My "other" Galant. The project has begun.

[ygoslo]

It has officially started. After talking about it for about 4 years I'm finally starting on the Galant. The car is going to be done in "bosozoku" style, so will be something that you hardly ever see in Australia. No 17 inch Simmons FRs here... I'm currently tossing up between banded steels and Superlights, in 15x8 & 15x10 sizing with offsets around the -30 mark. Obviously this will require judicious use of my trusty angle grinder... Also set for the grinder treatment are the front springs, as I want to run the car as low as physically possible. Then probably drop it an inch. I'll probably have to do something weird to the rear leafs to get them sitting right but I'll sort it out. I'll be running bolt on flares and tiny tyres (probably a 205/55 or 60 on the rear) to hopefully het the look just right.

But that's all a little way off. Here's my progress so far on day 1 of what will probably be a 12 month build...

More here: http://garagedusty.wordpress.com/2009/05/02/step-1-slit-my-throat/

 

[pu-11-me]

Ooooohhh, like back to the future style

Are you gonna do anything apart from the wheels

That carpet looks flood damaged man. I'm glad you're going with a new custom one. (As per your blog)

What are you gonna do with the engine?

 

[mookers]

Dude, when it's done you have to bring it to a Melbourne meet.

 

[ygoslo]

Carpet is trashed. The car sprang several leaks and the carpet, um, started growing... Replacement carpet is only about $150 so that's no prob. I'm actually surprised at the amount of stuff still available for these cars.

As far as has been decided right now, I'm doing wheels, suspension, exhaust (an "interesting" one), guards, new mirrors, chin spoiler & externally mounted oil cooler. And paint, of course. The interior will also be re-done with retrimming and whatever period Japanese trinkets I can find. Other things will evolve as I go. Today I've started thinking about shaving the rain gutters over the doors.

Right now, the plan is to keep the existing engine and just freshen it. It is a 1.6 "Saturn" with oversized pistons, custom cam, shaved head, twin Solex carbs and a lightened flywheel. If the bodywork and stuff goes smoothly though, I may splash out on a warmed-over 2.6 with Webers or something. Whatever I do engine-wise, it is going to be carby and n/a. I want to stay true to the spirit of the car and the era. And I want to make lots of noise.

I reckon I'll get away with taking it to a wash meet on club reg - it is a car club event after all!

Here's what I'm using for inspiration, to give you an idea of the intended look. I am getting those mirrors, that oil cooler and probably those flares, and thinking about a similar headlight setup:

 

[ygoslo]

Oh and if anyone knows where I can get those old 70s/80s style speaker boxes like on the rear parcel shelf of that Skyline, please let me know.

 

[unclepaulie]

F*CK YEAH, cant wait


as far as the leaf springs, u could remove a few, flip them and chuck in some lowering blocks ithink....then again, im no "mini trucker"/ute driver

 

[unclepaulie]

check this out:

http://speedhunters.com/archive/2009/02/24/car-feature-gt-gt-pj-bonifacio-s-lowdown-cressida.aspx

http://speedhunters.com/archive/2009/02/24/archive-gt-gt-showa-toyota-style-pt-ii.aspx

 

[pu-11-me]

Thank god your not doing a front spoiler haha.... That style is pimp man, should look good.

And go the 2.6L...... Mad pajero motor thats NOISY! (Eh chris)

Do your own speaker boxes. You'll get more of a sense of fulfillment then

 

[Tom]

This is going to be so cool!

 

[trounced]

i have never understood the whole TRD toyota acronym, rally art is so much better then having turd writen on your car lol

some of those old cars look awesome thou, if i had money i would do up my cordia turbo, be a great car if restored back to original with a few nice mods

 

[weeaazz]

hell yer,checkout the datsun 1600 in that pic,white one in the background,thats what im building when i sell my legnum

 

[jaygore]

ah the good ol' 1600's and ol' galants...

im still wanting to do up a ke20 corolla, rare andyou dont see many of them, but with a 13bt conversion im pretty sure it would be one nice tuff car... cant wait to see this galant tim, should look good..

 

[unclepaulie]

hey Tim, any updates ??

 

[CLuTZ]

Cool car! I'm sure the TMU with have fun with you and your external oil cooler haha!

Why not just chuck in an E39A Galant VR4 motor? Starion gearbox?

 

[ygoslo]

Haven't had much of a chance to work on it, next thing on the list is having a go at the rear door rust with a grinder to see how bad it is so can't really do it at night after work (neighbours wouldn't love me) and was busy all last weekend.

BTW I'm not too fussed about TMU or legalities, car will be on club reg and will rarely get driven. But since when was I ever worried about legalities anyway?

Oh and I don't want to chuck in a late model engine for 2 reasons. 1, want it to be reasonably period correct. 2, want it to be simple and not cost me the earth. I include aftermarket ECUs and custom wiring in the "complex, earth costing" category.