HZ Tonner

[pman92]

Thought I would start a post here seeing as things are starting to come together.

This is my HZ Tonner, I first got it as a rolling shell in 2008 when I was 16. My old man and I built it up over the next couple of years as a father/son project.
I drove it on weekends with an underpowered and very tired 202 for a while, and mucked around with a couple of carby setups. I rebuilt the Aussie 4 speed after it started poping out of 2nd gear.
It definitely reinforced my interest in cars and is probably why I've now been qualified as a light vehicle mechanic for 2 years and am less than 6 months off completing my 2nd apprenticeship as an auto elec.
About 3 years ago I bought a VN 304 motor, but due to other priorities I didn't really start work on that until last year.
Since then I've spend almost 8g on the '2nd rebuild'. Everything done myself except the transmission build which I outsourced since I don't have the tools or experience/know how.

It's still a 304, 30 thou over with flat tops, pretty mild cam.
Standard banana manifold etc.
Turbo 700 auto with corvette servo/all the good bits etc.
2.5" twin exhaust with extractors (built by my brother, he works making them)
I've modified a VN speedo to fit the HJ GTS speedo housing I've go, and I'm using a jaycar corrector module to calibrate it.

It's a cruiser, not for burn outs or drags or anything.

As of this weekend I've completely finished the wiring, fitted my USB Comms and NVRAM to the '808, and downloaded tunerpro and started to get my head around it.
Unfortunately I can't start it yet as everything else isn't finished.

Next weekends project is to fit a VT fuel pump module to the factory tank
And then I've got to setup a radiator and trans cooler.

Apart from a few small things it's then ready to fill with oil and reverse out of the shed for some better photos! (Finally, my dads getting sick of it taking up his shed space lol)
It's been a slow project but should be a good cruiser

Future plans include-
-Power steering (most of it ready to go already)
-Cruise control (have a VN V8 module ready to wire up)
-Lower the tray and move it forward, clean up a few defects in the jarrah and give it a new coat of clear. There's a rather large gap between cab and tray which was over looked when dad and I originally built the tray.
-paint the tray body color. I should of done this, but black sounded better back then for whatever reason.
-an Arduino based 'info display' to replace my non functioning GTS clock, mainly serving as a digital vehicle speed readout, either GPS based or from the VSS. And probably including cruise on/cruise active info and possibly other stuff. Really keen to have a muck around with this.

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Mod Edit: resized and rotated pics!

[festy]

I love the colour
If you're into arduinos, you could use one to get the road speed from the ALDL message - along with heaps of other engine data that you could display.

[Holden202T]

nice looking ute mate! should go well with the 304

[pman92]

Today's progress,
Modified the tank to fit a VT fuel pump module.

Took me most of the day to do, someone with more tools and experience could probably do it in half the time.
I thought this would be a better idea than a lift pump and surge tank with external high pressure pump for a number of reasons.
-simplicity
-only 1 pump to fail instead of 2
-lift pumps are noisy
-not a lot of room for a surge tank especially after I lower the tray
-it ended up costing less than buying a surge tank, lift pump and external high pressure pump
-if it fails VT pump modules are cheap/easy to come by

I'm confident the VT pump will flow enough (this is a genuine Delphi unit), if not I'll modify the module to use a higher flowing internal pump.

In short:
Cut a hole in the tank where the old breather was. Cut out 3 rings from mild steel, a base, a sandwich and a retainer. Cut the base in to 2 half circles and welded in 6 studs. The base parts then go inside the tank with the studs sticking through and are brazed in (I'm not sure what the tank is made of but it would be a prick to try weld). The sandwich ring then gets holes to clear the studs, and slips on. The sealing o-ring and module go in next. The sandwich is designed to clear the module. The retainer goes on last, which compresses the module in as the nuts are done up until it reaches the sandwich and tightens up.
For fuel lines I just cut off some VT ones from the wreckers, and sliced the plastic pipe off the fittings, then slipped rubber hose and a hose clamp on the quick release fittings. Breather and return fittings are 5/16 hose, and pressure fitting 3/8, but I managed to get 5/16 hose on.
Plan to use a VN - VS fuel filter with 5/16 hose fittings each end.
I'll use the breather connection on the module now as the old tank breather was cut out to make way.
Also had to bend the original sender unit in the side of the tank to clear the VT module. It will be kept in place only to operate the fuel gauge.
VT module is exactly high enough for a HQ to WB ute/van tank. It's good for any tank upto 310mm high, although you could easily extend or shorten it.

I noticed there is a difference between VT series 1 and VT2, VX etc modules. I'm using a VT1. Does anyone know why they have different part numbers?

[pman92]

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[vs ss]

I noticed there is a difference between VT series 1 and VT2, VX etc modules. I'm using a VT1. Does anyone know why they have different part numbers?]

Hi it was changes in the wiring plug design.
Nice ute as well.

[pman92]

Thanks mate.
I'm not sure if the wiring plug I got was from a series 1 or 2 Vt. I might have got the wrong one. I guess I'll find out today.

[VL400]

Nice fuel pump conversion! Fits really well in that tank.

The Aeromotive stealth setup is similar in how it converts the pickup. But its much better using a factory setup over the aftermarket if you ever need parts later on.

[pman92]

Thanks!
I got the idea from efihardware.com
They sell a kit for $380 using the vt2/vx pump.
I got the pump for $150 plus $20 in steel and bolts and a few hours work.
Already had the quick connectors and wiring connector from a parts VT at work.

[pman92]

Finally up and running! Has been for the last couple of weeks. After 8 or 9 months jacked up in the shed its god to finally drive it again.
Now for the fun part, tuning it up.