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History
The majority of American muscle
cars in Australia today have all been privately imported by either their owners or by
specialist importers who bring cars in upon request. Some of the earlier cars such as some
60's Mustangs were imported by Ford Australia and converted at the factory for the top
company executives to use, these were later sold to the general public and are generally
quite rare now in Australia.
One would assume that after being
converted from left to right hand drive by Ford Australia that these would be a conversion
of good quality, from my observations and experience this is not true. The workmanship and
attention to detail is not that good, whilst my Trans Am was being converted by a friend
of mine he also purchased and restored a 66 Mustang in his shop. This was a Ford Australia
Mustang and was purchased on behalf of a couple who wanted a clean nice car. At the
completion of the restoration it was a nice car, although a good proportion of the work
was spent on fixing flaws and remaking items such as brake lines, filling holes in the
firewall that shouldn’t have been there, mounting the steering box properly and
correcting the steering geometry etc.
Anyway enough on Mustangs, I am
supposed to be writing this about Trans Am's and American cars in general and the
procedures (hassles?) that we have to go through in order to drive one of these great
F-body's down under. First of all GM Australia, otherwise know as Holden or GMH never
officially imported US muscle cars to Australia, at least not to my knowledge anyway. They
did import some GM products from the USA up until 1969 or early 1970's, but these were
mainly your boring 4-door sedans and some trucks. As far as Pontiacs were concerned we got
4 door sedans from Canada, which was partially built in Canada RHD and then shipped to GMH
for final assembly. All of the American cars in Australia today have been privately
imported and converted to RHD by either the owner or by a conversion business of which
there are reputable and not so reputable types. Some of the better conversion businesses
have been operating since the early 70's, some even started in the 60's doing
GTO's,
Firebirds, Buick GS's and Mustangs.
Buying and Shipping.
Lets start right at the
beginning and thats getting these cars to Australia in the first place. The most popular
location for buying cars in the USA is of course California and this is where the majority
of American cars in Australia originally resided. The other favored locations for buying
rust free cars are Arizona, Texas, Nevada and some guys even venture as far as Mexico. But
by far the most popular location is sunny California, this is for two main reasons, the
availability of clean cars and shipping direct from Los Angeles or San Francisco ports.
The preferred method of shipping is
by container and most importers use the standard size shipping container and can generally
fit two cars in it (depending on size of course). Most guys make special racks or other
types of supporting devices and place one car at the bottom and the other car is supported
or suspended above it. You can also have the cars packed for you by people who use
professional equipment to suspend the cars in the container, this can be expensive and
usually costs around $1200 to pack 4 cars for shipping. Obviously this has to be done
securely as the guys at the shipping wharves aren't renowned for handling shipping
containers gently and last thing you want is the car or cars to slip and move during
transit.
I've seen the results of cars that haven't been packed properly in a container and it
wasn't a pretty sight, its even worse if the car was in nice original shape before it was
shipped. I once looked at a 1971 Firebird that had been shipped with a Mustang above it.
The Firebird was in beautiful original condition, unmarked interior, original spare, no
rust, straight and well documented one owner mileage on the clock. Unfortunately the
Mustang above it was leaking brake fluid, which as you could image did wonders for the
original paint, it really made me mad that the idiot's didn't take more care before
shipping this car, fortunately the body was still straight but now it needed a respray.
The other method for shipping cars
is called roll on, roll off, I'm not sure how many people use this service, but from what
I've heard it doesn't sound too good. Basically the cars are driven into the cargo hold of
special car transporting ship, where they are secured down for the trip. A friend of mine
had his Caddiliac Fleetwood shipped this way and upon arriving in Australia found that all
the badges, emblems and some interior parts had been stolen during transit.
My T/A was shipped in a container
by itself, which is the expensive way to do it because you pay by volume not by weight,
hence most guys try to stuff as much as possible into the container and around the car.
Also the cost of shipping items in a container varies depending on what you have in the
container, to ship just cars costs more than if you ship cars and parts. The average cost
for shipping a car in a container to Australia is made up of many different charges and
fees that must be paid in America and Australia. A 20ft container can cost around $1400 to
use, trucking to the terminal can cost around $150-300, terminal receiving charge is
approx $220. There are other charges (taxes) that are applied as well, these are
determined by the value of the cars being shipped and can add 5-10% on top of the other
costs. You can also have your container shipped direct which takes about 3 weeks to reach
Australia, or you can have it shipped indirect which can take from 40-70 days to reach
Australia. The faster shipping costs more than indirect method but there is less loading
and unloading of your container, which can reduce the chance of damage due to rough
handling.
Once your container arrives in
Australia there are charges and fees that must be paid as well, these can include port
charges $240, quarantine inspection $230-400, customs agency bill $200-600 and transport
of the container if required to your address $300-350. All of these cost vary depending on
what sort of container your using, direct or indirect shipping, number of cars or parts in
the container, how well your paperwork is prepared and which shipping port your using.
Driving your American car in Australia
Not all left hand drive cars in
Australia have to be converted to right hand drive, it varies from state to state or
territory, and also depends on the age of the vehicle as well. In the state of Victoria
where I live you must have the vehicle changed to right hand drive before you can be
issued with a licence plate and therefore drive legally on the roads. But if your car was
manufactured before 1969 you can get classic/historic registration which allows you to
drive the car on club events and outings etc whilst still maintaining its original LHD
configuration. The other states and territories have their owns rules and regulations and
it all gets rather confusing after a while, I won't even attempt to explain them. There
has been a large effort made recently by the car groups to try and pressure the government
into allowing newer LHD cars to be registered without any limitations or restrictions on
use.
This looks like its going to take
some time and at the moment is heavily tied up in the usual government red tape, with the
different states and territory's basically agreeing to disagree on anything and
everything. So for the present time the majority of LHD American cars are still being
converted to RHD as they have been for many years now. The methods and ways of changing a
vehicle from LHD to RHD varies a lot and each conversion shop has their preferred way of
doing it, depending on the type of car. Naturally some conversion shops are better than
others and all conversions have to inspected and passed by a qualified mechanical
engineer, but this still doesn't stop some truly awful converted cars from driving on the
road. You can also do the conversion yourself if you feel you have the skills to do so,
again this leads to some pretty nasty attempts and ruined cars as far as I'm concerned.
But this is not always the case, a
friend of mine converted his 1974 455 T/A himself and ended up with a very nice car and
conversion. I helped where I could with some of the special tooling that I had made for my
car and he had the dash converted by my friend who runs a conversion shop, but everything
else was done by him and he spent nearly three years doing both the conversion and a full
resto on the car. The end result was excellent but most people get their car done by
somebody else for the cheapest possible price which amazes me, why after going through the
trouble to get the car here, they then devalue it with a poor conversion is to me pure
stupidity!
Now to the heart of the matter, the
conversion itself, what I'll try to do is explain some of the items and parts that must be
changed when converting a car to RHD using my car as the example. As I mentioned before my
car was converted by my friend who owns a business that specialises mainly in Camaro's,
Trans Am's and Corvette's, and each type of car requires a different method of conversion.
Initial Inspection
The car should be inspected
prior to any work starting , this is to ensure that everything works as it should and also
to check for any type of previous accident damage. The steering and chassis geometry are
also measured and compared to the factory settings to ensure everything is straight and
true before the conversion is started. The car is also road tested to check for any
unusual noises or problems. If the car checks out OK then the conversion process can
begin, usually the hood and fenders are removed from the car, basically the entire front
sheetmetal is unbolted to allow easier access to everything. The interior items like
seats, carpets, seatbelts, sunvisors and door trims are also removed to allow for easier
access and also to prevent these parts from get damaged.
Steering
The original steering box, idler
arm and centre drag link are removed, the right hand frame rail is modified to allow a
right hand drive steering box to be mounted against it. The steering box most commonly
used for this is a variable quick ratio unit as used by Holden (GMH) and has a ratio of
12:1 which I think is faster than the original Trans Am unit. The frame rail has the
necessary crush tubes inserted through it, and these and the steering box mounting points
are fully welded by a certified welder. The original bolts pass through the crush tubes
and secure the steering box. The original pitman arm is bolted to the Holden steering box
which shares the same spline size as the T/A unit. The alignment and position of the
steering box is determined by careful measurements and cross reference checks to ensure
its proper placement. The steering box must also be modified internally to lessen the
range of its travel because of the difference between the Holden box and the original T/A
box. New power steering hoses must also be made and fitted, so that they run from the
power steering pump on the left hand side of the engine to the steering box on the right
hand frame rail.
The original T/A idler arm is
mounted on the left hand frame rail and again the proper mounts must be made and welded to
the frame rail. The position and alignment of the idler arm is also checked to the same
standard as the steering box. The centre drag link requires some modifications before it
can be used, first the link is reversed or rotated 180 degrees so that the original pick
up points for the idler arm and pitman arm are used. By doing this means that the shape or
bend of the centre link is incorrect, this is corrected by cold bending the link in a
press so that its shape is correct to suit its right hand drive configuration.
Once the centre link has been bent
it is then x-rayed for any defects or unseen flaws, some drag links were found to have
factory flaws in the area's that are untouched by the bending process, some of these flaws
were porosity and stress cracks, any defect such as these means that drag link has to be
discarded and an other one must be found. The centre drag link can also be modified by
cutting and welding, again this has to be done by certified people and must also be
x-rayed after completion.
The original steering column
support is used and is moved from the left to right hand side of the firewall, its
position and location is based on measurements taken from its original left hand drive
configuration. Where the column will pass through the firewall is also determined by
careful measurements to ensure that it is straight and will line up correctly with the
steering box. The intermediate steering shaft is then bolted between the steering box and
output shaft of the steering column, the steering shaft can sometimes end up very close to
the RH exhaust manifold on certain cars, this is because the engine is usually slightly
offset to the right hand side. This is so the steering shaft has enough clearance on the
LH exhaust manifold when the car was LHD.
Brakes and Pedals
The mounts and brackets for the
brake, clutch and accelerator pedals are also transferred across and positioned in the
correct location. Manual cars with mechanical linkages instead of cable tend to be more
difficult because the clutch was originally actuated from the left hand side of the car,
my car is an auto so I didn't have these problems. The footbrake or parkbrake is also
moved to the right hand side, this also requires relocation of the park brake cable that
goes through the floor and the position and operation of the cables underneath the floor
must also be slightly changed to suit the tension now being applied from the right hand
side.
The brake master cylinder is also
moved to the right hand side of the firewall and connected to the brake pedal, this also
means that new brake lines must be made to connect the master cylinder on the right hand
side to where to lines originally connected on the left hand side frame rail. New brake
lines were neatly bent with the proper tube bending equipment and follow the contour of
the crossmember, they pass underneath the engine and are clipped to the frame using
original retaining clips.
Dashboard and Ventilation
Changing the dashboard over to
RHD configuration can be one of the hardest tasks involved in a conversion, again this is
dependant on the type of vehicle and the shape of its dashboard. Some cars tend to have a
symmetrical dashboard which makes the conversion easier, an example of this is the 60's
Mustangs, in particular the 69 which basically has a twin pod arrangement shape to its
dashboard. The more complex cars tend to be the early Cadilliacs with their diecast metal
dashboards and the early Thunderbirds are the same, the late model cars are also difficult
due to the shapes and curves involved in their dashboard shapes, an example of this is the
current model Corvette, Trans Am and Camaro which all have dashboard designs which are not
symmetrical in shape.
The dashboard on my Trans Am (2nd
generation) is also of a non symmetrical shape so it can be difficult to change to RHD
form neatly. The dashboard on my car was sectioned into 12 different pieces, these parts
were then re-assembled on a fixture which was constructed by using the front cowl section
of a wrecked Firebird, this was basically just the firewall, cowl and windscreen pillar
posts. Additional braces were located on this fixture to support and align the dashboard
while it was being set up in its RHD form. Once the dash pieces are in the correct
location they are plastic welded from the back and also strengthened with some fibreglass
resin. Some of the dashboard contours need to filled and reshaped to blend the sections
back together. The filler we used was a special 2 part foam filler (very expensive) which
retains a soft compressible quality like that of the original dashboard foam, this has to
be done so that in the event of an accident your head doesn't hit a dashboard thats as
hard as a rock.
Once the dashboard reshaping has
been finished its then re-skinned using a forming process where the new skin is drawn over
the dashboard under vacuum in a oven, this is the same way original dashboards are done.
The dashboard is then trial fitted in the car and the gauges are fitted and checked for
alignment, a new dash panel must also be made to suit the RHD dash. I made this from
aluminium like the original and this took quite some time to do properly. First the
machined finish had to be applied to the aluminium sheet, once this was done the sheet was
then cut to fit the opening in the dashboard plus an allowance was made for forming the
contour of the panel. I then made up the required tooling to form the rounded edges on all
of the openings on the dash panel, additional tooling was made to also form the slight
recess for the cigarette lighter and turn signal arrows. A final forming fixture was made
to form the entire curve in the panel plus also the outer trim which runs around the
outside of the dash panel.
The only thing that I haven't done
yet is to have the panel anodised to apply the gold finish that it should have for a S/E
Trans Am. While the dashboard is being done the ventilation ducting must also be changed
around to suit the new locations of the air outlets. This is done by cutting the plastic
ducting and plastic welding the parts together again. The airconditioning/heater box is
moved the left hand side of the firewall and part of the ducting must now run to this side
of the car. The A/C box is turned over or upside down to place it on the left hand side of
the firewall, you can also use a fibreglass version of this box that is made in a RHD
shape, but I didn't think the quality was good enough. The flow rates must be also checked
to ensure that the ventilation systems performance is not downgraded. The flow rates on my
car checked out fine and the A/C works great, which is just as well with the car being
black with a black interior.
The other part of the dashboard
change is the wiring for the gauges and other controls, the original loom is retained as
much as possible and changes such as extending the wiring are only done where needed, this
is particularly important on computer controlled cars where some wires have a certain
resistance based on their length or gauge. The 84 to present Corvettes are an example of
this, the wiring loom behind the dashboard is as thick as your wrist in some places, the
results of the wrong wires being changed can cause fault codes in the computer.
Wiring and Lights
As mentioned above the wiring on
the car must be altered and changed quite a bit, especially behind the dash, but there are
other areas of the wiring that need to be changed as well, also some of the lights need to
be changed to suit the fact that the car is now on the left hand side of the road. First
the headlights need to be changed so that they point to left of the road on low beam, this
done by simply swapping in new units which have the correct lenses and markings to direct
the beam to the left.
The parking lights in the front of
the car need to emit a white light instead of the amber or orange light that American
vehicles have, this is fixed by removing the amber bulbs and replacing them with clear
bulbs. The indicators at the rear and front of the car need to be also amber or orange, a
flashing red tail light as a indicator is not allowed, to change this on my car I managed
to get some export tailights. These particular lights were fitted by the factory for cars
being exported to countries that required amber indicators. They are particularly rare for
74-78 Firebirds and I was very lucky to get a pair for my car. The tailights that I have
were originally fitted to a Trans Am that was exported to Japan and years later was
totalled in a smash, I bought them from a guy whom found the T/A in Japan and parted it
out. To date I have only ever seen one other T/A with these tailights. Some of the wiring
for the lights such as the rear indicators need to be changed slightly to suit the new
arrangement.
Having said all this I must now say
that I have since changed all the wiring back to original on my T/A so that it is now back
to the American standard, I did this because I prefer it that way and I think it looks
better. By doing so I am technically breaking the law but I'm really not concerned, I've
never had a cop pull me over yet and besides they wouldn't know how the car supposed to be
anyway. The only part that I haven't changed yet are the rear tailights but they're going
to be done soon. I think the flashing red tailights as indicators looks pretty cool and
people can't help but notice them because their different to what they would normally see.
Windscreen Wipers
Another aspect of the change
from LHD to RHD is the windscreen wipers which are supposed to cover or sweep a required
amount of the windscreens area based on where the driver is seated. For cars such as the
Corvette this is not problem due to their wiper arrangement, that being that both blades
basically start at the bottom centre of the screen and sweep out towards the outsides of
the windscreen.
On cars like my T/A, the wipers
sweep towards the driver in the left hand seat, this must be changed so that they sweep
over to towards the right hand side of the car. This can be tricky to do both properly and
neatly, the positions of the original pivot points for the wipers must changed over to a
right hand drive configuration. There are a few methods of meeting the required windscreen
sweep coverage. On my car this problem solved by extending the sweep or length of the
right hand wiper arm, this gave just enough coverage to meet to required standards. I
modified a second hand wiper arm for this and put the original arm back on once the car
was registered, besides I don't like driving my car in the rain and I try not to if I can
avoid it.
Seatbelts
Seatbelts are also required to
be changed because the standard or original belts do meet the Australian standards, this
has been a very sore point for both the owners and converters of American cars for a long
time. This is done because in some cars the seatbelts are not the double locking inertia
reel type as required in Australia, therefore the belts have to be changed and fitted with
seatbelts that have the correct locking mechanism inside them. I had the required double
locking inertia seatbelts fitted in my car to satisfy the engineering inspection and these
were removed and my original belts were re-fitted after the car had passed the inspection.
I think this seatbelt requirement is probably the most stupid rule of all, to suggest that
the original American seatbelts are not of a good enough standard is ridiculous in my
opinion. The manufacturer did not spend millions of dollars on designing these cars and
then cheap out on the seatbelts, to do so would be asking for lawsuits. Thankfully its
seems this law is about to change in Australia and if the car has seatbelts with the
correct type of markings and standards label on them then you don't have to change them.
Sunvisors
Some types of sunvisors that are
fitted in American cars do not meet Australian standards, this is because they have a hard
or stiff board inside them. The Australian standard requires that the sunvisors be soft,
so that in the event of an accident your head won't be injured by hitting the sunvisor or
so the theory goes. Fitting sunvisors from a Holden (GMH) is the usual method for meeting
this standard, they have the required density and their shape is similar to the T/A
sunvisors. I still have the original sunvisors in my car, which were refitted after the
engineering inspection.
Engineering Inspection
Once all the above conversion
work has been completed, the car must then be inspected by a qualified automotive
mechanical engineer, this is to ensure that all of the modifications that have been
performed on the car are done properly and to the correct standards. The car must meet all
the Australian standards for its year of manufacture, this meant that my car had to comply
with the Australian standards of 1977, it passed these easily. When the car is passed by
the engineer he writes a comprehensive report which details all of the modifications, this
also includes diagrams and detailed drawings of modified components. The car can now be
issued with a license plate and registration sticker and you can drive it with no
restrictions or limitations.
Conclusion
The details above are pretty
much a condensed version of the steps required to own and drive an American car in
Australia, especially if that car was never offered in Australia or manufactured in a
right hand drive form. To go into a full explanation would take up much more space than
I've used already. Its can sometimes be a big hassle to want to own and drive an American
muscle car in Australia considering the lengths we have to go too, but in the end its
worth it. I've always wanted a Bandit Trans Am, because it just so different to anything
we have here, sure we have our own versions of performance cars but I wanted something
different from what everybody else had. Its probably because of the hassles that you have
to go through which stops many people from buying an American muscle car in Australia, so
therefore you generally don't see very many on the roads.
By writing this article I hope
helps people to understand just some of the things that we Aussies have to go through to
drive some of these great American cars, but I'm in no way supporting or promoting the
fact that we have to convert these cars from LHD to RHD, in my personal opinion I hate the
idea and I've seen some very nice cars ruined by incompetent guys with no mechanical
skills. Unfortunately its the system that we have to operate within, but hopefully it
looks like things are going to change in the future and we will be able to legal drive LHD
vehicles on our roads just like other RHD countries.
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