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Removing the mud and giving the old girl a good bath made it look better, but also made it easier to see a fair few issues. I think this has been restored once before and there are a few rust bubbles starting and a fair bit of paint adhesion and filler cracking in all the 'usual' spots. I shouldn't have but i started to pick. The Premier sill garnish that had been riveted on this lowly Belmonts sills was holding a lot of mud so i drilled (some) of the rivets. Sucks teeth Ill think ill just put that back up there and pretend we didnt see that With the seal definitely broken i dug into all the suspect areas to see how many repair panels to put on the list . This deep crease explains the thick filler on the upper half of this quarter panel, the filler probably made the rust on the lower half worse. Removing the deep filler means the door shut looks 100x better than it did Good 5mm of filler of this too, and much the same on the other side, except that side has braze as well There were signs of lots of filler on this quarter too. It has also been (previously?) brazed some of the filler was 10mm thick Took most of it off with a heat gun, much less messy than with a whirlywoo. The panel looked like this underneath it, from a prang in the rear Spent a bit of time with some hammers and dollies and a bit of extra heat trying to shrink some spots and it is quite a lot better. Like the other side, removing the filler also significantly improved the fit of the doors to the body! So yeah, some bits are pretty much as i expected (doors) some are much much better than i feared (quarter panels, cowls) , but some i didnt even suspect, like the sills, are quite bad indeed. We will need every patch panel you can buy, which basically means its got bitten in all the usual places, but that is a nice change from not being able to buy any panels at all!

This is not my car. Im just the low rate mechanic. What i knew about this car was: My Father in Law, Bill, has 'The Holden' in a lean to shed. Kirsty learned to drive in it, and shes always wanted it and Bill said she could have it one day. It has the engine and gearbox (exact details unclear) from the Torana her older brother rolled when he was 16 'dodging a rabbit' on a gravel road. Its been in the shed pretty much since they moved into the 'new house'. He used to bring it out sometimes to wash it but hasnt for a long while. She put her name on it a few years ago and sent me a pic. My first and only view of it till now. Then a couple months ago, he said 'come and get the Holden' So, we did.

We decided to remove the front clip to tidy it up and make it easier to get to the suspension and enginey bits as well. Check out the custom radiator shims - the Torana must have a shorter engine bay. We got $50 of random 202 bits of FBMP and amongst a couple other handy bits that included a near new water pump, a much better thermostat housing and the extended fan thing. Nose cone off Note the blue inner on the drivers fender i think this was replaced post restoration as the paint is overall much worse than any other panel and seems to have been painted only once bolted on - the passenger side is also a replacement (originally a pale yellow/mustard) but was fairly obviously repainted with much more prep and attention while off the car. Other than the fender rust behind the front wheels where water and mud collects, the front clip panels are entirely rust free which is nice Fenders out Pulled everthing to bits, cleaned it, derusted, and painted Pretty pleased with that, pressed a couple of dents out with the press and it seems to sit nicer too Going through the front indicators to make at least 2 ok ones inner fenders tidied up rad support seperated from the nosecone and all bits including the lamps all cleaned, derusted, unbent, painted, threads tapped and reassembled. Nose cone has similar treatment but just knocking the cracked paint off on the outside and primed it. Looks worse at first glance, but its straight, rust free and ready to bolt back on, or for body work at some future point. Need to sort the rust at the base of fenders but all that stuff is ready to bolt back on. Because my big sheet of 0.8mm is for baby cars, I picked up some 1.0, 1.2 and 1.4mm panel steel offcuts today for $15 + GST ( https://rietveld.co.nz/ - what a treasure of a place - a true barry paradise!) so ill probably make a start on patching the bottom of the easier of the two fenders next to start to ease into it.

Yeah the machinist lapped the valves in the head and did leak tests on each one Thanks for checking. Crap... I think that's an action shot, but god damn it now I have to go back and check lol. Fortunately I have photographic evidence. Yep it's an action shot. Phew

So point of having it stop is to have it driving is so it can be moved around. Driving a project is a good motivator too Point of being able to stop is to drive it outside to give it a good clean underneath, mainly so we can see whats under there and dont get filthy while working on it This car was driven a lot on wet gravel roads. There was a LOT of dirt underneath Quick tidy of the 14x7 and 14x8 Cheviots while they are off with some fine scotchbrite to get the worst of the oxidising off Some blue springs and matching blue ADJUSTABLE RIDE MONROE GAS shocks in the rear. Pretty sure both he springs and the shocks are completely shagged from carrying around the LPG tank but interesting to see. Didnt spot any lines coming out of them either. This thing is an absolute whale compared to the rest of the fleet Gave it a wipe down with a waxy towel Swept out and tidied up stuff And shuffled everything back to bed

Is it safe to assume you fixed this before the cams went in?

Hey I really hope I've mis read but did you lap the valves to the seats before you reassembled or did they do that at the shop and had the valves labelled to fit the head? If it came back a bare head I'd be worried about valves sealing to the seats And did you leak test the valves before you put the head on the block? If the machine shop/engine reconditioner lapped the valve seats to remove pitting then just putting the valves back into the head may not seal as well as it should Happy to he corrected and I hope that makes sense Great to see progress and I hope it all goes vaxk together well

Old guy next door who loaned me that big van, died a couple of years ago, and his daughter isn't really coping with home ownership. She's been away ~3 months looking after an ex who was having heart surgery. So I had a bit of time to think as I wombled around doing this, and concluded doing something for a neighbour was pretty appropriate for Anzac day.

Drivers A pillar is no good. Fixable though. Found a hole under the wiper panel too, will see how bad that really is when i pull the dash out. Not looking forward to it tbh.

Went out this morning to pull the front bumper off and check out how things look. Got carried away but at least i know most of the front end is in good shape now.

Today went pretty smoothly, managed to solo tow the old girl off the lawn and onto the driveway and waterblast 2 years worth of lichen off. Found lots of cancer had spread but not as bad as it could be. 15 yard test is still a pass. Also found lost of lifting bog from its life before me, will make for interesting times ahead. Had to use the quad with a bare tire on the front to push it into shed as the brakes were binding on, got wife to steer it and it went slowly rolling into the jack, axlestands and compressor. She hops out 'i tried using the brake but it didn't work, its not my fault!!' Calmed her down with 'if i told you it had no brakes would you have hopped in it?' Prolly no dinner for me tonight lol.

One of the multitude of reasons this car never gets any closer to be finished is my never ending flow of side projects and half arsed ideas filling up the carshed and not leaving enough room for the car! Rainy boring day so perfect for a shed tidying session. Got sidetracked making one of my kids a wand first up (see never ending projects comment above), but got a solid effort in this afternoon so far. Have been putting up with this behemoth being in the way everwhere for years now, never wanted the box anyway so today it got cut up for the burn pile. So much more space efficient now. Lots of things along those lines and now i can see a car sized open floored area again! Will cut open another burning drum tomorrow and get rid of all the scrap timber that has accumulated in the back shed. Then continue the relocation from hoardingsshed 1 to hoardings shed 2..... of 4. Then to tow/push/shunt the car out of its lawn divots!

Old man had a Kingswood wagon when I was 7 or 8. He swapped a Chevy big block in, not sure exactly what size but it was rowdy. I remember when he sold it, guy who bought it was in a wheelchair, had no legs, tried to pay in weed. So yeah the 90s were interesting

Now we know it runs, next step is to make it worth driving The interior was pretty good condition but there was a lot of evidence of rats eating and storing snail shells in the engine bay and mice droppings in the interior, but no evidence they lived there long, and the shed it was in wasnt water tight so it was all a bit smelly and musty Anyway, all needed to come out for a clean & deodorised the seats, throw away the original horsehair underlay and to make it easier to do a few other jobs, like... Improve the shifter opening, replaced the galv flashing and countersinks that dind really cover the hole with some alloy sheet (from the Sign of the Year! - now in 5 of 5 of our classic cars!) and a rubber boot - adding my first FIAT part Removed everything else and give it a good cleanup. Floor condition is excellent, no rust at all! 'New' Underlay (free second hand stuff) to replace the original horsehair stuff that was a bit smelly and flat. I think the front carpet might be ex-torana too, it doesn't quite meet up with what im pretty sure is the original HQ rear carpet. Both carpets are in nice nick, and we will cover the gap (which under the seats) with some cheap nylon outdoor carpet from m10 that we will also use for the parcel tray that is also unmolested by axe holes for 6x9s etc. Rear came up nice as well, car has a tan interior with dark brown headlining - class! Removed the steering wheel spayed the steering column black (was grey and still has the column change mech in it) and tidied the (omg its so janky!) dash up a touch, and the wiring behind it mainly by removing anything that has added in And then remove the dead weight out of the boot to make room for bodies and crates of DB Its easily 80kgs, empty Things will likley slow down a bit now, as from here its time to start spending money on parts, most likley starting with brakes which i have not even had a wheel off yet to even check what they are apart from being discs up front and drums out back) I suspect the weird too easy/dead stop half way pedal/no brake function issue is the piston is jammed halfway down the master cylinder, as there is no leaks from any soft lines, and lots of fluid in the MC.

Ma te wa to Bill and whanau, then we headed home, with our van loaded up with other treasure from the shed(s) Forgot to mention i got jealous of her getting new car, so I got me one the same colour as hers on the way up. Given i had to drive this, Kirsty was driving the van the whole way home, she was none too pleased about it (But, yes it is better than my current 2005 Forester X its replacing in every way, thanks for asking - 2002 XT, totally stock, sub 200k and after a few wee issues (MAF sensor, oily connectors, new spark plugs) it really kicks when the whirly boi winds up!) Good Day in Welly before overnight sailing Breaky fry up in Kaikoura a quick stop to rise the north island off And about 3 days after we got home, this turned up. Used Classic Towing - worked out fine, but lucky both Bill and myself are home most of the time because the communication around changes of plan was a bit lacking tbh. The man can sure back a trailer tho. Its a fricken whale compared to my 'big' Fiat, an easy foot wider. Time to poke the bear First thing, remove the CNG stuff from the engine bay. Not only is it unfillable, the electrics are one of the layers of fuckery (the least bad to be fair, but also totally redundant), the tees that loop into the factory heater coolant lines to stop the regulator freezing up were corroded apart, and the carb hat gas injector thing made the air cleaner butterfly nut rub on the underside of the hood. 'New' heater hoses (from the old CNG line) and a bit of a wiring tidy up Fuel pump clean (no go in Feilding, leaks like a sieve now, still no pumping action), now bypassed with a clicketyclack, needs a rebuild kit (diaphram and gaskets) Carb cleanup, was pretty clean inside the bowls etc, works ok now, needs a kit too (tore a gasket) Sitting clean on the still very oily 173 Dizzy removed, cleaned and oiled, gap reset, but all the points, cap, rotor, leads and sparkplugs all look relatively low miles Changed the oil and filter (black and smelled like petrol but no chunks), re-crimped a new loose connections, taped some twisted wires, removed some vampire taps and chock blocks as well Put it back in starting from first principles (ignoring the marks, get cylinder 1 on compression stroke at as close to tdc-ish you can with a long thing in the spark plug hole, rotor pointing to lead 1) and it was about 90 degrees off where it was before - dizzy couldnt be turned enough to get the right timing, so i wonder if it had been tutued with before and the hassle of it not running well was why it got parked. Bill did say it had several minor issues needed sorting out and they got a newer, better car and he just stopped driving it. Anyway, buttoned up and after some further fine tuning it starts on one pump of the pedal and idles smooth. Not smoky (any more) Still no coolant or brakes.

Then of course it was time to have a good look while cleaning it a bit, and taking stock So, its a 1974 Holden HQ Belmont Sedan in Orchid Red. Last wof/reg in 2001, so was on the road into Kpies early 20's around the same time i met her. Seems it also got the Torana front seats, maybe the centre console? Interior looks pretty good under the dust. Overall looks pretty straight and complete. Some rusty bits of course but not too bad at all for one of these 8s out back and 7s up front, massive CNG tank in the book gives it a rake. This car was a NZ new factory 202 manual 3 on the tree car. Bill bought it cheap from a guy who bought it to put the v8 that was in it into something else, or something - bought with no engine in it anyway The engine and box now in it is a 173 (2.8l) with a manual 4 on floor from the aforementioned rolled Torana, which had recently had a fair bit spent on the engine (??) It has a single barrel Stromberg and also has CNG. Only $4.20 to Whanganui! Took the plugs out and oiled the cylinders, cleaned the sparkplugs and filed the points and hooked up a battery. Neighbours come to assist. Many opinions were shared We managed to get it to fire off on squirting gas down the yap, but it just wouldn't keep running. The consensus is that the timing and/or the electrics are weird Brake pedal does nothing till halfway then hard stops, no braking action. Handbrake kinda works. Engine isnt stuck and clutch is free and gearbox goes into all gears. Bill is stoked it fired up, Kirsty is happy, and that it rolls at all is good enough for the transporter man. We push it back in the shed to wait for the transporter

Organized time off and ferrys etc and a cool 10 days hanging in Fielding. Real barn find! Her names on it so this must be it. We pumped up the tyres and had a general look around one day Then cleared all the stuff out over the next few days, did a lot of gardening too, Hooked it up to the van and pulled it into the light