The John Holmes CL Valiant Pornovan Project

Ive allways loved the 76-78 cl twin headlight front on these chryslers. they look very tough.

good thread, been enjoying the commentary.... but i as to how a trampoline comes in handy when shaping metalwork??....hmmmm, must be a boy thing! LOL Also, i like the name DISTURBIA, and thought i'd throw in my 2 cents worth.... how about DISTDENURBIAMACHINE??? lol, sorry, couldn't help myself... it just came to me. You could always have DISTURBIA on the tailgate and numberplates and have DENIMACHINE on the lower sides? in some nice fancy writing? just an idea... probably not worth considering but it may give you something to play on later..... keep it up, i'm enjoying reading and watching your progress.

rambletamble wrote:Ive allways loved the 76-78 cl twin headlight front on these chryslers. they look very tough.

used to have a CL wagon with the twin headlights and the chrome honeycomb front - what B*std to keep clean! looked good though (when it was clean)

Thanks Maz,

I did think of going Disturbiamachine but it all got too complicated. I was also going to replace the denimachine writing with Disturbia on the van (all or just 1 or 2 of the 3) but will leave the denimachine writing as is, moreso for the memory jogger and reminiscing factor it gives people late 30's + in age. Its amazing how many people of all walks of life remember them back in the day so want to keep that dream alive. I'll get Disturbia airbrushed onto the sides of the bonnet scoop so there's at least some mention of it!









have fun

Simo

i must say i used to hang shit on chryslers only cos my ex was into them and the wagon i had was a lemon (he got ripped off big time)..... but the vans do look good.... ouch, did i say that ?????

Hi all,

This Van build has pretty much cemented to me why the words 'yuck' and 'f&%k' rhyme and are so similarly spelt; they are often used in conjunction with one another when you keep finding Kinder surprises of rust in your project. I stripped out more of the van on the weekend including the hood linings etc. to try and rid it of potential fire hazards, and in doing so discovered a couple of new pockets of weet-bix that will also require a bit of work. It's all pretty simple stuff to fix but just time consuming when you're as impatient as I am! ALF just fainted at the sight of it all but I just got stuck into the corner work to get it on the go. I popped out the back window in preparation to size it up for the bubble version and found the seal lip at the top (!?!) was rusted but I managed to get the seal out in one piece which is the go as they're no longer available. So the forecast is pretty set for the next few weeks, cut, weld, grind, cut, weld, grind.. Nothing like welding in 10 kilo's and grinding out 8! Yee hah!!

But I'm still excited about this project, and have being playing Australian Crawl's 'Sirocco' on loop to keep me focused!!

have fun

Simo

[quote="hemi4bbl"]Hi all,
ALF just fainted at the sight of it all
but I'm still excited about this project, and have being playing Australian Crawl's 'Sirocco' on loop to keep me focused!!

Just quietly ,i think u might need a brake from the van. It seems your loosing the plot

Top choice in music but.

just keep at it...just keep at it....just keep at it...just keep at it....just keep at it...just keep at it....just keep at it...just keep at it.... you'll get there and it'll look fantastic when finished.... even ALF will be impressed!!

i feel for ya Simo.. atleast you can look at your van anytime you want.. lol

Well I'm making steady progress with the panel work and uncovering plenty of 'special' repairs from years gone by. I'm up to the right seam between the top and bottom halves meet and its had a fair bit of 'smash with the hammer to get it low and bog' in the past (see the attached 'before' pics). But its cleaning up ok and some careful welding and cooling appears to be keeping it pretty straight.





I went to do some work this arvo and found out the 'strong' way that the cat had pissed in my twin filter dust/spray mask; it was pretty rancid so don't think I can wear it again, but deep down I know that its karma from me kicking the cat up the ass all the time...

In the meantime, the donor roof cuts have arrived thanks to a mate in Perth so I can get that sorted soon - they're from a genuine Drifter too which will of course mean this van is super cool and makes a Sunbird with an SL/R ashtray look pretty lame! A rear 1/4 patch panel arrived today from Craig Vayne at rustaproblem so that will hopefully see the right side pretty much sorted out. The big job though will be replacing the rusted sections of roof guttering which looks like a mole of a job but we'll soon see I suppose.



Amongst all this I've been buying various other parts as they come along; A local mate Rob whose car resto work ethic makes me look like I've got chronic fatigue, had some CL Le Baron seats in good nick which I smartly snapped up and will totally look the part for the 70's thing. They should scrub up really well so that'll get the interior on the go. I also stumbled onto some chromed CL brake drums whilst chasing up brake parts on ebay, which are just made for this thing and are like new inside which will save some bucks too.





But the biggest stumbling block has been another 'purchase'... yep, another friggin Valiant to clog up the yard in the form of a VG Safari Wagon. I've tentatively called this the 'Divorce Maker' although with that paintwork its just begging to be built along the whole 'patina' theme; a bit yawny in the general car circles but something different amongst the Mopar crowd.







Lastly, Alf copped a flogging yesterday in the yard - I don't think this is what he had in mind when it came to spending Valentines Day with a couple of chicks, but he got through it ok.





have fun

Simo

lol... poor Alf.. glad hes ok to keep you on the ball Simo.

I don't know if you, know this place.But i found it looking for a esky front spoiler.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Valiant-CM-CL-Coke-Denim-Dream-Machine-Front-Spoiler_W0QQitemZ110306535358QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Car_Parts_Accessories?hash=item19aec827be

if you wanted one of dem spoilers, we could organise pick up for you which you could pick up from the nats.... which means you're gonna hav to come to the nats...... maybe you should find out if the whole van is for sale and save Alf some further heartattacks....

Looks like a great project. Keep at it mate

Hi all,

Firstly, thankyou for the offers of help with the front spoiler, but I've got an SL/R air dam type one sorted for it (plus a bit more added to make it deeper!).

I've made some pretty good progress this week, plating and finishing off all the rust repairs in the right rear corner/tailamp piece and inner tailgate jamb. I had a general womble around a wreckers during the week to try and find some generic parts, mainly a carbon cannister and some front indicators to use with the Trans Am front. The plan with the carbon cannister is to have one fitted to keep it above board for rego, and hide it away either up under the right front guard or back down near the fuel tank so at least it won't be seen. To that end I needed the smallest cannister I could find and came up trumps with this one from a Daewoo Nubira. Glad to see they're useful for something and it comes with its own mounting bracket and neat breather etc. It isn't much bigger than a Coke can and is about a 1/3 of the size of the 44 gallon drum style fitted by Chrysler back in the day. I also decided on some front indicators from a mid 90's Barina, but totally forgot to go back and get them after I'd done the rounds of the wrecking yard.. no surprises there.



I spent a couple of hours today doing some skimming on the rear 1/4's and sorting the rear side indicator lamps out. The factory ones are a pretty boring rectangular job (which were missing when I bought it), and originally I was just going to do away with them altogether, but they're an ADR rule so figured I'd try and make a feature of it instead of leaving it open for a nit-picker to piss-moan about later on - this thing will be pretty lairy so want it to be spot-on, especially with my job and all. So to that end I decided to run some round 68 Dodge guard markers; these were fitted to all 68 Dodge Chargers, Darts, Coronets etc. and in Aus on Phoenix's so are of a great pedigree. I've always thought these were cool and its a good excuse to use a pair. So I zipped up the standard rectangular cutout with fresh metal then hole-sawed them in the centre as I figure that the factory had the original layout pretty good. I did mock them up in different spots but kept coming back to centralise them in the factory location of the rectangular ones. The ones I used in the pics were some Dodge Dart red lense versions which have a slight curve in the bodies, but I've got a pair of flat body amber ones on their way over from the US so will fit them up when the time comes. And the best part was that the factory wiring and bulb holder slotted straight in! As you can see the right rear 1/4 has had a big hit right at that spot and on the pressing from before I bought it; I've managed to knock most of it out but will do some final finishing work now that the hole is sorted out.







I had a huge van motivation booster yesterday after getting a good look over and being taken for a spin in Neil Dieckmann's silver FJ Van at the Nostalgia Drags - he built this in 1974 and has only made a few changes in the last 35-odd years and is still damn cool! Geez it drew a crowd too; people of all ages were checking it out which goes to show that some stuff is timeless.



have fun

Simo