'62 Wagon ... "The Smurf"

[Cogburn]

Hi all. I have been daily driving a 1970 Camaro RS for the past three years. I found there were times when it would have been helpful to be able to take my wife and three sons with me, but as the Camaro only has four seats then this wasn't possible.



I started to like old wagons more and more, and I came very close to buying a '56 &*#@ Customline wagon, and a Tri-Five Chevy wagon. It later dawned on me that the features in those cars that I liked were also in an EK wagon so I started lurking on your site in August last year. I test drove a few different EK's with my family and we ended up buying a 1962 EK Wagon from Byron Bay that was owned by another member here.

The basic specs when I bought it were:
- Strata Blue
- red 202
- Aussie 4 speed
- HR front end with HR discs

Here's a few pics of it when I bought it.











I soon found out that the gauges had all sorts of issues. They looked pretty but didn't work! I like to know what's happening with my engines so I fitted a set of Dakota Digital VHX gauges from a Tri-Five Chevy. I used this same system in my Camaro and was really happy with it. The gauges fit into the standard bezel and after a bit of trimming of the opening in the dash it all slipped into place.









All of the wiring runs into a "control box" and then a single CAT 5 cable connects to the instrument cluster. The speedo (like all of the other gauges) is electronic so I have programmed it so that 60 mph is actually 60 kmh. Sorry for the crap phone pic...



Everything was happy for a few months until The Smurf decided to lose compression and stop not far from home. I called up a good friend of mine who came and rescued me with his trailer and took us back to his engineering workshop.
So out came the engine. I took the head off and found the gasket blown between #4 and #5. The bores were really glazed with a big lip at the top so I decided to do that a proper rebuild was in order.



With the engine out I started looking around and found some stuff that I wasn't happy with. So a simple engine rebuild has now turned into a much bigger project. The HR front end had some pretty terrible welding on it.

The front outrigger...


An engine mount....


As luck would have it, I stumbled across an HR front end with a Rod's Racks steering rack conversion so I bit the bullet and grabbed it.


It's all been powder coated, and everything is new...


Those engine mounts look better!


An outrigger that doesn't look like it will snap in half...


The front end came with HQ stubs, steering arms, and calipers (well HX alloy Girlock calipers actually) so I'm going to fit those up after I have everything else sorted. I needed a different column so I had George from Alien Retro Columns make me a collapsible column.



I was thinking of painting the honey pot, but I had a go at it with the polishing mop and I think I might leave it like that. I still need to paint of the red oxide primer.


So onto the engine. A fellow I know is putting an LS1 into his VK Commodore so I grabbed the black 202 EFI and Trimatic from that. I think that The Smurf will be nicer to drive as an auto so I decided to use the Trimatic so I've had it rebuilt to V8 specs.


The Trimatic wasn't going to fit and I thought that I might change to a TH700 later so in went a Waddingtons transmission tunnel.


I was really disappointed to see rust on the driver's side floor pan. A different accelerator pedal was fitted sometime in the past, and sadly the original opening in the floor was not closed over. Every time this car was driven in the wet, the water would get in through this hole and soak the sound deadener underneath the carpet. Fortunately it's not structural but I can't believe that it wasn't sealed over.

With regards to the engine, I started out thinking I would just freshen up the black 202 but I'm now heading down the turbo pathway. I'll rebuild the engine with dished pistons to decompress it a bit, and I have picked up a Nissan VQ30DET turbo that looks like it will fit. I got hold of a cast exhaust manifold from a VC Commodore, that I can hook the turbo up to with a j-pipe. Something like this...



I have a Haltech E11V2 that I'll use to run the ignition and EFI.



I then started thinking that the banjo diff really wouldn't like the turbo engine so I found a Volvo 240 disc-disc rear end.


Cut off the brackets that I didn't need..


Had my mate draw up some new spring mounts...


And cut them out on his mill...


As I'm going to use the HQ front rotors and brakes, I'm going to change the rear axles to HQ stud pattern so I have a better choice of wheels and back spacing.

So long story short, I started to rebuild a red 202 with a blown head gasket and now I have a car in pieces with lots of mods I never really thought about doing in the first place!!

[fingers]

Looking good mate .. .keep the photos annd stories coming .. .............Fingers

[Mick]

cool, surprised to see those bits of shoddy work (front end and not covering hole in floor) in what looks like such a nice car from the outside, a tip though looking at the engine mount positions i'de say you will have radiator clearance issues easilly solved by moving the radiator forward (there would also be steering issues but not with the rack) normally the mounts should sit at least on the very back of the crossmember (when i do them i actually hang them off the back by 5 to 10 mill)
should be a nice thing to drive once back togeather

[Cogburn]

Thanks for the tip Mick. I have to dummy up the engine and gearbox soon to sort out the turbo piping and gearbox crossmember so I'll soon know if it's an issue!

[EK JAY]

nice work mate any chance of getting a measurement of the disc brake volvo diff
disc to disc mate as im thinking of doing this to my fb wagon
and running ht front ventilated rotors and calipers hq stubs .
i too plan to use digital guages i like them

[Mick Jagger]

great car!!and pics !
Totally agree with Mick ,the mounts need to be moved back,
all that computer cutting shits a bit gay...... although probably better than my grinding skills..

[Blacky]

Looks great , love the gauges

[michaeljohn1234m]

Found you,What your doing is looking great mate, with your mate and his computer, you can put any power booster you want on.your getting all the right gear for Smurf will be good to watch your build

[Cogburn]

nice work mate any chance of getting a measurement of the disc brake volvo diff
disc to disc mate as im thinking of doing this to my fb wagon
and running ht front ventilated rotors and calipers hq stubs .
i too plan to use digital guages i like them

I'll get a measurement next time I'm in working on the car but it won't be for at least a fortnight because of Easter and then I have fly to Western Australia for a week for Round 2 of the Australian Rally Championship.

[the rocket]

I like your idea's when it comes to fixing things. nice work.

[Bluehaze]

Hey Cogburn

Most impressed with the thorough work you've done so far. I'm particularly interested in the EFI system you are doing with the 202. I'm currently running with a 186 with 12 port head and VK hardware in my FB. I looked into Haltech and other after market systems, but went for the Megasquirt (yes, I'm a tightarse). So far, I'm pretty happy with the way it performs. The MS system runs batch-fire, like the original setup, but from there it dacks the old Bosch system. When I got the car dynoed, the dyno bloke was a bit skeptical of the setup, but by the end of it he was asking for dealers and other info! I assume the Haltech runs sequential? I'd like to see how you setup the CAS.

[Cogburn]

BlueHaze.... I'll make sure to document the ECU side of things on here. I was actually going to use a hacked Delco 808 ECU originally but then I found that Haltech e11v2 for $250 so I just couldn't pass it up. I'm looking into using a chopper wheel mounted to the harmonic balancer for the crank angle. The E11v2 will do sequential.

[Bluehaze]

You did very well on the Haltech. Right now I'm running a Distibutor based ignition, but soon to change to a EDIS setup (the MS supports this) I'm getting a missing tooth wheel made up to run this (36-1 missing tooth). Let us know if you need one for your setup. As for ignition and fuel map numbers, I'm guessing your maps will be way different, as mine is but a mere NA system. -still very happy with the amount of poke I'm getting from a 186!

[Cogburn]

I managed to spend a bit of time at the workshop today and got a bit more done....

I've got the diff in and have just tacked the spring mounts in place until I get a chance to test fit the engine/gearbox and confirm the correct angle for the diff nose.



I also managed to get the HQ rotors and calipers on. Hopefully it should stop pretty good with them and the Volvo rear discs on.

[Blacky]

Check those calipers don't hit the upper wishbone on full lock mate, I had to trim mine because the brake hose just touched them.