The last time you would’ve seen Dad’s Ute on your screens, Scotty had pulled the A999 transmission out to fit a shift kit, and sent the converter off to TCE for a tickle.

In this episode of Carnage, that converter is back, so Scotty gets to work putting the old VE Val back together. The TCE team raised the stall as far as they could while still retaining the lock-up function, at Scotty’s request, so it was slotted into the gearbox and then jimmied up into the car.

Before Dad’s Ute could be fired up and filled with trans fluid, Scotty set about giving the ignition system a much-needed birthday with a bunch of gear from Proflow, provided by our good friends at VPW Australia.

They hooked us up with a new dizzy, leads, coil and ignition box for more modern tuning. The installation was fairly straightforward, and, after a minor wiring hiccup, the angry 318 small-block fired and ran happily on all eight cylinders.

Scotty took it for a burl up the street and everything was working as it should. The trans was shifting nicely and the newfound 3000rpm stall speed baked the tyres from a dig with ease. Unfortunately, at the end of the run the valvetrain started making some suss noises.

It turns out a pushrod had jumped out of the adjusting cup and broken it in the process. Further investigation revealed the pushrod is actually slightly different to every other one in the engine – hence the mishap.

While it’s an annoyance, Scotty will source a new rod and adjuster and have Dad’s Ute back together by the next time you see it. Then it’s back to the track!