Kiwibirdman

Have a look in PCMHacking.net

Thanks. They are getting pretty thin on the ground now, lots of EHs round, bugger all EJ's.

Since it was such a crap day outside I thought a bit of garage time was in order. One of the jobs I had been putting off was stripping the wiring loom of the motor. This is what I started with. After slowly taking things off and managing not to break anything major I found something that looks more like a 308. And here is a couple of miles of spaghetti, one loom on the tank and the other on the floor. Once I got into it the wiring loom doesn't look so bad. There is some stuff that will get removed and a few bits that can be simplified. Next stop finding a decent copy of the VT wiring loom that I can get printed off in A3 size.

That isn't a bad idea. Mind you the last puncture that I had that actually required a spare wheel was sometime last century.

Here are the photos of progress Starting to cut the floor out Floor gone and tank in place New Floor in place. No more spare wheel, plenty of space for dual exhausts. Good to have the priorities right. Rear beaver panel on.

Progress today. Trevor, the panel beater was getting really embarrassed about how long the car has been in his shop. It got moved onto the hoist Friday with the promise that there would be progress. This morning I went down and we started mounting the new fuel tank. Trevor had one idea on how it would fit and I had a different idea. What we ended up was a third idea that ended up being better than I had envisaged. The tank is well up, perfect for getting the car down low, and well forward. Everything misses and there is space to run dual exhausts. The only issue is the space for the spare wheel has gone unless anyone knows where I can get a space saver with HQ stud pattern. No matter, I've only had to use the spare tire twice in the 30 something years I've been driving, and the last time was 20 years ago (could be tempting fate). I'll get photos up tomorrow.

Amazing how fast time fly's by. The pile of parts in the garage is getting bigger, other progress on the car has been just about zip. Clint (aka Cletus the certification guru) had a look at the car this morning. Good news is that fundamentally all is on track and he gave me the right steer on mounting the seat belts. This was the bit that worried me the most and will actually be one of the easier jobs. Bloody work and life gets in the way of getting the car done. any way enough complaining, there is a long weekend ahead to do some stuff, time to write a list....

There was a tonner on trade me recently that had a ute tray on it, looked OK. The difference in wheel base can be sorted by using more of the ute body. From memory the wheel base difference is 4 inches. Many years ago I had a ute that had the tray cut off. I think it had been a tow truck for southern districts towing from the remains of the colour. Anyway the flat deck we built was great for carting stuff round. It had drop sides and tailgate that came off easily, best of both worlds. I have seen a few had a tipper decks, that would be very cool.

Cool Ride. I had a 77 in the 90's, same car with a big back window that still had some awesome blind spots. That was the only vehicle that I have owned that would happily sit at 120mph the whole way across the Hauraki plains. Those big Aluminium bumpers will take a real hiding, just ask the bimbo who went up the back of me one night in the rain with a Triumph 2500. Biggest issue I had was my one had long tube headers which were only 3 inches off the ground, and the suspension had nearly 4 inches of travel. You look like you have reasonable sized tires so should be OK.

I wonder how many of those LHD 2 door sedans there are floating around in NZ. My Uncle brought one back from the US in 72. They bought an Olds Cutlas as well as a money maker and sold it as soon as they could . They hung on to the Datsun until the mid 90's when my cousins went overseas and no one wanted it any more. The only rust it had was at the bottom of the rear guards because the back window leaked. Way better that the NZ assembled ones.

Depends, some times you get lucky............. www.summitracing.com is your friend.

Thanks.

You are right, the 2 sets of holes are to allow bolting up to either type of intake. You will need the adapter to run on a spreadbore manifold. I have always used a paper gasket with gasket sealer between the adapter and manifold. Every time I didn't there was an air leak.

How much does it cost to ship a car over from Oz?

Surging and cutting out turning right on trailing throttle. The cheap and nasty stock replacement fuel pump on my Camaro put out just under 7psi. Regulated the pressure down to the book level of 5.5 from memory and all was sweetness and light. I don't mind admitting that one took a while to find because no one would believe that the pump did that much pressure. The other thing to check is the float level, not always set right from teh factory. I'm on my 3rd one of these carbies and they all needed adjustment. An electric fuel pump is a good idea for a car that sits round a lot, the Firebird always takes a while to fire up when its been left for more than a week. Daily drivers not such a problem.

The other thing to watch out is fuel pressure on the performer, they do strange things if the pressure is too high. Also they can be leaned up a couple of steps without any problems, they are calibrated for US fuel which is crappier that the stuff we get here. Otherwise they are top carbs.

Great story. Life was a lot less serious back in the 70s and 80s. Good luck with the build

A mate of mine built one of these years ago. He put a 650 kit on the motor, extractor type exhaust, twin throat weber carb. He had 2 problems, first was it ran hot, mobile 1 oil was the answer to that, the other was the rubber drive blocks in the axles lasted about 5 minutes with all the extra horse power. He ended up putting proper universal joints in from memory. Cool little car, his wife used it as a daily for a lot of years, until the kids came along and she wanted a 4 door car.

Just realised that there have been no updates for a while. The panel beater thought that it would be a couple of months and the body would be ready for paint. That would be the end of July....... It's getting close to the end of August and the car hasn't really changed since the photos above. I have made progress, HQ calipers have been rebuilt with new seals, hoses and pads. All (probably most) of the rubbers for windows etc arrived on friday, Cletus is booked in to have a look at the car for certification in October Best thing is there is still money in the bank so seat belts will get ordered this week, HQ 3 row radiator picked up and stuff like shocks bought. Goal is to have it ready for the Beach Hop next year.

Since the car is a looooooong slow project the original certifier has retired. I probably should talk to Clint.

Some slow progress. I have been looking for a VS commodore fuel tank. I ended up getting a damaged one to use to mock up the boot floor, Thanks Zebra Dude. This means that the panel work can carry on. The tank is going in backwards so the filler ends up on the right side. If any one has a VR or VS tank I need one. I had the wells off the Firebird so I took a couple down to try for size. The one off the back fitted OK, 8 inches wide 245 tires, some smaller tires will be the trick. The 7 inch ones off the front with 205 tires looked lost. Photos below sorry about the crappy phone photos And the 7 inch Might be better lowered a couple of inches

It's getting near the time that I need to figure out the seat belts for the EJ Holden. Does anybody know if I can use the replica 60's chev belts that the likes of Classic Industries sell. I know there are standards, the number I found is FMVSS106. I want retractable belts for the front seats and lap belts for the front centre and the back. I know that I need plates for the mountings to the floor (original ones went when the floor pans got replaced) would the original mounts in the pillars pass? All and any help appreciated. Mike

I'll be in.

Dave at A1 exhaust in Hillside Road, Glenfield does a good job without it costing stupid money.

Cool truck, Put a Vortec (LS1 type 5.3) out of a 2000 or later truck in when the original motor and trans die. Go faster, use less gas. Import used one yourself and cheaper than a full motor and box rebuild. Mike