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The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project

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Post by highwaymenace 28/12/2010, 1:58 pm

good to see your atill at it,, just dont make the glass to hot mix that it buckles the spoiler
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Post by hemi4bbl 28/12/2010, 3:45 pm

Thanks for the advice Daz, thankfully I've been making it pretty standard at around 1.5-2ml/100ml in these coolish conditions mainly to buy me some time to actually get everything rolled and screwed down before it starts to go off.

Now I'm glad I did!

Simo

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Post by Monk 2/1/2011, 2:25 pm

Great Stuff Simo.

really enjoying watching you build this van & keep up the gret work Very Happy
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Post by hemi4bbl 3/1/2011, 1:44 am

I've kept on truckin' with the spoiler this week, and started by 36 grit scuffing up the mounting surface once the screw down spoiler had cured:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Jam19

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Jam18

Then it was a matter of building up the layers and working the shape of the upper corners:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Jam110

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Jam111

Unfortunately I couldn't do continuous layers due to the stop/starting I had to do to help with the adapting process, where I had to let some sections cure before I could modify something else (for the cuts and splits all through to help it take shape). That was a real pain in the ass as it meant I had to keep sanding it back between coats which is a chore with 'glass, but I managed to lay down two decent fibreglass layers one directly after the other which should go ok with the two I've already got sorted. 2-3 layers was what was recommended to me but figured an extra won't hurt.

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Jam113

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Jam114

I'm actually pretty happy with how its come up and the overall shape is what I was after, there's had to be a few design compromises on the centre of the rear section to make it fit but I don't think it'll detract from it too much. I just need to do some more finishing work at the lower side area near the factory seam which I'll hopefully knock over today.

There were only two real hick-ups that I should try and avoid next time:

1. I pretty much fibreglassed my thong to my foot which wasn't the go, especially as I was in the middle of rolling the roof layers with it curing!

2. I did a massive deep-belly burp about two minutes after scoffing down some leftover Indian takeaway, which in itself isn't a bad thing, however I'd just fitted my twin-filter dust mask and the belch was contained within the confines of that mask and on the wrong side of the filtration process. I was a bit woozy for a while but managed to regain full consciousness with some fresh air...

As well as busying myself with the spoiler I've been trying to get other sideline stuff ready no matter how big or small, just to give me less to do at crunch time for when it all starts going back together.

So it was into some detailing which started off with the master cylinder/booster assembly which was cleaned painted and polished up ready to bolt back on. A new master cylinder all silvered up and cleared, black offset linkages plus chrome for the bracket and reservoir lid seems to work nicely with the VHT bright red booster which will actually be the engine colour too. I've always been a fan of red donks in white engine bays so should look era correct too, especially with some of those wing nut thingos for the (chrome) tappet covers!

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture013-20

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture012-10

Then I dabbled with some interior stuff, fitting new speakers to the CM Regal kick panels and cleaning up the matching Regal seats. My mate 'the interior whisperer' put me onto a quick way to get them sorted, a few squirts of spray and wipe then a pressure clean and those seats have come up 1 million % better than they were; the shite that come out of them was unbelievable and they dried out nicely within a couple of sun soaked days. There's a couple of tiny spot marks that need sorting but I'll get onto a more serious scrub there or even just give them a gentle dab with some matching blue I have. Of course within the time it takes to go get the camera, our dogs are making themselves comfortable on them - I can understand Alf calling shotgun, but with Daisy behind the wheel there's bound to be trouble. I also picked up a full set of carpets in light blue after avoiding red; I was originally going to go for a lairy Hang-Ten Plymouth Scamp-style interior but thought I'd keep the front area pretty standard.

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture015-8

Another niggle I managed to sort out last week too was how the hell I was going to finish the chrome edging around the rear gutter rails. As you may recall, I bought a swag of CL wagon chrome which fits perfectly along the straights but the corners required some tricky hammering to get the pieces to curve. I had a few practice goes and could get them on ok, but they always ended up a little distorted and flattened which really wasn't going to make the grade aesthetically on the final product.

Thankfully in my job I spend a fair whack of time behind the wheel and get to work with heaps of different cars, so its a good chance to ponder what parts can be adapted. Usually I ponder about panelvans, food and Jennifer Love-Hewitt (and sometimes even a combination of all three) but a couple of weeks ago I noticed that a 60 series Cruiser had similar type chrome gutter moulds at the back. When I had a close look however, they looked to be too wide which wasn't going to work, so I started looking at similar era vehicles that still had gutter moulds. Vans and fourbys topped the list and I got close with an L300, but in the end it was first generation Pajero that came up trumps. Mate these trims are meant to be and are nearly the exact profile as the CM type so will morph nicely in withe the stock wagon front strips. Here's one I prepared earlier on Mr Juicy:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture017-5

I also got the last of the fibreglassing of the rear spoiler done this arvo, which is a relief, but its all just a prelude to sorting out the nosecone which spends its days winking at me from the corner of the backyard as a gentle reminder of things to come...

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture014-11


have fun

Simo

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Post by hemi4bbl 8/1/2011, 11:09 am

Was back into the roof spoiler again and chucked a Simonardo Da Vinci by sculpturing it all in to work with the roof pressings. It's funny you know, I was totally adamant that I had to do all rust and structural repairs in welded in steel but have had absolutely no issues trowling the fibreglass and filler into this spoiler. To ever say it has no bog in it would be on par with saying 'No child will be living in poverty by 1990', but its not over rust so I can live with that. My neighbour who's a sheety was absolutely mortified when he popped his melon over the fence this morning and saw me at work, and reckons I should have made one in steel, but after asking if he'd help me make one was quick to disappear...

As I mentioned a few pages back, the roof pressings are awkward on Val vans so are best to be made a feature and not just poorly veiled, so I blended the forward tips in to make it all look like its meant to be. The pics don;t really show it too well but I've made the side pressings of the roof blend into the spoiler by matching the width and curvature between the two. The spoiler itself has had a hard life before I even started messing with it, so most of the work has gone into getting that sorted in the first place.

First up was to start making it one piece:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture019-9

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture020-8

Then it was onto shaping and smoothing all of the joins and 'glass joins:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture027-7

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture024-7

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture029-5

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture028-5

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture031-9

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture030-7

I'm extremely happy with how its looking so far and really enjoyed messing around with it, so hopefully if all the finishing goes well and comes up pretty straight it'll have been worth the effort.

As you can see in the last batch of photos, its got a messy skim coat of filler over it so tomorrow I'll be rubbing that back to get it smooth then doing any extra finishing it needs.

have fun

Simo

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Post by highwaymenace 12/1/2011, 2:54 pm

hope ya didnt get wet Simo,, looking great
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Post by Crackers 15/1/2011, 10:05 pm

Love reading your updates on the van its looking great, and nice work on the rear spoiler.
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Post by hemi4bbl 16/1/2011, 1:13 pm

Thanks folks, its been a tough slog but I managed to get some more spoiler and sidetrack work done over the last couple of weeks, mainly to the rear spoiler which is finally starting to look the goods.

Talking about sanding my ass off and geez I hope I never have to do this again! What a mission but the hard work is paying off and is actually looking better than I hoped for. I ended up doing 2 skim coats then a couple of spot coats to get it all straight:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture026-7

I've been a bit concerned about how the rear centre 'seam' was going to look (half way up the spoiler), with all of the modifying and manipulation to fit the Val roof it had a real smiley curve in it that would annoy the shit out of me every time I walked past it. It was really noticeable once I etched primed it (below) so I redid it this morning to straighten it out a bit (raised the lip about 10mm in the centre). It was worth the extra hours work and the photos probably don't make it look as bad as it was:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture034-5

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture048-2

So with that done it was back to final finishing with some etch and primer giving it some closure. Here's a few thousand angles:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture064-1

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture062-1

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture061

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture060-2

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture058

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture055-2

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture068-1

I also finally got my wheel/tyre combo sorted. Fronts are 15x7's and rears 15x8.5's running 205/65's and 255/60's respectively. The 205's are some spares I had lying around as I may go for some slightly taller tyres depending on how these look with the heavy appearance, bulk and length of the Trans Am front. You know when you see a Torana with a full flare and spoiler kit and its still running stocko 13x5's and 175 tyres? I don't want it to resemble that. I bought some 3 bar spinners that knock onto alloy centre caps and chose the American Racing decals to finish them off:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture038-2

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture039-4

I was away in Cairns with work last week and when I wasn't stressing about the floods back in Bris and glued to the TV, I decided to get into some more evening Hotel-reco action just to keep things moving forward, and to that end cleaned, sorted and detailed the door handles and fully rebuilt the front calipers with new pistons and seals etc. Brakes are brakes so there's no point stuffing around:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture040-4

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture046-1

And the big newsflash is that there might be some changes on the horizon. It's been on my mind for a couple of weeks now and a mate popped over today and respectfully bought up the same thing, totally out of the blue - he made some good points and we could see where each other was coming from. My main concern is the Van looking too 'busy' with so much happening paint-wise, flames unfortunately have been 'cheapened' these days IMHO with the fact you can buy flamed junk everywhere, and the fact its not going to be done as a true Denimachine replica might get confusing, especially as BJ has an excellent replica doing the rounds and I don't want to rain on his parade. Jim was pointing towards me making it something totally fresh and original, something that looks like its skidded straight out of the 80's and will always be 'Simo's Van', not a 'mockup of something built by Simo'.

So I'm seriously thinking of ditching the Denimachine flamed red, white and blue paint scheme and doing it in either full Sting Red (VZ Commo etc.) or factory Stellar metallic Blue with murals on the side of either colour. I'm interested in hearing peoples opinions/thoughts so please feel free to respond.

have fun

Simo

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Post by highwaymenace 16/1/2011, 1:54 pm

sounds a great plan Simo but as for the Stella Blue i feel its a colour that looses its bling quiet fast tho vote a modern blue or the old school fleked electric blue will still work with all you have done so far.

but its not my van i know its gunna be wild what ever way you go

a big fan
Daz
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Post by hemi4bbl 19/1/2011, 1:10 pm

You're right about Stellar Blue Daz, my Mum had a CL Charger brand new in that colour and my Dad reckons it dated really quickly. I finally feel like I'm really making progress now although that almost came to a crashing end yesterday afternoon - a 15 metre limb from a neighbours Gum tree came smashing through my near-new 6ft colourbond back fence after snapping off in yesterdays mega storm. Thankfully the patio copped the brunt of it and held its ground, and only some branches and leaves ended up in the engine bay. Too close for comfort though, and as I was standing about 2 metres away from it when I heard the big 'snap', ran, and thought the Van was all over.

There's my Trans Am front hiding amongst it all, miraculously the main branch got held up on another tree so didn't squash it. I braced the branch and managed to crawl in to its hidey hole and drag it out before it had the chance to have a second go:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture002-26

and a couple of overall views:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture005-18

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture004-22

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture014-12

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture013-21

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture016-7

half-a-Holden copped it:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture003-26

and the neighbours insurer reckons it could be up to two weeks before the treeloppers come to chipper it away because of all the other drama going on in SEQ at the moment.

But anyway, I still plugged away this arvo, citric aciding my soda-blasted front guards, cleaning them off and giving them an etch prime, I've got a couple of small repairs to do and will go for hi-fill by the weekend hopefully:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture008-21

We finally worked out to paint the roof too:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Mission-impossible

I'm pretty much a definite now for a solid colour now with murals and its come down to three colours, remembering that I want something that murals will stand out on. First and most probable is the bright red found on BF Falcons:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Red

2000 era Holden Rodeo Blue (sorry for the crappy pic, it was hard to find!)

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Blue

and lastly is the aqua/light blue colour you sometimes (rarely) see on VZ Commodores and Monaro's, a similar shade to what HJ's etc. had in the 70's. Very close to this Monaro colour but more of an aqua too it:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Aqua

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Aqua1

have fun

Simo

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Post by hemi4bbl 22/1/2011, 1:14 am

So after plodding along spending nearly 15 months repairing and prepping the bodyshell, I spent about 2 hours prepping the bolt on panels which was bliss. I'd managed to track down mint guards and doors which was so worth the effort (and cheap anyway, they cost me $30-$40 a piece), and I bought the bonnet off ebay with the 4" Camaro scoop already glassed in and prepped; I just hope the guy who did it did a good job of it!

So by stumps yesterday I had it all etched and hi-filled which feels like a big chunk of work out the way:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture012-11

I was originally going to go with an L88 Corvette scoop but I tried one and it looked a bit odd with the lines of the Chrysler bonnet, so this pre-done Camaro scooped bonnet was an easy fix:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture009-11

and it was good to see the old treebanger that is still filling up my backyard was able to come in handy too:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture010-11

I'll let it all harden up in the sun now for a few days and rub it back in readiness for some white base coats next weekend.

have fun

Simo

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Post by highwaymenace 22/1/2011, 11:23 am

go the Red. as for the roof painting you been getting ideas from Wayne? watch the clip on this link and you will see what i mean www.fleshair.tv enjoy and make sure you watch till the end
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Post by hemi4bbl 30/1/2011, 11:37 am

Yep Daz, red is the go for sure!

So with the panels and primed and rubbed back, it was time for some light coats of white base to get the whole lot sealed up and ready for top colour. Thank fark for that is all that I can say. Last bits of rubbing back:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture006-15

and all the under-surfaces were whited out:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture011-14

It was about this stage that I tried to tap an inch long 5/16" UNF thread into the base of my foot which called for a few stitches, and I wouldn't recommend to anyone to stand on the vertical factory floor stud that you bolt a child restraint to in a Valiant panelvan... Can't help but think of that joke 'Hey mate you lost a thong...."; "Nah buddy, I found one!".

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture015-9

So old hop-along added white to the rest of the Van and all of the outer panel surfaces:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture017-6

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture024-8

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture025-7

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture026-8

A good mate Simon is extremely artistically talented and has put up his hand to airbrush the murals for me which will be great, not only is he a Mopar man to boot, but it helps to keep the build in the circle.

And this is what happens when you fall asleep at the shops with a sore foot....

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Picture028-7

Not quite the truth but a great Inbetweeners moment anyway..

Next up: TRANS AM Front Wooohooo!!!!

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 N606163060_809867_7357

have fun

Simo

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Post by Mans Ruin 31/1/2011, 3:42 am

good job on the foot lol, nice to see u soldiering on tho, i know all about that one, had knee surgery so one foot was in the air while rewireing vans engine bay lol. cant wait to see it in colour, good luck!!
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Post by mazdragon 1/2/2011, 9:46 am

i like the red.... Very Happy - my 2 cents for what they're worth.... just noticed, r u doing this whole thing in a carport???? thought u had a garage? maybe i'm wrong/mistaken/off the planet/??? Suspect
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Post by hemi4bbl 1/2/2011, 11:04 am

You're right Maz, all in a carport. I have a garage but its really only a car space which has my good VG Hardtop in it. I don;t even have a workbench and my vice sits on the ground, so yes, I'm doing it all a bit stupidly...

Red is the winner too!

Simo

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Post by hemi4bbl 2/2/2011, 12:09 pm

Ok. Now the fun really starts! I'm all excited and dreading this next part in probably equal amounts, mainly due to the sanding that I know is going to be involved, yes that's right its Trans Am front time.

Just a quick recap, I'm mounting an original J&G Trans Am nosecone for a HQ (virtually identical to the Vancraft version) to my steel CL nosecone which will then bolt on and off the guards as per standard CL. There's a couple of reasons for this, first up is to make it easy to adapt, and secondly is to make rego a heap easier.

But before the glassing and moulding starts, there's plenty of behind the scenes work needed to prep everything. Now to get this through rego I want to retain as much of the CL front as I can, including the headlamps and a bumper bar of sorts that will be hidden behind the fibreglass shell. To make this happen though I need to be able to bolt the bumper bar on before the nosecone itself, otherwise the bar will be trapped between the two nosecones once they're glassed together with no way to get the bumper in or out which would be a pain in the butt. To that end I was originally going to run a standard front bar, chop about 4" off each end, plate those ends and then cut out anything on the CL nosecone that is in the way so I can bolt on the bar then place the nosecone over it.

So I started by mounting up some mock up CL guards and the factory steel nosecone. The stock CL bumper bar and brackets were then fitted to see what the go was. Unfortunately, its upward sweep meant lots of the CL nosecone was going to have to be cut. So then I went to a VF/VG type bar and brackets which is physically the same bumper bar (apart from 2 of the 8 mounting bracket hole positions) and the kick of the brackets lowers the bar by about an inch when compared to a CL type setup. This was better but I still ended up needing to trim a fair bit of meat from the steel nosecone which was going to weaken it too much.

So then it was option B. In QLD to register a Cobra kit car, some ICV's or something with rolled pans you're supposed to run some sort of pseudo bumper behind the bodywork made from 2" round or RHS tube, even exhaust tube is accepted which seems ridiculous, just so long as its wide enough to extend to the tyre area. So I decided to run with this option, I much preferred the challenge and coolness of having a stock bumper hidden amongst the front for the pulled over on the side of the road factor, but the RHS or round pipe option makes it a hell of a lot easier which suits me just fine. By rights, I don't specifically need a bumper at all as there's no frontal impact regs for this era, or I could argue that the nosecone forms the 'bumper' as well, but I like the thought of having something there just in case I give it a tap or have any questions about the glass front once its on the road.

So, it was down to business. First up was to refit the standard CL irons, mainly because I have about 5 pairs of these and only set of VG irons left:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Bar12

Then I cut away the bumper mounting ears and slotted the remaining stumps of the bumper bracket to recess in the 50x50 RHS tube. I was originally going to pie cut the RHS in the middle and angle it back as per a stock bumper profile, but it fitted fine without doing that so didn't bother:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Bar13

That all went super smooth so I'll tack them in place tomorrow, cut the ends to make it about 1800mm wide, take them off to give them a full weld, with probably an extra gusset or two on the back for good luck:

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Bar11

The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project - Page 7 Bar1

So there you go, ugly as fark but it won't be visible from the outside and I'll be flat blacking everything on the front face of the guards and rad support panel anyway. Only minimal metal now needs to be trimmed from the nosecone to make it slip over, so it'll do just perfect for both that part and keeping it sweet for rego.

have fun

Simo

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Post by 0488TINTER 26/6/2011, 5:17 pm

WOW long read, great story

Where's it upto now?

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Post by wizard2 27/6/2011, 12:28 am

looks like you have to go to majestics site to see the rest of the build unless simo is going to update it on here the van looks incedible so far thanx wizard

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Post by 0488TINTER 27/6/2011, 5:51 am

i must be blind Sad i cant c it

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Post by 0488TINTER 27/6/2011, 5:56 am

found it Smile

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Post by vanner065 1/7/2011, 7:50 pm

I will ask Simo to keep posting it on here for all to see as well.

It is the greatest build i have seen of a van, so many photos and so many laughs, well dome Simo.
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Post by 308mate 3/7/2011, 12:37 pm

Dude best thread ever! The van, the van vantastic! cheers
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Post by mazdragon 3/7/2011, 1:21 pm

if SIMO cld keep updating here too please Smile .... just copy and paste should work w/out retyping.... thank u... i'm certainly ready for the next installment..
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Post by Rusty62TransAm 4/7/2011, 5:15 am

In the meantime here's a link to keep you up to date: DISTURBIA

Regards

Rusty! Twisted Evil
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