A WB Ute called Mrs Marsh

[OldDog]

What a complete fiasco!
I rode down to Hamilton last week to get the ute running and ended up putting it on a trailer and towing it home! I got the starter in and even managed to drive the ute down to the servo and fill it up and then everything went downhill. The (new) starter died and then the wiring decided to fry itself. It looks like it has had two different alarms in it over the years as well as the bodgey wiring to adapt up the statesman dash things were never gonna be easy. The previous few owners have done very little preventative maintenance, even something as simple as a pressure wash underneath occassionally was beyond them. Despite the signs of abuse the motor and gearbox still look to be in good shape, the salisbury diff is in bad shape with the pinnion bearings almost completely shot, and amazingly still working fine! Still i got to drive it for a bit and its seems to have a fair bit of grunt (as you expect from a 350). Heres a few pics

A bright early start

Engine out and man is this thing grubby! This s after the engine was degreased 3 times!

Retapping the starter motor threads and fixing the work of the previous butchers

Repairs done, internals inspected (still looks good in there) some new gaskets etc fitted and a nice coat of Chevy orange then shes back in the hole

All wired up but its not turning over, turns out it was the alarm module playing up

Having owned a few KTM's and not being impressed i couldn't resist

And here it sits in front of the shed at che Olddog, i'll have it stripped down in another day and have the new suspension arms etc fitted

 

[VK SL 3800]

Didnt you say the 350 was going into the other ute?

Looks good though, great work.

 

[OldDog]

Yeah it is but the grey utes chassis is in better nick too so i'll drag it out from under the rust bucket and slot it under the blue shell.

 

[OldDog]

Well its been a busy few days, while stripping the shell i found 3 funnel web spiders that had made homes in various spots. Scared the crap outa me as i'd never seen one before and these were big black mothers. So i ended up going over the whole ute spraying poison into all the nooks and crannies, i had visions of sticking my hand up into some difficult spot and getting bit.
Anyway after that little distraction i've pushed on and now have the gas stripped out, the chassis out

I've cleaned off the rust and preped it and the diff is now out and i'm rebuilding the spare and the tailshaft is getting new uni's, it should be ready to go in tomorrow with all new suspension bushings and shocks and then i can paint the lot and push it under the blue body.

 

[ari666]

aw man! i remember those days. i am hell jealous. i love getting right into the teeth of the car. and your lifting frame is UBER can i post these pics to 'create a bond'

are you sticking with the cast iron intake? which pattern is it, i.e. can it fit a quadrajet? or is it one of the early holley patterns?

so low rocker covers, not going roller rockers? any plans for the engine

TELL MEEEE thanks for the updates btw

 

[OldDog]

LOL thanks for the pics of your small block, its inspiring! Is that in the Impala? Details wise its an 010 block so its a great base, but it has -883 heads which is a bit ordinary, plus that standard cast iron quadrajet manifold. Has a mild cam and the pacemakers you can see plus a regraphed Scorcher dissy. The bores are in good nick so i won't need to do anything there. I'm going to keep the gas so i can get it engineered and open rego. The gas carb thats on it is a 425 Impco which only flows about 460cfm, so i need to run two....so i'm forced to run a tunnel ram At ths point i'm just going to get the ute o the road as i need it for winter (tired of riding to work in the cold). Once i'm ready i'll get another gas carb and run both on Holley bases straight onto the fattest tunnel ram i can find as, with gas you don't have the bad low end issues you have with petrol. Guess i'll have to find a bonnet scoop to hide it from the cops But with the ram i'll also be able to get the intake up into the cooler air which will help it perform better....and rev! Heads wise i'd like to stay old skool and get some good 64cc cast iron heads and go over to roller rockers as well, i'm surprised at how cheap they are.

 

[OldDog]

A quick update, rebuilt diff installed, new nolathane bushes fitted, did a quick tidy up of the chassis and a coat of paint. Stupidly i fetted the new back shocks before painting so they're now black too.

Tomorrow i'll fit the new starter and refit the drivers side header pipe, finish a few mods to the blue shell then wheel this under. If all goes well i will have the blue shell bolted down tomorrow night then i'll start on the interior and try and sort out the crazy wiring.

 

[ari666]

Heads wise i'd like to stay old skool and get some good 64cc cast iron heads

double hump fulies FTW

 

[OldDog]

Another busy day. Today i tidied up the chassis finished off a few under body mods then slotted the chassis under the ute.

Bit dissapointed as the extractors hit the air conditioner, so i'll have to lift the body up a little and modify the box. While i was in the mood i roughly nailed the old chassis together and slotted it under the grey body. All this will be disposed of (i think the bloke over the road wants it for parts) so i havn't assembled it perfectly.

And now i'm gonna sit down and drink some beer

Cheers

Bill

 

[V-ahhh]

Love your work mate!! she's gonna be a nice ride when your finished.