Lachlan's 1986 VL Calais auto

[VLC86]

Name: Lachlan
Age: 17
Location: Western Brisbane
Car: Holden
Model: VL Calais
Year: 1986
Colour: White over Silver
Body kit: Stock
Engine: RB30E, 3 Litre
Exhaust: Stock
Diff: Stock
Brakes: Stock, Discs all round
Suspension: Stock, Lowered one day when i have time and money
Wheels: Calais rims, will be polished to a mirror finish when I can get the money
Sound: 6" Pioneer speakers on the parcel shelf and a Pioneer head unit

I resprayed the bumpers as there were a few scratches here and there. I have also painted the rocker cover a gloss white to suit the car (still need to get pics). The boot has been recarpeted with black carpet.

Future Mods:
- Would love to get the calais rims polished to a mirror finish
- Exhaust
- Cold Air Intake possibly
- Tinted Windows
- Turbo it (When get off my P's lol)
- Sub and better/bigger speakers

[Panama]

nice calais mate. will be a great base to start from. but good god man, clean that engine bay!

[fkford]

looks very neat, get that engine bay clean pronto! one of the first mods i would get to a VL is a decent alarm.

[detox_nath83]

ewww nice engine bay,,,
haha few cans of degreaser from supercheap (Aussie Export Stuff)
and a good gerni.
carefull of jetting water on dizzy as the Crank Angle Sensor is in dizzy and most probably the rubber seals are dry and brittle not sealing it in.
Nice car to start some good work on man

[VLC86]

Haha thanks for the tip guys, but this photo was taken whe i first got the car. I actually work at Super Cheap so iv degreased and cleaned it up since then.

Just wanted to know if anyone has heard a good place or way to get the calais rims polished to a mirror finish? I'd rather keep these ones on than buy new chromies

[detox_nath83]

this should help man Polishing rims - calaisturbo.com.au - VL NATS TICKETS ON SALE NOW! www.vlturbonationals.com.au

[VLC86]

this should help man Polishing rims - calaisturbo.com.au - VL NATS TICKETS ON SALE NOW! www.vlturbonationals.com.au

Thaks mate. That was really helpful. A few good pics and links in there to!
If anyone has polished up a set of rims (any kind at all) then i'd love to see some pics.

Also, anyone know a god place to get it done in/around Brisbane?

Cheers guys

[boonga]

looks good mate love the vl's

[VL-EXEC]

chere are you from mate, i got a set of vs caprice rims polished up profeshionaly (check my threads for a pic) they came out mint, if you want ill pm you there details, a bit expensive but you can tell the difference

[VLC86]

hey mate. Im in west Brisbane. Iv been calling a lot of metal polishers around Brisbane/Ipswich. They are all set on around the $50 per wheel mark. I have heard people getting them done for as low as $20 or $30 so ill keep calling till I find a cheaper option for the moment

[VLC86]

Hey guys, time for my first update.

Being a poor uni student, I havnt been able to do as much as I would have liked so far. But I have been saving up a little bit lately.

So far the car has:

• 3 out of 5 polished Calais wheels (including spare)
• Brand new waterpump, alternater, stater motor, master cylinder and timing belt kit.
• KnN panel filter

• Bosch platinum plus spark plugs
• Slightly less shi**y ignition leads
• Painted rocker cover white

• 4000 K headlights
• Brand new drivers side front power window regulator, reconditioned passengers side front power window regulator. And I’m in the process of reconditioning the rear power windows but there are a real bitch to put back in so it is taking a while
• New brake pads and Gates racing drive belt

My auo transmission has slowly been dying (clunking into gears and slipping) so today i picked up a second hand one from the wreckers, will chuck that in in a few weekends time, it needs a clean and service for nowAlso picked up a few sets of bonnet struts, but i forgot the piece that screws onto the bonnet so ill have to get them from the wreckers some time soon

I’ll also be geting a few things between now and the summer holidays and then spending a few weeks installing it all. This includes:
• 2.5” Mendrel bent exhaust with dump pipe tip and extractors
• Bonnet and boot strut pieces
• Sub and amp setup hopefully soon to
• Venetians (if I can ever find some)

I do have a few mechanical/electrical/aesthetical bugs I need to tend to
• Boot release button in glove box has stopped working
• Pop up headlights no longer moving without pulling them up (after a minor accident )
• Rear window needs to be jammed up until regulator is fixed
• High beam not staying on

Heres a few pics






Hope you all enjoy, ill try to update a bit more often. Any suggestions and opinions welcome
Thanks, VLC86

[detox_nath83]

bay is looking better.. as for the bonnet struts the part that bolts on the bonnet is just a piece u can get from repco etc.. it goes in the front of the 2 bolts which bolt the bonnet on the hinges... small nipple looking piece. then the strut simply clicks on this piece.

[VLC86]

bay is looking better.. as for the bonnet struts the part that bolts on the bonnet is just a piece u can get from repco etc.. it goes in the front of the 2 bolts which bolt the bonnet on the hinges... small nipple looking piece. then the strut simply clicks on this piece.

Haha yeah, bay is all cleaned out. Ill pop into super cheap and see if they have the strut holders there during the week.

On another note, here are some photos of my lights i installed. There are 2 blue leds in the front footwells, 1 blue dash 6" neon that moves to the beat of the music and 2 overhead black lights in the rear (they make everything white glow awesome). They are all wired up to a switch mounted in the dash and the centre light acan be independently switched on/off.

[Nifty 37]

Mate!!! I have a good vl auto at my house.I would have given it to u.I live in gympie so woulda been just the freight.Ohh well if any one wants 1 pm me!!Minus torque converter.!!

[VLC86]

Damn, oh well i guess i missed out. you could post ift in the for sale section. Im sure someone will take it.

So today i picked up a dump pipe tip and polished it up



Also, tried to put in the bnnet struts but they are aren't strong enough to hold the bonnet up

Should be getting exhaust this week or early next week

[VLC86]

Spoke to exhaust shop today they are booked out until friday next week. So car won't be in for another few weeks, after im home from NZ Its killing me, but time for some audio gear next. Fusion warehouse sale this weekend so might get some dash speakers, amp and a small sub.

Today i freshened up the interior a bit. This included taking the door panels off, and treating them with some carpet cleaner. Came out alot cleaner
Before:

After:



Also did the same for rear seats



Also, if anyone has, or knows where I can find this piece of trim. It would be much appreciated (Chrome is intact, just need plastic)





Sorry about the mismatched photo sizes. I can't seem to fix it

[Panama]

rare spares deal them. you can get them cheaper from sss automotive in perth but im not sure if they have a branch in brissie and you'd pay the difference in price through postage.

[VLC86]

I might give rare spares a go, see how much they charge. Anyone know how different the non-calais trim is? Surely it wouldnt be any/much different, just without the chrome strip

[Panama]

its just the clips and chrome strip thats different. the actual plastic part is the same. the side skirts are the only bodykit part of the calais apart from the black garnish on the rear that is different between the exec and calais afaik

[VLC86]

its just the clips and chrome strip thats different. the actual plastic part is the same. the side skirts are the only bodykit part of the calais apart from the black garnish on the rear that is different between the exec and calais afaik

Thanks man, so i can just clip my chrome trim onto the standard one? Ill have to stop by the wreckers and see if i can find one laying around and just respray it.


Well the other day driving to my girlfriends place the rear muffler fell off Rusted completely through. So the other day i went and picked up my exhaust from Scotts Rods in Ipswich. Iv decided to put the exhaust in myself and save a bit of cash.


Spent a few hours last night trying to get the damn studs off where the exhaust meets the cat but couldn't manage it. So going to get the local mechanic to blast it with a blowtorch to loosen it up today and hopefully ill have it all in tonight

Also gave the new gearbox ill be putting in a good clean and a service (including gasket and filter) The old pan didn't have any specks of metal i it or anything so im hoping that means it is in alright condition?




Also, some pictures of the calais rims polished. Looks pretty nice
[/QUOTE]

[VLC86]

well after a whole days work. I got the old exhaust out and put in my new 2.5" mandrel bent catback exhaust... Sounds really great and the best part is how satisfying it was to do all the work myself.

The car has been running like absolute sh*t latlely though. So yet to discover what the problem is now Possibly missing? or some electrical issue (as always)

Next on the list now is new rear tires, get the auto gearbox in and hopefuly get the car tuned to see it running well once again. Off to NZ for a week, so gearbox hopefully in on the weekend after.

Ill try to get a video of the exhaust soon. its really sounding nice, little drone and sounds good taking off

[VLC86]

Well pretty bad last few days.

Last night heading to work going in the pouring rain the car aquaplaned across the road and ran into a steel barrier and almost slid into oncoming traffic. Smashed the indicator (luckily i have a spare one) cracked the fibreglass ends of the headlights, dented the front passenger panel and cracked the front bumper.

Most likely due to the dangerously low amount of tread left on my rear tires.. So got 2 new tires today..

Also realised my chrome dump tip has fallen off somewhere. and hte car is STILL running like sh*t, something wrong with the EFI.

[nasty1]

nice car
bad luck with crash take it on the chin lol

whats happening with car running ruff>?explain?i may be able to throw some ideas

[VLC86]

thanks mate.

I had another go at fixing the problem of running rough. Checked the firing order and double checked all the leads were at the right spark plug. Checked distributor cap and all of the plugs which are brand new.. The car is still not firing on all cylinders. i took the ignition leads out one by one to see if it made it worse. the problem is that 2nd and 3rd leads didnt make any difference when i took them out.. so any ideas on what i need to check still?

Im going to take the car to ultratune tomorrow morning for a free check and see what they say, hopefully ill know pretty soon.

Here is a few pictures of the car after i spent the afternoon fixing what i could..resprayed the bumper, banged out some of the dents, put in new indicator

[detox_nath83]

do a compression test?
or could be injectors on those cylinders,,, try unplugging the injector and see if there is a difference as well.

could be a bung lead or plug even though u have replaced them could be a dicky one still. Test your leads with a multimeter. or shuffle the plugs to see if it moves cylinder..
Get a feeler gauge and check the Sprak gap
if they r bcpr6es11 plugs the 11 means gap of 1.1