192 replies to this topic

[76lxhatch]

As it turns out the driver side extractor allows heaps of clearance to everything including the steering with any tweaks at all


Made up a couple of 2.25" pieces that bolt up to the header flanges


As soon as I get the cutouts in the trans cross member sorted I will bolt up the rest of the exhaust (old twin system off the hatch) and connect it all up

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 10:57 PM.

[76lxhatch]

Cross member modified for exhaust clearance

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 10:58 PM.

[TUF 308]

Crossmember is a fine piece of work going down the turbo 700 route myself. Do you have any rought plans for that cross member? Or more pics?

[76lxhatch]

The main part is made up of the two side pieces that bolt up in 50x50x6 angle, joined by two main cross tubes in 25x25x3 SHS. I made this up first then started cutting into it. Note the cross tubes are spaced apart so that two pieces of 50x50x6 angle from either side will just butt together nicely on top.

Then I made the drop for the rubber mount, from the same angle. Ideally this would have been more like 50x90 but welding an extra piece on made it easier to get the slotted holes - I drilled holes at the very edge of each piece and opened them up to the edge with the grinder, then welded together. The sides are just folded up on a nice angle, the front cross tube cut out to suit and welded in. It contacts both cross tubes for strength, the rear one isn't cut at all.

The exhaust cutouts use the same angle again to reinforce on top but cut to only 20mm tall and hole sawed to get the nice round recess. The cross tubes were also hole sawed, keeping the topmost 3mm wall. A piece of 1.5mm exhaust tube tidies up the bottom side. These were positioned just inside the beads in the floor pan, the cross tubes are hard against the bottom of the bead and these reinforcing pieces sit up beside them.

Hope that makes sense? Its perhaps a little on the heavy side but I'm happy with it and it won't bend like some of the aftermarket ones.


edit: oh and watch for warping especially when welding the exhaust cutouts, try to alternate sides so it pulls one way then back the other

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 10:58 PM.

[76lxhatch]

For some reason I had a VK radiator previously, the top hose connection is on a strange angle and doesn't really suit. It could be modified but nicer to have things like the radiator easily replaceable with standard parts. The VP that the engine and trans came from had a near new radiator which I will be using, so made some new mounts to suit.





Will be tidied up and painted so they are presentable at a later date

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 10:58 PM.

[76lxhatch]

Been working on the air box, almost done







Just got to extend the tubing to the throttle body, add some corners on top to retain the filter (not really necessary but just in case of a huge backfire or something I guess) and finish tidying it up

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 10:58 PM.

[Stinga]

did you make the lower radiator mounts, or steal them from the vp?

[76lxhatch]

I made them in the end, was going to use the VB-VK L shaped bracket but they foul the bottom plate of the radiator. The VN-VS support is different, the beam runs under the radiator - nicer setup but nowhere decent to attach it in the Torana as the chassis rails are much higher at the front. This is the VN one I put in my old VK (due to V6 swap):
https://cache.gmh-to...atorsupport.jpg

[76lxhatch]

Not much at present, its still on the to-do list just not particularly close to the top :-(

[76lxhatch]

Need something to fill in the time to retain some semblance of sanity (like that ship hasn't already sailed), and its about time I did some more work on this!

 

First step was a solid three days of cleaning and re-organising the shed to un-earth the car, find all my tools and create some space to work.

 

Then on to a nice simple task to begin with. I had a very rough VN Calais which I got as the driveline donor for my ute (next on the project list if I ever get this one finished), but it eventually became too much work and cost to keep driving it so finally parted it out. All remaining parts are fair game, the 1" master cylinder and large booster will work well here. Once you remove the Commodore extension bracket the booster bolts straight on to the Torana firewall, but of course the pushrod is far too long. So disassemble and modify.

 

Machined a section down before cutting to length.

 

Then cut a thread into it.

 

Add flats for holding.

 

Torana pedal end (bored and internally threaded to match).

 

Installed and adjusted to length with loctite, further adjustment still possible if need be. Torana dust boot fits nicely.

[76lxhatch]

Somehow in all the parts swapping around it looks like I ended up with an early brake pedal with the pivot in the wrong place, must have given away the good one. Never mind, easily remedied.

 

With pin pressed in, 8mm lower.

 

This car is only a cruiser so unfortunately it won't be getting a proper gearbox. So the pedal also wants to have an automatic pad on it, the Calais donated one of those too.

 

Welded and cleaned up a bit.

 

After all that some paint of the appropriate hue and the master end of the braking system is sorted.

 

[Cook]

Nice work.  I think there are a number of sheds getting cleaned-up at present, mine included. Cheers Ron

[46Crab]

Good job

[rodomo]

Nice work...…….I get the bit about the shed cleaning too...………...and mowing the grass

[76lxhatch]

Thanks guys, hoping to pull finger and get some more done in the next couple of weeks

[Heath]

Well I for one forgot this car existed.

[76lxhatch]

Its a bit like that, I was actually quite surprised how long ago the last productive posts were :-(

 

The worst thing I find is that as time goes on I seem to take a lot longer to achieve simple tasks, perfection is the enemy of good enough (not that anything here is perfect either).

[Heath]

I think I'm realising that I'm a bit of a perfectionist also. And I am finding it to be a bit of a hindrance.

[76lxhatch]

The wiring loom will be mostly replaced using as much of the VN/VP loom as possible to keep things simple and easy to maintain. Started with the rear section, unwrapped and removed unnecessary items to lighten it up a little, still kept a few extras like speakers, boot release solenoid, rear window demister.

 

 

Test fit, repair some minor issues and cut to length where required.

 

 

 

No difference between LX and VN rear bulb holders, handy that.

 

 

Re-wrap the loom.

 

[76lxhatch]

Currently cherry-picking the interesting/easy tasks to avoid boredom, I figure as long as I'm still making forward progress it doesn't matter.

 

So this is one of the pieces I kept from the Calais:

 

After a fair amount of hacking I whittled it down the part I actually wanted:

 

Which fits in the car with minimal additional hackery:

 

Allowing this:

 

 

Its all pretty rough at present but basically it all fits without having to cut the Torana dash facia at all. The plan is to make a new panel/surround for the main face of the dash around the instruments and keep the original intact, this will also make it easy to relocate the cigarette lighter and delete the ashtray - can't remember if there's room there for a stereo, maybe a recessed/flush facia for that would look OK?

 

I wanted to convert the instruments over all along and had been toying with ways to integrate them into the original dash layout but that would be a lot of work and an extremely tight fit. This isn't quite as period-correct but I don't mind the later gauges and it solves all the problems including all required idiot lights (indicators, high beam, check engine light etc). All senders including the fuel level (that's another mini-project which I'll hopefully have an update on soon) will be VN/VP so it will all just work together. Using the factory mounting pod also holds the instrument connectors in place from the VN/VP wiring loom.

[76lxhatch]

A little fine tuning and minor trimming to make it fit snugly with all components around it. Crash pad and lower dash are properly fitted in this photo.

The ruler is there to show the slight curvature in the dash - I assume this is factory rather than just 40 years of heat and sag? The standard fascia kind-of follows it but a bit rough if you look closely, I think I can work around it.

 

Created a new upper piece that the cluster top tabs screw into, this allowed positioning the cluster accurately and making it stay in place with the dash pieces removed.

I won't be using the level 3 instruments, just needed something with enough of the mounting tabs still intact. Will put together various pieces to make a good level 2 cluster for the final piece.

 

Once it was correctly positioned, made two side pieces that the cluster surround/support screws to. The tabs sticking out will be bent over and trimmed at the right length to mount the fascia, not far off where the original screw holes were (or maybe if I'm clever enough I'll figure out a way to hide all the fasteners).

 

Not a lot of room left for the demist vents, but will be enough. The duct will probably need some modifications (or even to be replaced with a custom one) on this side but at this stage I can't even remember what it looks like let alone where it is... I'm sure its in here somewhere.

[76lxhatch]

This is something I started quite some time (years) ago, have been working on finishing it up the last couple of weeks and I think its going to work so here are the photos.

 

The drop tank I got for the hatch is stainless and came as a closed box, which meant the filler neck and sender/pickup fitting were cut out of the original tank and welded in. I kept the remains of the original tank as it was actually fairly tidy aside from a few dents - this allowed me to try out some modifications without risking irreversible damage to the tank for the sedan.

 

First, cut it in half! I cut it just below the flange so there there is ~3mm remaining of the original wall for locating and overlapping. Then bent and hammered a seamless internal flange on the bottom part.

 

Fabricated extension panels to increase the overall depth of the tank around 45-50mm. By my rough calculations this should mean an increase from ~55L to at least 75L.

 

Each panel has a flange that matches the internal one on the original tank bottom, and where they meet each other. They slightly overlap and locate on the top part. Making multiple pieces made the corner flange shrinking easier (all done by hand with hammer and dolly since I don't have a shrinker) and I think adds some strength.

 

Ended up completely removing the original filler neck stub shown in the first photo to make it easier and neater.

The round section to blank the original filler hole is also flanged and overlapped.

 

And that's where I left it for far too long, with all extension panels made and tacked in except the one corner.

[76lxhatch]

Increasing the capacity was only one part of the reason for cutting the tank open, the other part was to set up for the EFI fuel system. The vehicle that donated the drivetrain also donated its fuel tank which was unceremoniously shredded for its useful parts. The main one being the swirl pot which offers reasonable fuel control to avoid the pump sucking air as the fuel moves about the tank. With only some minor panel beating this fits reasonably well in the "sump" (if you can call it that) of the Torana tank.

You can also see my solution for the filler neck in this photo - I machined a ring which is internally welded (and leak tested) to the rear panel and gives a good surface including a bevel at the rear edge to solder a new neck in.

 

I made and tacked in the final panel, and fitted the top and bottom sections together. A couple of ratchet tie-downs work well to clamp the halves together so I can move the tank around.

 

A whole lot of very cautious welding later.

 

As I mentioned previously the sender/pickup mounting (hole?) had been removed from the tank, no big deal since I wanted something different anyway. Robbed the threaded backing plate from the Commodore tank and made up a new piece, again flanged and overlapped.

 

Welded in.

[76lxhatch]

I'd hoped to be able to somehow use the Commodore pickup/sender unit without major modifications but it wasn't to be, they basically sit on opposite sides of the tanks and thus point in opposite directions. Needs re-arranging.


New mounting plate.

 

New mounting plate full of holes.

 

Fill up the holes.

The pickup is tweaked around to make it work, and the pump is a VT one (because that's what I had laying around, should do the trick). Removed the sender components from the original mounting plate and attached them on the opposite side to the Commodore setup, making sure the arm still moves in the correct direction! This is the Commodore sender to match the dash, I did shorten the arm slightly to suit the tank height, tested with ohmmeter so there should be only minor tweaks if any required for a good reading. Plugs also Commodore to match the wiring loom, have since added internal wiring to the pump, stainless cable ties and used the original VT filter sock.

 

Also needed an external connection to the return line, machined out a flange nut to give it a bit of strength and welded to the tank.