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This is how the old girl arrived many years ago. A rust free (almost) country body. No running gear but most of the shiny bits intact.

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This is how she looks now. Final assembly and loaded on the tilt tray for the final trip to the engineers. Passed no problems other than needing the boot barrel put back on. This is so that in a crash situation emergency workers could force the lock open to get to the battery.

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Home from the engineers and on to the rotisserie for final stripping and the application of stone chip protector. I will paint everything underneath and the lower half of the body gloss black. The upper body colour will be burgundy.

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Assembled front end. All powdercoated black. 343mm Commodore rotors and Corvette C6 Z06 PBR calipers. All fits JUST inside my 17" wheels.

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Battery mounted in drivers side rear quarter and 3 Blaupunkt amps mounted in boot floor. The amp cover/ boot floor has clear windows so that you can see the amps. This leaves me a huge boot still. Plenty of room for the kids stuff.

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VS Calais dash modified and ready for paint and trim. Fits in the original dash housing and looks pretty neat.

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Console in its early stages. Lokar shifter, cruise control actuator mounted in the console and the Blaupunkt head unit mounted under the drivers seat. It swings out on a gas strut to allow you to stand outside the drivers door and make adjustments. It's remote control so this shouldn't be a problem

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Engine final paint, ready to go back in after the body is painted

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Engine mockup. Half way there.

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EFI Surge tank and pump. Bosch 910 external pump provides fuel pressure whilst Holden low pressure intank pump keeps surge tank full and pressure pump primed.

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CRS Chassis kit with a few modifications to make it a bit neater. It fits perfectly straight from CRS. This is more than I can say for some of the pieces I have purchased from other so called specialists. No names mentioned publically.

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Falcon Borg Warner housing 3.08 LSD centre. Corvette C6 Z06 calipers with Harrop 343 x 28mm rotors. Finned alloy centre cover. Custom stabiliser bar mounts holde 18mm adjustable Whitline bar.

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Finished dash, instrument panel, crash pads and underdash panels. Just need to be painted and trimmed.

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Inlet manifold is a modified Holden EFI unit fitted with 8 DC&O throttle bodies and Injection Perfection air idle solenoid housing.

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Dash wiring is the original VS calais main harness modified to fit in the EH. Underdash aircon unit is up behind dash where glove bow would normally be. VS steering column with LH inner shaft. Original VS column stalks and ignition switch.

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Underdash shot showing wiring harness with PCM and TDM which will be inside the centre console. The BCM is up under the dash where the original fuse panel was.

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Exhaust pipes with 2-1/4" resonators and a 3" Lukey race muffler and 3" tailpipe. 12" hotrod style trans oil cooler. Handbrake relay is from a Commodore ute with bench seat. The handbrake lever is to the right of the drivers seat like HQ-WB. Commodore ute front cable connects to EH rear cable.

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Final assembly to present to engineer. All went well no problems

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Finalised engine installation

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Adjustable front stabiliser bar ends. Made is custom made by whiteline for me.

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VS commodore fusable link housing in drivers side radiator support and relay panel in drivers side inner guard

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VS wiper motor with adaptor to mount in original EH position. Using commodore motor allows easy wiring and the power of a new motor over the original motor

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Front sheet metal on for final prefit.

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Adjustable rear stabiliser links

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Underdash aircon/heater unit mounted in original glovebox are. This unit has a core that contains both aircon coils and heater coils. The original cover that usually has the vents has been removed and a custom fibreglass plenum fabricated. This plenum feeds the original windscreen vents and a billet vent in the console. If I have enough air flow I will add other vents to the underdash panels.

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This is the heater and air con hoses under the passenger side gaurd. The lower hoses are the air con and the upper the heater. The blue pipe at the top carries the main battery cable to the VS commodore fusable link panel in the radiator support

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Brake vacuum tank under drivers side guard. I don't know if it will be necessary but

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Copper pipes are heater hoses, upper alloy 180 degree bend is air con. The lower straight copper (now rubber) pipe is the fuel line. The lowest fitting with nothing connected is the other air con fitting

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Engine bay side of rad support showing all hoses, air con compreesor and radiator overflow tank

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Finished exhaust, Just nedd to ceramic coat extractors and its finished. Tail pipe not fitted at this point.

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Under drivers side dash. Looks busy but everything is accessible from underneath.

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6x9" 4 way dual voice coil Blaupunkt speakers in parcel shelf, 5-1/4" Blaupunkt splits in C pillar and a 12" Blaupunkt sub behind rear seat centre arm rest.

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B Pillars cut to add seat belt mounting upper bolts. 3mm thick mounting plates with 7/16" UNF nuts added to inside of pillars.

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Drivers side bonnet hinge spring relocated to clear brake master cylinder

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Close up from the front of the engine showing throttle body linkages

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VS calais dash display windows viewed from above

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Dash installed and wiring finished. Tested to make sure everything was working.

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Rear of the motor. Pretty busy area with as many things located here to make them invisible from the front. Everything is still easy to get to even when the motor is fitted in the car.

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Another rear engine shot with the engine and gearbox fully plumbed and wired ready to be fitted.

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Blaupunkt head unit mounted under the drivers seat, being viewed from behind. The unit pivots on the right/outer front corner so that it faces outside the car. This gives access to the faceplate and all its controls. CD Stacker is under the passenger front seat.

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Lokar LED gear shift display sender unit mounted on the passenger side of the transmission.

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Work area in the garage

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Transmission shot showing cooler pipes and fuel return line covered in heatproof wrap. Oxygen sensor now in the drivers side exhaust instead of passenger side. Engine harness modified to enter the firewall behind the motor.

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Modified original holden EFI inlet manifold.

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Tight fit between waterpump pulley and radiator. Alternator mounted low on drivers side. Obviously no room for a mechanical fuel pump now..

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Engine shot from the rear.

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Rear leaf spring/shock mounting plates and diff mounting U bolt nut covers. The covers screw on to the U bolts once the U bolts have been fitted and the retaining nuts fitted. These covers make everything look pretty

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Handbrake lever with a new alloy billet knob and surround. I still have to machine an alloy grip to complete the job

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LAST OF THE BIG BANGERS poster. Had this since 84. I have been lucky enough to have both Peter Brock and Larry Perkins sign it.

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HSV 18" Spacesaver spare. Matches the 17" wheels for overall diameter and shouldn't take up too much space in the boot.

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VS Commodore collapsable steering column upper section with VB Commodore lower section and LH Torana inner shaft with HQ lower bearing

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Alloy diff cover. Braided line mounted on the cover does nothing but I'm sure it will have more than a few people guessing.

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Another picture of the B pillar showing how the front seat belt upper mounting bolts was added

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Last weekends effort. Perspex sheets cut for the amp covers. The perspex is the sections of the floor with the red writing. Subwoofer/storage box fitted to the front of the boot and the drivers side cover panel fabricated and finished ready for trim.

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Picked up a new VT roller cam block that has been converted to 4 bolt main caps. Bore is still standard and all machining has been done. I'll transfer the heads and inlet from my other motor and get this one built as a 350ci. Target is 450HP.

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Diff cover removed for polishing. Limited slip 3.08:1 centre currently fitted. I may end up changing to a 3.45:1 if the cam in the new motor requires it.

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Loaded on the tilt tray for the trip to the paint shop.

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Safely in place at the paint shop. Lets hope it's not there too long..

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Drivers side extractors. 02 sensor mounted high on RHS instead of left as OE. Extractors tight to the block to clear steering shaft.

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Passenger side extractors and pipe work on the rear of the motor.