Ok, its Christmas/New Year and I've got a few days off. Been bolting things back onto the panel van...and changing more stuff as I go...which has been quite enjoyable. Managed to finish the intercooler fitting today which came up better than i thought. The electric pump, reservoir and plumbing will be nicely tucked away.
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Wow you have some serious work going on there Damo, well done.
Thanks Axistr. I'm definitely well and truly beyond any plans or scope i had in mind when i started this project. But it's still entertaining and i do enjoy making things up or adding stuff on as i go. I can see that's probably not healthy for any sort of schedule or budget though...
Anyway I bolted a few more bits on today and had a go at my new braided radiator hoses. I must have stabbed myself at least 3-4 times on the wire ends so probably need a tetanus shot now...but i think its gonna work...
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Hello...Its now 2026...wow! I've got some updates from 2025 to share, but i might break them down into several posts after this one.
Firstly, the van is running and about a month ago, I got to drive it out of my garage and onto a tilt tray...I was very happy that I got to do that. Its now at a fabrication/trim shop for its last body modifications...the things that are well beyond my abilities. These mods are mostly to finish hiding and support wiring, hoses, pipes and cables etc...but the shop is also gonna do the prework on engine bay layout and interior trim. When prework is finished, it will go into a booth for all over paint.
Anyway, here's a couple of pics and a video from the day it left the garage...
First drive out...was very nervous about hitting the concrete at the top of the drive, but I had a couple of goes with the missus eyeballing underneath, and she reckoned the exhaust had a gnats whisker of daylight so all good.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/86F61wPJw3EyAzqQ6
First time seeing it in the sun with some paint.
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The paint colour looked brilliant, cant wait to get it finished and polished
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Good bye...its out of my hands now...
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Happy New Year Damo!
Awesome feeling that is for sure. Colour looks mad. Been following your build over the years.
Always happy to see updates.
Selling HJ 253 Engine
Engine Number QR718*** | 19M5 Clock Casting at 6 O'Clock
19th December 1975 Suit HJ Late Dec 1975 to April 1976
Well done Damo, I bet it was hard to control the anxiety on the first drive. Looking forward to seeing more updates.
Thanks Innuendo and axistr, happy new year as well. I'm still pushing it along and i definitely feel it will go faster now.
So I've been thinking about what to share from 2025 and everything is kind of electrical. To sum it up, i wanted more features and options inside, so I set out doing an electrical overhaul where most of the body functions migrated into the Haltech ECU system. This involved installing another 3 x PD16 units and several input/output modules.
Some examples of the extra control are the headlights and indicators, fans, dash functions, electric A/C, Astra PS, wiper/washers, electric mirrors, electric windows and the heating of the WN Caprice seats. In the end, the only things not running through the Haltech ECU are the horn, central locking and seat motors. So in this post i will share some of the power distribution and wiring stuff. Here's some pics again...
Batteries are underneath the body tucked up behind the passenger seat. From here there are 5 x main power circuits, one goes to the starter motor, one to each PD16 module (3) and one to the fuse box.
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I retained the original Holden fuse box but upgraded it to blade fuses. This was not too hard and just involved cutting in and epoxying some blade fuse carriers to get 18 x circuits in total. I made an associated loom that also picked up the ignition switch and accessories.
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The Haltech Elite 2500 ECU is located on the transmission tunnel and has a PD16 (A) mounted on top of it. There is another PD16 (B) in front of the radiator and a third PD16 (C) located behind the passenger seat. I also needed to do some power reticulation across the radiator mount so i made up a little Amphenol Surlok connector assembly which worked out well. The design for this is on the web if anyone is interested.
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The 3 x I/O modules are mounted under the dash, on the rear of the transmission tunnel and on the A/C box. I will do separate posts later on the dash and A/C system.
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And lastly...I kind of spent the best part of 2025 redoing all my wiring. Its pretty much 95% Haltech looms now and about 5% WB wiring. The last bit of the power system is the twin alternators. These are both 1 wire 140A Aeroflow items off the shelf, and I have connected them in parallel back to the batteries. The theory is that the voltage regulators will each target 14V each, so the current should share evenly...I haven't properly measured this yet, but so far they run fine together and haven't exploded yet...
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That's about it for explaining the power arrangements, I will do a separate post on the seats, A/C and Dash soon.
Last edited by damienengland; 04-01-2026 at 01:14 PM.
Wow once again well done Damo. I also enjoy adding electrical addons to my cars these days, especially since I sold my workshop and have more time to work them out. I recently modified my SLR with electric park brake calipers. The Torana foot operated system with VR B/W M78 diff never worked very well and never trusted them on a steep hill. The park brakes are controlled by its own ECM and work separate to the hydraulic brake calipers. I'm not in your league but still happy with the results and being able to do everything myself is very satisfying.
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Hey axistr...your timing is impeccable! I have literally just had the electric park brake conversation with the shop where the van is. I did run a couple of circuits down the back for things, and one of them could be used for the park brake. Is that a dedicated Wilwood electric park brake caliper?
I purchased the basic kit off Rocket. They were the only ones that listed calipers for the thin 10mm Holden rear rotors. The kit comprises of 2x calipers, 1x ECM, 1x wiring harness and the control switch. I had to make mount plates and machine up spacers to centre the calipers over the rotors. I also unwrapped the harness and redirect the wiring then re-tape the harness to better suit my Torana. I mounted the ECM in the boot. If I mounted the ECM under the dash I probably wouldn't have needed to reconfigure the harness. The park brakes now lock on super tight. The Willwood kits aren't cheap but quality matters with me as I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I was initially thinking of an electric cable pull setup which was half the price, however space is limited underneath the Torana and cables that pull on angles loose heaps of torque by the time it gets to the park brake shoes. I also contemplated fitting Hydraulic caliper with electric park brake incorporated as these can be picked up cheap on E-bay or the local wreckers, but I needed a control module and couldn't find appropriate wiring diagrams. Most late model cars with EPB are also control by the ECM & BCM so getting the correct information got a bit complicated to make it all work.Originally Posted by damienengland
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