My GC Hardtop project

[84GKSIG]

its nice seeing it move under its own strength now howd you go with the tail shaft, did you end up finding one which fit or had to cut one down?

Well the hardtop moved under it's own power today

Had a minor issue while bleeding the brakes though. The front bled up perfectly but the rear locked on after bleeding. I managed to crawl out from under it in the pit, much to my Wife's amusement, and got it to move under power and it has freed up a little but is still tight.
Has anyone had this happen before when fitting a disc brake diff to a drum brake diff car?

calipers sticking ? might be worth taking the calipers off and lubing the slides if you havent already ?

[A112H]

Yeah, I could hardly sleep last night I was so excited, once I have the rear bakes sorted and the shocks sorted I can go for a bit longer drive.
Got a tail shaft thanks to GB_BB4C, had to be shortened slightly and all good.
The rear bakes are off and undergoing a make-over, lol

[A112H]

First modeling shoot

This pic really shows why I want the guards replaced, lol. The guy that filled in the indicators followed the body line not the grill


Profile


Gratuitous rear end shot


Even from a distance that is a sexy ass

[Hotwire]

TAke 10-15mm out rear height an you win the internetz !!!

Hot still

[unique10]

that front profile shot...wow. i think im gonna be going out hunting for a coupe now.

really well done mate.

[webby]

TAke 10-15mm out rear height an you win the internetz !!!

Hot still

Agreed, also needs 7's up front with a bit of dish IMO
Still, nice work. Must be great to be able to drive it again after all this time

[bruggz351]

Very nice...
Side on that indicator delete looks schmick. Pitty bout the front view...did ol' mate do the delete with the guards off the car? or without the grill in place?

cheers

[Tj.]

This made my day!
It's so great to see another hardtop back in action, especially one that's had so much effort put into it.

On a side note, I need to get some wider wheels now. That stance is tough!!

[A112H]

Thanks very much for the props guys, means a lot after such a long build. I am still not happy with it, but are we ever?
As you may see, I am on the look out for some Turbo wheels. Sadly the rears now scrape under power pretty badly. I don't want to pay $1000 to shorten my diff by 20mm so will run some different wheels until I find the right flares
I am looking for some 45-60mm bolt on flares, similar to the GTO's but not happy to pay $200+ for what is about $15 worth of FRP, getting tight in my old age, lol.
Might even have a crack at making some myself. I will start a wanted thread anyway

[77galantv6]

why not flare your guards with a guard roller?

might take a little time and you may need to do some slight refreshing to the paint
but 40 mm is easily "gettable" with a guard roller, i got 10mm either side in about an hour and a half

was told by a guy who does it for a living that he can get upwards of 80mm without cracking / distorting paint....

[A112H]

Hadn't even thought of that to be honest. I would like some Montego's anyway but that would see me on the road sooner

[A112H]

Got the interior all in today. Very happy with how it turned out

[Nath76LA]

Your hardtop is looking great Jas. Love the GTO seats mate. Did you buy the carpet new and fit it yourself? If so , how did find putting it in?

[A112H]

Cheers Nath, I am completely in love with my seats, shame I can't see them when I am in it, lol
Might need to adjust the rear view mirror so I can see the passenger seat while driving

Did you buy the carpet new and fit it yourself? If so , how did find putting it in?

Yeah, I grabbed it off of ebay a few years ago. I will never, NEVER do one again. It covers the floor and looks ok, I am pretty unhappy with it really. It just didn't fit and is all bumpy and lumpy around the tunnel and by the kick panels.
It is one of the long term fixes over the winter months.

[Nath76LA]

Yeah I know exactly what you mean.

I got the same one for my Birthday. It took me several months to get around to completing it due to having to walk away so many times before I did something to it I would regret. I managed to get all the lumps and bumps out of it but boy did it test my patients.

After I had installed it, I saw on the Ebay site that it supposed to come with instructions which mine didn't unless they were written in invisable ink on the packaging it came in.

[A112H]

I think mine was from Knox or something like that. But I think this is just the way of it as the only other one I have ever done was to my Brothers TE Cortina and we had the same issue.

I have managed to hide most of the lumps under the console but still not happy, most people wouldn't notice at first but I see the faults everytime I look at it

[81GL]

Looks awesome

Are you looking for some front guards? I've got a pair here from the coupe - need work but no real rust from memory
-How did you even get it registered with out the indicators???

And again... God that looks good

[GB_BB4C]

How did you even get it registered with out the indicators???

We dont have inspection's here in SA, Just go pay the rego fee and drive ya car.

[A112H]

Well Gally had his first official outing this morning, the insurance only kicked in this morning so I really didn't want to take it any further than the end of my street before that. It was only to the petrol station and back but I am very happy with how it goes. I was up early enough to take it for a hour or so but the rear bakes are still dragging slightly.
I got some uber special caliper grease last night so will pull them off tonight and lube them up good ;)
Got lots of looks at the servo, not sure if they liked it, didn't know what it was or if they couldn't quite pick what was different about this 180B
Anyway it sounds awesome and pulls pretty hard. There was a little bit of pinging but the carbs and the timing is all tuned by ear.
So overall very happy, get the rear brakes sorted and I am ready for Sunday, might even take it to work tomorrow

[L200W3RK5]

Jase, i will be humping your leg sunday.....

[A112H]

by L200W3RK5 » Thu Dec 15, 2011 1:34 pm

Jase, i will be humping your leg sunday.....

You don't want to know what happened to our dog when he did that ..... the Vet is open Sundays

[Nath76LA]

Got lots of looks at the servo, not sure if they liked it, didn't know what it was or if they couldn't quite pick what was different about this 180B

Lol. Yeah I get that as well. I've got mine saved as my desktop pic on my laptop. I've had several customers see it on my laptop and think it's a Torana .

[A112H]

So just took my Son for his first drive in the hardtop. We only got two street away, cruising along in 4th and deciding if it was 50 kph or not when the rear wheels locked up.
When I tried to move it, it wouldn't budge. After a few 1st - reverses it freed up. I was spewing that maybe I had bought a dud diff.
We idled a U turn in first and putted up the road at about 20 in 2nd when it started to lock up again, jumped in the air and rolled along perfectly.
As I pulled over I looked in the mirror and saw my tailshaft on the road. Jumped out and looked underneath to see my diff facing the wrong way.
Wlaked home in a grump, grabbed the Wife and the wagon and towed it home. I haven't had a good look under it again to see what really happened but surfice to say I will not be on the cruise on Sunday

[A112H]

Begrudgingly I just went out and stuck my head under it again. All my mounts are stull connected to the diff, everything is intact just turned 90 degrees. So what has happened is the RHS I used was too thin and as the car powered on the diff flatterned out the front of the mounts, the angle of the diff the locked the tailshaft causing the first lock up.
Basically this happened again but because the mounts were already squashed a bit it was worse, the tailshaft got pulled out of the gearbox, slid under a wheel, bit the road and spin the diff 90 degrees before the uni broke.
I am on leave from the 21st Dec until the 16th Jan so will get some 5mm gauge RHS this time and box them once mounted for the extra strength.

[bruggz351]

Jase man, sorry to hear bout ya diff.

Gotta say though, looks a million mate......

Absolutely love that interior too eh...

Good luck with ya diff

cheers

[A112H]

Cheers mate, it does 'LOOK' good, it aint going anywhere for a little while though, lol.
Now I am over the incident it is a pretty easy fix. I will get some 5mm RHS on Sunday and start again.

[A112H]

Thu Apr 22, 2010 10:02 pm
Feels like I have everything left to do Dave, lol. I have fingers crossed it will be done by Xmas.

I meant Xmas 2011

[A112H]

So I have spent the last 2 day re engineering the mounts and am really happy with the outcome. However; I am about 10cm of weld away from finished and ran out of wire
I will get a new roll in the morning and it will once again be mobile.
I am taking it, assuming it holds out, lol, to Jaf's crusie if any member are planning to go, drop past and say hi.

[GB_BB4C]

For anyone that doesnt know Jaf's cruise is a massive cruise near the end of the year to give people something to do.....

More details

[Shifta]

Nice work Jase! If all goes well I'll be rocking to the cruise in the passenger seat of an NM35 Stagea