Chevy Down Under
Welcome to the home of Ozchevy
Take a look at my most prized auto's and learn about their history and the rebuild of my dream vehicle,
the 1979 Z/28 Camaro.
You can add your ideas and comments to the Readers Forum page, (just keep it clean)
Look for a link to some interesting reviews, articles, or web-sites catering to speed equipment with online purchasing.
Read up on the latest racing news,
Circuit Racing, Drag Racing, Touring Cars.
Buy or sell your car or parts here,
(email me with your photos and descriptions to upload to the site)
Join in on the Garage, (Show off your Chevy project)
I hope to make this site as good as it can get, so if your a fan of America's Heartbeat - Chevrolet Automobiles -
sit back, crack open a beer and enjoy the styles we wish Australia could have grown up with - to compliment our own G.M range built here.
To start with - Here is an insight to my background
My name is Geoff,
I'm a Mechanical Engineer, having served my time as an Apprentice Toolmaker in the Plastic's manufacturing industry, I qualified with an Associate Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Waikato Technical Institute in Hamilton New Zealand.
After my Apprenticeship I was offered a position to work for a company with a franchise to supply and service M.T.U marine diesels fitted to New Zealand Government Research Vessels.
M.T.U stands for Mercedes Turbine Union.
This was a great job for me at the time, I was single - so the time at sea was not of a great problem to me, (and it only happened after a full rebuild of an engine.)
My main role was reconditioning the Turbo chargers
and Cylinder Heads to these 3,000 HP high speed diesels.
After everything was rebuilt or replaced and then re-assembled, the Engine was tested for 100 hours on a loadbank in a soundproof room.
During this time I had owned a stock 327 cu" Monaro.
Time had finally come to get serious about some horsepower for the small block in my car.
Making use of all that good machinery at work, I set about the rebuild of my engine.
I massaged the double hump fuellie heads to flow something of around 1000 cfm.
The bottom end was left much the way it was, as the block was a four bolt mains engine, and the crank was a forged steel unit.
The conrods were replaced with Carrillo H section type Rods, and Pistons were replaced with TRW low compression slugs.
Everything was weighed and balanced prior to assembly.
Finally came the day when I had enough money to purchase the Holley under hood Supercharger and manifold, with twin Holley 600 vacuum secondary carby's.
Well after a few months I finally got the whole drive train working right,
but never again will I rebuild an engine to the extent of that 327 small block.
We took the car up to Meremere Dragway to see what it was capable of one Sunday afternoon.
First run was disappointing, I had broken out too early.
My boss, Patrick Stratford went for the second run, and proved the car had some serious potential as a bracket racer, running in with a 10.45 quarter mile time.
We returned a few weeks later and ran the best time of the day and a national record with a 9.995 and 160 mph.
At the age of 22 yrs, I left New Zealand and moved to Australia.
I had enough money to buy a mobile home in a caravan park, which was home for five long years, and I took a job with a Dairy Foods company as a maintenance fitter.
During my six years of employment there, I enrolled at Tafe and completed a few post trade qualifications, and my skills in engineering were elevated to a new level.
I'm now qualified with an Electrical licence, Steam Boiler, and Industrial Refrigeration certification, and hold four D.L.I Welding qualifications.
Time went by and I was made retrenched from my job, actually the whole maintenance division lost their jobs to contract labour.
This was a sign of the times, as Accountants started running companies.
Not to be detered, I sold my mobile home, took the first job I could get, and set about buying a house with my redundency payment. My new job was in a poultry processing plant, not a nice clean environment, but I actually loved the work.
Now I had a stable job and a home of my own, I began planning my long term future. I approached my manager at work to see if I could manufacture machine parts to suit the production machinery, "instead of importing them from
overseas at twice the price". I could machine them up, if I had the machinery to do so. It was agreed on, and I went out to purchase my new machines.
I needed a lathe, mill, surface grinder, tig welder, and various other power tools and machines. I worked by day at my place of employment, and brought home drawings to manufacture machine parts at night.
It paved the way to going out on my own, as a registered Engineering business.
This new lifestyle was really suiting me, and once I purchased my first computer, and hooked up to the internet - a whole new world opened up.
I bought my dream car on eBay Australia.
It wasn't all that pretty, but it was all there and in running condition.
You can check it out as you continue through my website.
Also featured here is my 1974 HQ South African Export model, Chevy Statesman Caprice. This was my Fathers car which he has handed down to me.
Only 664 were manufactured here in Australia, and Exported to places like South Africa, which already manufacture Holden cars for G.M.H. This model Statesman was also sent to other countries like Trinidad, Indonesia, and North America.
geoff@ozchevy.com
|
 |
