Its a big job, but you must remember its not a race and the process is the point, more so than the end product for many of us car guys. Enjoy the time you put in and when you don't, let it sit until its fun again. Old Holdens are a great first project, they are simple to work with and have great aftermarket and second hand market support. You can't go wrong with a Kingswood ute!
Aussie cars pre 1980 are very logical. You will be surprised how things can go back together in a straight forward fashion. I am 3 1/2 years into a 63 Valiant. It was in bits and a lot of it was missing when I got it. Steadily week by week it is going back together without too much heart ache. Yes things get me stumped for a little while but then the penny drops and it is like duh!
Best to do it the right way the first time and consideration that it will be worth a lot more in original factory spec in the future i have one recommend for you that is to dip the body in caustic to remove all the rust and dit inside the panels and then blasting work your yearly budget out and go from there with the work you have it at the right stage
OK, I'll give you some tips if you like. Sand blast the chassis, diff, front end etc. drop of what you can and just have as much as you can blasted, use your time stripping panels. Don't use POR15, excellent stuff for its intended purpose but not for clean metal. It's what armatures do and that's the look you will achieve. 2 to 3 coats good quality chassis paint and it's a lot cheaper than POR15. Unpick cowl and plenum panels and replace with new rare spare ones. the rest of the project fix as best you can, and the vehicle can always be rebuilt/repaired again in the future. These utes can be put back together in a couple days if you have everything there ready to go. Panel and paint can be a big a job as you want it to be, it's up to you, but do the groundwork properly the rest of the car can be redone in the future, if need to.
Super helpful information Mark, I will look into the chassis paint, can that be applied with a brush? I don't have a spray kit or even a welder however that might be on the Christmas list as I go along with this project. Honestly I would love to try it all myself but I might be better off just learning one area of restoration first, my focus and attention span is not the greatest so I would rather be hyper focused as apposed to bored because I have too many thoughts going on all over the place. Perhaps I will just work on it in stages and that will keep the concentration up, until it's all finished.
Also probably a weird question but does the internal surface of the chassis rails just get left alone, I would assume that a full acid dip it the best way to clean it, but then how would someone seal the inside?
@@StudiousOGAll sorts of products to treat inside of rails etc.(all info can be found on youtube and google) Strip a panel, coat it in epoxy paint. (only use epoxy, will save you time and money in the long run) Buy a cheap Air compressor (largest you can run on single phase power) spend money on good air filtration. Learn to spray and have fun with it. Meg welder and try rust repairs yourself. If you don't have the knack for it maybe pay someone to do this for you. Spend hours on youtube teach yourself how to do each stage.
TH-cam will be your friend @@StudiousOG there are plenty of videos on all.aspects of auto resto. As for the chassis, a wire brush on a grinder and drill for the outside than a coat of black. The inside can be left, or you can use cavity wax or fisholene type products to coat and protect, penetrol is also good. A couple of ways to do it, search TH-cam and you will find plenty of tips.
Restoring an old car can be a big ask but in this case it should be achievable. With a little planning, a lot of frustration, patience, money and perseverance the ute will eventually come together. I'm sure you will get plenty of advice along the way. Some of it may actually be good advice however, much of it will be dudes watching TH-cam videos and thinking they know it all. Others will genuinely try to help although some of them will assume you already have their knowledge so, it will go in one ear and out the other. Here's my 2 cents; - Work within your limits, ie skills - Seek out a mentor. There is plenty of advice to be had through online car clubs etc. - Setup a general plan with a view to set progressive goals. Think of it as a guide and/or reference point at each stage of the build. - Set progressive achievements, not time limits. Time limits are useless when you don't know what you're doing. Break the car into it's components or stages and keep your focus on completing each section before moving on to the next. - Your plan should allow you to take on more than one task, provided you focus is on completing each pre-set goal. The chassis rails would be a good start. You obviously don't have a sand blaster so send it out to be blasted. Wire wheels have their limitations. while you may not have painting equipment right now, I would suggest acquiring a compressor etc. Enough to spray the rails with chassis paint. It will be good spray painting practice Make sure you treat the internals of the rails, there are specific products for this. ( Don't use POR15, it won't stick to blasted metal). Get some advice from an automotive paint store regarding chassis paint or better yet, get advice from a panel beater. Speaking of a panel beater; Seek out one that is willing to come to you. A car club could help with finding a reputable guy. Driveline. That tired old 202 is likely a boat anchor. Ask you uncle about fitting a V8. It is a common swap. With a little advice, you could sauce and fit the whole driveline from an older V8 Commodore for cheap. Including the disc brakes. That's enough of my ramblings. Good luck PS: That ute would make a great first car for the little fella. Food for thought right!
If that doesn't have any bog thrn its about as good a project as you can get. Very straight, decent usable interior. Im still learning myself but after a cl valiant, hd holden and ford escort i feel like i can give you a tip or two.If you dont know how to weld then DO NOT learn on your project, im currently undoing all the horrible welding that dumbass 17 year old me messed up. Focus on a panel at a time, just helps with getting all the details correct. Also set timelimits for things if you dont theres no point in doing it. Also SET TIME LIMITS, one you month you wanna get the engine bay done, next you get the motor and box in and get it running if you have it, if not then get the quarters done. If you dont have money then theres always something to do such as rust repairs, sanding ready to prime, pulling dents etc. also they don't cost as to restore much as people say if your willing to learn how to paint, weld and panel beat you can easily get have a nice paint job, strong motor, and nice interior under 5k, for instance ive paid $3300 so far for my cl valiant, thats including the car itself and all the paint, its only 300-400 for a new rooflining and carpet, and as long as you can find a decent motor then you might get away with only doing a top end rebuild which is pretty cheap for a vrs kit. I hope i made sense and you founs something i said useful, also im not an expert so i too am just learning all these skills but my cars are worse than those bodies so if i can do it, you can to
Nice, what I have seems to be in good condition, I might leave it for the time being and then look for a model matching grill later on when I have run out of other things to do. I do appreciate the info though, cheers!
I do have a nice shed, the only problem is the wife keeps all the hay for her cows and sheep in there, so I have to manage the space to give myself some room to move.
Not a hard job these days to restore a car. You have utube and 5 million advisors. Plus ten million videos. You need a good book. Join the local car club. The rest is clean and paint. And reassemble and order parts. It takes time and you have to stay on with it. Good luck. Some tubers make it look very easy. Some things you may have to pay for. Engine build. Trans build. Axle build. You need specialist tools for this. Good luck. Go talk to the car club.
Its a big job, but you must remember its not a race and the process is the point, more so than the end product for many of us car guys. Enjoy the time you put in and when you don't, let it sit until its fun again. Old Holdens are a great first project, they are simple to work with and have great aftermarket and second hand market support. You can't go wrong with a Kingswood ute!
Absolutely, they are beautiful machines of the past, I will do my best to keep this old one alive for the next generation.
Aussie cars pre 1980 are very logical. You will be surprised how things can go back together in a straight forward fashion. I am 3 1/2 years into a 63 Valiant. It was in bits and a lot of it was missing when I got it. Steadily week by week it is going back together without too much heart ache. Yes things get me stumped for a little while but then the penny drops and it is like duh!
Lots of manual skills that I need to learn, I like working with hand so this is right up my alley. Best of luck with the Valiant!
Best to do it the right way the first time and consideration that it will be worth a lot more in original factory spec in the future i have one recommend for you that is to dip the body in caustic to remove all the rust and dit inside the panels and then blasting work your yearly budget out and go from there with the work you have it at the right stage
OK, I'll give you some tips if you like. Sand blast the chassis, diff, front end etc. drop of what you can and just have as much as you can blasted, use your time stripping panels. Don't use POR15, excellent stuff for its intended purpose but not for clean metal. It's what armatures do and that's the look you will achieve. 2 to 3 coats good quality chassis paint and it's a lot cheaper than POR15.
Unpick cowl and plenum panels and replace with new rare spare ones. the rest of the project fix as best you can, and the vehicle can always be rebuilt/repaired again in the future. These utes can be put back together in a couple days if you have everything there ready to go.
Panel and paint can be a big a job as you want it to be, it's up to you, but do the groundwork properly the rest of the car can be redone in the future, if need to.
Super helpful information Mark, I will look into the chassis paint, can that be applied with a brush? I don't have a spray kit or even a welder however that might be on the Christmas list as I go along with this project. Honestly I would love to try it all myself but I might be better off just learning one area of restoration first, my focus and attention span is not the greatest so I would rather be hyper focused as apposed to bored because I have too many thoughts going on all over the place. Perhaps I will just work on it in stages and that will keep the concentration up, until it's all finished.
Also probably a weird question but does the internal surface of the chassis rails just get left alone, I would assume that a full acid dip it the best way to clean it, but then how would someone seal the inside?
@@StudiousOGAll sorts of products to treat inside of rails etc.(all info can be found on youtube and google) Strip a panel, coat it in epoxy paint. (only use epoxy, will save you time and money in the long run) Buy a cheap Air compressor (largest you can run on single phase power) spend money on good air filtration. Learn to spray and have fun with it. Meg welder and try rust repairs yourself. If you don't have the knack for it maybe pay someone to do this for you. Spend hours on youtube teach yourself how to do each stage.
TH-cam will be your friend @@StudiousOG there are plenty of videos on all.aspects of auto resto.
As for the chassis, a wire brush on a grinder and drill for the outside than a coat of black. The inside can be left, or you can use cavity wax or fisholene type products to coat and protect, penetrol is also good. A couple of ways to do it, search TH-cam and you will find plenty of tips.
@@AdrianKable Thanks for the information, yes I have lots of excellent TH-cam videos to watch on vehicle restoration.
yes you can do it have fun
This will look and sound amazing all done up, Hey are you based in Melbourne?
Saving history bud. That's what you're doing.
Restoring an old car can be a big ask but in this case it should be achievable. With a little planning, a lot of frustration, patience, money and perseverance the ute will eventually come together.
I'm sure you will get plenty of advice along the way. Some of it may actually be good advice however, much of it will be dudes watching TH-cam videos and thinking they know it all.
Others will genuinely try to help although some of them will assume you already have their knowledge so, it will go in one ear and out the other.
Here's my 2 cents;
- Work within your limits, ie skills
- Seek out a mentor. There is plenty of advice to be had through online car clubs etc.
- Setup a general plan with a view to set progressive goals. Think of it as a guide and/or reference point at each stage of the build.
- Set progressive achievements, not time limits. Time limits are useless when you don't know what you're doing. Break the car into it's components or stages and keep your focus on completing each section before moving on to the next.
- Your plan should allow you to take on more than one task, provided you focus is on completing each pre-set goal.
The chassis rails would be a good start.
You obviously don't have a sand blaster so send it out to be blasted. Wire wheels have their limitations. while you may not have painting equipment right now, I would suggest acquiring a compressor etc. Enough to spray the rails with chassis paint. It will be good spray painting practice Make sure you treat the internals of the rails, there are specific products for this. ( Don't use POR15, it won't stick to blasted metal). Get some advice from an automotive paint store regarding chassis paint or better yet, get advice from a panel beater.
Speaking of a panel beater; Seek out one that is willing to come to you. A car club could help with finding a reputable guy.
Driveline.
That tired old 202 is likely a boat anchor. Ask you uncle about fitting a V8. It is a common swap.
With a little advice, you could sauce and fit the whole driveline from an older V8 Commodore for cheap. Including the disc brakes.
That's enough of my ramblings. Good luck
PS: That ute would make a great first car for the little fella. Food for thought right!
If that doesn't have any bog thrn its about as good a project as you can get. Very straight, decent usable interior. Im still learning myself but after a cl valiant, hd holden and ford escort i feel like i can give you a tip or two.If you dont know how to weld then DO NOT learn on your project, im currently undoing all the horrible welding that dumbass 17 year old me messed up. Focus on a panel at a time, just helps with getting all the details correct. Also set timelimits for things if you dont theres no point in doing it. Also SET TIME LIMITS, one you month you wanna get the engine bay done, next you get the motor and box in and get it running if you have it, if not then get the quarters done. If you dont have money then theres always something to do such as rust repairs, sanding ready to prime, pulling dents etc. also they don't cost as to restore much as people say if your willing to learn how to paint, weld and panel beat you can easily get have a nice paint job, strong motor, and nice interior under 5k, for instance ive paid $3300 so far for my cl valiant, thats including the car itself and all the paint, its only 300-400 for a new rooflining and carpet, and as long as you can find a decent motor then you might get away with only doing a top end rebuild which is pretty cheap for a vrs kit. I hope i made sense and you founs something i said useful, also im not an expert so i too am just learning all these skills but my cars are worse than those bodies so if i can do it, you can to
Might be better to buy one done and put your touches on it. Its probably cheaper. And spend time with your son. Or he going to get pushed out. Maybe.
Has hx grille.
Nice, what I have seems to be in good condition, I might leave it for the time being and then look for a model matching grill later on when I have run out of other things to do. I do appreciate the info though, cheers!
Step 1. Build a shed.
I do have a nice shed, the only problem is the wife keeps all the hay for her cows and sheep in there, so I have to manage the space to give myself some room to move.
hi
Yo!
Get to work. And post your story. Let’s get it.
Not a hard job these days to restore a car. You have utube and 5 million advisors. Plus ten million videos. You need a good book. Join the local car club. The rest is clean and paint. And reassemble and order parts. It takes time and you have to stay on with it. Good luck. Some tubers make it look very easy. Some things you may have to pay for. Engine build. Trans build. Axle build. You need specialist tools for this. Good luck. Go talk to the car club.
first
Technically my video was first.
tom is annoying
Sometimes, most of the time he's not too bad though.