Alan Pugh

Carl, What makes me say that these cars were designed for the Australian market? Well to start with, they are manufactured in Australia at the Holden plant in Elizabeth, South Australia. We have been driving these cars since I believe it was 2002, in their original incarnation as a Holden Monaro. Yes you are right you will sell more of these cars in the U.S. than we will here, but that is simply due to size of population and the love of a car that was designed and made in Australia. If you're still not sure, you've got the internet, do a search, but be prepared to be amazed that there are actually some car companies outside the U.S. that are successful. And yes you are right that the hand brake is where the designers/builders wanted it. Australians don't want a hand brake on the left hand side of the console. Alan P.

Well the latest Pontiac GTO which was designed for the Australian market (read, right hand drive) has the hand brake on the right hand side of the console. This would be because the normal position of the driver of this car would be on the right side. Maybe the Trans Am in Lachlan's photo was designed OFF WORLD too, but no other country wanted them.

Scott, I hear good things about King springs from guys that use them but have never bought a set myself. I have been buying and using Lovells for all my rebuilds over the years and swear by them. I also use Gabriel shocks as I think the quality is great for a reasonableish (is that a word) price. Different driving styles from different people in the same car will always differ so you have to get as much info as you can and then bite the bullet and buy what you think will suit you. Hope that helps a bit. Alan

With the amount of chasing you've done on the electrical side of things, my next place to start looking would be why are the plugs carboning up. Too rich? Loss of compression? With what you've changed already I would start looking further afield.

I thought a few pictures would help, so as my steering column is out of the car here a few photos of the pass switch for those who haven't seen it.

For me personally that cost would be whatever I could buy two good/new SU's for that bolt straight up to the twin manifold and I believe at the moment I could pick them up for around $450 AUS. The extra hassle of the third carb for no real gain other than looks (in my opinion) is not worth it. Alan P.

I have opened a can of worms haven't I. All common inline 6 cylinder engines use a firing order of 153624. This firing order is actually a balancing feature of an inline 6. Triple webers versus triple SU's, the simple answer is 6 venturi's for the webers and only 3 for the SU's. In AUS as Z Kid pointed out there were production cars that came out with triples fitted, Torana GTR XUI pops to mind. These cars were great performers and for street use were a fast car of the time, I know because I owned one. Triple SU's for a fast street car would work fine, and I know of a couple of guys that swear by them on there old Holdens, but having said that the manifolds are readily available and still cheapish by todays standards. I would not go to all the trouble of finding or manufacturing a special manifold for an L series engine when the gains for money spent are not there. When you are looking for performance you need everything to work together smoothly and i'm sure everyone would agree that airflow to cylinders is a very important part of any sort of performance. Alan P.

Sounds like your talking about the airconditioning compressor.

Carl, What makes you say they are flat tops? Unless you guys in the US got different flat tops to us in AUS they look like someone has put flat top suction chambers on a set of round tops to me. Flat tops have the float bowl intergrated under the carb, not remotely mounted on the side. Alan P.

The difference between triple webbers and triple SU's is astronomical, and the two setups should never be compared to one another. Because of the firing order of an inline 6 cylinder engine, 153624, you can divide the engine into 2 halves, odd and even. The easiest way to explain it (and follow along at home) is to draw it on a piece of paper and work it out. If you draw 2 rectangles and number the cylinders 1 to 6 with corresponding intake manifolds (one with twin manifold and one with triple manifold) you will end up with the twin setup with each carb feeding 123 and 456, the triple setup feeding 12 and 34 and 56. Now on each drawing go through the firing order and put a cross at the carb that is conected to the firing cylinder and a dash at the other. You should end up with a pattern like this on each carb for the twin setup. + - + - + - + - + - Pulse miss pulse miss pulse and so on, each carb has the same velocity and pulse rate going through it. For the triple setup you will end up with uneven pulse miss rates and each carb won't atomise the fuel the same. 12 + - - - + - + 34 - - + - - + - 56 - + - + - - - A lot of people will say that is what a balance tube is for but this will only equalise vacuum not pulse or velocity. Alan P.

They are not flat tops. Why don't all you blokes take a closer look at the whole carb rather than just looking at the suction piston covers. Here's a hint for everyone, flat tops don't have remote float bowls. Just for the record i'm not the seller.

That should make it a lot easier for you to drive the car at low speeds tomohawk. Now pardon my ignorance but have you ever listed what Mustang the power steering came out of, not that it would help me much in Aus but I would like to know. Alan P.

The regulators did change a little between models and yes you have got a window glass from a 2+2.

Hi Ed and everyone, One of the first things I did was to cut round patches and weld up all the drain holes in the floor. I see no need for them even if you are driving in the rain, and if my car goes into a lake I don't think i'll be sitting there thinking, lucky i've got drain holes in the floor pan. Who here in normal everyday use of their road car has ever removed these plugs to drain water out? For an absolute pure 100% restoration, leave them in otherwise I think they are rust starters. Alan P.

This is a poor response from a usually helpfull bunch. Try this site http://www.eagleautospares.com.au/index2/about_us/about_us.html Strangely enough they get a lot of there stock from the states. I work about half a mile away from the store in Melbourne. Hope it helps Alan.

Lachlan, I did this to my wipers on my HK wagon back in 78. Looks great but after two weeks I painted them black to stop the sun glare. Hope it works out better for you.

Gav, aren't the boys at VicZCar doing an order to the US, with the combined shipping cost and duties being split up. I've used the vinyl spray/dye on a lot of things with great success but i've never done seats. I wonder if one of the companies that does dash reskinning would be the place to go for the colour change. They spray it on with a spray gun as opposed to pressure pack cans. FWIW Alan.

Vicky is right the seat adjusters should be on the door side of the seats. I have never seen a car with the adjusters next to the tunnel.

These casting numbers allways intrigue me so i'll add this even though mine is a P30 block out of a 1977 260, (Aus delivered) the casting numbers are 7121B. Using the dating method this would be 1977 Jan 21st. Surely this would show that you guys aren't too far off with your thinking, and I wonder if this method would help solve some of the other stampings on other parts. Brake and clutch pedals come to mind. FWIW Alan P.

Left school at 15 and did a Cabinet making apprenticeship (5 years). Joined the Air Force at 21 (12 years). Now i'm a projct manager for a shopfitting company. Glad I had a trade to fall back on. All you young people should get the best education you can these days.

OK, now we have to find #1488 and #13328 and see if they actually are auto's. Then we need to find #13331 and check if it's a manual. In some ways this makes sense as it's not just the transmission that is different, wiring loom?, half shafts, some engine components and some internal components. I think the line would have to have been split at some point into two, one for auto and one for manual, as surely the expense of two complete lines would be very high. Definately food for thought.

Update on where i'm at with the air con. On my car which is a 2/77 Australian delivered 260 all of the system except for the receiver/drier is compatable for the R134a. The fill and test ports are changed to the R134a type. I have taken my compressor apart and am cleaning all traces of the R12 mineral oil out. (i've taken photos) It's actualy got three pistons in it, I was surprised. This then goes back together dry, with a label on it to remind me that it's dry. (getting older every day) It goes back together dry as the Ester and Pag oils used with R134a absorb moisture. Then you take it down and get the money sucked out of your wallet for the new receiver/drier and fill and test. I'm still looking into alternates for R134a and will let everyone know what I come up with. Alan P.