Ben-89

Good work Matty :y: Your not wrong, those auto really sap the power about of a 4k particularly. There is a definetley a livliness now with the manual though, more direct power and more control :) Keep the updates coming.

After grinding away the remaining sealer and what not, the die grinder was used in all the tight corners (top of the windscreen recess') and bottom of the a pillars where the scale was. Once the top of the windscreen was cleaned, it was masked and coated in sealer. After the sealing the area was masked off and primed and lastly guide coated.

Time for an update, the car has the windscreen out and is at the panelbeaters. A big thanks go out to Wizard Windscreens who are based in Hoppers Crossing who travelled an hour out to pull out the window. I chose these guys as they install a new rubber seal (1 piece) that goes around the screen, as opposed to the 3 piece trims which caused this rust in the first place. So once the car is repaired they will come back and install the window :) The windscreen in my area "Just put back in the old trim with new sealer". The rust was isolated to two areas above the windscreen, down the a pillars in the inch deep window recess there was slight oxydisation but no scaling or bubbling. Preety good for an ae92 anyway :) I thought i'd grab a few photos just to show the progress, there was a small dent on the roof which was pulled out filled and smoothed and lastly two superficial blisters under the glass on each corner of the tailgate. Cause- accumilation of dust, debris and moisture unable to escape due the tight fitting window trim, so I shaved 5 mm off the whole length so it now drains perfectly! Before handing over the car I removed what I could, which consisted of the tailgate garnish which had a lot of hidden rubbish under there! Rain channel trims which was very clean under there and lastly the window wipers and scuttle panel above the plenum chamber. For the plenum I used a paint brush, vacuum cleaner and a hot bucket of water with a cloth and removed a fair bit of stuff from there before hitting it with some spary on body deadener :y: Photo time. Dent removal on the roof. Repairing/finishing above the windscreen. Black window sealer ws removed after photo). Close up Cleaning up all the sealer and any scaling, came up overrated after wards.

I tried expanding the photo but no luck, but that looks like a great late ke55 :y: :y: . You should put up a rides thread. I wasnt 100% sure whether the full wrap around bumpers were body coloured or not however they are. I really love the pinstrips, it just breaks up the car a bit especially being white. But overall the car looks really nice. Do you eventually want to source some full wrap around bars for it, and paint them white to the car? Put on a set of 13 or 14" XX alloys either polished or natural silver and it'll be a winner. Also does it have the two horizontal chrome intersts that run along the grille? You don't really see clean XX ke55 hardtops, which is why i'd be inclined to keep it standard, or do reversible modifications. Your not the first to raise the question about 500 or so of these being made either. Apparently mums friend in the early 80's bought on of these brand new and she is certain the was black on the outside with the gold pinstriping, along with a colour co ordinated interior in probably a tan colour or grey. Some pics of interest for you :y:

Hi Jake, Can you please post up some pics of this XX ke55. The XX was available in the early model ke55 (with the round headlights and chrome bumpers with plastic end caps) And also the late model ke55 with square headlights and wrap around bumpers. The bold stripes were mainly used to differentiate between the cs and xx hardtops.

Wow now she looks really good, its amazing how chrome transfers a ke70! At least now you can roll up to "Chrome bumper events". Quads, chrome and Big Bad orange = Win :) :y:

Good point, I should know as I have a colection of 50+ Smurfs. :blush: However what if the roof was painted white along with the a and c pillars, (similiar to the Holdens of the 60's). Good way to pay Homage to the lion while driving something from the rising sun. :)

Visor looks great Woz, a Smurf with a fringe! Will look great once painted :y:

Well judging by the picture I think you'll go with option three for some reason. Its up to you, if the car is really good and you think its worthy of tidying up then so be it, It seems to be okay mechanically and have been looked after in its life. It would be nice to have this really cleaned up and tidy for a daily though, definetley a head turner.

Nice progress Luke, will be one unique ae82 when its done :y: :) In regards to the BT, I am thinking auto choke, is there a rich smell coming from the back of the car when its running? I once had an ae82, went like the clappers with 350,000 on it but the idle when cold was rediculously lumpy, and at operating temp it was it was a little better. But the rich unburnt smell was quite obvious. Maybe BT wants a 4ac :)

Nice buy Pete, looks like a clean slate and best of luck with it :y: I recall reading somewhere that theres a bit of mucking around with adapting a steering rack to a T series crossmember. I'm guessing it would be better just dropping the whole unit and installing an AE71 unit instead. Maybe give Pick a Part in Kilsyth a visit as they had a ae71 csx in there not long ago.

The chances of finding those bits on the net will be far greater as thats where they circulate. Unless you're very patient you may come across those parts in wreckers but who knows when.

Shackotan looks the best as its elements suit the character of the car. Clean lines, plenty of dish and the combination shows aggression :y: . Chioce two is too intricate, like a seat base off a wrought iron chair wrapped in a steel band.

What about a Commodore for daily? Big, safe, plenty of parts and cheap. If the unthinkable happens atleast it was to that car. The panelvan is a novelty car, not exactly a daily driver hence why club reg would be the way to go :y: And as it wont be a daily, you'll look forward to taking it when you have oppurtunities to do so :)

Have you tried google searching motor trimmers or plastic welders in Melbourne?? Give the dashboard doctor in Melbourne (Coburg) a ring. However have some $$ put away as it will be probably be $300+ to retim the dash as its most likely a whole removal of the assembly as its a "one piece" dash unlike the later models. I have always fancied the one piece jap dash in any condition compared to the later unit, So it will be nice to see a overrated jap dash, good luck :y:

Spark control module it is, the k engine you have is identical to pre 83 4ks with the exception of upgraded emissions control ancillaries. That circular thing on the strut tower is a vacuum valve, and the little box next to it is a "control module" Fact: Wheels magazine back in 83 referred to that as the "ugraded electronics" under the new "Hi-Cam" name plate. All that black box does or did is sense the rpm gear and load and would adjust the running accordingly. Wheels magazine said it netted a 10% power gain over a 1982 ke70 and that it felt a little willing in the upper rev range and through the gears. I do agree with that as I have a low kn pre 83 4kc and have driven a high km 83 mdl 4k and it did feel a little more revvy. Other details were viscous clutch fan, for less drag, revised carburettor, one lesser valve for the egr, air snorkel tapped into the front passenger upper rail, slightly larger exhaust system and finer radiator core....

You can see the flake, I'm sure it will look better with the clear coat and bit more camera flash. Awesome job :)

Nice progress Brendon, bit of a suprise seeing that gas tank! Those steelies were they on a skyline and then widened? Is it only a pair or a set of 4? Looking forward to the progress mate.

Nice progress, looking forward to seeing some photos. The pearl will give it what it needs :y:

What about flywheel bolts off an ae86 Sprinter or a manual ae82 Corolla. When I torqued up my flywheel and all I used the torque specs from a Gregorys manual covering the carby manual 4ac ae82 and I never had any grief with drivability. Just thought I'd put that in incase you ask for specific ae71 torque specs :)

Exactly what I was thinking!! This will make this already unique ke38 even more so. Keep up the good work Ryan :y: :y:

This looked and sounded preety tough on sunday, those alloys and camber suit it :y:

Not a great deal of an update, but as some of the Melb R.C blokes know I had an issue with the starter on the ae92. The problem was there since I bought it though it was more of a pain to put up with over the 5 or so months as it wouldnt start the first time most of the time but would kick over with the second turn of the key. Trying to pull a starter out of one these is a nightmare :bash: very limited room unlike on the ae82s. Anywho after several attempts at pick a part I gave up so dropped the car at an autolec. He rings back later and tells me armetur? inside is the cause and is beyond repair and they don't have a spare around the back :( Luckily in Fawkener there is one bloke who dismantles these little pocket rockets so $45.00 later I had a good condition starter to give to the autolec to inspect and refresh. Picked the car up today and was told the $45.00 starter I gave was quite good to begin with so giving it a refresh was quite better. This starter seems to kick over much, much faster as well :) money well spent knowing A it will start, and B not be an embarrasing moment when people look around and see you laboring your car! Ive got the old starter at home so its a little more to add to the scrap metal :y: With all the cars ive had they've all had louvres and this was no exception, thanks to CorollaParts69 I got myself a hatchback louvre. Preety hard to find but worth the search. Gave it the royal treatment so it looks schmick. Next is the topping up of the a/c system as its not blowing cold enough. Then the body work! Few updated pics in current street trim. Before handing the keys back the autolec asked if I was interested in selling it.

It was good seeing you guys today, and the finish on the pannel van looks fantastic. Such an awesome build indeed, its a must for this to attend the next meet/cruise :)

Another one for you Tom. http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb230/waroff49/telepost.jpg