This page was in desperate need of some new pictures so I got the LX out for a wash and took it for a bit of a drive around the southside this afternoon stopping off at a couple of places.

I thought Archerfield airport would be a good spot for some pictures. How cool - the Holden blimp was on the ground being set up.

The support trucks made an okay backdrop too.

I had a quick chat to one of the guys to see if they were taking off soon but they were not lifting off until Wednesday.

I went to a work Driver training day at Mt Cotton a couple of weeks ago. It was absolutely pouring down. I don;t normally take the Torana out in this sort of weather unless I am on a trip to another city but hey, it needed a wash anyway so a it of muddy water didn't hurt.

What an absolute blast - I am glad someone got these action shots for me.
It was so slippery it was ridiculous. I don't think the back wheels ever stopped rotating even when I was going backwards :)

UPDATE 1/9/08

Although I have been quiet, I have been chipping away at the LX here and there.

I put a new alloy radiator in with AU thermo fans late last year.  I relocated the big stainless filler tank and braided heater hoses which used to sit right up pride of place in the engine bay on the passenger side. Here is an engine bay shot - cleared things up nicely and saved me about 15 kG's in the process.  The horrid top raditor hose is finally gone and the high fill tank and heater lines are now up under the drivers side guard and the tank is a tiny little alloy one which only holds about 100ml rather than 2L like the stainless one I got rid of.  I can now also hide the overflow bottle under the drives side guard and hide a couple more hoses too.

Notice also the completely re-routed radiator hoses - now with black silicon and alloy pipe.

The radiator has been mounted 50mm lower than you normally would in a Torana because I have a Samco black silicon intake duct for it and the intake is going to go straight over the top of the radiator to a filter behind the grill like it does in a Corvette.  The Au fans are so much quieter than the Davies Craig ones.  The combo of fans and radiator cool better than the last setup too.

I have also removed the centre console as both a weight saving and because I think it actually looks better without it.  I am progressively going to change the whole dash so lots of stuff has to come out of the way - the console was first cab off the rank.

I finally got round to removing the restrictive 2.5" tail pipes I had fitted.  The whole exhaust system is 3" now and dumps at the diff.  The car is very slightly louder when stopped at the lights and under full steam but for cruising around town and on the highway, the sound inside the car is unchanged which is good - I liked it how it was at cruise - nice and subtle.

The best part is the tail pipes saved me another 9kg and the increase in power is very noticeable.

All the bends in the tailpipe and in particular the nasty 3" to 2.5" reducer must have been costing me significant horsepower.  The driveability at very low speeds has also improved to my surprise as it was damn good to start with and now it is even better.  Don't you love free upgrades :-)) 

I have a new fibreglass bonnet and hatch leaning up against the shed wall but there is a fair bit of work before they can go on.

To do the hatch, I need to buy a sheet of polycarbonate for my new rear hatch window and get it tinted to suit, the hole for the hatch lock needs to be filled in and my remote central locking installed and I am going to do a couple of subtle changes to the new rear spoiler before fitting it.  Then it can be painted.

For the bonnet, I am going to completely revise the bonnet latch arrangement to make room for my cold air intake and I want to make new alloy bonnet hinges with gas struts built in rather than springs.  Then the underside of the bonnet needs modifying to clear my engine so it will be a while before I have the new fibreglass bits on.

Now I need to get it back on the track to see how much faster it is.

I am all but up for a pair of rear tires so once I get my finger out and order them, I will be off to the track to waste the last of the current set of rubber.