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Awesome build, gotta pull my finger out and get stuck into my wagon

Great work keep the pics coming.

Thanks WW. I'll post some more pics soon. Been getting a little bit done - steady steady. Cheers.

Bit of lateral thinking for the gauges, nice work.

Hi Steve, motor looks awesome, especially the rocker covers and manifold. I wish I had time to check it out when I was in Cairns picking my van up.
finished product should be very impressive, looking forward to seeing it.

I ended up getting my van to WA about a month after I saw you at my mates place at Crystal Cascades, drove it a few times and pulled it off the road again - not totally happy
I have pulled the 308 out and rebuilt it with an few goodies and now the van is getting a respray to get rid of all the spider rust I showed you. Not a bare metal rotis job but doors, guards, glass all off and back to metal where it has to and scuffed everywhere else. Should come up alright - looking forward to putting it back together and having another drive.

Anyway, keep up the good work, looks great so far.

Cheers Mark

Thanks Mark. Nice to hear from you mate. Glad you're getting the van sorted to what you want and if you're back on this side of the country again give me a hoi. Cheers, Steve

hi guys, any updates?

Update time (I'm not very good at this am I). Been busy on sorting all the bolt on panels out. You might remember in my first post I was chuffed about all the panels having been repaired and primed? Well the panel beater I'm using (Greg) is a bit less excitable than me and said "What sort of primer is on 'em?" to which I replied "Buggered if I know". He then said "And what's under that primer?" to which again I had to say "Buggered if I know". Armed with this wealth of information from me his next comment was "Well you'd better take it all off then!" - and this, plus a heap more, is some of what I found under the bog:



I got into them with the paint stripper and wire brush wheel and took everything inside & out right back to bare metal. Greg cut out & repaired all the rust (including replacing the bottoms of the door skins) and primed everything with Epotech 2 pac. They now look a million dollars (well, close):



Also got the extractors & the exhaust system finished off, except for the tailpipe (which i won't do until the fuel tank's in & the rear bumper's on). Had the extractors ceramic coated in satin black and I was lucky enough to get on to some 3" stainless tube & bends (most cast) on Gumtree from a factory installation of some kind (steam or food grade?) which worked out perfect for the job. It's a two into one system with flexi tube for the engine pipes to make sure there's plenty of tyre clearance and an Edelbrock baffled (not packed) muffler. It's rubber mounted underneath and sits as solid as a rock. My fabricator mate Mark and I made it all up & we're pretty happy with it:





















Next big job to tackle now that it's back on it's wheels is stripping the body, then it's off to Greg's for panel & paint.

Cheers, Steve

Looking good mate

Thanks Doller, I'm happy with how it's coming along. Hey, can I take it from one of your other posts that you work for Goulburn Murray Water (or whatever it's called these days)? Used to work for them meself in a past life. If there are a couple of engineers named John Prince & Gordon O'Brien still there can you say G'day to them from Steve in Cairns please? Cheers.

Loving this build - just went back and reread it but theres lots of pics missing

Looking sweet... engine bays looking tough with all the black edelbrock gear!

Cheers
Nathan

Found this the other day for the beer fridge in the shed.



and this, just cos I liked it:



Cheers.

Love that sign

Jeez, where'd a year (almost) go? I look at those photo's and think what the hell have I been doing for a year?! Too many dog beers perhaps? Anyway, she's been fully Blue plated & finally went off on the truck to the panel beaters on Wednesday, so hopefully more pics of beautiful straight panels wrapped in glossy paint to come soon! Cheers.

Hey Steve
When can we expect to see some more pics (vicariously living through someone elses build! )