Mario's 1972 HQ GTS 350ci Monaro

I have owned the car for 24 years and it has gone through a lot of changes in that time. Originally a 253 engine, it progressed toa 327 with Muncie gearbox, a mild 350 and finally, to the current 350. It also went through the fad of when fitting HZ fronts to HQ's was all the craze, and racing at the Mole factory and Pipe Rd was always on agenda. Drag racing at Calder park became a regular event with times running a consistant 11.83 @ 116mph, and that was back in 1991. At that time even though the car looked great i had the urge to get the car looking back to original HQ form, so on went the hunt for guards, front panels etc until i had everything to put it back to HQ. The car was strippedback to a bare shell ready for the rebuild which took 18 months in total. The car has one various trophies from Top Coupe, best Body and Paint to Top Street Machine judged at Bayside .

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Following are some specs.

Vehicle is a 1972 HQ GTS Coupe
Engine - 4 Bolt 350 + 0.030, fully deburred and prepped Steel Crank Magnafluxed, Tufftrided and blueprint ground 292 Turbo Heads, full port, TRW 2.05 & 1.60 Stainless Valves, Cranes 1.5 Diameter Springs, 7/16th ARP studs, Isky retainer and collets, Crower 1.6 stainless steel roller rockers, and Crane stud girdle.
Cloyes timing chain, Erson solid cam. 605" lift & 264,268 duration at 0.50" TRW 11:1 pistons, Sealed power file backrings, Manley pushrods, and Mellings High volume oil pump.
Fully prepped X rods with SPS rod bolts. High Energy Pan. Fluid Dampner Harmonic Balancer, Tilton Starter Motor. Whole assembly has been Blueprinted with a final compression ratio of 10.86. Aluminium Radiator.

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Induction system consists of port matched Bowtie Victor Jnr Manifold, and 830 Annular discharge Carby. BG 280 Fuel pump with 4 Port Reg Exhaust is 1.75'" Pacemakers leading ti dual 2.5" System with Walker Turbo Mufflers.
Transmission prepped Turbo 400 with full manual valve body and 4500 rpm Dominator convertor, TCI trans cooler, B&M shifter. Diff is a shortened 9", LSD, 4.11 Richmond gears fitted with ladder bars. Body is all HQ painted in Glasurit 2 pak, colour is Volvo Dk Blue, many hours of work there. Interior is all original with inserts, electric factory tint windows, central locking, Auto Meter gauges, felt headlining Wheels are Center Lines Auto Drags , 15x 5.5 with 195/60 Dunlops & 15 x 8.5 with L60 McCreary.

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Now days the car is used for cruising with the family. Mario says his 11 year old daughter and 8 year old son just love it when they take it out for a cruise, especially now with the new Monaro in such focus.

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