Van Nats 2008

Well, paid the money, and we are off the the 2008 Van Nationals in South Australia over the Easter weekend.


This will be a first for us, and if previous years are anything to go by, there will be some fine machinery on display.

We plan on travelling over with some of the folks from the Western Districts Club (Warrnambool). You've been warned folks!

More details on the Van Nats 2008 can be found here:

http://www.infresments.com.au/VANSw3/index.html

If you are going, look for the yellow van and say hi!

Sunday Drive and Tailgate

Tailgating

Put a new tailgate on the van a couple of weeks ago, and learned something interesting:

When you buy a new ute tailgate (reproduction, made in Taiwan as they all are), you will need to so some modifications to get the tailgate to fit a panel van.

The mods need to be done at the top right corners of the tailgate - the corners need to be cut out to fit into the rear pillars of the van.

Fortunately, I did a trial fitting before I painted the tailgate and everything is cool. Could be a trap for the unwary though.

Now I just need to try and get some shine into the painted tailgate - acrylic out of a can isn't the easiest stuff to work with if you want a nice finish.

Long drive

Last weekend we took the van to Traralgon (about 500k return) and she ran beautifully. That was the good news. The bad news is that my in-laws were moving, and it was payback time for when they helped us move. I'm getting too old for this....

Click on the map to enlarge

There's nothing quite like an old Holden V8 which is running well. Quite a few people waved to us - exactly what does one finger mean? :-)

It was a warm drive, and it reminded me that one of the major projects I have lined up is to put some air conditioning in the van. I've got a second hand unit out of a Statesman, and most of the bits, but it still looks like a big job.

If anyone has any hints, please let me know!

Geelong November Cruise

Took the WB out to play with some friends last night - the November Geelong Cruise at the Showgrounds.


I took quite a few photos, you can see the collection of old holden photos by clicking here.

Leave me a comment if you'd like to see any of the other cars that were there.

The simple things

As part of the interior colour change, I did a small job (about 20 minutes) which makes a big difference. Pinchweld is the stuff which goes around the doors to create a nice finish.


I bought 6 metres of the stuff from a Holden Spares Store on eBay (again!) for about $30. If you are planning on changing your pinchweld, it's best to buy new, as once it's been on the car for a while it retains the shape.

The before and after pictures are shown below.

before (brown)

after (black)

The only other tip I have is that the pinchweld has small metal hoops embedded all the way along - which are used to clamp onto the edge when you push it on. When you cut the pinchweld, it's so much simpler if you cut between the metal hoops!

Also, I used a rubber mallet to ensure that the pinchweld was on tight.

Project: LED Brake light

Installed a new LED high mount brake light today. The unit is from Hella, and fits flush into the top of the tailgate.

The job took about 4 hours, with most of the time spent in cutting and filing the hole in the tailgate.


Full details of the installation can be found in my old holden shed.

Old Holden Meet

Went on a meet and greet today with some people from the oldholden.com site. Great day!

Jobs Done

Completed a few small jobs today, in preparation for the Meet and Greet tomorrow.

• installed the handbrake cover and grip (see previous post)
• put the number plates on the van, along with covers
• re-installed the newly coloured door trims
• installed a Statesman interior light
• Installed a newly painted fuel cap. I bought a cap from the local wreckers for $10, and paint it up. Shows how badly in need of a paint job the rest of the car is...
  
  
  
• Installed some new spark plug leads
  
  The interior light was pretty easy to install - required some wiring and drilling, but went together without any problems.
  

The Statesman light was bought on eBay for about $30, and is superior because it has a couple of map lights, as well as looking a whole lot better.

The full details of the installation can be found by looking at the project in my old holden shed.

Handbrake Cover

Picked up another couple of components on eBay (again!) as part of interior colour change. Actually, the old handbrake cover was broken, and the grip was missing - so I needed to buy these anyway.....

I'll install them this weekend!

Project: Recolouring Door Trims

As part of the on-going quest for a black interior, I needed to make a decision regarding the door trims. To replace, retrim or recolour?

I don't mind the vinyl trims - it's just the colour I'm not crazy about, so I decided to have a go at recolouring them.

Here's the door trim removed form the car:

Door trim before

Door Trim just after dyeing

I'm quite impressed with the overall finish, and the ease with which it can be done. I used a VHT Vinyl Dye, which soaks into the vinyl.


If you want full details on how this was done, click here to see my old holden shed.

Rubber and Seats

The weekend was fairly productive - I managed to do some minor body repairs, put some new rubber on the van, and get the second of the new sets in.

New rubber - 215 for the front, 245 for the back

I'm still on the lookout for more black interior bits - the biggest job will be to get the dash recoloured, and a new headlining for the whole van. I might have a go at retrimming the door trims myself.....

Updated Wheels and Rubber

Time to make some changes in the wheel and tyre department.

The existing wheels are ROH Gamblers, 15"x7" with 215/65 x 15 tyres. Nice enough, but I'm a fan of the old school type of rims - in particular the Dragways.

I've been looking around for some wheels in good condition which wouldn't cost me a fortune (aren't we all?). Ideally 7" for the front, 8" for the back.

After one false start I picked up some Dragways (eBay again) for $400 with tyres, a pair of 7" and a pair of 8"- although the tyres are pretty well stuffed (as I found out when I picked them up):

All good, but consider this:

• Some nuts came with the wheels, however they were an incomplete set, and many of them were rusted.
  
• Tyres were (as I said) stuffed. Not really a problem, as I always intended to put some new rubber on.
• Caps were not matching, and one of them was very badly damaged, so I needed some new caps.

The nuts:
The nuts which are on my existing wheels are different to the ones I need for the Dragways. For the Dragways wheels, they are long shanked 7/16" nuts with washers, which are readily available (by order) from your local tyre place. Price for 16 nuts, washers and a set of locking nuts is $120.

The tyres:
The rubber on the wheels were 215/65x14 on the front, and 235/60x14 on the rear. I took the wheels to the local tyre place and they are fitting up some 215 for the front, and 245 for the rear (about $450 including balancing). The rear tyres are not a common size, so you'll most likely need to wait a few days while they get them in.

The caps:
Some brand spanking new caps are available on eBay for $64 (plus postage), so I ordered a set. Actual picture from the eBay ad shown below. To find them, search for "Dragway" on eBay.



It all sounds expensive, but remember I'm selling the existing set complete with roadworthy tyres, caps, nuts, locking nuts. Hopefully the change over won't be too extreme!

Once I get the new ones fitted up to the car, I'll update the "latest pic" photo at the top right.

One seat in

Well - I managed to get one of the new seats fitted into the van today.

The seat runners are totally different, and there are brackets welded onto the WB seats which can't be taken across to the new seats. Bummer.

HZ Seat Runners

WB Seat Runners

I managed to fabricate some adapter plates which allow me to use all of the original seat mounting holes in the floor pan, and the seat brackets which come with the HZ seats. I'm happy with the end result - the picture below shows the new seat in place, along side the old one.

New seats

Picked up some seats today which I bought on eBay for $290. These seats have been retrimmed in velour, and are in great condition - one of them still in the plastic.


I figured they would look heaps better than the brown seats which are in the van - and have lost their shape.

Although these seats were advertised for HQ-WB, on getting them home I found that the seat brackets are different. Apparently the WB models have seat runners and holes in the floor pan to suit early Commodore style seats. Next job is for me to see if I can fit the runners from the old seats onto the new ones!

Project: Carpet and Console

Time for a change - I'm not fond of the brown interior, so over the coming months everything will be changed over to black.

Brown Interior

I bought some carpet and underlay a while back from Tru-fit, and also bought a replacement centre console from American Autos. I decided that it was time to install the carpet and console.

Full details and photos of the project can be found by clicking here to visit my old holden shed.

The end result was very good, as you can see from the photo below.

New Carpet and Console

The next step is to find some new seats, or get the brown ones retrimmed.