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VN wagon

Started by _BAILLIE_ , Mar 22 2011 09:40 PM

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73 replies to this topic

#1 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 22 March 2011 - 09:40 PM

So here it is when i first got her, around November 2009.

She's an '89 series 1, V6 with a 5 speed.

Bought it from a bodgy car yard in Thomastown.

My Torry was obviously becoming a massive long term thing and I wanted wheels to tool about in during the mean time.

I wanted to do the right thing and i had to stay on my P's for quite a while still, hence the V6.

The car was a full grandpa-spec stocker. Hubcaps, standard tape deck, mudflaps.

It was tempting to keep it somewhat sleeper-ish, but it looked fugly IMO. I couldn't leave it.

The thing goes pretty hard for a stock 6. I attribute it goodness to the manual trans behind it.

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Edited by BAILLIE, 22 March 2011 - 09:52 PM.

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#2 _Woodsy_

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Posted 22 March 2011 - 09:58 PM

Thats Tidy, you never see any tidy standard VN's anymore, most P platers have #@$^%& with with there alloys and steroes.

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#3 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 22 March 2011 - 10:06 PM

Ah, hmm.

It would have been wise not to tamper with it, yes.

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#4 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 22 March 2011 - 10:17 PM

The main reason behind buying it (apart from wanting a daily, and it being a wagon and 5 speed, un-molested) was to take my ex-misses on holiday away from Melbourne for a week as something nice after her finishing 3 solid years of intensive study.
I looked at renting a car for the week, but it would have cost $500 minimum and the car would have just been sitting there the whole time, so I thought bugger that, I might aswell just buy one and take it home afterwards, and so I did.

First of all, I fixed that awful round thing by bolting on something slightly less awful and slightly more round. The horn still works too : )

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Then went away, the car ran smooth the whole time when needed, thankfully : )

I wish I could have taken the carport home with me too, it looked cosy : )

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Edited by BAILLIE, 22 March 2011 - 10:22 PM.

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#5 _mick74lh_

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Posted 22 March 2011 - 10:29 PM

Looks like a good find mate. I'm sure Brad will tell you about his manual VN wagon but thats been a bloody good car in the 9 months or so that he's had it. Its like a bus and it does everything. I've actually grown fond of it.

There's nothing wrong with making these cars look hektic. Isn't that what they're for? What have you actually done to it?

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#6 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 22 March 2011 - 10:36 PM

Next up, I took the wagon to visit my old man up north and spend about 2 solid weeks helping him to move house.
I had a set of 16 x 8s laying around that I had rescued from a previous VH wagon, so I grabbed them and a can of house paint : )

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^ ^ (Yes, that is white-out on the tyre sidewalls, yes I was on drugs, yes, really good ones and yes, I sanded it all off asap)

I also used the opportunity (having a bit of space) to go all bushman on it and do a mad rush bodgy 2 tone ninja paint move on it.

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^ ^ Yes, i even went crazy and stripped the grill and the mudflaps. And the headlight covers... OK so i broke one. They were lame anyway.

Edited by BAILLIE, 22 March 2011 - 10:40 PM.

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#7 _mick74lh_

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Posted 22 March 2011 - 10:47 PM

Good stuff. I've never seen those sort of wheels before. They look really nice. Are they a two piece wheel?

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#8 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 22 March 2011 - 10:50 PM

Whether these are progress pics, or just 2 steps backwards, here�s some paint going on : )

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^ You can see what a massive job it was to mask the whole car up for this! Jeez.

I rubbed it back the next day and did another coat, it made no difference but meh, my method was pure madness so who cares. Having a wet edge for the brush was impossible, haha : )

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#9 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 22 March 2011 - 11:00 PM

Looks like a good find mate. I'm sure Brad will tell you about his manual VN wagon but thats been a bloody good car in the 9 months or so that he's had it. Its like a bus and it does everything. I've actually grown fond of it.

There's nothing wrong with making these cars look hektic. Isn't that what they're for? What have you actually done to it?

Yeh, cheers. Not too many manuals around so I was happy for that. I have also come to like it. Never thought of VNs as good cars, much prefer the VKs but this one has been growing on me a lot.

I have not done much yet, mainly just making things more enjoyable for everyday use and trying not to get too crazy like slamming it or hanging bits out the bonnet or anything. I need to be able to drive it, that's the whole point hey.

Good stuff. I've never seen those sort of wheels before. They look really nice. Are they a two piece wheel?

Cheers. I have never seen another set like them. The centres are just welded in, can't unbolt or anything. They fit really well on VB – VKs but the cutoff rear guards on the VN has been an issue for clearance.

Edited by BAILLIE, 22 March 2011 - 11:01 PM.

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#10 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 22 March 2011 - 11:10 PM

Here's the results, the next day and probably still wet : ) Looked a whole lot better than it had any right to hey?

When I re-do it I think I will raise that rear black-out on the tailgate more, so it sits level with the other lines.

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^ It really highlighted how un-low this thing was.

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^ There's the grill back in again, before I took it out again. It looked OK I guess.

Edited by BAILLIE, 22 March 2011 - 11:12 PM.

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#11 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 22 March 2011 - 11:22 PM

Just swapping to the fatter tyres made a big improvement to the highway sailing in the barge. Then it was back to helping move truckloads of my dad's gear but without the truck : )

I took a happy snap of her fully loaded with drums of oil in the back. Made the front end look even more ridiculous, hehehe : )

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Another one : ) -

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The paint and the wheels totally changed the look of the car, for the better i think, even if it's a bodgy temporary job. Whatever works.

Edited by BAILLIE, 22 March 2011 - 11:27 PM.

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#12 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 22 March 2011 - 11:53 PM

Around that stage I had also replaced the stock crap with a stereo. I had most of the gear ready to go for the Torry, but being years away I decided that I might aswell put it to use now. In 5 years I will probably want the latest head unit and 7 x 10s or whatever anyway.

Also, I had revisited my youth and listened to a bunch of old tapes before the factory tape deck jammed up good. The radio wasn't getting reception and I had to have tunes because listening to a V6 was not going to cut it.

No pics of that, but it was quite a bitch to get the old head unit out. Everything else was very straight-forward. Used all Kenwood gear with 4"s in the dash and 6 x 9"s in the back side panels. I ran wires out for an amp but have recently removed them because CBF'd putting a sub in. They weight too much and are not needed in the car, they distract too much from driving etc.

I got some new SL king springs fronts and SL kings sedan rears, Monroe shocks and k-mac camber plates all off Ebay. I did try to egde a corner in and start fitting the gear myself, but quickly decided that it was really not working for me and the lack of space and piss farting around was not worth the hassle.

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Got my local Pedders to install all my supplied springs and shocks, plus camber plates and adjustment to about 2.6 degrees negative camber plus slightly more castor. Plus a wheel alignment. They did a reasonable price for me and a good job so I was OK about it.

Edited by BAILLIE, 22 March 2011 - 11:54 PM.

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#13 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 23 March 2011 - 12:14 AM

So here's a few from the wagon's very first proper wash, after being lowered and cambered:

It handles much better of course. The shocks are pretty craptastic and harsh, but they work at least. The extra camber makes the front end really bite the road on turn in, I like it : ) I also have new Toyos on the front now and they were a huge help too, they are great.

The rears scrub out over bumps. With people in the back it would smoke the tyres just driving normally, haha oops : )

I changed from a 215 to a 205 which slightly improved things. I gave the rear inner guard lips a good massage with a hammer when I did the paint, so there are no sharp lines or edges in there at least.

I am quite happy with the ride height. I can go most places and over speed bumps without scraping, and Mr Plod leaves me alone so i must be doing something right : )

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I don't have a tripod for my camera and my night-shot skills don't exist yet, but the setting was actually quite cool and potentially these pics could have turned out fairly sweet. I will go back one night and have a proper play around and try to get some better shots.

Edited by BAILLIE, 23 March 2011 - 12:25 AM.

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#14 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 23 March 2011 - 12:58 AM

Got some nice new pacemakers (ebay) and matched them to a 2.5" single system from my local shop with a redback muffler. My "friend" did the same thing, and then did these other things (which I would never do) –

Had an electronic cutout plus a small cat fitted.

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Wired it up in a local carpark.

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Switch took the position and wiring over from the old ciggy lighter which was out of action anyways. Ductape was improv due to being in carpark as mentioned.

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All works well and has since had a dump pipe made up for it, which helps get the gas away from the car and reduces the in-car noise by a huge amount, which is nice because it was all kinds of stupidly LOUD when cracked right open. Insane vibrations would surge through the car, seats, legs, balls etc. You had to be there, lol, it was intense hehe : )

Yes, the guy at the shop kind of sucks, and always manages to make the system scrape on the floor somewhere. Doesn't seem to understand expansion through heat and movement around corners/over bumps etc. Less than a pinky finger is not enough clearance! Heheh : )

It sounded like crud without the extractors. It sounds reasonable with them and with it bedded in properly. The system is almost always run "closed". It's quite a waste on a V6, but it's different I guess. I was curious to see if it was possible to get a good note out of them. I think has worked out far better than average, and still have not touched the cam. At least it doesn't sound like complete arse, like the majority of kids with V6 shirtboxes.

My "friend" had a mini spool whacked in aswell. He loves it : ) Not me though, I am a respectable citizen, heheh.

Edited by BAILLIE, 23 March 2011 - 01:01 AM.

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#15 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 23 March 2011 - 01:22 AM

I had a small stack at some point, looks like before it was lowered. First time I ever hit another car� by accident : )

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The lady in front only had a slight dent in the rear bar of her Rav 4. She was really rude about it all and I still have not heard back about anything in over a year so I assume it wont be chased up at all.

I smashed out my headlight and indicator obviously, and the bonnet was pushed in slightly. Also, the guard was pushed slightly out of shape around the indicator housing, but I was able to pull that out fairly well by hand. I replaced the headlight assembly on the same day with one from the wreckers. Gotta love that there are plenty there to choose from hey : )
Oh yeh, and the bumper was crunched right in and then sprang straight back out at the time. Barely a scuff in the paint to be seen : ) Put the bumper slightly out of whack, but meh, it’s fine still.

Also picked up another headlight assembly while I was at it. I kind of like the pics and I want to dummy up a set of clear lenses for it to replicate that recessed look and bring some depth into it. It would work well on VKs etc too, but nobody is doing them yet. We'll see what happens.

Edited by BAILLIE, 23 March 2011 - 01:31 AM.

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#16 76lxhatch

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Posted 23 March 2011 - 07:29 AM

The S1 V6 goes well with a manual behind it, I have one in my VK

Wheels look like BMW offset, do you have a bit of front end shimmy to go with? Commodores don't really like the increased track

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#17 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 23 March 2011 - 09:26 PM

The S1 V6 goes well with a manual behind it, I have one in my VK

Wheels look like BMW offset, do you have a bit of front end shimmy to go with? Commodores don't really like the increased track

Nice one : )

With the standard ride height it put a little bit of bump steer into it, but this went away once it was lowered and aligned. It's really well behaved for what it is.

If it was any lower and had 17s or bloody 20s on it or something, i imagine it would be a mongrel. I had an old VK that was slammed on 17s and with the bump steer and tracking it was a real pig. Putting 15s on the front helped heaps but it was still way too low. Turned good though, and it looked good : )

Edited by BAILLIE, 23 March 2011 - 09:30 PM.

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#18 rodomo

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Posted 23 March 2011 - 09:53 PM

Is that Copperhead Road? :dontknow:

http://uk.video.yaho...h/219014/917903

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#19 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 23 March 2011 - 10:01 PM

Bahaha

No. I believe it's High St. in Maldon. Doubt there has ever been a tune written, nor will there ever be one. Those drums were filled with oil, not alcohol .... so i was told anyway. : )

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#20 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 23 March 2011 - 10:34 PM

Headlight is all better : )

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Had the windows tinted darkest legal.

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^ Yes, i had just washed it. I was in a hurry and yes, i missed some giant spots, woops : )

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New tail lights and dump pipe. I will probably change the tip soon to a rectangular style again.

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Edited by BAILLIE, 23 March 2011 - 10:37 PM.

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#21 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 23 March 2011 - 10:43 PM

My fav pic from that day -

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Quick chop to see how whitewalls would look...

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^ It's interesting, but a bit too much for me i think. I prefer it to stay as understated as possible.

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#22 _Gunmetal LH_

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Posted 24 March 2011 - 02:02 AM

Nice. Here's my 2c

Not a fan of the taillights...

Exhaust looks good.

Paints looks good too.

Don't mind the whitewalls?

I reckon some chrome wheel nut caps would look good with the black wheels. Probably cheaper to just get chrome nuts though...

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#23 76lxhatch

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Posted 24 March 2011 - 06:40 AM

I reckon some chrome wheel nut caps would look good with the black wheels. Probably cheaper to just get chrome nuts though...

Just get some original plastic caps and paint them fake chrome or silver, would be close enough

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#24 Heath

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Posted 24 March 2011 - 09:51 AM

Don't like the tail lights or concept of the whitewalls, otherwise it's great, so tasteful compared to your average VN!

I like your friend's exhaust system too hahahah

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#25 Mort

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Posted 24 March 2011 - 02:10 PM

Also not a fan of the tail lights or white walls, sorry, and what is with the rim on the back, do you have a chrome wheel trim on it, if not then maybe invest in some wider rubber and stay away from gutters.