Thunder55;155708 wroteThanks bgpzfm142 - 'sitting in the shed on the mainland' -where abouts on the mainland, dare I ask?
In the Blue Mountains, NSW.
What state are you in - or more precisely, which state / territory will you be registering the car? Provincial regulations and pollution gear requirements vary widely.
e.g. in NSW, the replacement engine must meet the ADRs on the car's compliance plate, meaning you don't need a cat. Thus a 2006 Commodore engine going into a 1973 164 must meet 1973 pollution requirements.
In Victoria, it's the pollution gear requirements of the car supplying the donor engine that dictates what pollution gear, etc, must be on the car. So for a 2006 Commodore engine going into a 1973 164, it must meet 2006 pollution requirements. (Angus please correct me if I'm wrong here)
carnut222;155674 wroteclearance to the upper control arms and steering gearbox could still be quite tight due to the quad-overhead cams.
Clearance to the upper control arms in a 164 isn't so much a problem like it is the 1800, since the 1800's upper arms are shimmed in the engine bay. OTOH 164s are shimmed inside the wheel arch.
Good point about the 164's steering box though, the LY7 has a lot of belt driven stuff mounted down low.