The Holden HZ Premier Wagon Project

You're kidding me. More rust?

2012-03-05T18:10:00.001+11:00

In past posts I've said that I've had problems getting a rust free radiator support for the Holden Premier. The original one was stuffed - so badly rusted it wasn't worth fixing. The supposed good replacement was better, but still not worthy of the car we are trying to achieve.

Finally, I got a nice, straight, rust free radiator support - or so I thought! One the weekend while putting some things together for the blasters, I did some work on the radiator support which included removing clips and bolts. While I was at it I decided to tap the usual places for rust with a pick hammer, and came up with more frikkin rust!

Ready to go to the blasters, radiator support panel at the front

Yep, one problem.

And a second problem

My idea of getting it blasted and powder coated went out the window! On the plus side, the rust is a fairly easy repair - lets hope that the blasting doesn't uncover more of the dreaded "R".

Progress - changing the wheelbase - radically!

2012-03-04T20:37:00.000+11:00

Today I tore myself away from playing with shiny bits on the engine, and concentrated on trying to make some real progress with the car.

The plan is to visit the sandblaster with various parts which include a few panels, but also some front suspension bits.

In order to do a decent job, I decided to pull the font out of the car. A couple of jack stands, 6 bolts and it's done.

Had to swing it around in the shed to make some room.

A familiar view.

Six bolts and it's done. I bet it won't be that easy to put it back together!

Now to start disassembling the front running gear.

Mounts were pretty stuffed, so pulling it apart was a good idea.

Initially I wasn't planning on pulling the front out - I was going to paint it up while still on the car and not worry too much about the underneath, as it's really going to be a driver - not a show pony.

Things changed when I saw how much work is needed on the roof.

Why pull the front out to work on the roof? Seems a bit odd, but someone not too far away from me has a rotisserie I can use for the body, which will make it easier to do the repairs - especially on the roof.

To get the body on the rotisserie, the running gear comes off.

If you're wondering what a rotisserie is (for a car) here's an example:

(picture borrowed from AussieV8 forum)

The rotisserie I'm borrowing won't be fancy (and might need some work to get it into shape) but it is the right price!

Things going to the blaster include a bonnet, the front chassis (after the bits have been removed), some suspension components such as wishbones (which will be powder coated), front nose cone, radiator support and various engine brackets (again, for powder coating).

Should be an interesting month ahead!

Dizzy clearance

2012-02-27T08:16:00.000+11:00

I was asked about the stock distributor fitting with the Edelbrock performer intake manifold, and whether anything needs to be modified.

There's a possibility that I might need to shave a small amount off the manifold if the advance needs to be set a long way off what it's current set at. I won't know, of course, until the engine is up and running.

I was also asked about the distributor. Yep, it's the stock HEI one from Bosch - I decided to paint 'er up! Still thinking about painting the bottom plastic skirt as well.

Here's some photos.

Everything fits ok this way

And it just clears this vacuum port

But here is where I might have some trouble, depending on how much I need to turn the dizzy

Leading the leads

2012-02-21T14:47:00.002+11:00

Postie turned up yesterday with some presents, so I thought I'd do a trial fit to the engine.

Ok, so what you are looking at in the above pictures are two things - the first are the shiny new red spark plug leads which (at the moment) don't have any spark plug boots on them. They can be cut to length and are supplied with the boots and crimp connectors so you can adjust them yourself. I got red leads with right angle boots, but they come in red, black and blue with a choice of 90 degree, 45 degree or straight boots. Nice.

The second thing you are looking at are the billet lead holders which are clamped to the sides of the rocker covers. These open up and "sandwich" the leads in channels, directing them to the right position above the plugs. Neat and tidy. Yeah!

Motoring on

2012-02-20T10:30:00.002+11:00

Spent a large part of the weekend working on the engine again, not that there's a lot to show for it.

I'm sure you can spot the changes

Most of the time went into cleaning and painting, cleaning and painting.

The inlet manifold has been hoot with a few coats of clean (to give it a shine), and it's been bolted down. The rocker covers have now been bolted down (thanks to the new blingy chrome nuts), although it wasn't with some drama.

New bolts, and shiny manifold.

Mental note - if mucking around with small bolts, have the inlet manifold in place first! Yep, I dropped a bolt into the engine and had to remove the sump to get it out. Lesson learned!

This is the one I had to remove from the sump. New sump gasket please!

$20 from Autobarn. Thought it was worthwhile!

Painted the pulleys. Cleaned the bolts.

I also enlarged the holes in my troublesome thermostat housing, and chucked in a new thermostat before bolting it down. Turned out the problem was with the Edelbrock manifold. Holes are slightly different to standard. Perhaps they want you to buy their thermo housing?

I've got some gunky brackets that need to be sand blasted before I paint them. Might be time to get started on the body work!

HZ Premier Wagons

2012-02-13T16:42:00.000+11:00

It's been a while since I've had time to work on the car, mainly because this is the time of year that everything happens on weekends. One of the things that happened yesterday was the 25th Annual Picnic at Hanging Rock. For those that don't know, there are thousands of cars, and thousands of people.

I took a few wagon photos for inspiration, and I thought you might like to see them. Work will resume on our wagon soon!

The perils of non-standard

2012-01-21T17:27:00.001+11:00

It's great to modify cars, add chrome, replace engine parts and so on. One of the problems with doing that is that sometimes things don't quite line up....

Check this - bolt holes don't quite line up. It's a Redline thermo housing on an Edelbrock manifold. My guess is that the housing is at fault.

Quick post

2012-01-21T10:32:00.001+11:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I put something up, as there hasn't been much progress - been away doing some fishing and surfing.

When I came back a nice present was waiting for me - I'll get the rocker covers screwed on, and the inlet manifold bolted down (as soon as I can find the right socket adapter for the hex bolts).

Some engine finishing bits

Also, you might remember the harmonic balancer that was pretty messy? Here it is - painted and on the engine.

Painted harmonic balancer

Just a quick update. More stuff happening soon!

Engine bling

2012-01-06T16:39:00.002+11:00

Just goes to show that you are not too old to learn something new. After lapping the valves and putting the whole thing back together, I realised that I'd installed the valve stem seals incorrectly.

Not a big deal, as they are cheap - but the thought of removing all those spring assemblies again was doing my head in, so I went and go a decent valve spring compressor - this thing is the mutt's nuts!

Here's a video of the tool, in case you are interested:

Anyhow, back to the title of this posting. After I got the valves sorted I decided to clean up a few things and put some new parts onto the motor to see how it might look. Some of these bits are not bolted on permanently yet, but you'll get the general idea.

Bling!

BTW - here's some info on valve stem seals if you are so inclined:
http://holdenpaedia.oldholden.com/Valve_Stem_Seals

More engine work - and paint!

2012-01-03T09:34:00.002+11:00

Why is it that you need to do so much hack work before you can do something interesting? That's the way it's been for the past few days while I tart up the old 253 engine.

From the last post you'll know that I've done a valve grind on the heads. They have been reassembled and put back on the block.

Then came the task of cleaning the engine down (removing years of grease and crap).

As usual, some photos will do the talking for me:

New head gaskets of course

Can't do this sort of work without an engine stand

Cleaned the head surfaces before reinstallation

Valves nicely seated

Put some of the old tin back on before cleaning, and sealed up the ports.

Removing the old paint was a big exercise

Some of the new components have been hit with a VHT Engine enamel in clear

Painted, before the tape gets pulled off.

Ahhhh... I think it looks better than the blue

Now to put some of the bright bits on

Now comes the job of putting some of the hanging bits on. I've got some chrome bits, and other parts will be cleaned, painted or polished before putting them back on.

Footnote - The blue paint came off the heads and sump easily, but not off the block, which makes me think that a new (blue) block has been used for a replacement at some stage. The harmonic balancer also has "VH" marked on it, which suggests a later model block.

Grinding, grinding, grinding.

2011-12-28T14:25:00.003+11:00

With the body back in the shed, you might think that it's time to get stuck into the metal repairs, however the engine is in bits and I've decided I need to put that back together, in an effort to have something actually finished!

When I pulled the heads of the engine, they seemed pretty good - although there was certainly some pitting of the valves.

Armed with a valve spring compressor (which turned out to be a heap of sh!t), some valve grinding paste and other assorted bits, I'm slowly getting all 16 valves ground to form a nice snug fit.

After the valves are done the heads will go back on, and the engine will be painted after a good clean (this has to be the filthiest engine I've ever seen).


Valve before grinding. All the pitted areas need to be removed to form a nice seal

Valve seat is pitted and basically doesn't seal well

Clean and smooth

Partly ground - you can still see some of the pitting

Nice and smooth

Holey crap

2011-12-23T07:45:00.001+11:00

Holey crap? It's not all crap, but there's certainly some work ahead to fix the rust holes. Some of these things I think I can do myself, but I'll probably need a bit of help for some of the more tricky bits.

I'm pretty happy with the firewall, floor and scuttles, but there are problems in other areas.

Here's what I'm talking about:

Area below the tailgate. The channel holding the rubber in is almost gone.

Inside the rear pillar on the LHS of the car

My replacement tailgate came up ok

One or two small dents, but pretty good.

Firewall is clean as a whistle!

RHS scuttle panel isn't too bad (better than I thought it would be)

Similar story for the LHS scuttle

This is the area in front of the LH front door. This one will be a bit trickier

The roof. Swiss cheese? Roof racks...

In the roof on the RHS

Behind the rear wheel - not too bad here.

Inside the rear pillar on the RHS

Roof at the back

Looking at the outside of the LHS rear pillar, on the outside

Looking down onto the rear guard on the LHS, where the wagon side window goes.

I haven't looked closely at the hang on panels yet, as they are still piled in the car. More photos soon when I check those bits out.

Blasted car!

2011-12-22T19:03:00.001+11:00

Actually, the title is wrong. It should be "blasted car". Amazing what difference punctuation makes!!!
Ok, so the car and most of the panels have now had the blasting treatment.

The result is both good and bad. I'm very happy that the floor and the firewall are straight and rust free. I'm also reasonably happy with the panel that sits below the windscreen. I've seen lots of horror stories there.

The bad stuff is around the roof and sills etc. Nothing unexpected as I saw the rust and filler when I was stripping the car - but when the roof comes back looking like swiss cheese, it makes me wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew.

I'll add some new photos in a new entry in the next day or so, but I really wanted to say thanks to Damien, Mark and Geraldine at Shotgun Blasting in Colac.

Here's something for you all to look at.

Back in black!

Doesn't look much, but it will get there.

Very happy with the work these guys do. Worth taking the car to Colac.

I've already outlined the reasons I took the car to Colac (see this post), and I wasn't disappointed.

Red versus Blue

2011-12-16T14:43:00.000+11:00

A while back I spoke about the engine in the wagon, and that it was surprising that it was a blue motor. After all, the casting date and engine number looks to be correct for the time the car was manufactured, but the whole thing was painted blue - which isn't correct for the model.

Looking for telltale signs, I saw that some of the bolts on the rocker covers have red underneath their blue paint, but not much else.

I even scraped some paint off the block, and found no red paint underneath, however last night I was working on the timing cover, and a picture tells the story:

Originally red, painted blue

So, part of the engine at least was red. My guess is that the engine has been rebuilt at some point (based on what I saw when the heads came off), and that when the block and heads were cleaned, they were then repainted blue.

You might not think it's a big deal, but to Holden Fans, it is..... and it's going to be painted red after it's screwed back together.

Replacement parts (again!)

2011-12-12T09:07:00.001+11:00

Not much new to report on the wagon over the last weekend, however I did pick up some replacement bits I won off ebay.

It's hard to get straight and clean arm rests for the front doors of the Premier. They tend to warp and once bent, they are hard to fix. I picked up a set of Statesman door cards and arm rests in a pewky green colour.

Arm rests will be painted, and the door cards are going straight back on eBay.

Nice straight arm rests

I also had a false start with the radiator support - the blue replacement I bought previously turned out to be a bit of a dud. It had previously been repaired, but now has a rusty section (I discovered after poking it with a screwdriver), and it's not even straight.

Over the weekend I picked up a dead straight and rust free radiator support. This is good enough to get blasted and powder coated without me having to do any work to it, except to remove some of the old parts still attached.

Straight and clean, this will be powdercoated.

The nose cone was also something I was looking to replace. The existing one has some rust and needs some straightening along the bottom. The replacement I bought (from the same place as the radiator support) is rust free and straight, so it will be going to the blasters.

In great condition

The nose cone came with a nice bonus - some clear front parker / indicator assemblies in excellent condition

These were a bonus I picked up with the nose cone. I needed a set, and the clear lenses are great!

That's about all. As far as the engine goes, the heads have been pulled off and I'm still in two minds as to what to do with the whole thing. I don't really really want to pull the pistons and crank, but do I take the risk that the main seals are in good condition?

Engine work

2011-12-06T09:54:00.001+11:00

With the car being at the blasters, I thought I'd turn my attention to the motor. It's a 253 and was running ok when I bought the wagon, but with any of these things the thoughts are always around how things can be improved.

I thought about a 308 upgrade, but the build is on a budget and I think I'll need to put money into the interior and paint, let alone all the hundred of other things which need to be replaced along the way. Looks like I'll stick with the original motor for now.

I pulled the heads and sump off to see what the state of things are - so far, so good. I need to check the valve seats (that will be this weekend with a bit of luck), but the bores look clean and don't have any marks, and there's no lip on them which would indicate a lot of wear.

The lifters are clean and without any wear on the faces, and the rocker arms also look good. I also need to check the cam to see how it's fared over the journey.

As usual, some piccies......

A bit of mess. The two barrel carby will go, along with some of the plumbing.

The whole cooling system was full of crap. The thermostat housing is corroded and the water pump needs replacing.

A previous owner really liked this red silicon crap! The stuff is everywhere, including the fuel pump instead of a gasket.

Underside with the sump removed. Pretty clean.

More checking to do, but doesn't look too bad.

The plan is to replace some parts, but not to disassemble anything more than needed, however replacing the front and rear main seals while it's at this stage might be a good idea.

I don't see a lot of point in spending big on a 253 - perhaps an engine swap for a 308 will be on the cards later.

Off to get blasted

2011-12-01T18:41:00.001+11:00

A few days ago I finally had a chance to take the wagon to the blaster in Colac. After some drama getting the darn thing onto the trailer (and the trailer up the driveway), I made it there in the end.

Part of the drama included changing two tyres on the trailer after it was fully loaded. Oh well.

It was a tight squeeze up the driveway

You might be wondering why I took it all the way to Colac from Geelong.

Two reasons - the first is that a fellow club member had his Torana done there and was very happy with the results. Nothing like a personal reference.

The second reason is that these guys (Damien and Mark at Shotgun Blasting) do it all - soda for the delicate parts, garnet for the rust bits, and they will return the car to me sprayed in undercoat to protect the bare metal. Shotgun also do powdercoating, so it's likely I'll be taking some things back there.

More pictures when I go back and pick it up. Not sure when that will be. Everyone wants everything before Christmas.....

Spot welds - bastards!

2011-11-21T09:31:00.001+11:00

So, had to do anything in terms of restoring a car? Depending on the age, you've most likely come across panels joined together using spot welds.

These pesky welds are a great thing in terms of car building, but a bit of a bastard when it comes to separating panels. I'm trying a couple of tools designed to cut the spot welds, and so far it seems to work ok.

The sill panel with the face cut out of it.

From one of the earlier blog entries you would know that I need to replace the sill panels on the wagon (above). These are spot welded underneath - and while I cut the face of them open, I still needed to remove the welded parts on the the bottom of the car.

Here's a tool similar to the one I bought to cut the spot welds:

Spot weld cutter

The idea with this tool (which attaches to your drill) is that you use a centre punch to mark the spot weld, and the point of the cutter is spring loaded. you then drill through the first layer of metal - and the result is shown below:

You can see the spot welds left behind, these get ground off.

The panel which is removed.

The advantage of the tool is that you don't cut through the metal that you want to keep, unlike a normal drill bit which leaves a hole that you then have to weld up.

Only problem with the tool I bought (yeah, not an expensive one) is that it went blunt pretty quickly and I've got a few of these things to do.

There's another type which I'm going to try, which looks like the item below:

Theoretically, this should cut the spot weld flush with the panel underneath.

I guess I'll see which one works better, and which one lasts longest.

Anyhow, thought some of you might be interested!

Parts galore!

2011-11-14T09:12:00.001+11:00

One things that you can't avoid when completely rebuilding a car is the problem of where you store things once the car is stripped. I'm lucky in that I had a decent sized shed, but it doesn't take long to fill it.

Thought you might be interested in a couple of pictures!

Sure - two tailgates and six doors. It's amazing how you accumulate parts!

This picture has some bits from a previous car - once I sell them off I should get some room back!

More rust!

2011-11-14T08:59:00.001+11:00

Another short update on some progress on the weekend. The car is heading off to the blasters soon (yeah, when I can get some time to take it to Colac), but before it goes there I've cut the outer sill panels to remove the mountain of crap that was inside.

I knew the sill were stuffed (that's the technical term), as the rust had eaten all the way through. Still, I was surprised at exactly how much crap there was inside.

The pictures below show the process for the left side of the car. The other side was equally as bad.

Yep, rust holes

After cutting the outside skins

Where did all this come from?

A quick clean out...

... and a sweep up. Yikes!

Why cut the sills before it goes to blasting? To allow the blasters to clean the insides, and put some epoxy primer on it to protect it which will stay there after I've put the new outer sills on.

The enemy!

2011-10-30T11:08:00.001+11:00

The enemy of any car owner or restorer is rust. Some things can be repaired, and in some cases it's easier to locate a replacement. For the HZ there are still plenty of panels available, and there's also a good selection of non-original replacement parts.

On a HQ-HZ wagon, the channel which holds the rear window is notorious for rusting out as the water runs stright down the window, and sits in the channel. I have two tailgates, and the channel on both tailgates were shot.

Fortunately, a replacement is available:

One end of the tailgate glass channel

The other end of the tailgate glass channel

I knew that the radiator support was stuffed, so I bought a second hand replacement. These things rust out as they have drain holes which fill up in about 5 seconds. The radiator support I bought as a replacement has previously been repaired, however as it was a good repair I decided to go with it.

There's still some work to do on the replacement, but it will be much easier than repairing the original, as you can see:

The blue one is the replacement

The original radiator support has some rust on this end


The rust on this end is very bad. I lifted the rusty section (it just pulled out) and you can see the filler that was put in.

Some tailgate pictures:

Old white tailgate, new blue tailgate

A close up.

Support inside the white tailgate has rusted through

Fortunately, the replacement is in good nick

Small steps

2011-10-01T18:37:00.001+10:00

Things have slowed down a little with school holidays and other activities, but last weekend I managed to get the engine separated from the transmission, and onto the engine stand. Another small step!

On the engine stand

There are a few things left to do, and I was hoping to get it to the blaster this week - but some idiot (me!) sold the tow car, so I need to wait until I get another car with a decent tow bar on it. Should be soon!

Here's a picture of some of the rust facing me with one of the back doors:

Yes, that's a hole!

I've bought a couple of replacement wagon doors which are rust free. Looking for some front doors, as the ones I've got are badly bogged up. Repairable, but a couple of replacements would be easier.

Windscreen removed.

2011-10-01T18:29:00.002+10:00

The windscreen was been taken out of the car last week. Pretty happy for a couple of reasons:

1. No signs of rust under the windscreen, which is often a problem;
2. The windscreen is in great condition, and Craig from Bellarine Auto Glass was able to remove the whole thing in one piece, so it can be reinstalled.

For anyone in Geelong, Craig's number is 0423 606 844.

Progress! Engine is out.

2011-09-12T11:31:00.000+10:00

The last couple of weeks have seen some progress on the wagon. The photos tell the story, however here's what's happened:

Dash components completely removed
Air con and heating removed
Engine and transmission removed
Door trims and headlining removed (new headlining will be a tough thing to install!)
Wiring loom removed
Roof racks removed

A few other things have been done also, such as removing some of components under the car.

During the past couple of weeks I've obtained a new tailgate which is in great condition and includes the motor and key mechanism. The old tailgate is rusted out. Looks like I've also found some rear doors which will save me a lot of time too.

Next steps are to finish removing the other bits such as brake booster and pedals, and then take it to Colac for blasting.

Engine and transmission is out

Engine bay - still some bits to remove!

Interior totally removed. Steering will stay to help with moving the car around.

Now I can see why people don't replace the roof racks. Rust in the roof!

As it is now - not much left to take off!

I also plan to remove the front sub-frame assembly and get it powder coated. I'll get the body blasted, and then remove the front sub frame and send it out.

Something old, something new.

2011-08-24T16:37:00.000+10:00

Not much work on the wagon last weekend, as we went up to Bendigo to take a look at the Holden Day. Great weather, great cars, great place.

Anyhow, since there's no progress to show you on the car, I thought I'd share some of the recent purchases.

When restoring or building a car, there's always a couple of different approaches - the first is to re-use everything on the car. Nuts, bolts, panels, and parts can be refurbished and used. Sometimes it's cheaper, and sometimes it's practical as some parts are difficult to get.

With the HZ, I've taken a second approach and will buy new or second hand replacement parts where it makes sense, because replacement parts are still relatively easy to get. Here are some examples:

This kit contains nearly 650 parts for the HZ

Most of the screws, nuts and bolts will be replaced on the car

I picked up a new pair of guards for $75. These have no rust at all.

Rust in the bottom of the original guard

And the other guard.

Rust repair panels for these guards are about $55 each, so it makes sense just to replace them with a pair of rust free secondhand items.

Wondering what's actually in the screw kit above? Here's the list:

- 1 Air Cleaner Wingnut- 8 Armrest Screws

- 3 Bonnet Cable Clips

- 2 Bonnet Cable Clips Screws On

- 1 Bonnet Cable End Screw

- 2 Bonnet Cable Screws

- 8 Bonnet Hinge Bolts

- 4 Bonnet Stabiliser Rubbers

- 2 Bonnet Stop Adjuster Bolts

- 2 Bonnet Stop Adjuster Cap

- 2 Bonnet Stop Adjuster Locknuts

- 2 Brake Adjuster Grommets

- 2 Brake Vac Hose Retainer Clips

- 6 Bumper Bracket to Chassis Bolts

- 6 Door Bump Stop Grommets

- 12 Door Handle Wire Clips

- 48 Door Hinge Bolts

- 80 Door Seal Isolators

- 80 Door Seal Retainer Clips

- 4 Door Striker Bolts

- 40 Door Trim Clip Isolators

- 40 Door Trim Panel Clips

- 30 Door Well Scuff Plate Screws

- 3 Door/ Boot Lock Retainers

- 5 Fuel Line Clips

- 2 Glovebox Bump

- 2 Headlight Adjuster Spring

- 4 Headlight Adjuster Nylon Nut

- 4 Headlight Adjuster Screws

- 6 Headlight Bezel Screws

- 4 Headlight Bezel Speednuts

- 2 Headlight Bezel Speednuts Nylon

- 20 Kick Panel Clips

- 4 Loom Clips Firewall

- 1 Loom Clips Firewall Large

- 4 Loom Clips Wheel Arch

- 30 Panel Bolts (the correct imperial thread)

- 30 Panel Speednuts (imperial thread)

- 1 Radiator Overflow Tube Retainer

- 4 Radiator Retainer Rubber Nut

- 4 Radiator Retainer Screws

- 1 Slave Cyl Nut/Bolt

- 1 Steering Knuckle Clip Upper

- 1 Steering Knuckle Dust Seal

- 1 Steering Knuckle Seal Clip

- 40 Trim Exterior Moulding Clips

- 20 Trim Stud Replacement Pop Rivet

- 12 Wheel Arch Screws (Stainless Steel)

- 12 Wheel Arch Speednuts

- 4 Window Winder Retainer Clips

- 4 Window Winder Spring

- 32 Windscreen Mould Clips

- 1 Wiper Pivot Seal

Original Engine? The tags...

2011-08-18T10:42:00.000+10:00

Anyone who has dealt with chrome bumpered Holdens would be familiar with the ID Tags that adorn the car. Thought I'd run through an explanation of the tags on this wagon, for those who might be interested.

Here are pictures and explanations of the tags:

Here's the unique identifier for the car. VicRoads swear that a 1978 Holden doesn't have a VIN, but this looks like one to me.

The above picture shows a tag which has been painted over quite a few times! The first part of the number is important, here's a breakdown:

8 = Holden
P = Premier
35 = Wagon body style
R High Comression 253 V8 engine
J = model year 1979
H4 = Brisbane

The next 5 digits are the build number (unique to every car)

The last "Z" indicates a "HZ" model.

Simple huh?

This tag details the car specifications. Click the picture for a better view.

The picture above shows the specifications of the car as it was built. Again, it's been painted over quite a few times. Here's how the car was originally built:

HZ8W = HZ Wagon
R = High compression 253 V8 engine
35 = not sure about this one yet. Anyone?
L32 = High comp 253
M40 = 3 speed trimatic
GU4 = Salisbury diff, 3.08 ratio
67V = Tan trim
1949-30858 = Mojave Beige paint

That's right - this car was originally a beige colour, which you can see in the photos of the strip down.

The interesting stuff on this tag is really the build date - October 1978.

That leaves one more set of number: Those on the engine.

The engine number of this car is QR996275

That tells us a couple of things - it's an engine (high compression 253) fitted to HQ to HZ. Later HZs also had engines with a prefix of ZR - probably because they ran out of QR digits (you can see that this one starts with 99). I know of an 11/78 van with a ZR engine umber, so min ill be one of the last QR engines.

There is a casting code on the front of the engine, which is very interesting - 18J8 tells us that this engine block was cast on 18th September, 1978. You'll notice that this engine is a blue motor - a real "blue" motor can be identified by a "253" cast into both sides of the block.

So, exciting news for me is that it looks as though this might be the original motor that was delivered with this car over 30 years ago. If it's not, then it's a correct replacement, even down to the casting date.

There are numbers cast into the heads, and I'll check these out when the engine comes out of the car.

Here are the references I used for decoding all these numbers:

http://oldholden.com/node/13108
http://gallery.oldholden.com/Mr_Jones/Paint+Colours/
http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/holden_6_cylinder_engine_numbers.htm
http://www.mysandman.com.au/forums/showthread.php?t=570

Front off

2011-08-15T08:58:00.001+10:00

The weekend saw some more work on the wagon. The front is off, and it seems that as I pull more things off, I find more issues. The radiator support has rust, the front nose panel has rust and I swear that some of the bolts holding things together hadn't been moved in over 30 years.

Still, every week brings a little more progress, and hopefully soon the engine and transmission will be out. Finding places to put all the bits and pieces I take off the car is now becoming an issue.

The bonnet has rust, the guards have rust, the radiator support panel has rust. It's not as bad as it seems, as I have another bonnet which is from a Statesman (I need to weld up the holes for the emblem that was there). I also won a pair of guards on eBay (supposedly straight and rust free) for $37 each - less than the cost of the rust repair panels.

Next, I need to find or fix the front and rad support. I'm happy with the progress, time for some happy snaps:

The engine bay before the work starts

Bonnet looks ok from here

But has a few small issues up close.

Nose cone looks ok from here....

But has issues too

Alternator, compressor, radiator and panels are off

Dan M and Dan C dropped in to lend a hand

Birds Nest!

2011-08-07T09:47:00.000+10:00

I guess it;s to be expected after 33 years of accessories, radios, LPG and alarms - but the wiring loom is a mess. Yesterday I made some more progress in removing the dash, and I was greeted with a birds nest of wires.

I don't like cutting wires unless I know they are for something I won't need - cut something, and it just needs to be re-joined later.

I can see that I'll need a good wiring diagram to put it back together when the car is assembled. The good news is that 30 years ago Holden used decent wires and colour coded everything, so hopefully the labelling I've done, and the right wiring diagram will help sort things out.

The cars came to me with an alarm system, after market stereo, and LPG Dual Fuel system - so the wiring should be a lot simpler when some of these things get tossed.

Some photos.....

My very own birds nest!

It's not as bad as it seems....

I even removed some of the crap from under the bonnet

Almost a shell

2011-08-02T10:11:00.000+10:00

Made more progress on the weekend. The interior has been largely taken out, the back bumper removed, tail lights and trims are gone, and I've started on the dash.

Instruments and frame etc have been removed.

The mess of wiring under the dash will cause me some problems down the track. To make it a bit easier I've labelled every wire as I've disconnected it. Time consuming, but should help me a lot later.

Getting there! No nasty surprises under the bumper. Great!

Interior gone, apart from the rest of the dash and door cards.

Floor in good condition.

In this shot you can see some of the wiring and the labels I've put on.

Hopefully soon I'll have the dash completely removed, and then I'll be able to start on the engine and transmission.

I've found a blaster I'll be using to remove the paint and some of the rust - this particular blaster can do both garnet and soda blasting, as well as undercoating and powder coating. Stay tuned!

Wheel Selection

2011-08-02T09:22:00.001+10:00

These are the wheels that will be going onto the wagon when it's done. They are a one piece Cragar S/S.

You might think that it's a bit early to select wheels, however I believe that wheels should be test fitted early (before paint) just to make sure there's enough clearance and everything fits ok. Besides, it's good excuse to go shopping for wheels early!


Cragar S/S One Piece

Going on the wagon will be a pair of 15x7 and a pair of 15x8.

A busy weekend

2011-07-24T19:55:00.000+10:00

Well, we managed to achieve a fair bit this weekend on the old wagon. The petrol tank is out (anyone want to buy a weirdo custom tank?), all of the chrome trim has been removed, and some of the interior had been taken out.

For some reason, the seats were not bolted into the correct holes - a previous owner had drilled new holes in the floor pan and bolted the seats directly to the floor.

Some piccies!

The custom fuel tank. Designed to sit behind the LPG tank.


I've located another wagon, from which I can get a replacement floor (hopefully!)

Chrome trims removed

These dollies are brilliant. We can push the car around the garage to make it easier to work on.


Front seats removed

Removing the sill trims revealed a world of pain...

Drivers floor is solid - yay! You can see the car's original colour.

Passenger floor has surface rust. No major repair needed here either.

I also picked up a replacement fuel tank today. Looks pretty clean and solid, but I will be giving it the whole "inside and out" treatment to make sure it's 100% before it goes in the car.

First things first

2011-07-20T10:26:00.000+10:00

Given that this old girl isn't going to be a daily driver, we will remove the LPG and bring it back to a straight petrol engine. Obviously, with the work that's going to be done on the car, both the LPG and petrol tanks need to come out.

Taking a good look at it, the LPG tank is totally full - so the first step was to get a permit to drive it to the LPG place and get the gas tank emptied.

Stainless Steel LPG tank - totally full!

The standard petrol tank has been cut down to allow for the LPG tank. Good job, but I don't want it!

LPG Tank comes out (after removing the tailgate)

Next job is to remove the petrol tank, and cut this whole thing out!

When I removed the tailgate I realised how much rust was in the thing. Oh well, back to eBay....

Welcome and first post

2011-07-20T09:40:00.000+10:00

Welcome to the new blog. This blog has been put together to document the progress of our new project, the Holden 1978 HZ Premier Station Wagon.

The wagon was bought from some in Ballarat (Vic) in June, 2011. It had been sitting in the weather for while, as the person who bought it was going to do it up himself, but ended up moving north for work.

Here are the picture from the eBay ad:

She looks pretty good in the photos, but in actual fact it's a bit rough - interior needs a retrim, body needs repairs and new paint. Still, it wouldn't be a project unless some work was needed!

At least she starts and drives, although the brakes are a bit dodgy. It's a 253 with a Trimatic and air conditioning.