75 HJ One Tonner "Catalina"

[Torquative]

Hey all,

well I'll keep a photo diary of my progress here.

Bascially bought this ute off a work mate who had it sitting round for 12 months. he bought a bike and cheap Corolla run around car after losing interest in trying to maintain and work on the ute.

So its become a project car for me, my mates and my dad, whose loving every minute of it!

She has earned the nickname Catalina because for an Australian Classic car so far all the replacement parts have 'made in mexico' stamped on them :whistling

Basics:

'75 One Tonner HJ
253 V8 with Quadrajet carby
Four on the floor, converted from trimatic
electrics shot, brakes shot, rust in the usual spots.

So far ...

Got it hom early January 2009

Sat round til April due to funds, started it last weekend

- Stripped the interior, seats, dash, carpets, steering column
- found rust on the passenger footwell which was expected as the passenger door doesnt have a door seal and this was left sitting in the back yard for 12 months plus untouched
- removed original wiring harness
- ran new wiring harness

Easter long weekend me and dad attacked it some more

- dismantled and cleaned up the starter switch, then connected it to the wiring which took some thinking and working out
- found 2 of the ignition leads were round the wrong way, corrected, and all of a sudden she sounds more throatier!
- repainted the column shroud and handbrake from chipped and peeled black to just black!
- installed new ignition barrel as each door and ignition were on seperate keys (so I needed 4 for the car, one for each door, one to start and one for the fuel tank lid)
- removed rear tray and started to prep the rear chassis rails for painting

Will keep everyone updated with my progress. Its all electrical at the moment, next will be the headlight switch, brake switch, indicators etc.

Bascially its still a mess to look at as i havent done any panel work yet, but its gettin there. Things like the brake booster and air cleaner housing will be cleaned up under the bonnet, new guards are going on outside, have a new floor panel to replace the rusty one, new seats and carpets on the way.

Some photos:

Day I got it home

Interior strip out

New wiring harness installed

Old harness removed

The work area

Tray off

 

[Jo3_Blo]

Good to see progress being made mate.

How will you go about painting the chassis rails, because I know its really easy to take the tray off, I've been thinking about doing this for a while myself.

Would it be a waste of time to use pressure pack paints you reckon? (I'm not after a really high quality finish or anything, just want it to look better than it does (some surface rust) and also don't want it to scratch up in the first 5 minutes.

 

[Torquative]

Im just going to rough up the current paint and spray with an air gun. I have some "GMH black paint".

Its mostly faded more then anything, figured the tray had to come off to wire up the rear lights so i might as well paint while im at it

 

[Jo3_Blo]

Fair enough. I might have to invest in a small compressor. That way I'll be able to do mine when the time comes.

 

[Haydz]

hey matt. any more progress on this. dont be a slacker and let us know what your up to

 

[keza87]

I don't believe there has been! I know what colour its gonna be painted though That's when the time comes.

 

[Torquative]

well yeh I actually havent done much. With my warehouse moving, then Kezas warehouse moving, then Andrew working overtime, then dad working weekends, then the end of financial year, birthdays, cold weather, the fact its dark when I get home and a few other issues in and around home ... havent had a chance to do much.

Heres the latest

Steering column cover painted and clear coated properly this time... cant believe the black gloss paint costs $40 a litre but the results are worth it !!

New dash

Im told its off a Monaro GTS 350. I havent ever seen them like this - it has the water and oil temp guages fitted from factory and yes, a genuine 745 XXX on the clock. The lady I bought it off showed me their last blue slip which was dated 2007 which had only a few hundred kays under that

The biggest latest addition

Its an entire front end off a HQ GTS. I was watching the V8 Supercars at Darwin a few weekends ago and they had the Historic Touring Cars out, with a few HQ GTS Monaros. Lining up on the grid they looked awesome, sleek yet tough. The front end on mine is destroyed, its not worth trying to save any of the panels. Having a quick look on ebay this bloke was selling one. It didnt sell at auction, I offered him next to nothing for it, he said pay for it now pickup when ya can its all yours! It also has an almost new radiator, horn and even inner wheel arches (which everyone sells seperately ...) He literally just unplugged the wiring and unbolted it from the firewall.

Only just squeezed into the back of Kezas ute (thanks buddy) although the tail gate needed to be strapped shut. Ironically had I had the one tonner it would have fitted perfectly!!

The ute it come off, which was a fresh restoration not that long ago ..

Total number of kays in one day just to get the damn thing

Original 30-something year old Rory badge

Finally my storage area

One advatage to work moving a warehouse is theres shelves that either need to disapear or be thrown out, so I rescued some of the better stuff. These ones held Land Rover service parts, havent they come a looooong way!!! Only problem is now I have more room for rubbish in that corner! You'll also be able to just see the top corner of the red bar fridge at the bottom, it still lives with us!!

So the dash is wired in, the indicators and various other switches are about to be wired in, next step is the floor pan (which I have a brand new one sitting out there) so I can start to chuck the interior back together, and move onto the panel work. Cant do much with the panels til it gets warmer, but theres some mechanical stuff I need to do which will be heaps easier with the front end taken off as I will be able to get into the engine from any angle.

Ive also fixed the brake issue, rebuilt the booster and cleaned out the lines, although one of the calipers is stuffed so I need to find a replacement one.

 

[Torquative]

oh and yes Ive decided on a colour, but no it wont be revealed til its done ...

and after finding one of the brake calipers damaged I have since found a set of Girlock calipers.

From what I can gather the Girlock calipers were fitted to the bigger 308's and 350's as their physically a bigger caliper, so I guess like putting HSV brakes onto an Executive, except these ones bolt straight up. Went to pick n payless today in the hope there would be a PBR caliper and thought I had no hope, that was until I found a HJ V8 Wagon that had just been put there - calipers still in tact. Asked for a quote, the bloke says 30 bucks each, I was quick to nab em coz theyve been going for $150 to $300 on ebay, only problem now is I twisted the metal supply line and it snapped clean in half, so I need to replace that now grrr

 

[Jo3_Blo]

Nice man,

so what was happening with the brakes? IE- what was the symptoms of the problem?

 

[shaneomate]

ahh the HJ One Tonner is beautiful