75 HJ One Tonner "Catalina"

[Goon]

Nice ride man keep up the good work!!!

 

[Torquative]

been a while since ive updated this, although not alot has happened.

Okay I went back to pick n payless and grabbed a brake line. Luckily one of my workmates, who has a HQ Kingswood, was grabbing stuff of a car next to theone I needed, and he had what I forgot - a flat blade screwdriver!

Bloke at the front said "whats that?", I replied "brake line for a VS Commodore, how much mate" (I had been quoted $30 to have one made up so I was happy to pay anything up to that). He asked "is that all" - "yes" - "seeya next time mate"

So the girlocks are on, needed some cleaning up and could do with a caliper kit through it as one of the rubber seals has a nick in it, but old mates at Rare Spares didnt have one. Important thing is I need to move it next weekend so we can use the space out the back (44 gallon drum and fire is going in its place) so at least this time I have a brake pedal when I press it!

Bled the front brakes and wallah, brake pedal! Need to do the rears, which I am hoping to do tomorrow, to get rid of the old gunky fluid.

Gonna get stuck into it again in about 2 or 3 weeks time, the floor needs to go in next so we can do all the wiring and finish it, as we need to secure wiring to the floor pan. I'll finish painting the rear chassis rails now the days are warmer so I can wire in the rear lights and bolt the tray back on.

Finish the floor, finish the wiring, the interior starts to go in and the front comes off for some engine work and new panels :thumbsup:

 

[Ado]

Just want to tell you that its a standard HQ front not a GTS,still better than what you had though.Oh and that dash cluster if from a HJ Premier.

 

[fuzzy2308]

man how did you get a red fridge?

 

[swiftymcfeat]

Good luck with the project. Looks like its coming together nicely.

 

[Torquative]

hey Ado yeh I sort of worked that one out after looking at some photos, anyhoo was still cheap enough for everything I got and thanks for clearing up the dash too, I keep getting conflicting information I just wish if people didnt know what their talking about they'd admit it to me because I have NFI, this car was built before I was even born.

Red fridge came from work, dont know where it came from before that :whistling

Still havent done much **grumbles** need time on a weekend which isnt going to plan a.t.m

 

[Jo3_Blo]

Well on the dash - I was lookin at a 75 HJ ute the other day (kinda kickin myself for not buying it but anyway) and it had the same style dash as yours.......with the rectangular speedo. Kinda cool really I spose, very old school y'know.

ADO would probs be right in saying yours is a prem dash as well, as the standard dashes woulda just not had those extra guages, and yours does so yeah, if I could remember if this ute I saw had those gauges I'd be able to tell you for sure, but we'll leave it at that for now lol.

GL getting some progress done mate. Started on the dastardly rust yet? Your drivers side looks alrite, just the pass side that looks yucky lol.

 

[Torquative]

ive got a complete floor for both sides, might as well do both for the extra $80 odd

nah we're going to start on it next weekend and see how we go

 

[Torquative]

Well between watching Garth Tander cleanup at the Phillip Island 500 in fantastic style on the last lap, I managed some work on Catalina as well.

I grabbed the new seats from a mates brother, their VS Berlina seats in fairly good nick. Doesnt matter, their free and in 100% better condition then the VL seats that will come out of it. :thumbsup:

Then I got stuck into the floor ...

The floor panels are made up of 4 pieces, a RH front, LH front (so where your feet go), RH rear and LH rear (where the seats bolt). I thought we'd need to change all 4 panels.

As you can see during a trial fit the floor doesnt "exactly" fit.

Last weekend at muscle car masters at Eastern Creek the announcers told how Rare Spares have reproduction parts that are 100%, but this tends to tell another story ...

Doesnt matter, as it is we only need to fit one panel out of 4 because the rest havent been attacked by rust yet.

I dont have any "before shots" but you can see from one of the very first photos how the floor looked.

During the cleanup ...

The offending rusted panel removed

After cleanup and rust converter treatment

Ive got some more photos but their not uploaded yet.

So esentially after I attacked the floor with a wire brush and "flapper disc" it cleaned up well and better then I thought, ripped off all the surface rust and treatment, although there was alot of fine red "rust dust" everywhere, through my clothes, through the dash panel, on the concrete. It was only the passenger front half that had to be completely cut out because it was destroyed by rust, but the rest was fine, only a minor rust hole here or there that we've cut out and will patch shortly.

Its all been rust converter treated, once the new panel goes in it'll all be rust inhibitor treated too then the interior goes back in.

So I invested 90 bucks to pickup a cheap "temporary carport" from kmart, it wont last long and is just about already falling apart - I just need it to last til I have the new doors on and door rubbers on, to stop water getting into the interior like it had been otherwise I'll be just undoing all my good work!

Work will come to a temporary stop for the moment coz Im busy the next few weekends as is dad

 

[Torquative]

not much of an update but for those following Im on holidays at the end of next week (just in time for Bathurst 1000) so I'l get stuck into it again.

Floor panel going in then rust proofing, finish wiring (radio/indicators/fan/wiper) then onto paint stripping/prepping, rust cutting and priming the cabin ready for spraying.