BROWN RICE
ROHAN GORDON’S TORANA IS NO XU-1 REPLICA – HIS FACTORY FOUR-CYLINDER LJ NOW DANCES TO A JAPANESE DRUM
A little four-cylinder Torana turns Japanese and becomes Godzilla
FINDING that much-loved and cared-for classic car owned by a little old lady doesn’t happen too often today. You’d be forgiven for thinking all those dry, arrow-straight classics have all been snapped up and turned into GT, XU-1 or R/T replicas. But Rohan Gordon has proved they are still out there and available, if you’re prepared to act lightning-fast and take a punt. A mate of Rohan’s discovered a bone-stock four-pot LJ Torana in its delicious original shade of chocolate disco-funk brown, and forwarded the message on to Rohan late one night. “I bought it sight unseen, as my mate said it was too good to pass up,” says Rohan. “I knew how long good Toranas last for sale, so I jumped on it. It was that clean that one guy wanted to put it in his museum!”
While some would want to preserve a rare, dead-original fourcylinder LJ, Rohan always had plans for the Torry that involved adding bulk horsepower. “I’ve had tough Chev and Holden V8s, but I always wanted to build something scary and quiet,” he explains. “After I bought the LJ I started planning it all out, but then Dad went into hospital and passed away.
“I built this car as a tribute for my dad, as he had a huge history at Bathurst, he worked for HSV for 21 years, and had GT Falcons, Monaros and all kinds of awesome cars. We talked about the build of the LJ quite a lot, but unfortunately he never got to see the finished product.”
Rohan got the build started with a trip to see the guys at All Race Fabrications to have the spindly stock drivetrain binned and the car readied for something that would chirp second. This included adding a six-point rollcage, mini-tubs, chassis reinforcing, fourlink with Strange coil-overs, a shortened nine-inch and parachute.
Up front wasn’t quite so simple, with the short nose of the fourbanger LJ providing some real estate issues with Rohan’s plans to slot a turbo inline six-pot in.
“When it came to the front end, apparently Holden just slapped whatever was available sitting around on the floor into the Toranas,” Rohan sighs. “We went to Hopper Stoppers and they put HQ disc brakes on it and I re-bushed the front end and put 90/10 shocks in. Then it went to Full Flight Engineering to put a couple of knuckles in the steering joint to get the geometry right.
“Full Flight also recessed the firewall eight inches to fit the RB, cut the floor out to fit the Powerglide, made the tailshaft, mounted the engine and ’box, and made the custom radiator, front-mounted intercooler and full custom three-inch stainless exhaust.”
That engine is a healthy 3.0-litre Nissan RB30, as found in VL Commodores and R31 Skylines, inflated by a large turbo and given a thorough seeing to internally. That wasn’t what Rohan had originally intended to fit, however.
“I was going to put a Toyota 2JZ in, but that ended up being too dear, so for the budget, I jumped on this RB30 a friend had,” says Rohan.
He took the complete engine over to Danny Bresciani from Initial D Racing so it could be stripped and given a health check. Danny describes Rohan’s combo as a basic RB30 package. “It is a simple but strong package and it’s good for what it is,” he says. “The single-cam head has valve springs, a hydraulic Camtech cam and Cometic gasket, while the block has a stock crank, H-beam forged rods and CP pistons for 7.5:1 compression. It runs a custom sump and standard oil pump with upgraded gears, and there is also a Plazmaman plenum on standard runners.
“The turbo is a GT42 Garrett, high-mounted on a custom manifold, while the ECU is a Microtech LT12C,” Danny continues. “It is set up to run pump fuel at the moment, so it has –8 feed and return fuel lines, 880cc Deka injectors and three Bosch 044 pumps down the back with a custom cell.”
I KNEW HOW LONG GOOD TORANAS LAST FOR SALE, SO I JUMPED ON IT. IT WAS THAT CLEAN THAT ONE GUY WANTED TO PUT IT IN HIS MUSEUM!