HJute

G'day all. I have recently bought a '75 HJ Kingswood Ute, complete, little rust, interior has already been done, 202 Red motor and column shift auto, 14" Jellybean mags and in general it's in pretty good condition. It has some rust around the bottom of the front screen and surface rust on the roof and the bonnet. Came with 2" lowering blocks for the rear and lowered springs for the front, hornet scoop, 4litres of primer, 4x brand new tyres, and got it all for $250.

I'll post up pics as soon as i can, but i thought i would lay out my plans for my ute.

Engine. The engine is a bit of a lotto pick at the moment.
Option #1. I'm thinking of a 308 or an EFI 304 with a tricked up auto
Option #2 Could see a warm 350 Chev stuffed into the front.
Option #3 Land Rover 3.9L V8, mainly because they are a light little engine with good torque.
Option #4 Nissan RB20DET from a Skyline. This was thrown into the mix because i can get one fairly cheap, but doesn't really sit well with the feel of the ute (i believe)
oPTION #5 Holden EFI 202, fully rebuilt engine, new injector harness with late model items.

Diff. Ford 9" LSD disc rear end. I think they would be able to handle any sort of power the engine develops.

Wheels. This is another sticky one, i'm leaning towards some Weld Prostars of Dragway Convo Pros

Colour. Either Holden "morpheus" Purple, HSV British Racing Green (SV5000), or Blue Mica from a Toyota Rav 4.

Interior. It's already been done, in Green, Black and Silver. Marble effect in Candy Green Pearl, but i'm not a fan of the very long standard instrument cluster, so i'm thinking of some polished aluminum plate with Full Autometer gauges.

_Daniel_

Would be great to see pics.
I would eithier choose option 1 or option 2.
Option one to keep it Holden and some decent power can be had from eithier the 308 or EFI 304, is a stroker in your budget? What is your budget?
The 350 is also a good option, pleanty of variety of parts and cheaper for parts than holden. Again good power can be had.

Great buy, by the sounds the of it.

What are you aiming to achieve? A weekend warrior? Strip car? Daily???
The more information you give the experienced guys, the more than can help you...

HJute

This one (i hope) will be a Summernats top 80 contenter. I have no budget, i'll be building it from the ground up over the next few years, but i got a great shell to start with. It will be more a daily/weekend warrior/drag an all rounder. I have the bodywork covered, being a panel beater/spray painter.

400HPONLPG

First of all the Landrover engine is a absolute Joke , no power no torque ,expensive crap !! .Late model 304 block and heads ,355 stroker kit , harrop manifold , straight gas , plenty power , cheap and reliable to run .

HJute

Here's a little update after getting all the parts together and seeing what i can use, and then the panel work begun. The bonnett is complete waste of time and money, the surface rust has taken hold and it also looks like the kid i got it from, paint stripped it, but left the stripper on, and has gone to crap, so i'll need a new bonnett. Paint stripped the tail gate, and started work on it, it's a new one, but has had some panel work done, so i'm guessing it's been damaged from stock or something. Any way, i have started to repair it, and file finish it and hope to have it done, by the end of the week, but i'll see how i go.

I have a 308 (304) out of a VL coming next week, it'll be soon stripped down, acid cleaned, and a heap of goodies to go in, but i'm in no real rush to get the motor done, there will be a 355 crank going in.

Been looking around at a brake upgrade, and i'm thinking of using some Wilwood calipars, but not sure if they'll fit, wait and see i guess.

here are some pics of my tailgate.

rlj308

awsome teh new panels i bought for my hj back in the day where crap none of the gaps where right and panels where warped.