Aussiespeed Viva

The Viva

We have been lucky to have the use of various cars owned by others to develop the range of Aussiespeed Performance Products. One little car that we have the use of is the little now orange Aussiespeed Vauxhall  Viva. The car does have some history as from the info we have been told goes like this.

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It was real lucky knowing a very talented artist Len who we asked to do a drawing of the car for us and this is what we were given.. we love it…

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The colored in version that we use for decals and printed shirts.

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The picture that was shown on facebook that caught the interest of the Vivas current owner.

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The owner put some pictures up on a 6 cylinder engine group on facebook and mentioned that the car was 6 cylinder Holden powered, it wasnt until people started asking if it was for sale and the reply was yes that the current owner decided it was going to be another one added to his collection.

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The car as it was run in the 1970s, Holden 6 cylinder powered, auto, Ford Customline diff, later 4 stud disc brakes on the front.

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The car has a rollcage, the boot has been tubed runs leaf springs with slapper bars / tram rods, 13 inch slicks with Sampson alloy rims.

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The front view not sure what year this photo was taken but we were told the car was owned, raced or sponsored by St George Motor Company in Adelaide.

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The Viva was repainted purple at some stage, this is how the car was when it was purchased by its current owner.

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The Vauxhall with its purple paint and fitted with a 186 Holden with a 2 barrel Holley, extractors and a trimatic transmission. The car was used at burnout competition for many years

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The Viva is a light little car and didnt take a lot of horsepower to do a top gear burnout, racing black rims were fitted as the car ran 5 stud rear and 4 stud front wheels.

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Fun on the skid pad at speedway city Adelaide

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This was the car when it was purchased the supercharger hole in the bonnet had been patched and a single hole was cut for a 9×3 inch air cleaner to poke through.

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The engine bay was nothing special and neither was the engine, a big radiator and transmission cooler were fitted.

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Trim and dash wise there was a tacho, temperature gauge, oil pressure gauge, fire extinguisher, 2 seats and seat belts.

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When the current owner got the car lots of the mechanical bits including the brakes we in the boot the car had been sitting in the back corner of a workshop and had over spray over the purple paint and windows.

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Many engine bolt ons had been removed as well as the brakes, like many projects they end up sitting in the corner. The owner didnt want the car to end up at the crushers or ending up in the wrong hands so a deal was struck and the car will under go a major rebuild.

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The Viva on its way to get a fresh coat of paint, Mild to Wild Towing took care of getting it there.

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The unload at Auto Transformers in Adelaide where the guys offered there services for a quick squirt of color.

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Back on the ground waiting to go inside and be transformed at Auto Transformers

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After having the removable bits taken of the team at Auto Transformers took are of a few of the small dents, this is no show car and was just a quick in and out paint job.

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For the age of the car it was reasonably straight with minimal rust.

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The decision was made just to flatten of the purple paint as it was not flaking or pealing.

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A few hours in masking up the windows and door jams before the body was primed.

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Already for a coat of primer in the spray booth at Auto Transformers. The lighter color primer being light grey allowed for the Orange to give better coverage than the darker purple.

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Fully primed in light grey the Viva was rolled out the booth and rubbed down before being rolled back in for the top coat.

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The shine of the gun was pretty good thanks again to Auto Transformers and Darren the painter.

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The Orange used was a color we had mixed by the guys at Paint Supplies SA.

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Fully painted the wet look of the paint is how it stayed.

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With the paper and tape removed the color is exactly what we wanted.

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Thanks again Auto Transformers for allowing Darren to use the spray booth.

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Loaded on our little trailer its back to the workshop to start putting it back together.

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With the original 13″ wheels and slicks back on they look so small with the shortened diff and wheel tubs.

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Its taking time but we are getting there.

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The front hubs have been made from billets of steel to accept the standard disc rotors and drilled to suit 5 stud Ford stud pattern wheels.

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We also decided that the wheels would be changed to Centerline Auto Drag wheels both front and rear.

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We will have updates as we move forward as we start on the engine and mechanical components of the Viva.

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Fit up of polished supercharger

At Hills Brake Clutch and Suspension having a complete new brake system fitted.

Short Video of the Viva after having the Exhaust done. It hadnt been on the dyno at this stage and had minimal timing and was still running a bit rich.

Finished with the original “Dirty Harry ” FX Holden