. wrote:
if youre going to respray the car in seat flash red, why get the cam cover painted in flame red?
also, i don't understand why youre painting random bits black... will probably look good once its done i'm just finding it hard to picture it and it looks all multi coloured and like you just got some new bumpers from a scrappy....
The cover is flame red cos thats the base red the powdercoaters I went to use, plus the engine enamel I have to use around the engine bay is a close match to flame red.
The black bits are a bit of Euro styling to set the tone of it, some use matt black, some use anthracite, im using matt black.
Spraying the whole of the bumpers might be a bit too much I suppose, so maybe just the tops & the bottom grill.
I've been investigating engine swaps lately & i've found a much cheaper alternative to a Calibra, in Australia we have this ugly little "mini-Commodore" called the Camira it came out with the 1.6, 1.8 & 2.0 8v Family II engines, the only problems would be the god-awful gearboxes (mostly auto for some reason). But i've had a thought, a 1.8 Camira engine with the gearbox off the Z18XE I have lying around. Or maybe a 2.0 with the gearbox, would that work? I know I need to research it a bit more, but hearing that the Camira engines are the same as Cavalier/Calibra engines is promising to say the least.
I'm also trying to get in touch with the guy I bought the wheels off to find out if they were powdercoated so I can go & get em done in black.
Just a small update, I finally got the caliper seal kit, i've just gotta find a guide to getting the pistons in with the seals on & find some time to do it (overtime's ramped up again) & I got the wheels powdercoated too. Gloss black, I think they look alot better than silver.
Here's a pic:
Also, here's a pic of a Camira incase anyone's wondering what they look like, if you squint they look almost VL Commodore-y.
Wheel bearing collapsed on one side & the centres of the wheels dont fit over them....they fit on the van no problems though, so i'm thinking later models had different hubs? (sourced elsewhere maybe?)
Then again I might look into using the hubs off the Camira.....i've got nothing but time i spose.
I've now got tyres on em now btw, 195/45 Nankangs & oh do they handle!
. wrote:
i know that gsi's and sports had different hubs... dunno about the vans but they could do if theyre diesel??
nankags are pretty descent for the money but should really go for toyo proxies or conti sport contacts... espescially out there where you are!
how do your cars cope with the old "pod" indution kits like a K&N 57i with the warm air? remember reading a while ago of aussies having a lot of problems with them?
Well the vans got bigger vented disks too, unless its got GSi hubs on it (had em changed last year so it's possible).
I got the Nankangs from a great tyre place near me, theyve got a nice tidy Holden Combo (was up for sale a while back), they specialise in Falkens & Nankangs, i would've rather Falkens, but the Nanks were the lowest profile available in 6" width.
Heaps of people run them on their cars (including performance cars) so I wouldn'tve thought the warmer climate affects cars too much....I could be wrong though.
small update:
Just got my chassis strengthening kit through the mail, thanks to Chris Astley.
Next up is a C20NE conversion kit, judging by the picture on the site though it doesnt include the drivers side engine mount.....anyone used this kit? if so, can the original mount be used?
Just a few things to update with, I bought an electronic LCD tacho kit (my brother will build it up), ordered some Whiteline springs (40mm drop I think), camber adjustment bolts & some lower control arm bushes, would I be right in assuming the lower control arm bushes could be used for the tierod ends & rear beam? (they look very similar in all the pics ive seem of em) I'm also looking at a Nolathane adjustable strut brace, rear swaybar (ive got a 22mm front swaybar lined up already) K-mac adjustable strut tops & rear camber adjusting bolts.
I got some inspiration from this article, it may just be an ad for Whiteline but it is a good read.
This project is now no longer going ahead.
Finances & bitchy neighbours/greedy councils have forced me to re-evaluate things.
I'm back to finishing the van off now & respraying it red, and then buying in a Camira & building a sleeper out of it (stripped, XE, Astra rear discs, Calibra interior & smoothed just to knew a few ideas), the reasoning is that it'll take less time & money to fit an XE into a Camira than a Combo.
