Aussie GMC C3500

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Moparmat2000

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Didnt Holden have or make a RHD suburban? Grille looked like a Chevy grille w the center bar, but had the Holden lion insignia instead of the bowtie? I know Holden is GM anyways.

Our pontiac GTO and Pontiac G8 GT are the Holden Monaro, and Holden Commodore respectively. The Holden Commodore over here is rebadged as the Caprice police package now, or the Chevrolet SS for civilians. Of course GM killed off Pontiac along with Oldsmobile. Chrysler killed off Plymouth, and FoMoCo killed off Mercury.

I always loved the designs from down under. I especially love the 1974 Ford Falcon XBGT 351 4 speed.

I read about the RHD conversions being done on the new Dodge Ram trucks being imported into OZ and NZ. I think the article said Toyota was making the RHD flipped dash frames for those conversions since they are low volume conversions. I would imagine a new 1500 or 2500 Hemi ram or Cummins diesel one has got to be pretty expensive there, heck they arent cheap here either.
 

Moparmat2000

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Heres some pix i found. Aussie holden suburban. The dash, and i'm digging the taillights with the moulded in amber turn lenses. Those would look good on my 94 i think. Last pic is a 1994 S-10 dash. You can see it looks like GM raided the parts bin from it to put the pieces in a larger RHD flipped dash for the GMT400s down under

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Clinton

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Yeh I knew they were importing the police pack there, I was spun out to see one in person last time I was there. I'm back in the States in May next year, I should go check out the dealers and have a look. Finally going to the East Coast - well at least NY!! Plus I'm trying for a random place again like last trip, I'm thinking El Paso

BTW - I started the strip down of the auto. Just a few of those tricky to reach bolts holding me up but I'll get there. I'm also cleaning up the engine bay, redoing some electrical, obviously trying to fit in the manual gearbox and all associated stuff.

I purchased an oil cooler line upgrade kit, so that will go in nicely when doing a complete oil flush. And new top and bottom radiator hoses when the coolant is flushed.

It might be off the road for years!!!
 

Moparmat2000

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I'd recommend San Antonio at beginning of May. Their Cinco De Mayo street fair is pretty awesome, the river walk, and the Alamo. The street fair is May 5th. Texas is a big state. Takes about 10 hours to cross it east to west. I am about 6 hours north of San Antonio.

I think El Paso is closer to permian basin area though so if you go there instead of San Antonio, and If you get a chance to make a road trip, theres an oil museum in Permian Basin area Midland Odessa. They have one wing of the museum dedicated to Chaparral race cars. The reason being is that the man who made these cars Jim Hall. Made them to take on Europes finest in the 60s and early 70s at places like Lemans and the Nurburg ring.

He studied oil geology, and applied aerodynamics. Made his money in the oil industry so he could pursue his real passion which was making race cars. He used aerodynamics to an advantage that nobody had ever seen at that time. Since there were no race tracks in the Midland Odessa area, he would put licence plates on the backs of his creations and drive them on the street for testing lol. Most of his stuff was Hilborn mechanical injected small block Chevys.

Chaparral is the indian name for road runner. The enameled crest on the front of a chapparal race car is a road runner bird on an elongated shield. Kinda like Ferrari has the prancing horse on a shield. Per Jim Halls request, the cars in the museum are kept in running condition, and on nice days are pulled outside and parked in the front of the museum. The smithsonian wanted his cars but for static display. He wanted them maintained in running condition and wanted them to stay where they belong. In Texas. See below the pic of his famous 2G race car.

Matt

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Clinton

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Cheers Mopar, good advice. Is much as I'm pushing for another stop-over, I think my wife will be rushing to LA to see the fam. Bring on Santa Barbara!

Anyway here's some progress from today, thanks to Rick for the over-the-phone advice along the way;

I used a strap to hold the torque converter in place, and after about 10 minutes of working out how to lower the trans I opted for straps as my one little floor jack wasn't going to cut it.

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Clinton

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My first time removing an auto, but not as bad as I thought - installing the manual might be another story.
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Clinton

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So couple of questions... what do I do with the auto wiring - and can I use some of the plugs for speed sensor and reverse?

What size bolts do I use to mount the manual to the block, and the flywheel to the block?
I was given some bolts from the NV4500 when I bought it which was on a petrol, they fit but maybe too short?

Wait till you see the inside of the cab - LOL!
 

Moparmat2000

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Oh and another question.. how would this go? I have no room for the original tank.
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Is that a coolant reservoir? If so, why not look for a plastic one so you can see the level thats in there easily. The factory one on my 94 is Yuuuuge, and bolted to the firewall. Its like 2 liters. Not sure how much room you have under there with it being RHD. Whenever i hit the junky i always take a tape measure and look at stuff like that. I ended up figuring out a hyundai tiburon puke tank fits ny 67 barracuda pretty good, looks like it belongs there. The jeep cherokee and dodge ram truck ones are long and cylindrical. Companies like dorman make replacements for all that stuff pretty cheap. Check rock auto and evilbay. Lots of different shaped tanks out there to choose from.

Cute pooch in the pic. Dogs are the best people i know. Mine is 17 years old. Poor girl sleeps most of the time now. Also a pic of my hyundai puke bottle during mock up of my 67 buildup.

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