Holden Rodeo Extra Cab
Those who have frequented our workshop will be familiar with this Holden Rodeo. During its long stay, the car has been fitted with 4 different engines and 2 transmissions. It was originally booked in for a rear clip and cage, but things sort of got out of control. Ride height requirements by the owner and originally street registration needs, meant that all the original factory crossmembers had to be replaced with higher versions to allow for the passage of the exhaust.
The entire front suspension has been hand fabricated with coilovers used.
The engine has changed form the original Lexus with twin turbos, to Holden with twin turbos, small block Chev with twin turbos to the current guise of big block Chev with twin turbos. The transmission has gone from turbo 400 to glide.
The rear end features a 'Chassisworks' moly sheet metal core with 'Romac' floaters and ARC 4 link with wishbone locater.
The roll cage is 4130 chrome moly mounted on the original rails using custom fabricated out riggers. Part of the brief was that no barwork should be visible externally; to this end the rope rail on the pickup bed will need to be raised to the underside of the back window to clear the tubs and rear frame.
The car is currently for sale.
30.12.2008: The Rodeo finally hit the ground. With the help of Graham Millet (whose wifes car is next on the jig) the impossible was achieved today with the Rodeo being removed from the jig and pushed outside. The car sits exactly as designed, and steers beautifully with zero scrub, even on full lock. It is a shame that it is no longer registerable as it would be a great car to drive. Front wisbone geometry was designed very early on with street-ability and handlng a priority. As the project progressed and changed, this became less of a requirement. The steering column is not installed so whoever buys the car will easily be able to convert it to LH drive for serious racing.
Images
Click on an image for a larger view.
'Chassisworks' four link rails are grafted to the original chassis. Raised rope rail on pickup bed will ensure tubs are covered and no barwork is visible.
4130 chrome moly roll cage assembly is mounted on custom fabricated outriggers attached to original rails. Outriggers protrude through the factory floor and are seal welded.
4130 chrome moly roll cage proved a challenge as the owner did not want any visible barwork externally and also was required to brace the existing factory rails and fabricated crossmembers.
Clean lines provided by 'Chassisworks' rails and hidden barwork should produce a stunning finished product.
Hand fabricated suspension towers featuring S5203B Strange shocks, hand built lower control arms to accept factory ball joints and modified factory upper arms for coilover clearance. Car features 2" drop spindles which moved the wheels out nearly 2" and gave massive negative camber neccessitating all the hand fabrication. Upper arm mount is 3" higher and 2" inboard compared to factory location. Original rubber mounted Lexus engine visible in this early picture.
Side view of hand fabricated front suspension. Cortina rack yet to be modified and mounted in this photo. Aftermarket drop spindle visible in this photo, as is the original Lexus motor. Top of suspension tower features a saddle with 2 bolt holes to allow attachment to anti 'peel' brace, required to stop towers folding inwards from the rails. Originally these were to be connected to strut type bars but in the later incarnations with a front motor plate they are attached to the motor plate.
Raised main crossmember in line with main hoop of roll cage looking rearwards. Tailshaft loop and gearbox crossmember visible in foreground. Original tunnel yet to be removed.
Fabricated gusset between new tube 'X' member and original chassis rails. Gusset is directly opposite gearbox crossmember and features sheet metal diaphram. The hole in the diaphram is to allow brake lines etc to pass. Photo is looking rearwards with main crossmember and gusset in the background.
Fabricated tower braces visible in this pic. Change to Big Block Chev engine which is much wider than what the car was originally designed for, necessitated different front barwork location. Bar work was originally intended to go along the top of the towers.
The car now awaits completion of the firewall, column and pedal installation and rear tray mounting.
Not much room for the dog!
100mm ground clearance to the chassis, 125mm to the sills and 65mm to the front cross member.
Original floor pan and seat mounts are still used. New tunnel is wide enough and high enough to allow 2 x 4" exhaust systems to exit at the rear of the vehicle.
« back to gallery index