Its finally in etch prime! Woohoo

[Grunt]

Was great to catch up at the Mornington show today, great project you have going will be awesome when ur done, keep at it and see you at a show Grunt

[damienengland]

Was great to catch up at the Mornington show today, great project you have going will be awesome when ur done, keep at it and see you at a show Grunt

Thanks Grunt! Was great to meet you and i got some very good wiring direction from checking out your awesome station wagon at the show. Progress on this build has been slow in the last part of 2018, but some action happening next week, so more updates soon. Cheers, Damo

[damienengland]

So the project has been a bit slow over Christmas and New Year, but after checking out Grunts wagon, i got some mojo on in the last week or so and had the brake line man down to finish all the brakes, fuel system and trans lines. Didn't quite work out so well on the day and another visit is needed to finish things off. Turns out that the CRS Wilwood master cylinder and proportioning valve kit doesn't have a brake fail switch in it, so i've got to swap out the valve for a different Wilwood proportioning valve that does have the fail switch. Lessons learnt!

So i've pulled finger and jumped on the wiring this weekend. Its very daunting to look inside the plastic storage tub and see a WB SII Caprice loom and know that it all has to go back in (well into a van for the first time) and also get modified for neatness and custom options etc. This is where the tonner tray comes into its own, its just a great workbench for spreading out wiring looms, then deciphering them and cleaning them up. I decided to cut the loom in two places and make new plug and play connectors at each cut. I cut the front engine bay section off which pops out the firewall near the steering column and also cut the rear section off at the drivers side kick panel, so i've now got three loom sections. I've decided to have three main loom holes for the front end, with one in each A pillar and one behind the engine/gearbox. I think i can pick up everything electrical in the front via these three holes. I also decided to pop a hole in the spare fresh air vent plate on the drivers side and use this to feed the washer fluid tube, wiper motor and brake switch wires into the plenum area to keep them hidden.

Got it all fairly clean and sorted out by lunch yesterday and threaded the main section into the van by early evening. Surprisingly, the WB van seemed to be set up the same as stato for the loom and had all the mounting points and option locations, so it went really well.

Spent today figuring and cutting out new hidden loom holes in the pillars and mounting up computers and speedo conversion box.

As usual, some pics below;

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- - - Updated - - -

Quick addition here as i wanted to ask for feedback. For anyone who has installed a 304 EFI into their van (or other HQ-WB ride), is the passenger kick panel area a good spot to mount the Delco computer? Pics below, feedback appreciated. Cheers

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[jason.ruff]

From memory didnt some of the early EFI commodores have a computer mounted here. Not sure if 6 or 8. Cant see why it wouldnt work.

[Valencia]

From memory didnt some of the early EFI commodores have a computer mounted here. Not sure if 6 or 8. Cant see why it wouldnt work.

Yes the VL commodore had the computer mounted there

[damienengland]

Thanks guys.

Did some thinking and came up with a different final computer location so happy. Kind of an odd job day today, tinkered with a condensor bracket, sorted out the computer location, trimmed A/C ducting, mounted coil, moved front amp location and confirmed double din head unit fits in the hole. Pretty satisfying in the end.

Pics from the day;

Bottom bracket for the A/C condensor
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Final computer location under the front of the console. Just had to cut away the old rear vent feed bulkhead in the console.
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Move the front speaker amp to the back of the console area.
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Modify air duct splitter, cutting off old statesman rear vent feed (to be sealed) and shorten down the centre dash vent connection to allow head unit flush mounting
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Mount ignition coil to passenger side A pillar
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Confirm head unit sits flush with dash fascia
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[damienengland]

Had a good panel van day today. Brake line man was back and we finished the brake lines and fuel lines, so big items to tick off the list.

He made up a template bracket for the new proportioning valve to sling it under the master cylinder and it came up pretty good, so i'm just going to polish it up a bit and get it powder coated. Brakes are now ready for priming and the fuel system just needs some new o-rings for the rails and it can be primed as well. I decided to insert a 10 micron filter element in the filter body as i feel its good insurance for when the engine runs for the first time.

Pics of the finished lines;

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[Robbo]

Very nice, well done.

[HZSM50]

Looking really good now. That break set up is something to behold great idea and job. ��

[axistr]

Well done Damian you will be out for a test drive soon the way your going.