Update - long overdue!

It's been a while since the last entry, so I thought I'd better put an update in, just to prove that things are alive and well!

Not much has changed for the van in recent months - building and moving into a new house have seen any time we had to put into the van disappear.

On the positive side, we have a new shed where we can put the 350 and running gear from the ute, so the plan is to move those things in over the next few months and start working on them.

In the meantime, here's a local event which may be of interest:

Front Off

Did some work on the donor ute over the weekend and prepared it, ready for the motor to come out.

Took out the radiator, radiator support panel, unbolted the exhausts, disconnected all the wiring etc.

I ran a compression test on the engine before the disassembly, and found that one cylinder was slightly (20psi) below the others. After the engine is out we will be taking the heads off and checking things out - a new set of gaskets and welch plugs will be the go!


Doesn't look all that flash now - but keep watching!

Van Nationals 2008 and 2009

Van Nationals 2008 - come and gone! We went over to Port MacDonnell (near Mt Gambier) for the 2008 Nats, and saw some great vans, met some nice people.

Pictures can be found in the Van and Ute Gallery here:

http://www.perryr.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=7060

The Van Nationals of 2009 will be held in Geelong at the Showgrounds, and should be huge!

Some early information is already available here:

http://www.infresments.com.au/SXV/

Safety first

Well, the old van is a bit safer now. The brakes were behaving badly, and a simple check of the components and bleed wasn't enough to improve things much.

I gave the van to the pros who decided I needed a new master cylinder, some work done on the calipers, and the front rotors machines.

The end result is a hole in the bank account, but at least it stops properly! I'll put some pics up here soon.

Engine update

A couple of weeks ago we moved the ute out to a place with a bit more space, and I stripped some bits off and sold them on eBay. The ute is rusty, and while it would have looked pretty good a few years back, the bog is falling out and it's very sad.

The good news is that the engine started, and the ute was driven off the trailer.

The plan is to remove the 350 Chev motor, TH350 transmission and Ford 9" diff, give them a spruce up (and check them out) and them put them in the WB.

This presents some problems from a registration point of view. In Victoria ("The Nanny State") if the engine swap is to an engine offered as an option with that vehicle, then all it's not too much of a problem.

In this case, because the WB never came out with a 350 Chev, so I will need to obtain a VASS (Vehicle Assessment Certificate) from an approved Signatory - this replaces the old "Engineers Report". Once you have the certificate you attend an inspection at VicRoads where you present a completed "Change of Vehicle Description" form, proof of ownership of the new engine, and the VASS.

The other catch is that the new engine must conform to the vehicle anti-pollution parts that the original engine was fitted with. In this case, the charcoal canister, pcv valve, yadda yadda. The way to avoid this is to put the thing on straight gas (cleaner, less emissions), which is what I'll be doing.

Haven't got any new pictures really, so here's a picture of a 350 Chev in a HQ.


Interested in the VicRoads regulations? Here's the link:
http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/Registration/ChangeOfVehicleDetails/

Chev 350 running!

Last weekend it was time to start stripping the donor ute, but before we started we decided we should try and run up the 350.

Edward, our intrepid camera man, caught the action and I've included the short video here.

The engine fired up and ran, although it was missing on one cylinder which we think may be a stuffed plug. At some point we will give it a thorough check and assess the health to see if any work needs to be done.

Thanks to Ed for his help in stripping the ute, and to Dave for helping with the pickup and storage.

Donor Ute

Thought I'd share with you some picture of the ute I picked up from Canberra earlier this week.

It has a Chev 350, Turbo 350 Transmission and Ford 9 inch diff. Many of the parts will go into the van (eventually) and the stuff I don't need will be sold off.


A big thanks to Harro for driving up with me in his Pajero to pick up the ute. Diesel power!

Win some, lose some!

Sometimes things don't always pan out the way you expect. As you know, I'm changing the interior colour of the Panel Van to black.

Many items have been done, and it was time to do the visors., however I thought I'd put a vanity mirror in while I was at it. Easy, right? Well, not so easy this time.

I pulled the visor off, and cut the hole - that wasn't so much of a problem. The problem was trying to get a neat finish around the mirror. The old thick vinyl used on the old visors meant that I couldn't fold it to get the sort of finish I was after.



I decided to give up, and look for some replacements. I asked my friends at oldholden.com, and I got lucky. Michael (who lives in Geelong) had a spare pair which would suit - and they are black! I picked them up and fitted them - minus the vanity mirror.

Overall, I think I came out ahead. Thanks Michael!

Van and Ute Gallery

Happy new year everyone! Over the break I did something I've been wanting to do for a long time, and I've put together a Van, Ute and Pickup gallery.

I've uploaded over a thousand picture already, mostly a collection of Holden vans I've picked up from the 'net.

You can check the gallery out at http://gallery.perryr.com

Feel free to register and add your own pictures to the public albums, or your own private album.

edit: Now over 2,000 images on the site. Thanks to those who contributed!