New toy. VU ss VZ front conversion project.

[elless1]

Thought i may as well start a build thread for the new ute. My vx clubsport got
written off so i bought myself the ute to ease my broken heart.

It's an ss auto in black. It's already been lowered with nolathane bushes all round,
and has a custom exhaust from engine back. Theres a few blemishes in the paint
and she isnt perfect, but it drives good and its a good base to start with.

Been collecting parts over the last few weeks and buying spray gear. Paint,new guns,
filler,consumables etc. Bought a 30 dollar gazebo off gumtree to paint in.

Got a bonnet from my wrecker mate, the only straight one he had was red so after
a wash and removing the felt thing it was time for some prepwash and a sand.Then
i shot some primer on, spot filled the stonechips with some spray putty and sanded again.

Managed to get some fluted guards and indicators. They where white and one had some dents in the top
of it so i started work on them. Screwed them onto a table for a makeshift jig. The flute parts that sit under
the indicators are getting colour coded with the rest in the phantom black. As are some ls1 engine covers that i have.

The shots below are the drivers side guard that needed a bit of attention..

Here's a pic below of my workspace, bit of a dump at the moment but things are slowly moving forward.
Like i mentioned earlier, i bought that gazebo. The paint and clear will be shot in there so i dont get crap
falling in the paint. Hopefully. Being a metalic paint i dont really have room for stuff ups so i'm
taking my time and taking precautions wherever i can.

I also picked up a vz calais front bar,bumper reo,inner guards,wiper cowl and wipers. Might not
need the wipers but got them anyway. The calais bumper is silver and has a few scuffs and marks
so it will need some sanding and maybe a bit of filler. I think all i need now are headlights. Going
to get vz ss or hsv lights with the black inserts. The fog lights for the bumber where silver and chrome
and the holden badge is chrome as well. The whole lot is being painted black. (not the plastic mesh though.)

Plans for now are to put some new belts on it and get it looking the way i want. Needs a new tailgate too.
Theres amp wiring in there for like 3 amps, might end up making a custom enclosure out of the rear
parcel shelf thingo,depends on how its made and if i can be bothered. The doof doof thing
isnt real high on my priority list these days. Maybe an amp and a couple of ten inch subs,we'll see.

Depending on how fussy i get later,or bored i might pull the lockable hard cover off and skim coat it
and paint it. The orange peel gives me the shits. On the subject of orange peel i'm going to be spending
lots of hours blocking the paint back to a show finish/close too, so don't expect the build to be finished any time
soon.lol.

More to come. Cheers.

 

[WazzaVN]

Hey mate good work so far. It's good what you've done with your guards. Would be good to weld up a rack to hang your bonnet from too. Even just lay a pole across some ladders. The bonnet laying flat will get allot of crap in it lol. Have you done much painting before?

 

[Risky]

Interesting project you've got lined up for yourself. Good to see pics of the progress. I hope all goes well without any mishaps.

 

[elless1]

Thanks guys,

Wazza,
I had a kingswood i chopped the rust out of and fixed by welding in new sheet,etc,,,but had to sell it halfway through.
Also spayed the front of a little hilux i had in single stage 2pac. This will be my first time
doing clear and a metalic. Being metallic the panels have to sit the same as they would on
the car. If you paint the bonnet upright then lie it down on the car to fit it, the colour wont be right.

I watch a lot of youtube videos and bought a heap of dvd's when i was doing the kingsy,
on spraying and bodywork. Self taught, same as my welding. The only way i can learn is by doing things.
Probably why i did crap at school.lol.

The hilux i painted didnt have a clear coat and i was using a **** gun so i loaded up like 5 coats then
spent a LOT of time cutting it back by hand with fine sandpaper,water and a squigy. Everyone who
looked at that car was impressed. Before i cut it back it looked like someone painted it with sand in the paint.lol.
By the time i cut it she looked like a mirror.lol

It's not a commy but hopefully the mods dont mind, Heres a few shots of the hilux before and after
blocking it back and polishing.

Before ( yes i know how bad it is.lol. wrong weather, wrong equipment, me not knowing what i was doing/still dont)

And after

This time the weather is good, i have the right equipment and some more knowledge up my sleeve.
And i'm a few years older,hopefully a bit wiser.haha.


This time ive gone and spent 500bucks on a descent spray gun and another cheapie ive dedicated to
primer. Good jobs can be done at home, it just takes a bit of work. My old ingersoll rand compressor
is playing up and i need to get that sorted before i start shooting colour. I cant afford to get any runs in the colour.
From what ive seen, sanding a metalic can stuff it. The primer or clear isnt really an issue.

Usually ive done my cars up mechanically and not bothered much with the outside so this
is a bit different to me but the ute has a few small runs in the paint on the guards
and i can see the bonnets been resprayed. The bumber clips are broken too and i'm not
happy with it, hence the vz conversion. Doing the sums, ive spent quite a bit so far
on parts but to me it will be worth it.

Cheers.

 

[WazzaVN]

Don't stress too much hey. Worst come to worst you have to sand it back and paint it again it's all good experience. You still have the VX front on so no massive rush. Metallic black is a good start to learning Imo. Easy too get even mate you should be OK. Some advise is to get plenty of water traps and pick a still day. Even better is a wet day. Sounds crazy but no dust or dirt is going to blow up off the ground into your paint tent if it's wet.

I sanded back and polished my ss (you can have a look if you want starts at about page 6 on my thread) learn from some of my mistakes if you're going to do it. I recommend you do 3 coats of clear then sand that clear down and give it another 2 or 3. Sounds like allot but you would be surprised how quickly you get through those layers once you get blocking lol. I cut through to my base quite a few times. Turned it to a project I kinda worked at over a few months. It's a bigger job than it sounds mate but it does look nice in the end. Good luck mate hope it all goes well.

 

[Risky]

The best painting I could ever do were the wiper surrounds on my ute. I have my old wing mirrors which I'm doing up soon to have a go on. I'm not a qualified painter as I left that to the guys who did my ute but if I stuff up on the wing mirrors, I wont be angry.

There's a couple of people here that would be interested in how changing the front end panels goes so if they aren't reading what you're doing, I'll let them know.

Ahhh Kingswoods.... My first car was a '72 Kingswood wagon in metallic green with all the panels that had more hits than Elvis. $500 it cost me & lasted a year. AM radio that hardly worked, the passenger airvent that keeps flipping about once you hit 40kph, & bench seat 3spd column shift. I used to carry mine & my mates boards as it was the only car long enough to carry them on our surfing trips.

Holden still carries a fair bit of stock for the VU-VZ's so before you hit ebay, hit the dealer spares section. The 1/4 windows are getting thin to get, door rubbers are $80 each, the plastic surrounds at the rear window you can still get & if you need to replace them, buy new from Holden before hitting eBay & wreckers. There's also a kit for the sailplane that's $40 odd but be careful taking it off as the plastic can break easily. If you're having problems getting parts, just let me know as the Holden Spares guys where I live are excellent in finding stuff. I've already helped an o/s member here with his VY SS ute getting parts & with the exchange rate it was cheaper for him.

In the end, even with a couple of setbacks (as we all experience), your project will be worth it & you'll be proud that you did the work yourself.

 

[elless1]

Thanks again guys for the kind words.

Wazza, ive seen you car in the paint and panel section, you had a few headaches with that thing hey?lol
Looks mint, the supersports really top it off. Your build thread was a good read too.

Risky, you gotta love the kingswoods. I had the bench seat and the column shift trimatic. I had a WB wellbody.
Still had the am radio and i kind of liked it. haha. I actually miss that ute, it was one of the better ones. I cut
a load of rust out of the windscreen cowl but the sills and everything else where good. The interior was mint.

One thing i have noticed on this ute that i need, is not the sailplane thing itself but the plastic panel next to it,
if that makes sense? The one around the little quarter window? Anyone have any ideas what its called
or how to get it off? The one on the passenger side is damaged and the previous owner put black gaffer tape
on it and it just looks terrible. I think this is the part youre talking about risky??

 

[Risky]

elless1,

are you referring to the standard black B pillar moulding
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/WEMAAOSwFnFWDd0m/s-l300.jpg

or the side pillar moulding
VY VZ Side Pillar Moulding Quicksilver 470G HSV VU SS Holden Commodore UTE | eBay

Here's a diagram from Holden for the whole rear section windscreen for the ute.

 

[ozeholden]

Awesome work man, look forward to see how this turns out, deciding I wanna do a front upgrade to on my vu later on.

 

[elless1]

Yeh risky, it's the second one down, side pillar moulding by the looks.
Thanks for taking the time to chuck up the links for us and the diagram

Oze, thanks mate,i wish i got my ute for cheaper as the parts are really adding up.
You could do it bit by bit over time and get bargains and the right colour code as you go,
i'm inpatient and have money left over from the clubby payout so ive just been
seeing things and buying them, as you do....

Here's a bit of a price list for anyone playing at home...
(this was all bought from wreckers,yeh i know some if it is a bit expensive)

Bonnet- 350
Guards- 200
Flutes and indicators- 150
Bumper(complete with lights and inserts), wipers, wiper cowl, innerguards, bumper reo - 600

Paint (just the paint ie primer,colour and clear, hardener and thinners, and filler) about 400.
And i ran out of primer last week. Luckily i found a liter of highfill primer from a past project.

So i'm in about 1700 bucks,thats not including time, consumables or misc items.
And... i still need headlights and tail lights. Headlights are looking at around 300, and taillights
about 100.

Hoping i can get get some badly faded ones for cheap, i taught myself how to restore them with
800 grit wet and dry and clearcoat. They come up trumps.

I can my hands on a cheap set of genuine headlights but they have the chrome inserts. I was thinking
about getting them,pulling them down and spaying the inserts black. Then i learned you have to
bake the lights to get them apart,so i'm just holding out for some ones with the black inserts.
Cant be stuffed .lol.