Well I finally got the Genie's sandblasted and have painted them up, just waiting on gaskets, plus I'm yet to tackle the task of removing the factory setup. Got a high flow cat to replace the old one that had fallen apart internally and was causing the car to run quite bad. Hopefully in about a month I'll be driving it again, will still need a steering rack and rear trailing arms then I'll be happy with the car until I can afford a respray and engine rebuild. Thanks to my uncle who got the pipes sand blasted for me, I painted them this afternoon with heat proof paint, will wait and see how it goes. Took pics before I attempt to fit them as I'm sure to scratch the $hit out of them. Pics of the goodies: Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Finally got the headers and cat fitted, also found the power steering leak was actually a loose fluid pipe conenction, all sorted there. Steering is still a bit "funny" ie: loose so I'll still be getting it looked at. As for the exhaust, I can see why the local exhaust bloke wanted $200 to fit them, but I managed to do it all on my own and the experience was good. Car now runs and sounds sweet, I'm very pleased with the result. Pics shortly. Hmmm, just going through the accessory codes to find out what paint the bumpers actually are (thought they were MX, but looks like they Asteroid trim), and found my car has a Victorian state code. I'm going to have to see if there's any way at all to trace the history of the car, or as much as I can. Starter motor needs to be repalced too now, pulled it off to make room to fit the keft header, all I did was clean the muck off the case and refit it. Now when I turn the key it either does nothing, works, or struggles to kick in. Pretty annoying, and I'm not keen driving it now in case it decides it doesn't want to kick over at all. About $180 for a new, compact design starter, get rid of the bulky thing that's most likely factory, same as everything I've replaced on the car so far.

Pics as promised. Ignore the rest of the mess, I plan to tidy it all up one day, most likely when the engine comes out as I reckon that won't be too far away. Thinking I'll need a resonator as well, was ok at first but now it's been on a couple of weeks I'm beginning to notice a bit of drone around 70 k's. Otherwise it sounds pretty good. The emissions valve works too, but when the car is warm and the vac backs off to let it open, it isn't opening fully and the butterfly rattles, bit annoying. Pulled the hose off at the thermal switch on the front of the manifold and blanked it off, so I can quickly reconnect it if I ever get caught out. The new cat in place. Not much room between pipe and steering rack. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

It's looking good now waughy. How about some Fuel Injectors and an Autronic??? That would make it rock along! Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Thanks mate. It's slowly getting to where I'd like it. 2 biggest things I want to do is rebuild the motor with some minor mods, and respray it, that's the ultimate goal before I can say I'm happy. Injectors? What are they? Every now and then I get the urge to inject the motor, or replace it outright, but in the end I'm pretty sure I'll keep it carby, looking to stay as close to original as I can without too many out there mods.

Silver and grey look tough on Calais, love the exhaust too. The VL V8 only came in auto unless it was a Brock with the T5 conversion, it would be worth saving up for one, they are a different car with 5 gears.

Thanks. Hopefully I'll have it long enough to be able to afford a respray as it's looking a bit sad att he moment. But I'd rather have it running well first before looking good. No point having a nice looking car that runs like crap. Manual would be nice, that's on the wait and see list. Exhaust has made a reasonable difference, though the heat valve is annoying when it starts to rattle. May have sorted that but, the bolts on the brackets holding it all together were loose and there's a spacer between the valve and upper end of the header pipe, I think it was the part making the rattle, once things warmed up and it had room to move. Have sorted it now I think, just waiting on shocks and bearing plates to rebuild the front suspension then I'll kick it over and see how it runs.

Big spanner in the works. Found coolant in the oil and ended up removing the manifold to investigate only to find the water jackets severely corroded. Thankfully it's only the manifold, heads are still fine, so it's time to hunt for a replacement manifold. Pics: Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

spewing i think i just threw a standard VK/VL manifold out, ill have a hunt around work for you if i find it you can have it for nothin Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

That would be good if it's still around and in good nick. I missed a good one on ebay about 2 weeks ago, went for $44, had hardly any corrosion on the water jackets. Next option is something like an Eddlebrock Performer, though I can't afford or really justify the cost. Another option, someone on another forum mention this aluminium putty stuff called Devcon, I looked it up and it sounds pretty good, not sure if it would help me but.

See if you can get GMC in Victoria to weld it, hes the only bloke that can weld magnesium bike engine cases, ledgend.

I dropped it off to the old man this arvo, he's going to pressure clean it at work and take it to someone he knows local who can weld alluminium. If he can't do it I'll look into the devcon, or bite the bullet and get an Edelbrock performer. I've checked and they have one for the VL with all the pollution gear, which I'll need as the car now needs a blue slip for rego. If I can somehow afford to do it, I'll go EFI, but not looking likely.

Started to grind the corrosion and went through the wall of the water jacket, it was that deep. I've managed to score myself a reproduction manifold made by Kilkenny Castings, it's based on the GRPIII manifolds except it still has the ribbing at the base on the inlet plenum. Got it for less than half the normal price, and it's almost brand new with next to no use. Have some ACL gaskets on order, same design and materials as the OEM items, just waiting on it all to be delivered and I'll start the job of putting the old girl back together again.

howd it all go?

Still at it. Had to port match the new manifold as the casting is pretty average there, but after a few hours with a ******* file I got it sorted. A couple of walls I took about 3mm off. Tidied up the heads and cleaned out the bolt holes, got the new manifold back on last night. I had bought a set of OEM valley seals but they have been lost in the mail, so I had to go with the corks, I just hope I've sealed all the gaskets etc properly. Now I'm slowly putting it all back together, hit another snag with the bracket for the throttle cable where it's sitting hard against one of the intake runners so I can't bolt it down flat. Probably just bend it a bit to make it sit better. Getting a new dizzy cap and rotor, going the smaller size as the factory thing is a bit ugly IMO. Still have one show stopper in that the driver side thermal vacuum switch is busted and I'm having a hell of a time finding another. I need it before I can fill the cooling system and start the car, hopefully I'll get one soon, I'm dead keen to have her running again.

I reckon it,ll fly, the inlet manifold you showed me had the ripples in the bottom, apparently its a Bathurst spec thing from the day, I got the old one fixed but it wasnt a cheap fix.

Hopefully it might go a little better. It's all back together now, just need to sort the driver side thermal vac switch and I can fill it and run it, if it will go. I pulled the filter off Monday and it was like mud running out of it, so I'm a little concerned about the oil pump and pickup. Got a smaller dizzy cap and rotor to suit, next will be leads and I want to fit some iridium plugs, but the current ones haven't done much work so they can stay for now. Then it's rego and I can drive it, but probably not tuntil around August when I do my tax, unless I can save the fees before then. I thought the old one wouldn't be a cheap fix, that's whey I went looking for another. Hopefully it'll do the job for you.

That devcon stuff is very expensive, but its worth its weight in gold in plenty of applications.

I didn't end up looking for it. Used the JB weld stuff to fill a couple of bolt holes that would have left my EGR ports open and it filled them quite well. Probably would have done a decent job of the original manifold if I had stuck with it, but too much mucking around for my liking and ability with doing such repairs.

Well she's all back together and running, small fuel leak where the fuel line screws into the carby which I'll sort when I have more time. Also need to do tranny oil (pan gasket has a small leak anyway), and replace a couple of o-rings on some power steer lines that have slight leaks and it should be good for a blue slip. Still got a fair wait but I hope to have it on the road again towards the end of the year if all goes well. Pic of the new manifold.