azzurro

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.

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!

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

last month or so Kirsty and I have been poking away at this Got the interior back together, the Torana seats look pretty cool in brown, but there is no reclining function, they only bolt to two of the HQ factory holes and there are bits of wood under the two feet, so some factory or better seats are on the list now too. Seatbelts as well. Got it running off a boat tank off the key reliably, and next task is to make it stop so at least it can move it self around relatively safely. I like having projects be drivable, I like that they can do their main function, lots me think they are pretty much done apart from some petty technicalities. Started bleeding from the master as the pedal felt like the piston was stuck. No fluid exiting from the front port (rear brakes), rear port (front brakes) seemed fine. (Notes for later reference: PBR alloy master, cast iron front callipers, drum rear) Yep - was stuck down and full of schmoo. Got it professionally line bored Assembled it with lots of rubber grease and 'rebuilt' the brake booster Tidied up the engine bay a bit more as well Aaaaand now it leaks fluid into the booster when the pedal is pumped.. I may have assembled it wrong but i suspect one of the seals is blown/nicked or the bore is pitted somewhere (looked fine). Will need all new brakes at some point anyway so ill try to find a kit for cheap, or a new master even (seems they are around $300 from the usual places)

A+ job bro. Nice trailer to tow and reverse etc, one careful lady owner. Suits small cars, but allergic to FIATs. No regerts, would FIAT with this trailer again. GLWS

I like this guys whiteboard explanation (skip to 5.42) After watching that listening to David Vizard blab on makes a bit more sense

getting a bunch of sizes wont be that cheap even from aliex? Even scooter jets arnt that cheap a set of jet drills and some solder would be cheaper once you know the size you need Dellorto.co.uk Carbparts.eu

My other old Holden story is my (step) Uncle Gary is into them, and still has a pile of them (in northland) Me and my step bro learned to drive a rusty/mostly fibreglass HR? Ute that he must have given his brother (my step dad/old man) to use in the 5 acre paddock we had out the back of the house. It was good for chucking old farm crap (rubbish, fence posts, thistle, boxthorn etc) into to take to the bonfire pile and doing donuts in the paddock that couldnt be seen from the house. The problem was, that the donuts left marks in the grass that could be seen by the old man when he went on his walks around the place, so then we couldnt do that any more. I remember getting it stuck once and not being able to rock it out of the hole it had dug (i was like 12, the only thing i new which was giving it more jandal wasn't working - what to do???) and Gary saying, ill show ya, jumping in and rowing the column change and heavy clutch between 1st and reverse like a drift car driver, SKILLZ! From what i can recall the ute disappeared when we had tidied up most of the paddock and built some fences, Uncle Gary probably grabbed it back, and probably still has it. Less classic Holden yarns The old man also had a series of new two tone (maroon upper, silver lower) V8 Calais, i think VS, VSII and then maybe a VT, before changing tack to a V8 Cherokee (in the same colour) - i think he said the Holden salesman gave him some side eye or tried to stiff him on the trade in or something, and after buying 3 new top spec cars in 5ish years told them to shove it and must have gone to the Jeep place instead. The VS was the best one (IMO 12yo opinion) still love those flat rear arches. Mum also had a first gen Opel Vectra GT at the same time, that was pretty quick too (when the old man drove it!) and had a great sporty exhaust note The 90s were a good time.

what im picking up is that the Holden 6 engine is the B&S of the car world. everybody has or has had one (meaning the n opinions is equal to n bellybuttons) , and they basic and reliable in the face of both benign and active neglect, but also imminently tuneable by the most barry of barries, given enough time and money, but also subject to the same 'but why would you when there are other alternatives?"

In high school my best mate had an hq surf wag. 202 trimatic on lpg. It was good and cool. It wasnt as good or as cool as my other mates xw wagon. 4.1, 3 on the tree on cng (all of the cng).

Well they are alloys, and the car came from near to Palmerston North, but i think they are Cheviots based on the centre caps, and that they dont look very much like the Wards i have on my 125. When i make a start on the brakes ill let you know but i do have some Ward centre caps (with the PALMERSTON NORTH text on them) i could use

tis very true, i reached, she settled

cheers, i been watching this meathead bogan slap together an HQ and record it on a potato, has some good tips and stuff, but i think hes secretly a bit a bit of a nerd, i reckon you might like him:

Regale me with your HQ related tales of triumph and woe, and ownership hints and tips here ^

Tell me about - how you/brother/dad/uncle/cousin/mate used to have one - why my mrs is now tougher and cooler than me - why big Australian cars with a mix of metric and imperial fasteners are better than silly little European ones that only use metric ( i had to dig out my very limited and mismatched Imperial sockets and wrenches that had been banished to the back of bottom draw of the tool box and put them right in the top bit ) - where to get new parts easily/cheaply/locally - why the second hand stuff on FBMP is outrageously priced and clearly owned by meth head bogans and how to avoid them - tips and tricks for hotting up your 173 using OEM + parts (commie inlet and exhaust manifolds? - the single stromberg and right angled log exhaust manifold offends me!)) - can you bolt a 202 to the Torana 4 speed? - where to find a nice 202. - why do i even want a 202 (re-rego mainly), the 173 is probably perfectly fine, KPie doesnt really care (unless its a v8), and it wont be the engine from the Torana any more, - where the fuck is the fill port for the CNG system on this car? (its not behind the number plate with the petrol filler)

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

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.

Sounds great! Well done

Yeah, thats not 3D scanned nor did they take more than cursory look at the pattern you gave them to "copy". Id take it all back and ask them to not have the work experience kid play with the pipe bender this time. Close isnt good enough with that kind of part (as well they know as exhaust people), and thats not even close.

Nice! Good work on driving onto the trailer The older xx00 series Fiat stuff is noticably more solid and made with quality materials than the 12x stuff i reckon. Been impressed by the pushrod engines too!

As mentioned in the show us your mancave thread, ive recently been trying to make a bit more room to shoe horn more stuff into my 'deep store' I have some freshly levelled and inspected pallets just begging for some worthless junk to be piled upon them The stuff in question is what remains in my storage unit in Helensville, which is mostly junk, including a 2300 wagon parts car. Getting cleared out is loooong overdue (we moved to Dunedin nearly 4 years ago!) and the monthly is much more expensive now post covid than it was. Im not going to do the math on how much ive spent to store this shite vs what it would have cost me to buy now off ebay with shipping from the most expensive seller if i ever needed it. Nor will i consider the time cost of the carry on described in this post retrieving said stuff. Anyway, plan hatched to drive my van up, surf in Kaikoura, visit the FIL in Fielding, hang with the cuzzys in Rotorua and Maketu, pick up @vivaspeed trailer in Tauranga, drive to Auckland, and over a week of also working in person in the City and visiting family and Muriwai friends, sort out and pack up the storage unit, and drag the wagon back to Dunhole, cut it up and drop the trailer back to Geoff in Oamaru. Whole think too 16 days and took me a week to get over. Trip up SI was nice, Dud to Kaikoura in one hit, then wake up to this day of fun uncrowded waves at Mungamaunu before the 2am ferry Then early morning pick up some OS freight in Welly, Fielding for a cuppa with the FIL then to Rotorua to stay with my cuz. Maketu the next day to hang with my other cuz on the beach, then to Tauranga to pick up Geoffs trailer, made it as far as Bowentown for the night. Next day thought Auckland to Helensville to drop off the trailer and have a peek into the void. Sigh. The next week was work in the city and visting. Also picked up some vege crates to stack everything into. 3 loads to the dump (the move to Dunedin happened very quickly and a lot of stuff just got thown in there, on top of the excess of rusty car parts) Finally on the last day it looks like this Van looks like this Wee hidey hole int eh back - i could still sleep in there, like a frankfurter in a hotdog bun First leg fully loaded was a bit sketchy. Tail wagging the dog, despite the van having the heavy stuff (incl 2 gearboxes and 3 engines) The main issue was the heavy end of the wagon is the wrong way round on the trailer (no engine + a load of (light) stuff in the rear), and the trailer and van tyres were underinflated as well swapped ends at westgate and it was much better and even better after pumping all the tyres up, and when I moved the wagon back a bit in Mercer and it was even better. No dramas after that.... I pulled over just out of Mangaweka cause the spare on the trailer looked wobbly - i thought the wheel nuts ight have come loose, but they were tight - it was the carrier was wiggling itself off. Strapped it up and when i got to the FILs in Fielding, ol' mate Colin from next door dug out his old stick welder (made a few hotrods with it back in the day) and blasted it back together with his safety stubbies and jandals on 7am ferry back to Picton meant on the road by 4.30am, but a cabin for a snooze on the trip over. Home in Dunedin by 10.30pm, strait to bed! Van went well, averaged 10.5l/100km on the way up more or less empty, 12.5l/100km on the way back, fully stacked. Next few days spent sorting though the stuff i collected and chopping up the wagon Crates of stuff, 3 sets of seats, set of rims, spare 2300 interior bits, 2300 parts, 3 engines, two gearboxes... a set of 14x6 'MOD VIP' in 4by98 stud pattern that look sort of like a rare factory option on 131 that i might try out on the ute. Cant find out much about them but they are light and straight and 4x98, soo... And a shitty old car to cut up Doors off, glass out, starting to fill the car back up with stuff i wont be keeping Might look ok, but shes pretty crusty up close. Unfortunately i didnt get as many rust cuts as i thought, but i did get the main bit i needed which is the front valance which will come in handy soon 125 and 2300 panels all of which came down in this run. Thanks to @nzstato for the borrow of the plasma cutter, much quicker and quieter the the grinder! Crates stacked And all put away. There is a bit of a system now, but more sorting to be done too. Next job, fixing up Geoffs trailer (the stick welding didnt hold and i ripped the spare mount off again in Rolleston). I think it was a combination of being a fair bit heavier and front heavy than the race Vivas it usually carries, the effects of rust, and some less than perfect welding 40 years ago, but I wasnt going to give back a borrowed trailer in a worse state than i borrowed it! Front half much more solid now! One last job for the trailer, taking $27.50 worth of 'car bodies, stripped' to the recyclers Thanks FE 6269. last Wof was a clean sheet in 1995 at 75,765km Anyway, thank fuck thats all done, looking forwards to not moving stuff for a good while

yours is a later model than mine i think so colours may vary but basically your hooking the two pairs that go to/from the external regulator together (the two fat wires whcih are the main feed to the car fuse box, and the two skinny ones which deal with the lamp). there may also be a lamp relay under the hood which might complicate matters. pretty sure you need to bench test the alternator with a load and a light/12v as per the setup you would have on the car or it wont output anything (the lamp is an 'exciter'). Mine is a 'single wire' which means there is only one control wire (and one main feed which isnt counted) - i think you said yours is a two wire (which i take to mean two control wires + main feed) If its a two wire you are outside of my experience, but maybe a pic of the back of it or the labels for the pins could help figure out what what they do and how to hook it up?