304 VN AERO REBUILD (304 stroked to 350ci flat top pistons std 4" bore)

[losh1971]

Not sure about yours how it will end up. But on mine the mufflers are in the middle just in front of the diff

 

[bjf66]

solid day in garage,
came in to see the start of bathurst 1000, then back out in garage

dropped the engine and trans onto mounts
had to drop the steering rack form 2 mounting bolts, to get the headers in
dropped the heads with couple of bolts onto block
Then spent a little time positioning setting Cats to location which looks like it will work
2.25" collector needs to be opened up to 2.5" then can come through to the Cats then out step up to 3" X-pipe / muffler
off for few weeks, will worry about exhausts when we get back

 

[bjf66]

Cristened the old girl tonight with official build tags 4361 #58. Must of been in excess of 24 yrs since car has had its tags and birth right.
I've had the car 18 yrs.
Had to have a quick look to see where the original position of tag was, and found them although, It was covered up with a little paint on front panel.

 

[bjf66]

VXR8 vs Lotus Carlton shoot out:​

In Boracay Phils this week, raining today, swim in morning at 07.45am then back inside for few hours to chill out. Was looking at few videos on building exhaust for Holden VN, came across the following video testing Holden/Vauxhall Carlton Vs VXR8 thought it was pretty neat. ​

 

[Immortality]

Embedded the video in your post

 

[bjf66]

Exhaust fab
Back into exhaust after nice long holiday
Had 2.5” s/s pipe and elbows under the bench
Started to fab from headers back

Was looking to run the magnaflow 12599 3” 2 in/2 out muffler however flaming thing is too long

So whittled it down to 3 mufflers
1. Magnaflow 12599. Too long
2. Racecraft x-pipe muffler 2 in/out
3. Flowmaster flowFx with X-pipe 721198 2.5”*2 in/ 1*3” out

The flowmaster was smallest and was virtually same dimension as previous muffler that was being used
So decided on flowmaster for ease of plumbing

Need to order 3" flanges, 3" bends, make hangers up,and 3” tube

Then decide on tail muffler and exhaust tip

Managed to get the cats pipes tucked up reasonable well

 

[bjf66]

• waiting for muffler to show up next week so we can carry on with exhaust
• ordered the 3" tube, bends and have decided to V bands for 2.5 and 3" pipes
• However for headers will most probably stay with flanges
• took out the seats, has calais interior, needs a good vacuum and spring clean
• took out seat belts
• made up exhaust hangers with 10mm rod

Tomorrow

• take carpet out
• vacuum inside car
• need to put the 4th 12mm vertical bolt up through the floor into front of chassis connectors to connect the final piece of subframe, looks solid now
• looking to put sound proofing/insulation between inside floor and carpet (carpet is okay however may upgrade it )
• head lining is sagging however still in good nick (need to get this redone (anybody got any references in Melb they could push my way )

 

[losh1971]

I think Repair Bull is out your way.

 

[bjf66]

noticed when took out rear seat some of the head rest stitching had come undone, need to get this restitched
seats need a good wash and shampoo, as they out of car will be a hell of lot easier
took the door rubbers, seals, console, carpet out, back to its bare bones

Have drivers front door trim, and passenger rear door trim which has slight cracking along the top edge from sun damage, is there a good way to repair these or just look for a good used door trim ?

Found the original build tag under carpet ..attached

 

[Deuce]

Making good progress mate. Well done.