Danny's VK Wagz 308

Thought I might chuck a thread up about my project car. Was gonna sell it, but now that I've lost my license I've decided to finish it, and pretty much build it to be a weekender, and enter in burnout comps.

I bought the heap of shit for $350 in Jan/Feb 2007. I bought it from a girl in her late 20's....I think she bought it as a first car as she was gonna try and get her license and drive it around. She lived in a small town about 30 mins away....we brought a tow rope coz we didn't even think it would make it back haha. But she did, even tho after a few minutes the oil pressure was so low it wasn't funny. By the time I got back to Pirie the lifters were noisy as, and if I planted it she'd do absolutely nothing. Mashed the pedal on the dirt outside out place and it wouldn't even break traction haha.

Altho a few days later I gave it an oil change and filter change and it ran 1000x better....so much better that it done a burnout on bitumen lol.

Anyways.....rego ran out a few days later so me and Brad started stripping it. Took it into my work (at the time) and spent a week rubbing back the engine bay and welding up holes. Then chucked it in primer, rubbed it back and rolled it into the booth and got the engine bay painted.

Not much happened after that except we chucked my freshly rebuilt 173 in it, and converted the VK wagz to manual at the same time. Also bought all new suspension and brakes and spent shitloads on bits and pieces. After a while I asked a mate about painting the rest of it. He's an apprentice panel beater, and he loves spray painting in his spare time. So for the next few months he come up on the weekends and worked on getting the body in top shape ready for paint, then when it was all done he painted it. All done out the back in the shed.

Then slowly me and Brad done a few bits to it like putting in side windows, rubbers, few bits and pieces....but then it come to a stop and is now sitting out the back doing nothing.

I was gonna buy a GQ Patrol to do some offroading (Brad had just bought a SWB GQ), so I thought about selling it all. Then I went to court over something which everyone prolly knows about, and now I've lost my licence for 3 years. So there was no point in getting the GQ, and I was left with my VB (which was already mostly stripped out incase the courts took it) and my VK. The VB is now going, and I've decided to build a burnout car. And it just so happens that I had the partially finished VK wagon out the back. I knew if I sold it I'd get fark all for it in it's current state....so thought I may as well have some fun in it.

For a while I've thought about doing an injected 5.0L or LS1 conversion, so thought this would be the perfect time to make a start. I've decided to go an EFI 5.0L auto, as the LS1 conversion is prolly a bit out of my price range at the moment.

I chucked the new 173 and the 5spd on ebay for $1700, coz lets face it, a Holden 6 doing a burnout ain't gonna impress anyone unless I spend a lot more cash on it! Altho I'd spent over $3000 on it I didn't even think I'd get close to $1700 for it. But a guy offered me $1500, which I accepted. He's paid a $500 deposit and now next week it's coming out and getting put on a pallet and heading over to Sydney where it's new home is gonna be in a father and son project, a one tonner.

Now this is pretty much where my story stops for now. The only thing I can add is that I've got my eyes on a 5.0L VQ Statesman with some rear end damage that I can get pretty cheap. Hopefully 2morrow night I'll know if I'm getting it and I can put a deposit down on it and then somehow go and get it and make a start on the conversion!!!

Here's a couple of pics for ya's.





Here's Brad, me little bro.


And me.




At the panel shop bout to start on the engine bay.


Brad welding up some holes.


Me on the sander.


Sprayed sound deadener through the trans tunnel.


Ready for primer. Put a new front apron on it.


More sound deadener....mainly to help reduce future rust.


In primer.


Jamie spraying.....geez he's a lot more flexible then me.....he's a tad lighter then me tho lol.


Half hour later just come out of the oven.


Rewiring it all myself.....decided to use a VL dashboard.


Old wiring.


Yep.












The engine bay with the new motor in.


Brad taking it for a spin up the road.


Getting the body ready. Thx to Steven Marshall.






There's Marshall.


And Brad.
















Setting up the DIY booth.


This prolly looked a bit suss for the people driving past lol.

HI BLOODY HELL MAN what you do for a living thats some god dame talent i wish i new how to do any of that stuff at all or had friends that would help me do that Danny that is a killa looking spray job so far man love the pics to and i agree GEE WHAT YOU GROWING HAHAHA very nice this is why i love this club so much its not weather i like it or it does 9's its exactly what danny has showed pride in his work and his toy and all of the members in this club dont take their car for granted and they work hard WELL DONE DANNY AWESOME MAN



CHEERS

Thx for ur feedback mate, it means a lot.

Believe it or not but I only work weekends doing night shifts at a servo (sometimes I pick up an extra shift here and there)....and I do sell the occasional car part, that's the only income I have. It's all legit and I have receipts for pretty much everything. I do have a lot of good mates tho, and this project wouldn't be as far as it is without them.

Looking good Danny, ya have done well, And I still want them wheels

Haha yeah they're a nice wheel but nah not for sale. Even the guy I bought them off wants to buy them back, he asks me just about every time he see's me.....but I put new tyres on them last July (2 are still new, and 2 have a few k's on them from when they were on the front of the VB) so I'd lose out big time if I sold them....plus that means I'd have to find another set of wheels. :p

Excellent work as always Danny. Always interesting seeing progress on your projects
Keep us posted as it progresses


cheers
Pazz

Thats PROGRESS hey Pazz

doh...been a looooong day



cheers
Pazz

lol thx mate. Prolly not much gonna happen for a few weeks. Gotta pull the motor and trans out next week and send it off, but then just gonna push it back into its spot and wait for the donor car. If I get the VQ I'm interested in at the moment, I'll need to strip it fairly quick and get rid of it coz Mum hates cars out the side on the footpath (makes the place look untidy apparently haha), and as the ass end is caved in I'll have to get it put out there so it doesn't get in the way coz we can't push it around.

as always m8 like ya work,the wagz looks good very well done,the only thing iam not sure about is the black bonnet,but very nice over all well done m8.

BULLETVP wrote:

as always m8 like ya work,the wagz looks good very well done,the only thing iam not sure about is the black bonnet,but very nice over all well done m8.

lol rob, the black bonnet was before it got painted m8...if ya have a squiz at the photos it's white now.

Here's the donor car for the injected 5.0L conversion. Picked it up from Munno Para yesterday.













Here's a short vid!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90tEmQk-HYw

nice pickup danny what did that set you back if ya dont mind me asking.....anyway shall be right at home in the VK's bay, and you can make some of ya money spent back on the panels, lights , interior, etc.

That was a top buy Danny. Wish I could find a whole wreck for what I am looking for. Been searching with not much luck. But yeah the 5litre EFI will be right at home in the Wags.

Cheers guys. Picked it up for $900!!

Yeah I plan on selling as much as I can to get some of the money back. All the electrics still seem to work (except the elec sunroof, but the guy said sometimes it would work, and sometimes it wouldn't), even the aircon works, it's killer.....makes me wanna buy a straight one, if only I had my licence haha.

The rims are 17's, and the 2 front tyres are pretty much new, so might get a few bucks for those...will prolly take the tyres off the rims coz would get more for the tyres I think as only 3 of the rims are good. Would be good if I could find another one, but don't like my chances. A mate has a set but don't think he'd sell me one rim lol.

Hey Cliff a guy on the HCC forum was selling a VN 5.0L, has a bit of rear end damage but stuff all....I rekon he was after around 2k tho.....but yeah if ya look around for a while I'm sure ya could find cheaper.

wow danny thats a great price mate, you should get over half that back in panels and electrics alone !!!!!....what the hell hit him anyway ?????

Gee Danny ya did well with that price mate. Could not buy the motor for that price.

I am looking for a VR VS wreck that has hopefully been hit in the left side doors.

Wow Danny that was a bargain for sure i think i remember the accident with that stato if it is the same one i believe it got hit on one of the main intersections on main nth rd may have been the park rd or kings rd intersection but yes good on you danny cant wait to see the end result

Yeah I was looking at buying just the conversion gear for $2000, but then remembered a mate had a VN Calais complete for $2000, then had a quick look around for a few more and come across this one on JC. When he said make an offer, I was thinkin he'd want around $1500, but he ended up saying $1200 ONO. So I offered him $1000 and he accepted. When I got there, my bro said I should see if he'd drop another $100, if he wouldn't well so be it I'd still take it anyway, but I could save another $100......and yeah, even tho we had agreed on $1000, and I had even put a deposit on it a few weeks earlier he was happy to drop down to $900. So I was stoked!

It was hit by a 4WD. He said it happened a few k's away from his girlfriends house (which is where the car was, on a few acres in Munno Para). It was about 1-2am on a Saturday morning, he was crossing an intersection, he got hit by an oncoming car which didn't have it's lights on, got hit at about 8-90k's apparently.

Not much has happened to this ol girl lately. As the race car is now ready, I might chuck the injected 5.0L in this week, see wat happens. Also bought a minispool, so now can take the spool and the 4.11 gears to my mechanic and get him to chuck them in me new diff for the wags.

Don't think I mentioned it earlier.....but as I have no licence for 3 years....I'm gonna chuck the wagon in the local burnout comps haha (the only time I can have some fun in it)! I think the next one is in November so I'll try and have it ready by then. Will prolly still chuck some rego on it tho, Brad gets his licence back in a few weeks so he'll be able to drive me around in it, and might take it on some cruises. Won't be doing anything stupid in it on the street tho, if I get caught driving I'll be locked up, and if Brad loses his licence again more then likely he'll lose his job.

Hi Danny wags looking good mate. Can I just say one thing, Dont use it for burnout comp, this is the bit I can never understand with people that do such a great job in doing there cars up, then want to go out and kill them in a burnout comp. Not having a go at you Danny. I think this with all people that take the time to do up there cars making them look really nice. Why not use a crap box for burnouts?

I'm not gonna be able to enjoy my car on the road for 3 years, and the only way I can is rippin a skid on the burnout pad. We're gettin pretty good and pulling motors out so if we kill it then we'll fix it lol. Even the guy that painted it would rather me rip skids in it rather then sell it (I thought he would be devastated, but yeah he wants me to show it off, not sell it), even if it does mean the rear quarters are gonna get a coating of rubber!

It's something for me to look forward to, which is only months away instead of years.

Suggestion :- what about car shows & air drags etc etc instead of destroying it

AIR aint gonna happen, and car shows still mean I can't drive it.

Woohoo, my engine cover rocked up 2day!