25 replies to this topic

[tuxedo123]

Hey everyone, 

 

I joined the forum a year or so ago and was a previous member, but I figured it would be a good time to start a build thread.

 

My dad and I picked this car up about 8-9 years ago and it looked pretty straight, it had an Ecotec 3.8 with a borg warner and a 5speed in it. We quickly removed the Ecotec as it should be a V8. We then stripped it back, found the usual rust and bog and poor repair jobs, no fault to the previous owner. It was a father son project for them, and I don't believe he was a panel beater so possibly out of his depth.

 

My dad is a panel beater by trade, although retired now he still has the knowledge and skills that he can pass on to me and teach me as well.

 

We completed the rust repairs such as window sections, battery tray, radiator support and other rusted bits. We have the plenum to tackle as well but dad managed to find a complete rust repair section for the dashboard and plenum so I'm in the process of picking spot welds to remove it and swap it out.

 

I moved to Melbourne a while ago and so it has sat idle for a while but now, I have the space and a shed so I will be bringing it back down here so that I can start to make some progress on it. I will be working on the car myself with the help of dad coming down to visit and getting it to a point where I can hand it to a panel shop to paint it.

 

My plans are to stick and LS1/2/3 with a tremec TKX, 9" diff and have some more modern features such as air con and speed hut gauges. Hoping to smooth out the engine bay a little bit and neaten it up in there. Colour will be something along the lines of a metallic blue with blackout and an A9X scoop on it. I have a pretty good idea of how I would like it to turn out, just a matter of bringing my vision to reality now.

 

At the moment, the front guards, bonnet, nosecone and scuttle panel are in primer to keep the metal protected. We completed the panel beating on those and we are happy with the condition we have got them to in terms of straightness

 

I'll post up some pictures shortly of where it was at when I moved to Melbourne and then hopefully keep the updates coming as I work on it. I'm sure I will have lots of questions as well for those who have done it before, but this is forum is a great resource so I know that any question I have will be answered.

 

Looking forward to sharing with you all!

 

 

[tuxedo123]

I figured I better put up some photos of how I left it when I moved to Melbourne.

Sitting nice and dry under some car covers, the doors we have completely re-skun them all.

Some photos of the work we did on the guards before priming them. We wanted to minimise bog, so we metal filed and panel beated them back in to shape. The bonnet has the smallest skim of bog right at the front where the bonnet meets the nose cone, and I remember the guards have two tenths of bugger all in there.


A very good rust cut for the plenum, not sure how dad got on to this, but he has done an awesome job chasing up bits and pieces for it while I have lived in Melbourne. We have almost 2 of everything now.

 

In my spare time, I would go into my tiny shed in the inner north house i live in and pick spot welds to relax. A bit of a maniacal way to relax but it worked.

Door frames were very good for rust other than the usual spots in the corners.



Once I get the car down to Melbourne and sort it out in the shed, I’ll chuck up some more photos of how it is and keep adding as the works progress.

Edited by tuxedo123, 09 September 2025 - 04:07 PM.

[Shiney005]

It looks like your father knows his stuff Dan. Those guards look mint.   Am I right in thinking that grey primer isn't waterproof?  Every time I see a car that has been driving around in primer there always seems to be rust showing through.

[SmacT]

Excellent, always good to see a new build thread kick off. Bodywork is the hardest bit, I reckon, looks like you are well covered there. Look forward to seeing it go!

[tuxedo123]

Yeah he definitely does, he’s a bit of a perfectionist too so must be where I got it from. Correct that grey primer is not waterproof, but before final paint it will be stripped and that will happen from bare metal.
This was done back when I was right in to it and moving along at a decent pace.
From reading others build threads, I will prep the panels and rust converter or deoxidine the panels to keep rust away and give it to a paint shop as a bare shell in future.

Excellent, always good to see a new build thread kick off. Bodywork is the hardest bit, I reckon, looks like you are well covered there. Look forward to seeing it go!

Yeah bodywork is a tedious job but if I take my time now the benefits will show once it’s painted.

Hopefully it ends up half as good as quality as your build! I e read your thread from start to finish and it’s definitely inspiring to say the least! Great job!

[SmacT]

Yeah he definitely does, he’s a bit of a perfectionist too so must be where I got it from. Correct that grey primer is not waterproof, but before final paint it will be stripped and that will happen from bare metal.
This was done back when I was right in to it and moving along at a decent pace.
From reading others build threads, I will prep the panels and rust converter or deoxidine the panels to keep rust away and give it to a paint shop as a bare shell in future.


Yeah bodywork is a tedious job but if I take my time now the benefits will show once it’s painted.

Hopefully it ends up half as good as quality as your build! I e read your thread from start to finish and it’s definitely inspiring to say the least! Great job!

 

Thanks mate, I did a lot of things twice... Many great builds on this Forum, people have done it every which way. I handed my car to the painters (third painter I tried, mind you...) in Epotec to keep her rust-free, 'cos you just don't know how long it will sit with a painter, no matter what they promise. I personally would do the same again, except using the black Epotec 408 as it doesn't show if there's  small scratch. Anyway, you and your Dad know what to do. 

[neglectedtorana]

Well done Dan, looks great so far.

Doing it all within the father son project will be such a great rewarding experience, enjoy and happy restoring!

[tuxedo123]

Well since my last update I have moved house and managed to sort out my shed/workshop. I don’t have the car with me yet so it’s a bit of a boring update.

Currently just drilling out spot welds on the plenum section rust cut I have.



Drilled through a few but nothing a touch up with a mug can’t fix. I’ll also make sure it sits nice and flush on the car.

I’m unsure whether I’ll try and drill it all on on the actual car, may cut this up and try and match it on the car to suit. Obviously be better to use the whole piece if I can but I want to keep the welding and drilling minimal if I can on the car.



Removed some of the paint to make sure I had a nice clean panel once fully cleaned up.


I will have an LX dash rust cut as well if anyone needs it for their own project.

Hopefully get the car next weekend or the one after and start work on plenum and engine bay.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hawk]

You're very lucky to have found that plenum. Just, pick away at it as you go and you'll get through it.

If the whole new plenum is good and the old one is cactus you'll find it easier to replace the whole thing than patch it.

You really won't know until the top comes off. I've found theu are generally worse inside than they look from the outside.

[tuxedo123]

Well, I had a free weekend just gone so I figured what better way to spend it than to go up to my hometown and do some work on the Torana with Dad and then load it up on to a trailer and bring it home with me for good.

 

Here is how it was when I got up there:

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We have always known about a gouge in the passenger rear quarter panel so to minimise the amount of filler this will require some work. It has also meant that the body lines don't quite flow from the back door to the rear quarter. We managed to get some of it looking a bit better with there help of a slide hammer but will require more attention:

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There were also some high spots in the lower section so I let Dad take over with this bit and work his magic:

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These will still require finishing off but at least the high spots are out and we can bring the metal back up to match the body lines now.

 

We also did a bit of work on the door skins, Dad is a perfectionist - must be where I got it from - and he has spent the last month or so making sure he was able to get the gaps right and we could make it all uniform across the car. My job was to tack them in place to make sure they didn't move in transit and then finish them off here at home.

 

I decided I would mig up one of the doors where the new meets the old to see what sort of finish can be achieved:

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But still obviously need a lot of practice but this can be smoothed out a bit more, this was just a quick go over to see how it could come out. Will brush up on my welding skills and look to continue learning TIG welding to get the weld lines out a bit more with some hammer and dolly work. I'll chase up an old guard off something and practice all of this as well.

 

After all of this, we loaded up the car and most of the bits we have sourced over the last ten years and off I went.

 

Bolted the seat in while I was at it and took a seat in it for the first time in ten years and gave me lots of motivation to keep the ball rolling.

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The plan for now is to tackle the bits and pieces I can do alone. Neaten up the engine bay, general fabrication work and stuff like that. Brushing up on my welding skills beforehand and working from front to back and not getting overwhelmed with it will be key.

 

I'm excited for the learning and the work I get to do on, being able to build the car and do most of it as a father son project is extremely special to me. Hopefully next update I have will be filled with more exciting progress but I know I have some big jobs to tackle, especially the plenum repairs.

[Shiney005]

Keep at it Dan. If you can get the door gaps right then you won't have trouble with the rest of it.

[tuxedo123]

Keep at it Dan. If you can get the door gaps right then you won't have trouble with the rest of it.

 

Thanks Laurie. Definitely agree on that. They are in position now so that's a huge win. Dad and I attended a car show a while back and the gaps on a car really make a big difference. We had some original front doors that we were able to get a reference point from there and work our way out. 

 

I should have some time off work coming up in the next week or so. Will give me time to get some square section and make up a moveable rotisserie so that I can access everywhere and move it around my shed as I need. Once I've done that then it's time to tackle the fab work.

[tuxedo123]

So I have been chipping away at the car, after taking some time to assess where I was at and what sort of finish I was wanting to achieve I decided to start at the front and remove some of the work I had done with my dad in the past as a 23 year old. I’m much wiser and since becoming a tradesperson I’m much more skilled and can achieve better finishes than in the past.

First up, the radiator support. Can’t remember why I needed to repair it, but wasn’t a good job.  e7bdf79f290ad309eeb32caccb0f8478.jpeg   228.74K   2 downloads

So I cut it out and used the opposite side to make a template.
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And this is the end result once welded and sanded the welds back
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Mind you, because I had to remove the battery tray we reinstalled and had been bronzed in, I had to cut some extra out of the radiator panel so I’ve had a go and fixing that up, will finish it off once I replace the battery tray completely.

Speaking of.
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You can see along the edge of the passenger side tray where I had to cut extra off. Will need to shape that up and fix that before I put the passenger side back in.

The drivers side had the tin worm eat through some metal.

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All fixed

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The drivers side was then welded in. Part of the rail underneath was a bit thin so it blew away, had to get ready for work as I’m on afternoon shift so will fix this up next time I’m in the shed. All hidden parts have been coated with copper weld thru primer in the interests of trying to minimise any future issues.
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Next step would be to fix up the passengers side and get that in. Once I do that then I can move on to the rest of the engine bay, a lot of work to be done still in there.

The hardest part right now is knowing when to say that is good enough and not continuously chase perfection. But I’m sure I’ll find the balance soon enough, especially with parts that are generally hidden like the front of the radiator panel.

[tuxedo123]

I was in the process of making a few edits but I didn't finish it in time. Oh well, just need to proof it better before posting 

[SmacT]

Looking good Dan! And don't stress, we all get Perfection Paralysis from time to time. I just ask myself if I can live with something or not - then also ask myself the next day. Then generally, if I am asking that question, I do it again. Ha ha.

[tuxedo123]

Looking good Dan! And don't stress, we all get Perfection Paralysis from time to time. I just ask myself if I can live with something or not - then also ask myself the next day. Then generally, if I am asking that question, I do it again. Ha ha.

Thanks, in saying that. I’m generally pretty happy with the quality of work I’ve done so far. Most of it will be hidden or covered in some way so the bits of doing right now don’t have to be exactly perfect. A lot of it will be tidied up when I progress further on the engine bay and move along.

I have some decent plans for the car and what I want to achieve but I won’t give them away just yet, have to keep whoever is still on the forum interested.

[rodomo]

And then you get to my age with a 5+ yr build and really stop givin a shit cos yoo just wanna drive it! 

[tuxedo123]

And then you get to my age with a 5+ yr build and really stop givin a shit cos yoo just wanna drive it! 

Ha! Hopefully I don’t get to that point and the high standards carry on to the rest of the build. It had been sitting idle in the country with my dad for about 8 years so I’m chomping at the bit to make good progress and I feel that I have been and will do so. I’ve started tackling where the battery tray was so there should be some progress there and have that finished soon.

[Shiney005]

 have to keep whoever is still on the forum interested.

Although there is a smaller audience in here compared to Facebook, at least your build will still be searchable years down the track.  Stuff on Facebook seems to disappear after about 6 months. Sometimes even on the same day!

[tuxedo123]

Although there is a smaller audience in here compared to Facebook, at least your build will still be searchable years down the track.  Stuff on Facebook seems to disappear after about 6 months. Sometimes even on the same day!

That's true. Although social media as a whole has its place, I would much rather post my build up here. I find this forum to be much more respectable in how feedback is given.

[tuxedo123]

So I’ve been working hard on the build when I have spare time. Which being on afternoons is quite often in the morning and some on weekends. Luckily I have a very supportive and understanding partner to allow me to pursue my passion and hobbies so I owe her a huge amount of gratitude.

Next job was to tackle where the battery tray was. We had already ‘fixed this’ in the past but now I want to take the build in a different direction so I removed the repair, which meant I had to take out some extra metal. Repair piece in place:
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I also had to make up the wheel arch flanges as well, this was what I had to cut out:
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Extra but cut out to get the shape and form right:
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Final piece in once both straight sections done to make it look factory:
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End result:
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Once I was happy with this, I then stitch welded the flat sections and the wheel arches so that I can smooth out the engine bay and remove the ugly seams. And yes, I have filled that hole now.
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Hit the welds with a die grinder, this was the worst job I have done so far, face close enough to see what I’m doing, being peppered with metal filings:
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Once these were done it meant I could move on to trimming the chassis rails, I got both sides trimmed, welded and smoothed out. I filled in some other holes while I was there as well:
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That brings me up to date, next step is to deal with the wheel runs in the engine bay, removing where the brake lines go through, this may take me a while to get it perfect and how I want it as it has a compound curve to it so it may just involved a lot of hammering over a utility dolly until I get the shape right. Once I do that I’ll then TIG weld these in so I can planing it out to a smoother finish.

[Hatchback13]

Looking fantastic Dan, I’m in the trade and the work you and your dad are doing is looking the business. Keep it up, always great watching a build and hopefully one day I’ll get mine done haha. Cheers

[tuxedo123]

Looking fantastic Dan, I’m in the trade and the work you and your dad are doing is looking the business. Keep it up, always great watching a build and hopefully one day I’ll get mine done haha. Cheers

Thanks for the positive feedback Brad. It helps that my father was a panel beater but he’s about 3 hours away from me at the moment so he can’t really help too much except for answer questions. A lot of the work is by me. Just trying to do the best I can to do justice to the great shell that we have and make something special.

 

And yes, hopefully yours is done soon as well. I do have a soft spot for the mint julep hatchbacks!

Edited by tuxedo123, 17 December 2025 - 09:54 AM.

[tuxedo123]

So it’s too hot to be in the shed today, the next few days are all 35+ and I wouldn’t mind a mini break from it. Luckily after this Friday I have three weeks off from work so I can make some solid progress on it during my holidays. I have a few small mini projects to make my space more user friendly I want to achieve during that time off as well.

Since it’s too hot though, I figured I’d just post some progress over the last two weeks or so for everyone to see. Things have been moving along pretty well, some minor roadblocks but plenty of other things to work on.

Last update I had trimmed the rails and started die grinding the stitch welds along the wheel tub seams. This is the finished result:
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I still need to do the rest of the seams but I’ve had a bit of a challenging time trying to replicate the shape of the wheel tub where the brake lines go, I want to smooth it out so I cut out the passenger side, after a ridiculous amount of hammer and dolly work and bending over various items in the shed, I was close but not close enough. I even made a stand that I could mount my utility dolly in to so I could sit and hammer away and make it easier with a working position. I ‘borrowed’ some stuff from work and knocked this up:
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However, with the compound curve of the wheel tub and the way metal works, I wasn’t able to get the curves exactly how I wanted it. I could have not gotten the curve right but then I’m putting in way too much filler and it will just crack anyway. Here is some photos of the work and the shape:
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Turns out one of the guys I work with is good friends with a coach builder and he said he would be happy to let me use some of his tools and show me how to do it and teach me some things so that’s a huge win. Hopefully over my holidays I can make up an accurate wire buck and take it there and shape the metal better with the use of an English wheel and some shrinking and stretching.

I moved on to the firewall, I wanted to smooth this out since I’ll be using an aftermarket heater/air con so I started with where the heater hoses enter the cabin.
Made a hole:
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Filled the hole:
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This has been planished out and the weld beads ground down.
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You will be able to see I have taken the cowl off the get access to the plenum as well. We have been kissed on the you know what here with a very good plenum overall. I also didn't want too muck around with the A-Pillar caps so I cut in a way that I can mig weld and it will be covered by other panels and will look like it never happened.
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We had previously repaired the area on the passenger side but I’m not happy with what we did so I cut it out:
 att.sTqzjzJT85y5IQ01xtIBbN5deh4NX7C4JHCT2i4o4JA.jpeg   134.11K   0 downloads

Considering the overall condition of the plenum, and the fact I have a completely rust free one (back at the start of the thread) I feel selfish taking the part I need from the rust cut as using it in my own car when I’m only going to be blanking it off anyway. The only thing that would make me feel more comfortable if I did it would be if I then repaired the rust cut plenum and sold it to someone who really needs it. I haven’t done anything about this bit yet because it helps with access behind the firewall for planishing tig welds. Will have a think about what I do in due course.

This leads me to another fix up I have had to do. To get access to the repair back in the day, and because I didnt want to go too deep and go above my skill level at the time, we did a less than satisfactory repair on the cowl:
 att.ffXdZVtRSNcSEKc6WMKMs1sEHT_NrnZhHwaMSIm86yk.jpeg   146.97K   0 downloads

It is welded under that bog, however because we didn’t have the absolute correct tools we had to overlap part of the top. I’ve now cut this out and fixed it properly:
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Before I weld the cowl and plenum back on, I'll be using the KBS 3-step rust treatment and paint to protect it all and some copper weld-thru primer to protect it for years to come.

I’ve now ran out of attachment space for this post so I’ll finish it off in the next one. I didn’t realise I had done this much work in the last two weeks but turns out I’m moving faster than I feel hahaha

Edited by tuxedo123, 17 December 2025 - 10:34 AM.

[Shiney005]

Watch for sparks on those seats!!!