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Hiya Chaps
Thought I should document my VK Calais build.
Car is/will be my daily driver (MUCH to the bain of my wife who thinks I should buy a more practical vehicle).
Backstory: When I was in my 20’s I really wanted a VK Calais. I found one – a white over silver with sunroof, ‘copper’ interior and mild 308 with the best sounding 3″ exhaust dumped before the diff. I wanted it so badly but being a young lad, the insurance was ridiculous and my dad talked me out of it.
Fast forward to around 2012 and my mid-life crisis kicked in and I convinced my wife I ‘needed’ a VK Calais and so the search began…
I looked around for nearly 2 years and probably 20-odd cars in that time – most were either hacked up, full of rust and/or way over priced. I finally found one for sale on Car-sales which was a one owner, 6 cylinder that looked very clean and honest complete with lambswool seat covers, side windshields and mudflaps.
A couple of phone calls later and a deal was done, sight unseen – it was a huge risk but from the photos it looked pretty good and because I was in Adelaide, he offered to take it to his local mechanic (a Honda dealer) to get them to ‘appraise’ it for me.
They took some photos and came back with the comment: “If you don’t buy it, there are 3 guys here who will”.
I flew over to Victoria, picked the car up and drove back to Adelaide in 40º heat. The air conditioning worked so well we had to turn it down and the car didn’t miss a beat.
Once home, I was staggered how good the thing was. Sure the 30 year old paint was a bit flat, the LHS headlight was toast and the front bar had been touched up using spray cans by the old gent (no doubt to hide the car park binges) but the car was very straight, rust free and completely unmolested – something you don’t find many of these days..
The first step was some new headlights and have the bumpers and side molding resprayed to clean the car up. The ride home from Victoria highlighted how tired the suspension was, so that was given a birthday with some King Ultra lows, Monroe shocks and Nolathane strut tops. I also threw on a set of Calais Internationals and gave the car a good detail, cut and polish – the paint came up OK considering it’s age.
The entire interior was stripped and shampooed – despite looking pretty good to begin with, it came up really really nicely.
Nice work, good to see it surviving well.
I daily my VK Calais as well, and my wife sometimes has to “suffer” doing the same lol, and had nothing good to say except for the time she had to overtake and found the LS1 power handy. Air con is great in them if the car isn’t in the sun all day, suits me as I park in a basement at work.
Yours looks great, All issues seem easy fixed. It must have been garaged and washed regularly as the stock metallic acrylic comes off after a few years if treated bad.
BLOWNVS
- WA
- VS MALOO VR BT1 project car BF MK II XR6T
View build HERE
Posts: 47Nice calais mate. Its good to see I’m not the only one that has talked themselves into daily driving an 80’s era commodore recently, haha. I just picked up a Vl Berlina in very similar condition to daily drive as well. I’m resisting the urge to do too much too it at this point but will likely get some bigger wheels, and a standard-ish spec turbo setup eventually. Any plans to change driveline or anything in this?
Very clean mate. I been watching some progress on FB that you been posting. Who did your x member?
Paint was starting to become an issue not holding its shine and thin in some areas(due to polishing).. We then stripped it down and sent for a full, window out respray in PPG 2-pak at a mates business..
The painter was amazed that there wasn’t a spec of rust under the windows – very rare for these early girls.
While I had it apart, I replaced all the Bailey channels, rebuilt the power window mechs and repainted the black outs around the windows. The power windows now operate like new.
Well before I bought the VK I scored a NOS Calais boot lid molding and garnish panel. I also picked up a MINT 5.0 badge thanks to some super nice dude on FB… (for $30 delivered) so these were finally fitted along with some repro ‘Holden’ and ‘Calais’ badges, repro tailights and taillight reveals..
To help out with the tunes, I replaced the rear speakers with some nice Alpine 6×9 ‘S’ series units in a custom MDF parcel shelf. To try and keep it looking original I stripped off and re-used the original carpet and blacked out the MDF where the vent holes in the carpet were. Longer term I intend to paint the grilles and surround in the same brown tone as the carpet as per the originals..
Dynomat was installed on the parcel shelf and behind the rear of the seat. I also packed the area between the metal parcel shelf and the new MDF panel with Dacron fibre to help deaden the sound and stop any ringing.
Lots of measurements were taken to ensure I didn’t have to cut any metal
The front speakers were a nightmare given their original 3″ size and nearly no room in the dash area behind them. I designed some MDF ‘adapters’ ring to mate some Alpine ‘S’ Series 4″ speakers to the original speaker grilles.
The entire lot is powered by a 4 channel, 70WRMS per channel amp in the boot. I’ve also added a second 2 channel 100Wrms amp in bridge mode for a 12″ Sony sub – this all connects up to the original Eurovox head unit that I’ve started modifying with internal MP3 capability.
The mod deletes the tape deck but uses it’s push button controls to play/pause, track forward and back etc.. It has internal storage (via SD Card) and external USB support for thumb drives and can also charge my phone..
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This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by
Hoopstar.
No mucking around here lol.
That’s the way to do it mate, it’s coming along nicely
Immortality
- 97 HSV Senator 185i 02 VX L67 Calais
View build HERE
Posts: 535Very nice indeed. I do have a soft spot for the old girls.
I too would like to have a VK as a daily run-a-bout one day.
RVK plates, why do they seem familiar?
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This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by
Immortality.
SLE-881
- Sydney
- Daily - 2012 VW Golf R Weekend - 1981 VH SL/E
View build HERE
Posts: 81I love hearing stories like this.
I did the same a few years back with my VH. First thing I also changed was the suspension. The drive from Canberra to Sydney with the tired suspension was interesting (body roll much!) especially since my daily is a VW Golf R.
Keep up the good work.
Daniel
Instagram - @SLE881Awesome mate!
Would you pm me details of your speaker and stereo set up. I’d lov e to do the exact same with my stereo without hacking into any metal and also the mod with your tape deck. Would be a great help mate
Far out that things tidy and just getting better? Whats plans from here?
So the new engine is finished and with a couple of weeks off over Christmas, I decided to pull the old 6 cylinder unit and slot in the new..
Originally I had intended to use ‘HSV style’ headers and a single system that I picked up really cheaply. Unfortunately the clearance was just too tight. Knowing other guys had used them, I persisted for a few days trying to get things to fit.
Eventually frustration set in and I ponied up for some new Pacemaker headers designed for the job. They worked a treat and literally just slipped in.
While this was something I always intended to do ‘down the track’, they also have meant I need a completely new exhaust system which will blow out the budget to the tune of around $2K. Not something you need mid-build for a car that is literally your daily driver.. :(
The donor engine loom was pretty much toast with a lot of the insulation around the inlet manifold and trans cracking so I decided to completely start from scratch in these areas. All new connectors were used for the injectors and sensors and everything hidden as much as possible for a neat appearance. To finish up with, I ran the loom inside aircraft grade braided sheathing and finished up the ends with adhesive lined heat shrink.
Another donor harness supplied the connector for the 4L60e trans and a new boot fitted.
With that all done, I now have to graft the loom into the VK’s main harness. I’ll be re-programming the Delco computer to output the correct signals so the Calais digital dashes trip computer will still function 100% correctly.
which brand 4 barrel throttle is that?
Maybe you got vt hsv headers,step out further/straighter from exhaust flange compared to vn-vs.
The joins & bends are shocking so wouldn’t hurt flow flattening offending pipe.
Starting with efi 6cyl car saves heaps time of time…can bend fuel lines up from rail to behind booster,wiring & fuel pump already set up with tachiometric relay
Grab smaller vn-s charcoal canister to replace chunky vk version on chassis rail…so much neater.
Grab smaller vn-s charcoal canister to replace chunky vk version on chassis rail…so much neater.
i used a VT-VY Charcoal Canister, its rectangular, and mounted up near the fuel tank on VT-VY, underneath the car. I drilled the spot welds off the factory bracket that holds it to the body from a wreck at U-Pull-It, Welded a bit of plate to it and bolted it up underneath the battery tray on the VS, as my battery is in the boot and just routed the rubber fuel lines under the car though the chassis rail gap
I had to the bend the alloy ones down a bit flatter and cut them slightly shorter, but is alot neater than the factory VS Setup
VZ is probally the same but ive never really noticed-Never owned one
which brand 4 barrel throttle is that?
Holley 1000cfm unit.
Starting with efi 6cyl car saves heaps time of time…can bend fuel lines up from rail to behind booster,wiring & fuel pump already set up with tachiometric relay Grab smaller vn-s charcoal canister to replace chunky vk version on chassis rail…so much neater.
Pretty much everything I’ve done sans the tachometric relay since the PCM controls the fuel pump. I’m actually pulling the tachometric relay, slotting in a standard automotive relay into the relay base and re-wiring it to suit the setup so it looks factory..
Another budget mod is shifter.
Use th700 selector rod then unbolt vn-s adjustable shifter bracket & drill/bolt or weld it to stocko vk shifter bracket….clears everything & no bashing required.
Probably have to cut small V into battery clamp/tray with efi alternator bracket BUT think if can move oil sender out of the way with right angle fitting or t-piece can use smaller belt move alternator closer to block.
Brock cold airtray would be neat thing to put on it too.
Another budget mod is shifter. Use th700 selector rod then unbolt vn-s adjustable shifter bracket & drill/bolt or weld it to stocko vk shifter bracket….clears everything & no bashing required. Probably have to cut small V into battery clamp/tray with efi alternator bracket BUT think if can move oil sender out of the way with right angle fitting or t-piece can use smaller belt move alternator closer to block. Brock cold airtray would be neat thing to put on it too.
I’ve modded a VT selector rod and it clears everything and bolted to the VK’s sifters linkage. Just needed to drill it out to 12mm and then reamed it to 12.5mm to fit.
I am going to be running a brock airtray..
Lacksballs
- Lacksballs
- VK Group C road registered replica
View build HERE
Posts: 4What a great transformation, I admire your attention to detail.
I’ve built up a VK Group C replica road car that I’m just looking at upgrading the original stereo system. I’ve purchased Calais front dash speakers and found some 3 1/2″ Polk audio speakers that I was looking to adapt. Would you mind sending me (pm) or posting more pictures of the front dash speakers fitted. I put a pair 5 1/4″ JBL’s on the rear parcel shelf & working on a bluetooth adopter to wire into 13 pin DIN for the factory CD player.
Well done.
"it's always harder when you built it yourself"
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