VK Calais - what can I do with it?

[racedirector]

Hi all

Commodore forum newbie here. My thread title is a little vague and not really "one of those" questions....

I may be inheriting my Dad's VK Calais soon as he is moving countries. What I am looking for is pointers or info on what to do to improve it from its 1985 history. Now before I go on, I am not a first timer and although I am a Ford man at heart I can see possible potential in the VK. I have previously stripped my ED Falcon wagon to a bare shell and to replaced everything with 1998 EL Fairmont bits taken from a whole EL wagon. That car is still around and due for some more "upgrades". I tell you this just to show that I am not a newbie at the modding scene.

Now, Dad has owned the car for the last 15 odd years after buying it second hand himself, he is the second owner. Over that time he has replaced the engine with a Gem reco but little else. Things are now starting to break, for example the indicator stalk snapped and finding one has been difficult. The wiring is playing up, an example being plugging a GPS into the cigarette lighter blows fuses. Suffice to say the car needs a little work so I am thinking of what to update to later model spec to make the VK more reliable and friendly.

I am NOT asking for a blow by blow on how to do things, I am just after some pointers of the best place to find things so I can do some research. Any help in that sense would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
RD

[DerekP]

Indicator stalks are available through repco / rare spares - only in black. I find ebay quite a useful source for parts and I see NOS indicator stalks on there all the time, if you are prepared to pay for it!

[vkberlina]

My site is a useful resource so is the search function on the forum

As for parts over the years I have been guilty of stripping many VKs for parts for mine and have stored a huge amount of parts to fix anything that will ever go wrong with my car, as for the indicator stalk you _can_ pull them appart and rebuild them, are you wanting the genuine look or doesnt matter?

What colour is the interior?

scott

[ozspeedway]

Thanks Derek

I had a quick look on ebay and found a stalk, the seller says he has all 3 colours - black, light tan and dark tan. I also found this site (through a link here I think...) to do with fuseboxes : Niche Electronic and Industrial Products : dunno if they are still available but one of these would probably help in my wiring adventure. I have been rethinking any radical mods and will probably restrict myself to getting it all working first, add thermos from an EF/EL Falcon, maybe some wheels (when I find out the stud pattern) and possible Kings Lows or similar all round. It would then become my runaround while I do more work on my wagon...

Cheers
Bruce aka RD

[ozspeedway]

My site is a useful resource so is the search function on the forum

As for parts over the years I have been guilty of stripping many VKs for parts for mine and have stored a huge amount of parts to fix anything that will ever go wrong with my car, as for the indicator stalk you _can_ pull them appart and rebuild them, are you wanting the genuine look or doesnt matter?

What colour is the interior?

scott

Hi Scott

Jumped over to your site, great resource. Will no doubt be visiting often once the car is in my driveway.

The indicator stalk has snapped half way down the shaft, I suspect due to the plastic breaking down. As I mentioned in my previous post I found a guy on ebay selling complete units. The interior colour BTW is the dark brown with velour seats.

Cheers
Bruce

[vk.jonno]

ey bro
theres a place called kingswood country.
i went into their shop the other day an they had every color indicator stalk
litterally, red, green, blue, blak, brown, etc

[ozspeedway]

ey bro
theres a place called kingswood country.
i went into their shop the other day an they had every color indicator stalk
litterally, red, green, blue, blak, brown, etc

Are they in Melbourne? Found a place called Kingswood Country on ebay, a shop in Melbourne, but their indicator stalks are either $75.00 or $125.00!!

[vk.jonno]

Are they in Melbourne? Found a place called Kingswood Country on ebay, a shop in Melbourne, but their indicator stalks are either $75.00 or $125.00!!

yer theyy got a website too. yeah thats them man..