Sleepas VR Caprice Wagon Build

[sleepa]

Cheers.

I really want to drive this, but need to finish it first so there is my motivation.

So I thought it would be a good idea to get all the paint sorted now, and start with all these little things so they can dry while I am working on other stuff, then put it all back together again. That way I can be more efficient with it and get it done quicker, and therefore start driving it around

 

[sleepa]

Did a little more on the painting front.

Sanded down the other mirror and primed it.





Then sanded and primed the door handle frames.



And also filled in some tiny nicks and dints in the plastics with putty.




Getting a little closer to colour.

 

[sleepa]

So I sanded all the parts down and re-primed them a few days ago. Then wet sanded them with 600g paper today and took a shot at painting them.

Now remember I am still an amateur painter, and these are painted in acrylic so don't be top harsh, lol.... Never actually painted small parts with a proper gun before so, little learning curve.
However I think that the door handles turned out pretty good, only 1 very small run on one of them.
I did have an issue with the small plastic parts trying to fly away when I tried to paint them, I guess that's why painters have a mesh table thing.

So anyway I need to wetsand them all down and put another coat over the top/fix up the edges and hopefully next time will be better.

They also look a hell of a lot whiter then the car, but I did get some polish out and polished a small square on the car and the paint match is actually very close, I didn't think it had yellowed as much as it did..

Now for the progress pics.

 

[sleepa]

I checked out my new exhaust to see if it would fit. The passenger side is a direct bolt up but it took me a whole 2 seconds to realise that unless I remove the fuel tank there is no way the second pipe will fit

So plan B.

I will install the extractors (they couldn't have made that easier?), and the passenger side pipe then just join a pipe from behind the drivers side cat to the passenger side in front of the centre muffler. Shouldn't be too hard to whip up and should still have better flow then the originals.

In other news I wet sanded the door handles with 2000g and polished the drivers handle. Also polished the door lock while it was out and put it all back together to test fit and check colour comparison to the car. It actually looks very close now.

(It's kinda hard to show the shine on white)

 

[UP THE RED VS]

Looks great, I thought about painting my door handles but thought I'd leave them black and just give them a polish, I thought they'd wear through eventually, also thought about the mirrors but didn't know how it would look it red but in other news I've finally started the paint on my car and your side skirts came up mint haha cheers can't post photos because me laptop is proper ####ed haha

 

[sleepa]

Thanks, and happy they worked well for you

Yeah, it's a bit of work to colour code the handles and mirrors, but if you do it I think it is worth doing it properly.

Also I half installed the extractors, they are now sitting under the bonnet so it's most of the way there. For anyone attempting this make sure you remove the starter motor and steering rack beforehand... it's a bitch to do it while they are half in.

And today I also picked up a newer LPG system from a VT 5L, only 5 years old, still a mixer but it is a decent system that has a good learning function.
So the V6 LPG gear will get removed and this will be installed in its place. And then maybe later down the track I'll convert it to vapour injection.

 

[EYY]

'

Thanks, and happy they worked well for you

Yeah, it's a bit of work to colour code the handles and mirrors, but if you do it I think it is worth doing it properly.

Also I half installed the extractors, they are now sitting under the bonnet so it's most of the way there. For anyone attempting this make sure you remove the starter motor and steering rack beforehand... it's a bitch to do it while they are half in.

And today I also picked up a newer LPG system from a VT 5L, only 5 years old, still a mixer but it is a decent system that has a good learning function.
So the V6 LPG gear will get removed and this will be installed in its place. And then maybe later down the track I'll convert it to vapour injection.

Vapor injection's dead easy to install and tune. I'm very impressed with mine, same power and fuel economy as petrol. Saw a second hand kit go for $100 on eBay the other day, they're so cheap. If you keep an eye out at any self serve wreckers, a lot of newer Falcons (mostly ex taxis) have vapor injection systems still on them.

Is the wagon still a v6 atm?

 

[sleepa]

She has now got the 5L in it hence why I have to change the system, mostly because the converter is in the wrong spot.

I have vapour injection in my VX Berlina and I love it, wasn't cheap to install though, but worth it.

But seriously $100 for a vapour injection kit! That's insane!
Maybe i'll check out the wreckers up here, not sure if i'll find any though, not many taxis on gas here.
Anyway, I will scour eBay though and see what I can find... Or maybe get some mates from down south to check out the wreckers.

 

[sleepa]

I got the extractors in a few days ago and started it up to check my work, but then ran out of petrol so I figured I might as well do some LPG stuff.

The old V6 gear is out, Mixer, converter and wiring. And I Installed the new converter, mixer, modules and associated wiring looms. The wiring and modules were a little messy in the car I got it from and I wanted it to look neat, like a nice factory install. So I installed 2 of the modules behind the strut tower, and one on the front of it, and all the wiring looms right along the main engine wiring loom to the right. I had to lengthen a few wires to do this but once it's all tidied up you shouldn't be able to see any LPG wiring. Nice and neat.

It's not 100% hooked up yet but so far all the lights come on and go out when they're meant to so it looks good.

Next is to finish the exhaust install (and slight modification) then I can finish off this LPG stuff, then get some more fuel to test it all out.

Then it's back to painting again.

 

[sleepa]

Actually had a day off today so thought I should try and get the exhaust sorted.

Now what I started with was 2 single 2.5inch pipes attached to the extractors. I bolted the passenger side up, then cut the cat off the other side and welded in a length of tubing to merge them into 1 pipe.

Took a little while but it all bolts up and I am quite happy with the result. Once I get some fuel in the car I can start it up and listen to it for the first time... I hope it sounds nice.

Oh yeah, I also cut the pipe off after the centre muffler as it was a massive pain to try and get out and install over the diff. I installed a flange there so I can make my life easier when I install it, and remove it from now on.