If you were at Meguiar’s MotorEx in Melbourne last weekend, then you likely would’ve seen our Grimace VS Commodore ute on the VPW Australia stand.

This episode goes back a week in time to show what was needed to get it there and show ready to display all the VPW, Proflow, RTS, Proforce and Street Pro goodies we used as part of the build.

Unfortunately, it became clear even before this episode was filmed that the ute wouldn’t drive into MotorEx. The motor isn’t quite ready to fire yet, and even if it did we’re still missing the tailshaft and axles, which are on backorder.

As a result, this episode focuses on getting the ute ‘SEMA ready’. While it wouldn’t run, Scotty wanted to make it as complete as possible. Seeing it in its final form was a big motivator, and it won’t take much more effort to get her ready to rip.

The first major job was refitting the interior. Scotty laid down some nice new Car Builders sound deadener, which’ll save his ears during the long road legs on Drag Challenge. 

Laying it down is a time-consuming process, but the end results are well worth it.

With that done, the next hurdle was sorting the shifter position. Because we’re using Proforce bucket seats, it’s super important that the shifter is in an easily accessible spot.

He also mounted our Haltech CAN keypad, which’ll give us plenty of on-the-fly control of the Nexus R5 VCU.

The roll cage also copped a fresh lick of paint, and Scotty did something he never does and actually cleaned a car! Enjoy the fresh episode below, and next week will be a Carnage special from MotorEx.