HKGTS427

05/05/2026

My chassis guy is ready for me after a long wait.

His list is:

Build diff to suit wheels and C6 corvette brakes, along with E-brake.
Install offset spring perches and setup motorfab split leaf rear suspension.
Install chassis connectors, profiled to floor pan.
Bolt up power glide to engine and make custom mounts on Rodtech IFS.
Measure up & install tail shaft.
Install united speed shop fuel tank.
Install Aeromotive A1000 fuel pump and run all fuel lines.
Fabricate headers and the rest of the twin 3” exhaust system.
Install Astra power steering pump and lines.
Install under dash “curleys” offset brake pedals and finish brake line setup.
Install pro-ratchet shifter into orig console.

So amongst the other 1/2 dozen cars… think he will have it for a number of months.

Looking forward to next stage of the build before going back to the panel shop to finalise all the gaps while “most” of the weight is in the car.

15/08/2025

09/02/2025

Tremaniac Racing have almost finished building the engine with a pretty free reign on what to build... other than a request for around 700hp on 98 octane (I live in the North West where other fuels are not easy to get hold of).

Not sure if I mentioned it previously but it started life as a Trophy truck 6L engine, with a Dart little M block but they have now punched it out to 427ci with a slight bore, new forged rotating assembly and custom Comp Cams solid roller cam with BAM lifters.

The GM363 18 degree heads have been worked over with a port job, flow benched with new valves & seals etc but not sure what the exact specs are just yet (for the whole top end, other than a matched Brodix manifold)

I'm pretty confident they will easily give me the 700hp and look forward to the dyno vid and results in the next month or so.

08/02/2025

Now the boat is all but done… time to get back on the Monaro build!

01/06/2024

I doubt anything more will happen to the Monaro this year other than engine work, due to the massive cost and timeline of this boat build.

The fabrication is finished and she’s off to paint now.
I hope to have it on the water around September. Then a few months chilling out, to let the bank account recover again before getting back into the Monaro in the new year.

Anyway… this is the new money pit 😂

26/12/2023

No updates on the Monaro build for the last few months as I've been focusing on a different build and can't afford to build two top notch toys at once...(who can?)

So the cause of the Monaro build delay is a custom 8500 (X 2.7m beam) weapon of a boat, powered by a 350 Mercury with a heap of custom touches to spice it up a bit.

23/08/2023

WOW... This thing is looking fantastic, thanks once again to the team at The Panel Shop Smash Repairs!

Will be a couple of more months before I head down to see it as Im working away for a couple of big swings.

What do you guys reckon so far?

18/08/2023

I've been a little tied up finalising the sale of my house and packing up/ tip runs etc, so the other pics to share with you from last weeks work, are now attached below.

Enjoy the repair work by the crew The Panel Shop Smash Repairs have been performing on the Rare Spares front guards, front valance panel as well as the factory bonnet, cleaning up the gaps and fixing a few more dents.

I am so stoked to have these guys onboard this build... and I cant wait to see what they have done this week... so stay tuned.

13/08/2023

A killer week with lots of awesome work completed by the crew at The Panel Shop Smash Repairs...Thanks heaps

This section is about pulling the skin off the bootlid frame to get all the little dents out, as well as cleaning up the surface on both the skin and frame.

Next section will be pictures of the front guards.

Enjoy

23/07/2023

Here is a few more pics of the door and parcel shelf repairs.