Start - May 03!

(Before I start - the wagon has gone to Holden Heaven, I have been given a premier sedan body, so all the following will be swapped to this sedan.)

The Eh wagon I bought off a mates brother - started 4 years ago but he lost interest. He's done a great job on the design of the hinge system for the steel tilt front. You can lift it with one finger in the center of the wheel opening and it is beautifully balanced, unfortunately he used old panels for the front so I will have to do a little repair to them (rust pinholes in the bonnet nose and guard corners - not an issue - the rust repair panels are available and most people split the guards here anyway to clear the bottom door hinge when tilting).

Front end, early shot with 17" x 8" Jag wheels (Lenso's) with 235/45 rubber, new Vt V8 slotted and drilled discs, jag 4 spot callipers. The Torana front is just sitting in in this shot, after this I was convinced by my mate Julius to cut into the front 2 inches more to lower it. I'll update these shots after the weekend when I do more work and put up shots of the motor and where the front sits now. At 2/3rd suspension height there is 150mm (6") under the sill, so with a full load, the suspension should be at half height which should be 100mm clearance as per rego requirements.

The motor is a Lexus/Soarer 4 litre quad cam V8 from a 1990 japanese crown. Stock it puts out 195 Kw (about 200 rwhp). It weighs 100kg less than a standard cast iron chev/holden V8 and 10kg less than the current alloy dinosaur Gen 3. What it loses in capacity it makes up for in technology. The beauty of these motors is that you can pick up a front cut (front of car cutoff just behind the gearbox with an oxy) for about $1800 from jap importers. It has 4 cams (Gen3 holden's have one), 6 bolt mains (Tough chevs have 4, standard motors have 2) and a 70mm throttle body (you hotup a warm holden V8 by fitting a 65mm one!).

My intention is to twin turbo or supercharge it. I was initially going to run twin superchargers using the ones of the toyota 1ggze (about equivalent to the Eaton M90 on the supercharged V6 commondore) but I am concerned that two of these take 30kw to drive so that is wasted fuel. (Ford V8 pic)

Jag rear - in a carrier built for Torana - to be redone as it looks dam ugly!

Jag rear under a gasaxed Fj - as they should look!

May 5 03

This is a quick update - blower sits up too high and too wide on side - going twin turbo I think. Looks like Nissan vg30det turbo x 2 (rated at 190kw each, $350 ea if you buy a pair - SSS in Sydney). I'll have a look at seats while I'm there as well as they have heaps of nice seats from $200 pr.

You can see how far back it sits - I have since moved it back another 2 inches, lots of room and good weight balance for better handling (3 inches back from standard).

Lots of different angles to see how the engine fits coming up below.

Torana Front - widened 2 inches to fit with the Jag wheels (and also to match the track of the rear diff), should fit but guards may need to be pumped by 1 inch or so. (update - yes they do!)

Friday May 16 03

Firewall - cut more out since to increase engine clearance to get the engine back further.

Saturday May 17 03

Welded in - half at a time is sooo much easier! Starting the other side today - but need to work out the steering at the same time while there is s nice big hole to line things up - easier than trying to work blind after welding in the firewall!

Jag rear in a rod - note support rods. The V12 is the same as the xj6, only difference is the 12 is limited slip.

There are two widths, most are the common wider width (1500 track - centre to centre of tyres). The S type jag is narrower (I measured it- 1400mm - 100mm narrower if I remember correctly). In an Eh that means cutting chassis rails - and tubs. Not for me as rego said no!

When you mount it - try to locate it high - not like axed fj - check pic above. Also attached a pic of an aftermarket rear - left side shows normal location of jag rear - in fj this mounts the diff too low - car too high! checked some jags at a driving day - the axle should be straight under normal load.

Wheels - jag use HQ offset, studs, but centre is 72mm? - larger than hq (62mm?). Order wheels to suit or get them machined for larger hub as the hub is the centering and load carrying area - not the studs. I'm turning adapter rings for the front hubs to take up load.

Dash cut for lexus electric tilt column, you can see where I split the tunnel and plated it. I'll weld underneath when it's sandblasted and on a spit, I'll also stitch weld all body seams to stiffen the car. I'll build a chassis kit when I have fitted the running gear so it all ties together well.

17 inch wheels trialed on the car - rear will sit lower - to rim level (17x8 - 235x45 tyres).