Long time without an update...
Ok, well here goes.
So, i'll start with why this thread hasn't been seeing much action. I've been repairing an HG Monaro that has some rust in the usual spots, both rear 1/4's in front of the rear wheel, L/H cant rail/roof turret and a small bubble in the L/H door at the front corner. So far i've finished the R/H quarter, welded in the section in the L/H quarter and cut out the rust in the roof. Here are some pics...
The rust spots are a bit hard to pick up on camera.
R/H side all cut out
The inner was ok on this side apart from some surface rust, so i just cleaned it up, rust converted it and painted it.
Outer all cut and welded in
The section i cut out
L/H side cut out, the inner panel was rusted through so i cut it out.
Inner panel repaired
Outer all welded in. The section didn't quiet fit properly, it ran uphill at the back so i had to slice it open once it was welded, move it down and weld it all up again.
The section i cut out. Hmm, check out the sexy repairs....
The roof cut out
The section i cut out.
So, that's about where i am at right now.
Now, back to the Torana.
Righto, so i picked up my heads. They're in very good nick, complete with studs, guide plates and springs (these will probably get swapped for ones suitable for the roller cam). They've had some work done, not crazy port work, just the valve seats have been blended into the ports and the dags taken off the ports themselves. Basically a pocket port. These heads are pretty good out of the box, so what has been done will be fine. Overall, i'm pretty happy with them for the money.
I paint stripped and degreased one, i havn't had a chance to do the other one yet.
I picked up some extractors off Ebay (brand new, never used) for $150. They're castle auto headers (lol) so ofcoarse they need some customary mods to make them fit, but nothing i can't handle. For what they cost me, i'm happy to modify them a bit, it's not a big deal. However, if i paid the $990 they retail for from Castle, i'd be pretty disappointed.
Here they are fitted to the car.
I've cut the piece out that doesn't fit and i'll get a couple of mandrel bends and weld them in where they need to be.
I've ordered a Comp Cams hydraulic roller cam kit from the US, so that should be here in a few weeks hopefully. Once that arrives, i have nearly all the bits to screw the 383 together.
Onto the LX front panels. I picked up the LX front cut on the weekend. Turns out i won't be able to modify the UC radiator support to work, so i will have to fit the LX one and modify the inner guards. Luckily, the rad support has been replaced at some point (i'd say it's had a light hit) so there is absolutely 0 rust in it which i'm pretty happy about. I've already stripped the panels off the front cut ready to start cutting the support off.
The guards are good apart from some rust in the bottom of the L/H one, but i have a mint UC guard that i will cut up to repair that, no big deal. The nose cone it mint aswell.
It also has a mint dash which i'm going to put in aswell (sorry Reaper
). I figure if i'm going to do this, i'm going the whole hog.
Dash parts collection. Just need to chase down an SL/R cluster as i don't want to run Autometer gauges anymore.
So, that's about where it stands now. More updates soon.