My Torana Rebuild

[Zeussy]

Hell yeah, that look mad as BlownV6, only thing is your username might need a tweak!

With the bonnet support, (imo) you should make it look like that middle rib wasn't there to begin with - cut out where it joins in and weld in some flat steel/shaped the same as the rest of the skeleton. If you get what I mean, instead of just capping the ends off.

Not sure what the laws are like up on the isle, but they don't much like cutting bonnets up around here. lol. So if someone ever has a quick look, they probably won't notice the ribs been removed.

Stance looks fat as, maybe 1/2" to an 1" lower on the front, to give it some rake? But that tyre combo is win.

I thought you were going to leave the front end? Love seeing updates on this man, keep up the good work!

[Blown V6 Hatch]

Thanks mate, yeh my username might get a tweak when i think of a new personalised plate

I'm already a step ahead of you with the bonnet rib, i was just looking at that yesterday and thought of doing exactly what you just said....We must have similar imaginations lol

Na, the right hide is exactly what i like. No rake for this baby (front or rear) i want it completely level.

I wasn't going to change the front, however, the deal i had with getting an LH sedan fell through so i'm rolling all my ideas into 1 and doing it all to this car. Besides, the LX hatch is the best of all the Toranas IMO, so that's what i'm doing.

[Calaber]

It's certainly an interesting concept - actually changing the car's appearance to make it look like an earlier model.

[Blown V6 Hatch]

It's certainly a great concept - actually changing the car's appearance to make it look like a better model.

Fixed your post for you.

[Blown V6 Hatch]

Mmmm, Chev parts..



I love how cheap Chev parts are. Brand new SCAT 383 stroker crank, ready to go, for the grand sum of $275. I don't think i'll ever mess around with a Holden V8 again.

I also get my DART heads this weekend, so i'll have some pics of them by the end of the weekend.

[ari666]

whats been done to the heads? from what i can gather they are pretty spanking for cast irons.

[Blown V6 Hatch]

As far as i know, they've had the valve seats blended and the ports tidied up a little bit. Other than that they're straight out of the box DART iron Eagles with a 64cc chamber and 200cc intake runner. They're fully complete with screw in studs and guide plates, ready to bolt on. Only about 3 years old and done less than 5000k's apparently. I'll let you know more when i get them.

But yes, they should be a nice bit of gear and perfect for what i want. I was all set to buy alloys, but i just couldn't justify the expense for what will be a tidy street engine.

[ari666]

if you are up for a rant i can go into the reason i prefer cast iron to alloy i was all geared up to get a set of those iron eagles, till i realised 327 was the 253 of chev engines.

[Blown V6 Hatch]

Na i think i'll pass on your rant... I'm pretty sure i know what your reasons will be anyway lol

I'm happy to run casties, i just wasn't prepared to buy a set of fuellies that will have a 99.9% chance of being cracked and be too small for a 383 anyway. But the iron Eagles will be fine.

How do you reckon your 454 will go against my 383?

[ari666]

not all that well your torrie must be what? just on the tonne maybe a shade over with a SBC, my impala would be pushing 2 tonne with all the bog on it, plus my 4fluffy4 will be lucky to push 400hp. if i gear the torque right it may be a fun race though

either way, i dont mind losing. so long as its not for pinks

[Blown V6 Hatch]

Long time without an update...

Ok, well here goes.

So, i'll start with why this thread hasn't been seeing much action. I've been repairing an HG Monaro that has some rust in the usual spots, both rear 1/4's in front of the rear wheel, L/H cant rail/roof turret and a small bubble in the L/H door at the front corner. So far i've finished the R/H quarter, welded in the section in the L/H quarter and cut out the rust in the roof. Here are some pics...

The rust spots are a bit hard to pick up on camera.



R/H side all cut out

The inner was ok on this side apart from some surface rust, so i just cleaned it up, rust converted it and painted it.

Outer all cut and welded in

The section i cut out

L/H side cut out, the inner panel was rusted through so i cut it out.

Inner panel repaired

Outer all welded in. The section didn't quiet fit properly, it ran uphill at the back so i had to slice it open once it was welded, move it down and weld it all up again.

The section i cut out. Hmm, check out the sexy repairs....

The roof cut out

The section i cut out.


So, that's about where i am at right now.

Now, back to the Torana.

Righto, so i picked up my heads. They're in very good nick, complete with studs, guide plates and springs (these will probably get swapped for ones suitable for the roller cam). They've had some work done, not crazy port work, just the valve seats have been blended into the ports and the dags taken off the ports themselves. Basically a pocket port. These heads are pretty good out of the box, so what has been done will be fine. Overall, i'm pretty happy with them for the money.

I paint stripped and degreased one, i havn't had a chance to do the other one yet.



I picked up some extractors off Ebay (brand new, never used) for $150. They're castle auto headers (lol) so ofcoarse they need some customary mods to make them fit, but nothing i can't handle. For what they cost me, i'm happy to modify them a bit, it's not a big deal. However, if i paid the $990 they retail for from Castle, i'd be pretty disappointed.

Here they are fitted to the car.



I've cut the piece out that doesn't fit and i'll get a couple of mandrel bends and weld them in where they need to be.

I've ordered a Comp Cams hydraulic roller cam kit from the US, so that should be here in a few weeks hopefully. Once that arrives, i have nearly all the bits to screw the 383 together.

Onto the LX front panels. I picked up the LX front cut on the weekend. Turns out i won't be able to modify the UC radiator support to work, so i will have to fit the LX one and modify the inner guards. Luckily, the rad support has been replaced at some point (i'd say it's had a light hit) so there is absolutely 0 rust in it which i'm pretty happy about. I've already stripped the panels off the front cut ready to start cutting the support off.

The guards are good apart from some rust in the bottom of the L/H one, but i have a mint UC guard that i will cut up to repair that, no big deal. The nose cone it mint aswell.




It also has a mint dash which i'm going to put in aswell (sorry Reaper ). I figure if i'm going to do this, i'm going the whole hog.


Dash parts collection. Just need to chase down an SL/R cluster as i don't want to run Autometer gauges anymore.


So, that's about where it stands now. More updates soon.

[Blown V6 Hatch]

Oh, and 1 more pic just because i like it...

2 of the best shape cars ever made IMO.

[ari666]

I've ordered a Comp Cams hydraulic roller cam kit from the US

part number? if no one else, im really happy to see cast iron going on a sbc where it belongs what sort of mods did the castle headers need? should i be shitting my pants with mine as per fitment?

[Blown V6 Hatch]

The grind number is CS XR288HR-10.

The specs are:
Duration at .050" :236 int./242 exh.
Advertised Duration :288 int./294 exh.
Lift :0.520 int./0.540 exh.
LSA :110
RPM :2,500-6,000

It's not overly big, but it should be nice and make decent power. I'm chasing a street engine here.

The mods aren't a big deal, it's only 1 pipe on the secondries that doesn't fit on the passenger side. It hits the K frame. Overall they fit pretty good for Castle headers lol.

[ari666]

actually, im looking at a cam very similar for the 4fluffy4 should be really tidy. prolly a 'looser' lsa but same duration and same lift. trying to stick to stock converter and keep a little fuel economy... if that possible.

always enjoy your updates mate. your garage is a thing of beauty.

[Blown V6 Hatch]

Yours is roller aswell yeh? I'll be running probably a 3000 converter with it, so it should work nicely. The Victor junior won't be ideal for the set up as it starts at about 3000ish but it should be ok. I don't have much other choice as it's the only decent manifold i have come across that will keep it all under the bonnet. Ideally, i'd like to run an Performer RPM air gap, but it's taller than the Victor so it's a no go.

[ari666]

man i dreaming, or are "energy suspension" engine mounts about 10-15mm smaller than stock? i noticed they include am extra plate, which if you installed it would make the mount about the same width as the stock one...

just sayin' that 10-15mm extra on the mount could be the difference between air gap and jnr. those airgaps are not all that tall are they? just look like a regular dual plane with an extra 15mm hole under the plenum

[Blown V6 Hatch]

The air gap is a fraction taller (read: bugger all), but it would be enough to touch the bonnet. The sump is only about 10mm from the crossmember so i can really afford to drop the engine at all unless i modify the sump. I'll see how the victor goes considering i've already got it, if it isn't what i want it's only a manifold swap to an air gap. I'd rather not, but i'll run the A9X reverse scoop if i have to.

[ari666]

dunno if i agree with a scoop . not my car, but if i was faced with modifying my sump or fitting a scoop, wouldnt take me long to start measuring up the sump.

[Blown V6 Hatch]

Na i'm not real keen on running a scoop either, that's why i've gone to all this trouble to keep it under the bonnet. I'm going to stick with the Victor for now, if worst comes to worst, i'll buy an RPM air gap and see if it fits, if it doesn't i'll have 1/2" milled off the top of it. Easiest way around it.

The other problem with dropping the engine down, i have a high energy sump so if i drop the engine down the pan will hang down below the crossmember which isn't ideal either. Honestly, the motor really needs to stay where it is.

[Blown V6 Hatch]

Little update.

This week i cut up the front cut to get what i needed. There is a little bit of rust behind the bonnet hinges that will need repairing, but that's normal. Still very happy with the radiator support panel, it's had a little ding that will need fixing, but yay for no rust.

Here it is all ready to go (just need to paint strip it all)


Also, it's been Christmas here this week. Here are some parts i've gathered for the 383

Brand new Holley HP 750 D/P (no quaddy here Ari....) Billet alloy throttle bracket too.


Gear reduction starter


Lunati roller rockers


New water pump


Polished alloy water pump pulley (i've also got a crank pulley on order)


ARP oil pump stud and oil pump drive


And, just a pic with the carb and bracket bolted on (yeh, i know, i'm wierd ).


That's where this is at atm, once this Monaro is out the way (nearly finished) i'll be back into the Torana.

[ari666]

Brand new Holley HP 750 D/P

each to their own *shrug*

And, just a pic with the carb and bracket bolted on (yeh, i know, i'm wierd )..

weird??? id be doing the exact same thing in fact i think i did. assembled all of my rocker covers, timing cover etc with no vlave train. i cant wait till i can start mocking up my 454. for now im just going to rely on your thread for my fix.

[Drawnnite]

looks great.
keep up the good work.

im just amazed at the work you can achieve.
would love to learn all your welding/cutting skills from you =P

[Blown V6 Hatch]

looks great.
keep up the good work.

im just amazed at the work you can achieve.
would love to learn all your welding/cutting skills from you =P

Thanks mate. It all just comes with practice.

I braved the heat and did some work on the Torana today. I was pouring with sweat the whole time, but you can't let that stop you

Got all the old UC front cut off and the new LX front fitted on for a trial fit. .

Mmmm, much better




This is how i went about modifying the inner guards to accept the LX radiator support and front panels.


Normally i would have replaced the entire inner guard, but given that i'd already smoothed out the inner guards on the car, i decided this was the best way to go about it without smoothing another pair of inner guards (that was a fair bit of work to just cut off and throw away).

You will notice there is some rust where the bonnet hinges go, but that's easy fixed. Hopefully, this week i will get that fixed and paint strip the radiator support and get it welded on next weekend (it's only screwed on atm for a trial fit up).

[78_torana]

finally found where u been updating your build looking good Tim. I thought id make an account here the l67t forum is pretty boring these days, il have to put some pics up of mine too. November deadline then ay! good stuff