The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project

Hi all,

Finally, its begun. After 4 years of sitting around & being neglected my CL Pano is having its time to shine. It's waited patiently while I repowered my Hemi VG Valiant Coupe, built up a VG Valiant Cop Sedan, VE Valiant Cop Safari Wagon an VF Valiant Sedan, but now it's going to be full steam ahead.

There's a bit of a story behind this. I've wanted a CL van all my life; my Dad worked at Chrysler in SA so I've always been aware of them even when new and although plenty of other cars have come and gone, this was always 'the' project. Since doing some Custom Van stuff for Street Machine mag my motivation's quadrupled and its really reignited the dream I had as a kid in the 80's; to be cruising around tailgate up and with Australian Crawl crackling from the wireless... Not to mention the gear drive, crushed velvet pentastar archway and working sidepipes. I mentioned to my wife that I'm going to take her parking up at Mt Cootha when its done, but she said I better take a towel as I'll be going it alone... Damn..

Here's some more background in the form of a letter I wrote to Custom Vans & Trucks in 1983:



Thankfully some tastes have changed since then, namely 12 slotters and Mack Bulldogs (WTF?) but it'll still have a lot of styling cues I yearned for so badly back then.

So it all started with a basketcase I picked up in Brissy, its a factory 318 4 speed Stellar Blue Sportspack, but it had no motor or box, interior, front panels etc. and is pretty rusty. To get the ball rolling back in 2005 I bought a CL Regal V8 donor car (remember when you could still buy donor cars?, they were the days) which had been rear-ended and subsequently written off. My Dad and I pulled the 318 and 904 and stripped the Regal of as much stuff as we could use to try and help make this a complete Van again.







So basically the build plan for this is new millenium 'Denimachine', not only because that's the look I like, but when you see Val Vans at Shows these days they are more often than not restored Drifters or Sportspacks which look pretty standard. Don't get me wrong I love a clean Val Van but I want to do something different. To that end it will have front and rear spoilers, pentastar side bubble windows, sidepipes, bonnet scoop etc. and have the option of a CM Regal front or fibreglass Trans Am front that I'm grafting to a spare CL nosecone so they can be swapped over with minimal fuss. Here's a mock-up pic as the van sits currently and a snap of the pentastar bubble windows I picked up which I feel are very fitting to a Chrysler Van:





So today I decided to get things moving. To bring you all up to speed, all I have done in the 4 years that I've had it is to piece it together externally as parts and panels have come along. You'll see a lot of stuff from the CL Regal plus better doors and a nosecone that I picked up here and there. As everyone knows, the best thing about having wagons, utes or vans lying around is the amount of crap you can store in them. This was definitely the case with me as anything that needed a home just got jammed in here. So I started by ripping it all out and cleaning out the back. Funnily enough I found heaps of stuff that I thought I had lost (and since bought more of) and managed to bin a lot of stuff as I need to find homes for all this crap now I actually want to build it!





The plenum under the screen is a pile of shite, I've always known it and have a mint donor cut out of a VH sedan to help repair it, but there is so much bog jammed in there that you couldn't actually see the bolts that hold the dash panel in...







Oh, and when I was digging around in the engine bay I found a name and address Dymo taped on the inner guard: David HOLMES from Para Hills in Adelaide. How's the irony of that!! We've been calling this thing the John Holmes Pornovan for so long!! Its a sign I tell you! I'm going to try and chase this bloke up too, maybe he'll have some pics of it in its prime.

I'll try and get the crayons out in the next couple of days and attempt to draw a couple of concept pics of how I want it to look which might make it all clearer..

This is going to take a couple of years so bare with me...

have fun

Simo

What a great read Simo.
You were pretty close with the idea's you had back then, that you have now.
It'll look a treat when finished.
Keep up the great work.

Thanks Agro, I can't wait to get this project really moving along!

I had a couple of spare hours this arvo so pulled out the dash frame to have a better look at what the rust situation is like. For starters, when your dash frame is this rusty it's a good sign that there's problems further up top!







Once I'd had enough of rusty plenums I decided to have a bit of fun and mock up the fibreglass front. I picked up a pretty hammered Carring front to suit a HQ that is exactly the same as the one I bought quite a while back but this ones had a hard life and there is a bit of damage here and there. To that end I don't mind cutting it up! Whereas most fibreglass fronts replace the complete original nosecone on say a HQ, I want to attach the fibreglass directly to a 2nd CL nosecone to make rego easier, enable me to keep some strength there and be able to bolt/unbolt and interchange with a CM Regal front without much drama. I also want to keep the headlights where they are too.







I figured the optimum position was to line the rear of it up with the rear of the CL nosecone so I gradually kept cutting material away until it sat pretty neatly. As you'll see in the pics its not long enough to make it back to the wheelarches so the plan is to extend it rearward and also extend the front spoiler part deeper similar to how I've mocked up my CL spoiler, and I intend to run black headlamp covers to hide the round headlights. I've never been a fan of the really rounded centre of this nose so want to alter it to be more sharp like a Trans Am or even go the Mad Max or XX308 versions. The Photoshop is dodgy but you'll get the drift!!











have fun

Simo

The nosecone's don't look to bad at all.I'd lean towards the Monza front.(But i'm biased towards those nosecones. )

Yea Simo, look, that roof spoiler dosnt look any good on your van, so if you send it to me I'll, Um, dispose of it for you.


Just kidding, I think the CL is gunna be white hot when finished, Very rare on the van scene. plus ive got a soft spot for the ol drifters.

Where's the bulldog going to sit

Probably on the grass,,,,,,,,,,oh hang on,,, you SIT.

You SAID sit.........theres another joke stuffed up through bad typing

Here's Simo's dog, sitting on my desk......

All I can say was that I loved trucks as a kid too...

have fun

Simo

this is going to be the coolest Drifter in Aussie history.... ! go for it man.

mopar themed bubble windows... sweet as.
great thread...
love the published letter too.

keep up the great work Simon

Thanks folks, I'm so stoked to be finally building this, I can't wait to get it on the road! Hey Ramble, the Holden stuff is so close a fit for the Valiant roofs, but I'm modifying spoilers that have already had hard lives. There's a guy in Bris who stills makes new roof spoilers to suit HD-WB vans and he is keen to start re-popping trans am and other nosecones when he can get ones to mould off; he's going to do a Carring styled HQ front and also an Arcadipane Valiant front I have here as well. Its a place called 'Raider Fibreglass' at Kippa Ring north of Bris. I'll grab some contact details for anyone that's interested.

Harrison Holden Spares are also remaking bubble windows to suit anything, if anyone is chasing windows especially in certain colours etc.

Thanks

Simo

Go for it Simon, As someone who once owned a Valiant (wagin not van) in the early 80"s and built a full custom front from scratch I can honestly say there are nto many Chryslers around with custom nose cones. The CL front looks Fantastic, but, hey any one can bolt on stuff.

hemi4bbl wrote:There's a guy in Bris who stills makes new roof spoilers to suit HD-WB vans and he is keen to start re-popping trans am and other nosecones when he can get ones to mould off; I'll grab some contact details for anyone that's interested.

Could be interested in a Monza or Meteor nosecone (depends what you read in old ads as to which one is which).

[There's a guy in Bris who stills makes new roof spoilers to suit HD-WB vans . Its a place called 'Raider Fibreglass' at Kippa Ring north of Bris. I'll grab some contact details for anyone that's interested.
Harrison Holden Spares are also remaking bubble windows to suit anything, if anyone is chasing windows especially in certain colours etc.

Thanks

Simo[/quote]


Hey thanks for the tip simon. Ill look him up for the spoiler when i get to that part of the build.

Hi Simo,the van is taking shape finally.One of my mates from East Coast Van Club bought a Black CL van when they came out.Chrysler wouldn`t sell him a black one so his dad ordered it as a hearse with a 360 and 4 speed.The coffin maker helped him trim it in burgundy velvet. Dropped heaps and nice wheels it was certainly different.

OK!! I'm back with a vengeance now that Mopar Sunday is run and done and I've cleared room in the Garage and got the old girl back undercover.

I'll hopefully knock the top off the plenum this weekend and get a good look at what the hell is going on there, but today I got sidetracked with fun stuff and fitted up some 255/60 15's onto the 8" Dragways:





They fit with plenty of room all round, although it could get a bit squishy if I ran it lowrider, but was always intending to keep the tyre at the top of the guard (lower this by about an inch) and have the front lower for the full 70's sniffer look. Looks like I might need to chrome the diff now; where's the chrome vinyl gone... The tall sidewall suits the 185R14's I have on the 5" fronts so it should sit ok.

have fun

Simo

Hey Simo
What are you doing with the other roof spoiler that you had for your van (the blue one)?

I've spent the last couple of months since Mopar Sunday having a mega cleanout to clear the decks for pulling this apart and got rid of some serious built-up crap.

First and foremost to get done is the plenum repair so I stripped off all of the front panels to remind myself what its like under there (its been about 4 years..):



I'd forgotten how rusty the rad support panel was; I did cut a mint one off the donor CL sedan though so I should be able to get it sorted pretty quick.





The right sill has a bit of weet-bix but isn't too bad in the scheme of things, the left side is pretty clean.



The battery box is rusted out as normal:



The plenum face has some rust but isn't as bad as it should be looking at the rest of it, it'll be replaced though with my clean VH one.



And here's the bay pretty much gutted apart from the hood cable and the wiper motor; I'll be putting the carbon cannister up under the inner guard somewhere and will most likely reverse the wiper motor to clean up the bay a bit more.



have fun

Simo

I prepped the donor rad support panel off the CL sedan, I cut it off nice and big way back when to make sure I got it all, so drilled out the spotwelds where necessary and it came apart quite easily. I haven't done much of this type of work before so its all a learning curve but so far I've really enjoyed it! I'll strip it back and clean it up tomorrow and if I have enough time will try and remove the old one and get this whizzed into place.

The pics are pretty boring actually but you'll see that Laser thermo fans are a good fit for CL's apparently!!

Simo

I managed to hook in and scrub up the replacement radiator support panel and removed the rotten one.

I wasn't sure if I was being paranoid, but decided to weld in a support brace across the front to save any unwanted spreading (usually wanted!). I figured it was better to be safe than sorry and it won't be hard to remove and clean up later. I always used to cut this panel off to get engines out of wrecks quickly, and they used to get a bit wonky here so didn't want the same to happen on something good! I took plenty of measurements and reference points, so hopefully it all goes back together in pretty much the right position as it came off from. Lucky there's plenty of guard, bonnet catch and bonnet hook adjustment just in case it doesn't!

have fun

Simo

I got the 'new' rad support top panel tacked in to place then did a trial fit of everything to make sure I put it back in the right spot...







So far so good, so I'll get it all welded in properly and primed/sealed up for later on. I did a mock fit of the worlds ugliest Trans Am front I have here too; I'm only using the lower section of it (am making one out of three) and you can see the top half is originally designed for VH J K guards and is atrocious:





have fun

Simo

Here's a few pics of the rust repairs that were needed, both pillars are pretty much rooted at the base of the windscreen corners as are both sheet metal areas of the plenum top and bottom that jam into the corners as well... fun fun fun...











and the donor:



I managed to fix the rust around the vent tops using both fresh metal and some donor bits, reaffixed the vent tops then primed, painted, seam sealed and repainted the whole lot!







This is the most advanced rust repairs I've ever tackled and although I had to redo a couple of patch pieces to get them right, the rest went pretty well including the welding. I'm gonna drown this friggin' thing in fish oil though, at least I can get away with the fishy smell too once people remember that its a panelvan.

It all went pretty well except that I learnt that I used too big a brush (40mm, way too wide) for the seam sealer, mate that stuff is like handling melted mozzarella cheese!!

Alf reckons it should all go ok:



and I started to strip the rear:



and here's what I think will be a fitting interior accessory:



So once the basics were sorted underneath the plenum I got the fellas around who kindly donated their time and skills to get the bad rust sorted at the pillars:

Barry Jackpot was the Knight in Orange Armour who saved the day!:









Plus there was plenty of clowning around....





and an impromptu show'n'shine out the front:







We had a top day and got plenty done so next step is to get the plenum top back on and to do a test fit of the windscreen to make sure it'll go in ok when the time comes for real!!

have fun

Simo

Things have moved pretty slow since the megathon, but I thought I'd take the chance to do some more background on whats planned for the old scrubber:

Here's the donk that's slated for it, a stock 318 that I pulled from the CL donor car, it was a quiet, smoke free, excellent runner but has a rear main that leaks oil like the Exxon Valdez. Its also been sitting for 4 years just with a weekly wind-over and 6 monthly oil down the bores, so although it'd probably still be ok, by the time I do the rear main and replace the dried out and crusty head gaskets, it's that far stripped that I might as well ring and bearing it. Plus the cam in it is a well and truly emissions-strangled smogger spec, so I'll put a tow cam or similar mild version in it just to wake it up a bit. That with a 2bbl Holley and 360 casty manifolds will give it more than enough power to sit in peak hour traffic.

I also managed to recover the V8 front end from the underhouse storage area. It had been recently rebushed prior to me buying the donor CL, so a quick scrub and paint should see it in service pretty soon. The van is factory V8 but had a Hemi 6 K frame in it when I bought it hence the need for a change.

Next up is a pair of 14x6" Sankey Benson rims that I picked up for $20 at a swap. These are a rare and original factory option for Chrysler Centura's and I like them compared to normal jellybeans due to their smooth centre surface, minimal offset and they remind me of the classic 'Fenton' mags than ran on many Gassers in the 60's. I do of course have the Dragway Indy's planned to go on it but if I can find some sort of close-to-matching 15x8 Jelybeans for the rear, then I'd say these'll make the cut as front rims.

Lastly, is some tail end mods I have planned which includes the fitment of a rolled rear pan for the center area and some modded rear bumperettes. The rolled pan was made by a mate who kindly did one for me after I saw how neat his ute looks with one, so hopefully with this pan, the VG Val Wagon tailamps and some custom bumperettes made from a VG wagon rear bumper (see attached last pic dodgy photoshop), it'll look neat but different at the same time. I've always found the factory bumperettes to look a little 'heavy' so I hope these will tidy up the rear a bit and the plan is to make some inner caps out of fibreglass that I'll paint black to keep with the original design of the originals.

Simo