Name: Achilles Model: 1988 Vl Calais Colour: Currently silver, grey, black Likely Colour: Panorama Silver Engine Type: 308 (engine transplant by previous owner - previously RB30) Transmission: Trimatic (by previous owner also) Exhaust: Pile of rubbish (half is missing) Diff and Drive Shaft: Standard RB30 diff, v8 Kingswood Drive shaft (not in car) Wheels and Tyres: One stock, two 255 18" (rubs on struts), one 235 18". Interior: Stock Calais blue interior General: Recently purchased. Previous owner has done all work to date. Has been off road for years Future Work: Tidy Up engine bay (too many loose wires and pipes!), install rest of Walkinshaw body kit (currently has mixture of HDT, and Walkinshaw parts), replace coil springs and shocks, new mags and tyres, tidy interior, repaint, install new exhaust ....... and heaps more! and cert and warranted ] Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

thats one awesome rebuild lol

sounds like it will be a good build, get some pictures up for us mate. Look forward to seeing the mixture of kit. Keep the progress pics rolling, we love to see those.

Welcome to the site Achilles! Get some photos up!! Photobucket will be your friend. Copy the image url and paste away.

Quote: Originally Posted by NZER [View Post] Welcome to the site Achilles! Get some photos up!! Photobucket will be your friend. Copy the image url and paste away. Thanks - have uploaded photos. Needs a fair bit of work but has potential!. At least thats what I believe now Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Is the rego dead on her? Good starting point for a project, most of it is there. Looks like a late import into NZ too with the extra body plate on the firewall Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Have you thought about just rebuilding it to look stock but with a big hp motor? A sleeper. Just IMO. I know how much it can cost. Then consider doing a kit later on. Stock silver Calais on stock white walled rims is horn!!! Once you scrub up the interior you'll be amazed how cool it looks. Like the bro NZ-SXYHDT says 'Built not Bought'. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

nice pictures mate, you have quite the project there, lot of work ahead of you. good on you for saving it. love that colour interior. Should tidy up nice. Welcome to the crew mate. This site is your friend for tech articles on how to do alot yourself, let your fingers do the walking. Everyone on here is pretty friendly and happy to give advice or help.

Quote: Originally Posted by VL-Dan [View Post] Is the rego dead on her? Good starting point for a project, most of it is there. Looks like a late import into NZ too with the extra body plate on the firewall Well you should ask...As we found out, the license plate on the car is from a 1988 Berlina which the previous owner also had. He couldn't remember how the plates from the two cars got swapped. I was mighty confused with id plates on the car and the number plate that was on it. Rego is on hold. Thanks for the info, I will take a closer look at the firewall plates. ---------- Post added 09-09-12 at 09:49 ---------- Quote: Originally Posted by NZER [View Post] Have you thought about just rebuilding it to look stock but with a big hp motor? A sleeper. Just IMO. I know how much it can cost. Then consider doing a kit later on. Stock silver Calais on stock white walled rims is horn!!! Once you scrub up the interior you'll be amazed how cool it looks. Like the bro NZ-SXYHDT says 'Built not Bought'. Yeah I have given a bit of thought to restoring to look stock, still thinking about it. The dollars are a factor as I have already spent a lot more than the cost of the car buying parts, and I haven't done anything. The trans is only a trimatic! Might look at a few minor engine mods. Have already cleaned up some of the seats and it does look good. Will post some pics soon ---------- Post added 09-09-12 at 09:50 ---------- Quote: Originally Posted by NZ-SXYHDT [View Post] nice pictures mate, you have quite the project there, lot of work ahead of you. good on you for saving it. love that colour interior. Should tidy up nice. Welcome to the crew mate. This site is your friend for tech articles on how to do alot yourself, let your fingers do the walking. Everyone on here is pretty friendly and happy to give advice or help. Thanks for the support. Will need it! Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

welcome to the site mate

Finally started work! Started stripping the back to get ride of some of the surface rust. Ended up grinding, rust killing and priming the affected areas - this should last till we get it painted. Stripped the brakes which were stuffed. The rear rotors were marginal in terms of thickness, calipers were seized solid, rather than replacing calipers (more dollars), decided to get all of them reconditioned. Also removed towbar setup Only area with holes is lower rear quarter. Sorry for crap quality of pic: Note: The red caliper and disc and pads were the efforts of the previous owner Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Electric mirrors purchased - thanks to Ben New lock set from trademe Dtm R1's from Hyper drive Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Disc calipers as removed from the car Same calipers after spending some time and money - almost like new! New and old rear disc rotors Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Took apart old head light but relector was stuffed: Purchased new a set of new headlights from Aussie and also indicator lights, and VK Berlina taillights while I was at it . Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Started stripping back engine bay. Also got low cobra springs, and shortened monroe shocks.

Coming along nicely.

Quote: Originally Posted by NZ_GTS [View Post] Coming along nicely. Thanks mate - can't wait to get it running! Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Your not mucking around lol good to see you saving it

Awesome progress man. Are you going to spray the engine bay the finished colour or stick with black? Awesome work with the brakes. What size are the new wheels? Did you go staggered?

busy boy eh, good to see progress. with the new head lights, you could run the factory holden lenses on the thaiwanese body, lenses clean up well. just small thing but makes a difference when you look at it. keep up the good work