Vlad's rides thread

[Gareth]

I'm hoping that with some custom made tall rocker covers to suit the YT Platinum adjustable rockers based on the factory covers (to use the OEM o ring seals and captive bolts/rubber grommets) so that the bolts are the originals and down low on the head, I might just be able to squeeze in the covers with the smaller diameter VH512 dual booster that my VP S already has and be able to wiggle them off and out without drastic measures such as dropping the engine and K frame down to get them off in order to adjust the lash.

This pump would give me all the reason to keep the booster and have great brakes, as the cam I have on the shelf would have next to no vacuum, so much so it would be an improvement to delete the booster


Also I realized that one thing no one ever talks about or knows the answer, is with a big cam does any of the vac operated actuators even work on the HVAC?

Well this would 100% negate that issue and they will work before you even start the engine!

http://www.clarkosperformance.com/produ ... cts_id=155

[vlad01]

Those are the Aussie speed new design ones which I was already talking to them about and they are bit over 100mm high. What I need will be more like 60mm high and use the stock bolts. From estimated measurements , to clear the Platinum rockers, the stock covers need to be about 15mm higher and inner taper to be flatten off (where the adjuster stick up).

I'll look into 3D scanning and printing some test ones one day, not a priority at the moment, but thanks for the link though


Oh, btw. Those Aussie speed ones don't clear the throttle body and were designed for the hot rod application where customers do a top mount air cleaner and throttle to get that old school v8 look. Seems dumb to make them purely for looks and non-functional for even a stock car

[vlad01]

Got my T5 dust covers panel beated and nicely finished up by my old mates at Bendigo retro muscle cars. They also fixed up the pick a part manual floor plate but I forgot to take a pic before I dropped it off with some other few items for gold zinc plating.

These turned out awesome!

Then I picked up the custom Holden H series to VN-VS exhaust mount conversion hanger, the tongue that goes into the rubber mount.

I got 6 made, the 2 interlocked is how it looks, long bit into the rubber and the 2 opposing angled bits weld to the tail pipe and the 2 bits weld to each other.

Also found MacKay make these, exactly the same part they supplied to Holden over 30 years ago. It's the vibration damper on the tail end of the T5 box. The weight and isolator work to absorb some of the higher frequency buzz.

Part number is M11440. An industrial universal isolation mount that I spotted in their catalogue during early Covid when I sourced the universal engine mounts for my half brother's tandem roller from the 70s. They also still made mounts for that too.

After much difficulty I finally sourced a T5 some what of a conversion. 90% complete but everything except the box was either wrong or just junk.

Only bits I need is a new yoke which Spicer are now making for the VN-VS T5, so you can get your auto shaft shortened and the new T5 yoke to convert it to manual, no more at mercy of banged up rusty bent manual shafts that people want an arm and leg for.

Other bits, the cast iron bellhousing to engine brace and manual pedals (ones that came with the conversion are the rare hydraulic version). Misc T5 bits and pieces. A rebuilt kit, 5th drive gear and all the synch hub assemblies and probably the reverse idler gear.

The billet counter shaft end plate from 5Speed.com is out of stock and not shipping internationally, I found out this is due to the thread locker so I'll ask the seller if he can leave that out to send one he makes more kits.

Everything else I don't have for the conversion can be bought new these days.

[vlad01]

Can anyone confirm if the flywheel part number 92061852 (6 looks like an 8 missing a bit in the corner so might be an 8 in the PN) is a VS t5 flywheel? Counter weight on it looks too big from what I recall so I reckon it ecotec.

[vlad01]

The Gates pump shit itself only 3 weeks later. So I pulled one of my NOS Jap GMB ones out of storage, but used the VN only one as I didn't want to eat into my good correct stock

All it needed was longer bolts as the bosses were deeper but otherwise everything else fit and worked fine.

As there was air still getting into the system I decided to try fix the heater core by re-soldering and leaks which I did by solder paste and a heat gun. Worked out well enough. The goal then was to use copper sleeves and then solder the heater core pipes back in to finally fix those shit leaking rubber hose splices. Well it didn't work and was a full open pipe kinda leak on both


So I said, stuff this! I'm getting that Rare spares all alloy heater core and doing it properly. I am so glad I did! They are the best quality, fit and design. Way better than that brass junk the factory came with.

I found that the brass ones explain like an accordion when pressurized to the 20 psi, something like 6-8mm. This is the source of the failures, with heat/pressure cycles the brass and solder joints just fatigue and fail.

I tested this on the alloy one, and being way thicker and stiffer (that's what she said ), it did not have any movement that I could see. So in theory, they should outlast the car or at least many times longer than the brass as long as coolant is serviced on time.

New resistor for the fan, I already knew this from when I did the red car restro, but the new genuine ones don't fit out of the box and need some filing at the side lips and the heatsink frame itself.

Fitment it great through the firewall and even the included new grommet it spot on. Rares are really doing well with quality and workmanship now compared to years ago.

Replaced all the foam seals at the same time with just the hardware self adhesive kind.

[immortality]

That's good to know. I see a heater core coming up in my future. It'll be my first time....

[vlad01]

Re-foamed the loom while I was at it, even managed to reinstall it all with all the factory harness clips behind the dash pad. Don't ask how I managed, but my hands were worse for wear after

I replaced the ATM and matching remote as I was for the longest time having a temperature biased frequency drift on the ATM side, so the range to open the doors varied wildly throughout the day, sometimes 20m, often less than 1m and it was annoying. Sometimes it took multiple presses of the remote at point blank range to get the doors to open.

Another matching set fixed the issue.

Repaired as much mounts and broken plastic as I practically could. Used some sheet metal and self mixing epoxy. Worked great!

[vlad01]

So just to sort out the shifter boot as it's gone gooy and sticky from sun damage and oil from hands etc...

The whole thing looks so much nicer and way... more quiet, no more sounding like the glove box is going to fall off. That was actually the left side of the dash pad missing the main mounting bolt in one place.

Unrelated, but I got the floor plate re-plated a while ago, plus as few other small bits for the manual.

All in all, was similar if not less cost to buy this from pick a part, have it panel beated and hole welded up and blended, and replated than what it cost to get one in bad shape used off ebay or market place.

I still had a small air leak in the cooling system, I was dreading the worst, a leaking head gasket but quickly realised that the amount of air getting into the cooling system was only a few mL at most and kinda plateaued at that.

The clue came when I was replacing the coolant overflow res cap with a rares one and saw the air bubbles getting bigger real time in the siphon tube on the cap while it was still submerged in the coolant. I was also having issues with the cap seal leaking as rares, more likely their supplier was cutting the seal too small and it misses the lip on the res.


I cut new ones at work, 38.5 OD, 25mm ID out of 3mm neoprene self adhesive foam. Same specs as the rares one but the right size!

And then more evidence it was the cap. I could also today hear the cap whistling when the engine heat soaked after shutdown.

I managed to find some genuine CPC caps on ebay and bought all 4 that were avaiable. I know the issue is the top seal being the wrong design to work effectively with our radiators. I was right.

New CPC one is the clean one obviously. The seal slips into the neck, sealing inside the ID and the top profiled lip seats over the raised bead, forming a 2nd sealing surface. When I installed the new one, I could feeling the positive fit as the seal popped into the neck. The cap also is firm on the neck and doesn't rock in the direction of the cap "ears".

Now I bleed it as best I could and it seems to suck the hoses in a little when it cools down, indicating it's pulling a vacuum to the overflow and in a few drives the air in the top rad hose hopefully disappears as it did on all my other cars. This might be the first time in probably 15-20 years this car had a cooling system that doesn't have issues.

[vlad01]

The other thing I have been sus about after changing the timing cover is excessive oil pressure as the filter adapter gasket is weeping and I have already checked the pressure valve and spring and then replaced the gasket with a genuine one, still the whining noise and weep remains. I changed the oil to 10W50 full syn Penrite from the 20W60 mineral I had, this reduced the noise a fair bit overall but it's still there when cold. The weep is still there too but not as bad. All my other cars are completely dry on this gasket.


So I got a new filter adapter, valve plunger and spring from pick a part, a good unit. NLA from Holden and I am not paying the drug money US shipping for a 30 dollar kit from ZZP.

I got a gauge and some brass fittings from my local irrigation shop and it does seem a bit high for the viscosity of the oil. Idle is 60 psi warm, 72 psi warm. Really hot oil right after flogging it at high revs was about 70 revs, 54 ish idle. I'd expect more like 60 and 40 for 20w50/60, and probably a little lower for 10w40/50.

I speculate the worn spot on the spring is catching on the plunger or the bore itself perhaps. It had lips on a few of the coils from wear and a bit of a bend. I reckon by change I installed the spring in the flip direction when I moved it all to the new timing over and it's catching on something, restricting it's ease of movement.

The new used spring is a lot better, no lip and only a slight bend.

I picked up 6 new gaskets from Holden as they still stock those. Either a tomorrow or Sunday job. I will recheck the pressure ones I swap it all.

Oh, and one huge win is, I found the leak in the windscreen that has leaked ever since my nephew bought the car. Turned out that when the windscreen was replaced early on when we had it, the sealant was too close to the body at the driver side bottom corner and missed the glass in one tiny pin hole sized spot. I cleaned it from the inside when the dash was out and slathered on some Sikaflex. No more leaks!

[vlad01]

That's good to know. I see a heater core coming up in my future. It'll be my first time....

Totally worth doing it properly like this. I have had literally 0 success in splicing the pipes inside the car to avoid removing the whole lot. The splices always leaked for me and ruins your carpet and the underlays.

Not a job for the faint hearted though. This is the maybe the 6th time I had a dash in/out, perhaps even more. Only the 2nd time I have replaced the core properly like this.