1972 Holden Torana LJ from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

Clutch linkages broke one after the other, replaced dogleg, L-bar, push rod, firewall torque rod, pin on rear of pedal.

Triple Carburettorss constantly overheated, fuel vaporising causing shitty idle, fixed by wrapping nearly 20m of heat bandage around extractors.

Bought car with heaps of rust, replaced floor pans, bogged up major rust in sills, after closer inspection found front passenger door pillar to be virtually non existant... big weld job.

Usual electrical bugs, bad earths.

Had to replace M21 when it broke prior to which it used to jump out of gear at 3000rpm, dodgy synchros, heaps of vibration etc. Replacement along with balanced tail shaft sorted it out.

Old Banjo diff held on quite well, got bit noisy after a while, but that's my fault...

Leaky air shockers needed to be filled every 2 weeks.

Car went well, had lumpy cam and ported head, having been bored out to 192ci.

Started out with a 650cfm Holley, used to blubber, went down to a 350, but eventually canned that for reco triple 175cd Stromberg's. Went really well at higher revs, OK at normal.

Car came with a 3 inch exhaust, was really loud, got defected for being 14db over legal. No backpressure, car would have probably had a bit more torque at low revs with a smaller system.

Was slightly lowered, handled well, within standard Torana levels given the odd steering setup.

Awesome for getting sideways.

Complete cop magnet...

Had mid 80's XB Falcon Bonnet Skin with the twin Vents, kinda daggy, but I liked em. Welded in gills, badly mounted bobtail, XU1 black paint job on sills and rear.

NO XU1 badges cos I hate when people pretend they've got something they haven't.

Recovered fold down seats, nice black velor, Gtr Dash, Gtr steering wheel.

Overall, a very rough looking car, sky blue with matte black bonnet and sills, very loud, full of vibrations, bumpy ride... but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Now retired to wreckers for out-of-rego dismantlment, in readiness for third reincarnation... Passenger door pillar rust got so bad door hinges started to sag.

Hi there,

just wondering if have any pictures of your torana?? I'm thinking of putting a xb gt bonnet on my lc torana. Email me at markcappa@hotmail.com.

Thanks.