56K BEWARE mwahahahaha........but who seriously has dial up anymore? Hey guys, I've been a fairly active member for a while now, so I figured it was about time I got off my arse and made a thread for my car. Anyway, its a 1987 Series 2 VL Berlina. Standard Berlina from factory, with power steering, air conditioning, cruise control, and boring-matic transmission. Basically, my first car ('87 VL SL manual) was stolen just before Christmas '06, and I replaced it with a Calais with my insurance pay out. Unfortunately, that car was a piece of sh*t, so I stripped it. During this time, I found this car about two streets from my house with a big "FOR SALE" sign in the window. My SL after being recovered: The Calais I bought with my insurance money: And my current Berlina: Had a bit of look and a chat to the owner, and decided it was a fantastic buy. Purchased for $1000 unregistered and unroadworthy, I took it home and began the task of restoring her to her original glory. It had no modifications whatsoever, even retaining the factory tape deck, hubcaps and jack! Unfortunately, it had cancer in the boot and around the windscreen. There was small hole in the parcel shelf, which had eaten away a Pizza Hut large pizza sized hole in the boot floor exposing the fuel tank. So, a few trips to Dean at Peninsula Smash Repairs in Seaford, and a new boot floor from RareSpares Bayswater, saw the whole boot rebuilt and resprayed. I also treated her to a new windscreen and a respray of the surround, as well as fitting the Calais lights and respraying them to white. Before: After: Since then, its broken down, I've broken things, I've replaced things, and I've modified things. I changed the front seats to Series 2 Berlina 25I seats (for some reason it had Series 1s), mostly for roadworthy reasons. I also painted the dash black. The main thing I wanted to change was the transmission; auto sh*ts me to tears. Besides, it wasn't kicking into overdrive, so it was chewing petrol. Unfortunately, that stopped my cruise control working. Its an ongoing project...which is now fixed! I've also spent nearly every weekend getting every little thing working, from repairing the rear reading lights and door switches, to power antenna, boot loom, lifters, CAS, seatbelts, air conditioning, windows, everything! I can't stand things not working. Here is the car during the power window installation. Born without electrics, so I had to drill the holes between the chassis and doors: Anyway, my plan is to (obviously) turbo her, but also to turn it into a Calais mock up. I've got a full standard VL turbo setup, but I've actually changed my mind now, and decided to go for a 25/30 twin cam setup. Heres a photo of my (for sale) setup: In the last two months, I've tidied up the bay a little, fixed some electrical issues, put a new reco'ed MF5 in, and installed power windows. I also fixed my cruise control! Heres just some current photos: So there you have it. A work in progress, with about a million things that need to be done. Thanks to all those that have helped/traded/told me to drive it into a chemical fire and die (you know who you are ). I'll keep you posted! Cheers, Tim (Edit: Fixed all the broken image links) Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

TWIN CAM!!!!!!!!! HURRY lol hahaha, she looks good tim, just hurry the fk up and turbo and twin cam it Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Nice tim, but definately needs a turbo, and since your going twin cam you know that means 6 throttle bodies or theres no point Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Hahaha, thanks guys! It needs ALOT of work. But its come along way, and is the only VL I've driven where everything works. Heres a little teaser... Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Looking at that im glad I'm not you, although im over working on cars at the moment. Should be good when its done

Aww Matt, its not THAT bad. Just a bit of thought and planning! Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

lol what the fk just saw you have a calais aswell :S

ahhh finaly got a thread up... yayyyy Yer nice choice on the twin cam, guess u have some good influence around u eh ??

Quote: Originally Posted by [FLY-BYE] lol what the fk just saw you have a calais aswell :S Hahaha, nah Trentus. I had that Calais before this Berlina. It was sh*t though, so I wrecked it for parts. Thats where my popups and electric mirrors came from (they're about the only things that worked on the car!).

that is excellent Tim i would love to see it in the skin one day, i really love the berlina with a calais front idea. pinstriping, berlina rear end and popups are the shiz

Quote: Originally Posted by 5spdvl Hahaha, nah Trentus. I had that Calais before this Berlina. It was sh*t though, so I wrecked it for parts. Thats where my popups and electric mirrors came from (they're about the only things that worked on the car!). OOOHHH ahaha makes sense lol

I love it except for several exceptions: - The dash is black. - It's not a Calais. - It's not turbo. Hurry up and fix these things! You know i'll help Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Quote: Originally Posted by SIroller that is excellent Tim i would love to see it in the skin one day, i really love the berlina with a calais front idea. pinstriping, berlina rear end and popups are the shiz Thanks Mitcham. Up close its a lil' rough; the pin striping got munched on the driver's side by a carwash, and it needs a new front bar upper mould. But it looks a million bucks compared to when I got it. I'm actually probably going to convert it to a Calais mock up anyway. We'll see how it goes - I've got a series 2 blue (25I) Calais interior lined up to go in soon, just needs to be paid for and cleaned. EDIT: Shutup Kyle. Hurry up and fix your car so it can run my BBQ. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Quote: Originally Posted by 5spdvl Thanks Mitcham. Up close its a lil' rough; the pin striping got munched on the driver's side by a carwash, and it needs a new front bar upper mould. But it looks a million bucks compared to when I got it. I'm actually probably going to convert it to a Calais mock up anyway. We'll see how it goes - I've got a series 2 blue (25I) Calais interior lined up to go in soon, just needs to be paid for and cleaned. EDIT: Shutup Kyle. Hurry up and fix your car so it can run my BBQ. Mitcham is the person to goto for GAS And hurry up and pay for that interior ffs, i'm sure the owner is cut and wants to fix his own origional VL calais turbo manual W/O black dash... Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Don't listen to Kyle, Tim. He has one-minded opinions lol _ Car looking neat dude, can't wait to see the 25/30 in her Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Thanks Mick. Kyle seems very confused about what he wants at the moment; I think living apart from society has finally gotten to him. I looked at the courier website, and if it gets picked up at 7am, I could have it here as soon as 6pm!!! Service! Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

HA. Are you saying you like the black dash Mike????? lol

We're all thinking you're a very confused indiviual, sunshine. Right at this very moment, Adz is sitting in his girlfriend's car cracking the sh*ts at Melbourne's pre-Easter weekend traffic, whilst hes on the way to pick up my RB25 top end setup from a transport depot. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

one minded opinions about myself that I'm a very confused individual??? Now I am confused haha Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

looking good man nice work!