Sleepas new VR work ute

[sleepa]

I'm just gonna say here that I HATE removing rust. Not so much the actual process, more the fact that my garage (and everything in it) is now completely covered in red dust/rust/dirt.

But on the plus side my trailer is nearly ready for paint. Will probably put up pics after it's all done, few more days if all goes to plan.
My whole aim for this trailer is for it to be done nice and quick and look presentable so it can start making me some money. It's not going to be perfect, but should look good enough.

 

[sleepa]

What I did this weekend.
Some pics. Here is how I bought the trailer on Wednesday, the other side is worse and the roof is just rust.
Stainless Steel roof racks is nice though


Started Friday afternoon. On Saturday it was in this state. Tons of rust removed, deep scratches cleaned up and primed.




And now after paint. First complete paint job ever.



Had a few issues with the gun settings but got it mostly sorted and it turned out ok. Clear was ok as well, not great everywhere but at least it's good practice and it looks way better in one colour.
Just don't look too closely. Still got to wetsand it in a week or so and then polish it up.

 

[sleepa]

I also found out that this Series 2 Statesman I have has a Series 2 air box, so installed that into the ute and it revs a whole lot smoother and has a ton more torque
Running stock 15inch alloys with new tyres and if using anymore then half throttle from the traffic lights it just spins them and starts sliding around.
Maybe it does actually have a Clubsport motor in it.


And with that trailer, the clear ended up going on too dry so it needs to be sanded back a fair bit to look ok. So I think I will just sand it all down again, and while i'm at it fill in some small holes and grinding marks, then wet sand it smooth.

Then try painting it again, I will use a gravity feed gun this time, try to adjust it better and only spray the black on for now.
If it turns out ok I will wet sand it then try the clear again.

Anyway it's all good practice for my other projects, Front end of the ute will come next, then some touch ups on the Berlina and last of course is the Impala.

 

[dobesz]

All 5Lts pretty much the same they just came with cold air packages etc. The differences between them is pretty minimal.

 

[sleepa]

Yeah, I know they are effectively the same, but maybe a previous owner did something to this engine, seems to run better then other 5Lts I've driven... or could be just because it's in a lighter body. Either way, pretty happy with it at the moment.

 

[sleepa]

So I wet sanded the trailer down, and it turns out that I sprayed it better then I first thought, pretty good paint overall.
Also polished the rear of the trailer around the taillights which turned out pretty good.
Only issue I have is I didn't block it back properly before I painted it and am now paying the price in some places, will need some touch ups, but it should still look a lot better then it did before. Pics up in next few days if all goes to plan.

The I can concentrate again on the ute, want to get the new front end painted up soon too.

 

[sleepa]

Ok, so I decided that I want to redo the trailer as I don't think it is up to my level.
I also started fitting it out which involved some welding to the body so it will need a respray anyway as it burnt some paint.

Anyway back to the ute.

Since mid January after I changed the engine and heater box the interior of the car has been heating up while driving. Not so good in summer.
I figured it had to be climate control related as the ambient sensor displayed -30C

So last night I decided to finally do some things with it that I have been putting off, I resoldered the wires for the sun sensor and hooked that up, installed the little pipe that runs to the back of the climate unit and ran through it's diagnostics.

All was good except ambient. So I checked out this other Statesman I have and found some wiring on it at the front which I don't have on the ute, so took that off and plugged that in and it must have been the sensor I was missing as the ambient temp went to a more normal 26C

So hopefully now the heater won't be on full and I can at least get outside temperature in the cabin now, until I get the A/C compressor installed and gassed.

Also bolted in my tub liner, then tried to re-install my hard lid, but as I made the tolerances very tight it is now about 4mm out so it won't physically fit, which really sucks.
But on the plus side I found a Black fibreglass hard lid for cheap that I will be looking at today.

That's about it so far, otherwise just getting my new front end parts together so I can fix minor imperfections then respray them all. And some side skirts from the Caprice.
Also thinking of changing the fuel flap to a normal commodore one. And maybe trying to do some fancy electrical stuff with this new hard lid if I get it.

 

[sleepa]

Bought the hard lid and installed it, took a while to get everything lined up and some brackets were bent but turned out ok.
I used a heat gun to heat the tub liner in places to make it sit right after I installed the hard lid as the liner bent in some strange places, and softened up the edges so it would sit flush against the body.

It needs a bit of work to make it perfect but it's not a bad start, mainly just some new paint. But it has the cut outs for a Maloo sailplane so i'm thinking I might get one just to fill in the gaps a bit and make it look a little more fitted.



Also been looking at some VS Granges recently and noticed there complete lack of Trolley stripes/chrome door stripes/body stripes
Considering doing that with the ute. At least it would be easier I guess, and if I don't think it suits then I can always install them later.

 

[sleepa]

Over the last 2 days I have had a little project. Building an exhaust system for the ute.

It's something that I wanted to do for ages and I figured, well, I have the next 2 days off so why not.
I had 2 Catback systems from some VS Statesman's and the old twin 2.5 that I had on the Berlina years ago.

Basically started yesterday with the old exhausts, looked at the original ute system and tried to copy it with bends from the other exhausts.
Some of it was a bit of a pain but it actually went pretty well

I should point out here that they were all mandrel bends I used, no press bends. Also added a flange where the original exhaust had one just before the diff.
So the muffler I used in the centre was something smaller then the utes V6 one so added that in. started the ute with it ending at the diff and it sounded perfect! exactly what I wanted, nice, deep and rumbly. But I couldn't just drive around like that so put on the original rear resonator and tried that, but I didn't like it, sounded too tinny.
Then tried some straight pipe I built which was louder but didn't sound right. So took that off and added a hotdog in just before the exit, this combo sounds AWESOME!

The spent another couple of hours cutting bends, and welding bits in to make it all fit AND exit the rear bumper where it is meant to.
Seriously, hats off to any Exhaust guys who custom build systems as it takes a lot of planning and thought.

Long story short, it is now fitted up, exits the bumper correctly and sounds deep and tough Very, Very happy with it, it turned out even better then I had planned.

Only have to add a hanger at the centre muffler and tidy up the tailpipe then decide what tip to add in. I'm thinking maybe a 3inch polished dump tip. Any opinions?

Here's some pics of the progress.
What I started with



First try of the tail pipe


Little bit more done to it


How it sat with that massive tip cut off and some more tubing added in



Cat back part





Excuse the welds, all this was done with a stick welder, so they aren't the prettiest.
This was the end of the first day.

That's all the pics I have at moment, will get some more of the near finished exhaust and a vid of the sound

 

[sleepa]

Damn, Double post again.

Exhaust sound clip on next page