Holden HX Overlander Panelvan

The blue strips look Ok with the Sandman.

That blue looks killer mate, i would not change it..

Awesome ...............
They look spot on

So...been working on a project that wasn't really related to The Sandman until a few weeks ago...forgive the ramblings...but I think it will be worth it in the end...lol!

A few months ago, or more like earlier this year, Chris over in the REC skunkworks, decided to make a run of some dress up kits for the RC4WD V8 engine and also he decided to borrow one, where the lender gets a good deal on the kit....lol! And wouldn't you know it, I happened to have one of those engines for The Sandman, not being used as The Sandman was still far from done...! So offered to loan it to him...!
So now, this got me thinking... I have a Blazer to be built, a FJ40 Cruiser and a 5 window coupe (2Beers built) that will all look awesome with that dress up kit! So with the special offering on the kits because of the loan , I got kits for them all.....!
Then it hit me! I'm gonna need 3 engines and trannys if I want to use the kits...:facepalm: That's like 1200 bucks minimum...! So I thought about it some more..then decided to to try to build my own V8 that I could use those kits on...cause I would have to sell my right nut to afford that, and I already lost the left...! Ha...! (Don't ask...!)
So ... Made a special sacrificial offering to the styrene gods, borrowed a couple of wood trolls and tried to git r done!! Didn't turn out half bad....lol ! It's not flawless, but with the REC bling on it , you probably would even notice...lol! Decided to try to make some standard parts in case I wanted to build an old school junker without the bling...lol!







And...since I been messing around with silicone molding, decided to try to replicate it instead of rebuilding the whole shebang another three times....and wouldn't ya know it? It worked!... Well ....kinda....I was unable to get the dipstick (not Chris) and dipstick housing replicated ... So will have to add those manually...no biggie really...but like I said it's not flawless...lol!





So...anywho.....how does this story pertain to The Sandman?

Well....after painting the body....I installed the RC4WD V8 engine and.....too much ORANGE!! Didn't take any pics of it at the time though....
But the things that really kept drawing my eye in the engine bay was the booster/master cylinder and the blower thingy....
CHROME ON BLACK !! On an orange background......can ya dig it?

You know what's coming next right?

Lol.....

Okay...buckle your seat belts and grab on to your socks...lol ! :excited:
Teaser pic.....lol....:blink:

The Pano looks fantastic painted and up on her wheels.
Rob would have loved it.

Brilliant work Trini.
Great detail on it.

zenrat wrote:The Pano looks fantastic painted and up on her wheels.
Rob would have loved it.

Hey thanks zenrat!

I imagine Rob would have been pretty chuffed with it! I didn't really know him but I have had some conversation with him briefly on this thread and on the TC forum. During those brief moments, he struck me as someone knowedgable and passionate about vans...I say this as I know nothing of them , just what I see in pics! It is sad that only at his passing, I started reading up on his connections to panel vans...and it reminds me that while the icons are still with us , we tend to take them for granted and only show the respect and give the credit due when they are gone...
I have been thinking about putting some kind of graphic in the tailgate window that will pay homage to his time here....I have also been thinking of building another panel Van, closer to 1/25 scale , as I have a pretty good idea now how to build them. Probably this winter I will get started on it, as I'll have more time then!

Antwon wrote:Brilliant work Trini.
Great detail on it.

Hey thanks Antwon! Hoping to get some more done soon!

Holey moley...! It worked!!

https://youtu.be/p7FJs-m6Lhc

Too much torque......snapped the crank!  

Lol...actually I had the spacer/stay thingy on backwards....lol!

The engines look cool, A 1/25 panel would be very cool too.

I just had to mock up with the body on....!
With the radiator in there, I have 8mms of space for the clutch fan to fit...!  but that should be enough...lol...!

Will have to get cracking on getting the fan sorted tonight so I can verify that it's okay!
The battery came in today...but still waiting on the connectors so I can make the splitter cable!
Gonna have to make a custom low profile air cleaner pan by adding some styrene so it drops down closer to the intake...only got like about 4mms clearance for the hood to close properly....

Anywho...some more pics...and some more to come soon!

Gday mate I love this build but I see your problem with the air cleaner, 4mm doesn't leave you much room and with a carby thats even less room sounds drastic but you might have to poke it through the bonnet I think that would still look pretty cool. then if you do end up cutting the bonnet you might as well cast up a blower

Hey guys.... Well...it's been a month already...: but I finally think I have everything I need to move forward....

Now I got to stick all of this..




In here....  




In the meantime .... Here's a few pics while I get jiggy with it....will have a progress update later tonight...

Didn't get as far as I hoped but did manage to make some progress...:blink:

Decided that the first thing to do was get the heat sink sunk...lol! I found an Integy Heatsink that came with a fan, but didn't need the fan.....but the heatsink lined up pretty sweet! The only real issue was that I needed to widen the hole where the motor goes, and hollow out the oil pan the the heat sink fins fit in there...




Removed the fan from the heat sink and stripped the engine to near nekkid ... Then covered up the pulley system and grabbed my trusty proxxon rotary tool !




Got the ole redneck sanding cabinet out and added some high tech lighting...lol






Not bad...still needs a bi of tweaking...so that the tranny bolts up flush to the motor.




Will continue tomorrow ... Once I get it tweaked properly, will go ahead with the wiring...

Woot..! These showed up yesterday! Sweet!

Got the chassis wired up with the electronics...first test run...lol

And with the body on....

Love those decals mate.... very nice !!

Hey thanks DeeCee! They were made by a bloke in SunnyBank Queensland! He did a really sweet job of it!

The strips look great so does the video of the van moving.

Excellent work Trini....Nearly there.