My '79 V8 HZ Ute :)

[383 hatch]

power steering on the old girls is quite vague to be honest, I had it on my ute. You get better feel through the wheel without

That all comes down to the wheel alignment. Once you put power steer on, you can dial in more positive caster, which gives back steering feel and also makes the car drive and handle better. The problem with manual steer is that you can't put much positive caster in (infact early H series Holdens actually had negative caster) which makes the car feel nervous on the road. If you had as much positive caster on a manual steer as you have on power steer you'd never be able to turn it. You really need to have someone who knows about all this to do the wheel alignment.

When i first put power steer on my ute, the wheel alignment was set up for manual steer and it was light as buggery and very vague, it also felt nervous on the road. When i had it wheel aligned for the power steer, i asked the guy to put WB Statesman specs in with a bit more positive caster and it's beautiful. Steers nicely, feels nice through the wheel and it drives on the road fantastic.

 

[VZImpulseSS]

Thats what i want 383 Hatch! Also, i assume getting someone to totally make a custom power steering unit would be really expensive?

I need a hand with a few things, as im tryna make it drive as well as possible until i have the money for big things (new motor/diff/gearbox etc).

Fixed up everything thats wrong with it, and now needing some advice. Has a tough time starting sometimes, so tryna narrow it down. Plugs and leads seem very new, (stupid me just realised it had a bloody 270 CCA battery in it!!! - Just bought a 620CCA "67" battery for it). I wanna put an Electronic distributor in it, but not too sure what kind of distributor to go for (kinds/compatibility etc). If someone could help i'd really appreciate it.

Also, i've got new battery (as i said), transmission cooler, twin thermo fan, (radiator is reasonably new), fixed the alternator belt, thinking about getting the carby and timing set up etc. What other things should i do to keep it good, or are there any other things they have that are renowned for shitting themselves? Basically wanting it as nice as i can get it till i have the money for bigger things...

Cheers

 

[383 hatch]

You can buy a complete bolt in power rack and pinion steering kit for HQ-WB nowadays, but it's prohibitively expensive and there is nothing wrong with the original steering box set up IMO. Honestly, i'd just buy a complete second hand power steer kit and bolt it in. Worst that can happen is the box or pump will leak, and if that happens then get it recoed, chances are it will be fine though. Atleast with a full kit you will get everything, some of the bits can be hard to get separately.

As i said earlier, i pulled my power steer box out of a wrecked WB ute that had been sat in a paddock for years and it doesn't leak a drop.

As for the electronic distributor, we've had great success with the chinese distributors (same as what you will find on Ebay, only we get them from our supplier at work), they're good value for money IMO. I wouldn't put one in a banger engine, but for something that's not overly worked they will work fine. Honestly, any electronic distributor will be better than dirty, old points.

 

[VZImpulseSS]

Where do you work mate? Can you gimme a price or something? Or can you give me a part number? Part number would be most prefered

 

[VZImpulseSS]

Also. This is a stupid question, but being 18 (as of 2 days ago), i don't know a huge lot about older cars. I, nor anyone else, can figure out what my car actually is. The Compliance plates say Holden HZ Panel Van. I was confused, but apparently they made utes in the "Panel Van's". Had people say thats not right. But apparently according to RAC quotes Panel vans did come as utes, and i also saw another ute for sale that said HZ Panel Van Ute. So im super confused. Also im pretty sure they didn't come stock with the Twin Headlight fronts...?

 

[Hangman]

Maybe a panno cut into a ute. Not unheard of when the gutters rusted out on the vans.

 

[Bux]

Its probably a panelvan that has been cut down. Seen them done before, the body and chassis are the same just the roof different. Cut of along the middle of the quarters and thru the windscreen pillars,and weld on a ute roof. Sometimes the join welds can be seen inside the pillars, and panelvan tailgates have a small cutout on each end, But that could have been changed . Dont worry the full chassis holds them together. As long as it has been or is still reg as a ute it should be ok. But only takes somone to question the id tags and it could become a pain to rego. My WB ute tags read = WB COUPE UTILITY. The twin headlight front is a premier or statesman panel, they all bolt up the same as the original ones.

 

[383 hatch]

Where do you work mate? Can you gimme a price or something? Or can you give me a part number? Part number would be most prefered

Unfortunately, i work in Vic, which obviously isn't much good to you. I'll see what i can dig up for on when i'm back at work on Monday.

Also. This is a stupid question, but being 18 (as of 2 days ago), i don't know a huge lot about older cars. I, nor anyone else, can figure out what my car actually is. The Compliance plates say Holden HZ Panel Van. I was confused, but apparently they made utes in the "Panel Van's". Had people say thats not right. But apparently according to RAC quotes Panel vans did come as utes, and i also saw another ute for sale that said HZ Panel Van Ute. So im super confused. Also im pretty sure they didn't come stock with the Twin Headlight fronts...?

No such thing as a ute-panel van. All H series Holden utes have coupe utility or just utility on the ID tags. If yours says panel van, it's a panel van that's been cut down into a ute. A lot of people do this as the tub is normally mint in a van because it doesn't really get used, where as a ute is nearly always beaten up from stuff being thrown in the back over the years. It's not a big deal, it's not the first time it's been done. I wouldn't get too concerned about it.

As for the twin light front, only the Sandman (in both ute and panel van) came with the twin headlight front standard. Someone has fitted the twin headlight front at some stage, it's just a bolt on operation. Same as what i did to my ute. It's a pretty common thing to do as the twin headlight front looks 100x better than the single on a HJ-HZ.

 

[kingswood country]

power steering on the old girls is quite vague to be honest, I had it on my ute. You get better feel through the wheel without

That all comes down to the wheel alignment. Once you put power steer on, you can dial in more positive caster, which gives back steering feel and also makes the car drive and handle better. The problem with manual steer is that you can't put much positive caster in (infact early H series Holdens actually had negative caster) which makes the car feel nervous on the road. If you had as much positive caster on a manual steer as you have on power steer you'd never be able to turn it. You really need to have someone who knows about all this to do the wheel alignment.

When i first put power steer on my ute, the wheel alignment was set up for manual steer and it was light as buggery and very vague, it also felt nervous on the road. When i had it wheel aligned for the power steer, i asked the guy to put WB Statesman specs in with a bit more positive caster and it's beautiful. Steers nicely, feels nice through the wheel and it drives on the road fantastic.

I'm just speaking from experience, though my utes alignment was miles out. I've heard it alot though.

 

[kingswood country]

Timings tretty easy, al you need is a timing light and a spanner, mines just set up by ear. Also what carby is on it, some carbies are easier than others to tune, a speaking from experience again, the Holden eights don't like the Holley the most. No matter what I do or who tunes it, I can't get it perfect, I can get it close though. Unless it's standard and all you really can do is adjust idle speed as they fuel air mixture was set from factory for adr regs from 1976. Apparently they hammer with a quady up top too but I haven't tried it yet, I plan to.

Make sure your rocker cover bolts are tight as they leak pretty quickly there and the rear main usually let's go, if you've got access to a crane or block and tackle, it makes your job 100x easier.


Just read it's a Holley, if it's got no flat spots on acceleration then don't touch it. I've read that if you give the accelerator pump on the carby a quick push and it does nothing, then air fuel is correct, and from memory, if it speeds up idle then it's too lean and if it stumbles and tries to stall it's too rich. Seems to be on the Money too

Also if you get hesitation on take off, the float level is too high,