick McCardle, I have a set of replacement stripes to go on once she's painted. It just wouldn't look right without them.

G'day Toddy - I'm very happy with the car, except for the ding I put in it, I had a panel beater look at the rust and even he said it was in good nick for the little rust it had.
I'm sure there are lots of people that maybe interested in this conversion, I don't by all means want to try and be the pioneer for it. As I said, its gonna take some time, but i will definitely be posting pics up on here as the project goes on.
With the promise of the Alloytec being fuel efficient and having lots of power, I thought I couldn't go wrong with the new motor.

I've seen the way that other members post there articles in their project forums and its really inspiring and motivating to get mine done.

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#15 RIM-010

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Posted 01 July 2007 - 11:18 PM

Don't skint on pics and info of the Alloytec conversion, I wanna do it to my LJ in a couple of years.

Tim

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#16 _Brewster_

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Posted 01 July 2007 - 11:33 PM

Righto Tim, no worries. Although, come to think of it, one of the car wrecking yards that occassionally puts his alloytecs up on ebay, mentions that one fitted nice into a Hilux as a conversion, and he says he sold another one to go into an LJ Torana. I remember thinking at the time, that the LJ engine bay would have to be smaller, but if you can get a three fiddy in there, surly you can get an Alloytec in there.

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#17 RIM-010

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Posted 02 July 2007 - 09:14 AM

The LJ engine bay is smaller, but not by tooo much.

There's plenty of guys running around with smallblock (and even big block) Chev's in their LC/J's, so an Alloytec should fit.

Tim

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#18 Heath

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Posted 02 July 2007 - 07:08 PM

There's plenty of guys running around with smallblock

Harder than you may think...

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#19 RIM-010

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Posted 02 July 2007 - 07:09 PM

Yeah, but not impossible...

Tim

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#20 MRLXSS

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Posted 03 July 2007 - 10:07 AM

Put a SBC in! The SBC would be probably fit better in the engine bay than a 308 will. the SBC is more vertical and doesnt seem to take up as much horizontal space. Plus if you have the cash, there is plenty of conversion kits available.

Once its in, u will never want to get out of the car!

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#21 RIM-010

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Posted 03 July 2007 - 10:09 AM

It sounds like he's pretty committed to the Alloytec, Matty...

For good reason, I think :spoton:

Tim

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#22 _Brewster_

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Posted 03 July 2007 - 06:32 PM

RIM-010 Posted on Jul 3 2007, 10:09 AM
It sounds like he's pretty committed to the Alloytec, Matty...

Sure am Tim, there's no turning back now. The old girl was born a six, she'll be ressurrected as a six!

I took a heap of photo's of the car today, once I clear up my image uploading issues, ( me being too stupid to work it out :cry:

) I'll post them, hopefully tonight.
Its great being a part of this site, and seeing everyone elses development, its a great place to share the experience!

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#23 _Brewster_

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Posted 03 July 2007 - 08:56 PM

Ok here goes, I'm working with Tim to get my uploading image issues sorted, thank you Tim! I've taken a few pics of the car in its current condition. Just so you guys can get a feel of what I'm working with.

The first pic is the actual damage of the car, dent int he panel and bent bumber bar. I was just gonna get this panel beated, any thoughts?

Posted Image

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#24 _Brewster_

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Posted 03 July 2007 - 09:08 PM

Awesome, it worked, here's just the RH side profile of the car, other than the LH side, in the previous page

You can just see it, but the paint has started to strip off the door, more about that later.

Posted Image

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#25 _Brewster_

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Posted 03 July 2007 - 09:11 PM

Here is the rear view of the car, unfortunately, I can't keep those plates when I move interstate at the end of the year. Bugger. I know the Aunger sunshade thingy on the rear windscreen has to go, but boy it keeps the heat out. What does everyone else do? I see the venetian shades that go on the inside for sale on ebay, are they worth getting? Or does everyone else just keep parking in the shade? Fortuantely rare spares has new lenses for that number plate light, and I have two NOS tail lights to go in as well, courtesy of ebay.

Posted Image