83 WB_Ute's Ultimate Shed Thread

[83 WB_Ute]

I know it's not a sandman... but here goes...

This is from about 1yr ago....

Hi, here is my ute, is a 1983 WB. It was purchased as a mechanics ute then converted to gas. Unfortunatly it caught fire under the bonnet. It was put in a shed for 12yrs (not much rust YAY!!!!) and then i purchased it for the pricley sum of $1000.
The plans are just a tidy up for my P's, new paint, all suspension rebuilt.
As I am 16 and doing all the work by myself (as dad is in retail) and still at school with no job, updates have been slow and will still be slow.

Pics:
When we picked it up



Floor pans being taken back to bare metal, rust converted, seam sealed, body deadened and painted





Biggest hole in the floor pans


Under dash panel
Before:


After:


I'll have some more pics that will get put up some time....
The plan has changed a fair bit from before... I got my P's in may this year... and the car wasn't ready... so now the plan is to get the car on the road by the end of the year...

I'm now 17... and all work has been completed by me, nothing has been out sourced... all my own handy work....

[83 WB_Ute]

Cowel panel, Biggest hole here, metal filled, rust converted and then painted


The interior
Before:


After:


New Carpet (second hand)


B-Pillar Carpets


Suspension rebuild stuff



I got the whole kit for $200, because it was new, but never used...

Extractors (full lukey exhaust system to come)


Parts ute, early 1980 WB (bought for $300 with lukey exhaust system and heaps of other parts )


Rebuilt carby






New Body Mounts

I picked them up for $30... never used, just removed form pacaging...
There is still some more things to fix with the interior... The headlining needs to be fixed... (I pulled it to tight...) and a few other things need to be vinyl died etc.

[83 WB_Ute]

VK 5spd gearbox after a clean up

I don't know if I'm going to use this... I may use the 4speed that I have here for rego, and then get a celica 5speed....

Centre Console

It came with a Retrimmed arm, it is from a HJ statesman, and was originally white.

Found a chassis crack :(


Kingswood ute B-pillar chrome moulds (SCORE $120 the pair)


A few dints, but nothing that can't be fixed...

Front Control Arms with new bushes and ball joints.


Its not the best paint job, but it will do.

The original motor... seized beyond repair... so that will become a table...


Home sweet home... lol (this is while the front-end was being rebuilt)


202 Emissions stuff... just to get through rego, and then after rego, I'll put some ball bearings in the hoses, so it looks like they are functioning...

[83 WB_Ute]

I went and seen a guy in town that had a WB before he totaled it... He had a few parts, that he wanted to sell.

Recromed headlight inserts


Hella 144 driving lights


New NSK wheel bearings


New PBR mater cylinder


New idler arm


New RDA discs and drums



NOS coolant/washer bottle


New brake shoes


New bendix brake pads


New IBS rear wheel cylinders


253 Sump and gasket


NOS Rubber brake lines (front and rear)


NOS throttle and clutch cables (for V8)


WB plastic strips


NOS WB tailight lense


I picked all the above up for $400.... I estimte that there is about $1200 worth all up....

I think it was a good buy...

[83 WB_Ute]

I got given a alloy 5 poster bull bar for nothing... but I won't be using it on my car... as it looks hideous....


Next up was reconditioning the brake calipers
Cleaned guide pins


Sandblasted calipers


New IBS brake pistons and seal kits


Hoing of the caliper bore


Painting the calipers



Calipers finished with new pads and NOS rubber lines



And a trial run of how they would look on the new rotors


I bought a reconditioned motor and 4speed gearbox for $80... and the motor has been rebuilt by Waggot engine services in lismore... so there may be some surprises inside...


New brakes fitted and master cylinder (front end is also rebuilt in these pics.... New bushes, tie rod ends, ball joints etc...




More pics to come....

[83 WB_Ute]

I have 16 pieces of stainless to repair dints and scratches in.... I have decided to use the kingswood moulds, windscreen surround, and gutter trims... just to keep costs down, and get the car on the road...


I bought a Josco kit for polishing the tims... It is great, clean up the stainless really quickly, and really well.

[83 WB_Ute]

I have now cleaned the passenger side of the body... I found some rust, but no real big stuff...
Here are some pics of what needs to be fixed...



























This is the worst rust that I have seen on the car... hopefully it is not to bad underneath.


This is a pic of how the car has been painted yellow underneath the white... The plates say it is a factory column shift manual, alpine white, and a standard ute... The tags and chassis number all match, and the paint is yellow underneath, and it had a column shift auto and also has the factory fitted mounting for the kingswood b-pillar moulds.

I think the paint doesn't look to bad for 27 or so years old....

[83 WB_Ute]

Well, I have been studying for exams for the past week... But between the exams I have been doing the little bits... I fitted a low mount alternator... with a different alternator, to see if that was the problem with my battery...

The brakes haven't been bled yet, I just haven't got around to it... The power steering is fitted... but the belt is rubbing on the water pump pulley... I have no idea why, but I'm running a 3 belt pulley on the water pump, and a 2 belt pulley (aswell as harmonic balancer) on the bottom.

The hand brake isn't working... so needs to be adjusted more... I almost run through the fence.. :( and one of the 4 bolts holding the fan on the water pump come loose... while the car was running... :( so there are some dints, but luckily no major damage...

I cant get the bitch of a thing to idle... I've tried everything... and it still won't idle. I also started to fix the hoodlining where it was pulled to tight. But didn't finish it.

I have also been fixing the stainless trims... The decision has been made to get the car on the road, and then have the extra things put on... So were only going to have the windscreen chrome, the gutter trims, the kingswood b-pillar and the lower piece (that goes below the window on the door).

Here are some pics of the trims that I have fixed up... they arn't perfect, but good enough. There are some scratches, and a few small dints... but its all good.

I'm still looking for the two windscreen trims in good condition... eg. minimal dints and scratches... and also a set of good chrome scuff plates.











And all things going well, it should be headed to coffs next weekend!!! yay


Okay, another update.

I got my $65 set of seats home from sydney... to find out they are first gen commodore, not WB. I'm not annoyed, as I can just put WB rails on them and fit them.
Before



Half of the bottom bit had been cleaned in this pic.

After






Not bad for $32.50 each...

Yesterday I had the day off because I had no exams. I pulled some bits out of the interior and redyed them, and then refitted them. I also sat the new seats in the cabin.

Here are some pics of the interior with the new seats.




I got the old bench seat out of the parts ute today, cleaned it up... and it is ready to fit to the ute for rego.

The car is definatly going to coffs this weekend... My brother is coming up tomorrow with a car trailer to pick it up.... So it will definatly be in coffs this weekend. The bad part is, I don't get to work on it through the holidays.

All going well the car should be registerd before the end of the year, or early next year... the sooner the better...

Here are some pics of the car while it was out of the shed. Excuse the blutac in the holes on the guards... It's there to stop water getting into the body... they will get welded up once the car is in coffs.

[83 WB_Ute]

All ready for her maiden voyage.... lol





The back is full of parts, a guard, 2 wheels, interior bits and other bits. The passenger side of the interior is full of parts aswell.

The bench seat is sitting in there.



We have been talking, and it has been decided that my brother will work from one end of the car to the other, and work out the mechanical stuff... he is also giving the underside of the car a coat of chassis black paint. Then he is going to fix the rust and major dints, and weld up the holes in the body (for the plastic strips) and then it will get a coat of Alabaster white (it's original colour). The door jambs will get cleaned up, and left (the areas affected by the fire, and bits that need to be fixed like holes may be colour matched etc.) All with my help...

I pulled the doors off the parts ute today, and removed the windows. Aswell as the rear window and windscreen.

It's certainly going to be strange not having a car to work on for a while... :( But I have to parts car to disassemble, and also other parts to fix up for the car (for when it goes for rego).

[83 WB_Ute]

Damn, I miss not having a car to work on... :( I can only buy parts and stuff for it now... or prepare stuff to get the car on the road.

I spent about 2hrs today fixing up my stainless trims.... I had done some of them previously, but they were not up to par. So they were redone.

The whole windscreen set, the gutter trims, b-pillar moulds and the lower trim that goes below the window have been done... I'm currently trying to get onto a wrecker about the other 3 window surround trims. I need to buy new ones as mine are absolutly stuffed... :(

Hopefully I can get a good set that require not much work.

Anyways, here are some pics.















They are now wraped individually in bubble wrap, and in a box ready to get taken down to coffs to get fitted to the car.