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.

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!

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.....

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.