Since we are in lock down, i am working on what cars i can with what i have and this is the one car i have been avoiding for some time now.

but what happened was the 64 Pontiac got offered to me and i just could not let it get scraped !! so the  ute got put back on the back burner again.😞

 

 

Edited April 20, 20206 yr by 64 kiwi boni

it is a 1972 Holden belmont with factory 173 cube inch straight 6, very simliar to the 60"s  chevy motor, but Holdens version, with a 3 on the tree box and bango ltd slif diff.

Rust wise, it wasnt too bad (for a Holden) !!!

 These things where work horses and very basic.

14 inch wheels, A arm front end pretty much like a gen 2 Camaro, manual steering.

 Oh but full chassis and the tray is fully galvanized

so together we striped all the paint off and cut out all the rust and got it to primer stage.

Sent it off to my mates paint shop where it sat for nearly 2 years, but it was worth it.

when we got it back it was show level workmanship, the colour is custom with a fine flake in the green  

at this time i was an executive for the new zealand hot rod association and would do all the nation wide events, judging etc and i met a guy who would become a life long mate.

 he had a model A coupe he built for his partner and built a race engine for  it and it was simply too hot for street use. 

 one night we where bench racing at a bar in Aucland and he said he was pulling the motor to fit a better street version, and i asked what he would do with the big dollar motor.

He offered it to me at a really silly number and i said "mate you must be joking"

 And left it at that.... a year later i get a call, : mate you want that motor???, i said yeah but not in the gold plated version!!

 He then offered to de tune it.... street manifold, cam and heads... and a much better number, so i said yes.

What i got was a small block 400, with less than 200 miles on it, steel crank, forged pistons with all internals fully balance (Trust me it makes a huge difference to the way it revs)

 fully blue printed and he fitted double hump fuelies with a dual plain manifold.( port matched)

 i went up to his place to get it and once i fitted it into the ute, he came down and tuned it..

 i am not sure if i can put up a video here but to hear this thing, is bloody awsume !!!

i live in the country and when i start it i get calls from my neighbors about how hot the ute sounds from a distance ( got petrolhead neighbors)👍😋

From there, it was a custom built turbo 350 trans, custom driveshaft and i had my good mate build a 9 inch with disc for the rear, chassis got full rebuild with all new parts front and rear, set of boyd coddington junk yard dogs 17inch ( got to remember this work was done over ten years ago)

and at the time some rear dumb race seat!! ( watch this space)😜

i rewired the whole thing, which was easy, b and m shifter and some stock pacemaker header ( watch this space)😜

next week i am going pull it out of storage and show you what it looks like and i plan to get some work done, or what i can do with what i have on hand.

i might even try to fit some glass myself 😦

Right from the start of this build i have been customizing the ute and here in NZ if you modify a car it will need to go through a certification system to legally register it to go back on the road

And we are very lucky to have the hobby car Technical manual... its the street rodder/ custom car builder  bible.

 it tells you what you can and cant weld, how to do everything  correct  including materials to use. And a shit load more.

 makes life way easier, so you dont have to do things twice !!

once you have it all done, a certifier will do an inspection and you get a certification plate attached to the vehicle. job done !👍 

Great progress! Interesting color of green, definitely suits it!

Funny to hear you talkin about the ute.  Over here it's my street.....Ute Pointe.  LMAO  Also a native American tribe.   Yes another Indian connection.   Your garage is freakin amazing, and filled with even better toys!

6 hours ago, JUSTA6 said:

Funny to hear you talkin about the ute.  Over here it's my street.....Ute Pointe.  LMAO  Also a native American tribe.   Yes another Indian connection.   Your garage is freakin amazing, and filled with even better toys!

Yeah justa6 i am a devoted petrolhead and have been since i was a kid, early days it was all 56 chevs and dirt track racing old cars ( mostly old holdens) and then i just sort of started to stop selling and just buying and keeping them.

I have one more that i will post, and it is my favorite baby.. i went to New York too a car show especially to see it released and it took 2 years to get my hands on one, and i aint never selling it.

The rest are not worthy of this web site ( no one wants to see a old dodge ram or escorts, cortinas minis and mazdas)

 got any pictures of your Ute ???

Holden just got canned by gm so its kind of like Pontiac now... collector items👍

My Ute is my address,  it's the street I live on.     The general public have no idea how to spell it.  Best example of what it is......a native American tribe.  My Ol Sunbird is my 1st NEW car.  Still only has 30,000 mi on it and will never leave here.  

On 4/3/2020 at 11:37 PM, 64 kiwi boni said:

Yeah justa6 i am a devoted petrolhead and have been since i was a kid, early days it was all 56 chevs and dirt track racing old cars ( mostly old holdens) and then i just sort of started to stop selling and just buying and keeping them.

I have one more that i will post, and it is my favorite baby.. i went to New York too a car show especially to see it released and it took 2 years to get my hands on one, and i aint never selling it.

The rest are not worthy of this web site ( no one wants to see a old dodge ram or escorts, cortinas minis and mazdas)

 got any pictures of your Ute ???

Holden just got canned by gm so its kind of like Pontiac now... collector items👍

 

18 minutes ago, JUSTA6 said:

My Ute is my address,  it's the street I live on.     The general public have no idea how to spell it.  Best example of what it is......a native American tribe.  My Ol Sunbird is my 1st NEW car.  Still only has 30,000 mi on it and will never leave here.  

I couldn’t agree with my buddy JustA more! Great collection. Love the “70” Camaro! “69” Z was first love & my first new car! Broke my heart to sell it in 2004. I would love to see the Rams!

Haha, i clicked !!! very cool Justa, 

Last Indian, i always wanted a gen 1 camaro.!! have had 2 gen 2s and they are pretty cool too, my orange girl is a 72 model and here is the ram, i bought off a importer mate of mine who scored it out of Ca, he paid next to nothing for it, its a 96 four wheel drive model with the 360, and i love it, its big its tuff and man... i have towed some stuff with it and sooo easy!😋

shes done 380k miles before i got her, has had a new motor, gear box and god knows what else before i got her. original paint, which i will not touch.. it so cool to have the patina. the boss keeps going on at me to repaint it but i dont want to, once you paint it its not original. 

 it has no rust except what you can see on the rear. 

 Up till 2 years ago we used her to tow our retro caravan, and spent many weekends at the beach with our mate on the turps! and my vinson 500 fits nicely on the back with the tail gate closed, fishing gear loaded up, konkiki etc

you will note Harry is in and ready to head to the beach !!! 

Edited April 6, 20206 yr by 64 kiwi boni

I think this link will work? This was posted back in “17” I owned both a “69” & “74” Z both were massively modified as you will see, if the link works. The “74” was my wife’s the “69” was mine part, just part of the reason for the massive mods were to many winters in Northeast Ohio! Lots of hard winter lots of salt! And yes we drove them year around. Believe me when I say, winter, big horsepower, rear wheel drive, is nothing but shear fun! 

Edited April 6, 20206 yr by Last Indian

1 hour ago, Last Indian said:

I think this link will work? This was posted back in “17” I owned both a “69” & “74” Z both were massively modified as you will see, if the link works. The “74” was my wife’s the “69” was mine part, just part of the reason for the massive mods were to many winters in Northeast Ohio! Lots of hard winter lots of salt! And yes we drove them year around. Believe me when I say, winter, big horsepower, rear wheel drive, is nothing but shear fun! 

wow!! you certainly had a major job with both camaros!!! i am impressed with your full Chassis on both cars, bet that made a difference to handling too !

i had a 75 lt and it had the same big bumpers as your wife 74, with that great big leaf spring behind the ally.

 i read some where how in 72 over 110k camaros where crushed after thay didnt meet the new frontal impact rules, guess that is why the big bumpers. not sure who true that was ...🙄

21 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

wow!! you certainly had a major job with both camaros!!! i am impressed with your full Chassis on both cars, bet that made a difference to handling too !

i had a 75 lt and it had the same big bumpers as your wife 74, with that great big leaf spring behind the ally.

 i read some where how in 72 over 110k camaros where crushed after thay didnt meet the new frontal impact rules, guess that is why the big bumpers. not sure who true that was ...🙄

The “69” was just incredible! I have raced quarter miles, saloon racing and road courses for many many years! I drove them, built them and designed suspension for them, but never did one handle like the “69” did after I finished the full frame & suspension mods. I had removed 300 pounds from the car by cutting out the entire floor from firewall back, all of it and all from above CG. That is a very heavy floor triple panel in some places because of the unibody. Long story short, I never got to drive behind the car, but many that did told me over and over that it changed lanes like a slot car. That kind of maneuverability & 600hp were a pretty fun combination.

The “74” handle really well too, but a little more docile, not quite as aggressive & only about 350hp. The bumpers you mentioned! Those were an abortion if I ever saw one! Aluminum and steel in the winter! Water, salt! Seriously they might as well have connected a battery to it and forget the alternator! So when I rebuilt it I gutted the bumpers! No steel leafs, got rid of them all. Just the aluminum bumper! Welded up some Stainless steel extension brackets that extended out from the frame and mounted the bumpers solid. In doing that I moved the bumpers in about 4” closer to the body and got rid of the flexible vinyl body color intermediate piece they used.

So with the weather being sh-t i cant do much on the Bonneville, so i am on to my HQ Holden ute ( Justa6 street  )

i have a set of VF commodore/ R8 pontiac seats to fit and they look way better than the "race seats" 

have had to make mounts to comply with our new zealand LVVTA requirements so it will get through certification to get it back on the road .

 Basically here if we mod anything we have to get it certified to get legal for the street, way easier than Australia, they have it really hard.

so i made all my mount plates and plug welded then to the floor pan...as per Blah blah 🙄 

As per my hobby car manual, i have made a double plate that fits under and above the floor, min area is 3 1/4 x 2" or 80mm x 50mm and 3mm thick

 each plate has to have a 5mm / 3/16 radius corners and all which contact with the structure of the floor pan must have a 0.1 mm or 1/24th radius.

 Pretty easy with a cut off saw to tickle up 😋

 then  you have a max of 5mm plug weld  hole to hold it in place or, you can use a money rivet x 2 max 1/8 time two too hold them in place.. nothing major but very explicit in what you can and cant do.🙄🙄 

 oh look at the time !!!! its .....

BEER -O - CLOCK  AGAIN

 Gees dont the days fly when we are working on our cars !

 

Beer! It's not just for breakfast anymore!

Got all the seat mount plates completed and used a whole mega dynamat kit on the floor, inner rear panel, roof and inner doors.

installed the carpet kit and wired in the seat controls.

bolted new seats in and am very happy with how much nicer they are than the repo "race seats"😜

Got  all the front assembled and looking nice and clean, removed the Holden badge and Chevroleted it 

Very cool kiwi. Nice matching green bowtie to go with it.

Put all the dash back in and did a carbon fibre sticker job on the dash and hand brake, just to tidy it up a bit 

Fiddly work but worth it

What type of seats are those?

Hay Ringo

they are out of a vf ss holden, think they are also in your r8 pontiacs too

17 minutes ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

Hay Ringo

they are out of a vf ss holden, think they are also in your r8 pontiacs too

Ah, nice! 

after working all saturday, i managed to get 2 hours on sunday to try a new set of shorty headers i bought, they are to suit a camaro and they are the closest i could find that will give me the ground clearance i need, all the full length headers i have tried ( 3 set) are all too low to the ground, as i am running super low springs and castlemaine 2 inch dropped spindles.

So shortys are the way to go... BUT 🙄

Right hand side was a perfect fit even with my right hand steering !👍😜 but the left side with all its room is hitting on the from suspension mount, i looked at it for about an hour and humed and herred , and i know from here the only way to fix this issue is to bite the bullet and chop it up and start from scratch