After working on it on and off for 6 years my Bolwell is almost ready for rego. Started and drove it for the first time in 6 years on Sunday. Feels alright up and down the driveway. Got an enginer coming one arvo this week for final inspection and report. Pics on home pageswww.users.bigpond.com/bollie7/ regards Peter Marr
Top work Peter......>> I've been waiting for your web page to be updated and look forward to reading the last installment detailing your enjoyment after your first lenghty cruise. Good luck with the engineer/rego process.
Wykked - Thanks Only problem is I think having the zx has spoilt me for the Bolwell. The Bolwell seems a lot smaller inside now. Peter
looks like an interesting project I was thinking of building a 1937 Ford 3 Window Coupe with a twin turbo 4.6 lexus v8 (using the crank and conrods from the landcruiser) but then the Zed came along and stole all my money.
The first two pics on page 11 .... come up as red X's for me.Great work. I was going to rebuild my old hatch back Capri and thought the zed would make a great donor engine. Then I decide just to buy the whole zed and sell the old Capri off for next to nothing. I admire someone who completes a project like that.Rather than rebuild the old engine, why not transplant a RB25-DET or the Supra 6? Not quite original but would make it very sporty.
Sweet. Always had a soft spot for Bolwells It's hard to tell from the pics, but it looks like it isn't a spaceframe chassis.... I thought they were?Ben
Red X's and Jap 6's I noticed that yesterday when I checked the pages from work. When I went on from home the pics showed up ok. Just to be sure I uploaded them again. Still show up as red X's here at work though. Will have another look at it tonight.re Jap engine in Bolwell I have thought about that a lot but haven't found an OHC inline 6 that has not been too tall to fit in the engine bay. I only have about 15mm clearance between the underside of the bonnet and the top of the rocker cover at the front of the engine. I don't really want to have a bulge 120mm high along 2/3 of the bonnet. V6's are too wide to fit without lots of mods to the chassis. There is also the problem of where to fit a catalytic converter. Not much room under the car. Could possibly fit a Nissan SR20 4cyl though I haven't measured one. After 6 years though I just want to get it going so I can get on with other things. Maybe in a couple of years when I have forgotten all the work I did I might feel like doing something about the engine. regards Peter Marr
Space frame No, original chassis was a backbone, folded up from sheet steel. Suprisingly strong though. There are a few Bolwells around that have had space frames built for them. A company called Fibrecar made a number of Nagari's in the early to mid 1980's. They had spaceframes. Fibrecar also built a few spaceframes for Mk7's as well. My brother has one. Peter Marr
Red X's .... I viewed your source and its looking for pics on your C drive.Surely there's a Jap 6 that's no bigger than the Holden 6.A SR20 turbo would probably perform briliantly in the Bollie.Something for a year or two's time.
Excellent work. Bloody nice cars, but a bit untidy in the build quality Yours looks and sounds like a very professional rebuild. I'd like to see it in the flesh when it's finished!Congrats on sticking with the old red 6 - they are a simple, reliable and cheap motor, with just basic mods getting them up near the 200 hp range, which I would think would be plenty for a Bolwell. Re the engine height, pity about that, as the VK EFI version would do wonders. If you ever see a Holley ProJection throttle body injection system around, grab it. They bolt to a standard 4 barrel inlet manifold (which are available for the Holden 6), are about the same size as a Holley 4 barrel, and perform EXTREMELY well. Oh, they have a cold start choke solenoid on the throttle too, so you may be able to use that as your engine idle increase when the A/C compressor kicks in. Oh, a note for your text on the first page - the red sixes were available from 138 cu in up to 202, not 149 up to 202. Spoke a few times to a guy in Adelaide (least I think he was in Adelaide) about Torana and Holden bits, who was doing something similar with a Bolwell and the UC front end, and big brakes. Can't remember his name though. Wonder how he's going with it.
I just happen to have a good Holley.. Pro-Jection set up for sale=) And yes they work extremely well=)
Untidy in build quality would have to be the understatement of the year. You are right, wasn't so good. Vk injection - I have a manifold in the shed. Has to have the plenum cut off and a new one fabricated, with shorter runners and the throttle body on th end. A bloke in Vic has a Mk7 that has had that done to it. Looks good and apparently goes ok too. Thanks for the info re 138 - 202 I have just fixed that up. I'm not an expert on all things Holden. The Bolwell is the first Holden engine I have had anything to do with. regards Peter Marr
Ian, Thanks for that As you can tell I'm not an expert on this web page caper. I think I have corrected that little mistake. regards Peter Marr
