The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project

Hi all,

This Van build has pretty much cemented to me why the words 'yuck' and 'f&%k' rhyme and are so similarly spelt; they are often used in conjunction with one another when you keep finding Kinder surprises of rust in your project. I stripped out more of the van on the weekend including the hood linings etc. to try and rid it of potential fire hazards, and in doing so discovered a couple of new pockets of weet-bix that will also require a bit of work. It's all pretty simple stuff to fix but just time consuming when you're as impatient as I am! ALF just fainted at the sight of it all but I just got stuck into the corner work to get it on the go. I popped out the back window in preparation to size it up for the bubble version and found the seal lip at the top (!?!) was rusted but I managed to get the seal out in one piece which is the go as they're no longer available. So the forecast is pretty set for the next few weeks, cut, weld, grind, cut, weld, grind.. Nothing like welding in 10 kilo's and grinding out 8! Yee hah!!

But I'm still excited about this project, and have being playing Australian Crawl's 'Sirocco' on loop to keep me focused!!

have fun

Simo

[quote="hemi4bbl"]Hi all,
ALF just fainted at the sight of it all
but I'm still excited about this project, and have being playing Australian Crawl's 'Sirocco' on loop to keep me focused!!

Just quietly ,i think u might need a brake from the van. It seems your loosing the plot

Top choice in music but.

just keep at it...just keep at it....just keep at it...just keep at it....just keep at it...just keep at it....just keep at it...just keep at it.... you'll get there and it'll look fantastic when finished.... even ALF will be impressed!!

i feel for ya Simo.. atleast you can look at your van anytime you want.. lol

Well I'm making steady progress with the panel work and uncovering plenty of 'special' repairs from years gone by. I'm up to the right seam between the top and bottom halves meet and its had a fair bit of 'smash with the hammer to get it low and bog' in the past (see the attached 'before' pics). But its cleaning up ok and some careful welding and cooling appears to be keeping it pretty straight.





I went to do some work this arvo and found out the 'strong' way that the cat had pissed in my twin filter dust/spray mask; it was pretty rancid so don't think I can wear it again, but deep down I know that its karma from me kicking the cat up the ass all the time...

In the meantime, the donor roof cuts have arrived thanks to a mate in Perth so I can get that sorted soon - they're from a genuine Drifter too which will of course mean this van is super cool and makes a Sunbird with an SL/R ashtray look pretty lame! A rear 1/4 patch panel arrived today from Craig Vayne at rustaproblem so that will hopefully see the right side pretty much sorted out. The big job though will be replacing the rusted sections of roof guttering which looks like a mole of a job but we'll soon see I suppose.



Amongst all this I've been buying various other parts as they come along; A local mate Rob whose car resto work ethic makes me look like I've got chronic fatigue, had some CL Le Baron seats in good nick which I smartly snapped up and will totally look the part for the 70's thing. They should scrub up really well so that'll get the interior on the go. I also stumbled onto some chromed CL brake drums whilst chasing up brake parts on ebay, which are just made for this thing and are like new inside which will save some bucks too.





But the biggest stumbling block has been another 'purchase'... yep, another friggin Valiant to clog up the yard in the form of a VG Safari Wagon. I've tentatively called this the 'Divorce Maker' although with that paintwork its just begging to be built along the whole 'patina' theme; a bit yawny in the general car circles but something different amongst the Mopar crowd.







Lastly, Alf copped a flogging yesterday in the yard - I don't think this is what he had in mind when it came to spending Valentines Day with a couple of chicks, but he got through it ok.





have fun

Simo

lol... poor Alf.. glad hes ok to keep you on the ball Simo.

I don't know if you, know this place.But i found it looking for a esky front spoiler.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Valiant-CM-CL-Coke-Denim-Dream-Machine-Front-Spoiler_W0QQitemZ110306535358QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Car_Parts_Accessories?hash=item19aec827be

if you wanted one of dem spoilers, we could organise pick up for you which you could pick up from the nats.... which means you're gonna hav to come to the nats...... maybe you should find out if the whole van is for sale and save Alf some further heartattacks....

Looks like a great project. Keep at it mate

Hi all,

Firstly, thankyou for the offers of help with the front spoiler, but I've got an SL/R air dam type one sorted for it (plus a bit more added to make it deeper!).

I've made some pretty good progress this week, plating and finishing off all the rust repairs in the right rear corner/tailamp piece and inner tailgate jamb. I had a general womble around a wreckers during the week to try and find some generic parts, mainly a carbon cannister and some front indicators to use with the Trans Am front. The plan with the carbon cannister is to have one fitted to keep it above board for rego, and hide it away either up under the right front guard or back down near the fuel tank so at least it won't be seen. To that end I needed the smallest cannister I could find and came up trumps with this one from a Daewoo Nubira. Glad to see they're useful for something and it comes with its own mounting bracket and neat breather etc. It isn't much bigger than a Coke can and is about a 1/3 of the size of the 44 gallon drum style fitted by Chrysler back in the day. I also decided on some front indicators from a mid 90's Barina, but totally forgot to go back and get them after I'd done the rounds of the wrecking yard.. no surprises there.



I spent a couple of hours today doing some skimming on the rear 1/4's and sorting the rear side indicator lamps out. The factory ones are a pretty boring rectangular job (which were missing when I bought it), and originally I was just going to do away with them altogether, but they're an ADR rule so figured I'd try and make a feature of it instead of leaving it open for a nit-picker to piss-moan about later on - this thing will be pretty lairy so want it to be spot-on, especially with my job and all. So to that end I decided to run some round 68 Dodge guard markers; these were fitted to all 68 Dodge Chargers, Darts, Coronets etc. and in Aus on Phoenix's so are of a great pedigree. I've always thought these were cool and its a good excuse to use a pair. So I zipped up the standard rectangular cutout with fresh metal then hole-sawed them in the centre as I figure that the factory had the original layout pretty good. I did mock them up in different spots but kept coming back to centralise them in the factory location of the rectangular ones. The ones I used in the pics were some Dodge Dart red lense versions which have a slight curve in the bodies, but I've got a pair of flat body amber ones on their way over from the US so will fit them up when the time comes. And the best part was that the factory wiring and bulb holder slotted straight in! As you can see the right rear 1/4 has had a big hit right at that spot and on the pressing from before I bought it; I've managed to knock most of it out but will do some final finishing work now that the hole is sorted out.







I had a huge van motivation booster yesterday after getting a good look over and being taken for a spin in Neil Dieckmann's silver FJ Van at the Nostalgia Drags - he built this in 1974 and has only made a few changes in the last 35-odd years and is still damn cool! Geez it drew a crowd too; people of all ages were checking it out which goes to show that some stuff is timeless.



have fun

Simo

oh i sooooooooooooooooo like that FJ..... OMG! .... should try and get him to the nats..... LOL!
Keep up all your hard work, you're really putting some of us to shame.... it's great to see the enthusiasm and the progresss... you're very clever...I'm sure Alf is very proud of you.

Thanks Maz, I'm halfway through the lower right rear 1/4 repairs now so will hopefully have that sorted by the weekend. I'm actually in the middle of doing a time machine story on the FJ van for Street Machine so keep your eyes peeled over the coming months!

thanks Simo. I do like what you're doing... i've seen it happen before with a ute, but it's nice to see a van like that being re-created.... wish i could do stuff like that.... I took out beigy's new headlight glass today to replace it and i got scared in case i stuffed it up and put them back in the box... hopefully i can get some help to do this. I know what to do, but I'm afraid of stuffing something up.

Hi all,

This week saw a return to something different.. not. More rear 1/4 panel work was on the cards with rust repairs to the lower guard area. First up was to trim away all the dodgy outer sheet metal and repair the rusted inner guard section. This went pretty smoothly and then the outer piece was trimmed up and welded into place. I cheated a bit and just used the section of the patch panel required, as I didn't see the point in replacing the whole lower quarter, and it gave my novice skills the chance to line it up with factory metal and pressings. Trinity the dog was getting sick of the noise as you can see. I then hammer and dollied the ding near the marker lamp area and skimmed the whole area - well sort of..











I lost heaps of time and motivation though with some dodgy filler. I usually just use the Septone stuff you get from Supercheap and have never had a problem - I went in the other day and they have phased out all their septone gear and have replaced it all with a *good quality brand* of products at the same price so thought 'you beauty!'... Like fuck! I mixed up the first batch as per normal, layed it down and it would not harden! I thought I must have not mixed in enough hardener, even though I've mixed a shiteload of bog in my lifetime, so scraped off the first lot and added some more for part 2. Fractionally better but still sloppy-ish an hour later. So for round 3 I mixed up a real hot batch with plenty of hardener (or keep-it-softener in this case) and the stuff just won't cure. Usually you have to cane it on so it doesn't start to go off on the mixing tray but even all three mixing tray residues didn't harden which is a sure fire sign something is dodgy here. Not happy so I'll take it all back tomorrow and go for some K&H or something.

Once I had a roid-rage over the bog and calmed down it was time to fill the right side window. It had the flat and boring parallelogram jobbies in there but the plan is to fit pentastar shaped bubble windows to keep with the whole Chrysler thing. Every panelbeater I annoyed with questions steered me quickly away from tacking or welding in filler panels due to the heat warpage that would most likely happen (very likely with my mig skills!) and all put me onto a metalbond type product to glue them in instead.

This is a proper trade adhesive and is the stuff used to glue in turrets, roofs and quarter panels, so its well and truly up to the job of sorting the side windows. At nearly $90 it isn't cheap, but was really easy to work with once you can actually get it out of the tubes! I'd already paid for it when I realised that it would need a double plunger-type gun to get both parts out evenly; I casually enquired as to how much a proper gun was and after being told $160, figured that I was way too much of a tight-ass to fork out that much for something I'll use 2 or 3 times at the most; different of course if you had a panel shop or something. So it was off to Bunnings for two cheap caulking guns, a quick zip with the welder and 10 minutes of MacGyver-ing to make my own for a grand total of $6.





The filler piece was traced out and cut, with enough extra meat to press a flange into so it could be glued up from behind and sit flush. I laid down the metalbond and clamped it into place with pop rivets (as you can't actually get clamps in there) which I'll grind off with the final finishing. It all went pretty smoothly but a fair bit of it will be trimmed away once the new hole is cut for the pentastar windows. The inside walls will be covered in crushed velvet so the filler piece will be hidden from view as well.







Speaking of windows, the acrylic sheet was sourced on Friday in preparation for the 'Bubble-O-Bill' window making day we're having in a couple of weeks. The plan is to blow-mould a tailgate bubble window, tailamp bubble covers and a roof bubble out of dark grey tinted 3 and 4.5mm sheet, and the side pentastars out of 3mm blue acrylic which I'll airbrush in with some opaque white to give it a Chrysler pentastar symbol appearance. My fingertips are burning already... The templates and air tray are coming along and should be done by next weekend.



On to some more fun stuff, the colours are pretty much sorted with VZ Commodore Sting Red for the front half, mega white for the centre and a mid type non-metallic blue for the back. I know exactly the blue I want and see it on everything but a car, its a solid blue and the flyspray can we have is the right colour, a pair of reg grundy's I have is spot-on (minus the brown metallic) and even the caulking guns I bought but I can't find the colour on a car to use as a paint code/model. Its darker than True Blue or Capricorn from the Ford charts, but brighter than Formula Blue of VK Brocks. Any ideas???



Lastly is the mock-up I'm doing for the sides; Sting Red in the pressings with the pentastar bubble window opaqued up to be a Chrysler logo, with a Coke logo at the front and 'Denimachine' in between in the proper chrome and denim finish (not white like the pic). I did 'The Goodies' font purely by accident as it was already loaded into photshop but it sort of looks ok! I know this is blasphemy as the original Denimachines are just about Aussie folklore, but man they had some ugly styling cues and the side window area is the worst *ducks for cover*; a stupid cats eye window in the middle of nowhere, Denimachine written in colours that became invisible in the original blue, and a Coke logo on top of pressing lines that just look like an afterthought?





I'll still be trying to keep the general theme, but still do it how I would have back in '76!


have fun

Simo

[quote, its a solid blue and the flyspray can we have is the right colour, quote ]

Just take the can, to you automotive paint shop and they will mix it for you. but make sure you check it dry, as it will change color.

as per above, take yr items into the shop and they can colour match - it usually doesn't cost (or at least shouldnt) any extra, and also make sure you check it in proper daylight.

Love your story so far. U r very clever and doing very well..... and i can actually understand and follow what your writing.... just don't ask me to do any of it LOL!

Well the wet weather has been a motivational killer this week plus some work time in Mt Isa didn't see too much getting done; I finished up the right rear 1/4 patch panel job and dent fix, and the amber 68 Dodge marker lamps arrived so that's pretty much got that sorted for the time being. Next up for the body is to sort out the middle seam between the sides and van section and sort out the dreaded the gutter rails...yuk.







With bubble window making on the cards next weekend, my Dad came over yesterday and we got the templates and air trays pretty much sorted for the tailgate windows and side pentastars. We cheated a bit on the pentastars by using a photocopier to downsize a tracing of a window I already had to make them fit the pressing better, and then used a flexicurve to copy in the relief line for where the acrylic slips into the rubber and needs to stay flat.











On the tailgate tray we mounted the blue hose and punched a few holes in it to try and help raise the bubble fairly evenly for at least the central half of the width of the window; we'll put paper over the air source to try and help diffuse the air anyway, but due to the length of the window I'm trying to avoid having the middle of the window round out further on the top profile than for the rest of the main width (the opposite to what you'd normally want with a custom dome or the pentastars we're making, hence the single air port in the middle). Its all touch and go of course as it's all new ground, but if it doesn't work I'll just send the air in through a central, single hole and I'll just have to get over any full bubbling.





The tailamp bubble cover templates are almost done too, and due to the double curves of the surrounds and the twin bubbles needed, it was just easier to cut in and fit a couple of old and stuffed tailamp surrounds which I'll actually glass in place onto the MDF to keep it airtight. I'll probably narrow those templates by about 50mm on each side to make them 400x300, but will wait and see how well it will clamp onto the pentastar air base which is 400x400.





have fun

Simo

your really a do it your self guy Simo..
can't wait to see how the forming of the plexi turns out.

highwaymenace wrote:your really a do it your self guy Simo..
can't wait to see how the forming of the plexi turns out.

Thanks Daz, I sort of need to do as much myself as possible not only because I like the challenge of doing it and learning new stuff, but also because I have a new millenium mortgage and family commitments that sucks up coin like no tomorrow! (as many of you will know). I just paid for braces for my daughter so there goes the 4bbl, inlet manifold, purple shaft and extractors for the 318...

Some days though I'd love to just send the body away and have it come back painted and get the engine and auto built somewhere else so I just have to put the car back together, but its hard to justify spending the money when I can do all that stuff myself.. I was a mechanic in a former life but these days I'd rather paint and panel than build engines and auto's!

Simo

doin really well mate. A car built at home tends to have more of a soul than one built in a shop. If people don't understand that last comment then they probably have not built one yet

Thanks Max, I try to do an update each week which will keep the momentum going too!

I found a 20" wire blinger and tyre at the dump the other day; not really my cup of tea but thought it'd be a bit of a laugh to jam it under the van - definitely too 'gangsta' for me:





Aaaah, that's better:



Simo

i think u shld get a set of the 20" wires.... we'd love to watch you clean them for show day
lookin good though.... i've watched cars being built in my own garage (and helped), and yes, it is much more satisfying to know your own blood, sweat, tears, swearing and blood in is that vehicle.....

Well what do you get when you mix the maturity level of a Grade 8 Manual Arts Class, the 'Tool Time' TV Show and the movie 'The Hangover'? Well that'd be the Gas Peddlers 'Bubble-O-Bill' bubble window making day!

But first things first. I finished up the templates from Scene 19 during the week by glassing the tailamp bezels into place then running a smear coat of filler over the joins to ensure they stayed airtight. Then both the air trays and all of the templates were covered in felt to help diffuse the air as it enters the moulds and also stop the acrylic from getting scratched.



I personally had been looking forward to this all week and was glad to see I wasn't the only one. A mate had even put together some cool stickers as a memento for the day which will no doubt find there way onto a few toolboxes (and *cough* work utes), and there was a general buzz of keen-ness doing the rounds.



Soooo, yesterday was spent tidying up any loose ends and getting everything ready for today's onslaught of vanny goodness. We kicked off just before lunchtime after moving everything inside to try and escape the nor-south-easterly-westerly winds that were blowing quite strongly and threatening to affect the touchy cooling process of the acrylic. The large crematorium-styled mega bbq was fired up and the pentastar template, air tray and clamps moved into position.





The 'plastic whisperer' breezed through with plenty of helpful advice and pointers, which is sort of like the ghost whisperer but without Jennifer Love Hewitt's ample 'assets'. So the first piece of acrylic was heated until floppy, dropped under the template, the air was applied and fark me dead if a perfect pentastar bubble window didn't pop up!! It was that easy that it seemed to be a fluke!... We got stuck into it again and before we knew it had pumped out approx. 6 pentastar bubbles in both blue and black tint.

Next up was the tailamp bubble covers which will be trimmed down to suit the VG Valiant Safari wagon lamps I have earmarked for the van. We had a slight hiccup with too-cool a temp on the first one, but next thing you know we had 5 more of these done and dusted. With the 'easy' templates all finished, it was time to step up to the large windows. The air tray for this was a bit touch and go as I was really hoping to keep the width of the window quite level, so we tackled the moonroof first and it formed perfectly.

So it was all down to the clincher - the tailgate bubble window. We pooled our vast bubble window making experience and with a swag of hands and clamps at the ready got stuck into it. That too went extremely smoothly and it was a great relief when it came away from the template damn near perfect! So at the end of the day we finished up with 3 tailgate bubble windows, 2 moon roof bubbles, 6 pentastars and 5 tailamp covers. The next step will be to trim them all out on a bandsaw and clean them up ready to be fitted when the time comes. Of course, only 1 or 2 of each is actually needed, but figured it doesn't hurt to have some spares especially while all the equipment is out and ready to go.



With the hard stuff out of the way, a BBQ lunch was enjoyed by all and then we decided to have a go at a few extra 'memento's' to acknowledge the day and also have a bit of a laugh... The result was a number of C&B's that would make any graffiti artist proud, and in 20 years time will serve as a reminder for the day we made bubble windows for a 70's pornovan! Oh, and there was also a Mopar hat...















Thanks to everyone who came along, I had an absolute blast!

have fun

Simo

i envy you and your skills so much simo, also your passion to go and do it. i wish i had the guts & telent you have.

bubble windows for the rear doors for the transit???? na too hard for me. i'm a slacker.

you guys are having fun, and in my book that put's you way ahead of the game. Good on ya's