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Sept 3, 2011 15:08:52 GMT
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Bought on eBay, sight unseen! I picked it up today, here it is. ;D It's a WB Holden ute with a HZ front end on it. It has a Holden 202ci 6 cylinder 'blue motor', Aussie four-speed manual on the floor and an LSD rear axle. As soon as I got it on the road for the first drive, you couldn't wipe the smile from my face! It's had a lot of work done to it by the previous owners, including cutting rust out and welding patches, a respray in metallic gunmetal grey and a spruce-up of the interior. The engine has had an LPG system taken off of it, so it is now pretty much back to original specification and runs nicely. It's got extractors and a 3" exhaust, so it makes a lovely noise. More pics and details to come!
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Sept 3, 2011 16:36:26 GMT
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nice ute, nice colour 202 aint that bad on petrol either, however i think the lsd is wasted on it, best send it to me
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10mpg
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,253
Club RR Member Number: 204
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Sept 3, 2011 17:33:08 GMT
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That's lovely, more pics please!
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The Internet, like all tools, if used improperly, can make a complete bo**cks of even the simplest jobs...
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Sept 3, 2011 21:43:25 GMT
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Nice, needs stickers for the B&S look though!
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Sept 3, 2011 21:49:25 GMT
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Love em! Went to Oz and really wanted to bring one home!!
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Sept 4, 2011 11:02:17 GMT
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My brothers series IIa landrover had a 202 in it. Lovely smooth engine but eventually the top came off the number 5 piston- apparently a common failure? His was red painted- whats the difference???
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Sept 4, 2011 11:34:33 GMT
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My first impressions of the car so far are that it's an absolute hoot to drive! The 3" exhaust gives it a big, grunty sound and at low revs the engine has plenty of torque to match, but at higher rpm it falls completely flat and sounds like it is valve bouncing at about 5000rpm or even less. It is considerably quicker than I thought it would be though. The best thing about driving it is the ability of the engine to pull pretty much any gear from nearly idle speed. Rolling along in top gear at about 50 or 60km/h you can barely hear the engine, but if you stomp on the accelerator it just pulls away with a roar! So much more torque than the four cylinder cars which I'm used to driving. The clutch is heavy and long, whilst the gearchange is very long and a bit sloppy. The brakes are actually surprisingly good and it's got discs on the front with a power booster, so the pedal effort isn't very high. The steering is definitely heavy at parking speeds, although this is not unexpected, since a heavy car with about a 13" steering wheel and no power steer on 215-section tyres will tend to have heavy steering! Luckily I'm a fairly large young male so it's not a problem for me, but I definitely can't imagine my grandma parallel parking in this beast! Having said that though, my aunt used to drive a HZ Kingswood sedan with no power steer and three on the tree right up until a couple of years ago though and it never bothered her. She would've had to park in some tight multi-storey car parks as well, since she's a nurse at a major hospital. Just goes to show that modern motorists are too soft! They've all been spoilt with finger-light controls and automatic everything. I outlaid quite a bit of money on this car, so it's nice to see that the list of things which need fixing is shorter than the one for my Bug, and much shorter than the list of things which are already right about the car! Things to fix: Speedo doesn't work. This is a bit of a major one because the police are pretty hot on the speed cameras around here! It seems pretty certain that the fault is with the speedo drive gear in the transmission as you can hear it buzzing away in there. The previous owner supplied a replacement one with the car, so that should be a free fix as soon as I can get around to dropping the gearbox out. It will be a good thing to drop the gearbox anyway, as the clutch throwout bearing makes a nasty scraping sound whenever you use the clutch. The temperature gauge also doesn't work, although the previous owner assured me that it did. I'm not particularly worried about this because the car has a massive and nearly-new radiator and doesn't seem to get hot. The car was terrible at cold starts! There is no manual choke on the dash and when I tried to start the car this morning it refused to do more than cough once. I believe that I have now fixed this by wiring up ignition-live power to the electric choke on the carb, which was not connected. I shall very quickly discover tomorrow morning whether this has worked or not! The PCV/vacuum hose system on the engine all looks a bit on the leaky side to me and I suspect that some of these vacuum leaks may be causing trouble with the car's running, although it does run pretty well anyway. That's pretty much all that I'm worried about, which is a refreshingly short list for a car which I've just bought! At the moment I'm trying to decide my plans for the car's future. I didn't really have a clear purpose in mind when I bought this, so I still haven't decided whether it's a daily driver or a toy. I already have one of each, so one car has to go! If the ute ends up replacing my Superbug as a toy, then I will probably have to hot it up a bit and add some more power to make it sillier. However, if I sold off my daily driver Nissan, then this could possibly make a suitable replacement. The fuel economy will be quite a bit worse, although I'm not sure by how much until I've driven it a bit. Surprisingly, despite being a 27 year old commercial vehicle it's actually got a more comfortable ride than my family-car Nissan, which I suspect is largely due to softer suspension and a longer wheelbase. In terms of the immediate future, I'm currently contemplating removing the roll bar from the tray. Once I've done that, the tonneau cover will be able to fasten down flat. I can then put two of the spotlights on the front bull bar, which has mounting holes already drilled. However, I do actually have a couple of spare driving lights in the shed to put on there if the roll bar ends up staying! What does everyone think? Roll bar or no? If it does go, the side skirts will probably be taken off at the same time.
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Sept 4, 2011 11:41:21 GMT
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My brothers series IIa landrover had a 202 in it... His was red painted- whats the difference??? The colours of Holden engines denote the era in which they were made. The first Holden six cylinder was the grey motor, built from 1948 to about 1963. Then came the red motor, as used from the 1964 EH Holden to 1980. Then was the blue motor, like mine. The final iteration was the black motor, as seen in the VK Commodore with EFI on it! Various changes were made from engine to engine, but the biggest one was the change from a 9 port head (three siamesed intake ports) on the red motor to a 12 port head for the blue motor and beyond. There is a brief overview here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_Red_motor#Red
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funkyhunk
Part of things
Old Ford's R Us
Posts: 265
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Sept 4, 2011 11:47:03 GMT
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You should drop that massive bull bar, then it would look ace
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Sept 4, 2011 11:53:11 GMT
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Love how the shape didnt really change from the early HQ all the way to the WB. Looks to be in minty condition too. Also its got a nice bed thats big enough to pick up more HQ bits (ahem )
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1993 Fiat Panda Selecta 2003 Vauxhall Combo 1.7DI van 2006 Mercedes Kompressor Evolution-S AMG SportCoupé
"You think you hate it now, wait til you drive it"
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Sept 4, 2011 12:52:51 GMT
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Ah, I thought that this would catch your eye PandaSelecta! It's in pretty good nick but I wouldn't call it mint. Like most old cars, there's a few repairs under the paint done to varying standards. You're right that it is handy for parts collection, I've already picked up a roll cage for a mate's Mini.
As far as the interchangeability of the HQ-WB series goes, when you're building a car in low volumes like the Australian market you can't afford to change it every year! Ford and Chrysler were the same and it still applies to the new cars as well. For example the VT-VZ Commodore series used essentially the same shell from 1997 to 2006ish, which is actually longer lasting than the HQ-HZ sedans/wagons. The current model Commodore has been running the same shape since 2006, even down to lights and bumpers!
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Colonelk
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,740
Club RR Member Number: 83
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Sept 4, 2011 14:23:59 GMT
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I LOVE that bull bar (roo bar?) Its the fact its so hilarious.
Love this truck n general actually. Ha-mazing!
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bortaf
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,549
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Sept 4, 2011 18:55:31 GMT
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Now that's what I call a roo bar ! ;D ;D ;D
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Last Edit: Sept 4, 2011 18:55:46 GMT by bortaf
R.I.P photobucket
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Lawsy
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,615
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Sept 4, 2011 19:42:53 GMT
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Now thats a truck.. I was only looking at threads about holden utes and the vans this morning..
Would love one, but don't think there's many over here..
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Sept 5, 2011 10:40:59 GMT
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The beast managed it's first 100km commuting day today and was great. The cold start was terrible, but once I had got it going and stalled about 5 times getting out of the street it was okay. It will absolutely not idle from cold at all! Other than that, everything is going well. It seems to be doing pretty reasonable fuel mileage as well. It rides over bumps much more smoothly than my modern Nissan sedan! Quite amazing really.
The indicators are annoying me, because the left one self-cancels and the right doesn't. The relay seems to click twice when I first put the indicator on and then it continues flashing silently, so I end up driving for 10 minutes with my right indicator on. The sports steering wheel is too small and obscures the indicator flashers and most of the speedo above 80km/h. Which doesn't really matter since it doesn't work! I'm going to look for a slightly bigger steering wheel I think.
@ Colonelk and bortaf, even though it's nominally intended to protect against kangaroos, I would definitely call this a bull bar. The term 'roo bar' is usually applied to much smaller and flimsier bars, with the implication being that a big strong bull bar is strong enough to save you not just from a kangaroo but also a bull. I highly doubt that the bar would save you if you hit a bull though!
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521red
Part of things
Posts: 106
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Oct 10, 2011 11:57:58 GMT
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My first impressions of the car so far are that it's an absolute hoot to drive! The 3" exhaust gives it a big, grunty sound and at low revs the engine has plenty of torque to match, but at higher rpm it falls completely flat and sounds like it is valve bouncing at about 5000rpm or even less. It is considerably quicker than I thought it would be though. The best thing about driving it is the ability of the engine to pull pretty much any gear from nearly idle speed. Rolling along in top gear at about 50 or 60km/h you can barely hear the engine, but if you stomp on the accelerator it just pulls away with a roar! So much more torque than the four cylinder cars which I'm used to driving. The clutch is heavy and long, whilst the gearchange is very long and a bit sloppy. The brakes are actually surprisingly good and it's got discs on the front with a power booster, so the pedal effort isn't very high. The steering is definitely heavy at parking speeds, although this is not unexpected, since a heavy car with about a 13" steering wheel and no power steer on 215-section tyres will tend to have heavy steering! Luckily I'm a fairly large young male so it's not a problem for me, but I definitely can't imagine my grandma parallel parking in this beast! Having said that though, my aunt used to drive a HZ Kingswood sedan with no power steer and three on the tree right up until a couple of years ago though and it never bothered her. She would've had to park in some tight multi-storey car parks as well, since she's a nurse at a major hospital. Just goes to show that modern motorists are too soft! They've all been spoilt with finger-light controls and automatic everything. I outlaid quite a bit of money on this car, so it's nice to see that the list of things which need fixing is shorter than the one for my Bug, and much shorter than the list of things which are already right about the car! Things to fix: Speedo doesn't work. This is a bit of a major one because the police are pretty hot on the speed cameras around here! It seems pretty certain that the fault is with the speedo drive gear in the transmission as you can hear it buzzing away in there. The previous owner supplied a replacement one with the car, so that should be a free fix as soon as I can get around to dropping the gearbox out. It will be a good thing to drop the gearbox anyway, as the clutch throwout bearing makes a nasty scraping sound whenever you use the clutch. The temperature gauge also doesn't work, although the previous owner assured me that it did. I'm not particularly worried about this because the car has a massive and nearly-new radiator and doesn't seem to get hot. The car was terrible at cold starts! There is no manual choke on the dash and when I tried to start the car this morning it refused to do more than cough once. I believe that I have now fixed this by wiring up ignition-live power to the electric choke on the carb, which was not connected. I shall very quickly discover tomorrow morning whether this has worked or not! The PCV/vacuum hose system on the engine all looks a bit on the leaky side to me and I suspect that some of these vacuum leaks may be causing trouble with the car's running, although it does run pretty well anyway. That's pretty much all that I'm worried about, which is a refreshingly short list for a car which I've just bought! At the moment I'm trying to decide my plans for the car's future. I didn't really have a clear purpose in mind when I bought this, so I still haven't decided whether it's a daily driver or a toy. I already have one of each, so one car has to go! If the ute ends up replacing my Superbug as a toy, then I will probably have to hot it up a bit and add some more power to make it sillier. However, if I sold off my daily driver Nissan, then this could possibly make a suitable replacement. The fuel economy will be quite a bit worse, although I'm not sure by how much until I've driven it a bit. Surprisingly, despite being a 27 year old commercial vehicle it's actually got a more comfortable ride than my family-car Nissan, which I suspect is largely due to softer suspension and a longer wheelbase. In terms of the immediate future, I'm currently contemplating removing the roll bar from the tray. Once I've done that, the tonneau cover will be able to fasten down flat. I can then put two of the spotlights on the front bull bar, which has mounting holes already drilled. However, I do actually have a couple of spare driving lights in the shed to put on there if the roll bar ends up staying! What does everyone think? Roll bar or no? If it does go, the side skirts will probably be taken off at the same time. I like you front bumper.
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qwerty
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,410
Club RR Member Number: 52
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Oct 10, 2011 16:26:43 GMT
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Lose the Roll Bar and skirts I reckon!
Looks awesome! Love the cattle shifter, bull bars.
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Time for an update on this. The ute has given great service and I've been enjoying driving it everywhere. I went on a long-ish trip a few weeks ago to the Marrabel Bullride, which proved that the exhaust is completely deafening on the highway! So, I'll be looking to add another muffler or perhaps a longer resonator to the exhaust system. In the meantime, I have finally got around to fixing some major problems which the car had ever since I bought it. The problem was a severe tailshaft vibration, noisy clutch throw-out bearing and the lack of speedo drive. So, there's only one thing for it! Up in the air, tailshaft out, centre console out, shifter out, gearbox crossmember out... And finally, the gearbox is out! I've already bought new uni-joint bearings and gearbox oil. Now, I have to track down a speedo drive gear retaining clip and a clutch kit. Once I've got those, it should go back together this weekend. Can't wait!
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Apr 28, 2012 10:48:18 GMT
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Time for an update! The mighty ute is now back together and on the road. And I sold my Nissan, so it's now the sole daily driver! I think I'm going to have to get my VW running again. There were major dramas sourcing a new clutch throwout bearing, as the type that it had previously are apparently no longer available. In the end, I got some kind of plastic monstrosity in the approximate shape of the old bearing, which seems to be working fine. So, after a lot of effort, I ended up changing the clutch bearing, gearbox oil, speedo drive clip and the rear uni joint. Unfortunately, the speedo drive is obviously binding up somewhere, as it sheared off the new clip within minutes. So, I still have no speedo. Oh well. The other major problem is that having had all the external shift rods off on the Aussie four speed, they didn't all go back into exactly the same place, so the adjustment of the shifter is not quite as good as it was. I can still get all the gears, but sometimes I accidentally end up with first and reverse both engaged at the same time, if I'm not careful to pull reverse all the way out before going back to neutral. So, after a lot of effort, the speedo still doesn't work, the gearshift is now quite a bit worse but at least the tailshaft isn't vibrating all over the place now! Here's some recent photos of the ute in action. Picking up my eBay-purchased 1981 Suzuki TS185. Going to the Clare Easter Races. Unbelievably, for one day at the races with six people, the back of the ute is completely full! Three big swags, six fold-out chairs, tables, BBQ, esky and more. Far more junk than I would have believed possible, although we did use most of it. Rolling out the swag in the back of the ute is camping in style! The tray is the perfect length for me to lie down in my swag, I actually slept with the tailgate shut and still had room for the pillow behind my head. With my toolbox bolted down on the left side of the tray, it's the perfect width as well, as my swag fits snugly between the toolbox and the right wheelarch. Having a nice flat, dry spot to unroll the swag wherever I go is great. As you can see in the photo, I need to get the spare wheel carrier sorted out. A previous owner cut off the underslung spare wheel mount in order to fit their LPG tank, which is now gone. Unfortunately they cut out all the crossmembers in the chassis for the spare wheel, so I'll have to weld something in there. Note that I've got rid of the roll bar now. The ute has been put to work hauling a variety of loads, from firewood to furniture, a 1275 mini engine and today three office chairs which I scored on eBay. I'm enjoying driving the ute, but for winter I really need to get the auto choke sorted out! The current starting procedure consists of pumping the throttle about 20 to 30 times in order to run the car purely on the fuel from the accelerator pump. So, the job list, in order of importance: Fix the auto choke Get the shift rods adjusted Carb rebuild and/or tune up Weld in a spare wheel carrier under the rear New steering wheel New clutch cable Fix the speedo, probably a new cable and another drive clip Maybe quieten the exhaust a little bit? Longer resonator?
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zacman
Part of things
Posts: 11
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Apr 28, 2012 11:57:00 GMT
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Do love these, and the HZ front is my favorite. It it were mine, I'd remove the side skirts, and the bull-bar, then source a sedan chrome front bumper. Would clean it up a bit. Nice to see it being used as it should! I had an HQ one-tonner for a few years, and it was also awesome at lugging curse word around and sleeping in .
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