I thought it was about time I put together a post on this project now it is getting towards completion, plus it might spur me on to get it finished - it was supposed to be completed two months ago. The car is a genuine VG Pacer h/top (body #123) although it has parted company with its compliance plate at sometime - probably when it was painted. The original high backed bucket seats along with the driveline have also disappeared.
I bought the car mid last year, I had been aware of it for a couple of years as it has sat neglected, buried in dust in the corner of a workshop in town for probably about 5 years. The owner was approached when we found it but didn't want to sell, two years on he changed his mind and sold it.
The last owner had intended to build a strong street car I believe and had stripped it back, had it repainted (only average) fully reupholstered and a custom fabricated drop tank installed. then for whatever reason the project was abandoned and the car sat for probably about 5 years - during which
MANY parts disappeared. The car was originally Toledo Red, but has been repainted in a brighter shade.
It turned out to be the bargain on the century when I got it home, plus it came with a VG Safari parts car and a complete 360. I knew it had some performance parts with it but I was amazed at what I found in the boot (although unfortunatley it turned out that some stuff was ruined after years of rats pissing on it (very corrosive stuff :evil: )
This was what I found in the boot:
1 set of Arias forged +0.060 pistons - new
1 set of aluminium rods new
full set of Harland Sharp roller rockers - new - ruined
full set of roller lifters - new - ruined
1 set of ARP main studs - new
1 set of ARP head studs - new
1 set of Comp valve springs, retainers and collets
1 3500 rpm stall converter
1 rebuilt 727 transmission still wrapped in plastic
The 2 cars and all the parts for $700!!!!
Here's what it looked like when I got it home:
it wasn't until October last year that I got time to was it down and see what we'd really bought, here's the results:
We decided to put the Charger project to one side and see if we could get the Pacer going in time for the 2006 drag season with the intention of building it as a street registered car to be eligible to run in the street meets at Hidden Valley. That's proven to be a little too ambitious a target :sad: Any way in November we stripped the car and commenced work, it was stripped back to a completely bare shell and then reassembly started.
Here it is in November after being stripped:
As we started to reassemble it it became obvious the amount of parts that had been lost, rubbers (mainly the unique h/top ones of course :evil
, door handles,locks & mechanisms, boot locks, rear window chrome clips and literally dozens of other small and large parts. I'm very fortunate that I have a large stock of h/top parts otherwise the project would have been impossible without a complete donor car. The wiring loom had been removed from the vehicle before painting with a set of shears by the look of it, it had been chopped into at least seven pieces and was unsaveable!!
Here's a shot of the interior in Feb, I've taken out the original Pacer dash as it was in poor condition and replaced it with a standard dash as all I need is the speedo and fuel gauge, the rest will be Autometer stuff. The car is amazingly rust free:
Another shout of the interior taken today with the Pro-ratchet shifter fitted
It did come with a good correctly painted bonnet, but I thought I'd go for something different, so had a look in the spare panels shed and turned up this bonnet that I acquired some time ago. It's fully steel (and heavy) and the cold air induction is functional, I've had it sand blasted and primed, now just a bit of bog and some paint and it'll look outstanding. Planning to get something based on the Ramcharger scoop decals made up to go on either side of the scoops.
Here's a shot of the boot with the custom alloy drop tank fitted, I've also made up a stainless steel battery tray for the boot.
The engine is going to be relatively mild for a start off, we'' build a much stronger engine for it over the next wet season for the 2007 racing season. The first engine will run Edelbrock heads, Crane Gold roller rockers, Comp mild hydraulic cam, CSI electric water pump, MSD ignition and MSD programmable timing computer, Holley 750 double pumper with Proform body, Torker inlet and Pacmaker headers.
I've just received the custom 9" and sat it in place yesterday, initially it will run a 3.5:1 LSD centre, but that will change to 4.11 when the second engine is fitted.
The rear wheels just arrived today (eBay come through again :-D ). I t will be running on Convo Pros; 4 1/2' on the front and 8 1/2" x 15" on the rear with Mickey Thompson 235/60/15 Street drag radials. A couple of photos with the wheels sitting on it this afternoon.
