Vantages Berlina wagon "GASGOD"

[Vantage]

Hey guys, here is my Berlina Wagon which is a daily project (Well hopefully will be). Bought it for $750 last week.

Make: Holden
Model: 1995 VS Berlina S/W


The Good:
Still trying to find it.

The Bad:
Interceptors are flaking back to bare metal.
Car has a few small dents here and there.
Front end panels appear to be warped slightly, matches the damage to my VS Exec when I hit the front of my house.
Speedo needle light appears to be blown.
Cargo area has wheel-bay gas tank, sits above floor level currently has MDF over it with carpet ontop.
Passengers seat has cig burns.
Engine runs rough on gas and wont even run on petrol.
Exhaust is spitting what appears to be unburnt liquid gas but could be petrol. (No idea here)
Exhaust weld to muffler appears to have rusted away.
Tow bracket welded to chassi (Why in quacks name would you?)
Appears to be mildly lowered but i'm leaning toward cut springs by the way it drives.
All power windows have 1 issue of another.
Front windows push door panel out when wound fully up.
Rear windows struggle to go down and up.
Antenna motor sounds like it's missing a few teeth
Climate control has a mind of it's own, when turned off it was heating half way home and than decided I was hot so put A/C on.
Clear front and side indicators using white globes (Illegal to have clear lenses without orange globes under ADR)
50% of the inner lining screws are missing, rattles more than a bloody rattle snake.
Chrome trim is peeling (The quack?)
Steering alignment is almost non existent
Wiring loom has been spliced seriously badly. (I think my German shepherd could do better)
Front speakers sound like the cone is split.
Transmission shifts are rough

Ok I could go on forever and I haven't even stripped it yet so I'll stop here and update as I go along.

My plans:

major-
Find out what it needs for RWC
Find out why it's running like ****
Reweld exhaust for now
angle grind the tow bracket off the chassi so it can pass RWC
Swap white globes for orange globes, replace rear tail lights with clear
Steering realignment
Rewire the wiring loom with solders and heat shrink.

important-
Transmission service
Replace antenna motor
Check wiring loom for shorts in the climate control
reinstall power window motors or establish why they're pushing the door inserts out.
replace rear power window motors
replace needle light
put in all the missing screws

In the future-
Repair damage to sides. (Not major, just a few golf ball sized dents that are too sharp to use suction)
Replace front end. (Bumper, Left/right guards, hood)
Senator body kit
SL's all round
Live axle LSD
Checkered steel cargo bay floor lining that also goes up and over the spare wheel. (On hinges to wheel and gas for easy access)
Respray in Gun Metal Gray or Alto Grey
respray interceptors in GM Silver and have the lip polished
Custom red & black leather interior. (May end up with red & black SS interior)
Black leather wrapped dash & center
Alpine ICS-X7 2-din H/U
Alpine Type-R SPR-60C 6.5" 2-way component fronts
Alpine DDL R170S 2-way component rears
Alpine Type-R SWR-1202 12" subwoofer x4
I'll let who ever I get to install it to worry about the amps etc

Custom single piece 25mm MDF enclosure (I'll make this myself) I really don't want to carpet it so I'm thinking I'll wrap it with fiberglass and mould it to sort of fit around the speakers like a glove, the Amp & cap area will be red L.E.D lit with a perspex front. I'll be attempting to custom design some quick release clips for the audio cable connections as well as quick release clips for the enclosure itself as I'll want to be able to remove it easily as I enjoy outdoors stuff like camping and I'll need to remove the subs easily to put camping gear in the back. Amps to power the front and rear comp speakers will probably end up somewhere under the rear seats if I can get enough ventilation in there.

It's a huge job to get this car exactly the way I want it and the moment i'm off my P's it'll end up a 308 stroked if the chassi will handle it but none of this will go ahead if it's going to cost me too much to prep it for RWC, it'll end up a parts car for my next car if i can't afford to RWC it. The entire project will never end but for just what I'v listed here I estimate 12-24 months

Please note I'm not one of those dumbasses who goes purely for looks, I also want to do performance but being my first gas car I need to look further into what I can actually do with it. If anyone has experience with performance dual fuel on the L36/ecotec motors tips and pointers are appreciated.

Imgur photo album (Images were too large to upload)

 

[VS_Pete]

Good luck with it mate.

 

[Vantage]

Got it up on wheelstands today and pulled the exhaust out from cat back, I think i may be out of luck, I started sanding but the surface rust so I could get a good weld and its rusted to the point if I keep sanding i'll go straight through it so rewelding the exhaust isn't an option anymore, heading into town this afternoon to see if I can get a tailpipe/muffler from the wreckers. Also noticed there is what appears to be a brake line with a small cut in it so I'll be replacing that length of the line this afternoon.

Thanks pete, I'll need it haha

 

[Tasmaniak]

Lots of little things that sound about normal. Just feels overwhelming. Plug away at it and you'll have her on the road in no time.

 

[Vantage]

Haha ikr tas, I think it may be a fuel pump issue for the petrol issue since it starts, revs to 2,000 and than the moment I go to hit the throttle it clunks out so I don't think enough fuel is getting through to the engine, I'm thinking it could either be an issue with the swirl pot or a blockage but being a submerged pump I'll let a mechanic deal with that.

Started the car facing my garage earlier while it was on wheelstands and it covered my garage door with a circle of liquid, I thought maybe petrol but I didn't start it on petrol so I think the gas converter might be dodgy.

 

[Tasmaniak]

Identify the liquid before blaming parts. Doesn't sound a like a convertor to me. But I'm no gas expert.

 

[Vantage]

Well it doesn't smell like petrol, i know very little about gas which is why I'm not even looking at performance parts until I know more so I'm not the best to diagnose it, it's just my first thought since the converter normally converts the LPG from a liquid but for all I know it could be running on 4-5 cyls or have a cracked head. (Both are possible with the amount of smoke shes throwing)

I'm not going to bother trying to fix the engine issues as I don't want to f the gas setup and I have no idea what i'm doing with them so I'll just replace the exhaust and stuff that i know i can do haha.

 

[Tasmaniak]

Once LPG meets oxygen, it instantly turns into gas... nothing can be "sprayed" so it's not that.

 

[Vantage]

Quick diagnostic test, started the car on petrol, doesn't hold rev's evenly, spits out what tastes like water . On gas it's just blowing a bit of smoke so probably needs a gas service.

On petrol it idles at 1-1.5k revs and then when I attempt to rev it it drops down, I'v now learned quick and small pumps on the throttle is the only thing that gets the rev's even, once you rev it up a bit it stops dropping in rev's but keeps spitting the fluid from the exhaust and idles immensely rough, I had a smell of it and couldn't smell what it was so I gave it a taste, Doesn't have any major taste so it isn't petrol, never tastes LPG before but I doubt it's that, I think it's just water, so I'm hoping it's not the head gasket.

 

[Tasmaniak]

Give your throttle body a clean as well as the IAC Valve and see if that helps.