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Nominal's V6 L200 "Thing" - For Sale


Nominal

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Have had an urge for a paddock hack/beach buggy for a while. Picked up the L200 rolling chassis cheep from TM. Collection was interesting. It had been stored on top of a shed in a wrecking yard, but since they put it up there a year ago with a forklift some new sheds and a fence had been built and there was no way to get it down again. They had to borrow a crane truck from up the road to lift it off, and dropped it straight onto my trailer.

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Next thing was a suitable engine. I have a couple sitting around (Holden 6, 2T, etc) but didn't want to subject these to thrash duty. Auto preferred for build simplicity too. Finally turned up this dereg (but running/driving) turd. Had already been subject to skid duty by the look of the rear tires.

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Needed chassis shorter, so gave it the chop by about 500mm

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Pipe is just there to see where driveshaft might be a problem. Also welded the diff while it was off the chassis, and took a couple of leaves out of the springys.

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Pulled the mighty 3.8 from the Commodore. Kept all the plumbing and wiring in good shape so I wouldn't have to dick around with changing/replacing it.

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Somewhere around there should do it. Had a minor cock-up with steering box clearance (only found after the mounts were welded in) but sort that by spacing the steering box out a bit.

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Commy seats and steering column. Picked up 6 six-stud wheels of TM, probably less than scrap price.

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On a budget, so cut and shut the two-piece holden driveshaft into a single. Machined a spud to align the two parts before welding it together.

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Also needed a spigot adapter for the diff flange to centre the two different diameters up. I redrilled the L200 flange to suit the commodore pattern.

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Some harnesses seemed a good idea. Seats are from the commodore.

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Got the engine wired with all the original loom. Have left all the unneeded bits (like lights) in place, but haven't put anything but the EFI main fuse in. Even managed to use the commodore fuel lines and gas tank/pump. The wagon tank is an awkward shape and size but I kept it for budget reasons. Gauge panel works. Fired it up like this.

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After tidying up the wiring and mounting a few bits and pieces I ran the brake lines (using shortened commy bits again) and had a bleeding session. One of the bleeders broke in the rear brakes (shit!) but the front brakes work OK (or enough for a couple of laps around the driveway any). Sounds good with no mufflers, might leave it like that. Doesn't drive well with flat tire though. And it was raining. Looks a bit mad-max-ish.

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Still a few things to do

- fix brake

- need some floor plates

- Rollbar and upper harness mounts.

- Front bumper (I have some 4" pipe for this)

- Might need a restrictor plate for the engine!

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Lol, yeah, anyone got a machine gun for sale?

It's a bugger to drive in a straight line right now, couldn't get it back on the lift properly. Picked up a better tire from a shops junk pile on the way home today, so will see if I can get that fitted when I pull the wheel cylinder.

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OK, two new wheel cylinders purchased and fitted. I dislike dicking around inside brake drums, especially auto-adjust rear brakes with have 8 springs, two cables, two stamped metal doohickies, the ratchet adjuster, handbrake lever and , and a handbrake trasfer plate :doubt:

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Heh, tractor grips for style win!

I think I'll just stay out of the mud holes until it dries up a bit.

Have 'test driven' some more. Now has mud and grass all over.

Picked up steel selection today. Need to bend up main rollbar when I get back from travels.

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  • 2 years later...
  • 6 months later...

Went to start the thing yesterday and it wouldn't go. Has been sitting outside under a tarp recently, but usually fires up fine. No noise from fuel pump so something wrong there, although pump relay is working. Hope it's wiring but likely to be a dead pump. In-tank of course (using the original wagon tank) so some dismantling required to get it out. Pffft.

 

At least it's easy to work on - no bodywork FTW.

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  • 9 months later...

Paddock hacks unite. Mine was dead (fuel pump again) when we came back from camping in January. It got shoved outside to sit while I was working on the Mercury.

 

Finally acquired another fuel pump from PickaPart today, so it is alive again. Drained old gas in case there was some water in the tank. Fresh gas and a charged battery and it fired right up. Still does 5000rpm OK it seems. The back yard (paddock) is way too wet to drive around on though.

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