HJ Styleside

[87RB30VL]

OKAY so i'm back, after selling the VL and buying a house and getting married and buying a motorbike and selling the motorbike and then going into a deep sleep for 1,000 years, I went on a drug and alcohol fuelled adventure upon waking up, and ended up with this in my yard:

Now, I know what you're thinking, "Bro aren't you that guy with the VL that had issues and you turbo'd it anyway and did mad tsututu doses BUT it was still a heap of crap?".

Well, YES I am, but I've decided to buy something I've always wanted, and want to actually spend the time on restoring, and doing it right, so here we are today! I haven't got many exciting pics but this is basically where I'm at right now, basically just been slowly stripping her down and cleaning up all the rust with some brush cups & spraying it with some rustoleum until I get around to welding it up. It was mainly just for me to see how far it had spread in certain areas. I can't for the life of me get the boss kit off the steering column though, my old man dropped off an oxy torch to see if heating it loosens it up a bit but it's stuck on there like a fat kid on the toilet:

She's got a 253, 4 speed auto, Holley carb (wouldn't have a clue on specs though, any V8 guys want to help me out when I post more pics?), dodgy as twin exhausts dumped just after the cab, has little interior apart from 2 seats and the dash (no door cards, headliner, carpet's shot, no interior light armrests etc, has sun visors though lol). The plan is to fix all the rust, get the wiring and mechanical side of things running all smooth (with the gear in it now), then decide what I want to do with the interior and paint. So nothing major like an LS swap or anything just yet.

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[87RB30VL]

Found more crappy home job repairs on the floor pans, think I'm just gonna get new ones from rare spares and weld them in. The amount of bog and windscreen goo that was in there in someone's attempt at repairing it was pretty shocking to say the least, AND I spilled my beer. Fun times were had. Have some pics of the bad news:

This is the rear of the passenger side (I only took 2 pics of the passenger side only because it took me ages to scrape and chisel all the shite away) It looks worse in person because in that pic, the flash lit up the garage floor, so it kind of hides the holes:

Here's the front of the passenger side:

 

[axemurderer101]

Same colour as mine lol

 

[Sandman]

Good to see another H series ute, a few on here now. Is it running a T700 box? As being a 253 means it would be running an adaptor plate or had the block redrilled at some point.

 

[EYY]

Is it running a T700 box? As being a 253 means it would be running an adaptor plate or had the block redrilled at some point.

I was just about to ask the same thing lol

It's not too different to mine when I first got it actually, although mine was painted like a zebra. Keen to see more pics. I'd try to replace those doors if possible, they're not very fun to work with having rust like that.

 

[dobesz]

Nice, built a hq toner from ground up few years back. So easy to work on always fun coming across other hack repairs lol. You wonder what some people were thinking!

 

[Sandman]

Well if you're not good at welding now, you will be by the time you're finished.

although mine was painted like a zebra.

Quoted for my amusement

 

[87RB30VL]

Good to see another H series ute, a few on here now. Is it running a T700 box? As being a 253 means it would be running an adaptor plate or had the block redrilled at some point.

Cheers guys, always loved the tough look of the old girls! I'm not 100% on the box as I haven't managed to get under enough for a good look, but my mate seems to think it might have been a 202 manual before someone threw in the 253 and auto based on the plate numbers

I'd try to replace those doors if possible, they're not very fun to work with having rust like that.

Do you think getting some of these would be easy to weld in? I mean, my welding is beginner but my mates all know how to weld really well, so there's no trouble getting a good welder to help me out as long as I do all the cutting beforehand haha. Saying that though, it's not going to be show car worthy, just a nice cruiser so I can kind of take some shortcuts on a few things (meaning if welds don't look completely nice and smooth etc as long as they do the job, bonus points if they're covered up after I put her together)

Nice, built a hq toner from ground up few years back. So easy to work on always fun coming across other hack repairs lol. You wonder what some people were thinking!

The amount of bog in the floor pans literally made me throw my **** down, crack and beer and yell "WTF" at it hahaha

Same colour as mine lol

Nice man, you still got her? I guess that's why you knew about my wiring issues hey hahaha, I do love the flat black, it really brings out the chrome when it's all nice and shiney

 

[Sandman]

You sure its a 4 speed then? Kind of surprised someone would go to all that effort for an auto behind a 253.

 

[EYY]

The rare spares stuff can be okay, but when I purchased a few aftermarket panels (floor pans in particular) I found that they weren't shaped very well and needed lots of work to get them to fit properly. Another issue is the thinner steel. I think it's either .8 or 1mm as opposed to the factory 1.2mm panel steel. Also stay away from the aftermarket tail gates, I'm very unimpressed with mine.

Tbh, I'd leave the doors until last. In the mean time see if another decent set pop up - if not, try those replacement panels

A couple of places to look very closely at (attack with a wire wheel lol)
-the entire cowl panel
-in front and behind the rear wheels
-the corners of the rear wall in the tub (next to the drains)
-the cross brace underneath the rear window (where the tonneau clips are screwed in). Also check underneath this.
-in the plenum itself around the holes for the dash vents (lay on your back on the floor looking up underneath the dash)
-the bottoms of both guards

I also noticed that the tonneau holes in the rear have been filled in. Try removing the panel's in the tub and have a look inside to see if they've been bashed in and bogged over, or whether they've been welded up. If they've been bogged over its probably worth taking the sides back to bare metal and welding them up if you don't want the tonneau hooks.

As sandman said, quite a few people on here have or have had H series holdens, so don't hesitate to ask questions!
If you post a pic of that transmission (and any cables going to the transmission) we'll be able to tell you what you have.