Its alive!

Started the Calais today.
Took a while to get going.

A new battery in.

It’s been 5mths. Dropped some liquimoly octane booster in. Gave it a few more starts.
She chugged into life.
Took maybe 5 or 6 goes getting it to kick over.
Not a noise from the motor. No clunks or anything. Some of you might recall my questions about starting it. If I should disconnect the fuel pump fuse. The advise was no and I’m happy with the choice.
It all looks quite new under there now. No smoke, no burning... so far.

Running better than before.

Radiator needs to bled next.

Fricken wiper motor is a puzzle.
It’s going backwards. So off comes the cowl and adjust the position of the arm linkage. The VE VF doesn't have a notched spindle like previous models.

I redid the wiper assembly.

Forgot the DVD was on the fritz prior to the roof retrim. Not going to sort that now it’s in. That was a ct of job getting the roof lining back in.

No movies for the small humans.

Thought I'd share that because it’s a good, and sometimes anxious, moment getting the car started for the first time.

I was anxious hooking the battery the first time, checking all the wiring and connections, worked well. Checked and triple checked nearly all steps so it was done well in one go.

Should have made reference marks on the wiper assembly though.

 

So finally got the radiator and cooling bled today.
One hiccup, I forgot to clamp the radiator overflow hose. All the coolant was filling the reservoir to overfill and coming out the air duct in the top of it and leaking out. I thought the reservoir was cracked because I wasn't aware there was a vent hole in it. Removed it to discover this and then realise I didn't clamp the hose to block it off. Huge FacePalm!

Engine runs so smooth, you could sit a glass of water on the intake manifold and it wouldn't come off.
Once it was warm after 30mins or so idling, gave it some revs and it the exhaust even popped coming off revs.
So smooth and quiet.

Didn't even get anything burning off the exhaust like always happens after you've done some work or the car has sat for a bit.

So stoked.
Now to get the interior trim panels, glovebox, back in tomorrow arvo.
Then I'm calling it done.

Found some service stickers on eBay for air filter and oil change details.

Paint the rims silver when it warms up a bit.



Wash and polish next after that.

 

Got the passenger side trims back in today. I trimmed the dash spear in the same suede I did the roof and pillar trims.
I wasn’t entirely confident I did the right thing with this, but now it’s installed, it really looks the goods. So stoked with it. Way better than any finish Holden did.



I have also repaired the glove box amid all this.
Now have the lowering string attached again after the molded pin broke at some point. I did some insulation around it and opened the door skin and insulated inside that to give a nice solid sound and feel. Another thing I’m glad with.

I'll post that later. I used a screw which seems to be stronger anyway.

 

Now I need to remove the front seat trim to get the sill trims back on.
I don't want to bugger this up, so will consult the manual for details.
I have read that the rear trim gets levered up from the back it and then the front from the front of it.
I'm not entirely happy to do that without more detail on the procedure at this point.

I am also having a hell of a time getting the steering column shroud back on.
It was hard to remove, but getting it back on seems impossible without removing the steering wheel first.
So unless someone knows a trick, the steering wheel comes off.
I assume that is a similar procedure to VZ.
Any advice on that is also welcome.

 

Whoops. I should be more specific.
I need to remove the floor trims on the seat rail. in particular the one closest to the passenger side nearest the doors.

 

Got the trims sorted today.
Easy enough.

Thought I’d post the interior trim which formed part of this project.


The dash spears I love. A black suede instead of cheesy silver painted plastic.






Then there’s the roof. All Pilar trims done in suede and rear parcel shelf.
All panels are insulated too.
The original fabric was hanging like a Bedouin tent.


Today, I had the seat out from the back again and had some stuff left. Made up an insulation panel over some good songs and a cup of tea.

 

Oh, Also, when I redid the glove box, I removed the front skin and put a layer of sound absorbing felt in there. Just a little touch but it gives a nice solid feel when closing it. Subtle. Not so plasticy and hollow sounding.

 

The finished engine bay.
A touch of the “Peter Anderson’s” with the new gold zinc anodized high tensile bolts.

Some may notice I painted the black plastic trims in the bumper. I wanted a gloss black. A little more buffing to do on it but for now will do.

Painted the intake manifold and fixed the vacuum ports with the help of this forum.

Off for first drive soon.

 

Went beautiful.
Really stoked with achieving this.

The fam are excited too.

 

Thought I got the steering column positioning right when installing. I used paint marks. I would suggest etching the metal with a scribe for a more precise mark.

Turns out it was way off. Will redo the steering wheel as a “it’ll do for now” fix.

 

Those nuts are a little like the ones for the brake booster and the brake master cylinder. They have a slight oval shape to the hole.
I haven’t replaced the wiper arm nuts. Will do though with a nylock nut.

I did clean my nuts up with a wire brush. I was careful of my fingers doing it. Maybe spraying my nuts with a cold galv paint would also help spruce them up?