And just to add snother project into the mix, this is my sons Holden Torana. Built in 1978 it was bought new by my grandfather (his great grandfather) and was the only car he ever owned. My son is about 12 in this photo when gave him the car.. Now 15 and a corporal in the Australian defence force cadets.
Immensely proud of him, A & B student with a.d.d and two mums. Blackbelt in taekwondo .
plan is a 3.8 buick with a few mods. (Engine is a spare race motor from the partners v6 wingless sprintcar) should go alright. Same setup with a stock motor in my old torana ran 15 flat on the quarter mile
Sounds like an awesome kid - good job, Moms!
I have two girls about that age (16 & 14) and I am ceaselessly amazed at how great they are.
I'm also two days older than you, which means exactly nothing!
Wow. What IS that? It reminds me of the Suzuki Swift GT that I never should have sold.
TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) said:
Sounds like an awesome kid - good job, Moms!
I have two girls about that age (16 & 14) and I am ceaselessly amazed at how great they are.
I'm also two days older than you, which means exactly nothing!
My partner is 6 days younger than me, we should have a big party!
Snowdoggie said:
Wow. What IS that? It reminds me of the Suzuki Swift GT that I never should have sold.
The model before this one was a rebadged Suzuki Swift, 1.3 litre. This one was an Opel corsa b in Germany and South Africa, a vauxhall corsa b in England, holden barina in Australia and a chevrolet corsa b in i thought America but maybe it was Canada? Not sure.
2Girlsracing said:
Snowdoggie said:
Wow. What IS that? It reminds me of the Suzuki Swift GT that I never should have sold.
The model before this one was a rebadged Suzuki Swift, 1.3 litre. This one was an Opel corsa b in Germany and South Africa, a vauxhall corsa b in England, holden barina in Australia and a chevrolet corsa b in i thought America but maybe it was Canada? Not sure.
I don't think we got anything in the US after the Suzuki Swift/Geo Metro. They gave up on small cars. Maybe in Canada they got the Corsa.
Suzuki shut down it's dealer network in the US completely in 2012 packed it in and went home. Small cars just don't sell here.
2Girlsracing said:
My partner is 6 days younger than me, we should have a big party!
Sounds awesome. Would love to be in a country where people are into science and care for others.
On your Holden, what class do you run it in? Can you make a lot of mods or is it pretty restricted?
TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) said:
2Girlsracing said:
My partner is 6 days younger than me, we should have a big party!
Sounds awesome. Would love to be in a country where people are into science and care for others.
On your Holden, what class do you run it in? Can you make a lot of mods or is it pretty restricted?
I run in improved production 1600 to 2000cc. Modifications are pretty free, i can add a turbo and stay in the same capacity class. We run fwd and rwd in the same classes. Class record is a mk2escort 2 litre at 45secs but it's also heavily modified and developed. Other cars are a 2 litre Volkswagen beetle , dry sumped, lowered and stripped.
On a positive note m coilovers got dispatched from the UK today! I'm betting the postal sevice in Australia don't get them here before xmas!!
In reply to Snowdoggie :
Corsa wasn't available in Canada either, but it was sold in Mexico. There are tons of them there, including a ute version.
Sounds like you've got quite a bit of room for further development. Will be cool to watch!
Good luck on the package from the UK. I had some TVR parts go missing for about 6 weeks this summer, but that was technically US Postal at fault there.
Hoping parts will arrive for the xmas break but if not I'll throw it into my tyre sponsor amd let him sort it. Planning on a few extra events next year covid willing , hoping to get some work done over my holidays to get more competitive against the pesky hyundais! My inlaws live near enough to another event that we are travelling up (600km's ) to recce the course over xmas. My partner is also my rally co-driver so she is used to this. Only person i could find crazy enough to sit in the passenger seat! Also branching out into khanacross so that'll br an experience
New alternator in the cruiser today, was having to charge the battery every time we wanted to use it and the second battery wasn't getting charged at all. New 70a bosch unit went straight in, everything plugged in and charges at 14.7v. Win!
also discovered the txt messages I've been getting weren't a scam and i had GsT, import duties and whatever else customs charges due for my suspension! That ws a nice $300 surprise I wasn't expecting!!
Bummer about the unexpected duties.
I actually was on the other end of that once. A while back I was building some accessories for rowers, and I shipped about $400 worth of equipment to a customer in Canada. He got socked with about $100 in duties, and was super mad at me about it. Then other Canadian customers had no issues at all and no duties. Weird stuff.
Very weird indeed! Haven't come across it before, live and learn I guess.
Picked up a helmet for my partner this morning, she has a freakishly small head. Can actually share a helmet with my son, except i think his head has grown since then.
Anyway, we managed to get one off the shelf for her in an xs which fitted really well with hans posts etc so that was a win. Usually have to get them repadded for her.
Plan is she will run in my car next year double entered, and then i will step up to the Rx8 when it's finished.
Suspension has arrived just in time for the x-mas push, all assembled with the offset bearing tops, will require some trimming of the strut mounts but no big deal. And yes that is the kitchen table! 
Pics of the install, please!
Work finished for the year, it's car time!
time to fit the coilovers, spax Rsx with damping adjustment, and concentic strut tops. Started on the rear end.
rear suspension removed, unbolt bottom of shocks and it all falls out.
comparison of of spring free lengths.
installation is the reverse of removal
stock struts in the front with aftermarket springs.
comparison of stock lengths. Have wound the shocks up to halfway and still doesn't like the 17's.
mark a line to clear eccentric top mounts and break out the air saw.
install new struts, still at lowest setting here.
all the adjustments here.
much lower than it used to be, still some tweaking required! This is also with the road wheels still fitted. Slicks are on 15's so will get it aligned with those fitted.
Quick string line alignment today, need to cut threads on the steering arms further. Took my 10yo daughter for the test drive....... she said stick it in second and send it ...... so I did.... and now she wants to do it again. Totally my little girl! She wants her own race car so the search is on for a competitive race kart. She will inherit the race cars I feel while my son will inherit the business.
Looks great.
What's the story on the two-tone? You buy the car after a front-end crash or something?
Don't know how I missed this before. Cool vehicles. I always had a thing for hill climbs.
TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) said:
Looks great.
What's the story on the two-tone? You buy the car after a front-end crash or something?
the front end came off the old rally car which was a gen 1 and this shell is a gen 2, just prefer the look of it. The back end will get some more white when I get around to repainting it to tie it all in.
Welcome to the boards. Great work with everything. I'm really interested to see where the RX-8 goes. Do you have any videos of the Holden in action?
I have some friends from the Brisbane area (thanks, internet!). Good to see there are Grassroots folks there too.
Brett_Murphy (Ex-Patrón) said:
Welcome to the boards. Great work with everything. I'm really interested to see where the RX-8 goes. Do you have any videos of the Holden in action?
I have some friends from the Brisbane area (thanks, internet!). Good to see there are Grassroots folks there too.
Thankyou for the welcome, it's a nice place to be. There are some video's of the holden in action on the 2girlsracing instagram and bookface. Not sure how to post here? Partner is working on the YouTube thing at the moment, there are some more bits on the RX8 there as well.
Thanks for the updates! I just found your ig to follow along with as well.
