The project plan is a 1976 Lx hatchback Ls1 t56 Torana. It�s been underway for about a year and a half now and no signs of the finish line. This is partly because I�m a stubborn prick and insist all work on the car is my work and two I�m in no hurry. Discovering how useful others cardomain pages are, I saw it time to make my own.

I know a lot of people; think its crazy putting A Chevrolet ls1 in a Torana. But being a mechanical engineering student I love the mixture of the iconic hatchback Torana with a bit of (although not cutting edge) modern technology. In saying that, I do find it as purists would, a little sacrilegious and insulting to Aussie history and engineering. Which is why the donor vehicle is merely a rusty sl rescued from a padock somewhere down in SA and why my first home loan is probably going to miss the house and strike a former untouched a9x owner�s pocket.

For now my focus is here. And the last year has been spent: hoarding parts, cutting out and replacing rusted panels, straightening bent ones and stripping the entire shell back for a 100% complete bare metal respray. For the rest of the build until final stages, the shell will remain in the black 2 pac epoxy primer. I think I have almost achieved my goal of turning this rusty heap into a completely rust free rust proof blank canvas to begin the real stuff.

Here are some photos of the car as i brought it.

Rust rust rust the devil! and i think someone open fired on the rear quarter with a machine gun.

brought a complete UC front end from a wrecking yard to restore while the other one was still stuck to that seized up 202. I stripped it back primed, painted and pressed in a superpro bush kit. I also sourced some Hq stub axles which will allow me to run the planned vt disks and callipers up front. This will be the set up initially until I discover it handles like shit anyway :). I�m currently developing a 3D spreadsheet model of a generic double a arm suspension setup which I will use to optimise a full custom front end somewhere down the track. Oh and I reconditioned the uc manual steering rack with a kit I got off ebay.

The engine and 6 speed are out of a 255kw maloo ute which some poor drunk bastard spun rear end into a tree and missed out on insurance. He tried to make some money back in parts. Almost couldn�t take it off the poor bloke. But here I am with a 25000K old drive train.

As far as the conversion goes, I have taken the cheats way out and brought a set of Castlemain rod shop engine mounts and transmission cross member.

The next major issue is the oil sump as the commodore has a front bowl and the torana, a rear bowl. As a solution I got a modified US truck sump. The front section has been raised slightly and filleted out. I am still not quite happy as it hangs down about 15mm below the cross member.This will need some further attention.

I have found a guy that modifies the ls1 wiring to "stand alone� and I will be requiring his services soon. Not exactly sure of exhaust yet but Crs have headers if all else fails.

Another problem faced is the clutch set up. The t56 has a linear hydraulic articulator which obviously requires a hydraulic master cylinder. The standard Torana set up is cable. The next dilemma is although several aftermarket hydraulic clutch setups are out there for Toranas, the giant cylinder heads on the ls1 sit hard up against the firewall right where the master cylinder should be poking through. The only solution to this is a reverse facing pedal box under the dash which I have designed using a spreadsheet model and pro engineer. Im currently building a prototype which hopefully works and I am able to use.

here are some photos of her all naked ith all rust cut out and replaced with new metal ready for primer. Im doing the sand back in 2 stages, rear of windscreen and front of windscreen. this is because of the sheer hours it takes and i live near the coast and bare sanded steel rusts like mad. from fully painted to what you see in the photo's is a good week and a half on the paint stripper and sandpaper. unfortunately in all that time i couldn't find a good substitute for good ol hand sanding. and my fingertips wore close to bone. i think its worth it in the end though for quality and peace of mind.

thats it for now i've got heaps more to talk about and 100s more photos including step by step rust repairs, rear quarters, floor pans, rear bailey panel ets

i'll try to keep updated