My Torana Rebuild

[383 hatch]

Well, since Ari asked so nicely, here is what's going on with my UC Torana at the moment.

What started out as just a cam swap and auto conversion has snowballed into a full on, all out rebuild.

I could post a huge story, but at this point I won't, i'll just post some pics to bring you all up to speed with a little story on each one. Feel free to ask questions.

I have heaps and heaps of pics, so if you want to see something in particular, just ask.

For those of you that don't know the car, here is what it looked like....




Now, the start of the rebuild. The engine coming out.




Engine out



Engine on the stand (ready for the cam change).



Engine bay being stripped to bare metal



Back to bare metal


Drivers side skirt in the process of being cut and smoothed


Drivers side done


Passanger side done


Firewall cut and flat sheeted


Firewall done


Rust repair in rad support


Done


Wiper motor relocation


Back of the headlights all boxed in


Metal work all done



Engine trial fitted back in, relocated a lot of stuff (alternator, coil packs, hidden wiring etc.)







Engine back out, In epoxy ready for filler work




Drivers side all smoothed out


Firewall all smoothed


Filler work all done






Bonnet latch (no need for a bonnet cable)


Undercarriage all stripped of components


Stripping back the floorpan




Interior all stripped out


Repairing where it had an LPG tank in it's previous life (before i had it)





Brings us up to this week (started the body work)

All stripped down

[383 hatch]

Continued....

Tailgate back to bare metal


Doors removed and stripped


Rust repaired in A pillar (need to do the same on the other side)


Cut out rust in hatch shut



Custom engine mounts




So, there you have it, that's pretty much where i'm at now. I'm working on repairing the rust in the tailgate today, then i hope to get the roof paint stripped back to metal tomorrow. More updates to come....

[Zeussy]

OMGWTFHOLYSHITULEH!!

####ing WOW. Is all I can muster up. Love the whole lot, was mint before, going to be a stunner when its all done, keep the pics upto us pic junkies, (aka: me, and probably ari!)
Check out those engine mounts, ####ing horn!

Love your work dude.

[383 hatch]

Thanks mate, it's a pretty long road. I'm aiming/hoping to have it finished by Christmas or very early in the new year. Having said that though, i'm not in any real hurry TBH, it'll be done when I'm 100% happy with it. It's been near 12 months now, so what's another 6 or so?

[Jonno]

beautiful mate, love to see this in the flesh one day.

[ari666]

mate i am just lost for words. looks absolutely outstanding. thanks for posting this thread btw. even just seeing pics of how stuff is done properley really helps me focus on what im doing. so yeah.

love your work, mate.

[ari666]

[Pub247]

Great to see thsi has its own thread. looks amazing as always.

So whats the plans with colour if your striiping whole car are you planning on changing colour?

Why you changing to Auto you plan on taking it down the Quarter?
Surely with the L67 and mods youd be able to get it in the 10's

One thing ive noticed is the water resiviour. I always wondered why they're so small i felt the liquid in one before and its been about as hot as my hot water system at home i cant see it working that effectivily when it gets that heatsoaked.

I've just built a WTA box for a turbo xr6 ED. Anyway with a bit of researcb we've worked out that the resiviour should hold about twice the capacity of the whole system. Theres alot other things to consider like flow rates and boost time stuff like that but 2 x seems to be good. Anyway what we also included in box is a 20lt tank plus a small "area" for pump and another compartment reffered to as the chiller box, where we'll be using alloy/copper pipe running in a series of bends that you can pack ice around for optimum cooling and to operate hopefully well over 100% effiecencey.

Anyway long story short plan on doing something like that?

[383 hatch]

Thanks guys, it makes it all worthwhile. Although i'm going to a fair extent this time, the plan is still a tidy street car, it's still going to be driven and used (and a couple of runs down the 1/4 mile) it'll be no show car by any stretch of the imagination. I don't do the whole trailer queen thing.

If you're talking about the alternator brace, then go right ahead, it's factory not an idea of mine

[383 hatch]

Great to see thsi has its own thread. looks amazing as always.

So whats the plans with colour if your striiping whole car are you planning on changing colour?

Why you changing to Auto you plan on taking it down the Quarter?
Surely with the L67 and mods youd be able to get it in the 10's

No, not changing the color, it was just due for a bit of a freshen up, that's all. Although it still looked good, it had a few rust issues starting to appear that needed some attention (mostly hidden in shuts and stuff, hence why it still looked good from the outside) that i knew were there and that was bugging me a bit. It's been done about 10 years, so it's done pretty well.

The auto conversion is just to make it a bit nicer to drive, i got sick of changing gears, mabye i'm getting lazy. Don't get me wrong, the manual was fun, but i just got over it. As in my previous post, it will get a blast down the 1/4 mile, but it'll only be once or twice.

Na, it won't go 10's, anything in the 11's i'll be happy with. Even if it's an 11.9999999, i'll be stoked.

Cheers for the comments.

As for the intercooler, the resi is the one that comes with the YT W2A cooler kit. It's just there to fill the system and keep the system free of air as far as i can see. The resi shouldn't need to do anything in terms of cooling the water, that's the job of the front mount heat exchanger. The pump is mounted lower than the resi, so it gravity feeds then pumps the water through the FMHE, then to the cooler beneath the blower then back to the top of the resi. I don't think making the resi bigger will do much for cooling, unless you incorperate some sort of ice box arrangement but obviously that can only be a short term thing (racing).

If i was after outright power, i'd go A2A, but i like the clean look and the off idle torque of the W2A. Everyone has there own opinions on which cooler is better for the L67 but i like the W2A.

In short, the resi will be staying as is

[Hangman]

Nice mate, I'll be watching this one.

[Crisis63]

I loved it before you started. Looks like it is going to be epic. Very jealous!

[Sabbath']

Should have put a V8 in it.




















































But seriously



Seriously...####. This is brilliant.

[mr calais 5.0]

great job mate and looking forward to more updates.. OH when can you do my sons 65 mustang? We have to down to a bare shell and needs a fair but or rust repairs

[383 hatch]

Nice mate, I'll be watching this one.

Thanks mate, will update again tonight, got another car i'm working on today. It's a paying job, so unfortunately the Torana takes a back seat to paying jobs.

I loved it before you started. Looks like it is going to be epic. Very jealous!

Cheers mate. Sometimes i look at the car now and think, what have i done? I just keep looking at the light at the end of the tunnel, that keeps me motivated.

Should have put a V8 in it.




















































But seriously



Seriously...####. This is brilliant.

Always one isn't there? lol

I know you didn't mean it, but i'll put the V8 thing to rest here and now. I've thought long and hard about putting a V8 in it for a while, but i made the decision to keep it a bit different from the normal run of the mill V8 Torana. It gets shitloads of attention with the L67 in it (i think most are scratching there heads trying to work out what it is) and it's got enough power to keep me happy (can't wait to drive it now with the cam in it). The other thing is, i wouldn't get enough money from selling the 6 to build a Holden V8 and convert it with the same sort of fun factor (LS1 was always out of the question) so it would cost me money out of my pocket, money i don't have.

So, that's why the L67 is staying.

However, once this is finished, i'll be looking pretty hard for an LH/LX sedan to have as a daily driver, rest assured, that will be a V8.

Thanks for the comments though.

great job mate and looking forward to more updates.. OH when can you do my sons 65 mustang? We have to down to a bare shell and needs a fair but or rust repairs

Thanks mate. I'll pass on the Mustang, i've got a fair few cars lined up after i finish this to keep me going for a little while.

Oh, one other thing i will be doing this time i converting the UC tail lights to LH/LX. The UC front will be staying as i like it, but the rear lights are going. I'm on the look out for a stuffed LH/LX for its beaver panel.

[VRV666]

I think I nearly dislocated my jaw just looking at this thing, and I cant stop druel pouring out of my mouth :P This is stunning, and any other word you can think of that means amazing! Really makes me want to finish off my budget race car and start on a nice street car. Im already majorly influenced from this, and ill keep watching closely. LOVE the l67, and LOVE the fact that is still going to be street driven. Thats what a real street machine is after all! Great work mate

[Sabbath']

Always one isn't there? lol

Figured i'd get in early

And before somebody came in and said it seriously and embarrased themselves

[Pub247]

Oh, one other thing i will be doing this time i converting the UC tail lights to LH/LX. The UC front will be staying as i like it, but the rear lights are going. I'm on the look out for a stuffed LH/LX for its beaver panel.

I like this alot most horrible thing about uc's whyd they ever change it is beyond me

[383 hatch]

I think I nearly dislocated my jaw just looking at this thing, and I cant stop druel pouring out of my mouth :P This is stunning, and any other word you can think of that means amazing! Really makes me want to finish off my budget race car and start on a nice street car. Im already majorly influenced from this, and ill keep watching closely. LOVE the l67, and LOVE the fact that is still going to be street driven. Thats what a real street machine is after all! Great work mate

Thanks mate, the positive comments are very overwhelming. It doesn't get driven all the time (far from it, it fact) but it still gets driven, it always has been and always will be a street car. I don't think it's ever been on a trailer since it's been on the road (well, once when we took it to the drags as it had slicks on it).

I like this alot most horrible thing about uc's whyd they ever change it is beyond me

Yeh, i don't "hate" them, i've lived with them for 12 years, it's just time for a change. I do agree that Holden shouldn't have changed the lights, they should have come with the LH/X lights from the factory. I do like the front sheetmetal of the UC though, that's why it's staying. Getting a decent beaver off an LH/X is proving to be a little difficult though.

[Pub247]

is it too difficult to convert uc rear to lh/x lights?

Never compared them so i wouldnt know but i have seen cars with it dont know how they went about it though

[Hangman]

Cut out where the tail light sits on an LH/LX, cut out the same piece on the UC and swap. That's a simplified version, but that's basically it.

[383 hatch]

is it too difficult to convert uc rear to lh/x lights?

Never compared them so i wouldnt know but i have seen cars with it dont know how they went about it though

Yeh, Hang man pretty much covered it. Without going into heaps of detail, it's just a matter of finding a donor LH/X beaver panel/tail light buckets, cutting the UC lights out and cutting and fitting the LX tail light buckets in. It's a bit of work, but not too complicated.

Anyway, here is this afternoons effort. 1 side of the tailgate repaired.

Rust cut out

Section made

All welded in and ground down

[Hangman]

This thread makes me wish I still had my hatch

[nemesis_adrasteia]

geez i wish i had some skill at welding.

coming along great, keep up the good work.

[walesy]

i remember reading the old thread on this a few years ago now, it was always an amazing looking car, now its getting even better! well done