Holden Commodore Limited Edition models

[zappaboy]

HG Model ??

 

[DIR-ACT]

HG Model ??

HT 1969 model.

 

[zappaboy]

Cool it is beautiful, you are a very lucky man.

 

[ProfMopar]

A couple of weeks ago I had the 19 months / 30,000 kms service done on my Redline Ute.

In the 9 months since the 9 mths / 15,000 kms service it had done 511 kilometres and I consider it my daily.

This morning I had my XY passed for rego which was overdue a couple of weeks ago and it had travelled 38 kilometres in the last 12 months.

The reason it was late for rego is because when I tried to start her a couple of weeks back she decided to play dead.

I spent that week replacing the fuel lines, the fuel pump and rekitting the carbie because every rubber diaphragm and hose had perished plus I had a rusty residue left from the dried out fuel in the bowls and filter.

After I replaced or rebuilt everything in the fuel system I started to do the tune and when I took it for a run to get her up to operating temperature I could feel the brake pedal wasn’t right and had a major failure at the third intersection.

Luckily I anticipated it from the feel in the pedal and had allowed the car to slow right down before the T-Intersection and was able to turn otherwise I would have gone straight ahead into the house across from it.

I consider brakes to be more important than saving a few dollars by doing it myself so I had the car towed to a specialist and the extent of the deterioration of the whole system shocked me.

Now I have to spend the next week tuning and swapping out all the fluids and doing general checks simply because of my laziness.

The moral of my story is for those of you who intend to keep the miles down on your car then make sure you do it by driving it a short distance every week as opposed to a longer drive every few months as the cars just fall apart.

The stupid thing about this story is for years I’ve had a number of cars in storage and know better than not running them but I broke my own rule by telling myself I’ll take it for a run next week but always found a reason to be too busy and next week never came.

I’m putting my little BMW in storage soon as it doesn’t get driven enough and spoke to BMW about the best way to do it and they told me I was mad as it just wouldn’t like it so I’m now arranging for it to be stored where it can be driven regularly.



.

The short trips promote premature engine wear and exhaust system corrosion. I recommend longer trips (10 miles or more), fuel stabilizer (chuck it in the tank before storage - today's petrol deteriorates WAY more quickly than the pre-2006 stuff), change the brake fluid just prior to storage, spray the brake parts with the right spray lubricant prior to storage, and of course, disconnect the battery. I've driven 'em, without issues, over ten years post-storage....my record was an old Austin...32 years!

 

[ProfMopar]

If you modify your car without regard for engineering and treat it like a two bob 80s Corolla then one of the things that may fall apart are the needle bearings inside the rocker arms. Only actually read of that happening once, never in Australia though.
So less chance than winning the Casket.
Seems another fabricated fear mongering money spinner for speed shops like lifter failure on L77.
I know about rockers and bearings and yes it’s a furphy, but you can’t stop people signing up paying thousands to surgically remove perfectly good, innovative and over engineered features because of unscrupulous mechanics tales.

I suspect you're right. Anyone who is convinced to have their rockers changed despite no actual symptoms probably needs to be conned for the education that would provide.

 

[ProfMopar]

Love 'em both. My old Pa had an HK Brougham 307, turquoise with black roof, always loved that car. Unfortunately,he sold it in '71.

 

[panhead]

The short trips promote premature engine wear and exhaust system corrosion. I recommend longer trips (10 miles or more), fuel stabilizer (chuck it in the tank before storage - today's petrol deteriorates WAY more quickly than the pre-2006 stuff), change the brake fluid just prior to storage, spray the brake parts with the right spray lubricant prior to storage, and of course, disconnect the battery. I've driven 'em, without issues, over ten years post-storage....my record was an old Austin...32 years!

I didn’t mean you warm up your car and take it for a drive around the block when talking of a short trip, I meant 50 odd miles or so as I don’t consider 10 is even enough to get residual heat well and truly soaked into everything.

A long trip to me is anything over a hundred miles plus like having a day out with the car and I don’t recommend it as being the best way if you are only going to do it a couple of times a year.

Driving it regularly like every few weeks is your best bet or be prepared to pay for deterioration.

I live by the ocean which also introduces a lot of problems as everything metal around my home inside the garage and out has rust over it.

The chrome bumpers on my XY after just a year of neglect are covered with surface rush that won’t polish out and will need to be re-plated and much of the bright work trim will require a machine polish.

Most of my cars are stored out on the farm in far North West NSW which is hot and dry and far better for them than at my home on the coast.

I’ve been storing cars for over 30 years and almost all get driven regularly and if the batteries are healthy to start with I don’t even bother to disconnect them or use trickle chargers as they’ll start first kick as long as there is fuel in the system.

With the old school pre-injection cars I manually fill the fuel bowls before I start them to make sure I don’t damage the power valves in the carbies and do a lot of little checks before I turn the key.

You may get away with not driving your Austin for 32 years without issue but the unregistered cars I have that are not driven which hopefully will start when needed will most definitely need seals and such replaced before any serious miles are considered and none of them have batteries fitted and the coolant systems are empty with the hoses removed and the fuel has been removed.

This is done in the hope that all the original parts will be in a refurbishable condition and not need to be replaced with new copy parts.

I have been told by a number of old timers who store old vehicles long term to swap out the brake fluid for Dot 5 as the system will last much longer but the amount of work involved to swap it doesn’t appeal to me and I’m prepared to rectify any problems I have with those cars when the time comes as it will not take me any more effort to refurbish as it does to swap to Dot 5 and I will also know that the brake system is safe at the time it is prepared for roadwork again.

My XY was a car I would drive numerous times a week, I would just as likely hop into it to run up to the shops as I would with any of my others cars and because I did a shuffle in the last year or so and a couple of other cars have tickled my interest I unwittingly allowed it to sit for 12 months without making any provision for leaving it standing.

It failed simply because the fuel system dried out and the rubber components in the fuel pump and carbie perished, both the front and rear accelerator pump diaphragms had holes in them and a rear brake line perished and when a problem like that occurs everything is checked and replaced as far as I’m concerned or none of my family are allowed in the car.

Storing cars can be easy and it can be hard as it can depend on your environment, the type of vehicle and your resources.

I try to cover all my bases with my own cars but I’m just pointing out a failure I had this month with a car I intended to be driving a few times a week but let it sit for 12 months as a warning that low mileage cars will in most cases need work to get them back up to scratch and if the owners think a long run a couple of times of year will do the job then they find they’ll have failures from the air con compressors to the fuel system as the cars are designed to be driven and not left standing.



.

 

[ProfMopar]

I didn’t mean you warm up your car and take it for a drive around the block when talking of a short trip, I meant 50 odd miles or so as I don’t consider 10 is even enough to get residual heat well and truly soaked into everything.

A long trip to me is anything over a hundred miles plus like having a day out with the car and I don’t recommend it as being the best way if you are only going to do it a couple of times a year.

Driving it regularly like every few weeks is your best bet or be prepared to pay for deterioration.

I live by the ocean which also introduces a lot of problems as everything metal around my home inside the garage and out has rust over it.

The chrome bumpers on my XY after just a year of neglect are covered with surface rush that won’t polish out and will need to be re-plated and much of the bright work trim will require a machine polish.

Most of my cars are stored out on the farm in far North West NSW which is hot and dry and far better for them than at my home on the coast.

I’ve been storing cars for over 30 years and almost all get driven regularly and if the batteries are healthy to start with I don’t even bother to disconnect them or use trickle chargers as they’ll start first kick as long as there is fuel in the system.

With the old school pre-injection cars I manually fill the fuel bowls before I start them to make sure I don’t damage the power valves in the carbies and do a lot of little checks before I turn the key.

You may get away with not driving your Austin for 32 years without issue but the unregistered cars I have that are not driven which hopefully will start when needed will most definitely need seals and such replaced before any serious miles are considered and none of them have batteries fitted and the coolant systems are empty with the hoses removed and the fuel has been removed.

This is done in the hope that all the original parts will be in a refurbishable condition and not need to be replaced with new copy parts.

I have been told by a number of old timers who store old vehicles long term to swap out the brake fluid for Dot 5 as the system will last much longer but the amount of work involved to swap it doesn’t appeal to me and I’m prepared to rectify any problems I have with those cars when the time comes as it will not take me any more effort to refurbish as it does to swap to Dot 5 and I will also know that the brake system is safe at the time it is prepared for roadwork again.

My XY was a car I would drive numerous times a week, I would just as likely hop into it to run up to the shops as I would with any of my others cars and because I did a shuffle in the last year or so and a couple of other cars have tickled my interest I unwittingly allowed it to sit for 12 months without making any provision for leaving it standing.

It failed simply because the fuel system dried out and the rubber components in the fuel pump and carbie perished, both the front and rear accelerator pump diaphragms had holes in them and a rear brake line perished and when a problem like that occurs everything is checked and replaced as far as I’m concerned or none of my family are allowed in the car.

Storing cars can be easy and it can be hard as it can depend on your environment, the type of vehicle and your resources.

I try to cover all my bases with my own cars but I’m just pointing out a failure I had this month with a car I intended to be driving a few times a week but let it sit for 12 months as a warning that low mileage cars will in most cases need work to get them back up to scratch and if the owners think a long run a couple of times of year will do the job then they find they’ll have failures from the air con compressors to the fuel system as the cars are designed to be driven and not left standing.



.

You've had better luck than me with batteries - I have 'em goin' flat within weeks, even on EFI cars from the '90s - I've learned to disconnect them, but even then many of them fade away. Thank God for the super starter pack (cost $400).
Regarding pre-filling the fuel bowls, I avoid this on purpose so that the initial cranking of the engine goes for 10-20 seconds to pre-oil the engine prior to starting, a proven wear reducer. By the way, I've never heard of power valves being harmed by dry cranking, nor can I understand how that can happen.
Anyway, I suspect that most of this is irrelevant for storing 2017 Commodores, except their batteries...and that unleaded stuff.
However, good to know there are other tragics out there with a pile of old cars they cogitate over.

 

[LMF 17]

Finally saw my first Motorsport on the road, bit ironic really, saw it yesterday, almost brought a tear to my eye, arguably Australia’s best car on the day of its extinction.

 

[dragonsroos]

Finally saw my first Motorsport on the road, bit ironic really, saw it yesterday, almost brought a tear to my eye, arguably Australia’s best car on the day of its extinction.

Saw a Spitfire Green Motorsport in Wagga last week, great cars these and honoured to have one.