hey guys , i finally bought myself another vl after months of searching for a turbo plated model that didnt cost an arm and a leg. It is a 1987 calais turbo automatic. it was advertised on gumtree as a vl turbo bt1 rolling shell with no picture for $1500 and no description what so ever but it was in the same suburb as me so i thought i may as well call. i was sent a handful of photos and it was incredibly rough (with no i.d plates) and obviously not a bt1 but amongst the parts piled to the roof inside the car i noticed a factory cross over pipe ,plenum ,dump pipe and some other factory turbo parts and told the guy if he dropped it off the next morning id give him $1100 and he agreed. the next morning he dropped it off and at first glance i almost regretted buying it as i noticed a smashed quarter panel and many screw driver marks all over the locks and a half assed primer job that was sprayed over trim and everything, also my neighbour gave me the frowning of a lifetime looking at the old girl. but then the bloke handed me the vin tags and gave me abit of a background story of how it has been stolen then recovered and basically sat for 9 years and was just advertised as a bt1 for more views so after he wrote his name on a few things i felt a bit happier I then started pulling everything out to have a look at what id gotten in to and was absoloutely stoked that almost all the calais pieces where in there i think the only things i dont have are the calais skirts , and then noticed a 2500 converter shop stall was sitting inside the auto box and almost a full turbo set up minus the motor . the shell is in alright condition alot of rust along the front windscreen but the rest of the car has none a few little dings tho. i sold most of the turbo set up the next day on gumtree as i knew i would be upgrading, it all went for 1000 in one day, got about 30 phone calls. so the car basically cost me $100 at the moment. i have owned the car for about 2 months now without touching it just trying to think of what direction to take with the build or even just continue to part it all out and put the money onto the next one that needed less work. was tossing up between original or not and how much money to spend. after a good hard think the car made the choice for me to go non original as the cruise control had pieces missing the interior is half good half not so good , the wireing is an absolute rats nest with things spliced and hacked in / off everywhere. and the aircon all buggered i decided i would ditch it also and just run a clean bay and dye the interior black as it wasnt worth fixing some parts. i went over the wiring today and think i have got most of the puzzle solved /fixed for now and now i know im not running aircon i can finally start on doing the engine bay next weekend and the project can finally begin !!!!!

Plenty of potential here and what a bargain!

it aint pretty but the price is nice!!

Nice little project, it will be worth it at the end of the day. Can't complain with a $100 factory Calais turbo as a starting point. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

bought this gold vl for 900 delivered and it showed up today , its a 87, 5 speed manual, sl and it came with a sneaky disc brake rear end under those stato wheels . starts and runs well but has rust everywhere can literally push your finger through the roof and the interior has been cut up by some inbred for his speakers so i dont feel bad about scrapping the old girl. ---------- Post added 24-07-16 at 17:14 ---------- has all the pieces i need to finish the calais and ill be selling the complete manual set up and diff then the shell for scrap metal so the car will basically be free again so i will have more dollars to put into the motor later. the interior is light brown most of it is ruined but if anyway wants anything let me know and ill see if i have it and you can just take it other wise ill just toss it here is the dirty 30 i am amazed how well it runs and looks maintained considering the rest of the car ---------- Post added 24-07-16 at 17:31 ---------- Started the engine bay saturday spent about 10 hours cutting , tacking ,fibreglassing then sanding and sanding and sanding. I ground of the firewall lip and filled in the aircon and fusebox holes and a huge intercooler hole cut in the front and started smoothing the strut towers . I really wish i just left the lumps on the drivers side strut and used a washer bottle because after looking at the gold vl i realised i will now have to do the engine loom hole on that side and the throttle cable hole to because it will be visable now. after an entire day of non stop sanding i am about a quarter of the way finished haha i have to weld in a new piece under the battery tray because of a big rust hole that was under it and about 30 other small holes from where the old looms are mounted. I didnt use any power tools today because my nieghbours were having a kids birthday party in their backyard so i just etched primed the bare spots and will get stuck back into next weekend . so for the rest of the day i just started taking panels off the gold car and swapping them onto the calais.

You prick I was just about to buy that Vl but transport cost was too much lol I basically just wanted all the dash and was gonna sell the rest! Coming along nicely mate

That's pretty cool, love watching stuff like this get saved, keen to watch this happen

haha your joking deano! he said there were a few people after it thats the only reason i offered him the extra $200. all the plastic pieces of the dash were held together with tape zipties and woodscrews if it makes you feel any better . if you want any of the rest of it let me know and you can have it for the price of postage. ill get a photo this weekend when i get a chance to take one in daylight hours to show you whats still there

Oh sweet well that's some kind of relief then brother! What's the whole centre console and manual insert like as I'll buy that mate, or exchange parts as I have heaps

i need the centre console main piece as the calais one is all cracked, but if you still wanted just hi rise part and the manual surround i can post , pretty good condition

Yeah sweet mate no dramas! What colour is interior in Calais? I could exchange grey bits for beige or something

only have the one terrible quality photo to upload from last night because i started filling holes and cutting off the rest of the tabs today so its just a big mess after trying to pry off the throttle cable bracket with a screw driver and nearly losing all my teeth i have decided it can stay there and ill just run the cable behind the booster through the holes in the rail then pop up at the front hole in the rail straight under throttle body. next weekend i should be buying an engine hoist and will just focus on tearing down the gold vl and getting rid of it

my local supercheap wanted $450 for an engine crane!!! so i did not buy one haha . instead i just pulled all the doors off and finished the engine bay ---------- Post added 08-08-16 at 15:55 ---------- ---------- Post added 08-08-16 at 16:00 ---------- its just sitting in spray can etch primer for now but i ordered some high build primer to smooth out any small marks left behind . its not the most detailed bay but its not going to be a show car and the people that read this thread will probly be the only people that ever see it. if i do pop the hood at the local maccas and some one says " aww thats farkien tuff bro" then thats all im after

Haha good work brother

Good effort man, my bay I think looks fine and it's had half the work lol, will be mint with some paint on it

pulled motor and box ---------- Post added 13-08-16 at 18:09 ---------- engine cranes were on sale for 299 this weekend with free leveler and obviously i bought one. feels good having the engine out and ready to go because now i have all the main pieces i need to complete the calais and i can get stuck in

Fu^#* yeah brother

Love it!, good stuff mate

---------- Post added 14-08-16 at 16:34 ---------- only need the pedal box and the front strut before the gold vl gets dragged out of my driveway. wish i had more space , time and money would of loved to keep it paint her yellow ,tub it and build a drag car ha funny how even with the diff out it still sits about the same height as it did when it first rolled in to my garage