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Glenn Torrens gets busy on his wrecker-yard 'Coomadore' resurrection
Towed home and tucked into my garage, the next morning I made a hot cuppa and had a good wander around my ‘new’ 1981 VC Holden Commodore sedan. I bought it from Flynn’s Wreckers in Cooma, NSW, where it had sat under a pine tree for many years.
So, is the Commodore sitting in my garage as good as what I fell in love with in Cooma?
Yes, it is!
The rear suspension’s control-arm bushes checked-out okay but I replaced the sway-bar bushes. Fresh budget-spec dampers were installed
In fact, it’s almost better…I reckon I’ll have this old girl resurrected, rego’d and back on the road in weeks, not months!
These days, cars aren’t required to display year-specific registration labels but a tiny remaining piece of an old rego sticker on the passenger rear window gave me a surprise; this remnant revealed ‘1998’. Wayne Flynn reckoned this Commodore came into his yard “about 10 or 12 years ago”. But as well as the sticker, a quick online enquiry revealed this car’s rego was cancelled last century so it’s highly likely this car sat at the wrecker’s yard, in the shade of a pine tree, for a little longer than just “10 or 12” years!
Thankfully, there’s very little rust despite this car being sill-deep in pine needles and mushrooms when I found it. Despite sitting outdoors for years the crisp dry Cooma climate has obviously been kind to this car.
One of the first things I did for the Commodore when I got it home was change the engine oil. Thankfully, the old oil was still ‘oily’ – and therefore capable of lubricating – when I rubbed it between my fingers before getting the engine running in Cooma. That’s hardly a tribologically precise oil assessment, but I’ve seen far worse oil in running engines!
The coolant, too, was replaced, after I renewed the water pump and the radiator and heater hoses. I screwed in a fresh set of spark plugs and replaced the engine mounts…although I probably needn’t have bothered with those as the old ones looked as-new.
One minor setback while working on the motor was the Holden/Bosch electronic distributor dying while the car was idling in my driveway. Spark one minute… not the next. That’s old cars for ya… but better it happens at home than out cruising somewhere!
When hosing the sills with fresh water, quite a bit of muck came out so I’m lucky moisture-laden dirt hasn’t rotted the sills from the inside out
Luckily I had a spare distributor; a handy score in a lucky-dip pile of spare parts I’d bought from another Commodore nerd. After replacing the fluids and installing all these parts, I adjusted the idle speed and now the engine is running sweet.
One strut in this car had been replaced so I renewed both with rebuilt correct-spec Armstrongs to suit a six-cylinder Commodore. Suspension differs for six, V8 and air-con cars
The next task was to remove the front guards and lift the car onto chassis stands for a pressure-wash of the underside. That took a few hours and after everything had dried, I rolled the car back into the garage and again lifted it onto chassis stands to begin repairs.
That’s nearly six litres of oil from last century. That oil filter is ‘Made in Australia’ so is a genuine, rare collectible!
First to come out was the front suspension. I discovered the front struts were mismatched and one ball joint was buggered. I raided my parts pile for a matching pair of six-cylinder springs/struts, bought one second-hand front lower control arm (with a good ball joint) and rebuilt the struts with new dampers and tops. The steering rack was removed, cleaned and up-ended in my bench vice overnight to drain out the remaining old oil. The rack rubbers were replaced and fresh oil added. The suspension was re-installed with new sway-bar link bushes – everything else checked out fine! While I was rolling around on my garage floor, I drained and replaced the differential/rear axle lube, too.
The original fuel tank was rusted-through. I bought a clean second-hand one and gave it a freshen-up with gal paint. The sender unit was reconditioned and all hoses replaced
Next was the brakes. Out back, I rebuilt with machined drums, new rear slave cylinders, a new body-to-axle flexible hose and fresh friction materials. Up front, I installed brand new discs, wheel bearings, hoses and pads. I’ll cross my fingers on the condition of the master cylinder and front callipers but hopefully they will continue to work well with just a fill of fresh fluid… If not, I will give them whatever attention they need.
The front discs were replaced with new. New front wheel bearings were used too, as was a new set of flexible brake hoses and brake pads
The only mystery is the condition of the Trimatic auto transmission. I drove the car around at Flynn’s and onto the trailer so I know it kind-of works… My plan is for a good flush/service as soon as I get the car registered and can drive it to a local transmission specialist for some decades-overdue attention.
| Watch next: ‘Project Coomadore’ – part 1 – video
From Unique Cars #469, Aug/Sep 2022