Holden HX Sandman Overlander Panel Van

Nice move on switching that engine out. That does look better! Great work going on with your build.

Hey guys...another small update..! 

So....managed to figure out how the engine is bolting to the tranny...:p....then got the whole drive train mocked up in the chassis...

The Good news...the steering linkage clears the block and the exhaust manifolds, forgot to take a pic with the manifold on the block ...  may need to shave a couple mms off the inside of the manifold to give a bit more room, but no biggie as its got enough 'meat' on there to lose it...lol! 

The drag link also clears the crankshaft pulley nicely! So I will think that the steering is good to go...;)

The alternator also clears the frame rail by about 2mms....

The bad news...with the weight of the motor, and the different motor mounts for the tranny, there's like 1-2mm clearance between the oil pan and the diff casing :facepalm: , but it's not really a big issue and the entire oil pan is solid polyurethane resin, so I can shave a couple of mms off in that area without too much trouble....!

Also...ran into an issue connecting the driveshafts to the diffs.......the diffs are the SDIs which have a 4mm output shaft and the driveshafts are the TF2s, which has an inner bore of 5mm...so I managed to make some spacers to fit...hopefully they will work out and last a while......lol!

So anywho some pics....Watcha think?

Then 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...!:facepalm:  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!

If there's one thing that I like about this larger scale stuff, it's the amount of detail that can be put into their builds. I admire the amount of work that you're throwing at this one to achieve these realistic results.

Aw TRINI !

   This is getting Scary in an awesome way . Looking Good . As to the clearance , why don't you put a low profile handsome looking scoop on the bonnet to clear the stuff under it ? That is quite a chunk of engine you got in there !

 Like I said SCARY GOOOOOD !     T.B.      Sorry about that . I didn't see the scoop you had , till I went back and really looked .

mustang1989

If there's one thing that I like about this larger scale stuff, it's the amount of detail that can be put into their builds. I admire the amount of work that you're throwing at this one to achieve these realistic results.

 

Hey thanks mustang! You may not believe that when I started this build I had no intention of doing all this detail...lol! A few months after I started experimenting with scratch building ( I did a couple of interiors for lexan bodies - a Tamiya FJ40 and a Rothmans Ford Escort Mk2) I decided I wanted to build a body of a Holden Station Wagon ( I owned the sedan version years ago) that I always wanted but never bought. Then I found out about the panel vans, and I was hooked! Lol!

This was just gonna fit on a chassis the way a regular hard body does...and somewhere along the line ( I think now because of the size as you point out)  I started to think ' I wonder if I could build this part this way? or can I get this piece to function somewhat? Etc etc.  To the extent now that the build has gone on for close to three years.. And to me it seems to have evolved on its own, as none of the details you see were planned...! i think of it as experiments that worked out ok. If you look at some of the early pics when I started you can see a lot of the inexperience I had....this is the first scratch built body I have done...lol! But it has been a learning experience!

Tanker - Builder

Aw TRINI !

   This is getting Scary in an awesome way . Looking Good . As to the clearance , why don't you put a low profile handsome looking scoop on the bonnet to clear the stuff under it ? That is quite a chunk of engine you got in there !

 Like I said SCARY GOOOOOD !     T.B.      Sorry about that . I didn't see the scoop you had , till I went back and really looked .

 

hey thanks TB! 

But it's not actually a hood scoop...the hood itself has a raised section in the center, and when I was building it in the beginning, I never intended to have the hood opening, far less to have an actual engine in there! So I built that raised section at the time the only way I knew how, by adding the piece on top of the flat roof section. 

As for adding a scoop, I really want to keep the stock profile of the car, so I will be making a low profile air cleaner. i am considering filing down the top of the carburetor base on the intake, so I will gain a few more mms, but will try it on another scrap block that I have from the early molds!

Aha!

    Now , that's the way !. I will say that you have probably been thinking on it for a while . Good on you ! Now let's see it do a burnout ! I gotta say though .that grill looks like a Mercury Grand Marquis item . Did you make it or buy it ? Tanker - Builder

Tanker - Builder

Aha!

    Now , that's the way !. I will say that you have probably been thinking on it for a while . Good on you ! Now let's see it do a burnout ! I gotta say though .that grill looks like a Mercury Grand Marquis item . Did you make it or buy it ? Tanker - Builder

 

lol...thanks man....i made it...!

The only things on the body  that I bought were the steering wheel ( from an axial kit ) and the grille emblem which I had someone laser cut for me...!

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..

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...

Aww ! WOW ;

 You have got this down ! I do still like the whole project . Now , when you get her running . Please don't scratch it ! Please ?   T.B.

Woot..! These showed up yesterday!  Sweet!

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

http://youtu.be/An9AGuhqCN8

hope this works...lol

http://youtu.be/An9AGuhqCN8

With the body on...

http://youtu.be/KzBA5pVqzGs

Hmmm;

 All I can say is WOWZA !   T.B.

Can You Say ?

"Holy Sandman , Batman " ? Trini , I have to give you a total Huzzah ! She looks nice moving around .Well Done ! T.B.

This is a great WIP!  Amazing detail work!

Toshi