Our new toy is a 1981 WB Panel Van. 253 V8, 4 speed manual, dual fuel and a couple of extras. Sort order has been changed. Latest pictures are up the top. Scroll down to look at the older pics. New photos are being added frequently.
here it is! the project. 202 WB ute.
It will be stripped down and rebuilt, there is nothing special about the car, so I will do as I choose as time goes by. Rust wise it looks good in all the right spots, although i'm sure there are a few suprises waiting for me.
$500 well spent I think. This will be my first complete strip and rebuild, so it should be a fun ride to completion.
This is what the rust looked like from the outside
The following photos show why you just can't fix the rust bubble in the roof. If it isn't fixed from behind then it's just going to reappear in 6 months.
When I took the guard off, I found a bit more rust, this was in the firewall.
Using a torch I could see that the plenum chamber behind the firewall was also rusted. I decided to cut a piece out of the top of the cowl so I could see inside.
The piece in the middle of the hole is the edge of the plenum chamber, this was totally rusted out, the piece you can see here I've made up and welded back in.
I bought some statesman mirrors for my HZ and the cable system was had it. This is how i reomved it and replaced it with an ordinary pivot from an old kingswood mirror that was also had it.
Shed: Nostalgia Drags - Willowbank - August 21st, 2005
Ok guys and girls, here is a collection from the Willowbank Nostalgia Drags that were held on August the 21st, 2005, I used 5 sets of Batteries and filled my 128mb memory card then my 16mb memory card with 1600x resolution images, if any of you see your car here and want the full size picture email me with a description of which is your car and I can email the full size original picture to you.
G'day everyone:
My names mark and this is my pride and joy its a 1981 wb 1 tonner running a 253 and aussie 4 speed with a statesman devile font. I have been building this ute over the past 12 months and in that time it has had a full makeover consisting of a rebuilt 253, change from column auto to floor shift manual, new reapholstered seats, different dash (its only standard buts better then what was there), new diff (was a 3:36 now a 2:78), different wheels, been carpeted, new alloy tray with custom roll bar, new door trims, re-sprayed in cyan blue (hq monaro colour was originally tulip yellow), new alpine stereo with jvc speakers, also now has a nice statesman devile front.
I would also like to find out the history of this car if anyone knows anything about it, i bought it from western nsw near mudgie at a place called rylestone other then that i dont really no much about it.
The top image is an advertisement from 1969, five years after the PCV system was introduced to cars.
So not long after introducing the PCV system in 1964 people realized re-burning the bypass vapour was a good thing, but pulling the heavy oils back into the inlet manifold was bad.
The second image is from the 1970’s
There is a web site with more details located here
http://highstrangeness.tv/articles/empower/empower.php
All engines have tolerances (sloppiness) as part of the design for when the engine is cold, and from the day its first run they slowly increase. This is initially wearing in and eventually wearing out. Modern engines have tighter tolerances than our dinosaurs, but still have enough to put a PCV on the system. The larger the tolerances the more blowby is produced. There are thousands pages detailing this on the internet.
This is the plenum chamber from the donor car. It turned out pretty good once it was sand blasted and primed. I got the rust fixed by the same guys, I won't do that again. It cost a fortune, I thought it would save time.
People say only worn motors need a catch can. But it may be you only have slight wear, but not enough to rebuild the engine. In my case when I had the head modified for ULP the engine builder found glazed bores. As the engine had only 40,000 km I couldn’t justify pulling the whole thing out for a rebuild. I also had roller rockers fitted with a little porting to clean up the factory mess. Apparently roller rockers push more oil to the head so there is more chance of the PCV picking it and sucking it into the inlet manifold.
Here's a close up of the section repaired on the plenum chamber. I'm gonna paint this with POR15 rust preventative.
I painted the fire wall on the weekend (I'll post photos later) and I have to say I was pretty impressed with the POR15 paint. I was amazed at the finish I got straight from the brush. It takes hours of prep, but it was worth the effort.
The left port comes from the PCV and the right goes to the inlet manifold. I was thinking the design was poor, and the oil would simply go in then go straight out to the inlet manifold. But it actually does stay in the can as you can see the right port is clean.
Bought this mainly for the panel which the dash fits to as I previously purchased a WB Caprice dash with tacho for $500 and later found she won't just fit in as the WB Statesman panel is unique to every othwer HJ to WB model.
I think the trick is to fill it with the stainless steel. You can get this as a scrubbing brush from Coles ETC. Don’t use the fine stuff as it’s not stainless steel and it may come loose and get sucked into the engine. The big loops have stuck together with no bits floating around the can.
My first attempt didn't turn out as well as I liked, I got too much heat in it and I didn't match the new piece in well enough. I guess you don't really see it but I couldn't leave it like it, also the donor plenum chamber wouldn't sit right because I cut the corner badly.
Back to the drawing board. After lots of procrastination, I decided to cut the corner out of the donor car (well it's f@#$@#ed now anyway) and replace the whole corner.
This photo shows the hole I cut out on the one tonner, I spent ages fitting the new piece and refrained from using the grinder and file finished it to fit.
Once I tacked in the new piece I just about fell over when I put the plenum chamber in and the holes I'd drilled for the spot welds lined up perfectly. Gotta be happy about that!!!!
The drain plug didn’t ship with a washer. After running it for a week I found it was leaking. I made a washer out of rubber and hand tighten it, now no leaks. Note that the silver part on the end is a magnet.
This is where the can is fitted. Size M 10 There was a bolt in the perfect spot to hold the can. No changes to the car, and can be removed in five minutes..
change of plan this orange wb took over from the white one to become a every day driver new pics comming soon unfortunately a lot of the pic's where lost but will put up what we have
It has now been in for 5000 km. While doing an oil change I pulled it out to check it was actually working. I didn’t get a photo of the oil quantity, but there were about four table spoons. It was nasty and thick like treacle or molasses, and it would not run like oil or soak into a paper towel, it just sat on the top. On some sites they show a brown sludge where the oil and water mix making a nice caramel mess. In this set up the can is directly above the exhaust secondaries. Any water getting in is evaporated out only leaving the heavy oil.
Note: this is still a closed PCV system so yes it’s legal.
Has it made more power – No
Has it increased fuel economy – No
Has it stopped blowing smoke – No, I didn’t have any
Is it pointless – No
My theory is as the engine wears there is more blowby. This blowby adds to the wearing of the engine as it gets sucked back into the inlet manifold causing carbon build up, poor sealing valves and pinking. A loop starts...
This is all my interior that i have got retrimed by Carl Bowerman Motor Trimming in Sydney. He does an amazing job! and has won numerous awards for his work. want his number or address let me know!
my email is j_ackland(at)aapt(dot)net(dot)au
If you have a HQ-HZ & WB in a standard colour could you send me a pic along with the paint code and the trim code from the body plate to mrjones81237 (at) yahoo (dot) com (dot) au. If any images belong to you and you want them taken down send me a msg at the above address.
I hope one day to have a picture of every paint colour available along with the codes
![WB UTE PROJECT[/b]](/d/282711-2/Jases+Ute.jpg)
