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New Old Daze!

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panoz78
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New Old Daze! Empty New Old Daze!

Post  simopar Mon 15 Apr 2013, 6:19 pm

Ok folks, Not only do I love Valiant panelvans but I have a soft spot for VG Hardtops. I've owned this one for 20+ years:

New Old Daze! SimonMajorVGHardtop640x480-1

But then there's my other Coupe and after a near two year hiatus Old Daze is on its way back! It's amazing how time flies by but since pulling the motor out in July 2011 its safe to say I got a little sidetracked. First up was finishing the main build of my CL Pano Disturbia, then building the Sloop John B VG Dodge Ute for my Dad, then finishing the interior build on Disturbia, then doing some long promised house reno's for the bride, so now here we are.

In its prime:

New Old Daze! Roll-1

And after a while off the road... naughty me!

New Old Daze! Crap

So I pulled the covers off to remind myself what it all looked like. Interior is good, have a few little mods to do but mainly a GTS Monaro tacho on the console and a healthy clean:

New Old Daze! Interior

Started at the back, gave the brakes a clean, adjust and fluid flush and ran a spanner over all of the nuts and bolts. Diff is a 3.55 LSD so can stay put!:

New Old Daze! Springs

Popped the bonnet for the first time in ages and found a few tools I thought I'd lost! I was going to respray it but can't be assed, I repainted it when I first rebuilt the engine and it still looks presentable. Master cylinder needs a reco and I'll replace all the steel brake lines with newies as they're 40+ year old originals:

New Old Daze! Bay2

Gave the bay a thorough clean polish and came up heaps better; I thought 'man that draglink looks crooked' but that'll happen when the idler arm bracket has nearly torn itself off the chassis rail... best repair that asafp!

New Old Daze! Bay1

Cheers

Simo

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Post  simopar Mon 15 Apr 2013, 6:51 pm

The new donk will have a fair bit more mumbo so wanted to replace the 360 casties with something better. I'm too lazy to deal with extractors so here are my 'compromisers'; Castle Headers block huggers which use a 3" collector instead of the normal 2.5". With these I can still run my pipes under the draglink and exit behind the front wheels for the old school look.

New Old Daze! Pipes2

I was worried that the collector would hit the steering box so dummy checked them on a mate's VG Hardtop that has a mock engine in it at the moment. Plenty of room around the steering box but they need a slight lick as they just touch the upper corner of the LCA pivot. I'll give both parts a minor clearance and space the engine mounts a smidge and it should be cool!

New Old Daze! Pipes

So I stripped the new 318 down and found this weird Brazil cast in the side, have never seen it before in any 318 ever, but apparently is common-ish:

New Old Daze! Brazil

And at this stage of the game this where I'm at, a bench full of new parts and a freshly machined block and sorted heads. I hope to get busy building the bottom end in the next couple of weeks:

New Old Daze! Boxes

Engine-wise, I'm going with a tried and proven BUDGET combo (in my circle of Mopar friends anyway). Now I know its not the most modern spec, there are probably better cams out there with more modern profiles and bigger lift etc. etc., I should probably do this or that blah blah blah, but this is a fun budget build for me and will give me ample old school sound and performance for what I'm after:

318 +30
KB high decks for approx. 9.8:1
MP 484 Purple shaft cam
600 vac sec sq. bore
Edelbrock Air Gap intake
Windage tray
PRW rockers
Stock heads ported etc.

Trans-wise I've swapped out the 727 and am replacing it with a 904 I've just sorted with a shift kit and 3000 stall, mainly as I think the 727 was overkill, but moreso (and really) with my laziness wanting more room around the trans tunnel and the fact that all of my other and Dad's V8 Vals are 904's so its nice to standardise the fleet. Plus I had a spare 904 coupe tailshaft lying around which made the decision even easier!

It will also be copping a mild cosmetic makeover so here's two hints as to which way its going:

New Old Daze! Tank

which will wear this as a filler cap:

New Old Daze! Cap

and these:

New Old Daze! Tubes

Have fun

Simo
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Post  simopar Mon 15 Apr 2013, 6:52 pm

I'm pretty damn motivated to get this thing back on the road.

Made some more progress this arvo, wedged back the cracked idler pivot to a less than 1/2" gap and welded it back up:

New Old Daze! Rail1

New Old Daze! Rail2

and finished up the assembly of the 904 I'm putting in this time 'round. It's fairly much a stock build albeit for heavy duty clutch frictions and bands, a shift kit and 3000 stall so should do the trick. For anyone whose followed my prior builds you'll be familiar with my superstitious spraying of Torqueflite GTS stripes down every casing of a box I build, lets hope the tradition of trouble-free shifting continues!!

New Old Daze! Box

Pulled out most of the steel brake lines today to remake, they're still the original 1969 spec so need replacing and lucky I'm being anal about it, a couple are very thin in spots especially the main front to rear supply line. I'll get the master cylinder reco'd too as I've never done that in 12 years of ownership and reckon sitting for two years will just about be its last straw!

Cheers

Simo
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Post  magnum500 Tue 16 Apr 2013, 8:34 am

mate I love the thread !I would love to know how you find time for it all? keep em coming .
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Post  panoz78 Tue 16 Apr 2013, 10:24 am

Love the build Simon.
Especially the custuom built trolley for the gearbox.. jocolor
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Post  HQVAN Tue 16 Apr 2013, 9:59 pm

Love what you have planned for old daze Simo, look forward to seeing it come together.

I also love your other VG coupe, I have a soft spot for them too. Another one of those cars I wish I grabbed one of before the prices went skyward!

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Post  magnum500 Thu 18 Apr 2013, 3:01 pm

GASSERS woohoo luv it
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Post  simopar Wed 22 May 2013, 7:34 pm

Ok in the way of Homer Simpson this is coming along easy; easy; eeeeeassyyyyyyy...

Last time 'round I'd repaired the idler bracket so got busy doing the new steel lines. I replaced everything front to rear and left to right; the steel pipes are 40 years old and still original and after having one rot through in Mr Juicy (lucky enough to happen in the driveway and not at 100kph) I change them religiously. I've always fitted new rubber brake hoses whenever I buy I car but now with serious age creeping into these things it's just not worth the risk of not doing the steels too. So I had new steel lines made then just had to shape them to fit them. A VF with a VH44 has plenty to go in:

New Old Daze! Pipes2-2

and all sor-tayed with a reco'd master cylinder too. I've never changed it in 12 years so now was as good a time as any:

New Old Daze! Pipes-1

While I was into doing basics, I replaced the 5/16" steel fuel line from the tank to the front which was getting a little thin in spots, again shaped to suit from some Repco bundy tube:

New Old Daze! Fuel

New Old Daze! Fuel2

And while it was up on stands I decided to fit a tailshaft loop. I knew from past experience that 'Universal fit' tailshaft loops universally don't fit Valiants - or probably any other car for that matter - but for $28 off ebay its a cheap way to get the raw materials. I cut and shut it to fit and welded it all together. I fitted one to my Hemi coupe about 15 years ago and I swear one cost me like $80 back then:

New Old Daze! Loop

So I put the auto up into place and fitted the tailshaft etc. then decided to move indoors and give the interior a tidy. I stripped the seats and console out and replaced the front half of the carpet which was knackered and repaired the carpet on the centre console with bits off the old front piece. I've long been a fan of HK GTS Monaro tachos and picked a working one up from Toowoomba swap last year for $60 (the repro market has killed the price of originals). It fitted up a treat and is all wired in and ready to go. I don't know if I'll trust its accuracy but have a standalone shift light for when it really counts:

New Old Daze! Console

The front vents were also knackered, the door had snapped off the passenger side and the drivers vents door was seized shut so they went on the reco list:

New Old Daze! Vents

And with a freshen up, some new rivets and a quick squirt of black over the pedals its looking heaps better down there:

New Old Daze! Pedal

I'll be straight up, the seat upholstery in this thing is rooted but I don't have a spare grand or so to get the front buckets and rear seat redone so that'll be next year. However the front seats are original tilting VF Coupe buckets and the upper frames on the drivers side were cracked and leaning right back which made it look like a Commodore with Snap-On seat covers. I gave them a weld up and they feel good again, and with plenty of shielding I didn't even set the upholstery on fire:

New Old Daze! Weldseat

So some brand new furry black seat covers are much better than the well worn 10yo furry seat covers and will get me out of trouble for a bit longer. And they're snuggy and as comfortable as fark!!

New Old Daze! Backseat

So with a new accessory temp gauge and a new stereo, the inside is all done!

New Old Daze! Front-1

More soon

have fun

Simo




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Post  cyclist253 Wed 22 May 2013, 9:14 pm

Love the coupe Simo.

Now it's hard to say this without it coming out wrong, but "My Grandfather Had One". He traded in the '56 Customline around 1970 at age 72 and as he liked a big car but had no need for back seat comforts the Valiant couple was his choice. Green with a light tan vinyl roof and darker tan interior. It was always immaculate inside and out and came with the requisite travel blanket spread across the front bench seat to protect the upholstery. As the years rolled by someone in the wider family decided he really shouldn't be driving such a big car and he somehow finished up in a Datsun 180B (he hated it).

At the start of the 70's he and his sons (i.e. Dad and his two older brothers) had the big three covered; Pop of course sat in the Mopar corner. My eldest uncle had the blue oval covered with a '67 XR Falcon 500 with a 289 V8. What a great car; when you think when that car came out Holden offered up the HR in competition, it's a wonder they sold any. White with blue bench seat interior, he loved it, he said "...I always knew I could pass a car safely with the V8...", remember no freeways in those days, just pull out to the wrong side of the road and floor it. He was/is an excellent mechanic (in mid 80s now so not doing any spanner work) but only worked on cars out of necessity, his real interest was sail boats. No seat belts in the front either, he used to make my cousin and me sit right forward with our arms leaning on the "safety padded" dashboard. The middle brother, who has since passed away, represented the General and drove an HK GTS Monaro 186S powerglide; he was a true car and motorbike nut but his passions were English sports cars (he always had several MGs and Austin Healys at any given time) and English bikes (at least 30 BSAs, Vincents, Douglases etc etc), but had the Monaro "... to tow the caravan...". My dad carted us around in a Humber. Yeah, a Humber. Bit more comfortable than the Vauxhall Cresta I guess. He was probably the best mechanic of all of them but hated working on cars, again the frequency of maintenance required on cars in those days meant if you had the ability to avoid mechanic fees by doing your own repairs, you did it yourself. Now he spends most of his free time tearing down and maintaining his hay balers, tractor gearboxes, front end loader hydraulics and other farm equipment (in between veterans tennis tournaments). Not bad for 79. In 1972 though, he joined the big three and earned my un-ending admiration when he came home with a 12 month old HG Kingswood station wagon. As all went for a ride he proudly told us of the great response of the big 186 motor, the convenience of the synchro on first gear and the best brakes he had ever had in a car with the new fangled disk brake front end. (Thus began my love of the HK-T-G range).

Just a technical question Simon, how did you load several photos in one post? I've been uploading them one at a time by "replying" to my own previous post.

Pete
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Post  Sam62 Fri 05 Jul 2013, 8:51 pm

Love the shag well seat cover's Simon bounce bounce 

You would have to watch what you spill on them hey;) Wink 

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Post  magnum500 Mon 08 Jul 2013, 12:26 pm

Hey simo with your attention to detail you would be better off buying a walking foot sewing machine and doing the trim yourself .I brought one and did the tafe course down here about 5 years ago and while im not as good as some of the pros I can get the job done for good $.You will find it quite fulfilling and best of all cheap! Love the build but could you put up some more on the tubes out the bonnet?Its very interesting .You have done great with your treads as I hear all about the van thread from the rodders down south .keep up the good work cheers jon
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Post  Rusty62TransAm Sat 13 Jul 2013, 9:18 pm

Great work simo and once again a very informative read.

Great to see things happening with the Old Girl again.

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