G'Day guys, finally had the money to get myself setup with a (first) car, in my case, 2 of them Both were $500 a peice, 1 is a very tidy wagon thats been completely gutted, and 1 is a rough but running sedan which has the bits i need. The wagon was missing steering rack/column, pedal box, master/slave cylinders etc, also missing 1 headlight and the dash cluster. Overall the wagon is very tidy, only needs the roof respraying (clear coat peeled off), but im going for a full respray when i have the money spare (hopefully soon, once i get everything needed to get it running). It has a full grey interior and very minimal rust. Overall the sedan is pretty rough but it has a really good P/S rack (not sure how many K's its done but it was obviously installed seperately as its an executive model, and it all feels like new). It also came with cruise control, rhino security/keyless entry, and some half decent ROH alloys that just need polishing. I will be selling pretty much the whole sedan (minus engine, loom, ECU, front suspension and the front doors) so if anyone in TAS wants anything from it PM me, i dont want much, it has an immaculate interior, ill also be selling those calais rims as i dont like them, have 4 almost new tires. The sedan engine is pretty much farked though, check out this oil filler cap! A few days back i found a good deal (well so i thought) on a Calais dash cluster with 128,000 K's on it for $150..and it doesnt show signs of being tampered with. Heres the dash sitting in place with the surrounds just roughly slotted in: I think it looks 100% improvement over the Berlina cluster! Here are some shots of the clutch it came with: As you can see the pressure plate is reasonably warped and the clutch plate is worn down (almost) to the rivets. So i splurged today on: Picked that bad boy up for $140.80 including GST Also here is a pic of the P/S Rack removed and cleaned up: And the steering column cover painted and clear coated (will be ditching that steering wheel as soon as i get it in the car): I have on the way some brand new 2.5" extractors and a 2.5" mandrel bent exhaust with a single straight through muffler, and i just picked up a HDT manual pedal box with master and slave cylinders for about $245 shipped So once i get the engine and box built i should have it all back together and running fairly quickly then its just a matter of rigging the interior back together and slapping some rego on I wont have my P's until August so i have a bit of time. Getting the engine ready to pull today from the Sedan and i just had to take a pic of what came out of the cooling system: Im hoping its a blown head gasket but i would say its a bit more severe than that lol. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Your putting in some serious work, good to see, I did something similar, i bought one decent sedan for a grand and i've bought 3 wrecks to get stuff i've wanted (power steering, interior stuff, exhaust, cluster, worked out a lot cheaper). So what are your future plans? I've read your other threads about the High power N/A which i'm really looking forward to see built, but what about paint, interior, trans, diff, brakes and all that.

righto... who took a poo on the ground?! haha nah mate good luck with the project!

Thanks guys, sadly enough the radiator took the dump DOHC4LIFE i plan to do whatever is necessary to tidy it right up The interior in the wagon is really smicko, i have a 5 speed sitting there ready to be bolted up to the RB30 when i get a chance (when this weather cools down). I would like to get hold of an LSD center if i could find one cheap (when i get some money, im pretty much out now lol) and a rear disc brake assembly. I need to get hold of some power window switches too i think, gotta finish sorting through everything that came with it. Also ive had 4 litres of gunmetal grey priced at about $200, then $60 for 4L of undercoat, $70 for 20L of thinners, and $80 for 4L of clearcoat, so once i get that done ill be really happy, but for now it looks OK with the burgundy. Some more progress from today... Bumper mounts disassembled: Cleaned up and a lick of paint installed: Also cleaned up the horn and gave it a coat of black. The bolts holding the whole assembly together were rusted in there real good and made a hell of a racket on their way out so i let them soak in some old engine oil while i was cleaning/painting the lot which was only a couple of hours and it cleaned the rust off real good Will be away off to the speedway for the day tomorrow so wont have much of a chance to do anything else. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

dude good to see your giving it a go, just scan around in here for a diff set up they come up i brought a reco wagon diff for mine lsd of course from here for 600 to my door and then sold off my old one which needed a reco to a mate for 250 so you will end up finding what you need. anyways good job man cant wait to see the finished product.

Yeah thanks mate, i hope to have it how i want in about 2 months thats leaves me 5 months to get it registered before im on my P's and really need it lol!! Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

haha mate nice project you got there i cant wait to see it finished what other plans you got for it? Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Hmm dunno as yet, whatever i can afford at the time Wouldnt mind tidying up the engine bay later on and some interior/audio work. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

looks like a lot of work! i don't think i need to tell you it would have been cheaper to buy a running wagon, but this way you will learn a lot more and get a lot of enjoyment from the car. if you are after some little tidy up mods check the thread on my vlc. i did a lot of stuff to that car and it was my daily! so lots of 1 day or 1 weekend jobs. rocker cover is a must as is lots of silicon spray to restore the faded engine plastics and interior plastics such as seatbelt release buttons. you can always remove and spray bumpers / doormoulds / badges. sunnies holders and highrises are mint interior add ons as are later model seats (i went through vs ss and vn calais seats) maybe even some series 2 calais airvent surrounds. best of luck - Mitcham

Thanks mate ill have a look at your thread, what do you mean by highrises? Progress for today: Its raining, so jack all. But this arrived Courtesy of Scott's Rod's on eBay: Got it for $217 shipped, is mandrel bent 2.5" with a straight through muff, so you can imagine im as happy as a pig in mud with that Really happy with the service i would strongly recommend them if anybody is after a cheap bolt-on exhaust. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

a highrise refers to the centre console. at the rear there will eithe be a large opening, or a highrise which will have an extra 2 lids and an extra storage compartment on it.

Ah right, yeah the wagon already has that Well the package i was waiting for arrived today: Good buy for $200 shipped IMO, they seem to be of OK quality except for the 2 secondary 2" press bends: May get my apprentice welder mate to weld some small peices in after i cut those kinks out, either way...they should work better than the stock manifold Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Got into Nuts 'n' Bolts again today and picked up some high tensile 65mm gearbox bolts today for $2 a peice, so once i can get the engine from where it is onto our new slab i will be ready to start bolting the clutch/box assembly together Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Where did u get the extractors from mate??

mm, i got my extractors for $52 second hand and they didn't have any kinks. i'd say bugger it, for the effort cutting and shutting the extractors you will not notice any power gain. throw the effort somewhere else. it will be really minimal. on another note you are doing well so far extractors and an exhaust are awesome, the extractors make the note louder but there will be less noise coming through the firewall. planning on getting a cat? i would say get a 2.5" cat, be it high flow or from a later model car and then cut and shut vl flanges to it. also i would reccomend getting some bitumen paint while the interior is out. i got a massive paint can of it from knox carpets and got some cheap gloves, just dip your hand in the can, grab a handfull of bitumen, and spread it over the floor. be sure to focus on firewall, footwell and the cat hump. also around the tailshaft etc which will insulate soundsystem wiring later on from buzzing. anyway theres so much to do if you want to go all out, and its all pretty simple diy stuff, just replacing and restoring before too much modification. be sure to use new gaskets and heaps of gasket cement for the exhaust system! oh.... chuck up a thread and see if anyone from tas works at repco / bursons etc. trade prices will be your best friends while doing this stuff. i have spent so much on oils / rubbers and gaskets.

I has a mate who works for a shop specialising in exotic cars but he can still get me cheap stuff like oils etc I got a discount off the clutch through him and also a filter for $7 lol. The cat i have is 2.5" "highflow" but it wasnt originally highflow i was rather annoyed when i pulled it out and found that it was gutted lol. I will get a 2.5" highflow one though. Also for sound deadening ive seen that house carpet underlay works quite well. And i can get it for free so ill try that first Quote: Originally Posted by Lc_coupe Where did u get the extractors from mate?? http://cgi.ebay.com.au/HOLDEN-VL-6-C...7C2 40%3A1318 (http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?type=3&campid=5335860158&toolid=10001&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com.au%2FHOLDEN-VL-6-CYL-COMMODORE-EXTRACTORS-HEADERS-NEW_W0QQitemZ270337070627QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Car_Parts_Accessories%3Fhash%3Ditem270337070627%26_trksid%3Dp3286.c0.m14%26_trkparms%3D66%253A2%257C65%253A1%257C39%253A1%257C240%253A1318) Can't go wrong mate Those are identical to mine except i got mine from a different store so they were silver, and also have big bore primaries. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Holden-VL-6cy...1|240%3A1 318 (http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?type=3&campid=5335860158&toolid=10001&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com.au%2FHolden-VL-6cyl-Commodore-Extractors-Headers-Brand-New_W0QQitemZ360127320532QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Car_Parts_Accessories%3Fhash%3Ditem360127320532%26_trksid%3Dp3286.c0.m14%26_trkparms%3D66%253A2%7C65%253A1%7C39%253A1%7C240%253A1318) $30 extra and you get the 1 5/8" primary pipes. Progress on the car as of today: Before: Degreased and scraped most of the oilly **** from the K Frame and lower body and im happy with how all that came out, just up around the struts and fuse box/brake booster etc still has some dirt and crap in there but im not too fussed about that i can do that later. This is how it is so far: I got the power steering rack installed and the column is in (however not bolted in as i will have to drop it down to get the pedal box in later). In around the radiator had already been welded and was patched with black paint so i cleaned it up and gave it a good hit with some black ready to put in my newly reconditioned radiator Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Got the engine onto an accessable area today: Upon removal of the rocker cover everything looks good so far. Took me a good hour and alot of greasy mess to get the old spigot bushing out today, but im happy i got it changed out for a new one. Gonna give the RB as much of a clean as i can tomorrow and start work on clutch and gearbox assembly, and hopefully if its not too hot look at pulling the engine and box from my other VL. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Got the other RB30 removed today: Already removed what i need but the dizzy is pretty much useless Just gotta sell off the auto box and the rest of the green car now, and my calais rims/tires Here is another pic of my "dead" spare RB30 Looks healthy lol. Found this pitting in #6 intake rocker on my good engine: So i pulled a good rocker from the dead engine and all is good now Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Nice project mate, will keep u bisy for a while. Was that brown mess the head gasget or the head good luck

Thanks mate, yeah i dunno i havent had a chance to pull it apart yet, hopefully its the gasket but by the amount of oil (about 2L) that got into the cooling system id say its much worse. Everything is blocked up with oil absolutely everything. even the throttle body cooling lines were filled to the brim with oil. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.